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1. Flashy stuff on your CV which recruiters in India or third countries might find tasty. One reason for that being the difficulty of the exam - see below at point 1 under 'Cons' for the other side of this argument.See further at point 3 under 'Cons' below for further details about the bad side of this.
2. Possibility of getting a TC or a lateral position out of it. Refer below to point 2 under 'Cons' to understand the flip side to this argument.
3. Qualifying as a solicitor with a reasonably high level of flexibility, including by working abroad - once again, read point 3 under the below section to understand the other side to this, too.
Cons:
1. Huge uncertainty: SQE failure rates are alarmingly high. System is almost set up for you to fail. Barriers to multiple attempts are huge: forking out something like £4000 per attempt. If you have a TC in place, even, the prospects are extremely scary. Firms (including magic circle ones) have been known to withdraw TC offers from people who fail on their first attempt. Others use the prospect of a delayed start date to the TC as a stick for SQE failure. That is, if your TC was due to start in January 2026, they threaten that if you fail the SQE, they will not withdraw your TC offer, but keep you hanging (i.e., unemployed) until January 2027 to start it. They (the SRA and their PR machine) claim that you can pass even by self-study, but that's a lot of hot air. Unless you are associated with one of the providers (like BPP or ULaw) and their SQE LLM courses, you won't be getting access to the best materials, anyway. And it's not a fantastic idea to enrole in those kinds of courses as a self-financed person, if you've already done an LLM, especially. Get your TC in the bag first, then get funded by your firm to do the SQE or SQE LLM prep course they want you to do.
2. Regarding the pro no. 2 listed above, that comes with a significant caveat - and this has a dual purpose, as also being the reason that self-funding your SQE (or SQE LLM) is a bad idea. The way the system currently works is that the law firms have very fixed arrangements, processes and ideas about which provider they will make you do your SQE prep with and which courses they consider to be value for money. Like in some so-called "SQE LLM" courses, which combine SQE prep with some aspects of an LLM (essentially an LLM-but-not-really-an-LLM), the uni offers you a certain number of electives (let us say five), and out of that, the firm offering a candidate a TC and funding them (funding for the SQE comes with the TC offer) prescribes three of the electives (they essentially say you should take electives a, b and c). Of course, this is based on the soundest commercial principles, i.e., the law firm's need for particular specialised knowledge. The catch with self-funding your SQE is that you may have the moving-room to take those five electives and not be dictated to about three of them, but if you take up the wrong electives, then you've got a serious problem, because you may not have the exact thing your target firm(s) want.
3. Again take the pro listed above - the flexibility. You can gain your admission to the roll of solicitors in England and Wales by undertaking work abroad under the supervision of a qualified solicitor in England and Wales who will be ready to certify that you satisfy the SRA competencies. Essentially, that's a flashy way of saying you can get your QWE abroad even. Now flip the argument to a certain extent. As that is the case, the hallowed and elite spaces of the magic circle or U.S. law firm's London office are even more hallowed and elitist. Essentially, a form of second-class citizenship: you have the title and the fancy paperwork, but not the substantive package that should come along with it - to work in the office of a magic circle or U.S. law firm's London office. Of course, they (the firms, that is) will argue that even British citizens who are qualified solicitors do not have any substantive right or entitlement to work in a top firm merely by virtue of their status of being a qualified solicitor. As far as that goes, that is right. But the British citizens do still get the chance to continue working in England and Wales, at perhaps less flashy firms. You, in comparison (unless you're a Brit yourself, of course), don't get that, most likely. That's because of the skilled work visa salary thresholds and visa sponsorship eligibility, which a high street firm or a bootique may not fulfil or be able to fulfil, which is why I have dubbed it 'second class citizenship'. So you'd be qualified as an English solicitor, with all the respect and stuff that commands abroad, without actually the right or ability to work in a UK law firm, if you just had a self-funded SQE under your belt, without the certainty (based on a TC offer given prior to you doing the SQE) that it will lead to a TC.
Of course, you might say that one must take the rough with the smooth and all that, and if you think that way, then props to you. But regardless of how you think, I hope this was helpful in some way.