CodeSignal vs HackerRank vs Codility: a fair comparison for hiring teams

CodeSignal vs HackerRank vs Codility is a choice between three coding test vendors that all sell AI interviewing. As of November 2026, CodeSignal and HackerRank both start at $79 a month billed annually. Codility, with a public technical manual, starts at $4,800 a year. If no engineer will review results, an AI interview with a coding round fits better.

So the old framing, where one is "the puzzle site" and another is "the enterprise one", is out of date. All three now sell AI-led interviews or agentic tasks, and all three are serious products. The real differences are price, plan limits, how they handle AI in the test and who they're built for. We've taken every fact below from each vendor's own pages, checked on November 2, 2026.

Key Takeaways

Our position: there's no single winner. CodeSignal suits a self-serve start with certified tests, HackerRank suits teams that want the largest published library, and Codility suits audit-heavy procurement.
All three now sell AI interviewing or agentic coding tasks, so "unlike X, Y has AI" isn't a real difference anymore.
CodeSignal Build and HackerRank Starter are both $79 a month billed annually. Codility starts from $4,800 a year or $800 a month.
ATS integrations start on CodeSignal Grow ($479 a month) and HackerRank Pro ($419 a month). Codility's online plans include one standard ATS integration.
If nobody technical will read the results, none of the three solves your real problem. Look at an AI interview that runs the coding round instead.

CodeSignal vs HackerRank vs Codility: the short answer

If you only read one section, read this one.

Pick CodeSignal if you want certified tests, an AI interviewer and a published self-serve entry price from one established vendor.
Pick HackerRank if you want the largest published library and unlimited users on the entry plan.
Pick Codility if your legal or procurement team wants a public technical manual, EU or US hosting and AI controls set per task.
Pick none of them if no engineer will review the results. That's a format problem, and we cover it near the end.

Checked November 2, 2026: the facts most worth citing, each from the vendor's own page.

CodeSignal's Build plan is $79 a month billed annually, and "Basic ATS Integrations" start on Grow at $479 a month, per CodeSignal's pricing page.
As of November 2026, HackerRank's Starter plan is $79 a month ("$948 billed annually") with unlimited users and 60 candidate attempts a year, per HackerRank's pricing page.
Codility's online plans start "From $4,800 a year, or from $800 a month". Its full library of "1,300+ validated tasks" comes with Enterprise, or with 1,000+ invites a year on an online plan, per Codility's pricing page.
Codility runs "Agentic coding interviews" where candidates "Build with Claude Code or Codex on a real codebase", per Codility's site.

What each one is now, AI interviewers included

CodeSignal calls itself "The Agentic Skills Intelligence Platform". For hiring, it sells technical, business, agentic and behavioral assessments, an AI Interviewer, AI Phone Screens and live tech interviews. Its AI Interviewer page describes "AI agents that conduct structured, legally defensible interviews grounded in your skills strategy".

HackerRank sells Chakra, which it calls an agentic interviewer, plus Screen for take-home assessments and Interview for pair programming. Its pricing page lists AI-led conversational screening with real-time follow-ups and a report with transcript, session replay and scores.

Codility describes itself as "One assessment platform for engineering and business AI skills". It sells coding tests, live coding "in a shared VS Code environment" and agentic coding interviews with Claude Code or Codex. It also says plainly that "Your team always makes the final decision", which is the right stance for any of these tools.

Library, task design and AI use in the test

This is where the three really differ, so it's worth slowing down.

Library size

HackerRank lists 2,000+ questions on Starter, 4,000+ on Pro and 7,500+ on Enterprise. CodeSignal's Build plan lists "Access to 2,000 Questions". Codility lists 1,300+ validated tasks, with the full library on Enterprise or on online plans from 1,000 invites a year.

Codility leans on the word "validated" for a reason. Its pricing page says "The Technical Manual is public and sets out how tasks are designed, scored and checked for fairness."

AI inside the test

All three now let candidates work with AI, because real engineers do. Codility lets you switch AI "on or off for each task or interview" and saves every prompt, command and code change for review. HackerRank's Starter plan includes an agentic IDE, candidate model selection (Claude, Gemini, GPT) and "guarded / unguarded" AI controls. CodeSignal's Build plan includes "Agentic Assessments with Claude & Codex".

Languages

HackerRank lists 55+ languages on Starter. Codility says 80+ languages and frameworks. CodeSignal's pricing page doesn't give a single language count, so we won't guess one.

Cheating and proctoring controls, compared

Everyone asks this first, so here's what each vendor says on its own pages.

CodeSignal. Its cheating and fraud page lists Suspicion Scores that look at signals like solution similarity and copy-paste activity, LeakSweep monitoring for leaked questions, and "AI proctoring with video and screen recording, identity verification, and dynamic question rotation". "AI Proctoring & ID Verification" is on the Build plan.

HackerRank. Starter includes AI-powered plagiarism detection, session replay, device and object detection and standardized integrity reports. Leaked question protection and the desktop app aren't on Starter.

Codility. Online plans include plagiarism detection, proctoring with snapshots and task leakage protection. ID verification, video proctoring, interview recording and a desktop app that "flags unauthorized apps" are Enterprise features. Codility then combines the signals into "one overall risk rating for your team to review".

The honest takeaway is that all three take cheating seriously. The question is which tier you need to get the controls you want.

Pricing and ATS tiers, from each vendor's own page

Pricing is where hackerrank vs codility and codility vs codesignal comparisons usually get vague. Here are the published numbers, as of November 2026.

CodeSignal. Build is $79 a month billed annually (60 annual credits) or $99 billed monthly. Grow is $479 a month billed annually or $599 monthly, and that's where "Basic ATS Integrations" start. Extra credits cost "$20 each". Its pricing page lists SOC 2 Type II, GDPR and CCPA compliance.

HackerRank. Starter is $79 a month, or $948 billed annually, with unlimited users and 60 candidate attempts a year. Extra attempts cost $20 each. Pro is $419 a month ($5,028 billed annually) with 360 attempts and ATS and calendar integrations. Enterprise adds certified assessments, API and MCP access and 22+ enterprise ATS integrations.

Codility. Online plans run "From $4,800 a year, or from $800 a month", with 25 to 100 invites a month on monthly packs or 200 to 1,400 invites a year. They include five platform users (10 on the 1,400-invite pack) and "One standard integration, such as Greenhouse, Lever or Ashby". Enterprise adds SSO, every ATS integration and a choice of EU or US hosting.

Which to pick, by team type

Here's how we'd match them, based only on the facts above.

A startup making its first technical hires. CodeSignal Build or HackerRank Starter. Both are $79 a month billed annually. HackerRank includes unlimited users, and CodeSignal includes AI proctoring and ID verification.
An enterprise engineering team. HackerRank, if you want the biggest published library and unlimited users. CodeSignal, if you want certified assessments and an AI interviewer from one vendor.
A regulated or EU buyer. Codility. The public technical manual, SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 (both listed on its pricing page), and EU hosting on Enterprise are built for procurement review.
A recruiter or agency with no engineer to review results. None of the three is really built for you. See the next section.

If none of the three fits: Codility alternatives and an AI-run coding round

Two kinds of team end up here. Some want Codility-style testing at a lower entry price. Others don't have an engineer who can read the output. If you're leaving CodeSignal as a recruiter, see CodeSignal alternatives for recruiters.

Cheaper Codility alternatives

If price is the blocker, these are the published numbers as of November 2026:

HackerEarth. Growth is $99 a month billed monthly, with one admin and 10 credits a month, per HackerEarth's pricing page. For India-specific options, see our HackerEarth alternatives for India.
TestGorilla. A free plan with "10 credits per month", then paid plans "from $215 /mo per account", billed annually.
CoderPad. Starter is $80 a month on annual billing, with "Unlimited users and AI Assist on every plan".
CodeSubmit. Its Codility comparison page says it "Starts at $299/mo" for take-home style challenges.
Karat. Human technical interviewers, and pricing isn't published. Our Expert Hire vs Karat page covers that trade-off.

Also on most lists, not reviewed here: DevSkiller, Coderbyte, iMocha, Mercer Mettl and Testlify.

An AI interview that runs the coding round

Expert Hire is an AI interview platform for staffing agencies, hiring teams and campuses: it runs structured AI interviews and coding tests, scores them against your rubric, and gives each candidate a report card, priced per workspace from $99 a month. For a team with no engineer to read results, a live, two-way AI interview and a coding test run in one round, and the report card shows the transcript and code behind every score.

The coding test runs code against hidden test cases and shows each case's result and runtime, in many languages, C# included. The AI interview covers eight types, including Coding and System Design. Pricing is Explorer $99, Starter $249, Growth $499 and Scale custom, with unlimited team members and a 30-day trial that includes 75 Hire Credits. A coding test draws 3 Hire Credits.

The limits matter, so here they are:

Our library is far smaller than any of these three, there's no published technical manual and there's no pair programming pad.
Greenhouse is available today in early access. Lever and Ashby are supported, with integrations rolling out, and Bullhorn is on the roadmap.
All proctoring, browser and desktop, unlocks on Growth or Scale.
Opt-in auto-shortlist and auto-reject thresholds are off by default, so there's no black-box pass/fail.

If you want the one-to-one view, see Expert Hire vs HackerRank. For the format question itself, our explainer on static tests vs live AI interviews covers it without naming vendors.

Frequently asked questions

CodeSignal vs HackerRank vs Codility: which is best for a small team?

For most small teams, CodeSignal Build or HackerRank Starter, both $79 a month billed annually as of November 2026. HackerRank Starter includes unlimited users and 60 candidate attempts a year. CodeSignal Build includes 60 annual credits plus AI proctoring and ID verification. Codility starts higher, from $4,800 a year.

Can Codility or CodeSignal detect cheating?

Yes, both can. CodeSignal uses Suspicion Scores, LeakSweep and AI proctoring with video and screen recording. Codility's online plans include plagiarism detection, snapshot proctoring and task leakage protection, while ID verification and video proctoring are on Enterprise. Codility combines its signals into one risk rating for your team to review.

Does Codility let candidates use AI in the test?

Yes. Codility lets you switch AI on or off for each task or interview, and it saves every prompt, command and code change for review. It also runs agentic coding interviews where candidates build with Claude Code or Codex on a real codebase.

What is a cheaper alternative to Codility?

On published prices as of November 2026, HackerEarth Growth is $99 a month billed monthly, CoderPad Starter is $80 a month billed annually, and TestGorilla has a free plan. CodeSignal Build and HackerRank Starter are both $79 a month billed annually. Expert Hire starts at $99 a month per workspace, with a coding test drawing 3 Hire Credits.

What should a recruiter with no engineer to review results use?

Use a tool where the vendor does the technical judging. Karat supplies human interviewers, with pricing not published. Expert Hire runs an AI interview and a coding test in one round and gives you a report card with the transcript and code behind each score. Its library is smaller than the big three, so it fits first-round screening best.

The bottom line

CodeSignal, HackerRank and Codility are all good at what they do, and all three now sell AI interviewing. Pick by your team: CodeSignal for a self-serve start with certified tests, HackerRank for library size, and Codility for procurement-grade documentation. For more options, see our list of AI hiring tools for engineering teams.

If nobody on your team can review a coding score, see how the Expert Hire coding test works and try it free for 30 days.

By TK, Growth at Expert Hire. Last updated November 2, 2026. Reviewed by Anand Suresh, CPO at Expert Hire.