Compare / vs Codility
Technical Screening Should Test More Than Code Execution
Codility tells you if candidates can solve algorithm problems. LayersRank tells you if they can design systems, debug production issues, and communicate technical decisions. Same goal — hiring great engineers. Different approach.
The Quick Comparison
| Aspect | Codility | LayersRank |
|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | $1,200/year (120 invites) | ₹2,500/interview (~$30) |
| Pricing Model | Annual subscription + invites | Per-interview |
| What it measures | Code execution, algorithms | Full engineering capability |
| Question types | Coding tasks, MCQ | Video, text, MCQ |
| System design | Limited | ✓ Full |
| Behavioral assessment | ✗ | ✓ |
| Communication skills | ✗ | ✓ |
| Confidence scoring | ✗ | ✓ |
| Adaptive follow-up | ✗ | ✓ |
| Live interviews | ✓ (CodeLive) | Roadmap |
| India data residency | ✗ | ✓ |
Starting Price
Pricing Model
What it measures
Question types
System design
Behavioral assessment
Communication skills
Confidence scoring
Adaptive follow-up
Live interviews
India data residency
Pricing Breakdown
Codility Pricing (Published 2025)
| Plan | Annual Cost | Includes | Per-Invite |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $1,200 | 120 invites, 1 user | $10.00 |
| Scale | $5,000–6,000 | 25/mo (300/yr), 3 users | $16.67–20.00 |
| Custom | Negotiated | Unlimited invites | Varies |
Unused invites expire (no rollover)
SSO, premium proctoring require Custom plan
1 invite = 1 candidate assessment
LayersRank Pricing
| Plan | Per Interview | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | ₹2,500 (~$30) | Up to 25/month |
| Growth | ₹2,000 (~$24) | Up to 100/month |
| Scale | ₹1,500 (~$18) | Unlimited |
| Enterprise | Custom | Volume discounts |
No annual commitment. No expiring invites. Pay for what you use.
Cost Comparison by Volume
Small Team
100 assessments/year
Codility (Starter)
$1,200/year
$12/assessment · 20 invites wasted
LayersRank (Starter)
~$3,000/year
~$30/assessment · complete evaluation
Verdict: Codility cheaper for coding-only. LayersRank includes behavioral + system design.
Growing Team
300 assessments/year
Codility (Scale)
$5,000–6,000/year
$17–20/assessment
LayersRank (Growth)
~$7,200/year
~$24/assessment · complete evaluation
Verdict: Similar cost per assessment. LayersRank provides complete evaluation vs. coding-only.
High Volume
1,000 assessments/year
Codility (Custom)
$15,000–25,000+/year
$15–25/assessment
LayersRank (Scale)
~$18,000/year
~$18/assessment · complete evaluation
Verdict: Comparable pricing at scale. LayersRank delivers more complete assessment.
What Codility Does Well
Code Execution Testing
Codility’s core strength is testing whether candidates can write working code. Their library includes 1,800+ coding challenges across algorithms, data structures, and specific technology domains. Candidates write real code in a real IDE. The code runs against test cases. Clear signal: does this person’s code work?
Live Technical Interviews (CodeLive)
Codility’s CodeLive product provides a shared coding environment for live technical interviews. Interviewer and candidate can see the same IDE, collaborate on problems, and communicate via video. Useful for final-round technical deep-dives.
Proctoring and Integrity
Codility offers plagiarism detection, browser lockdown, and AI-assisted proctoring to ensure candidates complete assessments independently.
Established Enterprise Presence
Companies like Tesla, Unity, and Zalando use Codility. They’ve proven their platform works at scale for technical hiring.
Gaps
Where Codility Falls Short
Coding Only
Codility is a coding assessment platform. It doesn’t evaluate system design capability, technical communication, behavioral competencies, collaboration patterns, debugging methodology, or trade-off reasoning. You get signal on one dimension (code writing) and nothing on others.
No Soft Skills Assessment
From Codility’s own marketing: they focus on “technical skills.” That’s not a criticism — it’s their scope. But engineering effectiveness requires skills beyond code execution.
No Confidence Scoring
Codility tells you a candidate scored 78%. It doesn’t tell you how confident that score is, whether their evaluators agreed, or where ambiguity exists.
Invite Expiration
Unused Codility invites expire at the end of your billing cycle. If your hiring is seasonal or unpredictable, you may pay for capacity you don’t use.
What LayersRank Does Differently
Complete Engineer Evaluation
LayersRank assesses across three dimensions:
Technical
System design, debugging approach, technical depth, trade-off reasoning
Behavioral
Collaboration, communication, feedback response, conflict navigation
Contextual
Role understanding, motivation, career trajectory
One assessment, complete picture.
Video and Text Responses
LayersRank supports video, text, and MCQ question types. This allows evaluation of communication skills, not just code execution.
When someone explains their system design approach on video, you learn things you can’t learn from test case pass rates.
Confidence-Weighted Scoring
LayersRank doesn’t just produce scores. It produces scores with confidence intervals.
“Technical: 78 ± 4, 89% confidence”
tells you much more than “Technical: 78%”
Adaptive Follow-Up
When LayersRank detects ambiguity (models disagree about a response), it generates targeted follow-up questions. This resolves uncertainty and produces more reliable assessments. Codility delivers static assessments — every candidate gets the same questions regardless of how they respond.
Pay-Per-Use Pricing
No annual subscription. No expiring invites. Pay for the interviews you conduct. If you hire less one month, you pay less.
Feature Comparison Matrix
Assessment Capabilities
| Capability | Codility | LayersRank |
|---|---|---|
| Coding execution tests | ✓ Full (1,800+ challenges) | MCQ only |
| System design assessment | Limited | ✓ Full |
| Video responses | ✗ | ✓ |
| Text responses | Limited | ✓ Full |
| MCQ questions | ✓ | ✓ |
| Behavioral assessment | ✗ | ✓ |
| Communication evaluation | ✗ | ✓ |
| Adaptive questioning | ✗ | ✓ |
Coding execution tests
System design assessment
Video responses
Text responses
MCQ questions
Behavioral assessment
Communication evaluation
Adaptive questioning
Evaluation Quality
| Feature | Codility | LayersRank |
|---|---|---|
| AI-powered scoring | ✓ | ✓ |
| Confidence levels | ✗ | ✓ |
| Score intervals | ✗ | ✓ |
| Explainable scores | Limited | Full |
| Multi-model evaluation | ✗ | ✓ |
| Plagiarism detection | ✓ | ✓ |
AI-powered scoring
Confidence levels
Score intervals
Explainable scores
Multi-model evaluation
Plagiarism detection
Platform Features
| Feature | Codility | LayersRank |
|---|---|---|
| Live interviews | ✓ CodeLive | Roadmap |
| Async interviews | Limited | ✓ Full |
| ATS integrations | ✓ 40+ | ✓ Major ATSs |
| API access | ✓ | ✓ |
| Custom branding | ✓ | ✓ |
| SSO | Custom plan | Enterprise |
Live interviews
Async interviews
ATS integrations
API access
Custom branding
SSO
Use Case Comparison
Hiring Junior Developers (Algorithm-Heavy)
Codility — Strong choice
- Tests algorithm implementation directly
- Clear pass/fail signal
- Lower cost per assessment
LayersRank — Adequate
- Tests reasoning about algorithms
- Nuanced assessment
- Higher cost, more coverage
Recommendation: Codility if you want pure coding filter. LayersRank if you also want behavioral signal.
Hiring Senior Engineers (System Design + Leadership)
Codility — Limited coverage
- Coding tests less relevant
- No behavioral assessment
- No communication evaluation
LayersRank — Strong choice
- System design focus
- Full behavioral coverage
- Communication assessed
Recommendation: LayersRank. Senior roles require skills Codility doesn't measure.
Hiring Full-Stack Engineers (Breadth)
Codility — Good for coding verification
- Multiple language support
- Test case validation
LayersRank — Good for complete picture
- Role-based assessment
- Reasoning evaluation
Recommendation: Consider both — Codility for coding verification, LayersRank for complete assessment.
Campus Hiring (High Volume)
Codility — Efficient coding filter
- Low cost per test
- Scale proven
LayersRank — Complete graduate assessment
- Higher cost, more signal
- Scale proven
Recommendation: Codility as filter → LayersRank for qualified candidates.
Best of Both
Combined Approach
Many organizations use Codility and LayersRank together:
Codility Coding Screen
- Quick coding test
- Filter candidates who can’t code at all
- Low cost, high throughput
LayersRank Complete Assessment
- Full evaluation of coding-qualified candidates
- Technical depth, behavioral, contextual
- Confidence-weighted scores
The Economics
1,000 applicants → 400 pass Codility coding filter ($10 × 1,000 = $10,000)
→ 400 complete LayersRank assessment (₹1,500 × 400 = ₹6,00,000 = ~$7,200)
Total: ~$17,200 for complete assessment funnel
When combined approach makes sense:
- Very high application volume
- Roles where coding ability is table stakes
- Budget allows for two-stage assessment
When single tool makes sense:
- Moderate volume where efficiency matters
- Complete assessment in single step preferred
- Budget constraints require choosing one
Switching from Codility
If you’re currently using Codility and considering LayersRank:
What You’re Adding
- Behavioral assessment
- Communication evaluation
- System design depth
- Confidence scoring
- Adaptive follow-up
What You’re Changing
- From timed coding execution to video/text responses
- From test case pass/fail to AI evaluation
- From invite subscription to per-interview pricing
What You’re Trading Off
- Less emphasis on algorithm implementation
- No live coding environment (yet)
- Different candidate experience
Migration Approach
Run parallel pilot for 2-3 months
Compare outcomes (hire quality, candidate feedback)
Decide on combined vs. replacement approach
Adjust based on results
Frequently Asked Questions
Does LayersRank test if candidates can actually write code?
Not with timed code execution. We assess coding knowledge through MCQ and text questions about code behavior, optimization, and best practices. If you need to verify actual code writing, pair with Codility or add a coding exercise to final rounds.
Is Codility better for pure technical screening?
For coding execution specifically, yes. Codility's strength is verifying that code works. LayersRank's strength is evaluating whether someone can think like an engineer. These overlap but aren't identical.
Which has better candidate experience?
Different, not better or worse. Some candidates prefer coding tests (familiar, clear expectations). Some prefer video interviews (feel evaluated on real skills). Candidate feedback on both is mixed.
Can I use both tools?
Yes. Many organizations use Codility for initial coding filter and LayersRank for complete assessment. The tools complement rather than conflict.
Which is better for non-engineering technical roles?
LayersRank. Data analysts, product managers with technical background, technical writers — these roles require skills Codility doesn't measure.
Technical Screening That Goes Beyond Code
See how LayersRank evaluates system thinking, communication, and collaboration alongside technical skills.