UPSC Interview Guidance 2026: Which Programs Are Free, Which Cost Money, and How to Prepare

• Free for Mains qualifiers, as published: Drishti IAS and Legacy IAS both state their 2026 guidance is free. Shankar IAS Academy's page carries a "Free Coaching" banner but gives no fee in its text.
• Paid: Vajiram & Ravi lists ₹600 including GST for non-students, and Vision IAS lists ₹500 (₹250 for its own students). Check the cycle on the page first, because Vision's page did not name one.
• No fee stated: Insights IAS, PW and ForumIAS did not show a fee for 2026 on the pages we read.
• Almost everyone needs your DAF in advance, and registration closes or fills, so start now rather than after results.

The Vajiram & Ravi program, by its own page, begins on 11 November 2026.

Gilu saysTip: register for two or three programs, but do not stack ten mocks in one week. You need time to fix what each board points out.

Drishti IAS: Foundation Programme, Personality Test 2026

For candidates who cleared CSE Mains 2026. The page says it is free for Drishti students and non-students, online and offline, in English and Hindi. It lists a dual-expert DAF discussion, a one-to-one mock, mock interviews before a 3-member mentor panel and a 5-member panel, an on-demand AI mock interview, group DAF profiling and personality-development sessions in groups of 6 to 8, and interview-focused study material. A registration form is compulsory, and offline applicants fill an additional form at a branch. Start and end dates were not on the page. Read the page.

ForumIAS: Interview Guidance Program (IGP) CSE 2026

The academy page lists one mock panel interview, one one-to-one session and one DAF analysis session with a mentor, online or offline. It showed "Registration are closed" when we read it, and no fee for 2026. A ForumIAS blog post also announced interview guidance sessions on 8 November (online) and 11 November 2026 (offline, Karol Bagh, Delhi) for Mains qualifiers, without saying whether they are free. DAF has to be emailed at least three days before scheduling. Academy page, blog post.

Insights IAS: Interview Guidance Program 2026

One-on-one mock interviews tailored to your profile, DAF-I and DAF-II analysis and personalised feedback, with an orientation video on the page. Fee, dates and mock count were not stated. Registration is through a separate portal. Read the page.

Legacy IAS: UPSC Mock Interview 2026

Published 6 November 2026 and described as free guidance for candidates who cleared CSE 2026 Mains, with a one-to-one DAF discussion and a panel-based mock, personalised feedback, online and offline, with panels in Bengaluru and Delhi. An older Legacy page says the program is free and offers one-to-one mocks of "45 minutes or more", but that page is for 2025-26. A separate mentorship page mentions "3 to 10" panel mocks without a fee. 2026 page.

PW: UPSC Interview Guidance Program 2026

For Mains qualifiers. It lists expert-panel mocks, an independent "Third Eye View" evaluation with SWOT analysis, DAF-based questionnaires, group sessions, current affairs sessions and an "Art of Interview" booklet. Registration and schedule were marked "To Be Announced", and no fee was stated. Read the page.

Shankar IAS Academy: Civil Service Mock Interview 2026

Lists one-on-one sessions with feedback, panel mocks with serving and retired officers, group DAF profiling, SWOT analysis, current affairs sessions, mentorship by recently selected officers and a feedback report. Centres: Chennai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Thiruvananthapuram and Hyderabad. A banner says "Free Coaching", but the text gives no fee, and the schedule is in a PDF we did not read. Read the page.

Vajiram & Ravi: Interview Guidance Programme (IGP) 2026

₹600 including GST for non-Vajiram students, free for students enrolled in a Vajiram GS course. It starts on 11 November 2026 and runs until the last day of interviews. It lists one full-length mock of 30 to 35 minutes before retired civil servants and subject experts, a second mock on request, a one-to-one DAF session of about 30 minutes, five thematic lectures and state-specific questionnaires. Offline registration is at the New Delhi office, and online registration is by phone or email. One thing to check: the course listing pages say "Free Mock UPSC Interview sessions", which conflicts with the ₹600 on the detail page. Detail page.

Vision IAS: Interview program

The interview page lists ₹500 for new students and ₹250 for Vision students, "including all taxes", with admissions open. It did not name an exam cycle, a mock count, dates or mode, so confirm those with the institute. Read the page.

Not found: StudyIQ, Unacademy, Rau's IAS

We found no 2026 interview program on the StudyIQ or Unacademy pages we read. Rau's IAS had a mock interview page, but it was for 2023, so we left it out.

Free does not mean less useful. The things worth getting from any program:

• A DAF review before the mock. Most interview questions start from your own form. In the 14 transcripts of CSE 2025 interviews we read, about a third of the questions came straight from the DAF.
• A real panel, not a single faculty member. A 5-member panel mock, like the one Drishti lists, is closer to the real board.
• Written feedback you can act on. "Be more confident" is useless. "You hesitated on your home district's main industry" is something you can fix by Friday.
• A recording, if offered. Watching yourself shows habits you cannot feel.

Gilu saysTip: after each mock, write the three questions you answered worst and prepare them again. Then go to the next mock, not before.

There is no published rule, so this is our view. Three to five mocks from different panels is plenty for most candidates. Each mock gives you new material to fix, but only if you leave time to fix it. If you stack many mocks in a few days, you collect the same feedback repeatedly and have no time to change anything.

Spread mocks across the weeks before your date. Use the first for DAF problems, the middle ones for current affairs and opinion questions, and the last for polish and stamina.

The interview is 275 marks. In our data, the median topper scored 182 out of 275, and the spread is wide enough to move a rank by hundreds of places. Our free page on interview marks and what boards ask shows the numbers and the 2026 questions we found.

If you want a structured prep plan on top of the free mocks, our UPSC Interview Pack has a DAF worksheet, the question patterns from 14 real 2026 board transcripts and a 30-day plan for ₹299, with a 7-day refund. It does not replace a live panel mock, which is why we say take the free ones first.

1. Download your DAF and read every line as if a stranger will question you on it. Mark each item you cannot explain in two sentences.
2. Register for the free programs above and note each DAF deadline.
3. Prepare your home state and district: economy, issues, schemes, history, people.
4. Pick three current affairs issues you can argue both sides of.
5. Rehearse your hobbies and your optional subject. Boards often ask about both.
6. Book mocks with gaps between them, and keep a notebook of each board's feedback.