7 Big Interview alternatives if your school doesn't pay for it
Mock Interview Pro team
We make Mock Interview Pro, which is one of the tools on this list. We placed it where we think it fits and say plainly when another tool is the better choice. How we test
If you cannot get Big Interview free through a school, start with Yoodli: 5 free roleplays with an AI interviewer that asks follow-ups, no card. At the same $39 as Big Interview's renewing BootCamp, Mock Interview Pro buys 30 days of voice mock interviews built from your posting, paid once. Interviews by AI costs nothing for 3 questions a month. Huru is the closest recorded video format, Aced and interviewing.io cover tech rounds, and HireVue's own practice questions help if you already have an invitation. Prices as of September 18, 2026.
Free: your company's interview rounds and a practice plan, before any payment.
The tools side by side
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free option |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yoodli | Best free way to practice in conversation | $8 a month billed yearly, or $11 month to month | Starter plan with up to 5 roleplays in total (lifetime), no credit card required |
| Mock Interview Pro | $39 with no renewal | $39 one time | Typed practice answers with AI feedback on public question pages, plus a free interview plan; spoken mock interviews are paid |
| Interviews by AI | Best free tool for likely questions from a posting | $9 a month, month to month | Basic plan with 3 practice questions a month, audio or text answers and instant feedback, no card required |
| Huru | Recorded video practice like Big Interview's | $24.99 a month, or $99 a year billed upfront | Free trial with no card; in our test it disabled practice and results after 2 recorded answers, with no warning beforehand |
| Aced (formerly Exponent) | Tech candidates who want live peers | $12 a month billed yearly (Pro) | Basic plan with 5 peer mocks a month, sample lessons and questions, no card; voice Practice with AI opened on a Basic account in our test |
| interviewing.io | Senior engineers who want a real interviewer | $179 per human mock interview, paid per session | Free AI Interviewer for coding and system design, and free peer-to-peer mocks (quality not guaranteed); login required, no card needed |
| HireVue practice interview | Best only if a HireVue invitation is in your inbox | Free, only through an employer's invitation | Three generic practice questions you can retake without limit and play back to check sound, video and lighting; no feedback or score |
Build your free interview plan: See your company's interview rounds before you decide on any tool.
Why do people buying Big Interview themselves look elsewhere?
Big Interview works best when a university or agency pays for it; people buying for themselves look elsewhere for three reasons, plus a fourth for experienced candidates. We checked each against Big Interview's own pages and our attempt to use it on September 18, 2026.
- There is nothing to try before paying. Big Interview has no free plan for individuals. In our test, creating an account led straight to a Select Plan screen listing only paid plans billed that day, and without a plan the app sent us back to login. Free access comes through partner schools and agencies, plus a free email course. See our Big Interview review for the full attempt.
- The practice is recorded, not a conversation. The practice simulator filters a large question library by industry, role and seniority and records your video or voice answer for AI feedback. Its feature pages do not say the interviewer follows up on what you said, and nothing we found builds practice around one company's interview rounds.
- The $39 plan renews. Interview BootCamp is sold as a 30-day subscription, labeled a monthly subscription at checkout, and the pricing page FAQ tells members to cancel renewal from their account page. A 2021 Trustpilot review describes a recurring $79 charge the buyer did not realize would renew and only a partial refund. Nothing recent like it turned up.
- Experienced candidates outgrow the lessons. Review roundups such as IGotAnOffer's find the curriculum introductory, and there is no coding or system design environment.
Big Interview has real strengths to weigh before leaving: 170 lessons that teach answer structure, a $299 lifetime option, and a 100% refund within 30 days if you do not see results, the longest stated refund window on this page. G2 reviewers praise the question library.
What should you compare when replacing Big Interview?
Look past the lesson count and compare what happens when you actually answer a question.
- Format: recorded answers to set questions, a conversational interviewer that follows up, or a live person.
- Starting price and renewal: a one-time payment, a plan that renews, or a free tier that resets.
- Refund window: from none to Big Interview's 30 days.
- Tailoring: questions from a filtered library, or written from your posting and company.
- Teaching: whether the tool explains how to structure an answer, or assumes you know.
Which Big Interview alternative fits your interview?
Match the tool to the round in front of you. Prices are as of September 18, 2026.
- You want to try an AI interviewer tonight without paying: Yoodli gives 5 free roleplays with follow-up questions.
- You have one interview and want the $39 to be the last charge: Mock Interview Pro sells a 30-day pass once, with 3 voice mock interviews built from your posting. See Mock Interview Pro vs Big Interview for the $39 against $39 comparison.
- You want to see likely questions for one posting, free: Interviews by AI writes them from the job description, with a sample answer for each.
- You liked recording yourself on video: Huru keeps that format at $99 a year, without refunds.
- Big tech PM, engineering or data science loops: Aced pairs courses with live peer mocks and a code editor.
- Senior software engineer before an onsite: interviewing.io books a real senior engineer from $179 a session.
- An employer sent a HireVue one-way video invitation: use HireVue's own practice questions to rehearse the real interface, then add a tool that gives feedback.
Is Big Interview too slow if the interview is this week?
A course is too slow the night before, so practice the answers you will give instead. If your school gives you Big Interview, open its simulator for the questions it lists for your role. If not, spend three of Yoodli's free roleplays on your strongest stories and fix the habit its analytics flag, then run your weakest answer through Interviews by AI for a sample response. For typed feedback with a score on common questions for your role, use the free practice box on our interview question pages. For more options tested with the same script, see our roundups of AI mock interview tools and interview practice apps.
1. Yoodli
Yoodli is an AI communication coach from Yoodli, Inc. in Seattle where you practice interviews, presentations and hard conversations with an AI partner and get feedback mainly on how you speak. Against Big Interview it fixes two things at once: you can start free, and the interviewer talks back. Interview mode builds a roleplay from your job description, mixes preset questions with follow-ups based on your answers, and grades delivery (pace, filler words, conciseness) along with STAR structure. The Starter plan gives 5 roleplays in total with no credit card. Pro is $11 a month or $8 a month billed yearly, with up to 10 roleplays a week, and Advanced is $28 a month or $20 billed yearly, as of September 18, 2026. Two cautions for a Big Interview buyer used to a 30-day guarantee: Yoodli does not refund on cancellation, and it is a practice tool rather than a course, so it works best once you know how to structure an answer. Roleplay data on Starter and Pro can be used for AI training, according to its pricing page. See Mock Interview Pro vs Yoodli for a head-to-head.
What we observed
On the free plan on September 18, 2026, Yoodli's AI interviewer asked three follow-ups within about 2.5 minutes that picked up details of our answer, and noticed a repeat: "I think I'm hearing the same story twice here." The score, rubric and delivery analytics appeared 13 to about 24 seconds after saving. The 22% and 30% scores partly reflect our test recording, which looped one answer instead of replying to follow-ups.
What works
- Instant delivery analytics on pacing, filler words, conciseness and sentence starters
- Interview mode mixes preset questions with follow-ups based on what you said
- Free Starter plan needs no credit card, and paid plans start at $8 a month billed yearly
- Works beyond interviews, for presentations, pitches and hard conversations
What falls short
- Reviewers say it judges how you speak more than the substance of your answers
- No refunds on cancellation
- The free plan is 5 roleplays in total, and Pro caps practice at 10 roleplays a week
- No coding or system design interview practice
- Starter and Pro recordings can be used for AI training
Starting price: $8 a month billed yearly, or $11 month to month. Free option: Starter plan with up to 5 roleplays in total (lifetime), no credit card required. Prices checked September 18, 2026.
2. Mock Interview Pro (Our product)
Mock Interview Pro is an AI mock interview platform that runs voice or video practice interviews built from your target job posting, then scores every answer and rewrites it with a prioritized fix; we make it. It is here because it answers the same need as Big Interview's $39 BootCamp (fast prep for an interview you already have) on different terms: the $39 1-Month Pass is a single payment that does not renew. It covers 30 days and three voice interviews drawn from your posting; every answer gets a score, one fix and a rewrite, which the paywall calls "Basic AI feedback". Mock Interview Pro says its interviewer asks follow-up questions, where Big Interview's feature pages describe recorded answers. Against Big Interview's $99 three-month plan, the closer match is the $59 1-Year Pass: 365 days, unlimited voice interviews, 3 video sessions and the company research report. Refunds run 14 days, shorter than Big Interview's 30, and there are no lessons, which beginners may miss. Prices as of September 18, 2026.
What we observed
Unlike Big Interview, something was reachable before paying on September 18, 2026: the free interview plan named 7 interview rounds for a product manager role at Atlassian with 15 sources. Typed practice answers came back scored and rewritten, though the scores were generous on deliberately vague answers. Voice interviews need a pass we did not buy.
What works
- Researches your target company's interview rounds and builds a practice plan before you pay
- Every practice answer gets a score, a prioritized fix with why and how, and a rewritten version of your own answer
- Passes are paid once, with no subscription, no auto renewal and a 14 day refund
- Voice and video mock interviews run in the browser with nothing to install
What falls short
- No lessons or curriculum, so it does not teach answer structure from scratch the way Big Interview does
- 14-day refund window, against Big Interview's 30 days
- Free practice is typed only; spoken mock interviews need a pass
Starting price: $39 one time. Free option: Typed practice answers with AI feedback on public question pages, plus a free interview plan; spoken mock interviews are paid. Prices checked September 18, 2026.
3. Interviews by AI
Interviews by AI is a lightweight web tool made by Jake Rosenthal and Chloe Pappas that turns a pasted job description into interview questions, lets you answer out loud or in writing, and returns written feedback with a sample answer for each question. It covers a gap Big Interview leaves for individual buyers: you can try it immediately and free. Where Big Interview filters its library by industry, role and seniority, Interviews by AI writes questions from the exact posting you paste. The free Basic plan gives 3 questions a month with a 2 or 3 minute answer limit, and Pro costs $9 a month, month to month, for unlimited questions, resume upload and longer answers, as of September 18, 2026. Canceling keeps access to the end of the paid period, and no refund policy is published. It is the lightest tool on this list: no lessons, no video, no score, no delivery feedback and no follow-up questions. The sample answers make it useful for a beginner who wants to see a stronger version of each response. Read our Interviews by AI review.
What we observed
On September 18, 2026 we reached the first generated question about 30 seconds after landing, with no account. Typed answers got feedback and a sample response in about 4 seconds; the feedback noted missing metrics, but also warned about "I think", a phrase our answer did not contain. After 3 questions, a Google sign-in wall blocked the fourth, and the free counter read 0 of 3 for the month.
What works
- Generates role-specific questions from any pasted job description, for any industry
- Written feedback plus a sample response on every question, returned about 4 seconds after a typed answer in our test
- No account, card or install needed for the first 3 questions; you can speak or type each answer
- Free plan with 3 questions a month and no card, and Pro costs $9 a month
- Audio recordings are deleted right after transcription
What falls short
- One question at a time with no follow-up questions, so it does not feel like a real interview
- No video, delivery or body language feedback
- The free plan allows only 3 questions a month, and resume-based feedback is Pro only
- No refund policy is published
- A reviewer found the answer time limit too short
- No score and no visible STAR breakdown in our test, and feedback praised clarity on a failed two word transcript
Starting price: $9 a month, month to month. Free option: Basic plan with 3 practice questions a month, audio or text answers and instant feedback, no card required. Prices checked September 18, 2026.
4. Huru
Huru is an AI video mock interview app from Beatview, Inc. that builds practice interviews from job listings or a 50,000 question library and says it gives feedback on your answers, voice and facial expressions. It is the closest match to Big Interview's recorded simulator: you record a video answer to each question and watch it back, which is good rehearsal for one-way video screens. It adds a Chrome extension that turns a job listing into an interview, an iOS app and five practice languages. Starter costs $24.99 a month, and Growth costs $99 a year (shown as $8.25 a month) with the same features, as of September 18, 2026. The same $99 buys a year of Huru or three months of Big Interview Accelerator, but Huru's terms are stricter: every Huru payment is non-refundable, renewals included, where Big Interview offers a 30-day refund. Huru asks no follow-up questions, and Big Interview's feature pages do not claim any either. It also has no lessons, no Android app (the Google Play listing is gone) and no company research.
What we observed
Our Huru test on September 18, 2026 produced 5 questions from our posting in about 7 seconds. Each answer was recorded with no reaction and no follow-up, and feedback appeared only later on a Results page. The free trial stopped practice after 2 recorded answers, with no warning beforehand. The free Accuracy tab paraphrased our answer; the Grammar, Confidence and Tips tabs stayed blurred behind Premium.
What works
- Chrome extension turns a job listing on any website into a mock interview
- Delivery feedback covers pace, pauses, filler words and facial expressions
- Watching recorded answers back suits one-way video screen practice
- Available in five languages and on iOS as well as the web
- Annual plan works out to $8.25 a month
- Fast start in our test, about 110 seconds from the homepage to a first question built from a pasted job description, with no card
- A tips panel next to each question explains what the interviewer is looking for and suggests an answer framework
What falls short
- Every subscription payment is non-refundable, including renewals
- Recorded answers to set questions, with no follow-up questions
- A 2025 Trustpilot reviewer said a paid mock interview failed to ask any questions
- No Android app, since the Google Play listing is gone
- No company research or round-specific preparation
- In our test the free trial stopped after 2 recorded answers, and free feedback was limited to one paraphrasing Accuracy tab
Starting price: $24.99 a month, or $99 a year billed upfront. Free option: Free trial with no card; in our test it disabled practice and results after 2 recorded answers, with no warning beforehand. Prices checked September 18, 2026.
5. Aced (formerly Exponent)
Aced, formerly Exponent, is a tech and finance interview prep membership from Exponent Labs, LLC that combines courses, a question database, peer mock interviews (the network that was Pramp), AI mock interviews and paid human coaching. It is the Big Interview alternative for someone who likes learning from a course but needs tech depth: its courses and candidate-reported questions cover product management, engineering, data science and system design, which Big Interview does not. Instead of recording answers alone, you practice live with another candidate over video with a shared code editor. The free Basic plan includes 5 peer mocks a month, sample lessons and sample questions. Pro costs $79 a month or $12 a month billed yearly, and Expert, which adds AI mock interviews, costs $99 a month or $20 billed yearly, as of September 18, 2026. Memberships renew automatically and refunds end 5 days after purchase, much shorter than Big Interview's 30. Peer partner quality varies, according to users on Blind. Read our Exponent review.
What we observed
On September 18, 2026 the email form rejected our automated, headless browser twice after a human check, and our own site's check failed in the same browser. In a regular Chrome window the signup went through and we reached the free Basic plan, where Practice with AI opened with no paywall. It takes spoken answers only, so we practiced no answer and saw no feedback. We did not test peer mocks or courses.
What works
- Free Basic plan includes 5 live peer mock interviews a month with no credit card
- Deep course library and candidate-reported question database for PM, engineering, data science and system design
- Peer mocks include a collaborative code editor, so coding and system design rounds can be practiced with a human
- Human coaches are available when you want feedback from someone experienced
- Annual billing brings Pro to $12 a month
What falls short
- Monthly prices are high at $79 for Pro and $99 for Expert
- Refunds only within 5 days of purchase, and memberships renew automatically
- AI mock interviews are a voice-only beta that uses one bank question per session and skips technical rounds; the pricing page lists AI mocks and AI feedback on Expert
- Questions come from the bank rather than your specific job posting, and there is no body language feedback
- Peer partner quality varies, according to users on Blind
Starting price: $12 a month billed yearly (Pro). Free option: Basic plan with 5 peer mocks a month, sample lessons and questions, no card; voice Practice with AI opened on a Basic account in our test. Prices checked September 18, 2026.
6. interviewing.io
interviewing.io is a marketplace from Interviewing.io Inc. in San Francisco for paid, anonymous technical mock interviews with senior engineers from FAANG and similar companies, plus a free AI Interviewer for coding and system design practice. Big Interview has no coding environment and reviewers find its lessons introductory; interviewing.io is the opposite end, for experienced software engineers who want a calibrated verdict from someone who interviews for a living. Interviewers are Senior, Staff or Principal engineers or engineering managers who have run at least 20 interviews for their company, and you can request one from a specific company at a higher price. Human mocks start at $179 per session with no subscription, and the FAQ promises a full refund if you are unhappy. The AI Interviewer is free for coding and system design, with a $20 a month Premium to save sessions, as of September 18, 2026. It offers nothing for non-engineering roles and no video. Read our interviewing.io review.
What we observed
In our September 18, 2026 test, the free AI Interviewer listed only coding and system design, so our product manager script could not run. Onboarding required a LinkedIn profile before it would let us continue. Behind that modal, the default booking for a Senior+ algorithms mock showed $189.
What works
- Real senior engineers from FAANG and similar companies give calibrated feedback against that bar
- You can request an interviewer from a specific company
- Free AI Interviewer covers coding and system design with 200+ problems
- Human sessions are paid per session with no subscription, and the FAQ promises a full refund if you are unhappy with an interview
- Public library of recorded mock interviews to learn from
What falls short
- Human sessions start at $179 each, and company-specific interviewers cost more
- Built for engineering roles, with nothing for sales, marketing, operations or finance interviews
- The free AI Interviewer covers only coding and system design, with no behavioral practice
- In our test, onboarding asked for a LinkedIn profile before the booking form could be used
- Audio only, so there is no video or body language feedback
- Users on Blind report that interviewer quality varies
- Dedicated coaching package prices are not published on the site
Starting price: $179 per human mock interview, paid per session. Free option: Free AI Interviewer for coding and system design, and free peer-to-peer mocks (quality not guaranteed); login required, no card needed. Prices checked September 18, 2026.
7. HireVue practice interview
The HireVue practice interview is a free set of three generic practice questions inside HireVue, the video interview platform employers license, reachable only from an employer's OnDemand interview invitation. It belongs on this list for one reader: someone who bought or considered Big Interview because an employer sent a HireVue one-way video interview. If that is you, practice in the real interface before recording. After the equipment test, choose Try a practice question; you can retake the three questions without limit and play them back to check sound, video and lighting, and HireVue says practice answers are never submitted. It is free, with no plan to buy, as of September 18, 2026. It gives no feedback or score, only playback; the questions are generic rather than tied to your role; and you cannot reach it before an employer invites you. HireVue says most video assessments include 5 to 8 questions and advises setting aside 45 minutes. We did not test it for this page. For tools that give feedback on timed video answers, see HireVue practice tools.
What works
- The real HireVue interface, format and timing, so there are no surprises on the day
- Free, with unlimited retakes of the practice questions
- Playback lets you check your sound, video, background and lighting
- Practice answers stay private and are never submitted to the employer
What falls short
- No feedback or scoring on practice answers, only playback
- Only three generic questions, not tied to your role or company
- Only reachable from an employer's invitation link, so you cannot practice before you are invited
- Does not prepare you for game-based assessments some employers add
Starting price: Free, only through an employer's invitation. Free option: Three generic practice questions you can retake without limit and play back to check sound, video and lighting; no feedback or score. Prices checked September 18, 2026.
Questions people ask
Is there a free alternative to Big Interview?
Yes. As of September 18, 2026, Yoodli's Starter plan gives 5 roleplays with an AI interviewer that follows up, Interviews by AI gives 3 questions a month without an account, Aced's Basic plan includes 5 peer mocks a month, and interviewing.io's AI Interviewer is free for coding and system design. Google Interview Warmup, an old free pick on many lists, has been retired (what happened). Mock Interview Pro's free options are an interview plan for your target company and typed practice answers with AI feedback; spoken practice needs a pass.
Is Huru the same kind of tool as Big Interview?
In format, largely. Both are built around recording answers to questions, per Big Interview's feature pages and our Huru test, both say they give feedback on delivery as well as content, and neither says its interviewer asks follow-ups. Big Interview adds a course of 170 lessons and a 30-day refund; Huru adds a Chrome extension, an iOS app and five practice languages, and its payments are non-refundable. Huru's yearly plan costs $99, as of September 18, 2026.
Should I keep Big Interview if my university gives it to me?
Yes, a free license is worth using, especially the lessons on answer structure. Its gaps are conversation and tailoring, so pair it with a tool that fills them: Yoodli's free roleplays for follow-ups, or a mock interview built from your exact posting before a specific interview. Check with your career center how long the license lasts.
Which alternative asks follow-up questions the way a real interviewer does?
In our tests, Yoodli's AI interviewer did, asking three follow-ups specific to our answer. interviewing.io and Aced use real people, so follow-ups come naturally. Mock Interview Pro says its interviewer asks follow-ups; our free test could not verify it. Interviews by AI, Huru and HireVue's practice questions ask set questions one at a time.
How we tested
On September 18, 2026 we tried Big Interview as an individual buyer and ran the same Senior Product Manager script on each alternative's free tier, in an automated desktop browser with a simulated microphone and camera, without paying. Yoodli, Interviews by AI, Huru and Mock Interview Pro's free options let us answer questions; interviewing.io's free AI Interviewer offered only coding and system design; Aced blocked our automated browser at signup; in a regular Chrome window we got into its free plan, but its AI interviewer is voice only and we practiced no answer. We did not test HireVue's practice questions, which need an employer invitation, and describe them from HireVue's help pages. Switching reasons come from Big Interview's pricing page, Trustpilot, G2 and review roundups as linked. We make Mock Interview Pro, one of the picks.
On September 18, 2026 we tried Big Interview as an individual buyer in an automated, headless Chromium browser, without paying. Every call to action on the homepage led to the personal pricing page, which lists three paid plans and no free plan. We created an account with email and password; the next step, Select Plan, offered only Interview Pro ($299 billed today), the 90-day Interview Accelerator ($99 billed today) and Interview BootCamp (a monthly subscription, $39 billed today), with no free or trial option. We stopped there without paying. Without a plan, opening the app sent us back to the login page. We also signed up for the free email course, which confirmed it would arrive by email, but our disposable inbox provider rejected the address, so we could not read it. We could not test any lesson, practice question, PracticeAI or VideoAI feedback, follow-up questions, speed of feedback, the Answer Builder or institutional (school) access, because all of them need a paid plan or a school license.
Read our full testing methodHear your answer before the interviewer does
Tell us the role and company, see the interview rounds you will face, then rehearse them out loud with feedback and a rewrite of every answer.
Build your free interview planSources
- Big Interview personal pricing
- Big Interview practice simulator
- Big Interview on G2
- Big Interview on Trustpilot
- IGotAnOffer on Big Interview alternatives
- Yoodli pricing
- Interviews by AI pricing
- Huru refund policy
- Aced pricing
- interviewing.io FAQ and pricing
- HireVue candidate FAQ
- HireVue Candidate Help Center, Practice your interview FAQ (Wayback capture)
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