Skills-based hiring is at an all-time high, with 81% of executives looking towards skills-based hiring practices to fill critical roles. While that’s great news for candidates and recruiters, only 17% of organizations know where to start.
Pre-employment assessment tools are the missing link. However, a good tool should offer a variety of tests to really help you get the most out of skills-first recruitment — like soft skills, personality tests, and technical assessments.
The best option is a one-stop solution for your entire hiring process (which is what Toggl Hire offers). But if you’re curious about other options, this guide explores 11 free pre-employment assessment tools in detail.
TL;DR — Key Takeaways
Pre-employment assessments, like skills assessments or personality tests, provide hiring managers with invaluable insight into potential candidates.
The market is flooded with options, from targeted testing of technical skills to more general tests, making it difficult for hiring teams to know which pre-employment tool is right for them.
Pre-employment assessment tools can be divided into different categories, from skills-based and technical assessments to psychometric and personality tests to testing that relies heavily on specific technologies like video and AI.
For technical assessments, check out Coderbyte, Lytmus, and Toggl Hire, which are unique platforms for finding candidates with the best software programming skills tests.
Criteria, HighMatch, and Wisnio are great tools for understanding qualified candidates’ personality traits and cognitive abilities with psychometric tests.
For an all-in-one platform that combines full-cycle recruiting with skills assessments, consider Toggl Hire. With automated assessments and all the other typical ATS features you need, you can focus on finding the best person for every role, every time.
What is a pre-employment assessment tool?
A pre-employment assessment tool is software that helps companies screen and assess potential candidates by testing their skills and cultural fit for the job.
These tools are increasingly more popular than traditional hiring software or methods, allowing you to quickly narrow down the best candidates, get a comprehensive view of each one’s ability to add value to the role, and evaluate measurable results.
There are several types of pre-employment assessments, too, meaning you can slot them into pretty much any hiring process for any role. They usually cover areas such as:
- Personality and situational judgment tests: To see how individuals’ personal traits enable them to handle challenging situations in the workplace
- Job knowledge tests: To make sure a candidate has the competencies required for the role to forecast their potential job performance
- Integrity tests: To identify any counterproductive behavior
- Cognitive ability tests: To measure a candidate’s intellectual capabilities
- Skills tests: To assess soft skills like communication and interpersonal skills or more practical skills — like coding, problem-solving, performance marketing, or customer service
Thoughtfully selected pre-employment assessment tools are invaluable resources for hiring departments and HR, allowing them to evaluate candidate skillsets, behaviors, and abilities efficiently.
Types of pre-employment testing tools
| Types of pre-employment tests | What they are | Scientific validity | Pre-employment testing software |
| Skills-based hiring platform | Focuses on a candidate’s job-related skills rather than their academic credentials or resume | High! Most skills-based hiring platforms use a combination of real-world scenarios and validated tests to give you a holistic view of a person (learn more about the science behind Toggl Hire skills tests here). | Toggl Hire |
| Technical assessments | Focuses on a candidate’s technical skills related to job-specific tasks | High! Great if you’re using real-world technical challenges. | CoderByte, Codility, DevSkiller, TestDome, Adaface, Toggl Hire |
| Psychometric tests | Assesses personality traits and cognitive abilities and is designed to measure a candidate’s behavior, cognition, skills, and motivations | Medium-high. They are best paired with other tests, but shouldn’t be the only factor when making hiring decisions. | Alva Labs, Psycruit, Criteria, HighMatch, TalentSorter, TestInvite, Wisnio |
| Personality tests | Helps employers assess how well a candidate’s personal ethic, work style, values, and attitudes match the job and company culture. | Medium. They can be pretty biased, and don’t always predict job performance, so use them in combination with other testing methods. | Prevue HR, Hogan Assessments |
| Testing for soft skills | Measures skills like adaptability, problem-solving, critical thinking, communication, teamwork, and leadership. | Medium. These are often subjective but can be good indicators of fit if you’re hiring for a role that requires a lot of interpersonal skills. | Softfactors, Owiwi, Pymetrics, eSkill |
| Video assessment tools | Allows employers to better understand a candidate’s personality, communication skills, and overall fit for a role. | Medium-high. They can give you a good idea of a candidate’s demeanor but also may intimidate candidates not used to this form of screening. | HireVue, Toggl Hire, Harver |
Check out these 11 pre-employment assessment tools
As great as pre-employment assessment tools are, only two software options give you a 100% free experience: Toggl Hire and TestGorilla. Between the two, Toggl Hire delivers more value for money, as it’s a full-cycle hiring software and skills testing software all rolled into one.
Let’s take a closer look at the two of them and some other options if you have a bit of a budget to spend.
1. Toggl Hire
Toggl Hire goes beyond resumes and uses short skills challenges as the initial filter. You can build your fully custom candidate pipeline to put a skills test at the start (or wherever else you want, although we recommend it at the start).
Choose from 200+ pre-made skills assessments, designed by experts in the field (e.g., if you use an SEO specialist test, it was built by and reviewed by an SEO specialist with experience in the role and knowledge of the most important skills to test for).
Customize it to your liking however you want, set a time limit and other parameters, and then let candidates take the test. The system then automatically ranks candidates according to their answers, providing a short list of the best performers based on their actual job-related skills and knowledge, not their resume keywords.
This skills-based screening approach helps companies attract more candidates, evaluate everyone automatically, and find high-quality candidates faster (about 86% faster on average).
Toggl Hire supports multiple types of assessments, including technical, soft skills, language proficiency, fundamental math, and 100% custom tests!
Standout features
- Option to automate initial candidate screening with a pass threshold
- Kanban-style candidate pipeline with easy drag-and-drop setup
- Test questions are created by real-world experts and validated via an extensive peer-review process
- Multiple test types, including skills tests, pre-recorded video tests, and take-home assignments
Pricing
- Free: One active job opening and one skills test
- Starter: $199/month for three active job openings and unlimited skills tests and candidates
- Premium: $349/month for unlimited job openings, skills tests, and candidates
Here’s how one management consultant describes Toggl Hire:
“I like how easy it is to navigate and generate tests. Additionally, the ability to easily shortlist candidates and provide instant feedback is amazing. Their pricing is simple and has no hidden fees. The best part is that you are not capped at how many candidates you can receive. No extra cost per cluster of candidates. My previous platform made it difficult to customize tests and I needed to pay for add-ons all the time. I’m happy that I switched over to Toggl Hire.”
2. TestGorilla
With over 400 different tests, TestGorilla is one of the only free pre-employment assessment tools. It offers various types of tests, from multiple-choice questions to essays and file uploads.
Standout features
- Provides AI-recommended tests based on job role or job description
- Has a massive test library covering everything from cognitive ability to software skills to personality and culture
- Handles thousands of applicants and gives you a ranked shortlist in minutes
Drawbacks
- Some users report poor customer service
- There is no candidate pipeline, so you can only test candidates but not manage the entire hiring process without purchasing another software and integrating it with TestGorilla’s platform
- Free plan only provides access to limited tests and custom questions
Pricing
- Free forever: Includes five free tests and five custom questions
- Starter: $83/month for access to all 400+ tests, unlimited active assessments, and the ability to invite unlimited candidates
- Pro: $127/month for all features of the Starter plan plus an ATS integration
3. Harver
If you need volume hiring, Harver is a good assessment platform to consider. Its suite of automated solutions combines data-driven matching, automation, candidate experience, and business intelligence.
Standout features
- Has 900+ pre-built job profiles, so you can evaluate candidates for all open roles, not just the one they applied for
- Guarantees that assessments are scientifically validated and bias-free
- Has a variety of talent assessments, like traditional behavioral, gamified behavioral, cognitive, and more
Drawbacks
- Interface can be confusing and outdated
- Limited integrations
Pricing
- Pricing is only available on request, with third-party sources stating it starts at $5,000/year
4. iMocha
iMocha will help you build a skills-based organization, align workforce skills with business needs, and make data-driven talent decisions. With AI-powered insights and an extensive library, you can easily find top talent.
Standout features
- Boasts the world’s largest skill library with assessment tests ranging from coding skills to language skills to next-gen skills
- Has skills matching and benchmarking to align your candidate skills with job requirements and industry standards
- Utilizes a skills inventory to support better talent decisions
Drawbacks
- Customer service may be slow
- Costly compared to other options
Pricing
- Basic: $400/month for five recruiters and 600 candidate assessments/interviews per year
- Enterprise: Unlimited recruiters and candidate assessment/interviews for custom pricing
5. Coderbyte
With Coderbyte, you can customize assessment templates for jobs in engineering, data science, or financial analysis. The platform’s variety of assessment formats helps you evaluate candidates quickly, affordably, and accurately.
Standout features
- Offers take-home projects to gain valuable insights into candidates as the final step of your interview process
- Has personality tests like DISC, Big 5, and 16 Types
- Automatically grades challenges and questions
Drawbacks
- Users report not being able to withdraw or cancel invites
- Doesn’t have fantastic customization options
Pricing
- $199/month for unlimited candidates, assessments, and admins
- Offers add-ons for additional price
6. Codility
Codility enables companies to evaluate developers’ specific skills through coding tests and other hard skills assessments. With evidence-based online assessments, recruiters can make informed hiring decisions and accurately predict a candidate’s performance in real-life scenarios.
Standout features
- Allows you to conduct consistent and structured technical interviews to ensure fairness
- Hosts campus recruitment events so you can identify early-career candidates
- Offers asynchronous role-specific skills assessments
Drawbacks
- Lacks more advanced machine learning assessments
- Some users report dissatisfaction with some of the types of tests for programmers
Pricing
- Starter: $1,200/year for 120 invites and one platform user
- Scale: $500/month for 25 invites and three platform users
- Custom: Tailored pricing is available from the vendor on request
7. Adaface
Adaface is candidate-friendly skills assessment software companies use to automate the first round of candidate interviews. It offers various online testing options, including aptitude tests and personality assessments.
Standout features
- Has 500+ ready-to-use tests
- Seamlessly integrates with your current ATS workflow
- Offers screening tools for programming, cognitive, business, typing, personality, and language tests
- Offers a free trial
Drawbacks
- Extremely costly compared to other options
- Web proctoring can make candidates uncomfortable
Pricing
- Individual: $180/year, 12 credits
- Starter: $500/year, 50 credits
- Pro: $900/year, 100 credits
- Scale: $3000/year, 500 credits
- Growth: $5500/year, 1000 credits
- Enterprise: $20,000/year, 5000 credits
- Unlimited: $50,000/year
8. TestDome
TestDome helps you avoid bad technical hires by allowing you to assess a candidate’s ability based on a real-life situation they might come up against. TestDome’s customizable assessments, real-time coding environments, and anti-cheating measures guarantee accurate results.
Standout features
- Offers 130 skills and 1,300+ premium questions
- Allows custom questions so you can tailor assessments and questionnaires to specific job requirements
- Provides detailed reporting and skill breakdowns for in-depth analysis
Drawbacks
- Doesn’t cater to all niche or specialized roles
- The cost-per-candidate pricing model may be a barrier for smaller companies
Pricing
- Starter: $20 per candidate for five candidates
- Small: $16 per candidate for 25 candidates
- Medium: $10 per candidate for 100 candidates
- Large: $8 per candidate for 300 candidates
- Extra Large: $7 per candidate for 600 candidates
9. Psycruit
By combining psychology, data science, and machine learning, Psycruit helps organizations objectively identify top performers. A team of business psychologists crafts all of their reports.
Standout features
- Has a flexible assortment of online assessments like personality questionnaires and ability tests
- Uses gamified elements to make tests more modern and enjoyable
- Allows for candidate matching with tailored scoring algorithms
Drawbacks
- Gamified elements aren’t always suited for all job skills or roles
- Lacks a free trial
Pricing
- Pricing is available from the vendor on request
10. Prevue
Prevue is an ATS designed for small to medium-sized companies, offering integrated employee profiling and job board connectivity. Its pre-employment assessments and custom reports help recruiters make objective hiring decisions, reduce turnover, and create better team fits.
Standout features
- Has custom benchmarks tailored for each role
- Provides a job suitability score so you have a quantifiable measure of a candidate’s fit
- Offers motivation assessments to figure out if candidates’ interests align with the job role
Drawbacks
- The setup isn’t very user-friendly for some users
- Pre-employment assessments only include testing for aptitude, motivation, and personality, making them less role-specific and technical than other options like Toggl Hire or TestGorilla
- Lacks a free trial
Pricing
- Pricing is available from the vendor on request
11. eSkill
eSkill comes with a comprehensive suite of pre-employment assessments and simulations. The platform is a good fit for medium to large-sized companies, as it integrates with applicant tracking systems and ensures compliance with regulations during employment testing.
Standout features
- Has over 800 job and subject-based tests
- Comes with behavioral assessments so you can evaluate soft skills and cultural fit
- Offers very advanced simulations
Drawbacks
- Some users say it’s possible for applicants to “cheat”
- The interface isn’t very intuitive
Pricing
- Pricing is available from the vendor on request
Other good pre-employment assessment tools
If the tools above don’t fit your requirements (or maybe your budget), a few other options can support your talent acquisition efforts:
- DevSkiller: A great platform for companies looking to perform technical assessments to hire developers. Pricing starts at $3,600.
- Traitify: A mobile-first and visual-based platform for assessments. Pricing is available from the vendor on request.
- Owiwi: Has psychometric tests that measure skills through an immersive game. Pricing starts at $18 per assessment.
- HireMojo: An AI-powered tool that automates administrative work so hiring managers can focus on interviews and extending offers. Pricing is available from the vendor on request.
- Mercer Mettl: An all-in-one assessment platform with a library of 200+ talent assessments and questions. Pricing is available from the vendor on request.
How to choose the right pre-employment testing tool
As a hiring manager or recruiter, choosing the right pre-employment assessment tool pre-hire can be a daunting task. With so many tools available for different roles and industries, it’s important to consider various factors to ensure you pick the right one:
- Range of testing options: Look for a tool that offers a wide range of tests — like skills tests, homework assignments, and asynchronous video interviews — so you can evaluate hard and soft skills.
- Skill or role-specific tests: Make sure the tool provides tests tailored to specific roles, such as developer-specific assessments, to accurately measure candidate fit.
- Helpful add-on features: Pick a tool with full-cycle hiring features (psst…like Toggl Hire), which offers assessment tools and candidate tracking, interview scheduling, and collaboration tools — the whole shebang.
- Relevant pricing model: Pick a pricing model that suits different budgets and needs, such as pay-per-candidate for low hiring frequency or monthly subscriptions for regular recruitment. Paying per user rarely makes sense for most hiring teams.
- Timing: Decide whether to screen candidates before or after the initial interviews and pick your tool accordingly.
Test candidates confidently with Toggl Hire
If you’re looking for an affordable, comprehensive skills testing tool, check out Toggl Hire. Not only is it the best free option, but it’s also a full ATS. While the average monthly price of ATS and skills testing software is $460, Toggl Hire is significantly more affordable. Our cheapest monthly plan starts at $199 (and, as we said, we even offer a free plan).
Our skills tests are also rooted in real-world expertise and a strong scientific framework. Say goodbye to hiring bias and choose from science-backed tests created by industry experts. Try Toggl Hire for free today and gain immediate access to 200+ assessments!
Michelle is an experienced freelance writer who loves applying research and creative storytelling to the content she creates. She writes about B2B SaaS software while also participating in conversations about other industries, such as the digital publishing landscape, sports, and travel.
