If you are looking for a GP SelfTest alternative in 2026, it is worth knowing what GP SelfTest is: the RCGP's own official AKT and learning-needs-assessment tool, free for RCGP members and GP trainees. For anyone in training, that is a strong, curriculum-perfect baseline that is hard to beat on price. iatroX is a different kind of tool — an adaptive question bank with a Socratic tutor and clinical AI, covering the AKT at £29/month or £99/year alongside many other exams. This guide is honest about both: where GP SelfTest's official status and free access win, and where iatroX's adaptivity and breadth add something.
What GP SelfTest is, and why GP trainees use it
GP SelfTest is the RCGP's official learning-needs-assessment tool and question bank, for GPs at every career stage — from AKT preparation to annual appraisals. It offers around 2,950 questions, all written by practising GPs and the RCGP, perfectly aligned to the GP curriculum and updated monthly, with AKT-style questions, mock exams, peer scores and a performance breakdown by curriculum category. Crucially, it is free for RCGP members and GP registrar members as a membership benefit, while non-members can buy a six- or twelve-month subscription. For a trainee, that makes it free and official — its two biggest strengths. Because it is built and maintained by the College that sets the exam, it tracks curriculum and guideline changes closely, and the category breakdown maps directly onto how the AKT itself is structured — so a weak area it flags is a weak area the real exam will probe. For many trainees it is simply the obvious starting point, and rightly so.
How iatroX compares
iatroX is an adaptive question bank built around five things: a Socratic tutor that works back through the reasoning behind a wrong answer; questions mapped meticulously to the GP curriculum; spaced repetition; a genuinely adaptive engine that targets your weak areas; and native iOS and Android apps. Its AKT bank is £29/month or £99/year — one subscription that also covers UKMLA and every other bank — and it adds clinical AI guideline lookup and calculators. For exams beyond the AKT, MRCP, MRCEM, the PSA and PARA are free, while the MSRA is on the subscription. The distinction in practice is between assessment and tuition: GP SelfTest is excellent at telling you where you stand against the curriculum, while iatroX is built to do something about it — surfacing more questions in your weak areas and, through the Socratic tutor, working back through why you got something wrong rather than only that you did.
The honest comparison
| iatroX | GP SelfTest | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | AKT £29/month or £99/year (covers UKMLA and more) | Free for RCGP members/trainees; otherwise paid |
| Authorship | Mapped to the GP curriculum | Official RCGP, written by GPs |
| Adaptivity | Adaptive engine plus a Socratic tutor | Self-assessment; category breakdown |
| Coverage | AKT plus many other exams | AKT and GP learning needs |
| Extras | Clinical AI lookup, calculators | Peer scores, appraisal use |
(Competitor details as of mid-2026 — confirm current access and pricing on the RCGP site.)
Where iatroX wins
The clearest difference is adaptivity: an adaptive engine and Socratic tutor that target your weak areas and rebuild reasoning, rather than a self-assessment that reports where you stand. There is also breadth — one subscription covers the AKT, UKMLA and many other exams, with MRCP, MRCEM, the PSA and PARA among them free, which matters if you are sitting more than the AKT. And it adds clinical AI and calculators alongside the questions, and is available to anyone, not only RCGP members. That last point matters for international graduates and non-members, who cannot access GP SelfTest free and for whom a single iatroX subscription covering the AKT, UKMLA and everything else can be better value than separate purchases.
Where GP SelfTest wins
GP SelfTest's official authorship is something no third party can match: the questions are written by the RCGP and perfectly aligned to the curriculum, which is real reassurance. It is free for members and trainees, so if you are an RCGP member it costs nothing, which is hard to beat as a baseline. And it doubles as a learning-needs-assessment and appraisal tool, not just exam prep, with peer scores for context across a whole GP career. No independent product can claim the same official standing, and for a resource you will return to at every appraisal, that durability and authority are worth a great deal.
When GP SelfTest is the smarter choice
If you are an RCGP member or trainee, use GP SelfTest — it is free, official and curriculum-perfect, and there is no reason not to. The strongest AKT preparation often combines the two: GP SelfTest free for official, curriculum-wide self-assessment, and iatroX for adaptive weak-area drilling and a Socratic tutor on top.
How to choose
If you are an RCGP member or trainee, start with GP SelfTest — it is free and official. If you want adaptive targeting, a Socratic tutor or coverage of other exams such as the MSRA, add iatroX, whose AKT bank is £29/month or £99/year and covers much more besides. And if you are not an RCGP member, compare GP SelfTest's non-member subscription against iatroX's £99 a year, which also covers UKMLA and every other bank.
A few common questions
Is iatroX's AKT bank free? No — the AKT, UKMLA, the MSRA, PLAB, the diplomas and SCEs are all on the £29/month or £99/year subscription; MRCP, MRCEM, the PSA and PARA are the free banks.
Isn't GP SelfTest free? Yes — for RCGP members and GP trainees. Non-members pay for a subscription.
Why use iatroX alongside the official bank? For adaptive weak-area targeting, a Socratic tutor and clinical AI, plus coverage of other exams.
Can I use both? Yes — GP SelfTest free for official self-assessment, iatroX for adaptive drilling.