Last reviewed October 2026
Side-by-side
| MathStar | White Rose Maths | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Learning app | School scheme + free app |
| Price | Free | Free app; schemes sold to schools |
| Ages | 4–11 (Reception–Y6) | App: 5–8; scheme: 3–16 |
| Curriculum | UK, all primary maths | UK, mastery approach |
| MTC format | Yes — 6-sec drills | 1-minute timed, not MTC format |
| Scope | Full primary maths | App: addition, subtraction, tables |
| Ads | None | None |
| Progress tracking | Yes | Minimal in the app |
Which one your child needs
Use White Rose if you want to follow exactly what your child is doing in class. Most UK primaries teach the White Rose sequence, and its free 1-Minute Maths app is an excellent, genuinely free warm-up tool.
Use MathStar if you want a complete home programme rather than a warm-up — full curriculum coverage, progress tracking, MTC-format drills and a reward loop that sustains a daily habit.
They're not really the same kind of thing
White Rose Maths is a teaching scheme first — the lesson sequence, the small steps, the mastery approach that a large share of UK primary schools follow. Its 1-Minute Maths app is a small free companion, not a full learning product. MathStar is a home learning app. Comparing them is comparing a syllabus to a study tool.
What 1-Minute Maths does well
It is genuinely free, has no ads, no logins and no data collection worth worrying about, and the one-minute format is perfectly judged for a warm-up. For Key Stage 1 addition, subtraction and early tables it's hard to beat as a two-minute filler before school.
Where it stops
Coverage is narrow — addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts only. There's no fractions, no place value, no measure, no geometry. There's no meaningful progress tracking, and the timing format is one minute of as-many-as-you-can rather than the MTC's six-seconds-per-question. For Year 4 check preparation specifically, the format mismatch matters.
Using the scheme at home
White Rose publishes free parent resources and workbooks aligned to each year group. If you want to shadow exactly what school is teaching this half-term, those are the best free materials available in the UK. Ask your child's teacher which unit they're on.
The sensible combination
Follow the White Rose sequence for topic knowledge, use 1-Minute Maths as a warm-up, and use MathStar for the daily fluency work and MTC pace. Nothing here is mutually exclusive, and all three of those are free.