Which test is easier, IELTS or TOEFL? I get asked this constantly, and my answer annoys people: neither. They're hard in different ways, and the right pick depends on how your brain works, not on the rumor mill.
Start with speaking, because that's where the tests genuinely feel different. IELTS puts a human across the table from you. A lot of students find that easier, because a nod or a raised eyebrow tells you when you're being understood. TOEFL makes you talk to a computer against a clock. It feels ridiculous the first time. Then you practice it for a week and it feels fine. I've seen students flip their pick after one mock of each, in both directions.
Reading splits them the other way. TOEFL passages are long, dense academic texts, the kind that make your eyes glaze by paragraph three. IELTS reading isn't a picnic either, but the question types keep changing, so you're not doing the same multiple choice grind for an hour straight. Writing flips it again: IELTS Task 1 asks you to describe charts, which is honestly a learnable trick, while TOEFL's integrated writing makes you read, listen, and write in one move. Multitasking under a timer. Lovely.
Now the part people skip, and it's the part that matters most: check what your target universities actually prefer. Most take both, but some departments quietly lean one way, and a few publish concordance tables showing IELTS TOEFL score requirements by university side by side. Roughly speaking, a 100 on TOEFL lines up with a 7.0 on IELTS. Chase the format that fits your strengths, not the lower number.
Practical move: take one full practice test of each before you commit. Two weekends, two tests, then decide. Most people know their answer by question forty.
Still torn? The 8-week study plan at internationalstudyhelp.fyi starts with a diagnostic and builds your prep around whichever test you pick.