The core tradeoff
The Duolingo English Test (DET) is cheaper, faster, and fully remote — but TOEFL is more widely and unconditionally accepted, especially by competitive and US-based programs. If your target school accepts both, the decision usually comes down to budget and timeline versus how safe you want to play it with admissions.
Side by side
- Cost: DET ≈ $65. TOEFL ≈ $200–270 depending on country.
- Duration: DET ≈ 1 hour total (45-min adaptive test + a video interview + writing sample). TOEFL (2026) ≈ 2 hours.
- Where you take it: DET is fully at-home, available 24/7, results in about 48 hours. TOEFL is available at test centers or via TOEFL Home Edition (see our Home Edition guide), results in about 6–10 days.
- Format: DET is a single adaptive test blending literacy/conversation/comprehension/production tasks, plus an unscored video interview sent to institutions. TOEFL keeps the four skills clearly separated into distinct sections.
University acceptance
DET has grown fast and is now accepted by a large and growing number of universities, but acceptance still isn't universal — some competitive and traditional programs either don't accept it or prefer TOEFL/IELTS. TOEFL remains the safer default for broad compatibility, particularly for graduate programs and highly selective schools. Always check your specific target's admissions page rather than assuming either is accepted.
When DET makes sense
If you're budget-constrained, on a tight deadline, and your target schools explicitly list DET as accepted, it's a genuinely good option — cheaper and much faster to schedule and receive results.
When TOEFL makes sense
If you're applying broadly, to competitive programs, or to schools that don't clearly list DET acceptance, TOEFL is the safer choice — it removes the acceptance risk entirely.
If you're going with TOEFL
Find out where you'd currently land with a free diagnostic — no payment, no signup wall until you see your result.