IELTS vs TOEFL vs PTE: Which English Test Should You Take?

The short answer

If you read nothing else: the best test is the one your destination accepts most easily. Don't pick by "which is easiest". Pick by "which gives me the cleanest path to acceptance". Most people find that's IELTS, but not everyone, and the right choice depends on three things — country, programme, and your own profile.

That said, the three tests are genuinely different. If your destination accepts all three, the differences below should drive your choice.

The three tests at a glance

	IELTS Academic	TOEFL iBT	PTE Academic
Owned by	Cambridge / British Council / IDP	ETS	Pearson
Total length	~2h 45m + 11-14m Speaking	~2 hours	~2 hours
Skills tested	Listening, Reading, Writing, Speaking	Listening, Reading, Writing, Speaking	Listening, Reading, Writing, Speaking
Speaking format	Face-to-face with examiner (or video)	Recorded — you speak into a mic	Recorded — you speak into a mic
Scale	0-9 band, 0.5 increments	0-120 (4 sections × 0-30)	10-90
Result delivery	3-5 days (computer) / 13 days (paper)	~6 days	1-3 days
Validity	2 years	2 years	2 years
Computer or paper	Both	Computer only	Computer only

Recognition — the most important factor

The single biggest reason to pick one test over another is whether your destination actually accepts it cleanly. Wrong test, wrong fee.

UK universities and UK visas: IELTS is the default and most cleanly accepted. PTE Academic is widely accepted at universities but rejected for some Tier 4 / Student visa categories — check the exact wording on your offer letter. TOEFL is accepted at most UK universities but used to be rejected by UKVI for visas (this has eased; verify for your year).

US universities: TOEFL is the default. IELTS Academic is widely accepted at US universities — over 3,000 institutions take it. PTE is accepted at fewer US programmes but acceptance is growing.

Australia, Canada, New Zealand: All three tests are widely accepted for both universities and immigration. Australian skilled migration accepts all three; Canadian immigration accepts IELTS and one TOEFL variant (TOEFL CAEL) but generally not standard TOEFL iBT for Express Entry — check the latest IRCC list. PTE is heavily marketed in Australia and India and is a strong choice there.

EU universities that teach in English: IELTS is the most widely accepted; TOEFL is widely accepted; PTE is less consistently accepted. If you only check your top choice and not your back-up, you can lose flexibility.

Professional bodies (medicine, accountancy, law) in English-speaking countries: IELTS is almost always the default. Some accept OET as an alternative for healthcare. TOEFL and PTE are not always accepted for professional registration. Read your professional body's guidance, not the university's.

The overarching rule: confirm acceptance for your specific programme and your specific visa. Don't assume "it's a UK uni so any test works" — different courses inside the same university sometimes set different minimums, and the visa office is a separate authority.

Format differences that affect difficulty

Speaking — the biggest split

This is where the three diverge most:

• IELTS Speaking: a real human examiner asks you questions in a conversation. You can ask them to clarify; they may smile or nod. It's stressful but human. About 11-14 minutes.
• TOEFL Speaking: you talk into a microphone in a noisy test room with other candidates also speaking. There's no human; you respond to prompts on screen with strict 45-60 second time limits. The room is loud — you'll hear other test-takers. Some candidates find this much harder; others prefer it because there's no judgement face.
• PTE Speaking: similar to TOEFL — recorded into a microphone, no human, strict timing, often in a noisy lab. PTE's Speaking is automated-scored, which means it rewards clear pronunciation and steady pacing more than nuance.

If you find face-to-face conversation pressure unbearable, recorded Speaking (TOEFL/PTE) might suit you. If you're used to muddling through human conversations and panic at "RECORD NOW" prompts, IELTS suits you.

Reading — passage style and density

• IELTS Academic Reading: three long passages (~700-900 words), 40 questions, 60 minutes. Mix of question types including True/False/Not Given, Matching Headings, Sentence Completion. Heavy emphasis on close reading and inference.
• TOEFL Reading: two passages (~700 words each), 20 questions, 35 minutes. Mostly multiple choice. More straightforward question types but tighter pacing per question.
• PTE Reading: a mix of multiple choice, drag-and-drop sentence ordering, fill-in-the-blank cloze tests. Reading and Writing are partially integrated. ~30-35 minutes.

For most candidates, TOEFL Reading is the most predictable (almost all multiple choice, no Matching Headings traps) and IELTS Reading is the hardest to learn but rewards practice. PTE rewards strong general reading + a feel for academic register.

Writing

• IELTS: two tasks (Task 1 + Task 2), handwritten on paper or typed on computer-delivered, 60 minutes. Both are essays. Subjective scoring by examiners.
• TOEFL: Integrated essay (read + listen + write a response, 20 minutes) + Discussion essay on academic post (10 minutes). Total 30 minutes. Subjective scoring by examiners + AI.
• PTE: a "Write Essay" task (200-300 words, 20 minutes), plus Summarize Written Text (a one-sentence summary task) and integrated speaking/writing items. Fully AI-scored.

PTE rewards clear, structured prose with very little personal voice, because the AI is scoring against patterns. TOEFL's integrated essay rewards good note-taking and synthesis — a niche skill. IELTS Writing is the most "essay-like" of the three; if you write well in English, IELTS Writing is the most natural.

Listening

All three test similar skills with different formats:

• IELTS: 30 minutes of audio, 40 questions, single play. Voices are British/Australian/Canadian/American. Conversational and academic.
• TOEFL: lectures and conversations on academic topics, multiple choice. Heavily American accents. ~36 minutes.
• PTE: a mix of summarise-spoken-text, fill-in-the-blanks, multiple choice, transcription. Diverse accents.

IELTS Listening is generally the most predictable because it has stable question types. TOEFL Listening rewards good note-taking on long lectures. PTE Listening's Summarize Spoken Text is the hardest single item if you struggle with spelling or grammar under time pressure.

Cost

Fees vary by country and year, but ballpark:

• IELTS: roughly US$220-260
• TOEFL iBT: US$200-300 depending on country (often the most expensive in some markets)
• PTE Academic: US$170-230 — typically the cheapest of the three

Cost is rarely the deciding factor unless you'll retake multiple times.

Speed of results

If you have a fast-approaching application deadline:

• PTE: results within 1 to 3 days (sometimes hours). The fastest.
• IELTS computer-delivered: 3 to 5 days.
• TOEFL iBT: 6 days average, sometimes longer.
• IELTS paper-based: 13 days.

For tight deadlines, PTE wins on speed.

Which is "easier"?

This is the question everyone wants answered, and the honest answer is: the easiest test for you is the one whose format you've practised. Native ability transfers across all three; skill at the test format is what gets you the score. A motivated candidate who does 30 hours of focused practice for IELTS will almost always score better on IELTS than on PTE, even if their underlying English level is identical.

That said, here are tendencies:

• PTE rewards: clear pronunciation, calm pacing under recording pressure, structured writing, ability to read efficiently.
• TOEFL rewards: academic note-taking, comfort with American academic register, fast reading, working memory under timed conditions.
• IELTS rewards: real conversational fluency in Speaking, methodical reading strategies, the ability to write naturally for a human examiner, comfort with non-American accents.

If you grew up watching American TV and have strong reading speed, TOEFL plays to your strengths. If you have a confident speaking voice and panic on a microphone, IELTS plays to your strengths. If you're a steady, structured writer and a clear speaker, PTE plays to your strengths.

Our recommendation

For most readers of this blog, the answer is IELTS Academic, for these reasons:

1. Acceptance: cleanly accepted by almost every English-speaking university and visa scheme.
2. Speaking with a human: you get conversational Speaking with a real person, not a microphone in a noisy lab. Most candidates produce their best Speaking score this way.
3. Predictable Reading: 11 Cambridge books of past papers in the public domain to drill against. There's no comparable corpus of TOEFL or PTE past papers.
4. Two delivery formats: computer or paper, your choice.

But if your specific destination prefers TOEFL or PTE, follow that signal. The best score on the wrong test is worth nothing.

What's next

If you've decided IELTS is right for you:

• Beginners: read What is IELTS — Academic vs General Training explained.
• Ready to book: see How to register for IELTS.
• Already preparing: try a free practice test from our test catalog. All 132 Cambridge tests are available; the first one in each skill is free.