Around 1,500 searches a month in Ireland are for “free now manual”, “free now taxi test” or “free now spsv test”. If you are one of them, here is what the thing is, what it covers, and where it leaves gaps, so you can decide how to use it. We built a paid competitor, so read this knowing that. The facts below come from Freenow’s own training page and the NTA Manual 8.0, not from opinion.
What the Freenow Manual is
Freenow (the app that used to be Hailo, then Mytaxi) runs a free online study platform for people who want to become taxi drivers. It calls the platform “The Manual”. According to its own page, the platform has:
- Area Knowledge in 14 chapters with “over 500” questions, for ten counties: Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick, Waterford, Wicklow, Sligo, Louth, Kildare and Kilkenny.
- Industry Knowledge in 7 chapters with “150+” questions.
- Spaced repetition, so questions you get wrong come back more often.
- Embedded Google Street View and Google Maps on place questions.
- A claim of 3,000+ students who passed with its help, and a suggested study time of five weeks.
It is free because Freenow needs drivers. Once you pass, they walk you through getting set up on their app. That is a fair trade and plenty of drivers have gone that route.
The name problem
There are two things called “the Manual” in this industry and they are not the same:
| NTA Official Manual | Freenow “The Manual” | |
|---|---|---|
| Publisher | National Transport Authority | Freenow (taxi app) |
| What it is | The 200-page reference document, Edition 8.0 (2025). Every Industry question in the real test is written from it. | An online quiz platform with practice questions. |
| Cost | Free PDF on nationaltransport.ie | Free, registration required |
| Chapters | 11 Industry chapters plus appendices | 7 Industry chapters |
If you only ever read the Freenow version, you have not read the document the examiner used. Download the NTA PDF as well. It is dry, but the fee tables, offence lists and vehicle rules in it are exactly what turns up on screen.
Where it is strong
Street View on place questions is genuinely useful for Dublin candidates who do not know the city: you see the front of the hotel, not just a dot. Spaced repetition is the right way to learn 500 facts. And the price is unbeatable. If you are on a tight budget, start there.
Where the gaps are
1. Area Knowledge changed in October 2025
The NTA rewrote the Area Knowledge module in 2025: it now tests main streets, districts, one-way streets, routes between towns, motorway junctions and notable places by category, county by county. Any bank of questions written before that rewrite tests the old format. Ask, before you commit five weeks to any platform, when its Area questions were last rebuilt. Our guide to the 2025 changes lists what is examinable now.
2. Ten counties out of 26
If you plan to work in Meath, Wexford, Kerry, Donegal, Mayo, Clare, Tipperary or any of the other sixteen counties, Freenow gives you Industry practice only. The Area module is half your test. You would be walking in blind on it.
3. Seven Industry chapters versus eleven
The NTA Manual 8.0 has eleven Industry chapters. A bank organised into seven suggests it follows an older edition’s structure. Fees, the fixed payment offence list and the fare structure all changed between editions. Check any number you learn against the current PDF, or against our key numbers page, which cites the Manual page for each figure.
4. No mock exam on the real clock
The real test is 54 Industry questions and 36 Area questions, one minute each, 75% pass mark in each module. Practising one question at a time is a different skill from finishing 90 under time pressure. Whatever you use to study, do at least three full timed mocks before you book.
How we are different, stated plainly
- All 26 counties for Area Knowledge, built from map data (OpenStreetMap, cross-checked against Google Maps) after the October 2025 reform. Over 11,000 questions, each with a map.
- 400 Industry questions, every one tagged with the Manual 8.0 page it comes from, so you can check us.
- A mock exam that mirrors the real format and timer, and that stops repeating questions you have already seen.
- Costs €39 for six months, with a pass guarantee: fail the real test while your access is active, send us the result sheet, and we extend your access free. There is a free demo with no registration.
Honest advice: use both. Freenow’s Street View for getting to know the city, the NTA PDF for the source material, and a timed mock, ours or anyone’s, to find out whether you are actually at 75% before you spend 90 euro at the test centre. The NTA says only about a third of candidates pass at the first sitting. The ones who fail are rarely the ones who practised under exam conditions.
One more thing: it is not “the Freenow test”
The searches for “free now taxi test” suggest some people think Freenow runs an exam. It does not. The only test that counts is the NTA SPSV Driver Entry Test, booked through the NTA on 0818 064 000, 90 euro, at one of the national test centres. Passing it gets you the SPSV Skills Development Certificate; then comes the 250 euro licence fee and the Garda application. The full route is in our step-by-step guide.