As more and more of the world becomes digital, the war to secure the best software developers only gets more fierce. Couple that with a post-pandemic shift to remote working and hiring managers are increasingly looking for better ways to screen candidates.
Skills testing tools are filling that demand, allowing recruiters to prove that developers can actually do the job in a remote environment. HackerRank is one of the largest on the market, but it’s not perfect. That’s why, in this article, we’ll compare the top 5 HackerRank alternatives that focus on the remote market, while ensuring screening is fast, fair, and fun for candidates across the globe!
Let’s get into it!
Quick Links:
- Why Use a Coding Skills Testing Tool in The First Place?
- 5 HackerRank Alternatives
Why Use a Coding Skills Testing Tool in The First Place?
Increasingly, companies are using coding skills testing tools to shake up their hiring process. These tools are great for both recruiters and candidates. Recruiters can quickly see who has the hard skills needed for the job with candidates getting an insight into the kind of problems they’ll be working on within the role.
One of the original software development skills testing tools was HackerRank. As a tool, it originally struck the balance between letting developers play and test their skills while also allowing companies to hire the best tech talent.
However, since HackerRank’s inception in 2009, several new tools have emerged on the market, taking a more holistic, candidate-focused approach to skills testing software developers for remote teams.
If you’re a frustrated user of HackerRank, or you’re simply researching skills tests for the first time, here are 5 HackerRank alternatives for hiring remote software developers.
HackerRank Alternatives #1 – Toggl Hire
Like all great products, Toggl Hire was created out of necessity. Built from our own use case, Toggl Hire is designed to make screening faster, fairer, and more fun for recruiters and candidates alike.
Recruiters can create skills tests for over 180 different skills in just two clicks, with advanced analytics, workflows, and dashboard making it simple and easy to compare results and select the best candidates. Talking of candidates, Toggl Hire makes sure the candidate experience is an awesome one thanks to a simple UI, instant feedback, and the ability to create practice tests.
And given we’re a remote company, Toggl Hire is a remote-first product, perfect for hiring software developers no matter their location!
Pros:
- A hiring tool that specializes in remote hiring.
- Skills tests for technical roles as well as many other roles such as Sales, Marketing & Customer Success.
- Toggl Hire blends technical and soft skills in one assessment to deliver a comprehensive candidate assessment.
- Anti-cheating measures keep things fair while respecting candidates’ privacy.
- It’s super-affordable – there’s even a free plan!
- Bonus: Homework assignment tests are coming soon.
Cons:
- No online coding games or live coding.
Toggl’s not just about skills tests either, with additional features like async Video Intros helping to manage your entire recruitment funnel. The platform’s fully customizable, giving you the chance to show off your brand, with many integrations into other tools, such as ATS systems, through clever APIs.
It’s Toggl’s speed and candidate experience that make it a great HackerRank alternative, cutting time to hire by as much as 86% with a 91% of candidate approval score – what’s not to like?
HackerRank Alternatives #2 – TestGorilla
TestGorilla is another strong candidate in the skills test market, but they aren’t without their faults.
Focused heavily on software development, TestGorilla’s simple and clean UI creates a slick candidate experience but can be prone to a bug or two, especially when it comes to the live coding environment. It’s fairly easy to create tests and review results too, something that, like Toggl Hire, helps it stand out from HackerRank.
While TestGorilla has a strong proctoring and anti-cheating offering, it can sometimes bleed into feeling a bit like surveillance, damaging the overall candidate’s experience. TestGorilla also beat out HackerRank with their video interview capability, providing a more comprehensive solution to assess soft skills.
Pros:
- Skills tests cover many skills, not just coding.
- TestGorilla is easy to use with a simple AI.
- Lots of focus on Proctoring and anti-cheating to ensure tests are always fair.
Cons:
- Creating job-specific tests can be tricky and requires a lot of manual work.
- TestGorilla is expensive with additional features stuck behind pay walls.
- Question difficulties are not accurate.
- User report technical issues/bugs with coding tests (oh, the irony!)
- Anti cheating measures sometimes feel like surveillance creating a poor candidate experience.
TestGorilla is a strong HackerRank alternative for software developers but isn’t as strongly focused on the candidate experience or specializing in the remote market.
HackerRank Alternatives #3 – Codility
Codility is one of the longest-running HackerRank alternatives, promising to do three things: focus on hiring remotely, shorten the time it takes to hire engineers and remove bias from the hiring process.
As a HackerRank alternative Codility immediately stands out if you’re liking to hire senior developers, with their test focused on experts rather than beginners. But in reality, real candidates report that their tests don’t mimic reality, making it a poor experience for the candidate and a little misleading for recruiters.
Codility has a range of pre-built tests, including a very comprehensive live coding environment, alongside really strong anti-cheating measures to keep all of your hiring fair and consistent. On the flip side, Codility is very technically-focused, meaning you don’t get the full profile of a candidate as you’ll miss out on skills such as communication, time management, and critical thinking.
Pros:
- Skill testing platform built for remote hiring
- Very strong live code feature
- Comprehensive anti-cheating measures
- Extensive library of technical skills – 40+ coding languages
Cons:
- Tests are puzzle-like, and not appropriate for real-life.
- Codility does not have a full-funnel approach, focused only on coding assessments.
- It can be expensive, aimed more towards enterprises with no free trial or free plan.
If you’re looking for a very specific way to test software developers, Codility could be a good HackerRank alternative for you – but, it’s far from the full package!
HackerRank Alternatives #4 – Code Signal
Like Codility, Code Signal is a developer-focused skills testing platform helping organizations hire the best expert developers on the market. Founded in 2015, the company has seen fast growth, mainly thanks to its strong live coding environment and technical know-how.
Their USP lies within their integrated development environment (IDE) allowing candidates to complete tests in a super-realistic setting. Live IDE interviews are also available within the tool, making it a really strong technical platform.
But, as we saw with Codility, this limits recruiters to only focus on hard skills, missing out on the crucial soft skills component. That level of technicality can become confusing, with real users unable to tell which candidate actually did the best because of the super-complex scoring system.
Pros:
- Very good for technical assessments.
- IDE environment is super-close to real life.
- Code Signal can be used for campus hiring.
Cons:
- Scoring is not transparent and sometimes hard to understand.
- Not for small companies – no free trial or free plan.
- Limited by technical hard skills, no other skills or job roles available.
If you’re looking for a very specific skills test experience, Code Signal is a great Jackerrank alternative for expert coders. Otherwise, you’ll probably come up short and have to pay a pretty penny for the pleasure.
HackerRank Alternatives #5 – HackerEarth Assessments
We finish our list of alternatives with HackerEarth, and specifically, their ‘Assessment’ module. HackerEarth’s full suite is a great place for developers to come and learn more about how to code, with events such as Hackathons and design challenges running from the platform.
Focusing back on Assessments, HackerEarth is incredibly developer-focused, with tests for only 14 job roles available. Like we’ve seen with other tools, this can limit you, but if your needs align with HackerEarth’s offering, you’ll get a targeted solution.
HackerEarth includes a range of anti-cheat features, detailed performance analytics, and an incredibly clean UI that’s great to look at. But on the flip side, it’s an expensive tool without a free trial or free plan making it hard to access for small/growing companies.
Pros:
- Extensive library of technical questions
- Offers a separate platform for developers to learn, grow, and connect
- Beautiful UI/UX that creates a great candidate experience
Cons:
- Only assesses technical skills – soft skills are off the table.
- It’s expensive with no free plan or free trial.
- Too niche to be suitable for small, growing companies.
If you need a very specific type of developer (that aligns with HackerEarth) this could be a great alternative to HackerRank. But if you need flexibility and affordability at scale, you may be best looking elsewhere.
Summary
If you’re after a HackerRank alternative, the good news is that there are loads of options out there. Whether you’re looking for a dedicated software developer skills testing tool, or something that’s a little more dynamic, there’s a tool out there to suit your business.
Naturally, we think Toggl Hire is the best HackerRank alternative out there – to back up that claim, here are 10 reasons why:
- We’re the only hiring tool for remote hiring, made by a fully remote business 💻
- Toggl Hire lends itself to all sorts of recruitment strategies, including virtual campus recruitment 📈
- We don’t just do technical roles, we’ve got tests for over 100 different job roles 🎯
- Don’t want to test for a specific role? No problem, you can also test against 180+ different skills 💪
- Technical, hard, and soft skills all in one place to get a full candidate profile 🤸
- Manage your entire funnel from one place thanks to pipeline view and async Video Intros 📹
- Full customization for your business, including tests, branding, messaging, and video 📢
- Anti cheating features to build trust, level the playing field, and not give your candidate the creeps 😱
- Easy integrations with the platforms you already use, including ATS, Zapier, Slack, and Chrome 🤝
- Toggl Hire’s super affordable – there’s even a free plan to get you started straight away 💸
Sounds good, right? Finish up by watching this 1-minute explainer video on how we do it here at Toggl Hire!
