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Education · head to head

Infinite Campus vs Photomath

Infinite Campus logo

Infinite Campus

Education

K-12 student information system sold direct to districts and state education agencies

From
On request
Rated
-
Photomath logo

Photomath

Education

Camera based maths solver that shows step by step working, owned by Google since 2022

From
Free
Rated
-

The short version

  • Only Photomath has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Infinite Campus no pricing is published anywhere, so the only way to know what it costs is a sales conversation against your certified enrolment, and districts routinely discover the quoted rate differs from a neighbouring district of similar size.; Photomath full free step by step solutions make it straightforward for a student to submit copied working without doing the reasoning themselves, which is a real concern for teachers assigning homework.
  • They diverge on capability: Infinite Campus covers Per-student single licence, Photomath covers Camera scanning.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Infinite Campus and Photomath actually diverge.

Attributes where Infinite Campus and Photomath differ
AttributeInfinite CampusPhotomath
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquoteFree with a Plus subscription
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidiOS, Android

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Education).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Infinite Campus

  • Per-student single licence
  • State reporting
  • Campus Parent and Campus Student
  • Scheduling engine
  • Special education
  • Food service
  • Campus Digital Repository
  • Ad hoc reporting

Only in Photomath

  • Camera scanning
  • Step by step solutions
  • Built-in calculator
  • Word problem support
  • Animated explanations
  • Textbook alignment

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Infinite Campus

  • A district leaving a private-equity-owned SIS after a repricing or a support quality drop, and specifically wanting an owner whose roadmap is not on an exit clock.not Photomath
  • A state education agency standardising every district on one SIS and one reporting extract so state submissions stop being a per-district reconciliation exercise.not Photomath
  • A secondary school with complicated timetabling, block schedules, dual enrolment and weighted GPA rules that a simpler SIS cannot model without workarounds.not Photomath
  • A district that wants meal accounts, fee payments, health records and special education in the same record as attendance and grades rather than integrated across four vendors.not Photomath

Photomath

  • A student checking their own worked answer against the app steps to find where a method went wrongnot Infinite Campus
  • A parent who cannot help with unfamiliar high school maths and needs a worked explanation rather than just an answernot Infinite Campus
  • A student working through word problems in a subject not covered by the free tier who needs the Plus subscriptionnot Infinite Campus
  • A school evaluating whether to recommend or restrict the app given the ease of copying a full worked solutionnot Infinite Campus

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Infinite Campus

  • No pricing is published anywhere, so the only way to know what it costs is a sales conversation against your certified enrolment, and districts routinely discover the quoted rate differs from a neighbouring district of similar size.
  • The interface is dense and inherited from an earlier era of web software; staff who use it occasionally, such as substitute teachers or front office cover, need retraining each time rather than working it out.
  • Implementation is a data conversion project, not an install, and districts that underestimate historic transcript and special education record migration end up running two systems in parallel for a year.
  • Getting real value out of it requires at least one dedicated district-level Campus administrator, which is a salaried post smaller districts often cannot justify and which becomes a single point of failure when that person leaves.
  • It is overwhelmingly a US product tuned to US state reporting; international schools and non-US systems get little of the compliance value that justifies the price, and the grading and enrolment models assume American conventions.

Photomath

  • Full free step by step solutions make it straightforward for a student to submit copied working without doing the reasoning themselves, which is a real concern for teachers assigning homework.
  • Word problems, a common school assessment format, are gated behind the Plus subscription, so the free tier is weaker on exactly the problem type many students struggle with most.
  • Camera recognition of messy handwriting or complex notation such as matrices or multi-line proofs is unreliable, and misreads produce confidently wrong steps.
  • Since the 2022 Google acquisition, the product sits inside a company whose primary business is advertising and data, which is a relevant factor for schools with strict student data policies.
  • It solves problems rather than teaching underlying concepts from scratch, so a student with no foundational understanding gets a worked answer but not necessarily comprehension.

Pricing, plan by plan

Infinite Campus

On request
  • Infinite Campus SIS$undefined/year
    • Priced per enrolled student against a certified enrolment snapshot
    • Licence, hosting, support and training bundled rather than sold as modules
    • Volume tiers reduce the per-student rate as enrolment rises

Photomath

Free
  • Photomath Plus$9.99/month
    • Step by step solutions for most problem types free and unlimited on the base app
    • Plus unlocks word problems, animated explanations and deeper steps
    • Plus available at roughly $59.99 billed annually as a cheaper alternative to monthly

Which should you pick?

Choose Infinite Campus if

  • You need per-student single licence.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want state reporting.

Choose Photomath if

  • You need camera scanning.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on iOS, Android.
  • You also want step by step solutions.

Questions people ask

Is Infinite Campus or Photomath better?
Neither clearly leads. Infinite Campus starts at On request and Photomath at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Infinite Campus or Photomath?
Photomath has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Infinite Campus and Free for Photomath.
Does Infinite Campus or Photomath run on more platforms?
Infinite Campus runs on Web, iOS, Android. Photomath runs on iOS, Android.
Can I use Photomath for free?
Yes. Photomath has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Infinite Campus starts at On request.
What is Infinite Campus best used for?
Infinite Campus is most often used for a district leaving a private-equity-owned sis after a repricing or a support quality drop, and specifically wanting an owner whose roadmap is not on an exit clock., a state education agency standardising every district on one sis and one reporting extract so state submissions stop being a per-district reconciliation exercise., a secondary school with complicated timetabling, block schedules, dual enrolment and weighted gpa rules that a simpler sis cannot model without workarounds., a district that wants meal accounts, fee payments, health records and special education in the same record as attendance and grades rather than integrated across four vendors.. Of those, a district leaving a private-equity-owned sis after a repricing or a support quality drop, and specifically wanting an owner whose roadmap is not on an exit clock. and a state education agency standardising every district on one sis and one reporting extract so state submissions stop being a per-district reconciliation exercise. are not what Photomath is typically brought in for.
What can Infinite Campus do that Photomath cannot?
Infinite Campus covers Per-student single licence, State reporting, Campus Parent and Campus Student, Scheduling engine. Photomath covers Camera scanning, Step by step solutions, Built-in calculator, Word problem support.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Infinite Campus: Does Infinite Campus publish its per-student price?

No. Every quote is negotiated against your certified enrolment, and public procurement records are the only reliable way to see what comparable districts actually paid.

Photomath: Is Photomath free?

Basic step by step solutions for most maths problem types are free and unlimited. Word problems, animated explanations and some textbook-specific solutions require Photomath Plus.

Infinite Campus: Is it owned by a private equity firm?

No. It is privately held and founder-controlled, and has taken no venture or private equity investment, which distinguishes it from PowerSchool under Bain Capital.

Photomath: Who owns Photomath now?

Google acquired Photomath in 2022. It operates as a standalone app but is owned by Google.

Infinite Campus: Can it replace a separate LMS?

Partly. It has assignment and gradebook tools, but districts running Canvas, Schoology or Google Classroom keep them and integrate rostering rather than dropping them.

Photomath: Does it just give the answer or show working?

It shows step by step working for the method used, not only the final answer, on both free and Plus tiers, with Plus adding more detail.

Infinite Campus: How long is a typical contract?

Multi-year. Annual-only terms are unusual because the implementation cost is front-loaded and neither side wants to repeat it.

Infinite Campus: What happens to the price when enrolment falls?

It is tied to the enrolment snapshot, so declining districts should confirm the contract reprices downward rather than holding a floor.

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