ArielleOrganic Search & Marketing @ PipUpdated July 2026
9 min read
Search "11+ apps" and you will find a mix of things: genuine phone apps, browser-based platforms parents still call apps out of habit, and downloadable paper packs. We compare all seven honestly, prices checked this month, and flag clearly which ones are a real app on your child's phone and which are a website with a login.
Short on time? The quick verdict:
Only real native app in this list: Pip, free for unlimited daily practice, iOS and Android.
Biggest question bank (web only): Atom Learning, £383.90 to £671.90 a year billed annually.
Best cheap, exam-realistic papers: Exam Papers Plus, Trustpilot 4.9/5 from ~1,560 reviews.
Full transparency: Pip is our own app, and it appears in this list. Everything we say about every tool here, including ours, is factual, sourced and checked this month, and we tell you exactly who each alternative suits better than us. That is the only way a comparison like this is worth your time.
What actually makes a good 11+ app
A surprising number of the products parents call "11+ apps" are not apps at all, they are websites, and that distinction matters more than it sounds. A browser platform asks a child to sit at a desktop or open a laptop, which adds friction to the five-minutes-before-school or ten-minutes-on-the-bus practice that actually builds a habit. A real phone app removes that friction entirely. Of the seven tools below, exactly one, Pip, is a native app on both the App Store and Google Play; the rest are strong platforms in their own right, but they live in a browser tab.
Beyond that, the things worth comparing are the same as any 11+ tool: does it adapt to what your child gets wrong, does it cover the four core subjects (Maths, English, Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning) in the right exam format for your area, what does the free tier actually include, and what is the real annual cost once you look past the headline monthly price. We checked all of it this month.
1Pip: 11+ PracticeOUR APP
Best free tier, and the only real native appInside Pip: the Non-Verbal Reasoning skill tree with the 3D Lab (Pro), a 3D nets-and-cubes question, and the Number codes game.
PriceFree for unlimited daily practice. Pip Pro is £7.99 a month or £59 a year (about £4.92 a month) with a 7-day free trial.
What free gets youUnlimited adaptive questions across Maths, English, VR and NVR, five question formats, instant explanations, streaks and leagues, multiple child profiles, no ads, no sign-up, zero data collection. Plus the free printable papers, vocabulary flashcards and the grammar-school catchment checker on this site.
What Pro addsFull timed mock papers in all four subjects with instant marking, answer review and topic breakdowns, the Word Quest vocabulary booster, and 3D and spatial Non-Verbal Reasoning practice.
Subjects & boardsAll four 11+ subjects in the standard GL-style multiple-choice formats, generated fresh daily so children never memorise a fixed bank.
PlatformiOS and Android (App Store and Google Play), plus free practice and printables in any browser.
Honesty cornerPip is newer than the big names, so it does not have years of Trustpilot history yet. That is the full list of caveats.
Pip tops this list for one simple reason: it is the only genuine native app here. Bond, Atom, CGP and BOFA all run in a browser, however good the site, and asking a nine-year-old to sit down at a laptop for practice is a harder habit to build than handing them a phone for five minutes before school. The Non-Verbal Reasoning engine is the part that stands out on close inspection: every figure is generated and machine-verified to have exactly one defensible answer, including the 3D and spatial types most competitors skip entirely.
ReviewsTrustpilot around 4.4/5 from 1,300+ reviews. Praise for support and results; recurring complaints about price and cancellation friction.
Watch outIt is the most expensive mainstream option by far, and some parents report the real exam felt harder than Atom's questions.
Atom is the engine to beat on raw depth: a 90,000+ question bank, adaptive weekly plans mapped to named target schools, and mock tests covering GL, Cambridge-style, ISEB, CSSE, CAT4 and consortium formats. It has no mobile app at all, everything happens in a browser, and mocks are gated behind the priciest £69.99-a-month tier (£671.90 a year on annual billing). For households that want the platform to do the diagnosing and do not mind the bill or the desktop-first workflow, it remains the most complete option after Pip.
3Bond Online
Cheapest heritage name (web only)Bond Online
PriceBasic £7.50 a month or £65 a year (new-subscriber prices from February 2026). The genuinely adaptive experience costs much more: Premium from £20.66 a month (£247.92 a year) and the ISEB-endorsed Premium Plus from £28.99 a month (£347.92 a year), both powered by CENTURY's AI.
FreeFree sample quizzes and a free mock on the Try It page. Trial references a card upfront, so diary the cancel date.
Subjects & boardsEnglish, Maths, VR and NVR in the GL style; the ISEB-endorsed Premium Plus tier covers pre-tests.
PlatformWeb only
ReviewsTrustpilot 2.2/5, but from only 11 reviews, so treat it as anecdotal either way.
Watch outThe basic platform feels dated, true adaptivity is paywalled behind the pricier CENTURY tiers, and the Trustpilot is thin (2.2/5 from only 11 reviews), with recurring login and billing complaints.
Bond is the name every UK parent already recognises, and the basic Bond Online tier is genuinely cheap at £65 a year. The catch is that the real adaptive experience sits behind the CENTURY-powered Premium (£20.66 a month) and ISEB-endorsed Premium Plus (£28.99 a month) tiers, the base plan is closer to a digital workbook, and it is web-only with a platform that feels its age. Its Trustpilot is thin, 2.2 out of 5 from just 11 reviews, so treat that as anecdotal in either direction. Still the safest heritage pick if you want the famous books alongside a bit of screen practice.
🆓 TRY THIS TODAY
Reasoning practice that feels like a game
This is the Number codes game, one of dozens of skills inside Pip: crack which digit stands for which letter, then earn XP for speed. Word Quest does the same for vocabulary, the biggest single lever in verbal reasoning, and the 3D Lab (Pro) lets children spin real solids with a finger. Start with the free flashcards on this site, then let the app take over the daily reps.
Price£7.50 a month or £60 a year (checked on CGP's page this month). Books £6.95 to £16.95, most with free Online Editions.
FreeGenuinely useful free layer: free online 10-minute tests and free downloadable practice papers in all four subjects.
Subjects & boardsAll four subjects, GL-focused, with the famous book range behind it.
PlatformWeb (plus the books)
ReviewsNo product-specific Trustpilot; CGP's book reputation speaks for itself.
Watch outNot adaptive, and there is no mock-exam service or deep analytics - it is honest drilling, not a coach.
CGP earns its spot for the free layer alone: free online 10-minute tests and free downloadable papers in all four subjects before you spend a penny, backed by the trusted CGP book range most tutors already recommend. £60 a year buys unlimited practice on top. It is not adaptive, there is no mobile app, and it is honest drilling rather than a coaching platform, but per pound it is hard to fault as a foundation layer.
5BOFA 11+
Best value adaptive loop (web only)BOFA 11+
Price£9.50 a month rolling, or fixed terms: £40 for 6 months (+1 free) and £70 for 12 months (+3 free).
Free7-day full-access trial plus demo tests without payment details.
Subjects & boardsEnglish, Maths, VR, NVR for ages 7 to 11; board-agnostic with GL and CEM-style coverage.
PlatformWeb only
ReviewsNo meaningful Trustpilot footprint; long-standing quiet reputation on parent forums.
Watch outThe interface is plain and there is little gamification, so self-motivated children get the most from it.
BOFA is the value pick among the web platforms: its test-teach-retest loop quietly redrills every wrong answer until it sticks, real spaced repetition, for £70 across 15 months, a fraction of Atom's bill for a similar underlying idea. There is no app, the interface is plain, and there are no streaks or leagues, so it suits a child who does not need gamification to sit down and get on with it.
6Exam Papers Plus (+ Pretest Plus)
Best exam-realistic papers (PDF, not an app)Exam Papers Plus (+ Pretest Plus)
PricePay per pack: typical 11+ packs £20 to £30 with 2-year access; school and region bundles run to £85+ (Kent) and beyond. Sister site Pretest Plus sells ISEB, CAT4 and Cambridge Select online tests in bundles (the 15-test ISEB bundle saves £257).
FreeSample content only.
Subjects & boardsGL, CEM-style, ISEB, CSSE and named-school packs, with video solutions on many products.
PlatformDownloadable PDFs + online tests via Pretest Plus
ReviewsTrustpilot 4.9/5 from about 1,560 reviews - the strongest score in the category.
Watch outCosts stack up quickly across packs, and PDFs are not adaptive; this is rehearsal material, not daily practice.
Exam Papers Plus is not an app at all, it is downloadable PDF packs, but it earns a place here because nothing else on this list matches its exam-day realism: school-specific and region-specific papers with video solutions and the category's strongest Trustpilot, 4.9 out of 5 from around 1,560 reviews. Treat it as the dress-rehearsal layer that sits alongside a daily app rather than a replacement for one; per-pack pricing (typically £20 to £30) adds up fast if you buy broadly.
7PiAcademy
Best worked solutions per pound (PDF, not an app)PiAcademy
PriceOne-off 12-month packs rather than subscriptions, e.g. the 11+ SPaG and vocabulary pack at £59; marketing quotes pennies per paper.
FreeA large free hub of past papers with answers.
Subjects & boardsBoard-agnostic paper library: 230+ 11+ maths papers and 100+ English papers, all with step-by-step solutions.
PlatformPDF downloads
ReviewsTrustpilot around 5/5 from roughly 100 reviews (always cite the count: it is a small sample).
Watch outStatic PDFs with no marking or adaptivity, and the perpetual was-price discounts make real prices hard to read.
PiAcademy is the value-per-pound champion for worked examples: a large library of 11+ papers, each with a full step-by-step solution, sold as one-off packs (from around £59) rather than a subscription. Like Exam Papers Plus it is static PDFs with no app and no auto-marking, so it complements daily adaptive practice rather than replacing it. Trustpilot sits around 5 out of 5, but from a modest 100 or so reviews, so read a few before you buy.
Side by side
All prices re-checked on the official sites in June 2026; Trustpilot scores include review counts because a 2.2 from 11 reviews and a 4.9 from 1,560 are not the same kind of evidence.
Tool
Price (checked June 2026)
Free
Platform
Trustpilot
Pip: 11+ Practice
Free · Pro £7.99/mo or £59/yr
Everything daily is free; 7-day Pro trial
iOS & Android apps + web tools
New app - no review history yet
Atom Learning
£39.99 to £69.99/mo (annual saves 20%)
5-day trial, no card; free for Pupil Premium
Web
~4.4/5 (1,300+)
Bond Online
£7.50/mo · Premium £20.66 · Plus £28.99
Sample quizzes + free mock
Web
2.2/5 (11 reviews)
CGP 11+ Online
£7.50/mo · £60/yr
Free 10-minute tests + papers
Web + books
n/a (shop-wide)
BOFA 11+
£9.50/mo · £70/12mo+3 free
7-day trial + demo tests
Web
No profile
Exam Papers Plus
Packs £20 to £30; bundles £85+
Samples
PDF + online (Pretest Plus)
4.9/5 (~1,560)
PiAcademy
One-off packs, e.g. £59
Free past-paper hub
PDF
5/5 (~100)
Start free in the next five minutes
Whichever platform you end up choosing, these three things are free right now and useful with any of them.
📄 Free 24-question NVR paper
Exam-difficulty figures with a full worked answer key. No email, no sign-up, just the PDF.
Pip generates fresh adaptive questions every day, free, with no ads and no account.
Questions parents ask
What is the best 11+ app?+
Pip is the only genuine native app on this list, free for unlimited adaptive daily practice across Maths, English, VR and NVR, with Pro mocks at £59 a year. If you specifically want an app your child opens on their own phone rather than a browser tab, it is the clearest fit.
Are Atom Learning, Bond and CGP actual apps?+
No. All three, along with BOFA, run in a web browser on desktop, tablet or mobile, with no dedicated App Store or Google Play listing. They are strong platforms, but if "app" specifically means something installed on a phone's home screen, none of them qualify.
What is the cheapest 11+ app or platform?+
Pip's daily practice is completely free, with free printable papers in all four subjects on the same site. Among paid subscriptions, CGP (£60 a year) and Bond (£65 a year) are the cheapest mainstream options.
Is a paper-based tool like Exam Papers Plus or PiAcademy still worth it if I use an app?+
Yes, and many families do both. Daily app practice builds skills efficiently with instant feedback; printed, timed papers from a specialist like Exam Papers Plus or PiAcademy build the exam-day mechanics of working on paper against a clock, which a screen alone does not teach.
Which 11+ apps cover Non-Verbal Reasoning?+
Pip, Bond, Atom and BOFA all cover VR and NVR in some form. Pip's NVR questions are engine-generated and machine-verified to have exactly one defensible answer, including 3D and spatial types, which is the area most competing platforms cover more thinly.
