# Technical hiring assessments for small business buyers: what AI models recommend, November 2026

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

**Standing:** Coderbyte leads with 36% of first choices; verdict contested. 53 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Coderbyte](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/coderbyte/index.md) | 36% | 4% | 47 |
| 2 | [CoderPad](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/coderpad/index.md) | 11% | 17% | 36 |
| 3 | [HackerRank](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/hackerrank/index.md) | 8% | 45% | 55 |
| 4 | [TestGorilla](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/testgorilla/index.md) | 6% | 20% | 51 |
| 5 | [TestDome](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/testdome/index.md) | 6% | 9% | 22 |
| 7 | [Codility](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/codility/index.md) | 4% | 26% | 42 |
| 9 | [CodeSignal](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/codesignal/index.md) | 2% | 24% | 42 |
| 10 | [Adaface](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/adaface/index.md) | 2% | 0% | 12 |
| 20 | [Testlify](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/testlify/index.md) | 0% | 18% | 11 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 80 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: Coderbyte, Codility; alternatives CodeSignal, HackerRank
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Coderbyte; alternatives Adaface, CodeSubmit, TestGorilla
- Perplexity Sonar: Coderbyte; alternatives TestDome, TestGorilla
- Grok 4.20: Coderbyte, TestGorilla
- Mistral Small: Coderbyte; alternatives CoderPad, Codility, TestGorilla
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: TestGorilla; alternatives CodeSignal, CoderPad, HackerRank, TestDome
- Llama 4 Maverick: no first choice
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: CoderPad; alternatives CodeSignal, Glidar AI, TestGorilla
- Kimi K2: Adaface, Coderbyte; alternatives CodeSignal, Codility, HackerRank
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Coderbyte; alternatives CodeSignal, Codility, Testlify
- MiniMax M2.5: Coderbyte; alternatives ASTRNT, CoderPad, TestDome
- GPT-6 Luna: HackerRank; alternatives CodeSignal Build
- Muse Glimmer 30B: ASTRNT, Coderbyte, Equip; alternatives Criteria Corp, Evalart, TestDome, TestGorilla

## Sources the answers cite

75 of 84 answers came back with a source list, from 14 of 14 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- coderbyte.com: 39 answers, 60 citations
- codility.com: 36 answers, 62 citations
- g2.com: 29 answers, 63 citations
- codesignal.com: 24 answers, 25 citations
- sourcrlab.com: 24 answers, 25 citations
- hackerrank.com: 23 answers, 34 citations
- testtrick.com: 22 answers, 27 citations
- adaface.com: 21 answers, 24 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://coderbyte.com/blog/reviewing-all-43-of-the-technical-assessment-platforms (36 answers)
- https://codility.com/compare/best-technical-assessment-platforms (22 answers)
- https://adaface.com/coding-assessment-tools (18 answers)
- https://amazinghiring.com/blog/top-10-tech-skills-assessment-tools (16 answers)
- https://codility.com/how-to-choose-technical-assessment-platform (15 answers)
- https://selectsoftwarereviews.com/buyer-guide/online-coding-interview-tools (15 answers)
- https://sourcrlab.com/best/best-coding-assessment-tools (15 answers)
- https://g2.com/categories/technical-skills-screening/small-business (12 answers)
- https://selecthub.com/c/technical-assessment-tools (12 answers)
- https://testtrick.com/blogs/hiring-assessment-tools-small-mid-sized-teams (12 answers)

## Warned against

- HackerRank: 25 of 55 labels negative. "Verdict for small business: Avoid unless you are recruiting specifically for competitive programming or algorithm-heavy roles" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt)
- TestGorilla: 10 of 51 labels negative. "small businesses should be cautious about or avoid the following technical assessment platforms: 1. TestGorilla – Multiple reviews highlight issues such as expensive contracts" (Mistral Small, negative prompt)
- Codility: 11 of 42 labels negative. "Avoid big players like Codility unless you can get a steep startup discount" (Grok 4.20, budget prompt)
- Mercer | Mettl: 9 of 9 labels negative. "Avoid enterprise-grade suites. Look for pay-per-test or small-package tools instead." (DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt)

## Movement since October 2026

Floor: 13 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: Coderbyte at 36%.

- Coderbyte: 22% to 36%, +14. Cleared the floor by 1 point · rank 1 of 80, unchanged.
- TestGorilla: 14% to 6%, −8. Inside the floor by 5 points · rank 3 → 4 of 80.
- CoderPad: 17% to 11%, −6. Inside the floor by 7 points · rank 2 of 80, unchanged.
- HackerRank: 12% to 8%, −4. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 4 → 3 of 80.
- TestDome: 3% to 6%, +3. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 6 → 5 of 80.
- CodeSignal: 5% to 2%, −3. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 5 → 9 of 80.
- Testlify: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 11 → 20 of 80.
- HackerEarth Assessments: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 12 → 55 of 80.
- Codility: 3% to 4%, +1. Inside the floor by 12 points · rank 9 → 7 of 80.
- Adaface: 2% to 2%, ±0. Inside the floor by 13 points · rank 10 of 80, unchanged.

## Record

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