Assessment tool pricing
Assessment tool pricing compared in 2026, with every source
The short answer
Of the ten tools below, eight publish a price and two, Mercer Mettl and iMocha, publish nothing at all. The cheapest way to test one candidate is Equip at ₹95, about $1, per candidate per test, with no contract. The cheapest annual plan is Adaface at $180 a year. TestGorilla's entry plan is $1,704 on a twelve month lock.
Every figure below carries the URL it was read from and the date it was read. Check them.
The table
One row per tool. “Entry price” is the cheapest paid way in, transcribed exactly as the source printed it, not converted and not rounded. Where a vendor publishes nothing, the cell says “Not published”, because a guess dressed up as a figure is worse than an admission.
| Tool | Entry price | Billing | Contract | Unused credits | Free tier | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TestGorilla | $1,704 / year (Core) | Displayed as $142/mo. Annual commitment, paid in advance | 12 months, clause 8.2. No mid-term exit, clause 14.3 | Expire at term end, no cash value, clause 8.6 | 10 credits a month, 1 seat, 5 tests. Not a trial | source2026-08-02 |
| Mercer Mettl | Not published | Quote only. Credit based, rate not disclosed | Term set in a private Order. Early exit may incur fees | Not stated in the public licence agreement | 30 day trial with trial credits, count not published | source2026-08-02 |
| HackerRank | $990 / year, or $99 / month | Per attempt allowance. $20 per attempt over | Monthly is month to month. Annual auto-renews, cancel any time | Attempts expire every billing cycle, section D | Free trial, no card. Length and limits not published | source2026-08-02 |
| Equip | ₹95, about $1, per candidate per test | Prepaid credits, pay as you go. Unlimited seats | None. No subscription, minimum purchase ₹950 | Never expire, per their pricing page. Non-refundable | 10 credits on signup, no clock. Free ATS forever | source2026-08-02 |
| TestDome | $20 per candidate ($100 pack) | Prepaid packs. Falls to $7 at 600 candidates | None. Their page opens "No subscriptions" | Never. "Forever, there is no expiration date" | 14 day trial. Limits not published | source2026-08-02 |
| Adaface | $180 / year (12 credits) | Annual only. No monthly option on the page | Annual. Seven plans up to $50,000 a year | "the credits expire 1 year after the purchase" | 14 day trial. Limits not published | source2026-08-02 |
| CoderPad | $960 / year, or $120 / month | Per test or interview. $25 each over quota | Monthly or annual. Custom tier is annual only | Monthly quota resets. Unstarted pads re-credited in 28 days | 2 tests or interviews a month, ongoing | source2026-08-02 |
| Codility | $1,200 / year (Starter) | Invite credits. Starter says "Annual billing only" | Starter annual only. Scale $600/mo or $6,000/yr | Not stated on the pricing page | None published. The word trial is not on the page | source2026-08-02 |
| iMocha | Not published | Quote only. "Contact us for custom pricing" | Not published | Not published | 7 days, 3 test attempts, no card | source2026-08-02 |
| Journey Uncommon | ₹499 / month | Per month, per account. Candidates are not metered | Monthly, cancel any time. No annual term | No credits. A monthly test-creation limit that resets | 5 tests a month, forever, no card | source2026-08-02 |
Why this question is so hard to answer
A buyer trying to budget for candidate screening runs into four separate walls, and only the first one is obvious.
Some vendors publish nothing at all
Mercer Mettl and iMocha print no figure anywhere. Every route on mettl.com finishes at "Get quote now!", and iMocha's pricing page says "Contact us for custom pricing and packages built to suit your basic needs". HackerRank and Codility publish their small self-serve plans and go quote-only above them, which is where most of the revenue is. A price you have to ask for is a price that can be different for you than for the company next door.
A monthly-looking number is usually an annual commitment
TestGorilla's Core plan shows $142/mo. Directly beneath it the same page says $1,704 billed annually, and clause 8.2 of their terms sets the standard subscription at twelve months. The number a buyer remembers is $142. The number that leaves their account is $1,704.
Directory sites cache prices for years and nobody updates them
Capterra, SaaSworthy, SelectHub and their imitators republish figures from old plan structures under plan names the vendor has since retired. That is where most of the contradictory numbers in a search result come from. None of them are lying. They are just old, and none of them print the date.
The headline unit is rarely the unit you are billed in
Equip is the most transparent vendor here and even its ₹95 is per candidate per test, not per candidate. A four-part screen costs ₹380 a head. Their own page says so, which is to their credit, but a buyer reading only the big number will budget a quarter of what they need.
The full working, vendor by vendor
Each of these pages carries the same thing: every price found for that vendor, which source printed it, what date it was read, the contract clauses quoted from the vendor's own terms, and the cost worked out for three sizes of buyer.
- TestGorilla pricing in 2026: what it actually costs
TestGorilla's cheapest paid plan is Core, shown as $142 a month. There is no monthly billing. The same card says $1,704 billed annually, and clause 8.2 of their terms sets the standard subscription at twelve months, paid in advance. Fees are non-refundable, unused credits expire at term end, and the next tier up, Plus, starts at $4,800 a year.
- Mercer Mettl pricing in 2026: what it actually costs
Mercer Mettl does not publish a price. Every path on mettl.com ends at "Get quote now!" or a demo form, and its public licence agreement defers contract length, renewal and credit expiry to a private Order document. The one clean third-party figure we could verify, ₹45,000 a year, is for Mettl 360 View, a different product. You have to ask.
- HackerRank pricing in 2026: what it actually costs
HackerRank Starter is $99 a month, or $990 a year paid up front, which they badge as two months free. That buys one user and 60 attempts a year. Pro is $449 a month or $4,490 a year, with unlimited users and 300 attempts. Extra attempts are $20 each. Unused attempts expire every cycle and never roll over.
- Equip pricing in 2026: what it actually costs
Equip charges ₹95 per candidate per test in India, or $1 outside it, which is one credit either way. There is no subscription, no contract and no seat fee, the minimum purchase is ₹950, and credits never expire. The catch is the word test: their own example prices a quiz plus a programming test at ₹190, so a four-part screen is ₹380 a head.
Six questions to ask before you sign anything
If a vendor will not put a price on a page, you have to get it out of a salesperson. These are the six that change the number most, in the order worth asking them.
- 1Is that price per month or is the contract twelve months? Ask for the total that leaves the bank account in year one, including any onboarding or setup fee.
- 2How many candidates does the plan include, and what does candidate 101 cost? Overage rates are almost never on the pricing page.
- 3How many seats? TestGorilla's Core plan includes two, and a third recruiter means the next tier up, which is a jump from $1,704 to $4,800 a year.
- 4What happens to unused credits at renewal? TestGorilla's clause 8.6 says they expire and have no cash value. Equip says on its pricing page that credits never expire. That single difference can be worth more than the headline price.
- 5Is it refundable if we stop hiring? TestGorilla's clause 8.3 says payment obligations are non-cancelable and fees are non-refundable. Mettl's licence agreement says you may owe termination fees for leaving early.
- 6Which features are on this tier and which need the next one? ATS integrations, API access, custom questions, removing the vendor's logo and ID verification are the five that most often sit one tier above where a buyer expects.
Our own row, said out loud
We build one of the tools in that table, so treat our row with the suspicion you would treat any other vendor's. Here is what it says and what it leaves out. Journey Uncommon is multiple-choice screening only. There is no coding sandbox, no video interview, no ATS integration, no custom branding, and no webcam proctoring, which we are not planning to build. Five tests a month are free with no card. Paid plans raise how many tests you can create per month and change nothing else, and they are monthly with no annual lock. If your hiring needs a coding round or an ATS integration, buy Equip or HackerRank. We would rather say that here than have you find it out after paying.
Questions people actually search
What is the cheapest hiring assessment tool?
On published rates as of 2 August 2026, Equip is the cheapest way to test one candidate: ₹95, about $1, per candidate per test, with no contract and a minimum purchase of ₹950. The cheapest annual plan is Adaface at $180 a year for 12 credits, though a credit is not a candidate there, because the first use of any test costs 5 or 10 credits on top of 1 credit per invite. TestDome reaches $7 per candidate but only if you buy a 600 candidate pack up front.
Why do assessment tools hide their pricing?
Because a price you have to ask for can be different for every buyer. Two of the ten tools in the table above, Mercer Mettl and iMocha, publish no figure anywhere, and both route every path on their pricing page to a demo form. Two more, HackerRank and Codility, publish their small self-serve plans and go quote-only above them, which is where most of their revenue is. It is not sinister, it is just enterprise sales, and it means a small buyer cannot compare without booking calls.
Which assessment tools have no annual contract?
Four of the ten. Equip has no subscription at all, only prepaid credits that never expire. TestDome sells prepaid packs and its pricing page opens with "No subscriptions". HackerRank's Starter and Pro plans can be taken month to month at $99 and $449, cancellable from inside the product with no notice period. Journey Uncommon is monthly. Everything else on the list is on an annual term, and TestGorilla's clause 8.2 puts the standard subscription at twelve months paid in advance.
Do unused assessment credits roll over?
Usually not, and this is the most expensive detail people miss. TestGorilla's clause 8.6 says credits are single-use, expire at the end of the subscription term, and have no cash value or refund entitlement. HackerRank's section D says unused attempts expire at the end of each billing cycle and are not subject to any refund or credit. Adaface says credits expire one year after purchase. The exceptions are Equip and TestDome, both of which state plainly that credits and packs never expire.
How much should I budget to screen 50 candidates?
Using published rates on 2 August 2026 and one test per candidate: Equip is ₹4,750, about $50. TestDome is $400 for a 25 pack plus a second pack, or $1,000 for the 100 pack at $10 each. HackerRank Starter covers it inside its 60 attempt annual allowance at $990. TestGorilla Core is $1,704 whatever your volume, which is $34.08 a head at 50. The flat-fee tools get better as you hire more and worse as you hire less; the per-candidate tools do not move either way.
Are these prices the same everywhere in the world?
No, and it is worth checking from your own connection. Equip's pricing page switches currency by visitor location, showing ₹95 to a reader in India and $1 to one outside it. TestGorilla's page has a currency selector for dollars, pounds, euros, Australian dollars and rupees. HackerRank's own subscription terms include a section on plans designated for use in India only. Every figure in the table above was read from a single location on one day, so treat it as the starting point for your own check.