Which English Test Should You Take? IELTS vs TOEFL vs Duolingo vs Cambridge

Which English test should I take?

Take the test your institution names — and when it names more than one, take the cheapest and fastest of them. For most university applications that now means the Duolingo English Test, at roughly an hour and a fraction of the price of the others. For UK, Australian, Canadian or New Zealand immigration it almost always means IELTS, because the required band is written into the rules rather than left to a case officer. For US and Canadian universities, TOEFL iBT is the long-established default and is accepted essentially everywhere they are. And if you want a certificate for your CV rather than for one deadline, take a Cambridge qualification — it is the only one of the four that never expires.

There is no objectively best English test. There is the one that opens the specific door in front of you, and three that cost you money without opening it. What has changed is that the four are no longer interchangeable in the way older comparison guides assume: two of them were rebuilt in 2026. Start with the table, then read the section that matches your situation.

What changed in 2026 that makes older advice wrong?

Two things: TOEFL iBT stopped being scored out of 120, and IELTS stopped being a paper test. Both landed in 2026, and between them they invalidate most of what was written about choosing an English test before that year — including score targets you may have been given by a school, a forum or an older article.

• TOEFL moved to a 1–6 band scale on 21 January 2026. Each section is now reported from 1 to 6 in half-point steps, and the overall score is the *average* of the four sections rounded to the nearest half band — not a sum. ETS's stated goal was "more intuitive alignment with CEFR", and every report now names a CEFR level directly. The test itself was rebuilt at the same time: Reading and Listening are multistage adaptive, the task types changed, the whole thing takes about two hours, and scores arrive within 72 hours.
• IELTS is computer-delivered. The IELTS partners state that "from mid-2026, we will no longer offer IELTS as a paper-based test. All IELTS tests will be delivered on computer," adding that "exact timelines will vary by market." Speaking stays a face-to-face interview with an examiner. A "Writing on Paper" option — you handwrite the Writing component, everything else is on screen — is being introduced in selected markets only, and the IELTS for UKVI Secure English Language Test is fully digital with no paper-writing option. Existing paper results are unaffected and remain valid for the usual two years.

One more piece of the IELTS picture is worth getting right, because it is widely misreported: One Skill Retake, which lets you re-sit a single section, is not universally available. IELTS describes it as "widely available worldwide" but tells you to check with your test centre, and the British Council lists it as running in selected centres in selected countries — notably not for tests taken in the USA, with the UKVI version unavailable in the UK and USA as well. If retaking one skill is part of your plan, confirm your own centre offers it before you book, and note the deadline: the retake must be sat within 60 days of the original test, and only once per test.

Is IELTS or TOEFL better for university?

Neither is better — check your university's list, and if both are on it, choose on format rather than prestige. Almost every English-medium university that accepts one accepts the other: TOEFL reports more than 13,000 institutions across 160+ countries, IELTS more than 12,000 organisations across 140. Where the two genuinely differ is in what the test day is like, and that difference is worth more than any ranking.

• Speaking is the real split. IELTS Speaking is an 11–14 minute face-to-face interview with a human examiner, which survived the move to computer delivery. TOEFL Speaking is recorded into a microphone. If a person looking at you makes you freeze, TOEFL removes that problem. If you need a conversation partner to sound like yourself, IELTS plays to it.
• TOEFL is now shorter and faster. About two hours versus IELTS's 2 hours 45 minutes, with scores back within 72 hours against 3–5 days.
• IELTS is usually the safer default outside North America — and if there is any chance your plan turns into a visa application to the UK, Australia, Canada or New Zealand, IELTS is the one already written into those rules.
• Price is not a tiebreaker you can look up in advance. TOEFL costs anywhere from US$170 to US$475 depending on the country you sit it in; IELTS is set locally too. In some countries TOEFL is clearly cheaper, in others clearly dearer. Check both for your city.

What does not vary is the requirement itself, and this is where applicants lose months. Universities publish a minimum for the test they name, often with a per-section floor underneath it — and during the TOEFL dual-reporting window those minimums are being rewritten from one scale to another at different speeds. Read the requirement for your programme and your intake year, not a general page, and if you are not sure what the number means in plain terms, our guide to what English level you actually need maps the common thresholds onto CEFR levels.

What is the cheapest English test for university?

The Duolingo English Test, at US$65 — usually less than half of what IELTS or TOEFL costs, and often a third. For comparison, ETS's own published fee table puts TOEFL iBT between US$170 and US$475 depending on the country (US$270 in the United States, US$173 in India), and IELTS quotes US$245–255 in the USA with prices set locally elsewhere. Cambridge fees are set centre by centre and "may vary depending on local costs", so there is no headline number to compare at all.

Cheapest on paper is not the same as cheapest in practice, though, and two things decide which one you actually end up paying for.

• A test your university won't take costs 100% of its fee. The DET is accepted by more than 6,500 programmes — a real number, but the shortest list of the four. Search your specific programme, not just the university.
• A test you have to sit twice is not cheap. Two attempts at the DET still costs less than one TOEFL in most countries, but two IELTS sittings is real money. Knowing your level before you book is the cheapest single thing you can do — which is the argument for a free level check first, not a paid exam you're hoping to scrape through.
• Fee waivers exist. Duolingo runs an Access Program offering fee waivers to students who qualify, and ETS publishes vouchers and fee-reduction routes. Neither is advertised loudly; both are worth ten minutes of searching if cost is the binding constraint.

How do the four tests line up on the CEFR scale?

Approximately — and the CEFR is the only common language the four share. Since January 2026 TOEFL states a CEFR level on every report; Cambridge exams are built at a single CEFR level to begin with; Duolingo published externally validated CEFR ranges in 2023; and IELTS bands are routinely read against the framework. Lining them up in one place is useful, but every row below is an approximation, and the providers do not perfectly agree with one another.

The practical use of this table is not to convert a score you already have. It is to work backwards: find the CEFR level your target actually requires, read across to the test you're going to sit, and you have your number. If you want the per-test detail, we keep dedicated pages for IELTS band to CEFR level, TOEFL score to CEFR level and Duolingo English Test score to CEFR.

Is the Duolingo English Test a safe choice?

Yes, if the specific programme you're applying to accepts it — and no if it doesn't, because there is no partial credit for a test your university doesn't read. More than 6,500 programmes accepted the DET as of 29 June 2026, more than double the 2020 figure, and Duolingo reports that 99% of programmes that started accepting it before January 2021 still do. That is a durable trend rather than a fad. It is still, however, the shortest acceptance list of the four.

What you get for the price is the thing the other three can't match: you sit it at home, on demand, in about an hour, with a result in two days. It reports on a 10–160 scale in 5-point steps, plus four skill subscores and four integrated ones (Literacy, Comprehension, Conversation, Production), so a university can set a floor on the skill it cares about rather than only on the total. Its CEFR alignment was validated in a 2023 external study run with subject-matter experts and independent psychometric review — which is why the B1–C2 ranges in the table above exist as published figures rather than folklore.

• Check the programme, not the university. Acceptance is often set per faculty or per degree, and a graduate school can differ from the undergraduate admissions page on the same site.
• Check the score they want, in DET terms. Institutions publish DET minimums directly now; don't convert from an IELTS band you saw elsewhere.
• Take the environment seriously. It is remotely proctored, with real ID and room requirements, and the rules are enforced. A rejected session is a wasted fee.
• Have a fallback. If one of your five applications insists on IELTS or TOEFL, you'll need that test anyway — so sequence it: DET first if most of your list takes it, the expensive test only for the outlier.

When is a Cambridge qualification the right answer?

When the certificate is for your career rather than for one deadline — because it is the only one of the four that never expires. Cambridge states plainly that "your Cambridge English certificate does not expire", while IELTS advises institutions not to accept a result more than two years old and ETS says TOEFL scores stay active for two years. A C1 Advanced you passed years ago is still a C1 Advanced today. For a CV, a professional register, a teaching qualification or a promotion file, that permanence is worth more than a faster result.

The second reason to choose Cambridge is structural: it is the only level-specific option here. B2 First is a B2 exam and C1 Advanced is a C1 exam, so the decision of which to enter is itself a statement about your level — and getting it wrong is expensive in a way the others aren't. IELTS, TOEFL and the DET all cover the whole range in one sitting and interpret your score afterwards; with Cambridge, sitting the exam a level above where you are mostly buys you a fail. If you're weighing the two adult exams against each other, our guide to B2 First versus C1 Advanced works through that call in detail.

How long do your results stay valid?

Cambridge certificates never expire; IELTS and TOEFL results are treated as two-year documents; and the Duolingo English Test is time-limited from the test date. That gap is the single most under-weighted factor in this decision, because it decides whether you are buying a document or renting one.

• Cambridge — "Your Cambridge English certificate does not expire." There is no end date on it.
• IELTS — the standing recommendation is that institutions should not accept a result more than two years old as proof of current ability, unless it comes with evidence that the candidate's English has been maintained or improved since.
• TOEFL — ETS states that "TOEFL scores stay active for two years", which is also why old-scale 0–120 reports will keep circulating into late 2027 despite the January 2026 change.
• Duolingo English Test — Duolingo says results are valid for a set period from the test date but does not name it on its own explainer, so confirm the number with the institution you are applying to rather than assuming.

The five-minute decision

Work through these in order and stop at the first one that applies. Almost nobody needs to get past step three.

1. Does the institution or government you're applying to name one test? Then that's the test. Nothing else in this guide overrides a published requirement, and no amount of "it's equivalent" wins that argument at a visa desk.
2. Is this an immigration route to the UK, Australia, Canada or New Zealand? Then it is almost certainly IELTS, and the required band is set in the rules. Check the route, not a general page.
3. Do all your target programmes accept the Duolingo English Test? Then take it: US$65, an hour, a result in two days. Keep IELTS or TOEFL in reserve only for an outlier that refuses it.
4. Is it a US or Canadian university with no DET option? Take TOEFL iBT, and read its requirement carefully during the dual-reporting window — the number on its page may still be on the old 0–120 scale.
5. Do you want a certificate for your CV rather than for one deadline? Take the Cambridge exam that matches your level. It is the only result here with no expiry date.

And do one thing before any of that. Every one of these tests is priced as though you already know roughly where you stand, and the most expensive mistake in this whole process is registering for an exam at a level you haven't reached — a wasted fee, a wasted sitting, and usually a wasted application cycle. A free five-minute check gives you a CEFR-aligned estimate to aim from, and our page on whether you're ready for IELTS turns that estimate into a go/no-go on the band you need.