Log in Talk To Us
Compare 22 min read

The 7 best coding interview platforms with built-in AI assistants for 2026

CG
Christopher Greco
Head of Product Marketing, Codility · Published October 16, 2026

Codility Interview scored highest on our published criteria for hiring teams that let candidates use AI in the interview and need to see and defend how it was used. HackerRank Interview, CoderPad Interview, Coderbyte, CodeSignal, Karat NextGen and HackerEarth FaceCode complete the list, in that order.

Engineers now build software with coding agents, so more hiring teams allow AI on their coding interview platform. A hiring team now has to see how the candidate used the assistant, and whether the candidate understands the code the assistant produced. The team also has to keep a record that a second reviewer can check after the interview.

This article is written for engineering leaders and talent teams that choose a coding interview platform. Practice sites for candidates and hidden assistants that candidates run on their own are out of scope.

We read each vendor’s pricing page, product page and help center between September 23 and October 9, 2026, and checked review ratings on Capterra and TrustRadius on October 9. We rechecked competitor feature, plan and pricing claims on October 15, 2026.

Key takeaways

  • A built-in AI assistant is now standard, so the differences are which coding agent runs in the interview and what the interviewer sees and controls. All 7 platforms let a candidate use a vendor-supplied assistant inside the interview. Four of the 7 document a production coding agent such as Claude Code, Codex or Cursor in the live interview environment.
  • Ask for three kinds of evidence: the live view, the saved conversation and a replay. HackerRank, CoderPad, CodeSignal, HackerEarth and Codility document a saved AI conversation or AI activity record. We found no such statement for Coderbyte’s interview report or for the material Karat sends to customers.
  • Your plan decides which assistant your candidates get. CoderPad offers AI Assist on every paid plan, and Claude Code and Codex on its Frontier Lite and Enterprise plans only. Codility includes its agentic AI Copilot from its Starter plan and Claude Code on Custom. CodeSignal’s in-session AI assistance depends on your subscription.
  • Allowing AI does not remove the integrity question, because a candidate can still run a hidden tool beside the allowed one. Ask each vendor to show you how much its platform can see beyond the browser tab. HackerRank and Codility both sell desktop apps that work outside the browser, and Codility’s Desktop App surfaces AI helper tools that hide from screen sharing.
  • For teams that let candidates work with coding agents and need a hiring decision they can defend to a candidate, a regulator or a client, Codility Interview scored highest on our published criteria. Candidates use Claude Code in native VS Code, and every AI interaction is saved to the candidate record as reviewable AI activity.

Which coding interview platforms have a built-in AI assistant for candidates?

Seven coding interview platforms give candidates a built-in AI assistant that the interviewer can see. Here is the ranked shortlist, with the team each platform fits best:

  1. 1
    Codility Interview: best for teams that let candidates work with coding agents and need a hiring decision they can defend to a candidate, a regulator or a client
  2. 2
    HackerRank Interview: best for a large ready-made question library, with the assistant on its self-serve plans
  3. 3
    CoderPad Interview: best for teams already interviewing in CoderPad that want AI in the same pad
  4. 4
    Coderbyte: best for unlimited candidates and admins at one flat annual price
  5. 5
    CodeSignal: best for teams that also want AI Interviewers from the same vendor
  6. 6
    Karat NextGen: best for outside interview engineers running first-round interviews
  7. 7
    HackerEarth FaceCode: best for AI as a contained side-panel chat, with up to 30 messages per interview

What is a coding interview platform with a built-in AI assistant?

A coding interview platform with a built-in AI assistant is a live interview environment where the vendor supplies the AI the candidate uses, and the interviewer can see how the candidate uses it. The assistant runs inside the same integrated development environment (IDE) as the interview task. On most platforms in this list, the employer decides whether the assistant is on for each interview.

Hidden candidate-side assistants are a different product. A candidate installs one without the employer’s knowledge, and no hiring team configures it. None of the 7 platforms in this list is a hidden assistant.

Two terms come up across the entries. Agent mode means the assistant can edit files and run commands, beyond answering in a chat. A terminal is the command line inside the coding environment, where the candidate or the agent runs code and tests.

There are four reasons to use a platform with a built-in assistant:

See how the candidate works with AI

The interviewer follows the prompts and responses while the candidate builds.

Give every candidate the same assistant

Results then compare across candidates on equal terms.

Keep a record to review

The saved conversation lets a second reviewer check the decision later.

Run a realistic task

The interview looks like the job, where engineers work with coding agents every day.

Methodology

How did we choose and score these 7 platforms?

We scored each platform on eight weighted criteria, using only the vendor’s public documentation. The data cutoff is October 9, 2026, and competitor feature and plan claims were rechecked on October 15, 2026.

Inclusion and exclusion rules

A platform is included when it meets three conditions, each confirmed in the vendor’s own public docs: it sells a coding interview product to hiring teams, it gives the candidate an AI assistant that the vendor builds into the interview environment, and it lets the interviewer see or review that use. Karat NextGen is included as a managed interview service: Karat’s own interview engineers run the interview on Karat’s platform, with Karat’s built-in assistant.

We excluded practice platforms for candidates, interviewer note takers and interview intelligence tools, platforms that allow outside AI tools without a built-in assistant, and hidden candidate-side tools. AI interviewers are not a scoring criterion.

Other tools we evaluated

  • Byteboard: its FAQ discusses outside AI tools and documents no built-in assistant. The page was last updated on July 12, 2023.
  • BrightHire: interview intelligence for interviewers, with no coding environment.
  • LeetCode Interview, CodeInterview and SharePad: their product pages showed no built-in candidate assistant on October 9, 2026.
  • interviewing.io: a practice platform for candidates.

Scoring criteria

Each criterion is rated Strong, Partial, Limited or Not documented.

# Criterion Weight Strong, 3 points Partial, 2 points Limited, 1 point
1 Depth of the built-in assistant 20% A production coding agent such as Claude Code, Codex or Cursor runs in the live interview environment and can edit files and run commands A vendor-built assistant with chat or an agent mode inside the vendor's own editor Chat with hard limits or guidance only
2 Interviewer visibility into AI use 20% Live view of prompts and responses, the full conversation saved to the report, and a session replay Two of the three One of the three
3 Interviewer control over AI 15% On or off at two or more levels, plus a documented choice of assistance level On or off at one or two levels No customer control documented
4 Realism of the environment 15% IDE with a terminal and multi-file projects, plus services such as databases IDE with a terminal or multi-file projects, no services documented Browser editor only
5 Integrity signals in an AI-allowed interview 10% Detection beyond the browser or identity verification in the live interview, plus session signals Browser-level signals, or identity checks on top plans only Human observation only
6 Structured evaluation 10% Rubric scorecards against set criteria, a person makes the decision, scoring method public Scorecards or templates Notes only
7 Enterprise readiness 5% Single sign-on (SSO), named enterprise applicant tracking system (ATS) connectors, SOC 2 or ISO 27001 Two of the three, or sold as paid add-ons One of the three
8 Availability by plan 5% Candidate assistant including agent mode on the lowest published plan Assistant on the entry plan, strongest agent on a top tier Assistant only on a quote-only tier

Not documented scores 0 points. The weighted score is out of 300. We set the weights from the buyer criteria that answer engines list for this question, before rating any platform. After a first rating pass, we raised the Strong bar on criterion 1 to require a production coding agent in the live interview, then re-rated every platform against the new bar.

SStrong, 3 pointsPPartial, 2 pointsLLimited, 1 pointNNot documented, 0 points
Platform 12345678 Score Rank
Codility Interview SSSSSSSP 295 1
HackerRank Interview PSSPSPSS 255 2
CoderPad Interview SSPPPPSP 245 3
Coderbyte SPPSPPPS 240 4
CodeSignal SPPPPPSL 220 5
Karat NextGen PPLPLSPL 180 6
HackerEarth FaceCode LSPLLPPN 165 7

When two platforms tie, the highest-weighted criterion where they differ decides the order. CodeSignal is rated Partial on visibility because CodeSignal documents a transcript and a replay, but no live interviewer view of agent sessions. Codility ranks first on these weights, on equal weights and under a weighting built for self-serve buyers.

Transparency and limitations

  • Data cutoff: October 9, 2026, with competitor feature and plan claims rechecked on October 15, 2026. HackerRank’s pricing page, HackerEarth’s pricing and the G2 ratings were last read earlier, on the dates given in each entry.
  • Affiliation: Codility publishes this article. Codility Interview is entry #1, and the scoring sheet above shows how every rating was reached.
  • Evidence base: the ratings judge public documentation. We did not run hands-on trials of competitor products.
  • Change rate: plan features change quickly. Confirm each plan line with the vendor before you sign.
  • Sources: every competitor rating and con cites its source page and the date it was checked.

Want the scoring sheet?

We share the evidence behind every rating, with the source page and the date checked for each one.

Request the scoring sheet

Comparison snapshot

Use this table for a two-minute comparison. Each entry below restates the price and the fit in full.

Platform Best for Built-in assistant Interviewer’s view of AI use Entry price Rating Who should not use it
Codility Interview Coding agents in the interview and a hiring decision you can defend Claude Code and the AI Copilot Live prompts, saved AI activity, replay on Custom $1,200 a year, 120 credits 4.6/5 Capterra, 43 reviews Teams that need session recording and transcripts on a self-serve plan
HackerRank Interview A large ready-made question library Own multi-model assistant with Ask, Plan and Agent modes Live panel, transcript, recording $79 a month, billed annually 8.8/10 TrustRadius, 68 reviews Teams that want Claude Code or another production coding agent in the interview
CoderPad Interview AI in the pad your team already uses AI Assist; Claude Code and Codex on Frontier Lite and Enterprise Live shared prompts, playback $80 a month, billed annually 8.2/10 TrustRadius, 11 reviews Teams that need per-question AI control
Coderbyte Unlimited candidates and admins at a flat price Chat and agent modes; Codex and Claude Code on your keys Shared AI window, video playback $1,799 a year 4.5/5 Capterra, 49 reviews Teams that need the AI conversation saved to the report
CodeSignal AI Interviewers from the same vendor Cosmo; agentic question with Claude Code, Codex or Cursor Transcript and replay $79 a month on Build, billed annually 9.4/10 TrustRadius, 176 reviews Teams that need a documented live view of agent sessions
Karat NextGen Outsourced first-round interviews Karat's built-in assistant Karat's interview engineer watches live; recording view-only Not published 4.2/5 G2, 12 reviews Teams that want their own engineers to run the interview
HackerEarth FaceCode A contained side-panel chat AI Chat, up to 30 messages per interview Live read-only chat, saved to the report $990 a year on Growth 4.7/5 Capterra, 26 reviews Teams that want candidates working with a coding agent

See every prompt, response and terminal command on the record

Watch a Claude Code session in Codility Interview from the interviewer’s seat.

Book a walkthrough See pricing

The 7 best coding interview platforms with built-in AI assistants in 2026

Every entry uses the same fields: overview, best for, key features, how AI use is shown to the interviewer, pros, cons, pricing and user reviews.

#1 Top scorer
295 / 300

1. Codility Interview

Interview / Backend engineer · Rate limiter service
AI Assistance on 38:12 ANJK
limiter.py test_limiter.py docker-compose.yml 
12class SlidingWindowLimiter:
13    def __init__(self, redis, limit, window_s):
14        self.redis = redis
15        self.limit, self.window = limit, window_s
16
17    def allow(self, api_key, now):
18        key = f"rl:{api_key}"
19        pipe = self.redis.pipeline()
20        pipe.zremrangebyscore(key, 0, now - self.window)
TerminalShared · 2 participants
~/workspace $ claude
Claude Code
> Add a sliding-window limit per API key backed by redis. Keep the existing tests passing.
Reading src/limiter.py
Editing src/limiter.py +24 −6
Running pytest -q
12 passed in 1.84s
Claude Code runs preconfigured in the candidate’s VS Code terminal, next to the AI Copilot.

Codility Interview is the live technical interview product from Codility, one of three products alongside Screen and Skills Intelligence. Interview works with Screen in one hiring flow. Screen runs the screening task, and your engineers interview the candidates you advance from it. Interview also runs on its own.

Codility Interview leads with agentic AI. Claude Code, Anthropic’s coding agent, comes preconfigured in the candidate’s VS Code terminal next to the AI Copilot, and the candidate needs no separate Claude account or API key. Claude Code runs across Screen, Interview and Skills Intelligence.

Best for

Teams that let candidates work with coding agents and need a hiring decision they can defend to a candidate, a regulator or a client.

Key features

  • Claude Code in the candidate’s VS Code terminal, plus the agentic AI Copilot for code completion and chat
  • AI Assistance is enabled or disabled per interview, and an account-wide AI switch lets a legal or security team turn every AI feature off at once
  • Native VS Code with sidecar services such as databases, caching and message queues, a shared terminal where the candidate and the interviewer can both work with Claude Code, and a whiteboard
  • A shared rubric with Codility Screen, so every interviewer scores against the same set criteria and interview scores sit next to the screening results, with a published scoring method
  • Identity verification and integrity signals, the evidence a reviewer can check when something looks wrong in the session
  • ATS integrations including Greenhouse, Lever, Workday and SmartRecruiters
  • Data hosting in the US or the EU
AI Assistance

This interview · Backend engineer

Account settings · AI features
AI Assistant
VS Code AI Copilot
infoApplies to every interview and assessment on this account.
AI Assistance per interview, with an account-wide switch.
ScorecardShared rubric · Screen + Interview

Score each criterion from 1 to 4.

Problem decomposition 1234
Code quality 1234
Testing 1234
Working with AI tools 1234
Communication 1234
Screen result 82% Recommendation: Advanceexpand_more
Interview scores sit next to the screening result on one rubric.

How AI use is shown to the interviewer

Prompts and responses sync to everyone in the session in real time. Every AI interaction is saved to the candidate record as reviewable AI activity, and the prompts stay visible in the candidate report afterward. Recording, transcripts and playback are available on the Custom plan. The hiring decision stays with the interviewer, fully informed by every prompt, response and terminal command on the record.

AI activity Live · synced
Candidate · Claude Code · 14:02
Add a sliding-window limit per API key backed by redis. Keep the existing tests passing.
Claude Code · 14:02
I’ll store request timestamps in a sorted set per key and trim entries older than the window.
edit_documentsrc/limiter.py +24−6 terminalpytest -q · 12 passed
visibilityVisible to everyone in the session
The interviewer follows prompts and responses as they happen.
Candidate report
Alex Novak · Backend engineer
Integrity risk: Low
Summary AI activity Rubric Integrity
TimeTypeDetail
14:02 Prompt Add a sliding-window limit per API key backed by redis
14:02 Response Store request timestamps in a sorted set per key
14:03 Edit src/limiter.py +24 −6
14:04 Command pytest -q · 12 passed
14:09 Prompt Why a sorted set instead of a fixed counter?
Every AI interaction stays on the candidate record for a second reviewer.

Pros

  • A production coding agent in the candidate’s own VS Code environment, with no extra account or key
  • One candidate record that holds the AI activity, the integrity signals and the rubric scores
  • Interview and Screen draw on the same invite credits

Cons

  • Claude Code, sidecar services and interview recording with transcripts sit on the Custom plan. Starter and Scale teams get the AI Copilot and the AI activity record without session recording.
  • Free trials run through Codility’s team, not as a self-serve sign-up.

Pricing

Starter

$1,200 / year

120 invite credits, usable in Screen or Interview, and 1 user. The agentic AI Copilot with reviewable AI activity is included.

Scale

$6,000 / year

300 credits, up to 25 a month, and 3 users.

Custom

By quote

Adds Claude Code, sidecar services, and interview recording with transcripts.

User reviews

Codility is rated 4.6 out of 5 on Capterra from 43 reviews and 6.8 out of 10 on TrustRadius from 30 reviews, both checked October 9, 2026. Codility is rated 4.6 out of 5 on G2 from 906 reviews, checked October 15, 2026.

Sources: pricing, AI account settings, Interview product page, checked October 9 and 15, 2026.

#2 255 / 300

2. HackerRank Interview

HackerRank Interview is the live interview product from HackerRank, which also sells screening assessments and an AI interviewer. HackerRank leads with its question library and its own multi-model assistant with Ask, Plan and Agent modes, where Plan and Agent modes apply to code repository questions and single-file coding questions get Ask mode only.

Best for

Teams that want a large ready-made question library, with the assistant on HackerRank's self-serve plans.

Key features

  • Ask, Plan and Agent modes, with Agent mode editing files in code repository questions
  • Ten selectable models, GPT-5.6 Terra by default
  • AI controls: company default, per interview and per question, with guarded and unguarded modes
  • A full IDE with a terminal and repository questions
  • An identity match between the screening assessment and the interview

How AI use is shown to the interviewer

The assistant panel is fully visible to the interviewer in real time. The chat transcript is saved in the interview report, and the interview can be recorded and played back.

Pros

  • A large ready-made question library
  • AI settings at company, interview and question level
  • Recording and playback listed on every plan of the pricing page

Cons

  • No production coding agent such as Claude Code, Codex or Cursor is documented in HackerRank interviews, checked October 9, 2026. The assistant is HackerRank's own, inside HackerRank's IDE.
  • HackerRank's AI features page says the self-serve plans include all AI features, including those marked AI Add-on, while its July 2026 release notes tell customers to contact their account manager.
  • SSO, SCIM and audit logs sit on Enterprise only.
Compared with Codility Interview: Codility runs Claude Code in native VS Code with sidecar services. See the HackerRank alternatives comparison.

Pricing

Starter$79 a month, or $948 a year, for 60 attempts.
Pro$419 a month, or $5,028 a year, for 360 attempts.
EnterpriseCustom pricing. Extra attempts cost $20 each.

User reviews

HackerRank is rated 8.8 out of 10 on TrustRadius from 68 reviews, checked October 9, 2026, and 4.5 out of 5 on G2 from 570 reviews, checked October 15, 2026. We found no aggregate Capterra rating on October 9, 2026.

Sources: pricing, AI Assistant, interview AI controls, AI features. Pricing checked October 9, 2026; AI pages rechecked October 15, 2026.

#3 245 / 300

3. CoderPad Interview

CoderPad Interview is a live coding pad for technical interviews. CoderPad leads with AI Assist on every paid plan and a shared prompt history that the interviewer and the candidate both see.

Best for

Teams already interviewing in CoderPad that want AI in the same pad.

Key features

  • AI Assist with Ask, Edit and Plan modes, where Ask mode has no write access to the code
  • GPT, Claude, Gemini and Llama models
  • Claude Code and Codex as agent options in multi-file languages, on the Frontier Lite and Enterprise plans
  • A private Ask mode for the interviewer only

How AI use is shown to the interviewer

The interviewer and the candidate see the prompt history live. Every prompt and AI output is saved and shows up in playback.

Pros

  • AI in the same pad your engineers already use
  • A shared prompt history, live and in playback
  • A choice of four model families

Cons

  • Claude Code and Codex run on the Frontier Lite and Enterprise plans only, in multi-file languages. CoderPad's AI Assist docs page, updated July 2, 2026, still lists the agents as Enterprise only.
  • AI Assist is on or off per pad, with an organization default and no per-question control documented.
  • Advanced cheating prevention sits on Enterprise only.
Compared with Codility Interview: Codility gives candidates native VS Code with Claude Code preconfigured in the terminal, and sidecar services such as databases, caching and message queues. See Codility vs CoderPad.

Pricing

Free planNone. CoderPad offers a 14-day free trial with no card.
Starter$80 a month, billed annually, for 60 interviews a year.
Team$400 a month, billed annually, for 360 interviews a year.
Frontier Lite$1,000 a month, billed annually, for 360 interviews a year, with Claude Code and Codex.
EnterpriseCustom pricing, with Claude Code and Codex.

User reviews

CoderPad is rated 8.2 out of 10 on TrustRadius from 11 reviews, checked October 9, 2026. Capterra shows 1.0 out of 5 from 1 review, checked October 9, 2026, which is too few to rate.

Sources: pricing, AI Assist docs, checked October 9 and 15, 2026.

#4 240 / 300

4. Coderbyte

Coderbyte sells coding assessments, take-home projects and live interviews to hiring teams. Coderbyte leads with unlimited candidates and admins at a flat annual price, chat and agent modes, and Codex and Claude Code in VS Code.

Best for

Teams that want unlimited candidates and admins at one flat annual price.

Key features

  • Chat and Agent modes, where the agent edits files after the candidate approves the change
  • 8 listed models from OpenAI and Anthropic
  • Codex, Claude Code and a native AI chat in VS Code projects
  • An interview AI default of On, Off or Disabled, and the interviewer can switch the assistant on during the session
  • A back-end server and private databases inside interviews

How AI use is shown to the interviewer

The interviewer and the candidate prompt together in a shared AI window. A video playback with an events tab records the session.

For take-home projects, Coderbyte's AI Fluency grading looks at the prompts a candidate wrote and the outputs they accepted or rejected.

Pros

  • A flat annual price for unlimited candidates and admins
  • A back-end server and databases inside the interview
  • Grading of AI use on take-home projects

Cons

  • Codex and Claude Code run on your own API keys, while the native chat and agent modes do not.
  • No saved AI conversation in the interview report is documented.
  • The annual plan allows 50 concurrent candidates at most.
  • ATS integrations, SSO and premium proctoring are paid add-ons.
Compared with Codility Interview: Codility saves every AI interaction to the candidate record and runs Claude Code without a key from your team.

Pricing

Pro$1,799 a year for unlimited candidates and admins, with AI features on unlimited credits.
Add-onsAPI, ATS and MCP integrations for $1,499 a year; SSO and SCIM for $1,499 a year; premium analytics and proctoring for $1,299 a year.

User reviews

Coderbyte is rated 4.5 out of 5 on Capterra from 49 reviews, checked October 9, 2026. We could not read G2 and found no TrustRadius rating.

Sources: pricing, AI in interviews, interview playback, AI Fluency, checked October 9 and 15, 2026.

#5 220 / 300

5. CodeSignal

CodeSignal sells technical assessments, live interviews, AI Interviewers and learning content. CodeSignal leads with its Cosmo assistant and an agentic interview question with Claude Code, Codex or Cursor.

Best for

Teams that also want AI Interviewers from the same vendor.

Key features

  • Cosmo, CodeSignal's in-IDE assistant, in Full AI Co-Pilot or Guided Support mode
  • Agentic Interviewing: a single interview question in which the candidate works with Claude Code, Codex or Cursor
  • AI proctoring and ID verification on every plan
  • AI Interviewers, sold alongside the live interview product

How AI use is shown to the interviewer

CodeSignal documents a full transcript of candidate-AI interactions plus a session replay. We found no documentation of a live interviewer view of agent sessions.

Pros

  • Claude Code, Codex or Cursor in a single agentic interview question
  • Screening, live interviews and AI Interviewers from one vendor
  • Identity checks on every plan

Cons

  • In-session AI assistance depends on the subscription: CodeSignal's help center says your subscription must include AI-assisted content.
  • Switching agents mid-interview clears the editor.
  • Cursor needs a signed-in Cursor account.
Compared with Codility Interview: Codility runs Claude Code preconfigured in the candidate's VS Code terminal, with no account for the candidate to sign in to, and the interviewer sees the prompts and responses live. See Codility vs CodeSignal.

Pricing

Build$79 a month billed annually, or $99 billed monthly.
Grow$479 a month billed annually, or $599 billed monthly.
ProPriced by quote.
CreditsBuild includes 60 credits a year and Grow 420. CodeSignal uses one credit each time a candidate starts an assessment, an AI interview or a live interview, checked October 15, 2026.

User reviews

CodeSignal is rated 9.4 out of 10 on TrustRadius from 176 reviews and 4.6 out of 5 on Capterra from 49 reviews, both checked October 9, 2026. CodeSignal is rated 4.5 out of 5 on G2 from 1,408 reviews, checked September 23, 2026.

Sources: pricing, Agentic Interviewing, Cosmo announcement, checked October 9 and 15, 2026.

#6 180 / 300

6. Karat NextGen

Karat NextGen is Karat's service for first-round technical interviews, and Karat describes it as human-led and AI-enabled. Karat leads with outside interview engineers and a built-in assistant on a production-grade codebase.

Best for

Teams that want outside interview engineers to run first-round technical interviews.

Key features

  • A built-in AI assistant in a VS Code-based IDE, on a production-grade codebase
  • Outside AI tools are banned
  • AI Proficiency scored as a rubric dimension
  • 500+ Karat interview engineers who run each session
  • SOC 2 Type II, with US data centers

How AI use is shown to the interviewer

A Karat interview engineer watches the session live. Karat records video, audio and a code playback of every interview, and customers can view the recording on Karat's platform but cannot download it. We found no Karat page that documents a saved AI conversation, checked October 15, 2026.

Pros

  • Your engineers do not spend time running first-round interviews
  • AI Proficiency is scored on a rubric by trained interview engineers
  • Candidates work on a production-grade codebase

Cons

  • Karat is a service, so your own engineers do not run the interview.
  • Outside AI tools are banned.
  • No saved AI conversation is documented for customers, and recordings can be viewed on Karat's platform but not downloaded.
  • Prices are not published, and data centers are in the US only.
Compared with Codility Interview: In Codility, your own engineers run the interview on a shared rubric and keep the decision.

Pricing

Karat does not publish prices. Vendr, a software pricing marketplace, lists $200 to $450 per standard technical screen as a third-party estimate.

User reviews

Karat is rated 4.2 out of 5 on G2 from 12 reviews, checked October 15, 2026. We found no aggregate Capterra rating and no TrustRadius rating.

Sources: NextGen, launch announcement, customer FAQ, checked September 23 and October 15, 2026.

#7 165 / 300

7. HackerEarth FaceCode

HackerEarth FaceCode is the live interview product from HackerEarth, which also sells assessments and runs hackathons. FaceCode leads with a contained AI chat side panel that the interviewer can follow live, switched on per interview and saved to the interview report.

Best for

Teams that want AI as a contained side-panel chat, with up to 30 messages per interview.

Key features

  • An AI Chat side panel, off by default and switched on per interview
  • Up to 30 messages of up to 2,000 characters per interview
  • A collaborative editor in 40+ languages, with live video
  • Recording, transcripts and a diagram board

How AI use is shown to the interviewer

The interviewer follows the AI chat live, in read-only mode. The full conversation is saved to the interview report, with the sender and a timestamp on each message.

Pros

  • The full conversation, with timestamps, in the interview report
  • A low entry price per invite

Cons

  • Chat only, with no agent mode documented.
  • Up to 30 messages per interview.
  • No terminal is documented, and the model is not named.
  • No plan page names AI Chat, and the FaceCode product page documents no integrity signals.
Compared with Codility Interview: Codility gives candidates a coding agent in a full VS Code environment with a terminal.

Pricing

Growth$990 a year.
Scale$3,990 a year.
EnterpriseCustom pricing.

User reviews

HackerEarth is rated 4.7 out of 5 on Capterra from 26 reviews, checked October 9, 2026, and 4.5 out of 5 on G2 from 608 reviews, checked September 23, 2026.

Sources: AI Chat in interviews, FaceCode, pricing, checked September 23, October 9 and October 15, 2026.

How does each platform show AI use to the interviewer?

Five of the 7 platforms document a saved AI conversation, and four document all three kinds of evidence: a live view, a saved conversation and a replay.

Platform Live view of prompts Saved AI conversation Session replay On or off levels Assistance levels and agent mode Coding agents available Plan
Codility Interview Yes, synced to everyone in real timeYes, reviewable AI activity in the candidate recordRecording and playback on CustomPer interview, plus an account-wide switchAI Copilot alone, or AI Copilot plus Claude CodeClaude CodeAI Copilot from Starter, Claude Code on Custom
HackerRank Interview Yes, panel fully visibleYes, transcript in the reportRecording and playbackCompany default, per interview, per questionGuarded or unguarded; Ask, Plan, AgentNone documented; ten models in its own IDESelf-serve plans, AI Add-on wording differs by page
CoderPad Interview Yes, shared prompt historyYes, saved in playbackPlaybackPer pad, plus an organization defaultAsk, Edit, PlanClaude Code, CodexAI Assist on paid plans, agents on Frontier Lite and Enterprise
Coderbyte Yes, shared AI windowNot documentedVideo playback with eventsDefault On, Off or Disabled; interviewer switchChat, AgentCodex, Claude Code on your keysPro, $1,799 a year
CodeSignal Not documented for agent sessionsYes, full transcriptYesDepends on the subscriptionFull AI Co-Pilot or Guided Support; agentic questionClaude Code, Codex, CursorNeeds AI-assisted content in the subscription
Karat NextGen Karat's engineer watchesNot documented for customersRecording and code playback, view-only on Karat's platformNo customer setting documentedNot documentedNone namedNot published
HackerEarth FaceCode Yes, read-onlyYes, in the reportRecordingPer interview, off by defaultChat only, up to 30 messagesNone documentedNot documented

Read the visibility columns first: they decide whether a second reviewer can check your decision without having watched the interview. Then read the plan column, because the agent you saw in a demo may not be on the plan you buy.

How much does a coding interview platform cost?

On entry plans that publish prices, one interview costs between $8.25 and $16.00, depending on the vendor’s unit. Codility’s Starter plan works out at $10 per invite credit with the AI Copilot included, against $15.80 per attempt at HackerRank and $16.00 per interview at CoderPad.

An invite credit, an attempt and an interview are not counted the same way, so compare the unit as well as the price.

Cost of one interview on each entry plan, USD

And whether the candidate assistant is included at that price

HackerEarth FaceCode
Growth · per invite
$8.25
Assistant not documented
Codility
Starter · per invite credit
$10.00
Yes, AI Copilot
HackerRank
Starter · per attempt
$15.80
Yes, agentic IDE listed
CodeSignal
Build · per credit
$15.80
Depends on the subscription
CoderPad
Starter · per interview
$16.00
Yes, AI Assist
$0$5$10$15$20
Codility’s Starter plan costs $10 per invite credit with the AI Copilot included, below HackerRank and CoderPad per unit. Source: vendor pricing pages, accessed October 9, 2026; HackerEarth invite count accessed September 23, 2026.
Platform and entry plan Annual price Units included Cost per unit Assistant included at this price
HackerEarth FaceCode, Growth $990 120 invites $8.25 per invite Not documented
Codility, Starter $1,200 120 invite credits $10.00 per invite credit Yes, AI Copilot
HackerRank, Starter $948 60 attempts $15.80 per attempt Yes, agentic IDE listed
CoderPad, Starter $960 60 interviews $16.00 per interview Yes, AI Assist
CodeSignal, Build $948 60 credits $15.80 per credit In-session assistance depends on the subscription
Coderbyte, Pro $1,799 Unlimited candidates, 50 at a time Below $10 above 180 interviews a year Yes, chat and agent modes
Karat NextGen Not published Per interview $200 to $450, Vendr estimate Built into the service

HackerEarth is cheaper per unit than Codility, and Coderbyte becomes cheaper than Codility’s Starter plan above about 180 interviews a year. Codility’s Starter price includes the agentic AI Copilot with reviewable AI activity, while HackerEarth documents no agent mode and Coderbyte documents no saved AI conversation in the interview report. Karat prices per interview because Karat’s engineers run each one.

How do you choose a coding interview platform for AI-assisted interviews?

Follow these five steps to choose the platform that fits your interview process.

  1. 1

    Decide your AI policy per interview before choosing a tool

    Write down which interviews allow AI and which do not, before you look at any vendor. A build task with a coding agent tests different skills from a fundamentals interview with AI off. Then check that the platform sets the switch at the level your policy needs: account, interview or question.

  2. 2

    Ask to see the interviewer's view, live and afterward

    Ask each vendor to walk you through a past interview from the interviewer's seat. You need the live view of prompts and responses, the saved conversation in the report and a replay. A platform that documents only one of the three leaves your second reviewer with a partial record.

  3. 3

    Check the plan line for each AI feature

    Coding agents often sit on a higher plan than the chat assistant. Get the plan line in writing, and ask how the feature is switched on, because some vendors switch AI features on through an account manager.

  4. 4

    Test the environment with a real task

    Ask the vendor to set up one task your own engineers would recognize, such as your current take-home, with a repository, tests and a service such as a database. Check that the coding agent can edit files and run commands, and that the terminal behaves the way it does on a developer's machine.

  5. 5

    Read reviews from teams that run AI-allowed interviews

    Ratings on G2, Capterra and TrustRadius cover the whole product, and many reviews predate built-in assistants. Filter for reviews that mention AI in the interview, and ask each vendor for a reference customer that runs AI-allowed interviews.

Ask each vendor to show you:

  1. 1 The interviewer's live view of a candidate's prompts and the assistant's responses
  2. 2 The saved AI conversation in the interview report
  3. 3 A replay of a past session
  4. 4 The levels where AI can be switched on or off: account, interview and question
  5. 5 The coding agents that run in the interview, and the plan each one needs
  6. 6 The price of the assistant on your plan, and the way it is switched on
  7. 7 The signals the platform collects beyond the browser tab when AI is allowed

Five common constraints each point to one platform.

If your constraint is Choose Because
Outsourced interviewers Karat Karat's interview engineers run first-round interviews for you
Unlimited candidates and admins at a flat price Coderbyte Coderbyte's Pro plan costs $1,799 a year for unlimited candidates and admins, with up to 50 candidates at a time
An existing CodeSignal contract that also wants an AI interviewer CodeSignal CodeSignal sells AI Interviewers next to its live interview product
Engineers already interviewing in CoderPad who want AI in the same pad CoderPad AI Assist runs inside the pad your team already uses
A hiring decision you have to defend to a candidate, a regulator or a client, with coding agents in the interview Codility Claude Code runs in native VS Code, and every prompt, response and terminal command stays on the candidate record

FAQ

Can candidates use AI during a coding interview?

Yes, when the employer turns on the platform’s built-in assistant for that interview. All 7 platforms in this list let a candidate use a vendor-supplied assistant inside the interview environment. The employer decides whether AI is allowed, usually per interview, and the interviewer can see how the assistant was used. An outside AI tool that the employer has not allowed is a different matter, and Karat NextGen, for example, bans outside AI tools.

CG

About the author

Christopher Greco is Head of Product Marketing at Codility. Christopher leads Codility’s competitive research across technical hiring platforms and reviewed the scoring in this article.

See the interviewer’s view of a Claude Code session

Walk through a live Codility Interview with Claude Code in the candidate’s VS Code terminal and every AI interaction on the record.

Book a walkthrough