Elevatevs
Lumosity


Lumosity: If you want broader abstract cognitive games rather than practical reading and writing skills

Cognitive skills training app from Elevate Labs covering reading, writing, maths and speaking games
As of 1 September 2026, Elevate is free to use. A brain training app offering short daily games targeting reading comprehension, writing, maths and speaking skills, personalised into a training programme. Softwr lists it under Education. Elevate is made by Elevate Labs, available on iOS, Android.
Overview
Elevate presents daily short games practising specific skills such as reading speed, comprehension, mental maths, vocabulary, listening and writing mechanics, generating a personalised training schedule based on an initial assessment and ongoing performance tracking. Its positioning differs from Lumosity in emphasising concrete, exam- or workplace-relevant skills like proofreading and quick arithmetic rather than abstract memory and reasoning puzzles. The free tier gives access to a limited number of games per day, enough to sample the format but not to follow the personalised programme the app is built around. Elevate Pro, commonly priced around $9.99 a month or roughly $44.99 to $59.99 a year, unlocks the full game library, personalised training plans and detailed progress tracking. The brain training category as a whole has faced scrutiny over marketing claims about cognitive improvement transferring to real-world outcomes, and buyers should treat any specific claims of measurable IQ or cognitive gains with the same scepticism applied to Lumosity, since independent evidence for transfer beyond improved performance on the trained games themselves is limited across the category. Buyers are adults wanting short daily practice on practical skills like vocabulary, writing and mental maths, often framed as professional development or exam preparation rather than medical or age-related cognitive concern. The trade-off is the standard brain training one: measurable improvement on the specific games practised is well documented, but evidence that this transfers to broader cognitive ability or real-world task performance is weaker than marketing in the category has historically implied.
The honest half
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about Elevate.
Cross-shopped
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.


Lumosity: If you want broader abstract cognitive games rather than practical reading and writing skills


Anki: If your goal is memorisation of specific material rather than general skills practice
Pricing
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
Elevate Pro
$9.99 /mo
Capabilities
Daily game sets
Short, rotating games targeting reading, writing, maths, speaking and listening
Personalised training plan
Programme adjusted based on an initial assessment and ongoing performance, Pro only
Progress tracking
Detailed performance history and skill trend charts, Pro only
Reading and comprehension drills
Games targeting reading speed and retention specifically
Maths and estimation games
Mental arithmetic and numerical reasoning practice
Writing and proofreading games
Grammar, editing and vocabulary games aimed at workplace writing skills
Answered, with sources
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
A limited number of games per day are free. The full library, personalised training plan and progress tracking require Elevate Pro.
It reliably improves performance on the specific games practised. Evidence that this transfers broadly to real-world cognitive or task performance is limited, consistent with the brain training category generally.
Elevate focuses on practical skills such as reading, writing and workplace maths, while Lumosity is built around broader abstract memory, attention and reasoning games.
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Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Elevate, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
What people switch to, and what they give up
Every tier, and where the cost actually lands
Put it head to head with anything we hold
Its rating, and an embed for your own site
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