# Technical hiring assessments for small business buyers: 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 small B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/talent/technical-hiring-assessments/2026-09/smb

This is the permanent record of the September 2026 Edition, published September 17, 2026 and superseded since.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/smb/index.md

**Standing:** CoderPad leads with 26% of first choices; verdict contested. 43 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [CoderPad](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/coderpad/index.md) | 26% | 5% | 38 |
| 2 | [TestGorilla](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/testgorilla/index.md) | 21% | 16% | 38 |
| 3 | [Coderbyte](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/coderbyte/index.md) | 9% | 15% | 27 |
| 4 | [TestDome](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/testdome/index.md) | 9% | 0% | 15 |
| 5 | [HackerRank](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/hackerrank/index.md) | 9% | 45% | 47 |
| 6 | [CodeSignal](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/codesignal/index.md) | 7% | 28% | 32 |
| 7 | [CodeSubmit](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/codesubmit/index.md) | 2% | 0% | 10 |
| 60 | [Codility](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/codility/index.md) | 0% | 52% | 33 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 60 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: TestGorilla; alternatives Codility, HackerRank
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: TestDome; alternatives CodeSubmit, CoderPad, Coderbyte
- Perplexity Sonar: CoderPad; alternatives CodeSignal, CodeSubmit, HackerRank
- Grok 4.20: Coderbyte; alternatives CodeSignal, TestDome
- Mistral Small: CodeSignal; alternatives CodeSubmit, HackerRank, TestGorilla
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: CoderPad, TestGorilla; alternatives Coderbyte, HackerRank, TestDome
- Llama 4 Maverick: no first choice
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Adaface; alternatives CoderPad, DevSkiller, TestGorilla
- Kimi K2: CodeSignal; alternatives CoderPad, Coderbyte, HackerRank, TestDome
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: TestTrick; alternatives CodeSignal Build, Coderbyte, TestDome, TestGorilla
- MiniMax M2.5: no first choice

## Sources the answers cite

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

- codesubmit.io: 38 answers, 55 citations
- hackerrank.com: 35 answers, 70 citations
- selectsoftwarereviews.com: 35 answers, 41 citations
- codesignal.com: 34 answers, 53 citations
- testtrick.com: 27 answers, 37 citations
- testgorilla.com: 22 answers, 38 citations
- g2.com: 19 answers, 47 citations
- coderpad.io: 19 answers, 22 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://selectsoftwarereviews.com/buyer-guide/online-coding-interview-tools (32 answers)
- https://codesignal.com/blog/5-coding-assessment-platforms-for-your-technical-hiring (24 answers)
- https://codesubmit.io/blog/coding-assessment-tools-2024 (23 answers)
- https://codesubmit.io/blog/coding-assessment-tools (21 answers)
- https://hackerrank.com/writing/best-coding-assessment-tools (21 answers)
- https://hackerrank.com/writing/best-developer-assessment-platforms-for-startups-hiring-remotely-october-2025 (19 answers)
- https://goodfit.so/guides/best-coding-assessment-platforms (16 answers)
- https://testgorilla.com/blog/coding-assessment-tools (15 answers)
- https://codility.com/how-to-choose-technical-assessment-platform (13 answers)
- https://testtrick.com/blogs/best-technical-assessment-tools (12 answers)

## Warned against

- Codility: 17 of 33 labels negative. "Who to Avoid: Generic coding challenge platforms (e.g., HackerRank, Coderbyte, Codility for general coding)." (GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt)
- HackerRank: 21 of 47 labels negative. "Who to Avoid: Generic coding challenge platforms (e.g., HackerRank, Coderbyte, Codility for general coding)." (GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt)
- TestGorilla: 6 of 38 labels negative. "Who to Avoid: TestGorilla (specifically for small businesses with fluctuating hiring needs)." (GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt)
- Coderbyte: 4 of 27 labels negative. "Who to Avoid: Generic coding challenge platforms (e.g., HackerRank, Coderbyte, Codility for general coding)." (GLM 4.7 FlashX, 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.