Best Medly AI Alternatives for GCSE Revision in 2026

If our Medly AI review put you off, or the £25-a-month price tag doesn't sit right for something with inconsistent marking, here's what's actually worth using instead, free and paid.

Why parents go looking for an alternative

Medly's pitch is strong, AI-powered personalised learning, instant marking, predicted papers. The problem, as we found when testing it directly, is execution. The same essay scored anywhere from 27/35 to 35/35 depending on when it was resubmitted, and A-Level content turned up mixed into GCSE sections. For a paid tool built around trust in its marking and content accuracy, those are serious gaps.

None of that means AI or app-based revision is a bad idea. It means the specific execution matters more than the pitch, and there are options that get the fundamentals right.

Free alternatives worth using

Maths Genie. Free video tutorials and worksheets organised by topic and grade, built by a maths teacher rather than generated. No AI marking, no personalisation, but the content is accurate and clearly laid out, which is more than some paid tools manage.

Physics and Maths Tutor. A free hub of real, official past papers with worked solutions across every major exam board. If what you actually need is exam-realistic practice rather than AI feedback, this is one of the most reliable free resources available.

Seneca Learning. Free flashcard-style revision with spaced repetition built in, useful for topping up knowledge retention between more structured practice sessions. Works well as a supplement, not a primary revision tool.

Our free resources. Our free maths exam resources page collects AQA, Edexcel, and OCR past papers in one place, and our free learning tools page has additional practice material at no cost.

The pattern with free tools is consistent, they're accurate because a person built them, but none offer the personalised feedback loop Medly promises.

That gap is real, and it's the actual reason paid tools like Medly exist.
The question is whether the paid option delivers on it.

Paid alternatives worth considering

Our Maths Mastery Lessons. Rather than AI-generated content checked after the fact, our Maths Mastery Lessons are built by tutors against the actual specification for each exam board, with instant feedback built into every question. The accuracy problem Medly ran into, content mismatched to tier or board, isn't something we outsource to an algorithm to get right.

1-to-1 tutoring. For a child who needs more than self-directed practice, whatever the tool, structured tutoring adjusts to how they're actually doing in real time, something no app can replicate. Our tutoring packages pair your child with a tutor rather than a chatbot.

Mock exam marking. If the main draw of Medly was instant feedback on practice papers, our mock exam marking service does the same job with a real tutor behind it, marking consistently and explaining exactly where marks were lost, every time, not sometimes.

Medly AI vs SHLC, side by side

Enough parents ask this one directly that it is worth answering on its own. Medly costs around £25 a month, or £100 and up on an annual plan, with frequent discount promotions bringing that down. For that you get an AI tutor which, tested head to head against free ChatGPT, struggled to go beyond a single question and could not reliably generate further practice on demand. Users also report laggy writing features, loading problems and missing data in tables, the sort of friction that adds up across a revision session.

The difference comes down to who checked the work. Every question and every piece of feedback in our lessons has been through someone who knows what each exam board actually assesses, and every marked paper comes back with the same score and the same written explanation each time. If you want cheap volume and you do not mind checking content accuracy yourself, Medly works as a supplement. If you need marking your child can trust and content that matches their tier and board, that is a different kind of service.

How to actually choose

If your child mainly needs volume, more practice questions and past papers, free resources cover that well and cost nothing. If they need someone checking whether what they're revising is actually correct and exam-aligned, that's where a human-built resource earns its price over an AI-generated one. And if they need real feedback that adjusts as they go, not a static score, tutoring is the option that actually does that.

Test-drive the free tools first. If your child is still stuck after that, or you want a second opinion on what's actually holding them back, book a free consultation and we'll tell you honestly what would help.

Aadam, SHLC Tutors