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How we rank courses

Rankings come only from your answers and the rules below. No provider can pay to rank higher.

Updated October 20, 2026

Step 1: only courses that count

Your state and the driver's age decide which course types count toward a license, like Florida's 6-hour DETS course for teens or Texas's 6-hour adult course for ages 18–24. In Texas, choosing a parent or a driving school for behind-the-wheel training picks parent-taught or instructor-taught courses. Choosing "Free" as your budget shows only free courses.

Step 2: points for each answer

• Budget (counts 1.5×): a course at or under your budget scores well; over budget loses points; an unknown price loses a little.
• Learning style: matches between video-heavy, reading-based and mixed courses.
• Device: a phone app scores best for phone users; a course that works in a phone browser scores partly.
• Permit test in the course (Texas and Florida only; other states give the test themselves).
• Must-have extras: each extra you pick adds points if the provider offers it and subtracts if it doesn't.
• Timeline: if you need the permit fast, courses with the permit test online score a little higher, since that saves a DMV trip. States set minimum hours, so no course is truly faster.
• Learning differences (counts 0.5×): video lessons for attention, read-aloud audio for reading difficulty, practice tests and guarantees for test anxiety. These come from course features, not clinical research.

The fit percentage is the share of possible points a course earned on the questions you answered. With no answers beyond state and age, courses are listed by price.

"Not confirmed" features

If we couldn't confirm a feature on the provider's own website, it shows as "Not confirmed" and costs a small amount of points under a question that asks for it. That can undercount a provider; if you run one, email hello@driversedshortlist.com with where the feature is documented.

Where the data comes from

• Approval: Texas providers are matched to license numbers in the TDLR directory, Florida providers to the FLHSMV approved DETS list, Georgia providers to the DDS list of certified online providers, Ohio providers to the Ohio DPS list of Class D online courses, Oklahoma providers to Service Oklahoma's approved parent-taught list, Nevada providers to the DMV's licensed driver training school list, Indiana providers to the BMV's list of licensed online-theory schools, New York providers to the DMV's list of approved online pre-licensing providers, and Virginia providers to the DMV's list of approved correspondence courses for homeschooled teens. California and Colorado don't publish a list we can check, so approval there is as each provider states it.
• Prices: only from the provider's own website, never from reviews or ads. We record the price shown on the day we checked, including sales.
• Which providers: the ones that come up most in published driver's ed roundups, plus the state lists. Local driving schools will be added later.