AI Interview Software Pricing 2026: What HireVue, Karat & the Alternatives Actually Cost

The shortest pricing answer

Choose by the buying problem, not the biggest feature list. Public starting prices are useful for shortlisting; contract minimums, credits, active-role caps, implementation, overages, and required billing periods determine the real cost.

• →Testing one live role: start with a genuinely free self-serve plan. Gaugely includes about 12 interviews each month with no card, so you can inspect a real scorecard before paying.
• →Running recurring startup or agency screens: compare the $75–$199/month flat-pool plans against credit-based tools such as CodeSignal and role-capped tools such as Willo.
• →Buying for a large enterprise: HireVue and Alex may justify a sales-led contract when deep ATS coverage, procurement support, and multi-channel workflows matter more than self-serve access.
• →Outsourcing deep technical interviews: Karat is a human-interviewer service, not a like-for-like AI subscription. Compare it with the cost of your final technical round, not with top-of-funnel screening software.

The 2026 price table: published, reported, or quote required

Prices and public-product status below were rechecked on September 16, 2026. “Published” means the vendor displays the number; “reported” is a third-party estimate, not a vendor quote. A missing price is shown as missing rather than replaced with an old number.

The four pricing models (and where each stings)

Every AI interview platform charges one of four ways, and the model matters more than the sticker:

• →Enterprise contracts (HireVue-style) bundle implementation and minimums — powerful at 10,000 interviews a year, painful at 100. The $35K floor is the entry point, not the total.
• →Per-interview billing (Karat-style) is precise but compounds fast: at $300–450 per interview, screening 50 candidates costs more than most teams’ entire ATS budget.
• →Seat or credit billing can punish collaboration or irregular hiring — compare the usable interview allowance, reviewer access, and expiration rules, not just the headline monthly price.
• →Interview-time pools (the model we chose) track the actual cost driver: minutes of AI interviewing. A longer interview uses more of the pool; nobody pays per seat to read a scorecard.

Hidden costs to ask about before you sign

Whatever the model, four line-items routinely surprise buyers:

• →Implementation and onboarding fees — common on enterprise contracts, occasionally five figures.
• →Annual minimums — a “$25/interview” rate can hide a $35,000/year commitment.
• →Recording and storage add-ons — video recording, retention beyond 90 days, or exports priced separately.
• →Integration gates — ATS connectors or API access locked to the top tier.

What should AI interview software cost at your size?

A startup screening a role or two per quarter can validate the workflow at $0 — genuinely free tiers exist (Gaugely’s covers about 12 interviews/month, no card). At higher volume, normalize every quote to the same billing period and expected interview count. Treat our suggested bands as a planning heuristic, not a market benchmark: actual value depends on interview length, reviewer seats, integrations, support, and whether unused capacity expires.

For transparency: Gaugely is $0 (≈12 interviews/mo), $75/mo Pro (≈100 interviews), and $199/mo Scale (≈300 interviews, video + recordings + identity verification). Annual billing and the exact Founding 100 coupon terms are shown on the pricing page and its machine-readable version.

Questions people ask

SOURCES

• Gaugely — published plans and limits
• Ribbon — published pricing
• CodeSignal — published pricing
• Willo — published pricing
• Micro1 — current public site
• HireVue — AI interviewer product page
• Karat — technical interview service
• Mokka — 10 Best AI Interview Tools (2026), pricing survey
• InterviewFlow — AI interview platform pricing comparison 2026
• Gaugely — machine-readable pricing

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