ExamFX Alternatives, Compared
ExamFX is the brand most people benchmark insurance exam prep against, so it is the right place to start a comparison. This page puts the things that actually differ side by side: what each provider charges, how long you keep access, what a pass guarantee requires of you before it pays out, and what you give up at each price point. Every competitor figure here was read off the provider's own site on 2026-08-17 and is cited at the bottom.
Ranked: which ExamFX alternative fits which candidate
Ranking prep courses on a single overall score would be dishonest, because the right choice changes with your situation. A candidate whose employer is paying should not buy the cheapest option, and a candidate who learns by watching an instructor should not buy a pure question bank. So this list is ranked by how many candidates each option is the right answer for, with the reason stated.
- 1
Elite Training Academy
Best for: Lowest total cost, and anyone who might need more than 60 days
$49.99 one time, per course · Access: Lifetime, no renewal fee
Question banks are weighted to the state's published exam content outline rather than spread evenly across chapters, so study hours land where the scored questions are. Typically 500+ practice questions per course, a full-length timed exam simulator, and an AI tutor on every lesson that re-drills what you miss. There is no live class, no printed manual and no pass guarantee. Access does not expire, which matters most to candidates who retake, who postpone, or who come back later to add a line of authority.
- 2
ExamFX Video Study
Best for: On-demand video lectures with instructor support
$219.95 · Access: 60 days
ExamFX's mid tier adds on-demand video lectures and online flashcards to the self-study portal, with instructor and technical support and its ReadySCORE readiness measure. This is the package most people mean when they say they used ExamFX. If you learn from watching an instructor work through material and you intend to test inside two months, the video library is a real advantage that no amount of question drilling replicates.
- 3
Kaplan Premium
Best for: Live instructor-led online class with a national brand behind it
$329 (Texas P&C) · Access: 60 days, extensions sold separately
Kaplan's Premium package bundles a live online class, its printed and digital study materials, a question bank, checkpoint and mastery exams, and instructor access. Kaplan also publishes an access-extension price list, which is the clearest signal in the category that 60 days is not always enough. The Kaplan Commitment money-back guarantee applies if you meet its stated criteria.
- 4
ExamFX Self-Study
Best for: The cheapest way into the ExamFX platform
$169.95 producer, $129.95 adjuster · Access: 60 days
The entry tier is the interactive learning portal, exam simulations, the readiness exam and instructor support, without videos or flashcards. It is the closest structural comparison to what we sell, which makes the price and access-window gap the honest headline: roughly three times the price for a window that closes.
- 5
A.D. Banker
Best for: Live web classes and printed manuals, especially for employer-paid students
Not published on the course page · Access: 60 days online, 6-month web class subscription
A.D. Banker sells an online course with 60 days of access and a 30-day extension option, plus web classes on a 6-month subscription with unlimited retakes and hard-copy manuals. Prices are quoted rather than listed on the course page, so we do not state one here. Worth a call if your agency reimburses training or you want a physical manual.
- 6
Whatever your employer already pays for
Best for: Anyone with a sponsored access code
$0 to you · Access: Set by the sponsor
Carriers and agencies commonly buy ExamFX or Kaplan seats in bulk and hand new hires an access code. If that is on the table, take it. A course someone else pays for beats a cheaper one you pay for, and nothing stops you from adding a low-cost question bank alongside it if you want more practice volume.
Prices and access terms are the providers' own published figures as of 2026-08-17 and change without notice. Confirm current pricing on the provider's checkout page before you buy.
Elite Training Academy vs ExamFX, line by line
| Elite Training Academy | ExamFX | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $49.99 per course, one time | $169.95 / $219.95 / $299.95 producer; $129.95 / $179.95 adjuster |
| How long you keep access | Lifetime, no renewal fee | 60 days per prelicensing package |
| What happens when time runs out | Not applicable | Not stated on the pages we checked; ask before you buy |
| Practice questions | Typically 500+ per course, weighted to the state outline | Exam simulations included in every package; count not published |
| Full-length timed simulator | Yes | Yes, plus its ReadySCORE readiness measure |
| Live or recorded instruction | No live class; AI tutor on every lesson | On-demand video in the two higher tiers; live webinars in the top tier |
| Pass guarantee | None. We do not offer one and cannot guarantee a score | Refund of course cost if you score 80%+ on the Readiness Exam and fail within three days; some restrictions apply |
| Advertised pass rate | We do not publish one | ExamFX advertises 93% overall, methodology not published |
| Refund window | 7 days, with conditions | See ExamFX's own terms |
| State coverage | The states listed in our course catalog | States ExamFX lists as covered, per its own site |
| Phone access | Browser-based, works on a phone | Mobile compatibility stated for its CE product |
ExamFX figures verified 2026-08-17 on examfx.com. This table compares published terms, not content quality, which no outside party can measure for you.
What ExamFX does well
It would be easy to write this page as a hit piece. It would also be useless, because ExamFX is a serious product with a long track record and millions of learners, and plenty of people pass with it. Three things it genuinely does that we do not: it sells on-demand video lectures and live webinars, which is the right format for people who learn by watching someone teach; it offers instructor support, a human to ask when a concept will not land; and it publishes a conditional money-back pass guarantee, which some buyers want even when the conditions make payout unlikely. It also lists coverage across all 50 states and D.C., which is broader than our catalog.
The 60-day window is the category default, and it is the thing to check
The most useful thing we found while verifying prices for this page had nothing to do with price. Every major provider we checked sells a time-limited access window, and they land in the same place: ExamFX at 60 days, Kaplan at 60 days, A.D. Banker at 60 days online with a 30-day extension option. Kaplan goes further and publishes an extension price list, at $29 for 30 more days, $39 for 60 and $49 for 90. Providers do not build and price an extension product for a problem that never happens.
Sixty days is plenty if you start studying the week you buy and test on schedule. It stops being plenty in exactly the situations where you need the material most: after a failed attempt, after a move or a new job pushes your exam back a month, or a year later when you add a line of authority. That is the case for lifetime access, and it is a narrow case rather than a universal one. We wrote it up in full in lifetime access vs 60-day access.
Read the pass guarantee before you value it
A pass guarantee sounds like insurance against failing. Read the mechanics and it usually is not. ExamFX's, per its own site on 2026-08-17, refunds the cost of the course if you score 80% or higher on its Readiness Exam and then fail your state exam within three days, with some restrictions applying. Both conditions do real work: a candidate already scoring 80% on a readiness measure is, by construction, the candidate least likely to fail, and the three-day clause excludes anyone who postpones. Kaplan's Commitment works on the same principle, returning the package if you meet its criteria.
We do not offer a pass guarantee, and we would rather say why than invent one: no course can control whether you study, and a guarantee that pays out only to people who were going to pass anyway is a marketing asset rather than a safety net. What we offer instead is a 7-day refund window with conditions, described in our refund policy, and access that does not expire if you do have to go again.
On advertised pass rates
ExamFX advertises a 93% overall pass rate, with higher figures on individual course pages. No methodology accompanies those numbers, so there is no way to know which population they describe or how a pass is attributed. That is not unique to ExamFX; self-reported pass rates are standard across the category and are essentially unauditable from the outside. We do not publish one, which is a deliberate choice rather than a modest one. If a pass rate is going to move your decision, ask the provider to state the denominator.
Where our state coverage stands
This is the comparison where the national providers are ahead of us, and pretending otherwise would be silly. ExamFX lists courses for all 50 states and D.C. Our catalog is narrower and grows as we build each state to its own published exam outline rather than reskinning a national course.
Live right now:
Alaska, Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Vermont, Washington, Wyoming.
Check the course catalog for what is available in your state today. Note also that pre-licensing education and continuing education are sold only where we hold the required state approvals, while exam-prep courses serve states that let candidates study independently. Our state-by-state guide explains which regime you are in and why it changes what you should buy.
How to decide, in four questions
- Does my state require approved pre-licensing education? If yes, provider approval outranks every other factor. Start at your Department of Insurance.
- Do I learn from video, or from doing? If watching an instructor is what makes material stick for you, pay for the video tier. If you learn by answering questions and reading why you were wrong, a question bank is the higher-value purchase.
- What is my realistic timeline, including a retake? If there is any chance you slip past two months, price the extension before you compare the headline prices.
- Is anyone else paying? If your carrier or agency hands you a code, use it.
The long version of this, with nine criteria and what each one does to your odds, is in how to choose an insurance exam prep course.
Try the question bank before you compare anything
The fastest way to judge any prep course is to answer its questions and read its explanations. Ours are free to sample, no account required, in the real exam format. Full courses are $49.99 with lifetime access.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest ExamFX alternative?
Elite Training Academy at $49.99 per course with lifetime access is the lowest-priced option in this comparison. Verified on 2026-08-17, ExamFX's producer prelicensing packages ran $169.95 to $299.95 with 60 days of access, and Kaplan's Texas P&C Premium package was $329 with 60 days plus paid extensions. Price is only one input though. If you need a live instructor or your employer is paying for a specific provider, cheapest is not automatically best.
How does Elite Training Academy compare to ExamFX?
The structural differences are price, access length and instruction format. We charge $49.99 once for lifetime access to a state-outline-weighted question bank, a timed full-length simulator and an AI tutor. ExamFX charges $169.95 to $299.95 for 60 days of access, and its higher tiers add on-demand video lectures and live webinars that we do not offer. ExamFX also offers a conditional pass guarantee; we do not offer any guarantee. If video instruction matters to you, ExamFX has something we do not. If total cost and keeping your materials matter more, we do.
How long does ExamFX access last?
Verified on 2026-08-17, each ExamFX prelicensing package page listed 60 days of course access, for both producer and adjuster lines and across the state pages we checked. Its continuing education product is described on its site as 365-day access. A 60-day window is enough for most candidates who start studying right away, which is why the access question mostly matters if you retake, postpone, or want to review later.
Is a 60-day access window a problem?
Not for most people. It becomes a problem in three situations: you fail once and need to re-study past the window, life interrupts and you postpone the exam, or you want to review before adding another line of authority later. Kaplan sells access extensions at $29 for 30 days, $39 for 60 days and $49 for 90 days, which tells you how often candidates run past the default window. Ask any provider what an extension costs before you buy.
Does ExamFX really have a 93% pass rate?
ExamFX advertises a 93% overall pass rate on its site, and higher figures on individual course pages. No methodology is published alongside those numbers, so there is no way to confirm what population they describe, whether they count students who completed the course, or how a pass is attributed. Treat any provider's self-reported pass rate, including any you see elsewhere, as marketing rather than as an audited statistic. We do not publish a pass rate for the same reason.
What does the ExamFX pass guarantee actually require?
Per ExamFX's own page, verified 2026-08-17: you must score 80% or higher on its Readiness Exam, then take and fail your state licensing exam within three days, and it refunds the cost of the course. The site adds that some restrictions may apply. Read those restrictions before you treat the guarantee as a safety net. As a rule, a guarantee that requires you to already be scoring 80% is a guarantee that pays out rarely, which is exactly why providers can offer it.
Do I have to use a state-approved provider?
It depends on your state. Some states require candidates to complete state-approved pre-licensing education before sitting for the exam, and in those states the provider's approval status matters more than any feature or price. Other states let you study however you like and simply require you to pass the exam. Check your state's Department of Insurance and your testing vendor's candidate handbook first. Our state-by-state guide walks through how to tell which regime you are in.
Can I use a cheaper question bank alongside a course my employer bought?
Yes, and it is a common pattern. If your employer hands you an ExamFX or Kaplan code, use it for the instruction, and add a second question bank if you want more practice volume or you want to keep drilling after the sponsored access expires. Nothing about one provider's course prevents you from practicing elsewhere.
Keep reading
- How to choose an insurance exam prep course: a 9-point checklist
- Lifetime access vs 60-day access: what course access windows cost you
- Why people fail the insurance licensing exam
- How to pass the insurance exam faster without cutting corners
- State by state: how your exam prep should change
- Why we cost less than Kaplan and ExamFX
- How to study for the insurance licensing exam
Sources cited, all verified 2026-08-17
- ExamFX - Texas Life prelicensing packages (Self-Study $169.95, Video Study $219.95, Live Online $299.95, each with 60 days of course access)
- ExamFX - Texas Property & Casualty prelicensing packages (same three tiers, same 60-day access)
- ExamFX - Adjuster prelicensing packages (Self-Study $129.95, Video Study $179.95, 60 days)
- ExamFX - Insurance exam prep (advertised 93% overall pass rate; pass guarantee terms requiring 80%+ on the Readiness Exam and a state exam attempt within three days, some restrictions apply)
- ExamFX - home (coverage stated as 50 US states and D.C.; 365-day access on continuing education)
- Kaplan Financial Education - Texas Property & Casualty (Premium $329, 60 days; access extensions $29 / $39 / $49 for 30 / 60 / 90 days; Kaplan Commitment money-back guarantee)
- A.D. Banker - Property & Casualty prelicensing (60-day online access with a 30-day extension option; web classes on a 6-month subscription; package prices not published on the page)
Competitor prices, access terms, guarantee conditions and coverage claims are the providers' own published figures as read on 2026-08-17 and can change at any time without notice. Verify current terms on the provider's own site before purchasing. Elite Training Academy is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by ExamFX, Kaplan Financial Education or A.D. Banker, and all product names and trademarks belong to their respective owners. Nothing here compares content quality, and no prep course, including ours, can guarantee a passing score.