Pre-Employment Assessment Software Pricing and Cost per Candidate Compared
Pre-employment assessment software costs anywhere from $40 a month to more than $50,000 a year. Tools with published prices (ClassMarker, Assessing.ai, Truffle, TestGorilla, Testlify) run about $150 to $5,900 a year for 300 candidates. Quote-only vendors (Criteria, Predictive Index, Vervoe, HireVue) land between roughly $10,000 and $50,000 a year in contract data.
The number that matters is cost per candidate at your own volume, so the tables below work it out for an employer screening 300 applicants a year. Type the role into the generator to see what a $49 plan produces.
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How pre-employment testing vendors charge
Almost every vendor uses one of four pricing models. Knowing which one you are looking at tells you more about your final bill than the headline price does.
Flat monthly subscription
A fixed monthly price with a response or candidate allowance, cancellable between hiring waves. Assessing.ai ($49 and $149 a month) and Truffle ($49 a month for 200 credits) work this way. Best when you hire in bursts.
Annual plan with credits
You prepay a year and get a credit bucket. Testlify Standard is $1,668 a year for 100 credits, then $21 per extra credit, and unused credits expire. TestGorilla Core is $1,704 a year. Cheap per head only if you use the bucket.
Monthly credits per attempt
ClassMarker charges one credit per test attempt and ten for a camera-monitored attempt, with 400 credits a month on its entry business plan (listed at $39.95 a month). Very low cost for unproctored screens.
Quote built on headcount
Criteria, Predictive Index and Wonderlic price by the number of employees in your company, not by how many people you test. A 60-person firm pays the same whether it hires 5 people a year or 40.
Quote built on volume
Vervoe, eSkill and HireVue quote after a demo, based on expected candidates and modules. Vendr's contract data is the most reliable public signal of what those deals cost.
Add-ons that change the math
Proctoring, ATS integrations, extra seats, white label and implementation are where quotes grow. Testlify lists ATS and white label at $2,388 a year each; ClassMarker charges ten credits for a monitored attempt.
How to work out your real cost per candidate
Count last year's applicants
Not hires, applicants you would actually test. A small employer with six openings and 50 applicants each tests about 300 people a year. That is the number every price below is divided by.
Check how the vendor counts usage
Per started assessment (Testlify), per attempt (ClassMarker), per response (Assessing.ai) or unlimited within a headcount contract (Predictive Index, Wonderlic). A candidate who opens and abandons a test still costs a credit on some plans.
Add the fixed extras
Seats beyond the included ones, proctoring, ATS connectors and implementation fees. Ask for each one in writing before the call ends.
Price the months you actually hire
If you hire in two or three waves a year, a monthly plan you pause between waves can cost a fraction of an annual commitment. Annual only pays off when you screen every month.
Pre-employment assessment software pricing compared
Figures come from each vendor's own pricing page where one exists. Quote-only vendors use Vendr's contract data or the listing named in the cell. The last column divides the likely annual bill by 300 candidates. Prices change, so confirm before you sign.
| Tool | Price and source | Pricing model | Annual cost at 300 candidates | Cost per candidate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ClassMarker Business Pro 1 | $39.95 a month (SaaSworthy listing; the vendor page shows local currency) | 400 credits a month, 1 per attempt, 10 per monitored attempt | About $479 | About $1.60 unproctored |
| Assessing.ai Starter | $49 a month, or $288 a year | Flat, 500 responses a month, no contract | $288 billed yearly, or $147 for three hiring months | $0.49 to $0.96 |
| Assessing.ai Plus | $149 a month, or $888 a year | Flat, 2,000 responses a month, AI question generation | $888 billed yearly | About $2.96 |
| Truffle | $49 a month for 200 shared credits | 2 credits per assessed candidate | About $588 if kept all year | About $1.96 |
| TestGorilla Core | $142 a month, billed $1,704 a year | Annual, credits per candidate | $1,704 plus any credits over the allowance | About $5.68 before overages |
| eSkill | Quote only; listings from about $400 a month | Annual, capped at 500 or 1,000 candidates | About $4,800 | About $16 |
| Testlify Standard | $1,668 a year | 100 credits a year, $21 per extra credit | $1,668 + 200 x $21 = $5,868 | About $19.56 |
| Wonderlic Select | Quote only; listings $1,000 to $6,000+ a year | Package by employee count | Depends on headcount | Varies |
| Vervoe | Quote only; Vendr average $9,892 a year | Demo, then contract | About $9,900 | About $33 |
| Predictive Index Talent | From $10,000 a year (PI plans page) | Annual, by headcount, unlimited behavioral tests | $10,000 or more | About $33 |
| Criteria | Quote only; Vendr median $13,225 a year | Annual, built around headcount | About $13,225 | About $44 |
| HireVue | Quote only; Vendr average about $50,000 a year (5 deals) | Annual contract, video plus assessments | About $50,000 | About $167 |
Which pricing model fits your hiring
Under 50 employees, hiring in waves
A flat monthly plan you can cancel between openings. You pay for three or four months a year instead of twelve, and there is no credit bucket to expire.
Steady hiring every month
An annual plan becomes reasonable once you screen every month. Compare the per-candidate number at your real volume, including overage credits.
Certification or training exams
Per-attempt credits (ClassMarker) or a flat plan work well. If you need webcam monitoring or certificates, ClassMarker has them and Assessing.ai does not.
50 to 500+ employees with an HR team
Headcount-priced platforms such as Predictive Index or Criteria make sense when the same tool is used for development, not only hiring, and someone is trained to read the reports.
High-volume hourly hiring
Thousands of applicants a month change the math. Unlimited-use contracts or enterprise tiers can beat per-response pricing there, so get two quotes.
You need a validated cognitive test
If your process depends on a normed cognitive score such as the CCAT or Wonderlic, pay for the vendor that owns it. A job-specific test measures something different.
Why most vendors hide their prices
Five of the eleven tools above publish no price at all: Criteria, Vervoe, HireVue, Wonderlic and eSkill. Their pricing pages lead to a demo form, and the quote is built from your headcount, expected candidate volume and the modules you pick. That is normal for software sold to enterprise HR teams, where a salesperson negotiates discounts and multi-year terms. Vendr reports average savings of 27% on Predictive Index deals, which tells you list price is only a starting point.
For a small employer, the practical problem is time. You cannot tell whether a tool fits your budget until after a 30 to 45 minute call. The contract data we cite (Vendr for Criteria, Vervoe, Predictive Index and HireVue) is the best public substitute. We go deeper on each one in our Criteria Corp pricing breakdown, Predictive Index cost guide and Vervoe pricing guide.
The published-price vendors, line by line
TestGorilla has a free plan with 10 credits a month, Core at $142 a month billed $1,704 a year, and Plus from $400 a month with a $4,800 annual minimum. There is no monthly billing on paid plans. Full detail is in our TestGorilla pricing guide.
Testlify Standard is $1,668 a year with 100 credits; each extra credit is $21 and credits expire at the end of the cycle. One credit is used per started assessment. See the Testlify pricing breakdown.
ClassMarker charges one credit per attempt and ten per camera-monitored attempt. Its pricing page renders in local currency, so the USD figures above come from the SaaSworthy listing. Our ClassMarker pricing guide covers credit packs and the education tiers.
Assessing.ai Starter is $49 a month or $288 a year with 15 assessments, 500 responses a month and 3 seats. Plus is $149 a month or $888 a year with AI question generation, 50 assessments and 2,000 responses. Pro is $499 a month for unlimited use. Monthly plans have no contract and every plan has a 14-day money-back guarantee.
What each price actually buys
Cheap per candidate is not the same as right for the job. Library vendors (TestGorilla, Testlify, eSkill, Criteria, Wonderlic) sell validated, normed tests: cognitive ability, personality, typing, software skills. You pay partly for the research behind them. Assessing.ai sells something narrower: you describe the role, the AI drafts questions for that job (on Plus), you edit them, and candidates answer multiple choice, written or recorded questions. Multiple choice answers are scored as soon as a candidate submits. Written and recorded answers are scored by your team in one results view.
Honest limits on our side: no normed library, no proctoring or webcam monitoring, no native ATS connector and no AI grading of open answers. If a validated cognitive score is a hard requirement, the Criteria Corp alternative and Wonderlic alternative pages explain when those vendors are worth their price. If you need to know who can do the specific job you posted, a job test at $49 a month is the cheaper route, and our pre-employment testing software for small business page covers how to run it as a first screen.
Pre-employment assessment cost questions buyers ask
How much does pre-employment assessment software cost?
Pre-employment assessment software costs from about $40 a month for credit-based tools like ClassMarker to $10,000 to $50,000 a year for quote-only platforms like Predictive Index, Criteria and HireVue. Assessing.ai starts at $49 a month with no contract. The biggest driver is whether you are priced on company headcount or on candidates tested.
How much does a pre-employment assessment cost per candidate?
A pre-employment assessment costs roughly $0.50 to $20 per candidate on published-price tools and $30 to $170 per candidate on quote-only platforms, at 300 candidates a year. Assessing.ai Starter works out to under $1, Testlify Standard about $19.56 with extra credits, and Criteria about $44 at Vendr's median.
How much does pre-employment assessment software cost for a team of 50 hiring managers?
For 50 hiring managers, seat limits matter more than the base price. Assessing.ai Pro at $499 a month covers unlimited use, while Plus includes 10 collaborators. Headcount-priced platforms such as Predictive Index include unlimited users but start at $10,000 a year, and Testlify adds $15 a month per seat beyond three.
Why don't pre-employment testing companies publish prices?
Most enterprise assessment vendors price on headcount, candidate volume and modules, then negotiate. A published number would anchor that negotiation. Vendr reports average discounts of 27% on Predictive Index deals, which shows list prices are a starting point. Small employers can avoid the demo by choosing a vendor with prices on its site.
Is pre-employment testing worth the cost for a small business?
Yes, when it replaces phone screens you would otherwise do by hand. Screening 140 applicants with a 15-minute call each takes 35 hours. A $49 test sent to all of them and reviewed in one results view takes a fraction of that, so the cost is recovered on the first opening.
What is the cheapest pre-employment assessment software?
The cheapest paid options with published prices are ClassMarker's entry business plan (listed at $39.95 a month, 400 attempts), Assessing.ai Starter at $49 a month or $288 a year, and Truffle at $49 a month. TestGorilla also has a free plan capped at 10 credits a month, which suits very low volume.
Test every applicant for less than a dollar each
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