Is Medly AI worth it?
Explore the free and paid plans, AI marking and research to find the right fit for your GCSE or A-Level revision.
If you've ever finished an exam question and wished someone could talk you through your answer straight away, that's where Medly can help. For GCSE and A-Level revision, a Medly AI subscription gives you room to practise as much as you like, with marking and feedback whenever you need them. It costs £24.99 a month or £180 a year, and you can get to know Medly first with a free plan that has no end date.
We'll walk you through the free and paid plans, their benefits and drawbacks, and what the research and student reviews say, so you can decide what fits your revision.
How much does Medly cost?
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | £0, no card needed | Lessons, notes and flashcards, plus 5 marked questions, 20 AI tutor messages and 1 uploaded paper a day |
| Monthly | £24.99 a month | Unlimited marking and tutoring. Cancel any time |
| Annual | £180 a year (£15 a month) | The same, paid once a year |
We run offers from time to time, and you always see the exact price before you pay. The person who buys a paid plan must be over 18. Every limit is listed in our guide to what's free on Medly, so take a look if you're unsure which plan suits you.
If you'd welcome a little extra support with your revision, our Medly Bursary offers up to 50 free places a month to UK students in Years 10 to 13 who attend a state or grammar school or are home-schooled.
Medly AI free vs paid: what does a subscription add?
Every subject, lesson and note is on the free plan, so paying changes how much you can do in a day. You get unlimited marked questions, unlimited uploaded papers and unlimited AI tutor messages, and you can use the tutor inside lessons, textbooks and flashcards.
When you're working through a topic, a subscription lets you keep going beyond those first five marked questions. You can revisit an answer after reading the feedback, practise the parts you found tricky and come back to them later to check what you've remembered.
Does Medly work?
The strongest evidence is a randomised controlled trial designed and analysed by WhatWorked Education with Professor Steve Higgins of Durham University. Thirty-nine teachers ran it with their own GCSE science classes. Within each class, students were randomly assigned to use Medly for 30 minutes a week for four weeks, or to revise the same topic in their usual way.
Across the 644 students who sat both tests, those using Medly scored 22% higher on the post-test, adjusted for where they started. That's 2.56 more marks out of 35, an effect size of 0.33.
Students who answered more questions also tended to score higher: each extra question was associated with about 0.18 more marks. This part of the analysis is still exploratory, so it doesn't establish that each extra question caused that increase.
The trial covered biology, chemistry and physics, so it speaks most directly to those subjects. You can read our summary of the trial or the full paper for more information.
Can you trust Medly AI marking?
This is the question reviewers raise most, so here's a direct answer:
Trustpilot reviews and a tutor's review from November 2025 said long written answers could get different marks on different attempts. We'd heard the same from students. That month we changed how English essays are marked to reduce the variation, and in December 2025 we upgraded marking across subjects.
In June 2026 we published a study of more than 30,000 real student answers, each marked by two qualified examiners. The top AI models agreed with examiners more closely than the examiners agreed with each other, and they scored highly on English essays. The study tested AI models, and its data feeds into how we build Medly's marking.
No marker is exact, and that includes examiners. Ofqual's research on marking consistency shows that English is harder to mark consistently than subjects like maths. Treat a Medly mark the way you'd treat a teacher's mark on a practice essay: a close estimate, with the written feedback as the part that improves your next answer. If a mark looks wrong, check it against the mark scheme and let us know at contact@medlyai.com.
Medly AI reviews: what do students say?
Medly scores 4.2 out of 5 on Trustpilot from 427 reviews (checked on 1 November 2026) and 4.7 on the App Store.
Positive reviews tend to mention the tutor's step-by-step guidance, the practice questions and progress tracking. Critical reviews mention the daily limit on the free plan, the price, occasional bugs, and gaps in some subjects and exam boards. You can explore your subject and exam board on the free plan, work through a few questions and see how the feedback fits the way you like to revise before choosing a subscription.
Who should pay, and who should stay on the free plan?
Paying is likely to be worth it if:
- you're in the run-up to mocks or exams and practising most days
- you keep reaching the daily limit
- you're in an essay-heavy subject and want every draft marked
- you'd otherwise pay a tutor mainly to mark work
The free plan is likely to be enough if:
- you revise a few times a week
- you mainly want lessons and notes
- your exams are more than a year away and you're building a habit
- your subject or exam board isn't covered yet
Medly or a private tutor?
Most GCSE tutors in the UK charge £25 to £50 an hour, so one hour a week comes to about £100 to £200 a month. Medly's monthly plan is £24.99 and covers all your subjects.
A good tutor knows the student, keeps them accountable and notices when they've stopped following. Medly covers the daily part, marking each answer as soon as it's written. The two also work well together, because a tutor can spend the hour on whatever the marking showed was going wrong.
Frequently asked questions
Is Medly AI free?
Yes. Medly AI has a free plan with no end date and no card needed. It includes lessons, notes and flashcards, plus 5 marked questions, 20 AI tutor messages and 1 uploaded paper a day. A paid subscription removes those daily limits. Our guide to Medly's free plan explains what's included.
Is Medly better than Save My Exams?
They suit different needs. Save My Exams is built around examiner-written notes and exam questions, with AI marking on selected courses in its Premium plan. Medly teaches, tutors and marks in every subject it covers. Our full comparison and guide to Save My Exams alternatives go into the detail.
Is Medly good for A-Levels?
Medly covers A-Levels across AQA, Edexcel, OCR and CIE, and we added 30 more A-Level subject options in September 2026. It works the same way as at GCSE: exam-style questions, marking against the mark scheme and a tutor for when you're stuck.
Is Medly legit?
Yes. Medly is a UK company, more than 400,000 students have used it, and its content is checked by qualified teachers, including senior examiners. You can read about how we keep students safe and how we verify our content here.
Can you cancel a Medly AI subscription at any time?
Yes. You can cancel a paid plan at any time, and the free plan stays available to you afterwards.
The simplest way to decide
Make Medly part of your revision for a week on the free plan. Get to know the feedback, revisit a topic you've been working on and see whether you'd like more time to practise with us.