We Tried 10 Best Skill Assessment Software - Here's Our Verdict

Testing candidates' skills is a time-consuming process. This is just a tiny fraction of all HR (hiring) activities. That's why finding a good skill assessment solution that will take over the grunt work from you through automation and AI and let you focus on candidates is imperative.

To help you, we have prepared a list of the ten best skill assessment software. Each platform we reviewed brings something interesting to the table, which means you are definitely going to find one that will help your company.

What is skill assessment software?

Skill assessment software is basically a system that allows people to minimize all the manual work for the hiring process in different scales and areas. Skill assessment platforms allow hiring managers to conduct skills testing and candidate prescreening at scale. They may help you create custom tests that will match your company's needs and also have tools for rating candidates, sending feedback and asynchronous interviewing, all of which save you an enormous amount of time.

Criteria for selecting the best skill assessment software

To set a benchmark and help you up, here's a list of criteria we used when selecting skill assessment tools:

• Features – having multiple ways to screen candidates is important, but features such as AI and recruiting automation make the most significant time savings.
• User interface – any solution you pick should be straightforward to use, both for the hiring team and candidates, making an intuitive UI a must-have.
• User feedback – current customers will uncover what the tool is really like, so we included user feedback as one of our criteria.
• Price – unfortunately, many of the tools hide their pricing structures, but it's always nice to know in advance how much you will have to pay.

10 best tools for skill assessment

VireUp

Brief overview of the tool

VireUp is an intelligent one-way video interviewing platform that supports skills-first hiring. It allows you to test candidates asynchronously by asking them pre-planned questions and letting them record their answers at their convenience within the platform. Also, its state-of-the-art AI suggestions will significantly speed up the review process, so you won't have to do everything manually.

The downside of VireUp is that it is still a relatively new tool, so there aren't many reviews online, but some big brands already love VireUp.

Features of the tool

• Asynchronous interviewing – you don't have to waste time scheduling and interviewing hundreds or even thousands of candidates one by one. Instead, prepare your own custom questions and let the candidates answer the questions whenever they please.
• NLP-based recommendations – VireUp has a unique recruiting AI that will give you live suggestions as you go through the interviews, helping you not miss vital details and saving time.
• Inclusive skills assessments – because all the applicants will go through the same questions and record themselves, you will decide based solely on their skills, ensuring the entire hiring process is bias-free. The tool also has a proprietary Spoken English Measurement tool.
• Transparent feedback – once everything is complete, you can automatically share the results with candidates, making the entire process transparent and hugely improving your employer brand.

Pros

• Intelligent one-way video assessment features
• AI and NLP features speed up the process
• Transparent and bias-free

Cons

• It is a new name on the market, so not many reviews

Pricing options

VireUp pricing is available upon request, but you can book a free demo or create a free account with 20 interviews credit.

Customer feedback

Mercer Mettl Assessments

Image source: SoftwareAdvice

Brief overview of the tool

Mercer Mettl Assessments is an enterprise-level HR suite that will allow your team to assess an applicant's competencies correctly. It has an extensive feature set you can adapt to any situation, but it is best suited for the biggest companies who need all that in their hiring. Plus, this is primarily a testing tool, so it lacks AI-powered video interviewing capabilities that other options on the list have.

Features of the tool

• Personality tests
• Behavioral tendencies
• Cognitive ability testing
• Domain skill testing
• Coding skills and tests
• Communication skills testing
• Remote proctoring
• Spoken English tests
• ATS invites
• ATS integrations – Freshteam, Greenhouse, Lever, Keka and more

Pros:

• Many test types
• A good option for technical skills, personal traits and cognitive testing
• Online tests proctoring

Cons

• Limited video interviewing capabilities
• May be overwhelming for companies who don't need its extensive feature set

Pricing options

Mercer Mettl Assessments has custom pricing, which depends on your needs and company size.

Customer feedback

Besides occasional customer service and complexity complaints, Mercer Mettl Assessments users are generally satisfied with the tool:

• G2: 4.4/5 (499 ratings)
• SoftwareAdvice: 4.2/5 (16 ratings)
• Capterra: 2.0/5 (3 ratings)

TestGorilla

Image source: G2

Brief overview of the tool

TestGorilla offers customizable pre-employment tests and skill assessments with templates for scalable testing. It's best for testing developers, as you can assess their technical and coding skills and see how well they perform in different programming languages.

However, TestGorilla’s video interviewing capabilities are only available in the most expensive plans. Therefore, it's best for conducting actual tests rather than asynchronous video interviews.

Features of the tool

• Assessment builder with customizable templates
• A rich library of technical and skills tests
• Send invitations from ATS or by email
• Advanced analytics and candidate insights with comparison and grading
• Cheating detection software
• Integrations – BambooHR, Breezy, Greenhouse, Lever + Zapier + API

Pros

• An extensive database
• Many integrations
• Good analytics

Cons

• Limited video interview capabilities (only available in the most expensive plans)

Pricing options

• Free: 10 free tests, 5 account users for testing
• Starter: starts at $85 per month for up to 15 employees – no test limits, all templates, custom tests, detailed analyses, and qualifying questions
• Pro: starts at $130 per month for up to 15 employees – custom video questions, custom coding tests, your logo, ATS integrations, and premium-level support

Customer feedback

TestGorilla customers like it for its extensive test library, with the main complaints regarding annual pricing and certain glitches:

• Capterra: 4.2/5 (230 ratings)
• G2: 4.5/5 (971 ratings)
• Trustpilot: 4.0/5 (427 ratings)

HackerRank

Image source: Capterra

Brief overview of the tool

As its name implies, HackerRank primarily focuses on assessing coding skills and developers' technical knowledge. It has many features designed specifically for this industry, making it a good option for anyone looking to hire a developer.

However, if you need a more general hiring tool, HackerRank is not for you, as many of its features are developer-specific.

Features of the tool

• Screen candidates via coding tests
• Standardized skills testing
• Plagiarism monitoring
• Valid results
• Coding interviews
• Certified online assessments
• Compliant outcomes
• Fairness in evaluation
• Integrations – Avature, Breezy, DarwinBox, Freshteam, JazzHR, Lever, LinkedIn Talent Hub and more

Pros

• Excellent developer testing features
• Certified tests
• Standardized and bias-free hiring process

Cons

• Only suitable for hiring developers

Pricing options

HackerRank has three pricing options:

• Starter: – $100 per month – 1 user, up to 10 attempts per month, 1000+ skills assessment questions
• Pro: $250 per month – 5 users, up to 25 attempts per month, 2000+skills assessment questions
• Custom: custom price, features per your request

Customer feedback

Apart from complaining about tests needing too many edits, users who want to hire developers generally like HackerRank:

• Capterra: 4.5/5 (49 ratings)
• G2: 4.5/5 (350 ratings)
• TrustRadius: 7.7/10 (69 ratings)

Woven Interview

Image source: G2

Brief overview of the tool

Woven is a technical assessment and interviewing platform. Its unique feature set allows you to test qualified candidates in job-specific tests and real work situations they would find themselves in, letting you see how they perform first-hand.

But, similarly to HackerRank, Woven works best for the IT industry and developer testing. Therefore, if you need a video interviewing tool for more traditional roles, you won’t find Woven feature set very useful.

Features of the tool

• Role-based custom assessments
• Quick test builder
• Senior-level scenario templates for code reviews, system design and architecture debugging
• Scored by Woven engineers
• Detailed analysis
• Proctoring
• Same-day results
• ATS integrations + custom API available upon request

Pros

• Great for IT roles
• Manually rated by engineers
• Results the same day

Cons

• Only suitable for hiring developers

Pricing options

Here are Woven's three plans:

• Starter: $249 per month + $4000 per hire – async proctoring, unlimited assessments for up to two roles, Slack integration, unlimited seats
• Pro: $499 per month + $4000 per hire – Starter + ATS, unlimited roles
• Annual: $3500 per hire – everything in Pro

Customer feedback

Customers like Woven for finding developers, and they mostly complain about the initial setup, which can be a bit harder than it should be:

• Capterra: 4.9/5 (16 ratings)
• G2: 4.8/5 (424 ratings)
• SoftwareAdvice: 4.5/5 (4 ratings)

Glider AI

Image source: Capterra

Brief overview of the tool

Glider AI is a capable skill competencies testing software platform powered by AI. It lets you quickly scan through job applicants’ profiles and conduct virtual interviews, all of which your talent acquisition team members would have to do manually.

While it does have a decent AI feature set, some users report unreliable scoring results. That means you will need to double-check Glider's suggestions, increasing the time you spend on interviewing.

Features of the tool

• Automated screening
• Text recruiting
• Social media, email, WhatsApp, texts
• AI understands intent
• Automated scheduling
• ATS (Workday, VUE, PeopleFluent etc.), VMS, HRMS, CRM integrations
• AI phone screening
• Technical skills tests
• Non-technical skills tests
• Behavioral tests
• 1-way video interviews
• Virtual interviews
• Coding tests

Pros:

• Several modes for testing candidates
• Plenty of integrations
• Automation and AI capabilities

Cons

• AI scoring can be unreliable

Pricing options

Glider AI pricing is available upon request.

Customer feedback

Glider AI has a very good user rating and a few complaints regarding its somewhat unreliable scoring:

• SoftwareAdvice: 4.1/5 (21 ratings)
• G2: 4.9/5 (264 ratings)
• TrustRadius: 7/10 (1 rating)

HireVue

Image source: G2

Brief overview of the tool

HireVue cuts repetitive tasks and helps you be more productive by implementing automation. It provides good analytics for each candidate and allows you to conduct on-demand video interviews efficiently. However, it can take a lot of work to set up, which is one of the main complaints users have about this tool.

Features of the tool

• Build custom interviews
• On-demand interviewing
• Real-time interview evaluation
• AI and automation routing
• Automated scheduling
• SMS and WhatsApp notifications
• Integrations – SAP, Workday, Oracle, SmartRecruiters, PageUp, Greenhouse and more

Pros

• Automation takes over repetitive tasks
• Good analytics
• Multiple ways to notify candidates

Cons

• Very expensive
• Occasional performance issues

Pricing options

HireVue is free for candidates, while companies need to pay:

• Corporate: $35,000 for 2500-5000 employees – live video interviewing, on-demand interviewing, white label
• Enterprise: pricing on demand for 5000+ employees – everything in Corporate plus automatic chatbot and scheduling, text to apply, role-based talent assessments and more themes

Customer feedback

Users who can afford HireVue like its automation but complain about steep pricing and sometimes poor performance and technical difficulties:

• GetApp: 4.5/5 (46 ratings)
• G2: 4.1/5 (230 ratings)
• TrustRadius: 7.5/10 (239 ratings)

See also: Top 10 HireVue competitors

Ducknowl

Image source: G2

Brief overview of the tool

Ducknowl HR software will aid you in conducting video interviews and assessing the skill levels of prospects. It helps you with multiple parts of the hiring process, from posting video job descriptions all the way to the actual hiring.

While the concept is good, Ducknowl delivery falls behind, as users complain about user interface difficulties and some minor but annoying bugs in video playback and interview customization.

Features of the tool

• Automated resume parsing
• Live video interviewing with AI insights
• One-way video interviews
• Skill assessment tests – software engineering, general aptitude tests, computer literacy, business intelligence, management, sales and marketing and more
• Audio screening
• Video texting
• Video job descriptions
• Integrations: Greenhouse, LinkedIn, Zoho, SmartRecruiter, Dice

Pros:

• Some unique features such as video job descriptions and texting, audio screening
• Many test options
• AI-powered live and pre-recorded video interviews

Cons

• Occasional performance glitches
• Not the best user interface

Pricing options

Ducknowl pricing is not displayed but is available upon contacting their sales team.

Customer feedback

Apart from some interface and performance complaints, Ducknowl users like its AI features:

• Capterra: 4.9/5 (28 ratings)
• G2: 4.8/5 (9 ratings)
• SoftwareAdvice: 4.9/5 (28 ratings)

eSkill

Image source:G2

Brief overview of the tool

eSkill assessment platform hosts various testing and interviewing tools for sourcing, interviewing and hiring at scale. It has a very flexible set of features and is suitable for many scenarios, but it lacks user-friendliness and has performance issues.

Features of the tool

• Skills testing and pre-employment assessments – cognitive aptitude, behavioral tests, specific skills tests
• An extensive library of tests for different industries
• Video response questions and team rating
• Employee training options
• White label design, you can include your brand elements
• Integration with Workday, iCIMS, Jobvite and other popular ATS and LMS systems

Pros:

• Skill library includes assessments for different industries
• Many test types for assessing skills, cognitive capabilities and personal traits
• You can use it for employee training, too

Cons

• Limited video interviewing capabilities

Pricing options

eSkill has five pricing plans. The Small Business plan is $100 per month when billed annually, and the other four are available upon request.

Customer feedback

Overall, eSkill has above-average user scores, with the main drawbacks being the user interface design and performance drops:

• Capterra: 4.5/5 (170 ratings)
• G2: 4.5/5 (328 ratings)
• SoftwareAdvice: 4.5/5 (170 ratings)

iMocha

Image source: G2

Brief overview of the tool

iMocha's extensive library of tests and skills assessments helps businesses find the right talent. It also has a decent set of interviewing and even staff training tools, which is incredibly important for keeping employees long-term and boosting internal mobility.

While it doesn't lack options, iMocha lacks polish, as users complain that many tests have errors you need to fix manually and that the automatic scoring sometimes shows incorrect results.

Features of the tool

• Resume parsing
• Many types of tests and assessments
• Ongoing staff training
• Detailed reports and analytics
• Live and pre-recorded interviewing
• Integrates with other HR tools, as well as learning platforms such as Udemy, Coursera, SimpleLearn and more

Pros

• An excellent test library
• Automatic skill assessments
• Integrates with course platforms for ongoing employee training

Cons

• While it has many features and tests, it lacks polish, and you will need to correct mistakes manually

Pricing options

iMocha has two plans, Professional (for three recruiters and ten interviewers) and Enterprise (unlimited), but the pricing for both is only available upon request.

Customer feedback

Customers like iMocha's library but tend to complain about the automatic scoring system and errors in tests:

• GetApp: 4.5/5 (30 ratings)
• G2: 4.4/5 (236 ratings)
• Capterra: 4.5/5 (30 ratings)

Skill assessment software: Comparison table

Conclusion

Assessing candidates' skills efficiently is a fundamental part of successful hiring, and the ten platforms we listed will help you do just that.

While every platform has its strengths, with its AI-powered one-way video interviewing, VireUp will enhance your decision-making while simultaneously saving you time.

Schedule a free VireUp demo now or create a free account to test the VireUp platform and see why some of the biggest brands use our tool as a central point of their hiring activities.

FAQ

What is a skill assessment tool?

Skill assessment tools use automation to help you test an unlimited number of candidates who apply to work at your company, saving you enormous time. Our article lists the ten best skill assessment platforms and explains the pros and cons of each.

How do you create a skill assessment test?

The best way to create a skill assessment test is to use a specialized tool designed for building and conducting tests. Our article lists ten skill assessment tools with various capabilities, all of which are excellent for testing candidates.

How do you run a skills assessment?

While you can run skill tests manually and live, the best way is by using specialized skills assessment software and options such as one-way video interviewing. That way, you only need to create the test once while the applicants take it and respond to questions at their convenience, saving you time.

What are the 3 competency assessment tools?

Our article lists not only three but ten competency assessment tools and explains their features, pros and cons in detail:

• VireUp
• Mercer Mettl Assessments
• TestGorilla
• HackerRank
• Woven
• Glider AI
• HireVue
• Ducknowl
• eSkill
• iMocha