Comparing
A free alternative to the interview platforms.
CoderPad, HackerRank and CodeSignal are hiring platforms: a question bank, scoring, an ATS integration, a plan per seat. cocode is the live room on its own, and it costs nothing. Here is what that gets you, and what it does not.
What cocode does
Free, with no accounts
Nobody signs up. Not you, and not the person you invite.
One link to get in
Send it and you are both in the room, in the browser you already have open.
Your own question
Paste a problem in plain English and cocode writes the code shell for it. Or pick one of the 27 built in.
Tests that actually run
Built from the examples in your problem and checked against a reference solution, then run in a sandbox with the failing cases shown.
Four languages
TypeScript, JavaScript, Python and Rust, switchable in the middle of a session.
Video beside the code
Peer to peer, in the same tab as the editor.
Nothing is kept
Close the tab and the room is gone.
What cocode does not do
If one of these is how your team hires, buy a platform instead. Better to know now than halfway through an interview.
- There is no recording, no transcript and no code history. Anyone who missed the interview has to take the interviewer’s word for how it went.
- You cannot compare two candidates inside the tool. No scorecards, no rubrics, nothing to fill in afterwards.
- It does not connect to the rest of your hiring stack. No ATS integration, no calendar, no API.
- cocode builds a problem out of what you paste. It will not hand you a vetted question bank with difficulty ratings and candidate benchmarks.
- Everything happens live, so there is nothing to send a candidate to work on in their own time.
- Nobody checks for plagiarism or AI use. That is on you.
- Two people per room. Panels and shadowing are out.
- Nothing is stored, so if you need a paper trail for compliance, this is the wrong tool.
When it is the right tool
A handful of interviews
A few candidates a quarter does not justify a per-seat plan, and getting one approved takes longer than the interviews do.
Your own problem
If you would rather ask about work your team actually does than pick from a bank, you need something that turns your problem into a runnable one.
Practice with a friend
Two people taking turns, with no company involved. How a session works.
Try it before you compare it.
There is nothing to sign up for. Paste a problem, send the link, and see what the room is like.