PassMedicine Alternatives (2026): Honest Picks
Where we stand: Diagnosica makes an AI clinical simulator, and we appear on this list. Treat our own entry with more suspicion than the rest, and judge us against the same evidence you use for everyone else.
Typing "PassMedicine alternatives" usually means one of three things: you’ve finished the questions and want fresh stems, you want a second opinion alongside a bank you already own, or you’re moving up a stage and not sure the same tool still fits.
This guide speaks to two people at once, and the right pick differs between them. Students sitting finals or the UKMLA need different support to doctors aiming for MRCP Part 1.
PassMedicine is the default in UK medicine for good reasons. Most readers will keep it and add something on top, not replace it, and if you want to look wider than question banks, see our AI study tool shortlist.
Not a question bank, on purpose Diagnosica is an AI patient you talk to, then get scored on the consultation. Start a case free
What PassMedicine actually gets right
Checked on their own pages on 14 August 2026, PassMedicine earns its default status for finals, the UKMLA and MRCP Part 1 through price, volume and extras that match how people really revise. Familiarity matters when your exam clock is running.
Per PassMedicine's MRCP Part 1 page, MRCP Part 1 is £35 for 4 months or £45 for 6 months, with over 5,100 best-of-five questions and three mocks that mirror timing, question count and distribution.
On its finals and UKMLA package, you get over 11,000 single best answer and extended matching questions, priced at £15 for 4 months or £30 for 12 months. That bundle also includes an OSCE resource and PSA questions.
The extras add real structure. Two textbooks sit alongside the bank, a high-yield syllabus one and an extended one. There is a revision mode and a timed test mode, plus a performance histogram that benchmarks you against other candidates sitting the same exam. There is a free demo.
Breadth helps you stay in one interface for most of a UK career. There are separate products for MRCP Part 1, MRCP Part 2 Written, MRCGP AKT, finals and UKMLA, MSRA, DRCOG, years 1 to 3, UCAT, PLAB Part 1, USMLE Step 1 and the SJT.
Being the default is itself useful. The stems and explanations are familiar, lots of notes and study groups reference them, and switching costs are real once you have habits and tags set.
The alternatives, side by side
Side-by-side view of PassMedicine alternatives for finals, the UKMLA and MRCP Part 1. Every price was taken from each vendor page on 14 August 2026.
- PassMedicine What it is: Single best answer question bank plus two textbooks · UK price, checked August 2026: Finals and UKMLA 4 months £15, 12 months £30. MRCP Part 1 4 months £35, 6 months £45 · Best for: Cheap high-volume question practice at either stage
- Quesmed What it is: UK question bank covering UKMLA, MRCP Part 1 and 2, MSRA, PLAB, plus OSCE and PACES mark schemes · UK price, checked August 2026: Not listed on a fetchable page in August 2026 · Best for: Students who want notes, questions and station mark schemes in one place
- Pastest What it is: MRCP Part 1 question bank with over 5,000 questions, over 30 past papers and nearly 700 textbook topics · UK price, checked August 2026: MRCP Part 1: 3 months £99.99, 6 months £149.99, 12 months £199.99. 48-hour free trial · Best for: MRCP Part 1 candidates who want past-paper style volume
- BMJ OnExamination What it is: Question banks across most UK exams, 3,190 questions on MRCP Part 1 · UK price, checked August 2026: MRCP Part 1: 1 month £53.99, 6 months £99.99, 12 months £159.99. Finals from £11.99 for 3 months. 10 free questions daily · Best for: Short, dated revision runs close to an exam
- iatroX What it is: AI reference tool grounded in NICE, CKS, SIGN and SmPC with citations, plus adaptive question banks and mock exams across 40-plus exams · UK price, checked August 2026: Free tier includes the MRCP Part 1 bank with no card. £29 a month or £99 a year · Best for: Looking things up and question practice in the same tool
- Diagnosica What it is: AI clinical simulator. You talk to an AI patient, order investigations, commit to a diagnosis and plan, then get scored. Not a question bank · UK price, checked August 2026: Free tier is one case a week. £22 a month or £189 a year on UK cards · Best for: The spoken consultation, which no question bank tests
These tools do different jobs, so pick by the gap you need to fill. Most readers add one of them to PassMedicine rather than swap it out.
See what a marked case looks like One free case a week, no card. Start free
If you're sitting finals or the UKMLA
If you want a like-for-like swap for PassMedicine, Quesmed is the obvious one. It covers UKMLA, MSRA, UCAT and PLAB, carries OSCE, PACES and interview mark schemes with progress tracking, integrates notes with its question banks, and has iOS and Android apps, all listed on Quesmed's own product list and checked in August 2026.
We’re not going to re-argue the head-to-head here, we already wrote it, see Quesmed and PassMedicine head-to-head.
AMBOSS is the other common addition, and the useful question is whether it adds anything on top of a UK bank rather than replacing one. If you’re weighing that stack, start with AMBOSS compared with Quesmed.
One caution that saves money more often than anything clever, buying a second question bank before finishing the first is the most common way to waste it. Finish the one in front of you, then decide where the actual gaps are.
If you're sitting MRCP Part 1
All figures and features below were checked on their own pages on 14 August 2026. If you are sitting MRCP Part 1, you probably already know PassMedicine, but the alternatives do different jobs at this level.
Pastest is the serious paid rival here, with over 5,000 exam-style questions, over 30 bespoke past papers, nearly 700 high-yield textbook topics, and a 48-hour free trial. It lists £99.99 for 3 months, £149.99 for 6, £199.99 for 12 on Pastest's MRCP Part 1 pricing, roughly five times PassMedicine's 4-month MRCP option at £35, and the honest question is whether that extra past-paper volume earns its keep.
BMJ OnExamination carries 3,190 MRCP Part 1 questions and sells by the month, with 10 free questions a day. Pricing shows £53.99 for 1 month, £99.99 for 6, £159.99 for 12 on BMJ OnExamination's MRCP bank, which matches what BMJ OnExamination actually costs, and its shape suits a short, dated run rather than a year of study.
iatroX is the outlier. The free tier includes the whole MRCP Part 1 question bank with no card, plus a guideline-grounded reference that cites NICE, CKS, SIGN and SmPC. Paid is £29 a month or £99 a year, and a free bank is worth knowing about whatever else you buy.
PassMedicine's own MRCP page says only 37% of candidates pass each sitting, which is a stark filter.
Where Diagnosica fits, and where it doesn't
Diagnosica is not a question bank. There are no single best answers in it at all, so if what you need is more SBAs, everything above serves you better and you should buy one of those. There is no physical examination practice either, you reason from findings you are told about, you cannot elicit them.
What it does is different. You take a history from an AI patient by voice or text, order investigations, commit to a diagnosis and a management plan, then defend your reasoning to an AI senior and get a scorecard.
A question bank tests whether you recognise the answer. It cannot test whether you can hold the consultation, or reason out loud with a clock running. That is the gap we cover, and the only one we are claiming to cover.
Scoring rubrics are calibrated to the published mark sheet for PACES, MRCEM, RCGP SCA, USMLE Step 3, PLAB-2, MCCQE, RACGP AKT and NEET-PG. You see where you gained and lost credit against those domains.
There are 74 cases across 14 specialties in three difficulty bands, and every case is written and signed off by a doctor. The product is live and early, expect rough edges. You will not practise examination technique here, only apply findings given in the story.
Free tier is one case a week. Standard is £22 a month or £189 a year on UK cards. It doesn't give advice about real patients, and it's not a diagnostic system. Treat every output as educational.
How to choose without wasting a term
Here’s how to pick among PassMedicine alternatives without burning weeks on indecision or duplication.
- Finish the bank you already own before buying a second one. Switching midstream fragments recall and hides whether gaps are content or consistency.
- If you’re a student and PassMedicine’s style isn’t landing, swap like for like with Quesmed rather than a different tool. Compare item style and explanations, and read our take on alternatives to Quesmed.
- If you’re sitting MRCP Part 1 on a tight budget, pick one credible bank and commit. Overlap across banks is high, and finishing one pass plus a review cycle usually beats juggling two half-finished sets.
- If you’re within weeks of the exam, buy by the month not the year. Your horizon is fixed by the test date, and long plans slip without adding learning.
- Only add a different category of tool when it teaches what a bank can’t. Simulators and references can pressure-test history-taking or give rapid lookups for students, see tools aimed at the UKMLA, but they won’t replace SBAs.
Is PassMedicine still worth it in 2026?
Yes, for most UK medical students and MRCP Part 1 candidates in 2026, PassMedicine is still worth it. Its price and the sheer volume of questions are hard to match. The better decision is usually not replacement, but what to pair with it to shore up the gaps your revision actually has.
Switching outright has a weak case unless you dislike the interface or find the explanations unhelpful. If the issue is stamina, breadth or repeated exposure to variants, staying put and increasing daily question cadence usually addresses more of that problem than a platform swap.
Adding something makes more sense, and it depends on the hole you feel. For MRCP Part 1, the most common gap is past-paper volume and recall style. For both groups, the blind spot is spoken consultation practice, which no question bank tests live. Diagnosica covers that specific piece.
Add the part a question bank misses Run a free case and commit to a diagnosis out loud. Try Diagnosica
Diagnosica is an independent educational platform and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by PassMedicine, Quesmed, Pastest, BMJ, iatroX, or any other third-party product or trademark named in this article. All trademarks remain the property of their respective owners. Product comparisons are for educational purposes and reflect publicly available information at the time of writing, August 2026.
Educational use only. Not medical advice. AI-generated; verify clinically against primary sources.
Clinical review pending.
Last checked: 14 August 2026.
