The short answer to IELTS vs TOEFL: take whichever test the institutions and scholarships on your list accept, and if they accept both, take the one whose format suits how you work. Neither test is easier. They measure the same four skills and both are widely recognised.

What has changed is almost everything around that answer. TOEFL was redesigned, switched to a new score scale in January 2026, and both tests now offer at-home versions and ways to improve a single weak result. Scholarships have started writing rules about all of these, so a comparison from a couple of years ago can now send you to the wrong test.

What real scholarships actually ask for

Here is what a handful of awards in our directory state, as checked on their own pages. The spread is the point: there is no single “scholarship score.”

  • The Ireland-Palestine Scholarship Programme accepts IELTS 6.5, TOEFL iBT 80, TOEFL ITP 550 or Duolingo 120, dated September 2025 or later. But shortlisted candidates who did not submit IELTS may have to sit IELTS anyway, because Irish universities may require it. The programme arranges and pays for that test.
  • The University of Twente Scholarship asks for IELTS 6.5 or TOEFL iBT 90, and also a minimum speaking score: 6.0 in IELTS or 20 in TOEFL. A strong overall score does not rescue a weak speaking section.
  • Science@Leuven sets TOEFL iBT 94 or IELTS 7.0.
  • The Yenching Academy wants IELTS 7.0 or TOEFL iBT 100, taken after 1 September 2025, and explicitly refuses home editions, indicator tests and MyBest score reports.
  • DAAD EPOS accepts IELTS or TOEFL, but not institutional TOEFL (ITP), which is the cheaper version many universities run locally.
  • The INPEX Scholarship Foundation accepts TOEFL iBT or IELTS taken after October 2024.
  • The KAUST Fellowship asks for TOEFL iBT 81 or IELTS 6.5, but waives the requirement entirely if your degree is from an accredited institution in the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia or New Zealand.

Three patterns from that list matter more than which test you choose. Section minimums catch people out. Test-date windows can be much tighter than the usual two years. And the version of the test matters: ITP, Home Edition and superscored reports are not always accepted even where the test name is.

Check what your list accepts before anything else

Requirements are set by the institution and the funder separately, and they do not always match. A university may accept both tests while a scholarship attached to it specifies one. A department may require more than the university minimum.

Open the admissions page for each institution and the funding page for each award, and write down what each accepts, the minimum overall and per section, how recent the test must be, and whether at-home or superscored results count. Do this before booking anything. Requirements change between cycles, so last year’s figure from a forum is not a safe basis for a decision that costs money and months.

TOEFL changed its score scale in January 2026

If a requirement says “TOEFL 80” and your score report says “4.5,” this is why. Since 21 January 2026, ETS reports TOEFL iBT scores on a 1 to 6 scale in half-point steps, aligned to the CEFR. You get four section scores and an overall score, which is the average of the sections rounded to the nearest half band.

For a two-year transition period, the report also shows a comparable overall score on the old 0 to 120 scale. ETS says institutions are updating their requirements at different times, and that because the report carries both numbers, you can meet either format without converting anything yourself.

One detail to plan around: ETS describes that 0 to 120 figure as the midpoint of the corresponding range, not your exact old-style score. Its comparison table for tests taken before the change puts band 4 at 72 and above, 4.5 at 86 and above, and 5 at 95 and above. If a scholarship sets a hard minimum on the 0 to 120 scale, aim for a band whose whole range clears it, and email the awarding body if your result sits near the line.

IELTS has not changed its scale. It still reports on its 9-band scale in whole and half bands, and the overall band is likewise the average of the four sections rounded to the nearest half band.

How the two differ in practice

Where both are accepted, the format difference is what should decide it.

Length and delivery. IELTS Academic takes 2 hours and 45 minutes, at a test centre or online, with the same format either way. ETS says to allow about two hours for TOEFL iBT, and notes that the test is adaptive, so the time and the number of questions can vary. TOEFL is taken on a computer at a test centre or as the Home Edition, at home with a live human proctor.

Speaking is the clearest split. IELTS Speaking is a face-to-face interview with a live examiner, 11 to 14 minutes across three parts: an introduction, a two-minute talk from a task card, and a discussion. TOEFL’s redesigned Speaking section has two computer-delivered tasks: Listen and Repeat, where you repeat short sentences exactly, and Take an Interview, a simulated interview about an academic or campus situation, recorded with no examiner present. If a live conversation makes you freeze, TOEFL removes that pressure. If you do better responding to a person, IELTS suits you.

Reading. TOEFL’s version is now shorter and more varied: completing a partly missing word in a short text, reading short everyday texts such as notices, and one short academic passage. IELTS Reading keeps three longer passages with multiple choice, matching, and labelling a diagram or map.

Writing. IELTS Academic Writing is two tasks in 60 minutes: describing a graph, chart, table or diagram in at least 150 words, then a 250-word argumentative essay. TOEFL’s redesigned Writing section drops the essay: you build a sentence from given words, write a short email, and add a response to an online academic discussion.

Listening accents are no longer a difference. IELTS uses British, Australian, New Zealand and North American speakers, and the redesigned TOEFL draws on the same four.

The practical way to decide is to sit one official practice test of each under real timing. Two afternoons will show you which format you lose marks to.

Results, retakes and at-home tests

How fast results arrive can decide which test fits a close deadline. IELTS says results for its computer test usually arrive within 1 to 2 days, paper test results within 13 days (7 in India), and IELTS Online results usually within 6 to 8 days.

Fixing one weak section. IELTS One Skill Retake lets you resit a single skill within 60 days of the original test, once per test, and only if the original was IELTS on computer at a centre that offers it. You then choose between the original and the new Test Report Form. TOEFL’s answer is MyBest scores, which ETS includes on your score report and describes as superscores, meant to show your best overall performance. Both can save a full retake, but IELTS itself tells you to check that the organisation accepts One Skill Retake, and Yenching’s rules show that some awards refuse superscores outright.

At-home testing is convenient, but check two things first. The award must accept it, and your setup must meet the rules: ETS says that if you do not meet the TOEFL Home Edition requirements on test day, you cannot test and get no refund or free reschedule.

Availability can also decide for you. ETS has paused TOEFL testing inside Iran because of a US Treasury (OFAC) regulatory change. ETS says Iranian nationals can still test outside Iran. Anyone applying from there needs to plan for that, or check which other accepted tests are still offered locally.

Validity. ETS states that TOEFL iBT scores are valid for 2 years. IELTS results carry no printed expiry, but IELTS’s own research calls a 2-year limit “overwhelmingly the norm.” As the list above shows, some scholarships set a stricter cut-off date, which matters if you tested early. Our guide to applying years after you graduate covers expiring scores in more detail.

Where the score sits in a scholarship decision

Language scores are a threshold, not a ranking. Committees check that you can study in the language of instruction. Once you clear the stated minimum, including any section minimums, extra points rarely improve your standing. An applicant who clears the bar comfortably and spends the saved weeks on their statement and references is usually better placed than one who pushed the score higher and rushed everything else. If your practice scores already clear every requirement, book the test and move on.

Waivers and other tests worth asking about

Many applicants pay for a test they did not need. Plenty of institutions waive the requirement if your previous degree was taught in English, as KAUST does for degrees from six named countries, and some waive it by citizenship or English-medium secondary school. The rules are usually on the admissions page but not always prominent, so email and ask if you might qualify.

Some awards also accept Duolingo, PTE Academic or Cambridge English, which can be cheaper or faster. Our guide to Duolingo, PTE and Cambridge English covers those.

The decision, in order

List every institution and award you are applying to, with what each accepts, the minimum overall and per section, the test-date window, and whether at-home or superscored results count. If only one test appears across the whole list, the decision is made.

If both appear, sit one official practice test of each and compare honestly. Then book the one you did better in, far enough ahead of your earliest deadline to allow a retake: at least two weeks for IELTS on paper, less for the computer test. Register in exactly the name on the passport you will use.

Finally, check the current requirement on each institution’s own page before you book. It is the only source that is reliably up to date.