Rather than merely test for code correctness, Exercism uses peer review to improve general programming techniques. Users are encouraged to comment on others' solutions, and refine their own based on feedback.
Unlike many code practice websites, Exercism requires the user to develop and test entirely offline, submitting only the finished code. This promotes familiarity with essential tools and workflow, not just the bare language.
It's best to have at least a basic understanding of programming before tackling the exercises on exercism.io. You also have to know how to set up your development environment, as you will be coding everything locally (versus websites that provide you an editor right in the browser).
Exercism requires using a CLI utility to fetch and submit exercises. This is inconvenient compared to web-only alternatives, and poses an additional barrier to entry for some users.