Comparison

Mathway vs Chegg vs FastSolve: Honest 2026 Comparison

Three different tools, three different jobs. Here's what each is actually good at — and where each falls over.

March 30, 2026 · Updated April 26, 2026 · FastSolve Team

Mathway, Chegg, and FastSolve get lumped together but solve genuinely different problems. Picking the right one depends on what you're actually doing.

Mathway: math problems, retyped

Mathway is a calculator. You retype the problem into Mathway's editor and it solves it. Great for one-off math problems on paper, slow if you have an LMS quiz.

Chegg: textbook solutions and Q&A

Chegg is a database — textbook solutions and previously-answered questions. Useful when you want a worked example, less useful for unique LMS quiz questions.

FastSolve: solves the LMS in place

FastSolve runs as a Chrome extension and solves questions inside Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle, ALEKS, Knewton, Learnosity etc. directly. No retyping, no tab switching.

Picking

  • You're working through math on paper → Mathway
  • You want a worked textbook example → Chegg
  • You're doing an actual LMS quiz → FastSolve

Frequently asked questions

They solve different problems. Mathway is a math-only calculator that requires you to retype the problem into its editor. Chegg is a Q&A database where you search for whether someone else already answered your question. For unique LMS quiz questions, neither is ideal because you have to leave the LMS to use them.

For solving questions inside an LMS without tab switching, FastSolve is the closest replacement — it auto-fills answers in Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle, and other LMS platforms in 2 seconds. For broad textbook lookups, Chegg is still useful. For pure math on paper, Mathway works.

For math inside an LMS quiz, yes — FastSolve reads the problem from the LMS DOM and auto-fills the answer in the right input format. For standalone math on paper or whiteboard, Mathway is fine. The pivotal difference is whether the math is inside a graded LMS attempt.

Pick the right tool per job. For quizzes inside Canvas/Blackboard/Moodle, use FastSolve. For studying math on paper, use Mathway. For looking up worked examples from a textbook, use Chegg. Stacking all three on the same problem produces conflicting answers.