A myDMV Alternative: Pay Once Instead of Every Six Months

Updated July 14, 2026

What myDMV actually charges

Read from its own paywall on July 14, 2026:

First-hand from myDMV's upgrade screen, July 14, 2026. Apple's App Store listing shows similar figures under names like "DMV 6month Full Access", but Apple's list never states whether a purchase renews. The paywall does. Read yours.

That $29.99 is the number to look at twice. It reads like a one-time price, and it isn't: it buys six months. To cover what PermitPal covers, car plus motorcycle plus CDL, you'd pay $79.98 every six months, which is $159.96 a year, and then it stops. On the weekly plans, matching us costs $17.98 a week, or $934.96 over a year.

PermitPal is $29.99 once. Not per year, not per six months, not per license type. And there are no auto-renewing charges to remember to cancel.

Honestly: if you'll pass in a week, take myDMV

We're not going to pretend otherwise. A week of myDMV's car plan is $7.99 and we cost $29.99. If you study hard, pass, and cancel the same day, myDMV is the cheaper choice and you should take it.

The math turns at about three weeks for the car test, and much sooner if you need more than one license type, because every track bills separately. It turns permanently the moment you come back: the motorcycle endorsement a year later, a sibling, a retake after a bad morning at the DMV. A six-month pass expires. $29.99 doesn't.

One purchase, every kid in the family

PermitPal's unlock supports Apple Family Sharing: buy it once and everyone in your Family group has it, on their own devices, for good. Two teens two years apart, then a motorcycle endorsement, then a CDL: one $29.99. A per-person subscription bills per person, per test, every time.

Feature by feature

myDMV details from its own paywall, App Store listing and Apple's privacy labels, July 14, 2026. "Not stated" means we couldn't confirm it from myDMV's own materials.

What myDMV collects about you

This is Apple's label on myDMV's own listing, not our characterisation. Under Data Used to Track You, meaning data used to follow you across apps and websites owned by other companies, myDMV lists: contact info, user content, identifiers, usage data and diagnostics. Its privacy detail also cites advertising data and third-party advertising. The app is rated 13+.

PermitPal collects nothing. No account, no analytics SDK, no ad SDK, no tracker. Your scores and mistakes stay on your phone. See the privacy policy, it's short.

Who myDMV is genuinely better for

Pick myDMV if you need Chinese, Hindi or Vietnamese: it has five languages and we have two, and that's a real advantage we can't match today. Pick it if you want it on a Mac, if you'll genuinely be done inside a week or two and will cancel, or if its illustrated questions and pass probability score are what keep you studying. It's a well-made app.

Who PermitPal is better for

Choose PermitPal if you'd rather pay once than watch a clock, if more than one person in the house will need this, or if you need more than one license type: car, motorcycle and CDL are all in the same $29.99, in all 50 states, each verified against that state's own handbook. Choose it if you want no ads and no account, full offline study, and Spanish that covers the questions themselves wherever the real exam is offered in Spanish. The honest tradeoff: PermitPal has no Chinese, Hindi or Vietnamese.

Want the wider view? See the best permit apps roundup, the Zutobi alternative, or the DMV Genie alternative. Or skip the apps entirely and try a free practice test for your state right in the browser.

📱 Ready to study? Start free in your browser — all 50 states, car, motorcycle and CDL, with short lessons, sign games, and real-format mock exams. Free to start, $29.99 once for everything, or $6.99 a week in the app. Also on the App Store and Google Play.