Chegg Review: How It Works | Is It Worth It? (2024)

• 9 min read
• Updated on September, 2023

• Creating an account: 10/10
• Chegg Study: 5/10
• Chegg Writing: 8/10
• Expert Proofreading 9/10
• Chegg Math Solver 10/10
• Study Section Learn: 7/10
• Test Practice: 10/10
• Chegg Citations 10/10
• Rent / Buy Textbooks 10/10
• Sell Books: 10/10

We know that as a college student, all you want to do is save money for tuition, and with all the options available, it can be tough to know which site to choose.

You have probably heard of Chegg since it has become more popular over the years.

However, if you don’t really know how it works or if it’s worth it, don’t worry! we’ll save you the hard work with this in-depth Chegg review.

Gradehacker has years of experience in the college consulting industry.

As the non-traditional students’ #1 resource, we have years of searching and reviewing what’s best for our students. In fact, we use Chegg as one of our team resources, which is why we think it could help you.

Chegg was founded in 2005 as an online textbook rental marketplace that allows students to rent textbooks for a fraction of the usual price.

To this day, they offer over 400,000 books for rent and currently work with over 850 schools across the U.S., and they have rental options for all major subject areas.

One of the most significant benefits is the ability to search for the best textbook prices in the market. If you know exactly which textbooks you want to buy/rent, Chegg can find you the cheapest options for each book.

Over the years, Chegg started developing other services besides textbook rentals.

In 2014, they launched Chegg Study, a tutoring service to help students better understand their schoolwork with more than 5,000 expert Q&As, step-by-step textbook solutions, video walkthroughs, and more.

Chegg’s other services are:

• Math Problem Solver
• Citation Generator
• Paper Check
• Expert Content Flashcards
• Graphing

To start using the services, they require you to create an account.

You can sign in with your Apple, Facebook, or Google account or create a new one with your email address and a password.

When you create an account with your email and password, they’ll ask if you are a student or a parent, and if you’re a student, you’ll have to choose the education level: high school or college.

When selecting the college option, you have to include the current college class standing and the school you are attending.

After you complete all the information, that’s it; you’ll have your Chegg account.

It’s not a complicated process, so we gave it a 10/10 score.

Keep in mind that you need to be logged in to see all the features we explain in this blog article since it’s very likely that if you don’t log in, you may see things differently.

From our point of view, we believe Chegg decided to present their paid features very directly and maintain the free ones lowkey. We will explain this to you later on in the article.

Here are the key things you need to know about its membership features:

1. Chegg Study:

• 90 million Expert Chegg Study Q&A and Textbook Solutions
• Guided video explanations (available only with Chegg Study Pack)
• Ask 20 questions per month
• Practice problems

2. Chegg Math Solver:

• Steps and substeps for equations
• Input your custom equation
• Graphing calculator
• Detailed explanations

3. Chegg Writing:

• Helps cite your paper
• Checks your paper for plagiarism
• Checks your paper for grammar mistakes

You can also get all of these three options bundled together with Chegg’s Study Pack for $19.95 per month.

All three options used to show up on their homepage, and it was effortless to see the details of each service and what they included. Now you have to go to a different area on the website to find this information.

While writing this review, we noticed their entire website was updated and changed; therefore, those services are no longer shown in detail like before, but that’s why we’re here to show you how their paid services work.

One of the most helpful and well-known features of this service is the Q&A Expert Service.

If you have a problem or a question in one of your classes or assignments that you can’t seem to find the answer to, then the help of an expert from Chegg may suit you perfectly, and with the Study option, you can post up to 20 questions monthly.

First, you need to go into the study tools and select the ‘Post a question‘ option.

To create your question, you need to click the button on the right-hand side that says ‘Post a new question.’ So far, so good, right?

We thought we would have to wait a long time for an answer, but to our surprise, we received the Chegg tutor’s response in only 7 minutes, which is incredibly fast.

However, we noticed that the ‘expert’ didn’t have a name or a photo to recognize. It said it was anonymous, which made us doubt whether an actual person or expert sent the answer.

Plus, it was a 4 paragraph text, and our question was answered at the end of it.

So, even though we received the answer in the blink of an eye, we decided to give this service a 5/10 since we don’t know if a reliable person sent the response.

Although the reply was valid, it didn’t directly answer our question.

Go to the study tools and select the ‘check my writing’ option. You will have three options: Paste your paper or import it from your computer or drive.

For this service, we chose an essay about a microorganism that we’ve used to review other student support services.

Right after you click on ‘check my paper,’ Cheggs starts the process of analyzing your paper for any grammatical errors and plagiarism.

In our case, the Chegg system found 60 grammar mistakes and 16% of plagiarism. It only took around 3 minutes to be done.

They underline each error and phrase in different colors: blue for grammar and orange for plagiarism. That way, you can know the difference between both.

The grammar corrections were fine, but we believe that 16% of plagiarism is excessive, especially because we also ran it through Grammarly’s checker which found that the paper was 100% original.

Plus, when we checked which parts were plagiarized, we found that most were referenced and even had the information written in a different style and order.

So, Chegg’s plagiarism tool is effective in the sense that it recognizes all content that is copied from your source.

However, this also applies to similar wording and referenced information, making the plagiarism score higher than it should be. Nothing huge to worry about, but you should have it in mind!

Overall, we think that the grammar corrections were very accurate, and it worked faster than we thought. That’s why we scored this featured service with an 8/10.

If you need a specific arrangement or feedback in your essay and want the help of an expert, you have to click ‘expert check‘ and upload your paper again. They state that you will receive feedback in your email once it’s done.

This is different from the service we explained above since it gives you a more detailed explanation and complete paper feedback. If you are looking to deliver a good quality paper, you should definitely use this service.

After we sent our paper, which was the same one we used before, we received feedback in our email in less than 24 hours from the Chegg Expert Proofreading Team saying that our paper had been read, critiqued, and commented on.

On the first page, they scored our paper a 3.8 out of 5. They separated their comments into different categories: Topic, Development, Audience, Organization, Cohesion, Word choice, Grammar, and Spelling.

Overall, the paper didn’t change that much, but its corrections were accurate. Even though we don’t know if it was a real person or AI, its structure makes us believe that it was a real person.

The fact that it was sent in less than 24 hours is excellent, but not knowing if it was a real person or not, we scored this service a 9/10.

To try this service, we used the following math problem:

Simplify 3(4x – (6 – 6y + 6x) + 6y)

We just wrote it in the calculator and clicked ‘Go.’ They asked us which variable we wanted to solve and which action to take. In our case, our variable was x, and we needed to simplify.

What’s really great about this math solver service is that it gives you the answer and explains how to solve the problem step by step.

That way, you have full knowledge of how it was solved and be able to practice later.

We think this service is one of the best that Chegg offers.

It’s not common to find an efficient and complete calculator online that’s easy to use and gives you detailed answers in seconds; for that reason, we scored this service a 10/10.

By the time we started writing this review, Chegg’s home page was completely different.

We realized they changed and updated how you could explore various sections on its website to find the services available for free.

In our opinion, the old version was more intuitive than the current one since the services still exist but are now more difficult to find at first sight on the website.

Learn‘ is one of those services you can use to discover new subjects or focus on a topic you are currently seeing in your class. It’s beneficial if you need more information to start writing or add to an essay or assignment.

To find the section ‘learn,’ you need to scroll all the way down to the page, and you’ll find it in small letters below ‘Chegg Products And Services,’ as you can see in the image.

We highlighted the word so you can appreciate it better.

This is a beneficial section if a particular class topic is giving you trouble and you need specific definitions or illustrated explanations.

You need to scroll down to the end of the page, whether you have an account or not, and click on the small (tiny) letters that say ‘learn.’

In our case, we decided to look for “Anatomy” help within the Biology subject. It showed us a page with a brief definition and an overview with a few illustrations of the most relevant topics within this subject.

We selected the topic “Anatomy of Heart,” and while it’s not the most explicit definition, it’s easy to understand to have a clear idea of the topic.

If you have a doubt or there’s something you didn’t understand, you have a little box where you can ask your questions.

We rated this section a 7/10 since it’s very organized and helpful.

Still, the information isn’t very in-depth or thorough, so if you’re looking for some inspiration to start writing, it’ll work just fine, but not to get fully informed about a topic.

We found that this is a great tool if you need an extra push before an exam or a quiz for your class.

It will show you different examples of questions that could appear on your tests. Plus, you can explore courses in subjects like biology, social science, business, etc.

After selecting your subject, you can choose the topic you want to start practicing for your test.

Keep in mind you have to be logged in to find this tool. Click on “Study tools” on the homepage, then as you see the options, you’ll see ‘Take a practice test.’ Click that one, and you’ll be ready to start!

Chegg provides you with an entire list of subjects you can choose from to start preparing for your exam and feel completely ready the day you take it.

We selected the ‘Nervous System,’ and it showed us a 10-question practice test. To ensure you don’t have the wrong answer, you can immediately click on ‘show solution’ to verify it.

We rated this section a 10/10 since it has many courses and subjects to choose from, and it’s perfect for memorizing essential topics or questions that you may have in an exam.

As we said before, these sections can be used for free with your Chegg account and are helpful if you just need inspiration to start writing or an extra push to study for your exam.

Another free service Chegg has is the Citations Generator.

This service will automatically create quick citations in the writing style you need. It can be from a website, journal, book, thesis, database, and more!

You can create a manual citation or choose from one of the options they give you.

It automatically fills in the information about the website source. Next, you’ll just need to click on ‘complete citation,’ and it will be added to your citation list.

This is great since you will have all of your references organized in one place, and it won’t be a nightmare when you have to add them to your paper.

We scored this service with a 10/10 since it’s straightforward to use, and we think it would be beneficial when you need to organize your reference page in your paper.

This service is also included in the Chegg Writing subscription.

Now it’s time to talk about Chegg’s other paid services, and we will start with their most famous one: Rent/buy and sell books.

Chegg is one of the first big players to offer a textbook rental system. And since they have a leg up in the market, they are known for providing one of the cheapest textbook rental services out there. Since Chegg’s primary purpose is to rent digital books, we decided to try it and see what the big buzz was about so you can learn from our experience in every step of the process.

On the homepage of your account, you have to select the option ‘My Books,’ which will take you to the Rent/Buy Books site. There’s a search bar for you to find the book you need to buy or rent. We searched for “Fundamentals: Davis Essential Nursing Content + Practice Questions” for this occasion and found it immediately.

After selecting the book, we went directly to the page where they showed us the final price for renting or buying the eTextbook and how much we would be saving.

The total cost for physically renting the book for two months was $15.49, and since the listed price to buy was $42.95, we were going to save a total of $27.46.

The book included a few things like free shipping or rental returns, a 21-day refund guarantee, free seven-day access, and the liberty to highlight the book, which we thought was interesting since it is a rental book.

When it came to buying the eTextbook, the price was a tiny bit lower, with a total cost of $40.20 and only $2.75 of savings.

You could also select the option to buy it for a year, allowing you to take more time to read the book without pressure and take more advantage of it for a final price of $30.15, which means $12.80 of savings.

After adding your book to the shopping cart, the purchase process is very easy. You just need to take your time and fill in all your payment information and shipping address so you can receive your book (in case you decide to rent it physically).

If you don’t have a credit card, you can also pay with PayPal.

The selling book process is very different. First of all, you need to have your book’s ISBN (International Standard Book Number).

This ten or 13-digit number identifies a specific book, an edition, or a book-like product (such as an audiobook). You can find it on the back cover, next to the barcode.

If it’s not there, look at the page featuring the copyright and publisher information, and you should find the ISBN there.

You need to know that Chegg does not directly purchase your book; an independent buyer named GoTextbooks buys it from Chegg.

In fact, when you click on ‘Get started,’ it takes you directly to their webpage.

You need to create an account on this site too before you start with the process.

After creating your account and you have the ISBN of your book, click GO, then the quoted price for your book will appear below.

In this instance, we used the ISBN of the book “Nursing Diagnosis Handbook: An Evidence-Based Guide to Planning Care, 12th Edition.”

“I mainly use Chegg’s “citation machine” service, which is basically a freemium service for automatic citations they offer.

It’s incredibly helpful and saves me heaps of time!

You can use the service for free as long as your ad blocker is off, and you can also buy a premium subscription for no ads and unlimited citing. I recommend checking it out; it’s a tool anyone would benefit from!”

“Chegg is a really big company, and in terms of ‘legality’ or if it is ‘legit,’ it totally is.

Mainly, the use I have given to the platform is to access ebooks that we do not usually find in our database.

They have virtually every book available (hard copy and ebook). The main positive aspect of Chegg is that you can rent the book for the time you need it.

For example, if we are assisting a client with an 8-week class, we can rent the book for eight weeks (or however long we might need it), which would consist of a much smaller fee than buying the whole book, both in hardcopy and ebook.

You can also think about this in terms of a non-traditional student who needs the book, not necessarily a client. So it is really useful for everybody!

Just by looking at their website, I think you will find many resources and find out all the alternatives that will fit your needs.”

“Chegg is one of the most powerful tools we have as Study Consultants. I use it almost every day.

As Sergio said, one of the main uses is finding textbooks for rent or buying at a lesser price than other sites.

The rental service is appropriate for the majority of the courses because, in the end, we rarely reference the book in the future.

Besides offering books, Chegg also has the solutions to problems stated in many of the selected books they have. Textbook solutions are well-written and verified so that those answers can be trusted about 95% of the time.

I say 95% of the time because although Chegg offers a solution to determining problems or questions, one of the disadvantages is that an expert does not verify these solutions.

When finding the answers, the person seeking them needs to have a certain judgment to determine if that solution is appropriate.

So, following this argument, I’d say that Chegg is a powerful tool that gives solutions to many problems or exercises.

Still, at the same time, you cannot depend 100% on it because other users can send their solutions and post them.

Chegg is beneficial for your study time because most of the questions posted on quizzes and exams from different universities are there.

If they are not word-for-word the same, at least in some way, they can be used to understand the context of the problem and guide you to do it.”

The pros that Chegg has are more than the cons.

One of them is their most famous buying/renting books service since it offers a complete variety of virtual books on almost every topic you search for.

Also, the number of topics they have in their library for you to study or practice before your exams, plus the math solver service, can be a lifesaver to many students!

The only con that we saw on their website is that we never knew the person’s name or ‘expert’ who helped us, so we don’t actually know if it was a real person or an automatic system.

So, what’s our final rating for Chegg? Considering the functionality and how well their services work, our final score for Chegg is 8.9/10.

Overall, we would recommend Chegg as their services work well! So if you need help with a paper, finding a book, or even a math problem, Chegg will suit you perfectly!

Now that you know our experience and have detailed information about their services, it’s in your power to decide if you want to allow Chegg to help you.

If you don’t feel comfortable with their options, you can get in touch with our team and learn how we can help you with your essays, homework assignments, and even entire classes!

And if you are interested in learning about other services, you can read our different review articles: