As a student, you’ve probably heard of Chegg. It’s famous for helping many students find answers to questions, get homework assistance, and prepare for tests.
In addition to being able to browse previously asked questions, Chegg users can ask questions or even take a picture of a problem and upload it to the site for an expert to answer. Chegg also provides other resources to students, such as flashcards, a plagiarism checker, and cheap textbooks for rent.
There are several platforms like Chegg, namely Quizlet, Answers.com, and 24 Hour Answers. However the best Chegg alternative is Course Hero. Not only do you get plenty of study material and courses but Course Hero also offers expert assistance to your questions and assignments.
The need to explore Chegg alternatives
Chegg isn’t entirely free — you need a subscription to ask questions, and each subscription package only includes a certain amount of questions. After that, you’ll need to pay extra for additional questions.
Chegg Study costs $14.95/month (click here for updated pricing). That’s just out of the reach of many students who don’t have a source of income and are on a budget, especially since it doesn’t even let you ask unlimited questions.
In addition, many students are afraid to use Chegg because their professors frown upon it, thinking that it’s just a website for people who want to cheat.
In fact, professors have gotten pretty good at figuring out which students have used Chegg to cheat. Many professors have “secret” accounts on Chegg that they use to monitor questions similar to the ones they ask on their tests; they then see which students copied answers from Chegg.
It gets even better (or worse, depending on how you look at it). Professors can email Chegg about suspected cheating and violations of Chegg’s Code of Honor to find out if students have been using Chegg.
According to this Reddit thread on the r/professors subreddit, professors can conduct a “Code of Honor violation investigation.” They can receive information such as the username and email address of the student who uploaded a question, when the question was asked, the institution the student attends, and more.
Because some students use Chegg to cheat, many professors have banned their students from using Chegg entirely.
That’s why many students have been searching for alternatives that are not as well known, or not as pricey. Some of those alternatives are entirely free, so you won’t have to pay a monthly plan to ask questions and receive answers.
Finally, some great alternatives to Chegg that existed in the past were bought off by Chegg. For example, StudyBlue and Cramster were both acquired by Chegg.
If you don’t like Chegg’s attempt to monopolize the homework help industry, there are still other alternatives out there, as mentioned above.
Let’s find out more about them, but remember, regardless of why you’re looking for a Chegg alternative, you should never use them for cheating and only to aid in your studies.
Let’s get into it.
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Best Chegg Alternatives
1. Course Hero
The best alternative to Chegg is Course Hero. It boasts over 60 million study materials.
Not only can you browse textbook problems and step-by-step solutions, but you can also ask a question yourself and get an answer in as little as 15 minutes.
It’s cheaper than Chegg — prices start at just $9.95 per month. While there is a free plan, you will have to pay per question, while a subscription gives you a certain amount of questions included per month.
Check this page for updated pricing.
Finding study materials is really easy. You can search by subject or school to find study materials most appropriate for the course you are taking.
You can also browse textbooks online — there are hundreds of textbooks in many subjects, such as biology, chemistry, and accounting. Likewise, you can find textbooks by title, author, or ISBN.
Course Hero is constantly adding new textbooks.
In addition to the textbooks, you can learn with expert-verified textbook solutions and explanations. You can also complete Course Hero exercises with hints and videos to practice your skills and learn new things.
Like Chegg, Course Hero allows you to ask questions and receive expert answers. However, you don’t need to pay to do it!
While premium plans will give you a set number of questions per month, you can also gain access to free questions by simply uploading study documents for others to enjoy or by referring friends.
Course Hero is extremely useful for test prep as well. You can browse exams and standardized tests on all levels, from high school tests to graduate school exams.
These tests allow you to practice for your upcoming exam, locate the areas you need to work on, and get a more rounded test prep.
Finally, Course Hero has a fantastic scholarship program that provides eligible students with a $5,000/year scholarship.
2. Quizlet
Quizlet is another awesome Chegg alternative for study aid, homework help, and reviewing your school coursework. It’s free to use, although there is a Quizlet Plus plan (more on that later).
Using Quizlet, you can:
- Access a wide selection of free textbooks online
- Browse questions on any topic and see expert explanations
- Use flashcards to help guide your studies
You can organize your flashcards and notes into “study sets,” and you can take snapshots of your notes with your camera to add them to your sets. If you’d like to see recommended study materials, simply enter your school and course information, and Quizlet will show you the materials that are best for you.
With Quizlet Plus, you can generate custom study paths, create complex diagrams, learn step-by-step solutions, and a lot more. Quizlet Plus also lets you study offline using the mobile app.
Quizlet might be better than Chegg, since its free plan gives you access to most of the site, unlike Chegg. It’s best if you don’t need direct answers to your questions but just a place to browse or create flashcards for spaced repetition learning.
3. Stack Exchange
Stack Exchange is an excellent Chegg alternative if you’re looking for Q&A help. It’s one of the best places to go for answers on any topic, as there are over 170 sites and subdomains in the Stack Exchange network, each one dedicated to questions on a different topic.
There are a lot more topics than on Chegg, including simple topics like travel and advanced engineering topics.
For example, for answers to mathematical questions, you can go to math.stackexchange.com. You can either browse questions asked by others or ask your own question.
Unlike Chegg, you don’t need to pay any money to ask questions on Stack Exchange. However, do keep in mind that anyone can answer a question on Stack Exchange; you don’t need to be an expert to answer a question, and none of the questions are peer-reviewed.
In other words, take the answers with a grain of salt. Continue to do your own research and do not rely on them 100 percent.
However, people do get badges for providing answers that others find helpful. There are bronze, silver, and gold badges available; the more badges an expert has, the more likely their answer is to be correct and true.
For example, one particular badge is earned when an answer is bookmarked by 25 users. People also get badges and reputation points when users upvote their answers to questions.
Don’t confuse Stack Exchange with Stack Overflow. They are both parts of the same network, but Stack Overflow is a separate domain focused on programming Q&A.
4. Answers.com
Answers.com, or simply Answers, is a great alternative to Chegg. While it has a free plan that will be sufficient for many students, it has a premium plan, Answers+, which is a fraction of the price of Chegg Study.
There are a few plans available, starting at just $1.99/month (paid annually). Even if you pay monthly, pricing starts at just $9.99/month, and there are often flash sales where you can get any plan at 50 percent off.
Not only that, but with Answers+, you can ask unlimited questions! Answers.com promises to “run out of answers before you run out of questions.”
Chegg doesn’t let you ask unlimited questions on any plan, so you can save a lot of money by switching to Answers.com.
The downside of Answers.com is that anyone who is registered can answer questions. You earn points for answering questions, which incentivizes people to do so.
While that ensures you will get an answer quickly, it also means that you can’t take each answer at face value. Instead, continue doing your own research.
Before asking your own question, browse existing questions to see if someone asked it already.
Answers.com also has a pretty cool Math Solver tool. It is more than just a calculator; it breaks down each math solution for you and shows you how to solve it, step by step.
That way, you actually get to understand how to solve the problem instead of just memorizing the answer.
You may also find the Answers.com study guides helpful. The study guides group together common questions and answers on certain topics, so you can quickly patch up gaps in your knowledge.
Finally, download the mobile app if you would like to browse and ask questions while on the go.
5. Paul’s Online Math Notes
If you need help with studying university-level math, Paul’s Online Math Notes will come in handy. While you can’t really ask questions on the site, the notes are designed to answer common questions that Paul’s students have.
Paul Dawkins, the site’s creator, is a math professor at Lamar University. However, he made the notes for students of all universities, not just for those learning in his classes.
Unlike Chegg, the site is entirely free to browse — you don’t even need to create an account to use it! It’s Paul’s personal project, and he wanted to make his notes and explanations available to all, free of charge.
Also, it focuses entirely on math, so you won’t get distracted with other topics like you might on Chegg.
In addition to notes, you can make use of the cheat sheets, assignment problems, and practice problems.
6. 24 Hour Answers
24 Hour Answers is one of the older Chegg alternatives. It’s been around since 2005. A chemistry professor founded it, so students can get micro tutoring on any subject, quickly and without paying exorbitant tutoring fees.
24 Hour Answers is not free, but you don’t have to pay a monthly subscription like you would have to if you used Chegg. Instead, after uploading your question, you will get a custom quote from a tutor.
That quote will be based on what the answering tutor deems appropriate for the question. Some questions are easier to answer than others and require less time.
Besides asking questions yourself, you can browse almost 25,000 answered questions that were asked by other students. To reveal an answer, you will have to pay a one-time fee; each answer will have a different price.
You can also find tutoring from experts at a set rate per hour. Tutoring isn’t always cheap, but these are real experts with advanced degrees, and you can find them quickly without committing to studying with the same tutor for months.
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7. Bartleby
Bartleby is a homework help website that offers four main products:
- Bartleby Learn
- Bartleby Write
- Bartleby+
- Bartleby Tutor
Bartleby Learn is very similar to Chegg, but it costs just $9.99/month, making it more affordable than Chegg Study. In addition, if you aren’t sure you want to commit to a full month, you can get your first week for just $4.99.
While it doesn’t include a proofreading tool like Chegg Study does, it’s an option to consider if you only need Q&A help.
With Bartleby Learn, you can ask up to 30 questions a month and browse the existing library of questions and answers. There are over five million textbook solutions and explanations in the Bartleby library.
However, you don’t need to sign up for Bartleby Learn to browse textbook answers. There is a nice selection of free answers as well.
Bartleby Write is for those who need help with their essays. It also costs $9.99/month, but you won’t actually get real humans writing your essays for you.
It’s just an online tool that uses AI to proofread and perfect your writing, check for plagiarism, and build citations.
Bartleby+ includes both Bartleby Learn and Bartleby Write, and it costs $14.99/month.
Finally, Bartleby Tutor lets you connect with tutors online and get one on one help. You don’t need to commit to lengthy contracts, and you even get a free 15-minute session when you first sign up.
8. r/DoMyHomeworkPaid (2.0)
On Chegg, you can get answers to questions, but you can’t get anyone to actually do your homework for you. The DoMyHomeworkPaid subreddit is a place where you can find and pay tutors to complete your homework assignments, essays, and more.
Here’s how it works: Browse the recent threads to find tutors who are offering their services.
Some will be physics experts, while others will be offering writing assistance. They’ll be giving you their contact information, so you can get in touch with them.
There is a list of banned scammers who have been reported by students.
Make sure to visit the 2.0 version of the subreddit (as linked above), as the original subreddit was restricted, and you can no longer post there.
9. Tutor.com
Tutor.com is a first-class micro tutoring alternative to Chegg. It’s offered by The Princeton Review, a test prep company that offers tutoring, courses, books, and admissions resources.
However, Tutor.com isn’t just for test prep — it’s for students of all levels who need help with any subject.
The tutors at Tutor.com are the real deal. They are professors, Ivy League graduates, PhDs, and experts on a wide range of topics.
Finding a tutor is easy. Just select your subject and browse tutor profiles.
You’ll be able to read each tutor’s bio, see their education and degrees, and check the review rating they got from previous students. Then, you can send them a message with the topic you need help with and set up a session.
As a parent, you can use Tutor.com to find a professional mentor for your elementary school student.
After your first session with your tutor, you can request additional sessions — just bookmark a tutor if you like them. Alternatively, you can replay your tutoring session or read a transcript — that’s a great way to solidify your understanding of what your tutor taught you.
Tutor.com works 24/7, so it doesn’t matter what time zone you are in. However, there are four days a year on which the website is closed: New Year’s Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas Day.
I’d say that if you’d like expert one-on-one tutoring from a professional mentor online, Tutor.com is superior to Chegg. It works on a pay-as-you-go model, and you can browse tutors’ profiles before even signing up.
10. Quora
Quora is a superb alternative to Chegg simply because it’s free. You can ask as many questions as you want on any topic, including controversial topics, and receive expert answers.
However, I didn’t put Quora earlier on in this list because some answers are not accurate. You have to check the profile of the person who is answering your question to see what their background is and whether they are qualified to answer your question.
Since anyone on the internet can answer questions on Quora, do not take any answer at face value, especially if the answerer does not have a filled-out profile.
Also, be wary of those who provide answers simply to drive traffic to their blogs; often, they will copy and paste their blog posts and use them as answers.
On the flip side, you will often get multiple answers, from multiple people, on a single question. By comparing different answers, you can figure out which ones are accurate, and it also allows you to learn about different viewpoints and perspectives.
Finally, you can browse existing questions on Quora to see if your question has been answered already.
One other advantage to using Quora is that it supports multiple languages. So, if English is not your native tongue, simply choose the language you are most comfortable with, so experts can answer you in that language.
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11. School Solver
As you may have noticed, many Chegg alternatives have one of two disadvantages.
The free ones are great if you are on a budget, but you can’t always tell if the person answering the question is a true expert and knows what they are talking about. On the other hand, the sites with true experts usually cost more than what many students can afford.
School Solver supplies some middle ground. All the people answering the questions are experts, but they’re not the ones giving you quotes for their time.
Instead, you decide how much you are willing to pay when you post the question. An expert can then decide if it’s worth their time or not.
If it isn’t, they can simply move on to a question with a higher price tag. However, sooner or later, you are likely to get an expert who is willing to answer your question.
On School Solver, you’ll find students willing to pay $100 for an answer, others willing to pay $15, and others willing to pay just $1 or even $0.50. It’s truly up to you, but paying a few more dollars can help speed up the length of time it takes to get an answer.
Unlike Chegg, you don’t need to sign up for a monthly subscription. If you only have one question a month, it’s fabulous — you just pay per question.
12. StudyDaddy
The final Chegg alternative on this list is StudyDaddy. Unlike Chegg, there are no monthly commitments; instead, you pay per question.
Simply post a question on one of over 40 subjects. Tutors will be able to submit proposals and quotes, based on the prices they think are appropriate.
Browse the proposals and pick a tutor. Then, pay and wait for the tutor to answer the question.
The tutor will not get their money until the question has been answered. You are also free to ask for revisions if needed.
Wrapping It Up: What Is The Best Chegg Alternative?
The #1 Chegg alternative is Course Hero. It is the most similar to Chegg in terms of the wide range of resources it supplies, from textbook solutions to real-time Q&A expert help.
Not only that, but by uploading study documents and referring friends, you can unlock free Q&As and get expert help without paying a thing.
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