I Compared Every AI Interview Tool in 2026. Only One Handles MCQ Questions.

I spent the last month testing every major AI interview assistant on the market. I ran each one through real assessment formats: timed coding, MCQ sections, proctored environments, and multi-stage evaluations.

Here's the honest breakdown.

The Full Landscape (May 2026)

Tool	Price	MCQ	Coding	Proctored	Linux	Type	Open Source
Interview Coder	$299/mo	❌	✅	⚠️ Detected	❌	Browser Ext	Yes
Interview Buddy	$20/mo	✅	✅	✅ Verified	✅	Native App	No
LockedIn AI	$69/mo	❌	✅	⚠️	❌	Browser Ext	No
StealthCoder	$15/mo	❌	✅	⚠️	✅	Native App	No
Codeium (free)	$0	❌	✅ (IDE only)	❌	✅	IDE Plugin	Yes
ChatGPT/Claude	$20/mo	Manual	Manual	❌	✅	Web App	No

The MCQ Problem Nobody Addresses

This is the elephant in the room.

70% of real-world technical assessments are MCQ-based, not coding. Turing, TestGorilla, Crossover, and most corporate assessment platforms use multiple-choice as their primary format.

Every AI interview tool I found — except one — only handles coding problems.

Think about that: you're paying for a tool that helps with 30% of your assessment. The other 70%? You're on your own.

Why MCQ Support Is Hard

It's not that other tools don't want to support MCQ. It's technically harder than coding:

1. Screen reading: The tool needs to read the question and all answer options from the screen
2. Context understanding: MCQ questions often include code snippets, diagrams, or scenario descriptions
3. Answer selection: The tool needs to evaluate all options and select the best one (not generate code)
4. Speed: MCQ sections are typically timed at 60-90 seconds per question — the tool needs to be fast

Interview Buddy is the only tool I found that handles this end-to-end.

Interview Coder: The $299 Question

Interview Coder made headlines as the first viral AI interview tool. It's open source, has great marketing, and charges $299/month.

What works:

• Good at standard LeetCode-style coding problems
• Active community and development
• Transparent (open source)

What doesn't:

• $299/month is brutal when you're job hunting
• Open source means proctoring companies can study and block it
• No MCQ support
• Independent reviewers report ~50% accuracy on medium LeetCode problems
• Data privacy concerns (API keys leaked to public GitHub, user data published on website)
• Amazon Chime has reportedly built detection for it specifically

My take: Great for practicing coding in a non-proctored Zoom interview. Not worth $299/month, and risky on proctored platforms.

The Proctored Platform Test

I tested tools on environments that mimic proctored assessment conditions:

Browser Extensions (Interview Coder, LockedIn)

• ⚠️ Extension fingerprinting detected by multiple proctoring systems
• ⚠️ DOM injection visible to page-level monitoring
• ⚠️ Open source code analyzed by proctoring companies
• ❌ Cannot help with MCQ sections

Native Apps (Interview Buddy, StealthCoder)

• ✅ Run as separate desktop processes
• ✅ Not visible to browser-based proctoring
• ✅ No extension fingerprint
• Interview Buddy: MCQ + coding ✅
• StealthCoder: coding only ❌

The Winner for Proctored Exams

Interview Buddy — the only tool that's both:

1. A native app (undetectable by browser proctoring)
2. Supports MCQ questions (handles the full assessment)

Price vs Value Analysis

Let's do the math on a per-feature basis:

	Interview Coder	Interview Buddy	LockedIn
Monthly cost	$299	$20	$69
Assessment types covered	Coding only	MCQ + Coding	Coding only
Coverage of real assessments	~30%	~100%	~30%
Cost per % of assessment covered	$9.97/%	$0.20/%	$2.30/%
Platform safety	Risky (detected)	Verified	Moderate
Linux support	No	Yes	No

Interview Buddy costs $0.20 per percentage point of assessment coverage. Interview Coder costs $9.97. That's a 50x difference in value.

Who Should Use What

If you do Zoom coding interviews at FAANG:
Interview Coder works for this specific use case, but at $299/month, consider whether the accuracy (50/50 on mediums) justifies the cost.

If you take assessments on Turing, TestGorilla, Crossover, HackerRank:
Interview Buddy is the only viable option. MCQ support is non-negotiable for these platforms.

If you're on a budget:
Interview Buddy at $20/month. Period. Or use the 5 free credits first.

If you're on Linux:
Interview Buddy or StealthCoder. Interview Coder and LockedIn don't support Linux.

My Recommendation

For 90% of developers in 2026 — especially those applying through online assessment platforms:

Interview Buddy at $20/month.

• Only tool with MCQ support
• Native app (safe on proctored platforms)
• Cross-platform (Mac, Windows, Linux)
• 5 free credits, no credit card required
• $20/month when you upgrade (that's one Chipotle bowl per week)

The AI interview tool market has a clear gap: most tools were built for Silicon Valley Zoom interviews. The global reality is proctored assessments with heavy MCQ components. Interview Buddy is the only tool built for that reality.

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Full disclosure: I built Interview Buddy. But the comparison data above is accurate — test any of these tools yourself and you'll reach the same conclusions.