Bootcamp vs Boards and Beyond: price, question bank, pass guarantee, and which to buy for Step 1

Bootcamp costs $79 a month, $299 for a year or $449 for two years, and every plan includes 2,500+ Step 1 questions with a video linked to each one. Boards and Beyond costs $89 for a month, $249 for a year or $399 for two years for its Step 1 product, with 490+ videos and its own question bank, and Step 2 is a separate purchase. Bootcamp is $50 a year more but bundles Step 2 preview content, anatomy and a pass guarantee; Boards and Beyond is cheaper and has no refunds at all. Prices were read from bootcamp.com and the Boards and Beyond store on September 23, 2026.

Both products do the same job on a Step 1 study plan: they teach the content, system by system, before you drill it in a big question bank. That is why students compare them and not, say, Bootcamp against UWorld. The difference is in how each one packages the teaching, what the price includes, and what happens if you fail. Every Step 1 thread on this comparison ends with "either is fine if you pair it with Anki", which is true for learning and useless for the checkout page. This article is for the checkout page.

Bootcamp vs Boards and Beyond price

At a year and at two years, Boards and Beyond is $50 cheaper. At one month, Bootcamp is $10 cheaper. Boards and Beyond also sells the in-between terms Bootcamp does not, so a student whose dedicated period starts in four months can buy exactly six months for $199 instead of a full year. Both are paid up front, and Bootcamp's terms say subscriptions renew automatically at the then-current rate unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the renewal date. Boards and Beyond charges the same price for a renewal as for a new purchase, and its seven-day trial in the US turns into a paid plan unless you cancel.

The price gap flips once you need Step 2. Boards and Beyond sells Step 2-3 Clinical as its own product on the same ladder, $89 to $399, so a student who wants both steps from one vendor pays twice: $498 for a year of each. Bootcamp includes its Step 2 question bank and Step 2 crash course videos in every Med School plan, marked as new and rolling out, at no extra cost. If you are an M2 who will want Step 2 content next year, the $449 two-year Bootcamp plan covers both for less than one year of each Boards and Beyond product.

What each one actually includes

The Boards and Beyond question count is inconsistent on its own site: the product page says 3,300+ Step 1 questions and 490+ videos, while an older FAQ answer still says 2,300 and 440. We quote the product page. Either way it is the larger bank here, by at least a few hundred questions. Bootcamp argues the opposite point on purpose. Its pricing page says 2,500 questions written for the current Step 1 beat a 3,500 to 5,000 question bank padded with trivia, and it calls its questions "horses, not zebras." That is marketing, but the design follows it: every Bootcamp question links to the short video that teaches the concept, so a wrong answer sends you straight into the lesson. Boards and Beyond works the other way around, with the lecture first and the questions after.

Neither one replaces a full-size question bank for dedicated. Most students still finish on UWorld, whose full UWorld price ladder, from $349 for 30 days we keep on a separate page, or on Amboss.

The Bootcamp pass guarantee, read closely

Bootcamp's headline is "Pass Step 1. Guaranteed." The terms are on its pricing page FAQ. If you fail Step 1 after meeting both of your Pass Targets, Bootcamp refunds your entire payment when you email its team. To qualify, you must have bought the 1-year or 2-year plan at least 30 days before your exam, met both Pass Targets on your Performance page before test day, and give the name of your accredited US or Canadian medical school plus the result showing the failed attempt. The two Pass Targets are an overall score and how much of the Step 1 question bank you have completed. The monthly plan is not covered.

It is a real guarantee, and it is a full refund, which is more generous than the Sketchy guarantee that pays back only your last payment. But notice what it insures. You are covered only if your own Bootcamp performance already predicted a pass, and Bootcamp says 98% of students who meet both targets do pass. So the guarantee protects the student who did the work and still failed, which is rare, rather than the student who fell behind. That is how almost every pass guarantee in test prep works. It is still worth having, and it costs nothing extra on the plans most students buy anyway. Boards and Beyond offers no guarantee and no refunds of any kind.

Which one to buy

Buy Bootcamp if you are in your first or second year and want one subscription to carry you from coursework through Step 1 and into Step 2, if you learn better from short videos with a quiz after each, or if the guarantee matters to you. The two-year plan at $449 is the one to look at, since it runs about $18.71 a month and includes Step 2 content you would otherwise buy separately. Bootcamp also lets you copy and screenshot its content freely, which is handy if you build your own review decks or want to turn your notes into slides for a small-group session.

Buy Boards and Beyond if you prefer long-form lectures that build a topic from first principles, if you want the bigger question bank inside the video product, or if price is the deciding factor and you only need Step 1. A year at $249 is the cheapest full teaching series for Step 1 on the market. The six-month plan at $199 is a sensible buy for a student who starts content review late. We cover every Boards and Beyond price and plan length, including the AMA offer, on a separate page.

If your exam is less than 30 days away, the guarantee is off the table no matter which plan you pick, so choose on teaching style alone: Bootcamp for $79 or Boards and Beyond for $89 for one month.

Whichever you pick, most students add Pathoma for pathology, because neither series goes as deep on it. A year of Pathoma is $99.95 with the book, and we lay out the full Pathoma cost and how it compares with Boards and Beyond separately. A year of Boards and Beyond plus Pathoma comes to $348.95; a year of Bootcamp plus Pathoma is $398.95.

Where Aspirants.ai fits next to either one

Both products share one limit: the questions run out. Bootcamp has 2,500 and Boards and Beyond a few thousand, and the topics you keep missing are exactly the ones where you burn through the relevant questions first. Aspirants.ai is an AI tutor that writes new USMLE-style questions on the exact system or topic you choose, explains every answer choice, and answers your follow-up when an explanation does not make sense at midnight. It is built to sit next to your video series and your question bank, not replace them, and it costs from $9 a month with no access clock. Try it on your weakest topic from the USMLE Step 1 practice questions page and see whether it closes the gap.

Frequently asked questions

Is Bootcamp better than Boards and Beyond?

Neither is better for everyone. Bootcamp is better if you want short videos linked to every question, Step 2 content in the same plan and a pass guarantee. Boards and Beyond is better if you prefer long lectures from first principles and want the lower price, $249 against $299 for a year. Both teach Step 1 content well.

How much does Bootcamp cost for Step 1?

Med School Bootcamp costs $79 a month, $299 for one year or $449 for two years, read from bootcamp.com on September 23, 2026. Every plan includes 2,500+ Step 1 questions, linked videos, unlimited Ask Bootcamp AI prompts, Step 2 preview content and Anatomy Bootcamp. The pass guarantee applies only to the one and two year plans.

Does Boards and Beyond have a pass guarantee?

No. Boards and Beyond does not offer a pass guarantee, and its store says digital sales are final, so there are no refunds. Its seven-day trial in the US converts to a paid plan unless you cancel. Bootcamp is the one of the two that offers a guarantee, on its one and two year plans.

Can you use Bootcamp and Boards and Beyond together?

You can, but most students do not need both, since they cover the same Step 1 content. A year of both would cost $548. A more common pairing is one of them plus Pathoma for pathology, plus a large question bank such as UWorld or Amboss for dedicated.

Is Bootcamp enough for Step 1?

Bootcamp is built to be a one-stop resource and some students use it alone, but most add a larger question bank like UWorld for dedicated and take NBME self-assessments to predict their score. Its 2,500+ questions are fewer than a full-size bank, so plan on more practice than Bootcamp alone supplies.