ScoreFluentTOEFL vs IELTS, after the redesign.
Most TOEFL-vs-IELTS content online still describes the pre-2026 exam. Here is the comparison as it actually stands today, from a team that runs practice for both exams — plus PTE and LanguageCert.
Five things the redesign changed or didn’t.
Different scales, no official concordance yet
TOEFL now reports band 1–6 in 0.5 steps, per section and overall. IELTS reports band 0–9 in half-band steps. ETS has not published a concordance between the new TOEFL scale and IELTS, so treat any conversion table you find online as unofficial — ScoreFluent won’t print one either.
Integrated tasks are gone from TOEFL, not from IELTS
The 2026 redesign removed every integrated task from TOEFL — no more reading-and-listening-then-writing or listening-then-speaking. Every TOEFL task is now single-modality. IELTS keeps its own established task structure across all four skills.
How the open-response tasks get marked
TOEFL’s constructed-response tasks — Write an Email, Write for an Academic Discussion, Listen and Repeat, Take an Interview — are scored by ETS’s own proprietary AI engines, with human raters stepping in on a QA sample. IELTS Writing and Speaking are marked by human examiners against published band descriptors.
Reading and Listening are now adaptive on TOEFL
Since the redesign, TOEFL Reading and Listening are two-stage adaptive: a router section decides whether you move to a Lower or Upper module. IELTS runs a fixed set of tasks for every candidate.
Section time
The redesigned TOEFL runs about 2 hours in total, with roughly 90 minutes of section time. Check ielts.org directly for the current IELTS timing, since it varies by delivery format.
We run both exams’ practice.
ScoreFluent scores PTE Academic, LanguageCert Academic and TOEFL iBT. That is not a marketing claim — you can practise all three on the same account, which is a genuinely rare position to write a TOEFL-vs-IELTS comparison from. See the full breakdown of what changed in 2026 before deciding which exam to sit.
Choosing questions, answered.
Is the new TOEFL harder or easier than IELTS?
ScoreFluent doesn’t rank the two — they test the same underlying English proficiency through structurally different formats, and difficulty is personal to how you work under each format. What is worth knowing before you choose: TOEFL’s 2026 redesign has no integrated tasks and adaptive Reading/Listening, both genuine structural changes from before.
Does the 2026 TOEFL redesign make it more like IELTS?
No — if anything it moved further apart. Removing integrated tasks makes every TOEFL task single-modality, which is a different shape from IELTS across all four skills. The two exams remain structurally distinct after the redesign, not more alike.
Is TOEFL AI-scored and IELTS human-scored?
For the open-response tasks, yes on both counts. TOEFL’s four constructed-response tasks are scored by ETS’s own AI engines with human QA backstop; IELTS Writing and Speaking are marked by human examiners. Both exams’ objectively-marked skills — TOEFL Reading/Listening and IELTS Reading/Listening — use fixed, rule-based marking.
Can I compare a TOEFL band directly to an IELTS band?
Not officially, at least not yet. ETS has not published a concordance between the new 1–6 TOEFL scale and IELTS bands, so any such table circulating online is unofficial. If your target institution accepts both, check its own published requirement for each exam rather than converting between them.
Which should I take, TOEFL or IELTS, after the redesign?
If your requirement names one exam, take that one. If both are accepted: the 2026 TOEFL redesign suits candidates who prefer single-modality tasks and don’t mind an adaptive Reading/Listening format; IELTS suits candidates who want a human-marked Speaking interview and an established task structure. Sit official practice material for both before deciding.
ScoreFluent is not affiliated with or endorsed by ETS or IELTS. TOEFL facts on this page come from ETS’s TOEFL iBT test content page and its TOEFL iBT Technical Manual (RR-25-12). For current IELTS specifics, check ielts.org directly.
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