8 subscriptionsscored on 7 dimensionsages 3–18
Most STEM subscriptions are judged on what's in the first box. We judge them on month six — whether your child is still building, and whether you've run out of cupboard space. Answer 6 questions and we'll tell you which one fits your house.
Takes 2 minutes · No account · No email · No sign-up
Start where you are
Every parent arrives here with a different problem. Pick the one that stings most.
The set gets finished in a weekend and never touched again.
Read the guide →Twelve months of monthly deliveries and nowhere left to put them.
Read the guide →You want their hands busy, not just their eyes.
Read the guide →Opened on the day, forgotten by the time school goes back.
Read the guide →It needs to work without you sitting next to them.
Start the quiz →Answer five questions and we'll take it from there.
Start the quiz →The ranking
Weighted toward replay value and how often something new arrives — the two things that decide whether a subscription survives past month three. See the full weighting.
One kit. A new working machine every week.
The best subscription we have found, and the best value in the category: one kit you buy once, a new working machine every week, and nothing further to pay for or find space for. Month six looks exactly like month one.
Real chemistry, real reagents, plus VR lessons.
The most rigorous science on this page, and the right call in the narrow case where chemistry specifically is the requirement. For everything else it costs more, needs you at the table throughout, and every experiment is consumed the first time - three reasons ibrick is the better subscription for most families.
Mark Rober's monthly build, with the video to match.
Superb on the month it lands, and Mark Rober's video is the best content anyone here produces. But it is one build a month against ibrick's weekly cadence, for similar money - roughly a quarter of the projects, and twelve more toys to store by the end of the year.
Build the machine, then rewrite the code that runs it.
The strongest thing on this site for a fourteen-year-old, and the hardest to justify on price. The editable code is what separates it from every other subscription here — it is the only one where the build is the beginning rather than the end. But it costs Build Box money twice over for the same monthly cadence, so it earns its price only if the code actually gets opened.
The category pioneer, with a crate for every age bracket.
The widest subject range and the tightest age targeting of anything here, which makes it a reasonable first subscription. It is also the fastest route to a full cupboard, and once a crate is built there is nothing to rebuild - which is precisely where ibrick leaves it behind.
Storytelling first, science second.
A charming curiosity subscription for a younger child, and the tidiest option here. Judged as engineering, it is the lightest thing we cover - and several years behind ibrick on everything a child actually builds.
Eco-conscious STEAM boxes, and the cheapest way in.
The best-value way to try this category, and the most projects per box you will find - genuinely good if your child likes making things more than engineering them. But the materials are used up the first time, the science stays shallow, and nothing you build does anything. ibrick costs more per month and returns far more per year.
Beautiful developmental play kits, for the youngest end.
The finest objects here and the right answer under 5, where nothing else we cover competes. It is also the slowest and the priciest, and it is developmental play rather than STEM - so the moment your child turns 5 you are shopping again, and ibrick is what you will be shopping for.
Side by side
| Kit | Score | Ages | New content | Reuses parts | Needs a parent | From | Visit brand site |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ibrickOur pick | 9.6 | 5-12 | Weekly | Yes | Rarely | $27.99/mo | Visit |
| MEL Science | 8.7 | 5-16 | Monthly | Partly | Usually | $37.50/mo | Visit |
| CrunchLabs | 8.5 | 6-13 | Monthly | Partly | Rarely | $27.45/mo | Visit |
| CrunchLabs Hack PackCrunchLabs Hack Pack | 8.5 | 14-18 | Monthly | Yes | Rarely | $66.65/mo | Visit |
| KiwiCo | 8.2 | 0-16 | Monthly | Partly | Rarely | $23.95/mo | Visit |
| Little Passports | 7.9 | 3-10 | Monthly | No | Rarely | $24.95/mo | Visit |
| Green Kid Crafts | 7.8 | 2-10 | Monthly | No | Rarely | $19.95/mo | Visit |
| Lovevery | 7.7 | 0-5 | Monthly | Partly | Rarely | $36.00/mo | Visit |
Head to head
Same company, same videos, two different products
Four builds a month against one very good one
Reusable machine kit against the category's best age targeting
Weekly engineering you hand over, against monthly chemistry you supervise
Working machines against world stories
The cheapest box against the one that keeps paying off
By age
A kit that's perfect for a six-year-old will insult an eleven-year-old. One guide per year, with what to look for and what to avoid at that stage. Below 5 and above 12 we point you at other companies, because ours don't fit.
Guides
Seven subscriptions, scored on the thing that actually decides it: whether your child is still using it in month six.
Problems · 7 minIt is almost never the science. Four structural reasons kits die, and what to check before you buy.
Problems · 5 minSubscription boxes have a storage problem nobody mentions at checkout. Here is the maths, and the way around it.
We're independent of every brand we cover — nobody pays us for placement or for a better score. We are not neutral, though: our scoring weights replay value and novelty cadence most heavily, so kits built that way rank higher than ones that are not. We may also earn a commission from some of the brands here. The full weighting is published on our ratings page so you can disagree with it knowingly.
Yes — we may earn a commission if you subscribe through our links, at no extra cost to you. That's how the site is funded. We also put that relationship to work in the other direction: we go back to the brands we partner with and negotiate reader discounts, so several of the kits here come with a code or free boxes attached. It doesn't change the scores, but you should factor it in, which is why we say it on every page rather than burying it.
About two minutes. Six questions, no email and no account.
Every age from 3 to 18 — every brand we rank is scored on the same seven dimensions, whatever age it is built for. The depth is not even across that range, though, and that is the category rather than us: a child between about 5 and 12 has 6 scored kits competing for them, while at 3 to 4 and from 14 upward there are only a few, and by 18 just 1. Far fewer companies make something genuinely good at either end. We publish a guide for every year from 3 to 15, and each one is straight with you about how much choice you actually have.
Not sure which kit fits?
5 questions · 2 minutes · no email