All articles
Platform Comparisons15 min read

Ilmino vs Eedi: Complete Exam Prep or Maths Diagnosis?

Eedi is an evidence-led maths diagnostic platform built around misconceptions. Ilmino is a broad, multi-subject AI platform covering the full exam-preparation loop. Here is how they differ and who each one suits.

I
ILM TEAM
10 July 2026
Ilmino vs Eedi: Complete Exam Prep or Maths Diagnosis?

Ilmino vs Eedi

Eedi and Ilmino both use AI to help students learn, but they are built for different jobs. Eedi is an evidence-led maths platform that specialises in diagnosing specific misconceptions: it uses carefully designed diagnostic questions to find where a student's maths understanding breaks down, then works on that particular error with a constrained AI tutor. Ilmino is a broad, multi-subject AI platform that runs the full exam-preparation loop: exam-board-aligned practice, mark-scheme-aligned marking of typed and handwritten working with method marks, quick, standard and full timed exam modes, Bayesian next-topic recommendations, interactive STEM simulations and a customisable dashboard. In short, Eedi goes deep on maths misconceptions with strong published research behind it, while Ilmino covers a student's whole day-to-day exam preparation across subjects.

Ilmino is developed by ILM AI. This comparison is based on publicly available information and is intended to help learners, families and institutions understand the differences between the platforms.

Ilmino vs Eedi: quick answer

Choose Eedi if your priority is deep, research-backed diagnosis of maths misconceptions and a carefully constrained AI tutor focused tightly on maths. Choose Ilmino if you want a multi-subject exam-preparation platform that marks handwritten and typed working against mark schemes, awards method marks, runs full timed exam modes, recommends what to practise next using Bayesian personalisation, and gives students, parents and teachers a connected view. Eedi diagnoses; Ilmino takes a learner all the way through the exam-preparation loop.

Quick comparison

FeatureIlminoEedi
Exam-board-aligned practiceYesNot publicly stated
Mark-scheme-aligned feedbackYesNot publicly stated
AI-powered practiceYesYes, diagnostic and misconception-driven (per Eedi)
Instant AI feedbackYesYes, diagnostic feedback (per Eedi)
Bayesian/adaptive recommendationsYesYes, knowledge graph and adaptive diagnosis (per Eedi)
Typed answersYesYes (per Eedi)
Handwritten answersYesNot publicly stated
Working-step analysisYesNot publicly stated
Method-mark analysisYesNot publicly stated
Misconception identificationYesYes, core strength (per Eedi)
Topic and difficulty selectionYesNot publicly stated
Full timed exam modeYesNot publicly stated
Strengths and weaknesses analysisYesYes, diagnostic (per Eedi)
Revision planningYesNot publicly stated
Customisable dashboardYesNot publicly stated
Interactive simulationsYesNot publicly stated
Parent toolsYesNot publicly stated
Teacher toolsYesYes, Eedi School (per Eedi)
Institutional toolsYesYes, school and infrastructure engagement (per Eedi)
Free practice accessYes, majority of Practice Mode freeNot publicly stated
Monthly price£12.99/monthInquiry-based; not consistently public (checked 10 July 2026)
Raphael availabilitySeparate advanced product or add-on; not included in the £12.99 Ilmino Pro plan.Not applicable

What Ilmino offers

Ilmino is a working AI exam-preparation platform that understands how students work, not only the final answers they give. Where Eedi concentrates its considerable expertise on maths misconceptions, Ilmino is deliberately broad: it supports a student across multiple subjects and across the full learning loop, from first practice to timed exam preparation.

The core experience follows a clear loop. A student picks a subject, topic and difficulty, then practises with exam-board-aligned questions. They answer by typing or by writing out their working by hand on an interactive canvas, which works best with a stylus or tablet. Ilmino's mark-scheme-aligned marking reads the response, maps it to exam-board question styles and mark schemes, and returns formative feedback. This is working-step analysis: it evaluates the intermediate reasoning a student shows, is aware of method marks, and identifies misconceptions, rather than only checking whether the final answer is right. When a student gets something wrong, Ilmino explains the mistake and offers a visual explanation, then suggests more practice so the understanding sticks.

Ilmino does more than generate questions. It marks against exam expectations, explains where marks were lost, analyses how the learner worked and recommends what to practise next. Around the practice loop sit Bayesian recommendations, a revision planner, goals and sub-goals, streaks and progress tracking. A customisable, widget-based dashboard lets families and students shape the view around their own subjects and goals, and there is an AI tutor for guided help.

Ilmino is one of three products from ILM AI. Ilmino itself is the student and family platform. Ilmino for Institution is the school-controlled learning and management platform for schools and colleges, with curriculum spaces, assignments, tests, marking with teacher review, dashboards and analytics. Raphael is a separate advanced visual and interactive AI teaching agent. Ilmino's initial focus is UK GCSE and A-Level.

What Eedi offers

Eedi is an evidence-led maths diagnostic technology company. According to Eedi, its central strength is identifying misconceptions: the precise, often predictable wrong ideas students hold about a maths concept. Eedi's diagnostic questions are designed so that each incorrect answer reveals a specific misconception rather than simply marking a response wrong. Behind this sits a knowledge graph and an adaptive diagnostic engine that connect concepts together and locate where understanding has broken down, which supports adaptive recommendations of what a student sees next.

Eedi reports a schools product, Eedi School, and institutional engagement with schools and infrastructure. A distinctive part of its approach is a constrained AI tutor activated around a particular incorrect concept, rather than an open-ended chatbot. This constrained-AI discipline is a thoughtful piece of pedagogy and safety design, and it is something Ilmino openly respects.

What sets Eedi apart most clearly is its evidence programme. Eedi reports running randomised controlled trials and maintaining a public evidence programme, alongside research and partnership work. This published efficacy evidence is a real strength. It is honest to say that Eedi's published RCT evidence is something Ilmino does not currently match, and Ilmino makes no claim to comparable published efficacy research. If you want deep maths-misconception expertise, careful pedagogy and credible research communication, Eedi is a serious and well-founded choice.

Key differences

Diagnosis versus the full exam-preparation loop

This is the defining contrast. Eedi is built to diagnose: its diagnostic questions and knowledge graph are engineered to pinpoint the exact misconception behind a wrong answer. Ilmino runs the whole exam-preparation loop, from exam-board-aligned practice through mark-scheme marking to timed exams and next-topic recommendations. If a student's need is specifically to find and fix a maths misconception with research behind it, Eedi's focus is a strength. If the need is to practise, be marked, understand lost marks and prepare for timed exams across subjects, Ilmino covers more of the journey.

Published evidence versus a broader operating environment

Eedi leads on published evidence. Its randomised controlled trials and public evidence programme are a credible, hard-won advantage, and Ilmino does not claim to match them. What Ilmino offers instead is a broader operating environment: exam-board-aligned practice, mark-scheme marking of handwritten and typed working, method-mark awareness, timed exams, Bayesian recommendations, interactive simulations and connected student, parent and teacher experiences. These are different kinds of value, and it would be misleading to pretend Ilmino out-evidences Eedi today.

Constrained maths tutoring versus multi-modal exam preparation

Eedi's constrained AI tutor is activated around a specific incorrect concept, which is a careful, safety-minded design. Ilmino combines an AI tutor with working-step analysis, mark-scheme-aligned marking, misconception identification, visual remediation and interactive simulations, and separately the Raphael visual teaching agent. Ilmino's approach is more multi-modal and spans more subjects; Eedi's is more tightly scoped and more deeply researched within maths.

Handwritten working and mark-scheme feedback

Ilmino is built around the reality that maths and many other subjects are marked on method, not just the final answer. It accepts handwritten working via an interactive canvas and provides working-step analysis and method-mark awareness mapped to mark schemes. Eedi's public information centres on diagnostic questions and misconception identification; its handwriting and mark-scheme marking capabilities are not publicly stated.

Practice, assessment and feedback

Ilmino's assessment engine is a core part of the £12.99 proposition. It offers exam-board-aligned practice by subject, topic and difficulty, with quick practice, standard tests and full timed exam modes for mock-style preparation. Answers can be typed or handwritten on an interactive canvas, and the marking maps responses to exam-board question styles and mark schemes. Crucially, it analyses the intermediate working steps, is aware of method marks and identifies misconceptions, so a student who slips on a sign change midway through a rearrangement is told where the mark was lost, not just that the final answer was wrong. Because no automated marking is infallible, teacher review and confidence controls are part of the design for high-stakes use, and marking is AI-supported rather than final and infallible.

Eedi's assessment strength is different in kind. According to Eedi, its diagnostic questions are engineered to reveal misconceptions with unusual precision, backed by a knowledge graph, an adaptive diagnostic engine and a public evidence programme. For teachers who want research-validated maths diagnosis, that is compelling. Eedi's exam-simulation, handwriting and mark-scheme marking capabilities beyond maths diagnosis are not publicly stated.

For a related comparison of exam-focused maths practice, see Ilmino vs Sparx Maths.

Personalisation and Bayesian recommendations

Ilmino personalises using Bayesian recommendations: it models a learner's strengths and weaknesses and adaptively recommends the next topic and the next question to practise. That sits alongside strengths and weaknesses analysis, personalised learning journeys, a revision planner, goals and sub-goals and progress tracking. Ilmino combines Bayesian personalisation, exam-board-aligned AI practice, mark-scheme feedback, working-step analysis and interactive simulations within a customisable learning environment, so the recommendation of what to do next is grounded in how the student actually performed on marked work.

Eedi also personalises adaptively, according to Eedi: its knowledge graph and diagnostic engine drive what a student sees next based on the specific misconceptions identified. Both platforms move a learner forward intelligently. The difference is scope: Eedi's recommendations are focused on maths misconceptions, while Ilmino's Bayesian recommendations span subjects and are tied to exam-board-aligned marking and timed practice.

Dashboard and user experience

Ilmino gives each learner a customisable, widget-based dashboard. Rather than one fixed layout that everyone is forced to use, learners and families can arrange widgets around what matters to them: upcoming exams, progress, recommended topics, goals, recent practice, strengths and weaknesses, quizzes, streaks and simulations. A student sitting three subjects next month can foreground upcoming exams and recommended topics; a family tracking consistency can foreground streaks and progress. The value is a space shaped around the learner's priorities.

Eedi personalises the learning path around misconceptions, but the configurability of its dashboards is not publicly stated, so we make no claim either way.

Interactive simulations

Ilmino includes interactive STEM simulations as a current capability. Learners can manipulate a model, change variables and see the effect, which turns an abstract idea in maths or science into something they can explore directly rather than only read about. This matters most for the topics where a static explanation is hardest to grasp, and the simulations sit inside the same environment as practice, marking and recommendations, so exploring a concept and then practising it are part of one flow. Eedi's public information centres on diagnostic questions and constrained tutoring; interactive simulations are not publicly stated.

Pricing and free access

Ilmino keeps the majority of Practice Mode free, so a student can practise exam-board-aligned questions, receive mark-scheme-aligned feedback and see recommendations without paying. Ilmino Pro is £12.99 per month (checked 10 July 2026) and unlocks the fuller experience across subjects. The £12.99 value stands on its own: exam-board-aligned practice, mark-scheme marking of typed and handwritten working with method-mark awareness and misconception identification, quick, standard and full timed exam modes, Bayesian next-topic recommendations, interactive simulations, a customisable dashboard, and connected parent and teacher visibility.

Raphael is ILM AI's advanced visual and interactive teaching agent and is offered separately from the £12.99 Ilmino Pro plan, with pricing and usage announced independently. It is not part of the £12.99 subscription, and the value above does not depend on it.

Eedi's commercial pricing is inquiry-based and not consistently public (checked 10 July 2026); its school and infrastructure engagement is typically arranged through inquiry. Because Eedi's pricing is largely inquiry-based while Ilmino's is a published consumer subscription, the two are not directly comparable, so we do not declare one cheaper than the other.

Prices change often; confirm on the provider's official pricing page. Last checked: 10 July 2026.

Where Ilmino has the advantage

Ilmino's advantage over Eedi is completeness across the exam-preparation loop. Eedi diagnoses a maths misconception with research behind it; Ilmino diagnoses, marks and prepares. A learner using Ilmino practises exam-board-aligned questions across multiple subjects, submits typed or handwritten working, receives mark-scheme-aligned marking that awards method marks and flags misconceptions, sits quick, standard or full timed exams, follows Bayesian recommendations for what to practise next, explores interactive simulations and organises it all on a customisable dashboard, with parents and teachers able to follow along. For a student whose need is day-to-day exam preparation rather than a single deep diagnostic pass, that breadth and connectedness is the advantage, and the majority-free Practice Mode with Pro at £12.99 keeps it affordable.

Where Eedi has the advantage

Eedi's advantage is depth and evidence within maths. Its misconception diagnosis is a genuine specialism, refined over years and grounded in a knowledge graph built specifically around how students misunderstand maths. Most importantly, Eedi reports a public evidence programme with randomised controlled trials, which is a level of published efficacy research Ilmino does not claim. For a maths department that wants research-validated diagnosis and a carefully constrained, safety-minded AI tutor, Eedi's focus and evidence are hard to beat. Credit where it is due: this is a serious, well-founded platform.

Who should choose Ilmino?

Choose Ilmino if you want a multi-subject platform that covers the whole loop from practice to timed exams across GCSE and A-Level. It suits students who want handwritten working marked against mark schemes with method marks, misconceptions identified, timed exam preparation, Bayesian recommendations for what to practise next, interactive simulations and a customisable dashboard. It also suits families who want connected parent visibility, and schools interested in Ilmino for Institution. If you value a complete, connected exam-preparation environment across subjects, Ilmino fits.

Who should choose Eedi?

Choose Eedi if your priority is deep, research-backed diagnosis of maths misconceptions. Eedi is an excellent fit for maths teachers, departments and schools that want evidence-led diagnosis, a carefully constrained AI tutor and the confidence that comes from published randomised controlled trials. Its evidence base, misconception expertise and constrained-AI safety discipline are genuine strengths. If maths is the focus and research validation matters most to you, Eedi is a strong and credible choice.

The verdict

Students mainly seeking research-backed diagnosis of maths misconceptions may prefer Eedi: its public evidence programme, randomised controlled trials, knowledge graph and constrained AI tutor are real, well-earned strengths, and Ilmino makes no claim to comparable published efficacy research. Learners who want exam-board-aligned AI practice, mark-scheme feedback, Bayesian recommendations, analysis of their working, interactive simulations and a customisable dashboard will find Ilmino the more complete and affordable learning environment. Choose according to whether you need deep maths diagnosis or a complete day-to-day exam-preparation platform across subjects.

For another platform that leans on adaptive learning science, compare Ilmino vs CENTURY Tech.

Frequently asked questions

Is Ilmino free? The majority of Ilmino's Practice Mode is free, so students can practise exam-board-aligned questions and receive mark-scheme-aligned feedback at no cost. Ilmino Pro adds the fuller experience for £12.99 per month (checked 10 July 2026).

How much does Ilmino cost? Ilmino Pro is £12.99 per month (checked 10 July 2026), with the majority of Practice Mode free. Prices change often; confirm on the official pricing page.

Is Raphael included in Ilmino Pro? No. Raphael is ILM AI's advanced visual teaching agent and is not included in the standard £12.99 Ilmino Pro subscription. It will be offered separately, with pricing and usage information announced independently.

Which is better for GCSE maths revision, Ilmino or Eedi? It depends on your goal. Eedi is stronger for research-backed diagnosis of specific maths misconceptions. Ilmino is stronger if you want multi-subject practice, handwritten working marked against mark schemes with method marks, Bayesian recommendations and timed exam preparation across GCSE and A-Level.

Which is better for exam practice? Ilmino offers quick, standard and full timed exam modes with exam-board-aligned questions and mark-scheme-aligned marking of typed and handwritten working. Eedi's focus is diagnostic, and its full exam-simulation features are not publicly stated.

Can teachers use Ilmino? Yes. Ilmino includes teacher review of marking and dashboards, and Ilmino for Institution adds curriculum spaces, assignments, tests, analytics and school-controlled AI.

Does Ilmino support handwritten answers? Yes. Ilmino accepts typed and handwritten answers on an interactive canvas and analyses the working steps with method-mark awareness, not just the final answer. A stylus or tablet gives the best experience.

Can Ilmino and Eedi be used together? Yes. A student might use Eedi for deep, research-backed diagnosis of maths misconceptions and Ilmino for broad multi-subject practice, mark-scheme marking, timed exam preparation, Bayesian recommendations and connected progress tracking. The two serve different jobs and can complement rather than duplicate each other.

Final call to action

Start practising with Ilmino for free and create a learning space designed around your subjects, goals and progress. Start free or see pricing.

Other comparisons

Sources

  • Ilmino pricing: /pricing
  • Ilmino exam practice: /features/exam-practice
  • Ilmino automated marking: /features/automated-marking
  • Ilmino revision planner: /features/revision-planner
  • Ilmino progress tracking: /features/progress-tracking
  • Ilmino AI tutor: /features/ai-tutor
  • Ilmino Raphael: /features/raphael
  • Ilmino for Institution: /institution
  • Eedi official website: https://eedi.com (pricing inquiry-based; checked 10 July 2026)
#ilmino#eedi#gcse#a-level#comparison
MARK-SCHEME AI MARKINGGCSE & A-LEVEL

Start today with

Practise exam-board-aligned GCSE and A-Level questions, get mark-scheme feedback on your working, and see what to revise next. Most of Practice Mode is free.

No card required · Cancel anytime · Works on any device