EPSO Preparation Platforms Compared (2026): What Each One Publishes, and What It Actually Costs

Why this comparison did not exist

If you search for the best EPSO preparation platform, the page that answers you is usually written by one of the platforms. The most-cited list in this market was last updated in May 2025, and it does not compare platforms at all — it lists official EPSO material, a book, and the products of the company that published it.

That is not a scandal. It is just what happens when nobody writes the other thing.

So here is the other thing, with three rules that make it checkable:

1. Every figure is what the provider publishes on its own site. No estimates, no "sources say", no judgements about anyone's quality. Where a provider does not state something, this page says so rather than filling the gap.
2. Every figure is dated. All of them were read on 27 August 2026. Prices and question counts move; a comparison without a date is a comparison you cannot trust six months later, including this one.
3. We are in the table. EU-now is one of the platforms compared here, and the section on where we are the wrong choice is not decoration.

The table

The headline numbers are not comparable

Two of the figures in that first column mean something different from the rest, and both differences run in the same direction.

A catalogue is not a package. EU Training publishes "over 35,000 practice exam questions", and that is a real number — it covers every competition and profile the company has built for since 2006. What an AD5 candidate can actually buy is set out on its packages page: 540 questions for €135, 1,150 for €275, and 2,500 in the largest package at €395. The company also sells questions individually, at €0.17 each for reasoning, €0.21 for EU knowledge and €0.20 for digital skills, which is the clearest statement of what the catalogue figure means in practice.

Questions used is not questions available. The same homepage reports "17 million+ Questions used". That counts answers given by candidates over two decades, not the size of the bank. It is a fair thing to be proud of and a misleading thing to compare against a bank size — and we say that having made exactly this mistake ourselves: until this month our own homepage advertised a figure that turned out to be a count of translations rather than of questions. It is corrected, and the correction is why this section exists.

So the axis that survives contact with reality is not how many questions exist. It is what you get for what you pay, over the months you will actually prepare.

On that axis, the shapes are genuinely different rather than better or worse. EU Training's €395 package is yours permanently and includes two written tests marked by a person. EU-now's €29.99 gives you the full bank for a month and stops when you stop paying. Over thirteen months those two cost the same. Which is better value depends entirely on how long your competition runs — and EPSO competitions now run long.

Match the platform to what you are actually sitting

Catalogue size stops mattering quickly once you know your profile.

AD5 generalist. The widest field: all seven providers above address it in some form. Compare on package contents and on whether the written test is marked by a human, because that is where the prices separate.

Specialist AD7 (field-related MCQ). The field narrows sharply. Most providers cover reasoning well and specialist fields thinly or not at all. This is where our own bank is concentrated: 9,203 of our 12,788 active questions are specialist, across the ICT, law, audit, finance, economics, procurement and other profiles.

Commission internal competitions (SHL). The most confused corner of the market. The paid packs on sale here are general SHL bundles — JobTestPrep's, at £59 to £99 for one month, includes the OPQ personality questionnaire and mechanical comprehension alongside the reasoning tests. Those are real SHL products; they are not in the Commission's internal competitions. Before buying any pack for this route, read the contents list against the notice of competition. And start with SHL itself, which publishes around 25 free practice tests including the interactive formats — we wrote up what is genuinely free for this test.

CAST Permanent. A rolling database rather than a competition, so a monthly plan and a one-off package behave very differently here. Buy the shape that matches how long you will be in the pool.

Where EU-now is the wrong choice

Three cases, stated plainly.

If you want the largest catalogue, we are not it. EU Training's is larger, and it has been built since 2006 against 180,000+ registered users. We have 12,788 active questions. Ours are each available in five languages, which makes 63,864 localised items — but that is a different claim, and by now you know why we are careful to say which one we mean.

If you need your written test marked by a person, EU Training and ORSEU both sell that; EU Training prices expert evaluation at €79 per piece. Our essay evaluation is automated. It is fast and it is available at any hour, and it is not a human examiner.

If you want to be tested in one of the other 19 EU languages, we cover five: English, French, German, Spanish and Italian. Pass EPSO states 24. If your L1 is Polish or Greek and you want to practise in it, that is a real reason to look elsewhere.

How to check any of this

Every provider above is linked in the sources at the foot of this page. The checks that take five minutes and change decisions:

1. Find the number next to the package, not on the homepage. Ask how many questions are in the thing you are about to buy, for your competition.
2. Find the access period. One-off, monthly, or one month dressed as a one-off purchase — all three exist in this market.
3. Read the contents list against your notice of competition. If a pack contains tests your competition does not use, you are paying for them.
4. Test any exclusivity claim. They are the easiest claims to check and the most likely to be out of date.

Apply the fourth one to this page too. We have an interest in what you conclude, which is exactly why every line here is a link to somebody else's site and a date. If you find a figure that has moved, it has moved — and we would rather hear it than keep publishing it.

If you would rather start from the competition than from the platforms, our EPSO preparation guide covers the selection process end to end, the specialist competitions guide covers the AD7 routes, and our free daily practice needs no account.