TL;DR: If you are replacing Degrees of Freedom, the closest options are Ello, ExceptionALLY, Foreword. The table below compares 12 alternatives on what they do, stage, size and status.
Every alternative below is compared on what it actually does, not just its category — so you can see which one genuinely replaces Degrees of Freedom (YC Winter 2021).
Last verified:
The three closest alternatives to Degrees of Freedom are:
| Alternative | What it does | Stage | Team | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ello | Building the world's first 1:1 AI teacher. | YC Winter 2020 | 45 | Active |
| ExceptionALLY | Affordable expertise for special needs parenting. | YC Summer 2018 | 3 | Inactive |
| Foreword | A marketplace for live, online workshops for professionals | YC Summer 2020 | 2 | Inactive |
| Unschool | Learn, Intern and become Industry-Ready | YC Winter 2021 | 35 | Active |
| Juno College of Technology | Juno is the university of the future. | YC Summer 2019 | 30 | Active |
| Turing College | AI-driven online tech school for busy professionals | YC Winter 2021 | 50 | Active |
| Lingt | Lingt provided a web-based platform for learning languages leveraging… | YC Summer 2009 | 2 | Active |
| Codingal | Leading online after-school for kids & teens to learn AI & coding | YC Winter 2021 | 100 | Active |
| Pahamify | College entrance test preparation App for students in Indonesia | YC Winter 2020 | 40 | Active |
| UPchieve | Connecting low-income HS students with free, 24/7 online tutoring | YC Winter 2021 | 15 | Active |
| Skill-lync | Online engineering college for India. Learn technical skills & get… | YC Winter 2019 | 3000 | Active |
| Marathon Education | We provide live after-school tutoring to K-12 students in Vietnam | YC Winter 2022 | 20 | Inactive |
It depends on your size. Ello is the closest match on what Degrees of Freedom actually does. If you need something more established, sort the table by team size — larger teams generally mean more support and a longer track record. If budget is the constraint, the earlier-batch companies are usually the ones still competing on price.
Degrees of Freedom is no longer listed as active, so anyone still relying on it should plan a migration to one of the alternatives above.
Every company here is Y Combinator-backed and was matched to Degrees of Freedom on what it actually does — its own description of its product — rather than on a broad category label. Batch, team size and operating status come from the YC directory and are shown as-is. We do not rank by payment.
Looking to save on Education tools? Browse our vetted lifetime SaaS deals from verified vendors.
Built by LemStudio
Loading interactive view…