Updated 19 September 2026
Typing.com alternatives
Almost everyone looking for a Typing.com alternative is looking for the same thing: the same lessons without the ads.
For a classroom, TypingClub is the closest free swap and its ads are lighter. For a single learner, keybr, Monkeytype and Pew Pew Type are free with no ads and no account at all.
Typing.com is a genuinely good curriculum. The free tier is just paid for by a full programmatic advertising stack, and that is what people are trying to escape.
The ads are the reason, and they are worse than people expect
We checked the free lesson page in September 2026 and logged what actually loads: Google Ad
Manager, Amazon Publisher Services, Prebid header bidding and Confiant verification. The page
contains ad slots named adBanner, ad_sidebar and, notably,
adpopup.
That is a full commercial ad stack on a page used by school children, and because it is programmatic, nobody at Typing.com chooses which specific ads appear. Teachers and parents are blunt about the result:
- A parent: “Our district doesn't shield the kids from ads and typing.com has some really vile ones. My preteens have seen ads for ICE, plastic surgery, and Ozempic and other prescription drugs.”
- A teacher: “We took one look at typing.com and those ads made it an immediate no. We ended up going with Typing Club.”
- Another teacher: “I had to ban typing.com in my classroom… I cannot control the ads on the site and some of them have been inappropriate.”
- A grandparent homeschooling: an ad reading “Are you gay? Take this quiz to find out” appeared in front of an eight-year-old.
There is a secondary effect too. Several users report the ad stack slowing the lessons themselves: “Lessons will often lag behind and take over a minute to catch up with how people type. Meanwhile, the ads are loading just fine.”
To be fair to Typing.com: its Trustpilot rating is 2.5 out of 5 from 142 reviews, but the split is 55% five-star against 27% one-star. Plenty of adults love it and stick with it for years. This is a good product with an advertising problem, not a bad product.
The other three reasons people leave
- Only 70 days of data retention on the free tier. Progress older than that is gone from the reports.
- The free tier is falling further behind. Through 2025 and 2026 Typing.com shipped a lot — AI literacy, digital citizenship, a Google Docs simulator, read-aloud voices — and almost all of it is PLUS only.
- It forces you to fix every error. Good for accuracy, bad if you are working on raw speed. One reviewer: “they don't let you continue if you make a mistake… if you're looking for a website to learn how to type faster, never use typing.com.”
- No parent dashboard. Homeschooling families end up logging into the child's account to see progress.
One more, which matters if you are buying: Typing.com does not publish PLUS pricing. You have to submit an email and request a quote. TypingClub, by contrast, has an instant price calculator on its own site.
Five alternatives
TypingClub
The closest swap for a classroom
If you want the same thing — a free, structured, sequential typing course with a teacher dashboard — this is it. Around 650 lessons, plus a separate early-primary track, and it covers Dvorak, one-handed layouts and several languages.
Its free tier is also ad-supported, so read this honestly: you are trading a heavier ad load for a lighter one, not escaping ads entirely. EdClub's privacy policy confirms its free-tier ads are targeted.
- Publishes school pricing openly, from $120/year for 20 seats
- Lighter ad load than Typing.com in practice
- Widely considered the best free course
- Still ad-supported and targeted on the free tier
- Free school tier: 3 classes, 2 instructors, 30-day data
- Strict star grading frustrates slower learners
Pew Pew Type
Genuinely no ads, no account
A typing game where words are alien ships heading for Earth and you type them to shoot them down. No advertising of any kind, no sign-up, no email, and nothing is uploaded anywhere.
It is not a full curriculum, so pair it with a course. But if the ads are your problem and the learner is one child rather than a class, this removes the problem completely.
- No ads at all, and none planned
- No account, so nothing to collect and nothing to leak
- Word sets follow home row, then top, then bottom
- No teacher dashboard or class management
- A game, not a curriculum
keybr
Ad-free adaptive drilling
keybr works out which letters you are slowest and least accurate on, then builds practice text weighted toward exactly those. It introduces the alphabet gradually.
Clean, free, no account required, and no advertising in the way.
- Per-letter weakness targeting, which neither Typing.com nor TypingClub does
- No account, no ads
- Very plain, no gamification
- No teacher tools
Monkeytype
If you want ads off by choice
Free and open source. Unusually, ads are a setting with four levels and one of them is off — so you can remove them without paying.
It is a test rather than a course, so it suits an adult measuring progress, not a beginner learning the keys.
- Ads can be turned off in settings
- Open source, no account
- No lessons, no finger guidance
- Default word list inflates your score
TypeRacer
If competition is what keeps them going
Live multiplayer races on real quotes, running since 2008. Free with ads; $12 a year removes them, which is cheaper than most school licences if you only need one seat.
It forces error correction like Typing.com does, so the accuracy discipline carries over.
- Real multiplayer
- Ad removal is only $12 a year
- Ads on the free tier
- No lessons for beginners
Related
Frequently asked questions
What is the best alternative to Typing.com?
For a classroom that wants the same structured curriculum, TypingClub is the closest free swap and its ad load is lighter, though it is still ad-supported. For a single learner who simply wants the ads gone, keybr, Monkeytype and Pew Pew Type are all free with no ads and no account required.
Why does Typing.com have so many ads?
The free tier is funded by advertising. A check of the free lesson page in September 2026 found a full programmatic stack including Google Ad Manager, Amazon Publisher Services and Prebid header bidding, with page slots named adBanner, ad_sidebar and adpopup. Because the ads are programmatic, Typing.com does not choose which specific ones appear, which is why teachers report unsuitable ads reaching children.
Is there a free typing site for kids with no ads?
Yes. Pew Pew Type has no advertising and requires no account, and keybr and Monkeytype are also ad-free in practice, with Monkeytype letting you switch ads off in settings. For a full classroom curriculum without ads you generally have to pay: Typing.com's PLUS or TypingClub's Pro tier both remove them.
How much does Typing.com PLUS cost?
Typing.com does not publish PLUS pricing. Their own FAQ says the cost varies by subscription type and length, and you have to submit a request for a quote. Third-party sites quote per-student figures, but we could not verify any of them against Typing.com, so we will not repeat them. TypingClub, by comparison, has a public price calculator.
Is Typing.com actually a good program?
Yes. It has run since 2001, covers typing plus digital citizenship, AI literacy and coding, rosters with Google Classroom, Clever and ClassLink, and holds WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility certification. Its Trustpilot reviews are split 55% five-star against 27% one-star. The criticism is concentrated on the free tier's advertising rather than on the teaching.
What is the difference between Typing.com and TypingClub?
They are separate companies: Typing.com is run by Teaching.com and TypingClub by EdClub. Typing.com covers more subjects beyond typing but carries a heavier ad load and does not publish prices. TypingClub is more narrowly a typing course, publishes its school pricing openly, and is generally considered to have the stronger lesson sequence.