Four full courses now claim to be built for the NextGen bar exam, and as of this month all four have a price on the page, a first administration behind them, and a few hundred candidates who can say what the course was like when the exam finally showed up. This is the comparison as of September 20, 2026: what each costs today for the 2027 cycle, what NextGen-specific practice it includes, who grades your writing, what happens if you fail, and what July 2026 takers reported. Then the question a $99 question-bank vendor should answer honestly: when is a bank enough, and when isn't it.
Every price below was read from the provider's own pricing page on September 20, 2026. They move — Barbri's Premium price rose $200 between our August cost check and this one — so treat the table as a snapshot and re-check the day you buy.
The four courses in one table
| Barbri | Themis | Kaplan | Helix (AccessLex) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price today (2027 exam, self-pay) | Premium $2,299 (list $2,999) · Elite $3,299 (list $3,999) | $1,895 paid in full (list $2,995) · $2,095 with $25 down | Complete $1,299 (list $1,999) · Ultimate $1,999 (list $2,999) | $1,199 + shipping · $999 with a limited-time code |
| Access | 4+ months | 4 months (Nov–Feb for February; Mar–Jul for July) | Not stated on the course page | 5 months (Feb 2027 course opens Oct 5, 2026, closes Feb 26, 2027) |
| NextGen practice | Three NCBE-licensed question sets integrated into the course; Elite adds the AdaptiBar MCQ simulator | All available NCBE-licensed NextGen sets, MCQs and performance tasks; Themis QSets replicating question sets and research-type performance tasks; 4- and 6-option MCQs; UWorld question bank included | Library of integrated question sets; exam-like practice tests; 3,000+ multiple-choice questions plus all released NCBE questions | NCBE-licensed and Helix-crafted questions across every item type; Helix XP extra-practice bank included |
| Graded writing | Expert, personalized feedback on NextGen written assignments | Skills Snapshots and performance-task exercises (graded feedback not quantified on the page) | Unlimited writing-assignment grading, with an instant-grading option | Eight writing assignments graded by licensed attorney graders |
| If you fail | Repeat the course without paying tuition (supplements excluded) | Pass or a free repeat, for first-time Themis takers | Not stated on the course page | No refunds after the course opens; cancellation before opening refunds minus $150 |
| Extras | Elite: AdaptiBar simulator, CriticalPass cards, Quimbee SideBar videos | ReadyDecks flashcards; UWorld | Ultimate: dedicated attorney coach, 3 hours of private tutoring; AI feedback tools | Nonprofit (AccessLex); modular lessons |
Two things the table can't show. None of the four has a NextGen pass rate yet — the first results start on October 2 — so every "proven" claim on every site is about the legacy exam. And none of the four publishes a plain count of its NextGen question sets and performance tasks on its sales page, which is odd for the two formats that are half the score and the ones candidates said they practiced least.
Barbri
The incumbent, and the most expensive at every tier. Premium at $2,299 buys the adaptive study plan, the lectures, print and digital materials, 4+ months of access and — the line that matters for this exam — personalized feedback on NextGen written assignments. Barbri says three NCBE-licensed NextGen question sets are integrated into the course, with one full NCBE set available on the official platform. Elite, at $3,299, stacks on the AdaptiBar MCQ simulator, CriticalPass flashcards and Quimbee's SideBar videos (Barbri owns Quimbee now, which is why the Quimbee full course disappeared). The guarantee is the classic one: complete the course, don't pass, repeat without tuition.
The July 2026 report. The clearest post-exam endorsement of any course came from Barbri users. One taker's thread, Barbri prep was pretty good for NextGen, drew a couple of dozen replies; another, weighing legacy against NextGen for a July 2027 friend, said they'd used Barbri with no outside supplement and preferred the NextGen exam's emphasis on functional knowledge over memorized elements. Anecdotes, not data — but they're the only kind of data anyone has until October.
Themis (and UWorld)
Simplest pricing and, right now, the cheapest of the big two: $1,895 paid in full, $2,095 on a $25 deposit, with 2028 and 2029 courses already priced at $1,895. Themis and UWorld are one company, so the UWorld question bank — the explanations candidates have praised for years — is inside the course rather than a $449 add-on. For NextGen specifically, Themis lists all available NCBE-licensed sets, MCQs and performance tasks; its own QSets, which replicate the integrated question set types and the research-type performance task; multiple-choice in both the four-option and six-option formats; Skills Snapshots; and ReadyDecks flashcards. Access is four months, tied to the exam window. The guarantee is a free repeat for first-time Themis takers who don't pass.
The July 2026 report. Mixed on the one thing that matters most. A June thread on preparing for the question sets had a Themis user saying they felt they were getting worse at the sets and finishing them well under the 24-minute budget — a practice-calibration complaint rather than a content one, but the sets are exactly where calibration matters. What the page doesn't quantify is graded feedback on written work; if that's what you're paying a course for, ask before you enroll.
Kaplan
The value tier among the full courses. Complete at $1,299 (down from $1,999) includes customizable study plans, exam-like practice tests with performance assessments, unlimited grading of writing assignments with an instant-grading option, on-demand classes backed by live seminars, and 3,000+ multiple-choice questions plus every released NCBE question. Ultimate at $1,999 adds a dedicated attorney coach and three hours of one-to-one tutoring. Kaplan describes a "robust library of integrated question sets" and leans hard on AI feedback for short-answer, drafting and performance-task practice; it does not publish the size of that library or the access period on the course page, and no guarantee is stated there.
The July 2026 report. We found no substantial post-exam thread about Kaplan's NextGen course either way, which is itself information: fewer first-cohort takers appear to have used it, so there is less to go on.
Helix (AccessLex)
The nonprofit, and the only one of the four built for NextGen from the start rather than adapted. At $1,199 plus shipping — $999 with the promotional code Helix is currently advertising — it's the cheapest full course here, and its access window is the longest: the February 2027 course opens on October 5, 2026 and runs to February 26, 2027. The writing side is concrete in a way the others aren't: eight writing assignments graded by licensed attorney graders, on top of NCBE-licensed and Helix-crafted questions across every item type and complimentary access to Helix XP, its extra-practice bank. The refund terms are the strictest: cancel before the course opens and you get a refund minus $150; after it opens, nothing.
The July 2026 report. Pre-exam threads compared Helix favorably to Barbri on concision — lessons that get to the point where Barbri's videos run long — and Maryland retakers named it alongside NCBE's own materials as their plan. Post-exam, the accounts are thinner than Barbri's. The October 5 opening date is the practical fact: if you're sitting in February and want Helix, that's your enrollment window, and the promotional price won't necessarily survive it.
Choosing, by cohort
- February 2027 retaker. You know the format and where you lost points; buy the thing that fixes that. Weak written scores → Helix's eight graded assignments or Barbri's NextGen feedback. Weak multiple-choice → a bank with volume and explanations, not another lecture series. Washington retakers get February's application and exam fees waived, which changes the budget math — details in what happened in July.
- July 2027 first-timer. You have the widest window. If a firm is paying, take Barbri or Themis and stop reading. If you're paying, Themis at $1,895 or Kaplan Complete at $1,299 buys the structure, and the money you don't spend on Elite buys reps.
- Working full-time or foreign-trained. Four-month access windows are the problem, not the price. Helix's five months help; Barbri sells an extended course for this group; and a lifetime bank plus the study planner removes the window entirely. The six-month schedule for working candidates covers the sequencing.
- Budget-first. Kaplan Complete or Helix, plus NCBE's free materials, is a complete NextGen course for under $1,300. Below that, you're in supplement-and-self-study territory, which is the next section.
Is a $99 bank enough?
We sell one, so discount accordingly, but the honest answer has two halves.
What a course sells that a bank doesn't: lectures, a schedule imposed from outside, and a human reading your written work. If you have never built your own study calendar and kept to it, or if your writing needs someone to tell you where it fails, those are worth real money, and no bank replaces them.
What a bank sells that the courses above don't publish: volume in the formats that decide the exam. Ours is 2,900+ standalone questions in both multiple-choice formats, 30 integrated question sets (17 counseling, 13 drafting) and 15 performance tasks (11 standard, 4 legal research), each with model answers and rubrics for self-grading, plus flashcards and timed mocks, for $99 once with lifetime access and a 14-day money-back guarantee — no lectures, no human grader, no expiry. That last point is the one that matters for anyone whose date might move: a course's access window ends with its exam; a February retake on a lifetime bank costs $0 more.
The realistic recommendation, then, is the one in how to supplement Barbri or Themis: buy the cheapest course tier that gives you the structure you actually need, and add the reps separately. Or, if you're the self-directed kind who self-studies anyway, skip the course, take NCBE's free materials seriously, and spend the four figures you saved on not needing to.
Whatever you buy, buy it against the full price table and with October's first pass rates in mind — the first cohort's numbers will say more about every course on this page than every course on this page has said about itself.
