Codility vs HackerRank: which technical assessment fits your engineering hiring?
Codility and HackerRank are two of the most-used technical assessment platforms for engineering hiring, and both were founded within a few years of each other in the late 2000s. In 2026 they've started to diverge in an interesting way. Codility built AI Copilot, which lets candidates code with AI assistance on purpose, so you can see how they use it. HackerRank built Chakra, an AI interviewer that can run the whole first-round conversation without a human on the call. Here is what each one actually does, what it costs, and where a coding test stops being enough signal.
Codility is a technical assessment platform founded in 2009 and headquartered in London. It runs coding assessments and live technical interviews for hiring, and it also ships a separate module for mapping the skills of engineers you've already hired.
Structured live technical interviews in a VS Code based IDE (Codility Interview)
AI Copilot: candidates get real-time AI coding assistance during the test itself, running on GPT-4o-mini or GPT-5-mini, with a chat mode for questions and an agent mode that can edit code and create files
Cody: a chat-based AI assistant candidates can ask clarifying questions during a test, with the full transcript visible to your hiring team afterward
Skills Intelligence: maps the skills of your existing engineering team, not just candidates, to surface internal experts and training gaps
Plagiarism detection, task leakage protection, and proctoring
G2 rating: 4.6/5 across 865 reviews.
What HackerRank does
HackerRank was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in Mountain View, California. It runs role-based coding assessments and live technical interviews, and its test library is one of the largest in the category. In 2026 its biggest addition is Chakra, an AI interviewer that runs structured voice or video interviews on its own.
Key capabilities:
Role-based coding assessments, with the question library sized by plan (2,000+ questions on Starter, up to 7,500+ on Enterprise)
Live technical interviews in a shared IDE (CodePair)
Chakra: an AI interviewer that asks opening questions, generates follow-ups from the candidate's actual answers, presents coding challenges in an inline editor, and delivers a scored report, with no human scheduling a call
Plagiarism detection and proctoring during assessments and interviews
ATS and calendar integrations (Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby, Google Calendar, Outlook) on Pro and above
G2 rating: 4.5/5 across roughly 509 reviews on the Developer Skills Platform listing.
Where they differ
Both companies responded to AI the same way most of the category has: build more AI in, not just block it out. But they built it into different ends of the process. Codility's AI Copilot puts AI assistance inside the coding test itself, so you're evaluating how a candidate works with an assistant, not whether they can avoid one. HackerRank's Chakra goes further and puts AI in the interviewer's chair for early rounds, running the conversation and the coding challenge without you on the call.
Codility also still owns a piece HackerRank doesn't touch: Skills Intelligence maps the people already on your team, not just applicants. If you want one platform for both the hiring assessment and an internal skills audit, Codility is the broader pick. If you want to hand off scheduling and the first-round conversation entirely, Chakra is the more autonomous move, though it's new enough that you should pilot it on a low-stakes requisition before trusting it for every open role.
Codility strengths and weaknesses
Strengths:
Reviewers consistently call out the clean, realistic coding environment and smooth candidate experience.
Live interview mode lets you watch problem-solving happen in real time, not just grade a final submission.
AI Copilot and Cody give you visibility into how a candidate reasons through a problem, including the prompts they wrote, not just whether the answer passed.
Weaknesses:
Reviewers ask for richer autocomplete (IntelliSense-style) support in the coding editor.
Starter caps you at 120 invites a year on a single seat. A busy hiring quarter can burn through that fast.
Scale jumps to $6,000 a year for 300 invites and 3 seats, a real step up from Starter's $1,200.
HackerRank strengths and weaknesses
Strengths:
The question library scales with the plan, up to 7,500+ questions at Enterprise, covering most engineering role types.
Native ATS and calendar integrations on Pro (Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby, Google Calendar, Outlook) cut down on manual scheduling.
Chakra removes the scheduling step for first-round interviews entirely, since candidates start the conversation on their own time.
Weaknesses:
Starter caps out at 120 attempts a year, and extra attempts cost $20 each, so overage adds up fast at real volume.
Unlimited seats don't arrive until Pro at $375/month. Starter is a single seat.
Some engineering candidates have taken a HackerRank test at a previous employer already, which can breed fatigue or a sense of "not this again."
Codility vs HackerRank: feature breakdown
Feature
Codility
HackerRank
Truffle
Category
Technical assessment + skills mapping
Technical assessment
Candidate screening (resume + video + assessments)
Founded
2009 (London)
2012 (Mountain View, CA)
2024
G2 rating
4.6/5 (865 reviews)
4.5/5 (~509 reviews)
5/5
Async coding tests
Yes (core)
Yes (core, larger library by plan)
Not the focus
Live coding IDE
Yes
Yes
No
AI assistance inside the test
Yes, AI Copilot and Cody
Not in the coding test itself
Not applicable
Autonomous AI interviewer
No
Yes, Chakra runs structured voice/video interviews
No, you review AI-surfaced evidence yourself
Employee skills mapping
Yes, Skills Intelligence
No
No
Personality and SJT
No
No
Yes (validated IPIP Big Five, SJT, Environment Fit)
One-way video interviews
No
No
Yes
Resume screening
No
No
Yes
Entry price
$1,200/year (120 invites, 1 seat)
$165/month billed annually (120 attempts, 1 seat)
From $49/month (7-day free trial)
Best for
Enterprises that want hiring assessments plus a skills audit of existing engineers
Teams that want a large test library and are open to AI running the first round
Teams screening 50+ candidates per role across any function, not just engineering
Key differentiator
Codility and HackerRank both measure coding skill, and both now build AI into that measurement, just from opposite directions: Codility lets candidates use AI openly during the test, HackerRank lets AI run the interview itself through Chakra. Neither measures personality, situational judgment, or whether someone's work-style preferences match the role. For that signal, you need a different tool.
Codility vs HackerRank: pricing
Codility pricing: Starter is $1,200/year, billed annually, for up to 120 invites a year on 1 platform seat. Scale is $6,000/year (or a monthly option at a smaller discount) for up to 300 invites a year (25/month) and 3 seats. Custom is quote-based, with multi-year agreements and unlimited seats.
HackerRank pricing: Starter is $165/month billed annually ($199/month billed monthly) for 1 seat and 120 attempts a year, drawing from a 2,000+ question library. Pro is $375/month billed annually for unlimited seats, 300 attempts a year, a 4,000+ question library, and ATS/calendar integrations. Extra attempts beyond the plan cap cost $20 each on Starter and Pro. Enterprise is quote-based, with the full 7,500+ question library, 40+ integrations, and SSO/SCIM.
Truffle pricing: from $49/month, credit-based and self-serve. No contracts, no per-seat pricing. 7-day free trial, 30 credits, no credit card.
What you get for the price
At the entry tier, HackerRank Starter ($165/mo, $1,980/yr) and Codility Starter ($1,200/yr) land in a similar range for a single seat covering roughly 120 candidates a year. Move up a tier and the gap widens: Codility Scale is $6,000/year for 3 seats, HackerRank Pro is $4,490/year for unlimited seats. If seat count matters more than invite volume, that's worth weighing.
Truffle is a different shape entirely: from $49/month, credit-based, covering resume screening, one-way video interviews, three assessment types, and unlimited positions and team members. Pick the tool that matches your hiring problem (coding tests vs broader candidate signal), not just the sticker price.
Verdict
Codility and HackerRank are both legitimate picks for technical hiring, and in 2026 they're pulling in genuinely different directions on AI. The right answer depends on how much of the process you want AI to run, not just which test bank is bigger.
Pick Codility if you want technical assessment plus a skills audit of your existing engineering team in the same tool, and you'd rather see how a candidate uses AI than pretend they won't.
Pick HackerRank if you want the larger test library by plan tier, native ATS integrations on Pro, and you're comfortable letting an AI interviewer (Chakra) run first-round conversations without you on the call.
Neither tool answers questions outside coding skill. Most hiring decisions for non-engineering roles, and many decisions even for engineering roles, depend on signal a coding test does not capture. Truffle's talent assessments measure personality, situational judgment, and environment fit, and pair with one-way video interviews and resume screening in one workflow.
Codility and HackerRank both answer one question: can this candidate code, with or without AI helping them. Truffle answers a different one: is this candidate the right hire. Different questions, different tools.
What Truffle does that coding tests do not:
Validated personality assessments. IPIP Big Five inventory, scientifically validated, scored against the trait profile your team decided fits the role.
Situational Judgment Tests. Real-world dilemmas scored against your team's preferred approach. Different from "is this answer right." Closer to "is this how we work."
Environment Fit assessments. Surface whether a candidate's work-style preferences (remote vs office, deep work vs interrupt-driven, autonomy vs structure) match the actual role.
One-way video interviews. Candidates record on any device. Truffle's AI generates a transcript, an AI Match score against your criteria, an AI summary, and a 30-second Candidate Shorts highlight reel.
Resume screening. Scoring against your criteria with the reasoning attached, so you can see why a candidate ranked where they did.
If your only constraint is "can this candidate write Python," Codility or HackerRank is the right pick, and you might genuinely want Chakra or AI Copilot for that. If your constraint is "can this candidate also do the job and stay," Truffle gives you signal a coding test was never built to capture. AI surfaces the evidence. You still make the call.
From $49/month, credit-based. 7-day free trial, no credit card. See how Truffle's assessments work before you decide what your screening process needs beyond a coding test.
Is Codility or HackerRank better for technical hiring in 2026?
It depends on how much of the process you want AI to run. Codility (4.6/5 on G2, 865 reviews) puts AI inside the test itself with AI Copilot, so you evaluate how a candidate works with AI assistance. HackerRank (4.5/5, roughly 509 reviews) puts AI in the interviewer's seat with Chakra, an AI interviewer that can run structured first-round conversations on its own. Codility also includes Skills Intelligence for mapping your existing team; HackerRank does not have an equivalent.
How much does Codility cost compared to HackerRank?
Codility Starter is $1,200/year for 120 invites and 1 seat. HackerRank Starter is $165/month billed annually ($1,980/year) for 120 attempts and 1 seat, similar territory. One tier up, Codility Scale is $6,000/year for 3 seats and 300 invites, while HackerRank Pro is $375/month ($4,490/year) for unlimited seats and 300 attempts. If you need more seats than invites, HackerRank Pro is the better deal at that tier. Both vendors quote Enterprise pricing directly.
Should I use Codility or HackerRank for non-engineering roles?
Neither. Both are technical assessment tools built around coding tests. Neither measures personality, situational judgment, or environment fit. For sales, ops, support, or other non-engineering roles, use a screening platform that runs validated personality and situational assessments. Truffle is one option that does this and includes one-way video interviews and resume screening in the same workflow.
What is Chakra, and does Codility have anything like it?
Chakra is HackerRank's AI interviewer, launched in 2026. It runs a structured voice or video interview from a rubric you configure, asks follow-up questions based on the candidate's actual answers, presents coding challenges in an inline editor, and delivers a scored report, all without a human scheduling or joining the call. Codility does not have a fully autonomous interviewer. Its closest equivalent is AI Copilot, which puts AI inside the coding test as an assistant the candidate can use, not as the interviewer.
Are Codility and HackerRank tests AI-resistant in 2026?
Not in the way you might expect, and both have stopped trying to be in the traditional sense. Codility's AI Copilot openly gives candidates AI assistance during the test, so the assessment shifts to measuring how well someone codes with AI rather than trying to block it. HackerRank still runs plagiarism detection and proctoring to catch unauthorized AI use on tests where it isn't allowed. Neither approach measures traits AI cannot touch at all, like personality or situational judgment. Truffle's assessments (Personality, SJT, Environment Fit) are designed to be AI-resistant by default, since they measure how someone thinks and works rather than whether they produced working code.
What are the G2 ratings for Codility and HackerRank?
Codility has a G2 rating of 4.6/5 across 865 reviews. HackerRank's Developer Skills Platform listing shows 4.5/5 across roughly 509 reviews. Codility has both the higher rating and the larger review count on this comparison.
