Candidate assessment
Asked as “pre-employment assessment platform”, and as “skills testing tool for hiring”, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. 41 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.
Standing · first-choice share
68%
Clear leader
68TestGorilla10Criteria Corp02Canditech20others
68% of first choices, clear leader.
By buyer segment
The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment; they sit side by side and are never added together.
The standing
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all twelve models, for a mid-market B2B company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant
Show the four products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its product page.
All fifteen head-to-head pages: the top six products, each against each
TestGorilla vs iMochaTestGorilla vs The Predictive IndexCriteria Corp vs VervoeCriteria Corp vs TestlifyCriteria Corp vs iMochaCriteria Corp vs The Predictive IndexVervoe vs TestlifyVervoe vs iMochaVervoe vs The Predictive IndexTestlify vs iMochaTestlify vs The Predictive IndexiMocha vs The Predictive Index
One product takes 68% of first choices here, so the chart would put nine markers in one corner and one at the far edge. The two measurements it plots are columns in the standing above: share, and the negative label rate. Zero products carry a negative rate above 25% in this category.
What they warned about
Six of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, Mistral Small, Llama 4 Maverick, Kimi K2, GLM 4.7 FlashX and MiniMax M2.5 changed. A high negative share on a product with few labels is a warning. A low share on a product with many labels is salience, not sentiment.
ProctorU100%
6 of 6 labels negative · 6 of 12 models · 3 hard negative
“Reviewers describe the platform as “completely unreliable,” with frequent technical glitches, long wait times, and unhelpful support.” GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt
TestGorilla7%
4 of 54 labels negative · 4 of 12 models
“Frequent complaints about buggy tests, irrelevant or erroneous questions, unrealistic time limits... steep pricing with rigid annual subscriptions, and poor customer support” Grok 4.20, negative prompt
Honorlock75%
3 of 4 labels negative · 3 of 12 models · 1 hard negative
“Chrome-extension-only, which excludes many students; heavy AI monitoring ... creates frequent false positives” DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt
Proctorio75%
3 of 4 labels negative · 3 of 12 models · 1 hard negative
“Repeatedly named in complaints over excessive biometric data collection and opaque AI.” DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt
What they cite
Twelve of the twelve models returned a source list in this edition: four return the pages they cited and eight the search results they consulted.
Sites the answers cite
66 of 72 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 12 of 12 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 954 links across 258 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.
vendor site · TestGorilla30 answers · 46 citations · 9 models
vendor site · Testlify27 answers · 32 citations · 11 models
24 answers · 24 citations · 11 models
vendor site · TestTrick23 answers · 39 citations · 11 models
vendor site · JobCannon23 answers · 34 citations · 10 models
vendor site · FirstHR19 answers · 21 citations · 9 models
vendor site · Pin16 answers · 16 citations · 10 models
vendor site · G215 answers · 35 citations · 7 models
vendor site · Criteria Corp15 answers · 23 citations · 6 models
vendor site · AIHR14 answers · 14 citations · 6 models
vendor site · Bryq14 answers · 14 citations · 8 models
13 answers · 14 citations · 7 models
Pages the answers cite
The ten pages named in the most answers, by full address. A page here is one the models returned with a recommendation, not one the index endorses.
22 answers · 10 models
21 answers · 11 models
16 answers · 10 models
16 answers · 10 models
14 answers · 6 models
14 answers · 9 models
12 answers · 7 models
11 answers · 7 models
11 answers · 7 models
10 answers · 5 models
Search against answers
Each company's standing in the answers beside its site's footprint in Google search, one row a site: the products the models named on it with their shares, and the share they add up to; monthly searches on Google, and DataForSEO's estimate of AI search demand (modeled from search signals, directional, not a count of queries to any assistant), for the most-searched of the company's and its products' names (the name is in each row's hover text); estimated monthly organic visits to the site; and its best position in Google's top ten for “assessment platforms”, “best pre-employment assessment platform”, “pre-employment assessment platform”. US estimates from DataForSEO and Google's Ads Transparency Center. A small company's site, or a mid-sized company's site for its flagship, is marked company; a product on a large parent's site (Google, Microsoft) has no site figures. A column with no figures for this category is left out, and an empty cell means none were seen, not none exist. Two measurements side by side: neither is read as the cause of the other.
| Company and products | Share | Own site cited | Name searches, Google | AI search demand, est. | Organic visits | Paid search a month, est. | Google ads, last 30 days | Best Google position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TestGorilla testgorilla.com | 68% | 254 | 4,400 | 170 | 58,548 | $462 | 76 | |
| Criteria criteriacorp.com Criteria Corp 10% | 10% | 102 | 2,400 | 39 | 103,671 company | $6,427 | 63 | 3 |
| Vervoe vervoe.com | 2% | 73 | 480 | 9 | 7,828 | |||
| Testlify testlify.com | 2% | 44 | 480 | 6 | 43,586 | 0 | 8 | |
| iMocha imocha.io | 2% | 87 | 480 | 13 | 7,474 | 22 | ||
| The Predictive Index predictiveindex.com | 2% | 31 | 2,400 | 692 | 181,822 | 32 | ||
| JobCannon jobcannon.io | 2% | 3 | 70 | 0 | 479,796 | |||
| Toggl toggl.com Toggl Hire 2% | 2% | 19 | 70 | 1 | 257,259 company | 30 | ||
| Canditech canditech.io | 2% | 34 | 390 | 13 | 4,346 | 22 | ||
| VidCruiter vidcruiter.com | 2% | 159 | 1,000 | 21 | 18,866 | 81 |
Google's top ten for the three searches hold 18 sites; 4 of them are among the sites the models cited here (aihr.com, criteriacorp.com, peoplemanagingpeople.com, testlify.com). The first result for “assessment platforms” is testportal.com.
How they answered
Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.ShowHide
How they answered
Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.
ShowHideModelDirect“What is the best pre-employment assessment platform for a mid-market B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which skills testing tool for hiring would you recommend to a mid-sized B2B company?”Comparative“What are the top assessment platforms and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best pre-employment assessment platform for a company with a limited budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 500 person company evaluating a pre-employment assessment platform. What should we look at?”Negative“Which assessment platforms should I avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5The Predictive IndexTestGorillaChangedTestGorillaTestGorillano first choicenothing named
Two alternatives
Criteria Corp, TestGorillaTwo alternatives
Criteria Corp, VervoeTwo alternatives
C-Factor AI, ParadoxThree alternatives
Testlify, The Hire Talent, VervoeGPT-5.4 miniTestGorillaagainst: SHLTestGorillaHeldno first choiceTestGorillaagainst: SHL, Wonderlicno first choicenothing named
Two alternatives
HireVue, TalogyThree alternatives
Criteria Corp, HackerRank, TestlifyEight alternatives
CodeSignal, CoderPad, Codility, HackerRank, Mercer | Mettl, SHL, Talview, TestGorillaOne alternative
EmployTestGemini 3.5 FlashTestGorillaTestGorillaHeldno first choiceToggl Hireagainst: Hogan Assessments, SHL, TestGorilla, The Predictive Indexno first choiceagainst: Codility, Eightfold AI, HackerRank, Honorlock, ProctorU, Proctorio, Respondus Monitor
Five alternatives
Coderbyte, Criteria Corp, Intervue, The Predictive Index, VervoeThree alternatives
Canditech, Criteria Corp, TestlifyFive alternatives
JobCannon, TestDome, TestInvite, TestTrick, TrufflePerplexity SonarCriteria Corpagainst: GreenhouseCriteria CorpHeldno first choiceTestGorillano first choicenothing named
One alternative
TestGorillaThree alternatives
HackerRank, TestGorilla, iMochaTwo alternatives
EmployTest, Toggl HireGrok 4.20TestGorillaTestGorillaHeldagainst: Codility, Vervoe, iMochaTestGorilla, iMochaTestGorillaTestGorillaagainst: Dugga, Glider.ai, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, ProctorU, TestGorilla
One alternative
Criteria CorpTwo alternatives
HackerRank, The Predictive IndexThree alternatives
Codility, HackerRank, Mercer | MettlFour alternatives
Hirevire, TestTrick, Truffle, VervoeFour alternatives
Adaface, Criteria Corp, Harver, iMochaMistral SmallTestGorillaiMochaChangedno first choiceCanditech, Vervoeno first choicenothing named
Three alternatives
Adaface, Greenhouse, The Predictive IndexThree alternatives
Criteria Corp, Greenhouse, TestlifyThree alternatives
JobCannon, TestGorilla, Toggl HireDeepSeek V4 FlashTestGorillaTestGorillaHeldTestGorilla, VervoeTestGorillano first choiceagainst: Aon, Canvas, Examity, HireVue, Honorlock, Mathspace, PowerSchool, ProctorU, Proctorio, Pymetrics, Respondus, Workday
Two alternatives
Criteria Corp, The Predictive IndexFive alternatives
Adaface, CodeSignal, Criteria Corp, Harver, SovaEight alternatives
AbilityScreen, CoderPad, Codility, Criteria Corp, HackerRank, Mercer | Mettl, SHL, TestlifyFour alternatives
Canditech, EmployTest, JobCannon, VervoeLlama 4 MaverickTestGorillaTestlifyChangedno first choiceJobCannonno first choicenothing named
Three alternatives
EmployTest, TestGorilla, TestTrickQwen 3.7 FlashTestGorillaagainst: Mercer | SHLTestGorillaHeldno first choiceTestGorillano first choiceagainst: HireVue, TestGorilla
Three alternatives
CodeSignal, HireVue, TalmundoSeven alternatives
Adaface, Codility, Criteria Corp, HackerRank, Plum, Repsnap, VervoeNine alternatives
Bryq, Codility, Criteria Corp, HackerRank, Harver, Mercer | Mettl, TestGorilla, Testlify, VervoeTwo alternatives
TestTrick, TestlifyKimi K2Criteria Corp, TestGorillaTestGorillaChangedHire-MatchTestGorillaagainst: Criteria CorpTestGorillaagainst: Harveragainst: Examity, Honorlock, ProctorU, Proctorio, Respondus
Two alternatives
Plum, The Predictive IndexFour alternatives
Codility, Criteria Corp, HackerRank, VervoeNine alternatives
Codility, Criteria Corp, HackerRank, Harver, TestGorilla, Testlify, The Predictive Index, Vervoe, iMochaTwo alternatives
EmployTest, VervoeTwo alternatives
Criteria Corp, VervoeGLM 4.7 FlashXCriteria CorpTestGorillaChangedno first choiceTestGorillaagainst: Hogan Assessments, SHL, The Predictive Indexno first choiceagainst: British Council, Pearson Vue, ProctorU, SkillCheck, eSkill
Three alternatives
Harver, Plum, TestGorillaTwo alternatives
Criteria Corp, Test PartnershipThree alternatives
Hirevire, JobCannon, VervoeMiniMax M2.5SHL, TestGorillaVidCruiterChangedCodility, HackerEarthTestGorillano first choiceagainst: Glider.ai, ProctorU, TestGorilla
One alternative
Test PartnershipTwo alternatives
Test Partnership, iMochaSeven alternatives
ExamSoft, Learnosity, Mercer | Mettl, Moodle, Questionmark, TestGorilla, eSkillFour alternatives
EmployTest, Hirevire, Toggl Hire, VervoeBold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against
The record
One row per call: the version string exactly as returned, whether the model searched, sources cited, and latency.
Seventy-two rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.
| Prompt | Model | Version string | Time (UTC) | Searched | Sources | Latency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct recommendation | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-17 19:26 | yes | 9 | 9 s |
| Direct recommendation | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 20:47 | yes | 4 | 7 s |
| Direct recommendation | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 21:55 | yes | 12 | 43 s |
| Direct recommendation | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 19:17 | yes | 20 | 6 s |
| Direct recommendation | Grok 4.20 | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex (asked for grok-4.20-non-reasoning; the API answered as this version) | 2026-09-17 19:41 | yes | 36 | 19 s |
| Direct recommendation | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 20:06 | yes | 5 | 5 s |
| Direct recommendation | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks | 2026-09-17 18:26 | yes | 23 | 38 s |
| Direct recommendation | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 20:36 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Direct recommendation | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 20:44 | no | 0 | 30 s |
| Direct recommendation | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 19:41 | yes | 13 | 29 s |
| Direct recommendation | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 18:35 | yes | 23 | 53 s |
| Direct recommendation | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 18:05 | yes | 11 | 27 s |
| Paraphrase | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-17 21:27 | yes | 9 | 9 s |
| Paraphrase | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 21:03 | yes | 4 | 6 s |
| Paraphrase | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 22:07 | yes | 12 | 64 s |
| Paraphrase | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 21:14 | yes | 20 | 5 s |
| Paraphrase | Grok 4.20 | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex (asked for grok-4.20-non-reasoning; the API answered as this version) | 2026-09-17 20:04 | yes | 40 | 17 s |
| Paraphrase | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 18:16 | yes | 5 | 4 s |
| Paraphrase | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks | 2026-09-17 21:45 | yes | 30 | 19 s |
| Paraphrase | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 19:30 | yes | 6 | 5 s |
| Paraphrase | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 21:29 | yes | 8 | 23 s |
| Paraphrase | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 18:46 | yes | 10 | 46 s |
| Paraphrase | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 21:16 | yes | 20 | 156 s |
| Paraphrase | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 18:09 | yes | 5 | 11 s |
| Comparative | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-17 19:44 | yes | 9 | 10 s |
| Comparative | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 19:20 | yes | 4 | 9 s |
| Comparative | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 18:54 | yes | 20 | 23 s |
| Comparative | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 18:19 | yes | 20 | 7 s |
| Comparative | Grok 4.20 | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex (asked for grok-4.20-non-reasoning; the API answered as this version) | 2026-09-17 18:01 | yes | 33 | 17 s |
| Comparative | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 21:21 | yes | 8 | 10 s |
| Comparative | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks | 2026-09-17 19:03 | yes | 19 | 20 s |
| Comparative | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 20:44 | yes | 5 | 2 s |
| Comparative | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 18:54 | yes | 5 | 18 s |
| Comparative | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 21:02 | yes | 8 | 21 s |
| Comparative | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 18:12 | yes | 15 | 69 s |
| Comparative | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 18:44 | yes | 5 | 45 s |
| Budget constrained | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-17 19:33 | yes | 10 | 7 s |
| Budget constrained | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 18:33 | yes | 3 | 5 s |
| Budget constrained | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 18:43 | yes | 20 | 21 s |
| Budget constrained | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 18:57 | yes | 20 | 4 s |
| Budget constrained | Grok 4.20 | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex (asked for grok-4.20-non-reasoning; the API answered as this version) | 2026-09-17 18:04 | yes | 37 | 20 s |
| Budget constrained | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 21:20 | yes | 5 | 5 s |
| Budget constrained | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks | 2026-09-17 18:51 | yes | 17 | 16 s |
| Budget constrained | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 21:27 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Budget constrained | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 21:26 | yes | 10 | 37 s |
| Budget constrained | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 19:46 | yes | 19 | 37 s |
| Budget constrained | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 19:47 | yes | 14 | 81 s |
| Budget constrained | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 17:53 | yes | 8 | 22 s |
| Scale constrained | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-17 21:29 | no | 0 | 6 s |
| Scale constrained | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 19:16 | no | 0 | 5 s |
| Scale constrained | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 17:59 | yes | 11 | 26 s |
| Scale constrained | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 21:39 | yes | 20 | 7 s |
| Scale constrained | Grok 4.20 | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex (asked for grok-4.20-non-reasoning; the API answered as this version) | 2026-09-17 19:49 | yes | 15 | 12 s |
| Scale constrained | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 21:28 | no | 0 | 8 s |
| Scale constrained | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks | 2026-09-17 21:37 | yes | 14 | 16 s |
| Scale constrained | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 18:43 | yes | 5 | 4 s |
| Scale constrained | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 18:48 | no | 0 | 25 s |
| Scale constrained | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 17:59 | yes | 20 | 37 s |
| Scale constrained | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 20:41 | yes | 13 | 99 s |
| Scale constrained | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 19:07 | yes | 5 | 31 s |
| Negative framing | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-17 20:34 | no | 0 | 3 s |
| Negative framing | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 20:46 | yes | 6 | 7 s |
| Negative framing | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 19:33 | yes | 20 | 28 s |
| Negative framing | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 19:44 | yes | 20 | 8 s |
| Negative framing | Grok 4.20 | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex (asked for grok-4.20-non-reasoning; the API answered as this version) | 2026-09-17 18:34 | yes | 47 | 19 s |
| Negative framing | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 18:54 | yes | 5 | 7 s |
| Negative framing | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks | 2026-09-17 20:56 | yes | 30 | 26 s |
| Negative framing | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 19:59 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Negative framing | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 20:35 | yes | 10 | 36 s |
| Negative framing | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 18:51 | yes | 10 | 17 s |
| Negative framing | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 18:31 | yes | 29 | 102 s |
| Negative framing | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 20:23 | yes | 20 | 36 s |
Normalization in this category
Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.
ShowHide
Category-scoped readings
Criteria read as Criteria Corp
Criteria (Criteria Corp) read as Criteria Corp
Hogan read as Hogan Assessments
Test Invite read as TestInvite
Unresolved, counted raw
ASC Smarter Assessment
ASSISTments
British Council (IELTS Online)
C-Factor AI
Diffit
Dugga
Edulastic
Exam.net
HighMatch
Isograd Testing Services
Learnology
MagicSchool AI
Mercer | SHL
Pearson Vue (OnVUE)
Repsnap
Respondus Monitor
Socrative
TestGenius
The Hire Talent
The Talent Games
ThriveMap
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.