Course Hero vs Chegg vs Gradily: Which Is Best for Homework Help?

TL;DR: Chegg is strongest for textbook solutions and expert Q&A but costs $15.95/month. Course Hero has user-uploaded study materials and tutors at $39.99/month. Gradily offers AI-powered homework help with explanations focused on learning, with a free tier available. Your best choice depends on whether you want answers, study materials, or actual understanding.

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The Homework Help Dilemma

You're staring at a problem set that's due in 6 hours. You've read the textbook. Watched the lecture recording. Tried YouTube. Still stuck.

This is the moment students turn to homework help platforms. And the three biggest names you'll see are Course Hero, Chegg, and Gradily.

But they're very different platforms with different approaches. Choosing the wrong one means wasting money on something that doesn't actually help. Let's break down what each one offers and which is the best fit for different situations.

Quick Overview

Feature	Course Hero	Chegg	Gradily
Primary Model	User-uploaded documents + tutoring	Textbook solutions + expert Q&A	AI homework help + tutoring
Monthly Cost	$39.99 (or earn unlocks by uploading)	$15.95 (Chegg Study)	Free tier available
Textbook Solutions	Some	Extensive (millions)	Via AI explanations
Expert Q&A	Yes (tutors)	Yes (experts)	AI-powered
Study Materials	Millions (user-uploaded)	Textbook-focused	Concept explanations
Subjects	All	All	All
Mobile App	Yes	Yes	Yes
Free Options	Limited (earn unlocks)	30-min free trial	Yes
Academic Integrity Risk	High	High	Lower

Course Hero: The Study Material Library

What It Is

Course Hero started as a platform where students upload and share study materials — class notes, old exams, study guides, and homework solutions. Think of it like a massive library of student-created content, organized by school and course.

They've since added AI-powered homework help and tutor access.

What You Get

• Study documents: Millions of course-specific materials uploaded by other students
• Tutors: 24/7 access to tutors for homework help (included in subscription)
• AI homework help: Ask questions and get AI-generated explanations
• Literature guides: SparkNotes-style study resources for popular texts
• Practice problems: For select courses

Pricing

• Monthly subscription: $39.99/month
• Quarterly: $19.95/month
• Annual: $9.95/month
• Free access: Upload your own documents to earn "unlocks" (you need 10 uploads for 5 unlocks)

Pros

1. Course-specific materials. Finding notes from your exact class at your exact school is incredibly valuable. Seeing how other students approached the same assignments can clarify things.

2. Old exams. If previous exams are uploaded, you can see what questions professors typically ask. This is study gold.

3. Tutors included. The tutor access is part of the subscription, which is helpful for complex problems.

4. Earn free access. If you upload your own study materials, you can unlock content without paying.

Cons

1. Expensive. $39.99/month is steep for students. Even the annual plan at $9.95/month requires a year-long commitment.

2. Quality varies wildly. Since materials are user-uploaded, some are excellent and some are barely legible notes from someone who also didn't understand the material.

3. Academic integrity concerns. Downloading someone else's completed homework and submitting it is plagiarism. Some professors specifically monitor for Course Hero content. The platform has been criticized as an "essay mill" by educators.

4. Tricky cancellation. Students report difficulty cancelling subscriptions and getting charged after they thought they'd cancelled.

5. Not great for learning. Looking at someone else's completed work doesn't teach you how to do it yourself.

Chegg: The Textbook Solution King

What It Is

Chegg built its reputation on comprehensive textbook solutions. If you're working through a problem from a popular textbook, Chegg probably has a step-by-step solution. They also offer expert Q&A where you can submit custom questions.

What You Get

• Chegg Study: Step-by-step textbook solutions for thousands of textbooks
• Expert Q&A: Submit questions and get answers from subject experts (usually within hours)
• Chegg Writing: Grammar checker and plagiarism detection
• Chegg Math Solver: Photo-based math problem solving
• Textbook rentals/purchases (separate from Study subscription)

Pricing

• Chegg Study: $15.95/month
• Chegg Study Pack (Study + Writing + Math): $19.95/month
• No free tier beyond a 30-minute trial

Pros

1. Massive textbook solution library. If you're working from a common textbook, Chegg almost certainly has the solution manual. Millions of solutions across 50+ subjects.

2. Expert answers. Submit a question and get a human expert's response, usually within a few hours. Useful for non-textbook problems.

3. Relatively affordable. At $15.95/month, it's cheaper than Course Hero and cheaper than a tutor.

4. Math solver is solid. Snap a photo of a math problem and get a step-by-step solution. Similar to Photomath.

Cons

1. Encourages answer-copying. Let's be honest — most students using Chegg are looking for answers to copy, not explanations to learn from. This is the platform's fundamental problem.

2. Academic integrity crackdown. Chegg cooperates with universities when professors suspect cheating. They've provided user data to schools investigating academic integrity violations. This means your Chegg usage can be traced back to you.

3. Solutions can be wrong. Some expert answers contain errors, especially for complex or niche problems. Always verify.

4. No free option. Unlike the other two, there's no meaningful free tier.

5. Declining reputation. With ChatGPT available for free, many students question whether Chegg is worth paying for anymore. The company's stock has reflected this concern.

Gradily: The Learning-First Approach

What It Is

Gradily takes a different philosophy than Course Hero and Chegg. Instead of giving you answers to copy, it focuses on helping you understand the material so you can work through problems yourself.

What You Get

• AI-powered homework help across all subjects
• Step-by-step explanations that teach concepts, not just solutions
• Essay writing guidance and feedback
• Assignment decoding — helps you understand what's being asked
• Study support and concept breakdowns

Pricing

• Free tier available — core features accessible without payment
• Premium plans for advanced features

Pros

1. Actually teaches you. The fundamental difference. Gradily explains why and how, not just what. This means you learn the material, not just get through the assignment.

2. Lower academic integrity risk. Because you're learning concepts and writing your own work (with guidance), the output is genuinely yours. This matters a lot in the current AI detection climate.

3. Free to start. On a student budget? You can actually use Gradily without opening your wallet.

4. Works for all subjects. Math, science, humanities, social sciences — it's not limited to textbook problems.

5. Helps with essay assignments. Where Chegg and Course Hero are mostly Q&A focused, Gradily can help with writing assignments by guiding your thinking.

Cons

1. Smaller brand recognition. Chegg and Course Hero have been around longer and are better known.

2. AI-based. While the AI is strong, some students prefer human expert responses for very complex questions.

3. Not a solution manual. If you specifically need the answer to problem #47 from your textbook, Chegg is more direct for that (though we'd argue that's not actually helping you).

The Academic Integrity Factor

This deserves its own section because it's a big deal right now.

Course Hero

• Professors actively search Course Hero for their materials
• Schools have requested user data for academic integrity investigations
• Some professors upload "bait" documents to catch students
• Risk: High if you're copying uploaded homework

Chegg

• Chegg has provided user data to universities investigating cheating
• Your Chegg account is linked to your email and payment info — it's traceable
• Professors know about Chegg solutions and may modify problems slightly to catch copiers
• Risk: High if you're copying solutions

Gradily

• Focused on teaching concepts, not providing copyable answers
• Work you produce with Gradily's guidance is your own writing
• Lower detection risk because the output is genuinely yours
• Risk: Lower because the model is tutoring, not answer-providing

For more on navigating this, check out is using AI for homework cheating? and college AI policies explained.

Which Should You Choose?

Choose Course Hero if:

• Your priority is finding course-specific study materials (old exams, class notes)
• You attend a large university where lots of materials have been uploaded
• You can afford the subscription or are willing to upload your own materials
• You'll use it as a study resource, not an answer key

Choose Chegg if:

• You need textbook-specific solutions
• You want expert answers to custom questions
• You're okay with the monthly cost
• You'll use solutions to learn the method, not just copy answers

Choose Gradily if:

• You want to actually understand the material (not just finish the assignment)
• You need help across multiple subjects including writing
• Budget is a concern (free tier)
• You want to minimize academic integrity risk
• You're looking for a tutor-like experience

The Honest Recommendation

For most students, here's what we'd suggest:

1. Start with Gradily for understanding concepts and getting homework guidance
2. Add Chegg only if you're working from a specific textbook and need solution references
3. Use Course Hero only if you find that your exact course materials are uploaded there
4. Cancel subscriptions you're not actively using — student budgets are tight

And regardless of which platform you use: learn the material. Test day always comes, and no homework help platform can sit the exam for you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I get caught using these platforms? Yes. Both Chegg and Course Hero have provided user data to universities. Read more about AI and academic integrity.

Which has the best free option? Gradily offers the most useful free tier. Course Hero lets you earn unlocks by uploading, but it's limited. Chegg has no free option.

Are the answers always correct? No. All three platforms can have errors. Always verify important answers independently.

Will these show up on AI detectors? If you copy text from any platform, it could potentially be flagged. Writing your own work with guidance (the Gradily approach) is safest.

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Looking for more comparisons? Check out ChatGPT vs Chegg vs Gradily, best free homework help websites, and best Chegg alternatives.