Quick answer: there is no single "cheapest English test" — the honest answer depends on which skills you need certified and whether a UK visa (SELT) is part of your requirement. DET (~$70) is the cheapest test here by a wide margin, but it isn't SELT-approved. Among SELT-approved options, LanguageCert and IELTS UKVI land within a few pounds of each other once converted to the same currency — neither is a clear winner on price alone. Sort by price first and you'll pick the wrong test as often as the right one; this page sorts by price and what that price actually buys.
TL;DR
- Cheapest overall: Duolingo English Test, about $70 — not SELT-eligible.
- Cheapest SELT-eligible route: LanguageCert's Speaking & Listening-only SELT, about $200 / £148 — but it only covers two skills, so confirm your visa route accepts that before booking it over a full test.
- Full four-skill SELT tests (LanguageCert Academic/General SELT vs IELTS UKVI) are close enough in price that the difference isn't a meaningful deciding factor.
- Password (£80–£110) undercuts every SELT option on price, but has no speaking component at all and isn't SELT-approved.
- TOEFL and TOEIC don't publish one global price — ETS prices both by country, so the figures below are third-party-aggregated ranges, not official quotes.
1. Methodology — how these numbers were put together
Prices below come from each test's own published pricing (or, for TOEFL and TOEIC, from third-party test-prep sites, since ETS doesn't publish one global figure — see section 6). Several tests are quoted in GBP on this site because PrepLearnio's own UK-visa-focused guides already cross-checked those figures; LanguageCert and DET are quoted in USD because that's how their own pricing pages present them. To make an apples-to-apples table possible, every price is also shown converted to the other currency at the approximate mid-market rate of £1 ≈ $1.35 (as of early August 2026). Exchange rates move — treat the converted column as a same-week approximation, not a locked figure, and confirm the exact fee in your own currency before paying.
2. Full comparison table
| Test | Price | Skills covered | Results in | UK SELT? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LanguageCert Academic/General SELT | ~$270 (≈£200) | 4 (R/W/L/S) | ~10 business days | Yes |
| LanguageCert Speaking & Listening SELT (A1/A2/B1) | ~$200 (≈£148) | 2 (L/S only) | ~10 business days | Yes, for eligible routes only |
| LanguageCert International ESOL | Varies by country | 4 (R/W/L/S) | ~10 business days | No |
| IELTS UKVI | ~£196 (≈$265) | 4 (R/W/L/S) | 3–5 days (computer) / ~13 days (paper) | Yes |
| PTE Academic | ~£170 (≈$230) | 4 (R/W/L/S) | 2 working days | No |
| Cambridge B2 First | ~£155 (≈$209) | 4 (R/W/L/S) | ~2–4 weeks | No |
| Password Skills | ~£80–£100 (≈$108–$135) | 2 (R/L only) | ~5–7 days | No |
| Password Skills Plus | ~£89–£110 (≈$120–$149) | 3 (R/L/W, no speaking) | ~5–7 days | No |
| Duolingo English Test (DET) | ~$70 (≈£52) | 4 (R/W/L/S, AI-scored) | 48 hours | No |
| TOEFL iBT† | ~$173–$475 (varies by country) | 4 (R/W/L/S) | ~4–8 days | No |
| TOEIC Listening & Reading† | ~$140 (varies by country) | 2 (L/R only) | ~1–3 weeks | No |
† ETS doesn't publish one official global price for TOEFL or TOEIC — its fee pages ask you to select a test location first, confirming prices are set per country. The figures above are ranges reported by third-party test-prep sites, not ETS's own page. See section 6 before relying on them.
3. If a UK visa (SELT) is your actual requirement
This is the one factor that overrides price entirely. Per the UK government's own guidance, only four providers are approved as Secure English Language Tests: Trinity College London, the IELTS SELT Consortium, LanguageCert, and Pearson (PSI Services outside the UK). Of the eight tests in this table, only LanguageCert and IELTS UKVI are SELT-approved. PTE Academic, Password, DET, TOEFL, TOEIC and Cambridge B2 First are not on that list — no price advantage changes that. If your requirement is a UK visa, skip straight to comparing LanguageCert and IELTS UKVI and ignore the rest of the table.
Between those two, the honest read is that price isn't the deciding factor: LanguageCert's full four-skill SELT (~$270, ≈£200) and IELTS UKVI (~£196) are within a few pounds of each other once converted at the same rate — closer than a day's currency fluctuation. Decide between them on turnaround, test-centre availability near you, or format preference instead. For the fuller breakdown, see our dedicated LanguageCert vs IELTS for UK visas comparison.
4. If price is your only constraint and a visa isn't involved
Then the table above has a clear answer: DET, at about $70, is roughly a third of the next-cheapest option and returns results in 48 hours. The trade-off is that every DET task, including speaking, is scored by algorithm with no live human interlocutor, and it isn't accepted everywhere IELTS or PTE are — check your target institution's list before assuming DET works. See LanguageCert vs DET for the fuller trade-off if a visa might still be relevant to you later.
If you want a live-assessed alternative that's still meaningfully cheaper than IELTS or PTE, Password (£80–£110) is the next-cheapest option — but note it has no speaking section in either variant, so it only works where your target institution explicitly doesn't require a certified speaking score.
5. The apples-to-oranges trap: partial-skill tests
Three of the options above don't test all four skills, and comparing their price directly against a full four-skill test is misleading:
- LanguageCert Speaking & Listening-only SELT certifies two skills for about $200 — cheaper than the full SELT, but only valid for the specific UK visa routes that accept a two-skill result. Confirm your route accepts it before booking the cheaper option.
- Password Skills covers only Reading and Listening; Skills Plus adds Writing but never Speaking. Neither variant can substitute for a test that requires a certified speaking score.
- TOEIC Listening & Reading is priced and booked as a separate product from TOEIC Speaking & Writing — the ~$140 figure above covers only two skills, not four.
The lesson: always check the "skills covered" column, not just price, before assuming a cheaper test is a valid substitute for a full four-skill requirement.
6. Why TOEFL and TOEIC don't have one official price
Unlike LanguageCert, IELTS, PTE and DET, ETS (which owns both TOEFL and TOEIC) doesn't publish a single global fee on its own pricing pages — both ask you to select your test location first, and the resulting price depends on the country and local test centre, with taxes added on top in some regions (the TOEFL fee page explicitly notes VAT is added for EU countries). Reported figures for both tests vary widely by source: third-party test-prep sites cite a TOEFL range of roughly $173–$475 depending on country, and a TOEIC Listening & Reading price around $140 with Speaking & Writing around $157. None of that comes from ETS's own page directly, so treat these as directional estimates — the only reliable number is the one your local ETS-authorised centre quotes you.
7. Decision framework
| Your situation | Look at |
|---|---|
| Need a UK visa | LanguageCert or IELTS UKVI only — price difference is negligible, decide on turnaround/availability |
| Budget is the top priority, no visa involved | DET first if your institution accepts it; Password if you need a live-assessed but not speaking-tested result |
| Need results fastest | DET (48 hrs) or PTE (2 working days) |
| Applying mainly to US/Canada | DET or TOEFL — check each institution's accepted-tests page directly |
| Need a live human speaking assessment specifically | LanguageCert, IELTS, PTE (recorded, human-marked), Cambridge, or TOEFL — not DET, not Password |
For LanguageCert's full format, scoring and prep timeline, see the LanguageCert Complete Guide. For head-to-head breakdowns, see LanguageCert vs DET, LanguageCert vs Password, and LanguageCert vs IELTS for UK visas.
Frequently asked questions
Which English test is the cheapest overall? The Duolingo English Test (DET) is the cheapest of the eight tests here at about $70. But DET is not on the UK Home Office's approved SELT provider list, so it can't be used for a UK visa regardless of price.
Which is the cheapest UK-visa-eligible (SELT) test? Among SELT-approved options, LanguageCert's Speaking & Listening-only SELT (about $200 / £148) is the cheapest — but it only certifies two skills, so check your visa route accepts a two-skill result before booking it over a full four-skill test. For a full four-skill SELT, LanguageCert (~$270 / £200) and IELTS UKVI (~£196) land within a few pounds of each other once converted at the same exchange rate; neither is a clearly cheaper choice than the other.
Does Password ever beat LanguageCert on price? Yes, clearly. Password Skills and Skills Plus run roughly £80–£110, well under any LanguageCert variant. The trade-off is that Password isn't SELT-approved for UK visas, and neither Password variant has a speaking component at all.
Why don't TOEFL and TOEIC show one official global price? ETS prices both tests by country and local test centre rather than publishing a single global figure — its own fee pages ask you to select a location first. The ranges shown here are drawn from third-party test-prep sites that aggregate reported prices, not from ETS's own page, so treat them as directional and confirm the exact fee for your country before booking.
Is the cheapest test always the best choice? No. A cheaper test that doesn't cover the skill your visa or institution requires, or isn't accepted where you're applying, isn't actually cheaper — it's a wasted fee. Cross-check the skills-included and SELT-eligibility columns above against your actual requirement before deciding on price alone.