Pastest alternatives in 2026: 5 options by exam, prices checked
Pastest alternatives by job: for finals, Passmedicine, Passmed, BMJ OnExamination and Quesmed; for MRCP Part 1, Passmedicine at £45 for six months vs Pastest £149.99; for clinical reasoning practice, Diagnosica. Checked November 2026.
Diagnosica makes an AI patient simulator and appears on this list, so we have a stake. Every competitor detail comes from that company's public pages, checked on 4 November 2026.
Key takeaways
- Try Pastest's free Knowledge tier for finals, with 127 OSCE videos and 100 questions
- Passmed and Passmedicine are different companies, so check the brand before paying
- Add spoken practice: banks don't rehearse consultations, and Quesmed lists 100 PACES-AI stations
Pastest alternatives by exam, prices side by side
Pastest, plus alternatives Passmedicine, Passmed, BMJ OnExamination and Quesmed, are compared on listed prices by exam as of November 2026. The MRCP Part 1 gap to Pastest is widest, and the table below shows the numbers.
If you're weighing Pastest alternatives, try a practice case alongside your bank. For breadth, see study tools worth comparing.
Product (prices as of November 2026) | Finals and UKMLA | MRCP Part 1 | PACES | PLAB 1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Pastest | Free tier; £9.99 a month or £59.88 a year | |||
Passmedicine | ||||
Passmed | ||||
BMJ OnExamination | ||||
Quesmed | ||||
Diagnosica | Not a question bank; free to start, no card | No pack | No pack | No pack |
For six months of MRCP Part 1, Pastest costs £104.99 more than Passmedicine, £90.99 more than Passmed, £50 more than BMJ OnExamination and £30 more than Quesmed. That's our arithmetic on their listed prices.
Six months of MRCP Part 1 at five banks, listed prices, checked November 2026.
Passmedicine £45, Passmed £59, BMJ OnExamination £99.99, Quesmed £119.99, Pastest £149.99.
Is anything cheaper than Pastest for finals and MRCP?
Yes. Passmedicine, Passmed and BMJ OnExamination undercut Pastest on listed prices as of November 2026. For six months of MRCP Part 1 they list £45, £59 and £99.99. For 12 months of finals they list £30, £39 and £20.99 against Pastest's £59.88 a year for Knowledge+.
Passmedicine lists over 12,000 finals questions and offers a free demo. Over 5,400 MRCP Part 1 questions sit on its MRCP page; see Passmedicine's full price list.
Passmed has more than 6,400 finals questions and over 6,300 for MRCP Part 1. Its terms give a 7-day trial with no card, up to 50 questions, and one-off payments with no auto-renewal.
BMJ OnExamination offers 10 free questions every day. Its finals prices sit beside struck-through higher prices, so treat them as sale prices; see BMJ OnExamination in depth.
Watch out. Passmed (Passmed Pte. Ltd., Singapore) and Passmedicine (PassMedicine Ltd, London) are separate companies on their own legal pages, with different banks and prices; check the web address before you pay.
Which Pastest alternatives let you practise out loud?
Another question bank won't rehearse a consultation. Three of these options list an AI patient: Quesmed for OSCE and PACES stations, Passmedicine inside its PLAB Part 2 resource, and Diagnosica for full cases. Use them alongside your bank to practise history-taking and explanation out loud.
As of November 2026, Quesmed's OSCE-AI page lists an AI patient by text or voice, 340+ stations across the CPSA blueprint, and line-by-line marking. Its PACES product lists 100 stations you practise out loud. Its pricing FAQ says subscriptions are rolling and renew, so cancel if you don't want that.
Quesmed's PACES product is the closest thing to a direct Pastest PACES alternative here. See Quesmed and Pastest compared. Passmedicine's PLAB page says its PLAB Part 2 resource has virtual patients you can take a history from using AI.
Watch out. It's a simulator rather than a question bank. There's no MRCP or PACES pack, and it doesn't do physical examination practice. For PACES examination stations use real patients and tutors. See PACES preparation on your own.
How Diagnosica helps with this
You ask. The AI patient answers. Order tests, commit your diagnosis, see a scorecard.
Diagnosica app, guided case history, as of October 2026.
- Tap a question in a guided case.
- A note says why that answer mattered.
- Over 130 full cases take your own words, by voice or typing.
Simulated patient. Screenshot from Diagnosica, October 2026.
Where Pastest still wins
Pastest is worth keeping if you want the free UK student tier, past papers and textbook in one place, or a PACES library built around example cases for structured finals and early MRCP prep.
On Pastest's pages as of November 2026, you get:
- Free UK student tier (Knowledge tier): 127 Gold Standard OSCE videos and 100 questions, free.
- MRCP Part 1 depth (MRCP Part 1 page): over 5,000 questions, over 30 bespoke past papers, nearly 700 textbook topics.
- PACES library (PACES page): 135 example cases and role-play exercises.
Pastest lists Tutor mode, "Instant, on-demand AI support while you answer questions", and Ask Pastest on MRCP Part 1, which references Pastest content and NICE guidelines. An AI patient you can talk to isn't listed, as of November 2026, on the clinical exam page or the PACES page. See Passmedicine against Pastest.
Pastest's home page says it has been helping doctors for over 50 years. MRCP products include 48 hours free, so test them before you pay.
Pick a Pastest alternative by your next exam
Pastest alternatives work best when you start with the exam, not the brand. The right pick shifts from finals to MRCP to PACES, and a bank plus spoken practice isn't either-or. From what we can tell, no option covers everything.
A route from your next exam to the option to look at first, using prices checked November 2026.
Pick one path based on the exam in front of you:
- Finals written papers: start with Pastest's free tier, then Passmedicine or Passmed.
- Clinical stations: Quesmed for OSCE stations and marking; Diagnosica for full cases.
- MRCP Part 1: Passmedicine or Passmed on price, Pastest for past papers.
- PACES stations: stay with Pastest for example cases, or Quesmed for spoken stations.
UKMLA AI tools compared if you're after finals tools; Sketchy Cases alternatives if you're on a US route.
Pastest's site carried a banner for 15% off selected revision resources on 4 November 2026, so check the checkout price before comparing.
Keep whichever bank you pick, and run a case between question sets. It's free to start, no card needed.
