ArielleOrganic Search & Marketing @ PipUpdated June 2026
9 min read
ExamHappy has a genuinely clever core idea: print real-format papers, then scan the answer sheet with your phone and let the app mark it, with video solutions for every question. It is well liked (4.7/5 on Trustpilot, though from only 65 reviews) and founder-led. Whether you want deeper paper libraries, app-first daily practice or simply a free route, here are the five strongest alternatives, prices checked this month.
Short on time? The quick verdict:
Best paper realism: Exam Papers Plus school-specific packs, Trustpilot 4.9/5 from ~1,560 reviews.
Best free daily practice: Pip - unlimited adaptive questions in all four subjects, free, with mocks in Pro at £59 a year.
Best zero-cost start: GL's own familiarisation papers plus the Eleven Plus Exams free library.
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 ExamHappy is (and where the gaps are)
ExamHappy is an app-plus-papers subscription from Exam Happy Ltd (founded December 2020 by brothers who went through London grammar schools themselves). Its Core plan is £16.99 a month, or £9.99 a month billed annually, checked on their pricing page this week; a Plus plan adds school-specific mocks for 170+ schools. The scan-to-mark workflow and per-question video solutions are the standout features, and its small Trustpilot is overwhelmingly positive.
The gaps parents weigh up: papers are written for the GL format (fine for most grammar regions, less so for CSSE-style written papers or ISEB), the company and review base are still small, and the workflow is built around printing - great for exam realism, less convenient for ten-minutes-a-day practice. The alternatives below each solve one of those.
1Exam Papers Plus (+ Pretest Plus)
Best school-specific practice papersExam 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.
If what you value in ExamHappy is realistic papers, Exam Papers Plus is the heavyweight version of that idea: school-specific and region-specific packs with video solutions, 2-year access and the category's best Trustpilot (4.9/5 from about 1,560 reviews). No scan-to-mark cleverness, but the content itself is the closest thing to the real paper you can buy.
2Pip: 11+ PracticeOUR APP
Best free tier, and the best value ProInside 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.
ExamHappy marks your printed papers; Pip removes the printing from the daily loop entirely. Practice happens in-app with instant marking and explanations, adapts question by question, and costs nothing day to day. The printable layer still exists when you want it - four free papers with worked answer keys live on this site. And for the vocabulary grind that GL verbal reasoning rewards, Word Quest turns the Year 4 to 6 lists into a collecting game children return to without being asked.
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 maximalist alternative: a 90,000+ question bank, science included, adaptive weekly plans and unlimited online and printable mocks on the top tier. It costs several times ExamHappy's subscription and lives on the web rather than your phone, but for data-hungry households targeting competitive schools it is the most complete machine in the category.
🆓 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.
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 sits closest to ExamHappy's print-and-practise philosophy, minus the app: a huge paper library where every question has a step-by-step solution, sold as one-off packs. For families who mark together at the kitchen table, the worked solutions teach the method better than a score report ever will.
5The free essentials: GL familiarisation + Eleven Plus Exams
Best zero-cost starting pointThe free essentials: GL familiarisation + Eleven Plus Exams
PriceFree.
What you getGL Assessment's official familiarisation papers in all four subjects (the only materials from the exam board itself), plus elevenplusexams.co.uk's free paper library, regional guides and the UK's largest 11+ parent forum.
PlatformPDF downloads + web
ReviewsEleven Plus Exams holds a 5/5 Trustpilot from 260+ reviews for its shop and mocks.
Watch outFree papers run out fast and nothing is marked for you; pair them with a daily-practice tool.
Before paying anyone, download the exam board's own free familiarisation papers - they are the only materials written by GL Assessment itself - and raid Eleven Plus Exams' free library and forum. This combination is genuinely enough for the first month of gentle starting-out practice, and it costs nothing to find out how your child responds.
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
Exam Papers Plus
Packs £20 to £30; bundles £85+
Samples
PDF + online (Pretest Plus)
4.9/5 (~1,560)
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+)
PiAcademy
One-off packs, e.g. £59
Free past-paper hub
PDF
5/5 (~100)
GL free papers + 11plusexams
Free
Everything
PDF + web
5/5 (260+, EPE shop)
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
How much does ExamHappy cost?+
The Core plan is £16.99 a month, £11.66 a month billed quarterly, or £9.99 a month billed annually (checked on examhappy.co.uk this month). The Plus plan, with school-specific mocks for 170+ schools, is £39.99 monthly or from £14.99 a month annually.
What is the best free ExamHappy alternative?+
Combine GL Assessment's official free familiarisation papers (the only materials written by the exam board itself) with Pip's free daily practice and free printable papers in all four subjects. That covers both rehearsal and daily reps without spending anything.
Which alternative is best for paper-based practice?+
Exam Papers Plus, by some distance: school-specific and region-specific packs with video solutions and the category's strongest Trustpilot. PiAcademy is the budget version of the same idea, with step-by-step solutions on every paper.
Is screen practice or paper practice better for the 11+?+
Both, sequenced. Daily screen practice builds skills efficiently with instant feedback; printed, timed papers build exam stamina and the mechanics of answer sheets. A common failure mode is 100% screen prep followed by a paper exam, so whatever platform you choose, schedule printed papers in the final months.
