Choose Elevate if you want short, polished daily practice in reading, writing, vocabulary, and mental math for $39.99 a year. Choose BrainHQ if research matters most to you: its speed training comes from exercises studied in a large, long-running NIH-funded trial, though those findings come with real caveats. BrainHQ costs more ($96 a year) and feels slower, but some people can get it free through a library or a Medicare Advantage plan.
Elevate and BrainHQ are both well-made brain training apps, but they set out to do different jobs. Elevate is skill practice that feels like a game: you work on the kind of reading, writing, and math you use every day. BrainHQ is a research-driven training program built around processing speed, attention, and memory, and it shows. We used both hands-on to see where each one fits.
| App | Best for | Price (annual) | Rating | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BrainHQ | Research-focused speed and attention training | $96/yr | 8.6 | iOS, Android, Web |
| Elevate | Everyday reading, writing, and math skills | $39.99/yr | 8.4 | iOS, Android |
What each app trains
Elevate has more than 40 games built around practical skills. You edit sentences for clarity, read for comprehension, build vocabulary, and do the kind of quick math that comes up when you compare prices or split a bill. Each day’s workout is short, and you can adjust its focus toward the skills you want to practice.
BrainHQ has dozens of exercises across six areas: attention, brain speed, memory, people skills, navigation, and intelligence. Each exercise adapts as you go, getting harder when you do well and easier when you struggle, and a single level takes under five minutes. Its best-known exercise is Double Decision, which BrainHQ describes as a later version of the speed training used in the ACTIVE study.
The short version: Elevate trains skills that look like everyday tasks, while BrainHQ trains the underlying speed and attention abilities that research has focused on.
The science
Elevate practices relevant skills, but evidence that the gains carry over outside the app is limited. A major 2016 review of brain training research by Simons and colleagues found extensive evidence that training improves the trained tasks, less evidence for closely related tasks, and little evidence that it improves everyday cognitive performance. The only peer-reviewed Elevate study we found, a 2025 survey of 3,367 Elevate users, linked more use to users’ own reports of improvement. But it measured how people felt rather than testing their skills, had no control group, and several authors work for or consult for The Mind Company, which makes Elevate.
BrainHQ has a much longer research record, centered on the ACTIVE study. That NIH-funded trial began in 1998 and randomly assigned 2,832 adults aged 65 to 94 to memory, reasoning, or speed of processing training, or to no training. In a 20-year follow-up published in February 2026, people who did speed training plus at least one booster session had about a 25% lower risk of a dementia diagnosis in their Medicare records than the control group. Speed training without boosters showed no lower risk, and memory and reasoning training showed no effect.
Those findings need careful reading:
- It was a research program, not an app. ACTIVE participants did 10 sessions of group training as part of a supervised study. BrainHQ’s Double Decision descends from that speed training, but using the app at home isn’t the same thing.
- The result is debated. A separate 2026 reanalysis found that after correcting for multiple comparisons, none of the training groups’ 20-year results remained statistically significant, though its author argued the overall pattern still hinted at a possible shared effect.
- There is a financial interest. One author of the 20-year study consults for and owns stock in Posit Science, the company that makes BrainHQ and markets the speed training software used in ACTIVE.
- Experts urge caution about apps. The National Institute on Aging says there is not enough evidence that commercial brain training apps have the same effect on thinking skills as the training used in ACTIVE.
Winner: BrainHQ, for the depth of published research behind its speed training, with the caveats above. For both apps, evidence that the gains carry over to daily life is limited. For more on Elevate’s evidence, see is Elevate worth it.
Price
Elevate: $39.99 a year, or $9.99 a month, in the Apple App Store. Elevate’s help center notes that prices vary by location and purchase platform, and that the monthly and lifetime options aren’t shown while you’re in a free trial or an active subscription. Elevate doesn’t offer a family plan.
BrainHQ: $14 a month or $96 a year on its website, which works out to $8 a month on the annual plan. The App Store lists $13.99 a month or $94.99 a year. Family members can be added to an annual subscription for $59 a year each. Website purchases come with a 30-day refund guarantee; app store purchases follow Apple’s or Google’s refund rules. Our BrainHQ cost guide has the full breakdown.
Winner: Elevate, by about $56 a year.
What you get free
Elevate has a free version with a new daily workout every day, plus study materials and weekly performance reports. The free version includes ads. Paying unlocks unlimited access to all 40+ games, memory training, detailed progress tracking, and an ad-free experience. There is also a 7-day free trial of everything, but it renews into an annual subscription unless you turn off auto-renewal at least 24 hours before it ends.
BrainHQ doesn’t advertise a standard free trial for individuals. With a free account, you get the Daily Spark, one free exercise a day from a different training area each day of the week, and BrainHQ’s homepage has four more exercises you can try without subscribing. Full access can also be free:
- Public libraries. BrainHQ says it’s available at no cost at hundreds of US libraries, with the same features subscribers get.
- Medicare Advantage. BrainHQ’s official 2026 list names three plans that include it: Elderplan, Kaiser Permanente (Mid-Atlantic), and SummaCare (except its Garnet, Topaz, and Quartz HMO plans). BrainHQ notes that a plan missing from the list may no longer include it, so check with your plan’s member services.
Winner: Elevate for everyday free use. BrainHQ if your library or health plan gives you full access.
Where you can use them
Elevate runs on iPhone, iPad, and Android. Its help center says there isn’t a desktop version yet.
BrainHQ runs on iPhone, iPad, and Android, and in a web browser on almost any computer, which helps if you’d rather train at a desk.
Winner: BrainHQ, if you want to train on a computer.
What training feels like
Elevate is quick and polished. It’s an App Store Editors’ Choice, and in our hands-on use the games felt short, clear, and satisfying, with difficulty that rises at a good pace. The trade-offs: its scope is narrow, with little visual or spatial work, and it leans heavily on English proficiency.
BrainHQ is deliberate and slow, and its design feels dated next to Elevate. In our hands-on use, some exercises worked best with the phone turned sideways, and there’s a lot of instruction before and during exercises. It suits people who like steady, focused practice more than people who want a fun daily break.
Winner: Elevate, for most people.
Which should you choose?
Choose Elevate if you want practice that looks like everyday tasks, you write, read, or do mental math for work or study, you want a genuinely usable free version, or you’d rather pay less.
Choose BrainHQ if the research behind an exercise matters to you, you’re an older adult who wants speed and attention training, you’d like to train on a computer, or you can get full access free through your library or a Medicare Advantage plan.
Or use both for free. They train different things, so Elevate’s free daily workout and BrainHQ’s Daily Spark sit together comfortably without costing anything.
For the full rankings, see our best brain training apps roundup. If you’re also weighing Lumosity, see BrainHQ vs Lumosity.
Zenelia is a brain training app made by Mindkindly’s owner, so we don’t rank or score it here. It costs $6.99 a month or $44.99 a year, has a 7-day free trial, and is iPhone only for now; read more about Zenelia or see it on the App Store.
Common questions
Is BrainHQ better than Elevate? For research-focused speed and attention training, BrainHQ has more behind it. For an enjoyable daily habit that practices reading, writing, and math, Elevate is easier to stick with and costs less.
Which is cheaper? Elevate, at $39.99 a year versus $96 for BrainHQ on its website. BrainHQ can be free through participating libraries and some Medicare Advantage plans.
Can either app prevent dementia? No app can promise that. BrainHQ’s speed exercise descends from training that, in one long-term study, was linked to a lower risk of a dementia diagnosis for people who also did booster sessions. But that finding is debated and came from a research program, not an app. We found no research on Elevate and dementia. If you or someone close to you is noticing memory changes, talk to a doctor.
Can I use Elevate on a computer? Not yet. Elevate says it doesn’t have a desktop version. BrainHQ works in a web browser.
Does either have a free trial? Elevate has a 7-day free trial. BrainHQ doesn’t advertise a standard free trial for individuals, but its Daily Spark is free every day.
The bottom line
Elevate is the better everyday app for most people: cheaper, more polished, and focused on skills you use, though evidence that the gains carry over outside the app is limited. BrainHQ is the choice if the research matters to you and you don’t mind a slower, plainer experience, especially if you can get it free. For more on each, read our Elevate review and BrainHQ review.
Sources
- Elevate on the App Store
- What’s included in the free version vs. the upgraded version? (Elevate Help Center)
- How does the 7-day free Elevate trial work? (Elevate Help Center)
- How can I purchase a monthly or lifetime subscription? (Elevate Help Center)
- Do you offer a Family Plan? (Elevate Help Center)
- What devices can I use Elevate on? (Elevate Help Center)
- Can I use Elevate on my computer? (Elevate Help Center)
- BrainHQ subscription plans (BrainHQ Support)
- What is the Daily Spark? (BrainHQ Support)
- Exercises to try before you buy (BrainHQ Support)
- BrainHQ refund policy (BrainHQ Support)
- BrainHQ and Medicare offerings, full list for 2026 (BrainHQ Support)
- BrainHQ homepage
- BrainHQ for libraries
- The ACTIVE study (BrainHQ)
- BrainHQ on the App Store
- BrainHQ on Google Play
- Effects of cognitive training interventions with older adults (Ball et al., JAMA, 2002)
- Impact of cognitive training on claims-based diagnosed dementia over 20 years (Coe et al., 2026)
- Reanalyzing the impact of cognitive training over 20 years in the ACTIVE study (Dickens, 2026)
- Do “brain-training” programs work? (Simons et al., Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 2016)
- Cognitive health and older adults (National Institute on Aging)
- User engagement with and perceived impact of a digital cognitive training app (McAlister et al., JMIR Formative Research, 2025)