IELTS-up Review 2026: What the Free Site Still Does Well, and What It Stopped Doing

Verdict up front: IELTS-up is a dependable free classic: full Reading tests, writing samples, vocabulary lists and a Speaking simulator, all without paying. But it has stood still. Its essay-correction service is suspended, its library is small and public, and its footer still says 2015–2019.

We rate it 6.5/10. Our top pick is IELTSbiz, which marks your own work and never runs out of material.

What is IELTS-up?

IELTS-up (ielts-up.com) is a free IELTS preparation website with sections for Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking.

Each section has an overview, practice samples and tips, and the site adds exercises for all four skills, vocabulary lists for Writing and Speaking, a "score maximizer" for planning your preparation, a free trial IELTS test, and free lessons by email.

It does not name its operator on the homepage.

What does IELTS-up offer?

What does IELTS-up do well?

Clear, simple Reading tests. You answer a section, press "check", see what you got right and wrong, and move on. Full 40-question tests for both modules are rarer on free sites than you would expect.

Samples across every task. Academic Task 1, General Task 1 and Task 2 samples in one place make a decent reference shelf.

The Speaking simulator. Recording yourself against timed questions is the single most underused Speaking habit, and IELTS-up makes it easy.

Where does IELTS-up stop?

Nothing marks your writing. When it ran, the correction service offered a band with explanations and a Band 9 sample within 24–48 hours. As of 13 October 2026 the page says it is temporarily suspended. Samples show you a good essay; they cannot tell you what yours would score.

A small, public library. Thirteen Reading tests is a few weeks of study, and the answers sit a click away. After one pass, a retake measures memory.

A score per test, not per question type. You learn your total, not which of the 11 types is costing you, and nothing explains why a distractor fooled you.

It shows its age. The footer reads "© ielts-up.com, 2015–2019". The test format has not changed much since then, but the computer-delivered format most candidates now sit is not what the site was built around.

Verdict: 6.5/10

IELTS-up earns 6.5/10: still a useful free shelf of tests and samples, held back by the suspended marking service, a small public library and little sign of active development.

Our top pick: IELTSbiz

Disclosure: IELTSbiz is ours. It is our top pick for anyone who has worked through IELTS-up, for these reasons:

• Your own essay, marked today. The Writing Checker marks Task 1 and Task 2 on all four criteria separately and quotes the sentence behind every correction, free every month within an allowance. For guided improvement, the Band 8 Writing Trainer (Pro) teaches each essay type and marks you paragraph by paragraph.
• Reading that never runs out. A fresh Cambridge-style passage every session, and full 40-question papers when you want a whole test.
• The trap named on every miss, and a band tracked for each of the 11 reading question types over time.
• Speaking marked, not just recorded. A full three-part Speaking test marked on four criteria, a shadowing studio, and a live mock with a real person from our team.

Every paper is free within an allowance, with no card. Pro removes the limits from $7.99/month or $50 lifetime.

IELTS-up vs IELTSbiz at a glance

If you are just starting out, use IELTS-up's samples and tests to learn the format, then move to IELTSbiz for the marked, measured part of your preparation. The head-to-head is on our IELTS-up alternative page.