Best IELTS Writing Practice Websites (2026): Free Essay Checks

Short answer: IELTSbiz is our top pick for IELTS Writing practice in 2026.

Its free Writing Checker scores any essay against all four official criteria with a band estimate for each, so you learn whether Task Response or Grammatical Range is the real problem - and every correction quotes the sentence it is about.

Checks are free within a monthly allowance with no card; for a taught course add IELTS Advantage, and for unlimited fast AI checks Writing9 ($14.99 a month as of September 2026).

Writing is consistently the lowest-scoring IELTS section worldwide, and the reason is not effort. Candidates write essay after essay with no one to tell them which of the four marking criteria is capping the band.

So this roundup ranks nine Writing practice websites on how well they close that feedback loop, judged on feedback quality, measurement, free access and price.

The full field at a glance, re-checked in September 2026.

How we ranked these Writing websites

Four criteria, in order. First, feedback quality - and for Writing that specifically means criterion-level feedback, because the official band descriptors score Task Response, Coherence and Cohesion, Lexical Resource, and Grammatical Range separately, and each has a different fix.

Second, measurement: can you see your estimated band move across attempts? Third, free access - can you get real scored feedback without paying? Fourth, price against what the paid tier genuinely adds.

For automated scorers we also asked for evidence. The IELTSbiz Writing Checker quotes the sentence behind every correction, so you can check its feedback against your own essay.

Price came last, judged against the traditional alternative: human marking is the gold standard but costs per essay, which rations iteration exactly where volume matters most. The best value in Writing prep is a cheap, criterion-level loop used often, topped by occasional human review.

1. IELTSbiz - Best for 4-criteria band feedback on any essay

Full disclosure: IELTSbiz is our own platform, so weigh this ranking accordingly - and since the Writing Checker is free to try, judging it yourself costs nothing. We rank it first because it is the most direct fix for the actual Writing problem: not knowing which criterion is capping your band.

Paste any Task 1 or Task 2 response into the Writing Checker and it returns a 4-criteria band estimate - a separate score for Task Response, Coherence and Cohesion, Lexical Resource, and Grammatical Range and Accuracy, with feedback under each.

That breakdown matters because a 6.0 caused by underdeveloped ideas and a 6.0 caused by repetitive sentence structures need opposite remedies.

The feedback is checkable, not asserted: each of the four criteria gets its own band, and every correction quotes the sentence it is about. The same free account adds the daily Word Coach - plus the band score calculator and the Reading engine with trap-level feedback.

Two more pieces sit around the checker. The Writing mock test runs Task 1 and Task 2 together under the real 60-minute clock and marks both, which rehearses the time split no single-essay checker can.

And the Band 8 Writing Trainer teaches each Task 2 essay type, each Academic Task 1 chart type and each General Training letter with a model answer, then marks your own paragraphs one at a time on what the paragraph does and the English it uses.

The Trainer's marking is Pro only and is not part of the free trial; one essay type's lessons are open to try first.

The rhythm that works: one timed essay, checked the same day, then rewritten against the weakest criterion before the next new prompt. Because checks are fast, the rewrite happens while the essay is still warm in your head - which is when criterion feedback actually converts into habit.

Most candidates see the pattern in their weakest criterion within the first three or four checked essays.

The fair limits: free checks are capped monthly, and an AI checker teaches through feedback and iteration rather than delivering a structured course - if you need essay strategy taught from zero, pair it with a course below.

Free to start, no card; Pro is from $7.99 a month or $50 lifetime. Our guide to what AI marking can and cannot do sets out the limits.

2. IELTS Advantage - Best examiner-written essay strategy

If your essays stall because you do not know what a Band 7 argument looks like, IELTS Advantage is the deepest teaching on this list.

Its paid courses - the VIP course advertises feedback from ex-IELTS examiners as of September 2026 - take Task 1 and Task 2 apart methodically - question analysis, planning, paragraph logic - grounded in how real scripts are marked, and its free blog is substantial on its own.

The cautions: the premium courses are a meaningful outlay, and the model is teaching rather than high-volume scored practice. Best for: candidates who need the method itself taught before iteration can help - our IELTS Advantage comparison shows how to combine teaching with a feedback tool without paying twice.

Its free blog alone is worth weeks of study if Writing strategy is new to you - the question-analysis articles in particular fix the most expensive Task 2 error, which is answering a slightly different question from the one asked.

If you buy a course, commit to finishing it in order and writing the essays it assigns; the method compounds, and dipping in randomly wastes most of what you paid for.

3. Writing9 - Best for fast AI essay checks at volume

Writing9 is a dedicated AI essay checker: paste an essay, get a band estimate with highlighted suggestions in seconds. Its strengths are speed and focus - it does one job, does it quickly, and the highlighted-correction format makes weaknesses easy to scan.

As of September 2026 its plans are $7.99 a week or $14.99 a month for unlimited checks, with a discounted yearly option on its pricing page.

The cautions: fuller access requires a subscription, and like all automated scorers its estimates are approximations - it publishes less validation evidence than we would like to see. Best for: high-frequency drafting practice where fast iteration matters more than depth on any single essay.

Its highlight-heavy format suits a specific workflow: draft fast, scan the highlights, redraft immediately. That tight loop is worth more for fluency-building than for precision, so use it in the volume phase of your preparation.

For the final polish phase, when the question is whether a specific essay is genuinely Band 7, prefer a tool with criterion-level reasoning or a human marker - and let the two sources disagree instructively.

4. Engnovate - Best free automated band estimates

Engnovate offers free automated Writing band estimates within its limits, making it one of the cheapest ways to get a number on an essay. For building the habit of finishing timed tasks and getting a rough read on your level, a free estimate beats no feedback at all.

The cautions: the estimates are approximate and the criterion-level explanation is thinner than dedicated checkers provide, since the platform spreads across all four skills. Best for: a zero-cost rough gauge - our Engnovate alternative page compares the feedback depth directly.

The free estimates work best as a habit anchor: one timed essay a week, submitted the same evening, keeps the writing muscle active even in busy weeks.

When its number disagrees with a deeper tool, believe the one that explains itself criterion by criterion - and treat the disagreement as a prompt to reread your essay, which is usually where the answer is.

5. Cathoven - Best language-level analysis of your writing

Cathoven approaches writing from the linguistics side: its tools analyse the CEFR level of your vocabulary and grammar, showing objectively whether your language is complex enough for your target band. That is a different lens from band scoring, and a useful one - Lexical Resource problems become visible as data.

Is Cathoven free or paid? Both, as of September 2026. Its Language Hub tools - CEFR text analysis, Level Adaptor, Writing Reviser - are free with daily limits and no card.

Its IELTS preparation, including Writing scored on all four official criteria, Speaking scoring and mock tests, is Premium, with plans from $21 a week on its pricing page.

The cautions: the free half is a language-analysis toolkit rather than an IELTS grader, so on its own it will not judge Task Response or essay structure, and the IELTS scoring half is a separate paid subscription.

Best for: diagnosing whether vocabulary range, specifically, is your ceiling - see our Cathoven alternative page for the comparison.

A practical use: run your last three essays through its analyser and look at the vocabulary profile. If most of your words sit at B1 or below, Lexical Resource is your ceiling and daily vocabulary work will move your band faster than more essays.

If the profile is already strong, your problem lives in structure or task response instead - a genuinely useful fork in the road that band scores alone cannot show you.

6. IELTS Liz - Best free model answers and task strategy

IELTS Liz remains the best free explanation of what IELTS Writing rewards. Its model essays, task-type lessons and tip lists are written by an experienced former examiner, and studying how a model answer earns its band is free education of a kind many paid courses do not improve on.

The boundary is the same as ever: it cannot score your work, so you read, then practise elsewhere. Best for: understanding each task type before you drill it - our IELTS Liz comparison maps where the handover to scored practice belongs.

Study its model essays with a highlighter, not a scroll wheel: mark the position statement, each topic sentence, and every example, then reproduce that skeleton on a fresh question from memory.

That exercise - borrowed structure, your own content - is the fastest free way to internalise what a Band 7+ essay is doing under the surface.

7. Magoosh IELTS - Best video lessons on both writing tasks

Magoosh covers both writing tasks with its usual clear, well-produced video lessons inside a structured subscription with study plans and a question bank. For candidates who want Task 1 report structure and Task 2 essay logic explained step by step on a schedule, the format works.

As of September 2026 both Premium plans - $109 for one month, $129 for six - list unlimited AI Writing grading plus graded writing assessments (one on the monthly plan, four on the six-month plan).

The cautions: it is one of the pricier options here, the teaching rather than the marking is the product's core, and the lesson bank is finite. Best for: learners who want writing taught within a full four-skills course - our Magoosh IELTS alternative page covers pairing it with a dedicated checker.

Its Task 1 lessons earn their keep for Academic candidates especially, because chart-description is a learnable formula and video demonstration teaches it faster than prose.

As with the rest of the subscription, front-load the lessons, then move your weekly essay volume to a tool that scores each attempt - taught technique plus scored iteration is the combination that moves Writing bands.

8. E2 Language - Best human-assessed writing with teaching

E2 Language combines method-led writing lessons with paid options for human assessment, where a teacher marks your actual essay. Human eyes on your specific writing remain the gold standard for nuance - a teacher can spot that your examples are generic in a way automated tools describe more bluntly.

The trade-offs: human marking is slower and costlier per essay than AI checking, so you iterate less often. Best for: periodic deep human review layered over a faster feedback loop - a strong combination if the budget allows both.

If the budget only allows occasional human marking, time it strategically: one assessment after your first fortnight to set direction, and one a month before the test to confirm you are where the automated scores say you are.

Between those checkpoints, the faster AI loop does the volume work - the two kinds of feedback are complements, not rivals.

9. One IELTS - Best free writing practice in test format

One IELTS offers free writing practice in a computer-based-style interface, useful rehearsal now that paper-based IELTS has ended in most markets (the last paper tests ran on 27 June 2026) and typing speed and on-screen planning matter for nearly everyone.

Its app adds AI scoring on Writing, with more behind in-app purchases as of September 2026. The core practice is free, which earns it a place on a list where free scored feedback is scarce.

The limits: feedback depth is modest and the platform is not writing-specialised. Best for: format familiarity on the computer-delivered test - our One IELTS alternative page sets out the fuller comparison.

Unless your centre offers the Writing on Paper option, the typing rehearsal matters more than it looks: a 250-word essay handwritten and the same essay typed are different physical tasks, and planning on screen without a pencil takes practice.

Use it to make the format boring before test day, so all your attention on the day goes to the essay itself.

Should you practise Task 1 or Task 2 more?

Task 2, by weight and by difficulty: it carries twice the marks of Task 1 and fails in more expensive ways. Most candidates should give it roughly two-thirds of their Writing practice time.

But do not let Task 1 become the neglected third. It is more formulaic, which means focused practice pays off quickly - a fortnight of chart-description drills typically stabilises Academic Task 1, and letter-format practice does the same for General Training.

The efficient split: master the Task 1 formula early and cheaply, then spend the long middle of your preparation on Task 2, where the deeper thinking lives. Our guide to describing graphs and charts covers the Task 1 formula in full.

How do you use model essays without memorising them?

Memorised essays fail twice: examiners recognise them, and the question on your test will not match. Models are for reverse-engineering, not reciting.

The working method: read a model once, close it, and write the same essay from its skeleton - position, two main ideas, examples. Compare afterwards and note what the model did that you did not.

Do that weekly and you absorb the architecture of high-band writing while your sentences stay your own - which is exactly what the examiner needs them to be.

How do you actually improve IELTS Writing with these tools?

The loop that works is write, score, rewrite. Draft an essay under timed conditions, get criterion-level feedback, then rewrite the same essay fixing the named weakness - and score it again. One essay taken through two rewrites teaches more than three essays written once.

Volume matters only after the loop exists. Thirty unscored essays entrench the same errors thirty times; ten essays, each scored and rewritten, move a band. Our guide to the Task 2 four-paragraph structure is the right companion for the drafting side.

And keep the inputs honest: real question types, real time limits, real word counts. An essay written without the clock flatters your band, and the flattery gets expensive on test day.

Track the criterion scores across attempts, not just the overall: an essay history where Task Response climbs from 6.0 to 7.0 while grammar holds steady is a plan working, and seeing it keeps the practice honest through the weeks when the overall barely moves.

Writing sits alongside the other skills, so continue with the best Speaking practice websites, the best Reading practice websites, the best Listening practice websites and the best mock test websites, or the full best IELTS websites in 2026 roundup.

On a tight budget, start with the best free IELTS practice websites. Deciding whether to pay at all? The best paid IELTS prep websites guide covers where an upgrade genuinely earns its price.