# Technical hiring assessments: what AI models recommend, September 2026

Gane Index, September 2026 Edition. Asked as "coding assessment platform" and as "technical interview tool", six framings each, to twelve models with search on, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/talent/technical-hiring-assessments/2026-09

This is the permanent record of the September 2026 Edition, published September 17, 2026 and superseded since. The current standing: https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/talent/technical-hiring-assessments/index.md

**Standing:** HackerRank leads with 28% of first choices; verdict contested. 39 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [HackerRank](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/hackerrank/index.md) | 28% | 21% | 57 |
| 2 | [CoderPad](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/coderpad/index.md) | 21% | 0% | 40 |
| 3 | [Coderbyte](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/coderbyte/index.md) | 13% | 8% | 13 |
| 4 | [CodeSignal](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/codesignal/index.md) | 10% | 10% | 41 |
| 6 | [TestGorilla](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/testgorilla/index.md) | 5% | 16% | 31 |
| 7 | [Codility](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/codility/index.md) | 5% | 32% | 44 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 52 products named; products with the same share are tied, and the order among them carries no meaning. The table lists those with at least 10 labels.

## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt

- Claude Haiku 4.5: no first choice
- GPT-5.4 mini: HackerRank; alternatives CodeSignal, CoderPad, Codility
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: CoderPad; alternatives CodeSignal, HackerEarth Assessments, TestGorilla
- Perplexity Sonar: HackerRank; alternatives CodeSignal, CoderPad, Coderbyte, Goodfit
- Grok 4.20: HackerRank; alternatives CodeSignal, Coderbyte
- Mistral Small: HackerRank; alternatives Augment Code, Coderbyte
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: CodeSignal; alternatives Codility, HackerRank, TestGorilla
- Llama 4 Maverick: no first choice; alternatives CodeSignal, CoderPad, Coderbyte, Goodfit
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: HackerRank; alternatives CodeSignal, TestDome, Vervoe
- Kimi K2: Codility; alternatives CodeSignal, Coderbyte, HackerRank, TestGorilla
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: HackerRank; alternatives CodeSignal
- MiniMax M2.5: CodeSignal; alternatives Augment Code, HackerRank, TestGorilla

## Sources the answers cite

62 of 72 answers came back with a source list, from 12 of 12 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- hackerrank.com: 38 answers, 82 citations
- codesignal.com: 34 answers, 51 citations
- codility.com: 33 answers, 41 citations
- codesubmit.io: 26 answers, 29 citations
- selectsoftwarereviews.com: 24 answers, 25 citations
- goodfit.so: 19 answers, 19 citations
- coderpad.io: 18 answers, 21 citations
- testgorilla.com: 16 answers, 24 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://codility.com/how-to-choose-technical-assessment-platform (29 answers)
- https://hackerrank.com/writing/best-coding-assessment-tools (28 answers)
- https://codesignal.com/blog/5-coding-assessment-platforms-for-your-technical-hiring (19 answers)
- https://goodfit.so/guides/best-coding-assessment-platforms (19 answers)
- https://selectsoftwarereviews.com/buyer-guide/online-coding-interview-tools (19 answers)
- https://codesubmit.io/blog/coding-assessment-tools-2024 (15 answers)
- https://testgorilla.com/blog/coding-assessment-tools (14 answers)
- https://augmentcode.com/tools/best-coding-assessment-tools-enterprise (12 answers)
- https://woventeams.com/post/the-most-effective-technical-assessment-for-job-interviews (12 answers)
- https://codesubmit.io/blog/coding-assessment-tools (11 answers)

## Warned against

- Codility: 14 of 44 labels negative. "it is often described as "quite pricey" ... Codility has had issues with "test integrity," where questions and answers are not sufficiently hidden from recruiters" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt)
- HackerRank: 12 of 57 labels negative. "Users frequently complain about "overage fees." ... Googleable Questions: ... default assessments are often easily searchable online." (GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt)
- TestGorilla: 5 of 31 labels negative. "Billing issues: Multiple reviews mention unethical business practices, with charges continuing after cancellation" (MiniMax M2.5, negative prompt)
- CodeSignal: 4 of 41 labels negative. "It punishes deliberate, methodical thinking... a poor score on one application can actively destroy your chances with other companies" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt)

## Record

- Method: https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/methodology
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, September 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/hr.