Alps vs CodeHS

Both help schools teach computer science. Here’s what each one is for, and where they differ.

What each one is for

Alps

Alps helps every CS student reach mastery: practice matched to each student, help when they’re stuck, and a view of who needs help and why. It runs on open textbooks, publisher titles and your own material.

Who it serves: CS classes from block coding through AP and college CS.

CodeHS

A K-12 CS platform built on its own catalog of 100+ courses, with a browser IDE, autograders, professional development and certification exams.

Who it serves: K-12 schools and districts, from kindergarten through AP and CTE.

How they compare

How Alps and CodeHS compare
Topic Alps CodeHS
What you teach from
Course material 40+ open and publisher titles, 10,000+ practice problems, and your own material. 100+ customizable CodeHS courses, plus courses teachers build themselves.
Several sources in one class Several titles and your own activities in one class; each section sees the units you choose. Units and assignments from several CodeHS courses in one section.
Languages and tools Python, Java, C/C++, SQL, JavaScript, HTML/CSS, notebooks, block coding and a cyber range, in the browser. A browser IDE for 10+ languages, block coding and a Linux cyber range.
Practice and help for each student
Mastery tracking Estimated skill by skill from every run, hint and test result, and shown by unit in the Gradebook. Progress and quiz scores; pretests and posttests show growth by concept.
Practice at each student’s level Alps matches each student’s practice to their mastery, from 10,000+ leveled problems with verified solutions and tests. The teacher assigns problems from a three-level bank or AI Creator; students can also pick their own.
Differentiated assignments Alps groups the class by mastery and engagement, then builds each group’s work in under a minute; you review first. The teacher picks each student’s work and alternate exercises; Fork with AI adjusts difficulty to the teacher’s preference.
Help when a student is stuck On by default on most coding problems: a hint, an outline, then the step as a puzzle; help, not the answer. Smart Hints on the student’s code once the teacher turns them on: four preset prompts, five a day.
Grading
Code grading Unit tests on submit, written for you on your own activities, plus checks on how Python and Java code was written. Autograders run on Check Code; for their own exercises, teachers write the tests or toggle preset checks.
Written answers AI grading against a rubric, criterion by criterion, with feedback; your score stands. AI Grading suggests rubric scores and feedback; the teacher approves each one before the student sees it.
Insights for the teacher
Live view during class Who is working, reading or stopped, and on what; students who stall rise to the top. Progress views updated in real time, with time and attempts.
Why a student is stuck Groups students by what stops them (a failing test, a repeated error, lost working code), each with a next step. As the teacher reviews a student’s code, AI Teacher Hints pinpoints the problem and drafts a hint.
Where the class is stuck Wrong answers and errors many students share, what to revisit and why, and how other classes did. The most common wrong answer on each quiz question, and the assignments students ask Smart Hints about most.
How the work was done A replay that flags the same error run after run, working code that broke, or a large paste. Code History, keystroke Code Replay, pasted code flagged, and a Plagiarism Report scoring similarity to classmates’ code.
Running it in a school or district
Sign-in and rosters Google, Microsoft, Clever or ClassLink sign-in; rosters from Google Classroom or your LMS, not Clever or ClassLink. Google Classroom, Clever, ClassLink and LMS sign-in, with roster sync.
Grades to your LMS Google Classroom and any LTI 1.3 LMS; assignments appear there and grades sync back automatically. Grade passback to Google Classroom and to LMSs over LTI.
Student data privacy FERPA and COPPA compliant; signs district DPAs and the NDPA. FERPA, COPPA and SOC 2; signs DPAs and the NDPA.
Reporting for leaders Progress and mastery by school, course and section, with dashboards built to your questions. Usage, course progress, certification results and teacher PD by school and section; LOGIC pretest-to-posttest growth by concept.
Training and support Office hours and email support; training and PD by quote. Free PD workshops and webinars, plus paid courses and memberships.
Other differences
AP endorsement Endorsed AP courses: CSAwesome for AP CSA; The Beauty and Joy of Computing and Mobile CSP for AP CSP. College Board–endorsed for AP CSP and AP CSA.
Certification exams No certification exams. Eight CodeHS certification exams, officially approved in six states.
Elementary curriculum Block-coding projects for younger students, not a grade-by-grade K-5 curriculum. CodeHop: grade-by-grade K-5 courses, also in Spanish.
Price A free plan runs a whole class with practice, hints and auto-grading; paid plans, at published prices, add licensed titles, rubric grading and LMS sync. Free plan: the full catalog. Paid plans, quoted per teacher, add the gradebook, AI Grading, Smart Hints and dashboards.

See what makes Alps different

Where each one is a strong fit

Where CodeHS is a strong fit

If your district wants one provider for K-12 CS: a grade-by-grade elementary curriculum, certification exams approved in six states, Spanish courses and physical computing.

Where Alps is a strong fit

If you want each student’s practice and assignments matched to their mastery, help on by default, and a view of why students are stuck, on the textbooks you choose, through college, at published prices.

As of October 2026. Details about CodeHS come from its own public pages, listed below, and details about Alps from this site. If something here has changed, email support@alps.2sigma.us.

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