Free GED Online: What's Really Free (and What Isn't)

Money’s tight, and the GED can feel like one more bill you can’t cover right now.

Here’s the good part: a lot of the road to a GED can cost you nothing. Free classes, free practice tests and, in some states, a free test.

The catch? The deals depend on your state, they change often, and fake “free online diploma” sites can look just like the real thing.

We checked every state deal on this page against its GED.com page in October 2026.

Can you get your GED online for free?

Partly. Studying can be free anywhere in the US. The test costs money in most states, but New York and West Virginia pay for it, Connecticut charges only a $13 registration fee, and DC and 21 other states offer some help with the cost.

Here’s what’s free at each step:

Free GED classes and study tools you can start today

Here are five ways to study for free.

1. Free GED classes through adult education

GED Testing Service says prep classes can be free through local adult education programs. A class gives you a teacher to ask when you’re stuck.

Two state examples (checked October 2026): Georgia residents can take classes and the Georgia GED Ready practice test at no cost, and Kentucky residents may get prep classes and a practice test for free.

To find a class, use the class finder on GED.com and enter your zip code. When you call, ask: Do you teach online or at night? Is GED Ready free here? Do you have test vouchers?

Looking for GED classes online? GED.com sells live online classes called GED Live, but they cost money (starting at $79).

2. GED.com’s free Test Previews

GED Testing Service gives away a free practice test in each subject. Each one is 25% the length of the real test, comes in English and Spanish, and explains every answer.

It’s too short to tell you whether you’d pass, but it shows you how the questions look and feel.

3. The GED & Me app’s free version

The official GED & Me app is free on iPhone and Android in the US. The free version has practice questions, a personalized study path, progress tracking and limited daily chats with Syd, its AI tutor for math, science and social studies. The paid Boost upgrade costs $19.99 a month.

4. Free through your job: GEDWorks

Some employers cover the whole thing. Through GEDWorks, partner employers offer GED prep and testing at no charge. To see if yours does, sign in to GED.com and use the Connector tool.

5. Free GED math practice (that’s us)

Math is the subject most people have left at the end. In GED Testing Service data on 77,000 people who had passed three subjects, 82% still had math to pass.

So that’s where BooknBoost helps. All of it is free, and the online practice needs no account:

• A full-length GED math practice test: 46 questions in 115 minutes, with every answer explained
• Practice by topic: 25-question sets on one skill at a time
• A printable practice test, the formula sheet explained and an on-screen TI-30XS calculator

We don’t have science, social studies or language arts practice yet. For those, use GED.com’s Test Previews and the app.

Where the GED test is free or cheap (checked October 2026)

In these places, the state pays for some or all of your test. Tap a state to open its GED.com page, where the current price and codes are listed.

17 more states that pay for or discount your test

These states help, with conditions attached. Read the fine print on your state’s page before you schedule.

Montana and New Hampshire also point you to local adult education centers for scholarships.

“While funding lasts” means what it says. When the state’s money for the program runs out, so does the deal.

Prices and codes change too. Wisconsin’s current price of $41 a subject began on July 1, 2026, and the two Illinois pages list different codes. So treat these tables like a coupon flyer: check the date, then check your state’s page before you pay.

Our state guides for Texas, New York, Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Georgia cover the rest of each state’s rules. For every state’s price, see GED cost by state.

Free GED Ready: only through some adult-ed programs

GED Ready is the official practice test. It’s timed, it’s half the length of the real test, and it tells you how likely you are to pass.

It costs $7.99 a subject, or $25.99 for all four. You’ll probably need it. Testing online takes a green (Likely to Pass) score from the last 60 days, and some states, like Connecticut, Kentucky and Arkansas, want it before you test in person too.

Of the state pages we checked, three give it away through adult education. Georgia residents take the Georgia GED Ready at no cost, Kentucky offers GED Ready free at local adult education centers, and West Virginia gives the practice test free at local adult learning centers. Elsewhere, ask your adult-ed program about GED Ready vouchers.

The online rules are in how to get your GED online.

What you’ll still pay for

Some costs don’t go away. Plan for these so nothing catches you off guard.

• Online retakes. The retake discount works like an in-store coupon: it only counts at a test center. GED.com’s state pages say it plainly: “Discounted retakes are not offered on the Online Proctored Exam.” Unless a state program covers it, an online retake costs the full online price, like $36 in Maryland or $42.25 in Texas.
• GED Ready, unless an adult-ed program covers it: $7.99 a subject or $25.99 for all four.
• The test itself, outside the free states. The price varies by state, up to $50 a subject in South Dakota. Look up yours on our GED cost page.

Why taking the GED in person often costs less

Look back at the first table, and a pattern jumps out: the free and cheapest deals are mostly for test centers.

• New York, West Virginia and Connecticut have no online GED test at all.
• DC’s $3.75 and Arkansas’s $4 prices are for test centers. Online, both charge $36.
• Mississippi pays for tests at its test centers, but not online.
• In person, a subject you don’t pass comes with a discounted retake. Online, it never does.
• To test online, you also need a recent green GED Ready score for each subject.

Some deals do cover online tests, like Maryland’s and Pennsylvania’s. And a few states charge more at test centers, so check your state’s prices first.

Bottom line: if you can get to a test center, compare it with the online price before you book. In many states, it’s the cheaper way to take the GED.

For every step from sign-up to diploma, see how to get your GED.

“Free online GED diploma”? That’s a scam

A real GED means passing four official tests, at a test center or on GED.com’s proctored online test. GED Testing Service is blunt about it: “You should never be able to buy a GED certificate without taking the test.”

Red flags to watch for:

• Free classes and tests, but a fee for the diploma. The FTC’s advice for that one: “walk away.”
• A diploma in a day, or one based on “life experience.” The FTC calls both scams.
• An online test “based on” the GED. Online GED tests are only given on GED.com.

Spotted one? Report it to GED Testing Service at help@ged.com and to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. For how diploma mills work and how to check a school, see GED vs high school diploma.