Top 10 CodeSignal alternatives to hire top tech talent

Skills-based hiring is the future of recruitment – but to build a skills-first hiring process, you need the right talent assessment platform.

CodeSignal is a popular choice for many companies, but it might not be the best option for everyone. Maybe you’re looking for a platform that features a wider range of tests, more customization options, or a free trial. Whatever your exact needs are, if you’re looking for the best CodeSignal alternatives, you’ve come to the right place.

In this article, we’ll explore the top 10 alternatives to CodeSignal that can help you identify and hire top tech talent.

From software tools offering 360-degrees talent assessments like TestGorilla to platforms enabling you to build your own hackathon like HackerEarth, you’ll find an alternative to CodeSignal that works for you.

CodeSignal’s limitations: Why switch to a different tool?

Before we explore the different alternatives, let’s see what the limitations of CodeSignal are – and why it might not always be the right tool for every business.

Before we explore the different alternatives, let’s see what the limitations of CodeSignal are – and why it might not always be the right tool for every business.

1. Narrow focus only on coding tests and challenges

CodeSignal primarily focuses on coding tests and challenges, which means it might not cover the full range of skills required for various tech roles.

For example, if you want to assess candidates’ problem-solving skills, time management, job motivation, or soft skills, CodeSignal isn’t the best choice. Plus, if you need to hire staff for other roles and departments, you’ll need to switch platforms.

For a more well-rounded approach to hiring, you might need a tool that helps you assess candidates’ soft skills and cognitive abilities, which are as critical for job success as technical knowledge.

2. Inconsistency in difficulty levels

According to some users, CodeSignal’s tests aren’t always consistent in terms of difficulty. Candidates might find some assessments either too easy or disproportionately challenging, which can lead to an inaccurate evaluation of their true skills.

This inconsistency can be frustrating for recruiters and candidates alike, because it might not provide a fair chance to all job seekers to prove their worth. To tackle this, you might need a platform that offers tests at different difficulty levels – and one that has strict quality control measures in place.

3. No free trial

If you, like us, prefer to try out software tools before you buy a subscription, CodeSignal isn’t the right choice for you, because it doesn’t offer a free trial.

This can be a significant drawback if you need to test a few platforms before making a purchase. A free trial enables you to evaluate the candidate experience, the quality of the assessments, and the overall fit for your hiring process before making an investment. If the absence of a free trial is a dealbreaker, you might want to consider other platforms that provide this option.

4. No pricing information on the website

CodeSignal doesn’t provide transparent pricing information on their website. This can make it difficult for you to gauge whether the platform fits within your budget without having to go through a demo. If clear and upfront pricing is important to you, there are other options that will be a better fit.

1. TestGorilla: Best for a full talent assessment

If you’re looking to do a full talent assessment when hiring for open roles, TestGorilla is your top choice. With it, you can hire for technical and non-technical roles alike – and we have 400+ tests you can choose from, ranging from MySQL to Advanced Networking in Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and from Digital Agility to Motivation tests.

Use our Motivation test for free to check whether candidates’ expectations match what you offer

With TestGorilla, you can build an in-depth assessment to evaluate applicants’ coding and soft skills, contrary to CodeSignal, which mainly assesses their programming skills. This gives you more insight into each applicant’s suitability for a given role and enables you to build a tightly-knit and high-performing team where everyone can reach their full potential.

Plus, you can sign up for a Free forever plan and try out the platform right away, without jumping through any hooks (and demos). And, of course, if you want a live demo, our team is here to answer all your questions.

G2 rating: 4.5/5

Pros:

• 400+ tests for coding ability, software skills, language proficiency, soft skills, personality, and more

• Free forever plan with no strings attached

• Automated grading and candidate rankings

• Excellent analytics features to compare candidates easily

• Live customer support chat

Cons:

• No live video interviews

Free trial: Yes, free plan

Pricing: Starting at $499/month; free plan available

2. HackerEarth Assessments: Best for organizing hackathons

Similarly to CodeSignal, HackerEarth Assessments puts a strong emphasis on coding ability. So, if you’re looking for a platform to assess programming skills, HackerEarth is a top choice. It enables you to not only assess talent and identify skilled developers, but also attract top talent from across the globe with its online hackathons and coding challenges.

With HackerEarth, you can define the seniority level for each position you’re looking to fill and use project-type questions that come as closely to on-the-job problems as possible.

The platform offers a 14-day free trial to test it without a commitment.

You have 14 days to test HackerEarth Assessments for free

If you’re looking to hire for a range of technical and non-technical roles, however, HackerEarth might not be the best fit.

With TestGorilla, you can evaluate candidates’ full range of skills. Check out our toe-to-toe comparison between TestGorilla and HackerEarth.

G2 rating: 4.5/5

Pros:

• Enables you to build hackathons and coding challenges to attract talent

• Provides good upskilling options

• Strong reporting and analytics functionalities

• Project-type questions that help you assess candidates’ practical skills

Cons:

• One of the pricier options on the market

• ATS integrations only available for its top-tier plans

Free trial: Yes

Pricing: Starting at $209/month

3. DevSkiller: Best for small and medium-sized businesses

DevSkiller is another top choice that’s tailored to technical roles. So, if you’re looking to build a top development team, it’s a good option.

On it, you can provide customized feedback to applicants, which helps you build a strong employer brand and improve the candidate experience. The platform integrates well with other HR technology tools.

Both DevSkiller and CodeSignal are majorly used by small businesses, according to G2. DevSkiller offers an annual subscription starting at $3,600, which works out to $300 per month.

DevSkiller’s pricing starts at $3,600 a year

However, if you’re looking for a more comprehensive platform you can use to assess soft and hard skills alike, check out the top DevSkiller alternatives.

G2 rating: 4.7/5

Pros:

• Large library of ready-to-use technical tests

• The possibility to create customized assessments

• Personalized feedback for candidates

• 24/7 customer support

Cons:

• No soft skills assessments

Free trial: Yes

Pricing: Starting at $3,600/year

4. Codility: Best for its comprehensive coding tests

Codility is a skills assessment platform that helps you hire developers and software engineers, similarly to DevSkiller and CodeSignal. It’s one of the more affordable options out there, at only $1200 annually, and offers a free trial.

You can pick coding skills tests at different difficulty levels, based on the seniority of the role for which you’re hiring. Its assessments closely match real-life use cases, helping you evaluate candidates’ practical skills. According to users, its customization and file sharing options meet their needs.

You also have the option to do live coding interviews on the platform, which is ideal, if you want to see candidates’ skills in action. If you need to assess non-technical skills, however, you might need to look for an alternative to Codility.

G2 rating: 4.6/5

Pros:

• Coding tests for more than 40 programming languages

• Good customization options

• Live coding interviews

• Affordable, starting at $1,200 annually

Cons:

• No soft skills testing

• Limited quality control of tests

Pricing: Starting from $1,200/year

Free trial: Yes

5. HackerRank: Best for assessing software developers

HackerRank is another top choice if you’re looking to hire software developers and engineers.

Users find its support better and like its overall product direction better than CodeSignal’s; apart from that, both platforms have similar rankings across most categories.

HackerRank is mostly used by larger enterprises and is the better choice for complex technical recruitment processes and extensive programming assessments. Plus, it enables candidates to improve their skills and prepare for job tests, which also means that they can get familiar with the platform beforehand and remain more confident during the assessment.

HackerRank’s reporting and analytics features are comprehensive, enabling you to get a quick overview of all your candidates and zero in on individual performance. If you’re hiring for multiple positions at once, this can be invaluable.

HackerRank gives you a detailed snapshot of each candidate’s performance

Looking for more options? Check these HackerRank alternatives.

G2 rating: 4.5/5

Pros:

• Strong plagiarism detection options

• Difficulty levels ranging from easy to hard

• User-friendly interface for employers and candidates

• Affordable choice

Cons:

• Questions have been leaked online in the past

• You need to manually review plagiarism flags

Pricing: Starting at $100/month

Free trial: Yes

6. Coderbyte: Best for its live-interview features

Coderbyte is another popular screening tool for technical roles, enabling you to assess candidates’ programming skills and performance.

It offers automatically graded assessments, like other platforms on this list, but the live interviewing options are what make the platform truly stand out. It provides a collaborative integrated development environment (IDE) with frameworks, video, and a whiteboard, enabling you to gain a deep understanding of each interviewee’s thought process and coding skills.

Contrary to some other platforms on this list, Coderbyte actually offers personality tests.

Coderbyte features tests like the Big 5, DISC, and more

However, its anti-cheating measures might not be particularly useful, according to some of its users. If you’re looking for other options, check out our top 10 Coderbyte alternatives.

G2 rating: 4.4/5

Pros:

• Features technical and personality tests

• Strong live-interview options tailored to technical roles

• User-friendly interface

Cons:

• Insufficient anti-cheating measures

• Lack of advanced analytics

Free trial: Yes Pricing: Starting at $199/month

7. CoderPad: Best for its collaborative integrated development environment (IDE)

If you’re looking to do live technical interviews, CoderPad is a solid choice, with its smooth real-time collaborative environment. It also offers the possibility to give applicants take-home projects, which can help lower their stress and give you a more accurate idea of their true potential.

CoderPad features a digital whiteboard and even a ChatGPT integration, which not many other platforms do. However, some users have complained about its customer support.

CoderPad enables you to evaluate applicants’ skills in many programming languages and frameworks

G2 rating: 4.4/5

Pros:

• Integrated video interviews and a collaborative integrated development environment (IDE)

• ChatGPT integration

• Private notes and interview playback features

• Free plan

Cons:

• ATS and API integrations for top-tier plans only

Free trial: Yes

Pricing: Starting at $70/month

8. Mercer Mettl Assessments – best for its anti-cheating tools

Mercer Mettl Assessments offers coding and psychometric tests alike, which makes it a great choice if you want to evaluate candidates’ technical abilities, behavior, and teamwork skills.

One of the features that make it stand out are its proctoring and anti-cheating measures, which is why it’s used not just by companies but also by educational institutions.

Mercer Mettl offers strong proctoring features even for its Basic and Basic+ plans

On the downside, there’s no publicly available information on Mercer Mettl Assessments’ pricing options – and some users might find the platform confusing at first.

G2 rating: 4.4/5

Pros:

• Wide range of assessments including technical and psychometric tests

• Top proctoring features

• Learning and development process optimization

• Assessments available in different languages

Cons:

• User interface can be confusing for new users

• Custom assessments take a lot of time to set up

Free trial: Yes

Pricing: Custom pricing, contact sales for more information

9. Qualified.io – best for its in-depth coding assessments

Qualified.io is another top choice if you’re looking to hire software engineers. According to G2, users find it easier to use and set up, and it also meets their requirements better, compared to CodeSignal. Its overall rating is 4.8/5, which is among the best ones we’ve seen.

Perhaps one of the strongest points in favor of Qualified.io is the candidates’ experience with it – we found tons of good reviews online.

With Qualified.io, you can evaluate applicants’ skills in plenty of programming languages and frameworks

It offers a free trial and tons of programming assessments, but you won’t be able to evaluate soft skills and behavior with it.

G2 rating: 4.8/5

Pros:

• Candidates like the platform for its intuitive user interface and coding environment

• Features many programming-language and framework tests

• The possibility to build project-based challenges and tasks

• Detailed analytics and review options

Cons:

• Most assessments take more than one hour to complete, which means you might lose some applicants

• No pricing information available on the website

Free trial: Yes

Pricing: No information available on the website

10. eSkill: Best for its customization options

eSkill is a good choice if you want to hire across a wide range of roles. It has a surprisingly large selection of tests for all kinds of roles and industries, ranging from software development to healthcare and from marketing to retail.

Similarly to TestGorilla, you can combine a few skills tests into a single assessment – and create your own customized tests and add video questions. Find out how the two compare in our TestGorilla vs eSkill evaluation – or check out the best eSkill alternatives.

eSkills offers a wide range of tests for different subjects, ranging from technical to non-technical ones

One thing we noticed is that eSkill could definitely use a redesign – its user interface and design feel outdated, which might sound inconsequential but might actually harm your employer branding. Nevertheless, users like the platform, so it’s a solid choice.

G2 rating: 4.5/5

Pros:

• 800+ tests for different roles, industries, and skill levels

• The possibility to create customized tests

• Good customer support

• Video questions

Cons:

• Its user interface is a bit outdated

• No pricing information publicly available

Free trial: Yes

Pricing: No information available on its website

Pick the right talent assessment platform for your business

While CodeSignal is a good choice, it might not meet the needs of every recruiter. If you need a more in-depth coding evaluation process that candidates love, Qualified.io is a top choice. And, if you need a larger variety of tests, enabling you to evaluate technical and soft skills, your best option is TestGorilla.

Sign up for our Free forever plan to try out our platform and see whether it’s the right fit for you – or book a free 40-minute live demo to speak to one of our team members and see how to find top tech talent, the easy way. Alternatively, check out The State of Skills-Based Hiring in Tech.