TestGorilla and Testlify cover the widest range of roles, from office work to coding, while HackerRank, Codility, CodeSignal, and TestDome focus on technical hiring. Entry prices in this guide run from $79 per month to $215 per month, and two enterprise options, Criteria and SHL, publish no price and quote each contract. Credit and attempt limits matter more than the monthly figure, because unused credits often expire and extra attempts cost $15 to $21 each on several plans.
We compared 8 options for best candidate assessment tools platforms. Each profile below lists the price, free plan, pros and cons as published by the company.
On this page
Best candidate assessment tools platforms: comparison table
Swipe the table sideways on a phone to see every column.
| # | Name | Best for | Starting price | Free plan / trial | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | TestGorilla | All-role skills screening | $215 per month | Yes | Visit |
| 2 | HackerRank | Developer screening and interviews | $79 per month for Starter | No | Visit |
| 3 | Codility | Technical screening with AI tools | From $4,800 per year or $800 per month | Free trial | Visit |
| 4 | Testlify | Skills tests plus AI interviews | $139 per month | Free trial (7 days) | Visit |
| 5 | CodeSignal | Technical assessments and AI interviews | $79 per month | No | Visit |
| 6 | TestDome | Occasional work-sample tests | $100 for 5 candidates | No | Visit |
| 7 | Criteria | Validated cognitive and personality tests | quote only | Free trial (14 days) | Visit |
| 8 | SHL | Enterprise psychometric assessment | quote only | No | Visit |
The 8 best best candidate assessment tools platforms, in detail
TestGorilla
Best for: All-role skills screening
TestGorilla suits teams that hire across many functions and want one library for cognitive ability, personality, language, situational judgment, and technical skills. The Core plan opens the full test library of 350+ tests, with video questions from the TestGorilla library, qualifying questions, resume scoring, custom questions, and 2 premium user roles. A free plan gives 10 credits per month, 5 essential skills tests with unlimited use, and 180+ skills tests with limited use, which is enough to test the format on a live role before committing.
- The credit model is the part to study before you buy.
- One credit covers one candidate on a premium skills test, a video question, or an ID check, while an AI interview or a job simulation costs 2 credits
- Plus adds the full AI interview library, custom tests and coding challenges, job simulations, ID verification, ATS and API integrations, and unlimited
Pros
- Library of 350+ tests
- free plan with 10 credits per month
- video questions and resume scoring on Core
Cons
- ATS and API integrations need the Plus plan at $520 per month
- credits are the unit of cost, so volume planning takes care
HackerRank
Best for: Developer screening and interviews
HackerRank is a developer skills platform that covers screening, take-home assessments, live interviews, and ranking in one workflow. The Starter plan lists 2,000+ questions, 55+ languages, a full IDE with terminal and file navigation, an agentic IDE, candidate model selection, AI plagiarism detection, session replay, and device and object detection. Its Chakra AI interviewer runs conversational screening with real-time follow-ups and a report with transcript, session replay, and scores.
- The limit to watch is attempts.
- Starter includes 60 candidate attempts per year, and additional attempts cost $20 each, while Pro raises the allowance to 360 attempts per year and ad
- Leaked question protection, certified assessments for 80 roles, API access, SSO, and advanced roles stay on Enterprise.
Pros
- 55+ languages and 2,000+ questions on Starter
- live pair programming and AI interviewer included
- unlimited users on Starter
Cons
- Starter allows only 60 candidate attempts per year
- ATS integrations and SSO need higher plans
Codility
Best for: Technical screening with AI tools
Codility focuses on engineering hiring through Screen assessments and live Interview sessions, with an AI Assistant that runs on models up to Sonnet class on online plans. Every prompt, command, and code change is saved with the result, so reviewers can see how a candidate worked, not only what they submitted. The task library covers backend, frontend, mobile, data engineering, data science, DevOps, and quality assurance, plus AI skills tasks for sales, marketing, finance, operations, and customer roles on Enterprise.
- Online plans run from $4,800 a year, or from $800 a month, with 200 to 1,400 invites a year, or 25 to 100 a month, and 5 platform users, or 10 with 1,
- Enterprise adds the full library of 1,300+ validated tasks, ID verification, video proctoring, interview recording, SSO, admin roles, every ATS integr
Pros
- 1,300+ validated tasks in 80+ languages and frameworks
- candidates can use Claude Code and Codex in assessments
- plagiarism detection and task leakage protection included
Cons
- Online plans include only 5 platform users and one standard ATS integration
- SSO and the full API need Enterprise
Testlify
Best for: Skills tests plus AI interviews
Testlify combines skills tests, coding challenges, role-based job simulations, and AI interviews in one credit-based plan. The Starter plan costs $139 per month, billed at $1,668 per year, and includes 100 credits per year at $16.68 per candidate credit, 3 users, unlimited assessments, custom tests and coding challenges, and secure proctoring with full-screen mode, tab tracking, face detection, and AI assistance detection. Phone interviews are billed at $0.18 per minute, and extra credits cost $21 each on Starter.
- The pricing page states that one credit is used when a qualified candidate starts an assessment, and unused credits expire at the end of the cycle.
- That makes Testlify a good fit for teams with steady hiring, and a weaker fit for teams with long quiet spells.
- Budget separately for the ATS integration and white label add-ons if your workflow needs them.
Pros
- 3,500+ tests and 180,000+ validated questions
- one-way and two-way AI video, audio, and phone interviews
- 7-day trial with no card required
Cons
- Unused credits expire at the end of the cycle
- ATS integrations and white labeling cost $2,388 per year each as add-ons on Standard
CodeSignal
Best for: Technical assessments and AI interviews
CodeSignal Hire covers skills assessments, AI interviews, and live technical interviews, with an assessment library that spans universal, cognitive, behavioral, software engineering, data, product, and design topics on Build. Grow adds specialized engineering and data assessments, go-to-market and human resources coverage, and core ATS integrations with Gem and Ashby. A credit is used when a candidate starts an assessment, AI interview, or live interview, not when you send one, and credits are interchangeable across all three formats.
- Build costs $79 per month billed annually, or $99 per month billed monthly, with 60 annual credits, while Grow costs $479 per month billed annually wi
- Once included credits are used, on-demand credits cost $20 each.
- The free Learn product for individuals is a separate offering and does not give a hiring team a free assessment plan, so teams should treat Hire as a
Pros
- AI Interviewers for engineering, product, and design on Build
- AI proctoring and ID verification included
- a credit is used only when a candidate starts
Cons
- Core ATS integrations need Grow
- live technical interviews need the Pro plan
TestDome
Best for: Occasional work-sample tests
TestDome sells candidate packs bought in advance instead of a subscription, which suits teams that hire in bursts. The packs run from $100 for 5 candidates at $20 each, to $400 for 25 at $16 each, $1,000 for 100 at $10 each, $2,400 for 300 at $8 each, and $4,200 for 600 at $7 each. An invite is spent each time a candidate is invited to a test, by email or URL, and if an invited candidate does not take the test within 6 days, the invite is refunded to the balance.
- Packs can be combined, and there is no expiration date.
- The library covers 130+ skills across coding and non-coding tasks, with work-sample questions that ask candidates to do the job rather than answer puz
- Every pack includes the same proctoring, ATS integrations, API, SSO, and multi-user access, so there is no feature gate tied to pack size.
- The main weakness is the gap between the 5-candidate pack and the 25-candidate pack, which forces a small team to spend $400 to move past 5 candidates
Pros
- Packs bought in advance never expire
- no monthly subscription or annual contract
- AI-grade proctoring included on every pack
Cons
- No middle pack between 5 and 25 candidates
- per-candidate cost is high at low volume
Criteria
Best for: Validated cognitive and personality tests
Criteria, formerly Criteria Corp, sells validated pre-employment assessments and structured video interviewing through three packages: Criteria Assess, Criteria Interview, and Criteria Hire, which combines both. The pricing page asks buyers to request pricing built around headcount and goals, and add-ons include advanced AI capabilities, Criteria Develop for post-hire development, and premium integrations. The company states ISO 27001:2022 and ISO 42001:2023 certification and SOC 2 Type II compliance.
- A 14-day free trial is available and is limited to 20 tests, which gives a small team a real chance to check test quality and candidate experience bef
- The trade-off is transparency: with no published price, two teams of similar size can receive different quotes, and the final cost depends on the pack
- Ask for the full list of included assessments, the trial terms, and the renewal terms in writing before you sign.
Pros
- Three packages cover assessments, interviewing, or the full suite
- SSO and ATS integrations are part of every package
- AI proctoring and AI interview agent available as upgrades
Cons
- No published prices, so budgeting needs a sales conversation
- AI features and premium integrations cost extra
SHL
Best for: Enterprise psychometric assessment
SHL is the psychometric incumbent in this guide, founded as Saville and Holdsworth and known for the Occupational Personality Questionnaire, the Verify range of numerical, verbal, and inductive reasoning tests, situational judgment tests, and virtual assessment centers. Its site states that it serves more than 10,000 businesses worldwide, and its Universal Competency Framework now sits at the core of Galileo from The Josh Bersin Company. Regulated industries and large employers use SHL where validated instruments, norm groups, and defensible selection matter most.
- Buying SHL is a program purchase, not a self-serve subscription.
- Product pages route to a demo or a sales conversation, and contracts are usually annual enterprise agreements that bundle assessments with implementat
- There is no free plan, and even the SHL Online portal for smaller buyers shows prices only inside the portal.
- Small teams should treat SHL as a benchmark for test quality and a realistic option only when hiring volume and compliance needs justify a consulting-
Pros
- OPQ personality questionnaire and Verify reasoning tests with long validation history
- talent intelligence and consulting support for large programs
- assessment centers and video interviewing in one suite
Cons
- No published price list, so budgeting needs a sales cycle
- the depth and consulting model suit large employers more than small teams
How we chose
We opened each vendor pricing page on 2026-11-12 and used the figures shown there, including the current HackerRank Starter price of $79 per month and the current Codility online plan range. Where a vendor publishes no price, we wrote quote only and cited the vendor pricing page that asks for a request. We compared test coverage by role, credit and attempt limits, free plans and trials, ATS integrations, proctoring, and the cost of extra candidates. We did not claim hands-on testing, and we did not use third-party review scores to rank the tools. The order follows breadth of use first, then technical depth, then enterprise depth.
How to choose by team size and budget
| Team size and hiring volume | Best starting point | First-year cost to plan for | | 1 to 10 hires a year, mixed roles | TestDome packs or TestGorilla free plan | $100 for 5 TestDome candidates, or $0 on TestGorilla free | | 10 to 50 hires a year, mixed roles | Testlify Starter or TestGorilla Core | $1,668 per year for Testlify Starter, or $2,580 per year for TestGorilla Core | | 10 to 50 engineering hires a year | HackerRank Starter or CodeSignal Build | $948 per year for HackerRank Starter at $79 per month, or $948 per year for CodeSignal Build billed annually | | 50 to 200 hires a year, mixed roles | TestGorilla Plus or Testlify with extra credits | $6,240 per year for TestGorilla Plus, plus $21 per extra Testlify credit | | 200 or more hires, or regulated roles | Criteria or SHL by quote | Quote only, so request pricing with volume and test list attached |
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest candidate assessment tool in this guide?
TestDome is cheapest to start, at $100 for 5 candidates, with no subscription, while TestGorilla offers a free plan with 10 credits per month. For a monthly subscription, HackerRank Starter and CodeSignal Build both start at $79 per month, but each caps the number of candidates you can assess, so check the attempt and credit limits before comparing monthly figures alone.
Do any of these tools offer a free plan?
Yes, TestGorilla offers a free plan with 10 credits per month, 5 essential skills tests with unlimited use, and 180+ skills tests with limited use. Testlify offers a 7-day free trial with no card required, Criteria offers a 14-day trial limited to 20 tests, and Codility scopes trials through its team. The other tools in this guide have no free plan for employers.
Which tool is best for coding assessments?
HackerRank, Codility, CodeSignal, and TestDome are the strongest choices for coding, because each one centers on technical tasks, live interviews, or work-sample tests. HackerRank suits teams that want a large question library and live pair programming, Codility suits teams that want AI-assisted tasks with full audit trails, and CodeSignal suits teams that want AI interviews across engineering, product, and design.
How do credits and attempts work on these platforms?
Most platforms charge per candidate, not per test sent. TestGorilla uses credits, with 1 credit per skills test and 2 credits per AI interview or job simulation. Testlify uses 1 credit per started assessment, CodeSignal uses 1 credit per started assessment or interview, and HackerRank uses attempts, with 60 per year on Starter. TestDome sells invites bought in advance that never expire.
Should a small team buy Criteria or SHL?
Most small teams should not start with Criteria or SHL, because both quote each contract and are built for larger programs with consulting support. Start with TestGorilla, Testlify, or TestDome, and move to Criteria or SHL when you need validated psychometric instruments, norm groups, assessment centers, or a defensible selection process for regulated or high-volume hiring.
Can I use one tool for every role I hire for?
Yes, if you choose a general library such as TestGorilla or Testlify, which cover cognitive, personality, language, situational judgment, and technical tests in one place. A coding specialist such as HackerRank or Codility will not cover sales, support, or operations roles well, so mixed-role teams should pick a general platform first and add a technical tool only when engineering volume justifies it.
Sources
- https://www.testgorilla.com/
- https://www.testgorilla.com/pricing/
- https://www.hackerrank.com/
- https://www.hackerrank.com/pricing
- https://www.codility.com/
- https://www.codility.com/pricing/
- https://testlify.com/
- https://testlify.com/pricing/
- https://codesignal.com/
- https://codesignal.com/pricing/
- https://www.testdome.com/
- https://www.testdome.com/pricing
- https://www.criteriacorp.com/
- https://www.criteriacorp.com/plans-and-pricing
- https://www.shl.com/
Prices and features were read on each company’s own website in November 2026. They change often, so confirm the current offer on the official site before you sign up or buy.