With video interview platforms, you can set up live interviews or let a candidate pre-record answers to given interview questions. The best video interview software also provide evaluation and rating tools, while also facilitating collaboration among your hiring team. Some even include tools for recruiting, skills evaluation, and rejecting or hiring candidates.
The top four job interview software for small businesses are:
- Spark Hire: Best standalone video interview platform for pre-recorded and live interviews
- Breezy: Best for streamlining video interviewing with the recruiting process
- Willo: Best for one-way interviews
- Codility: Best for tech companies hiring engineers and coders
Video Interview Software Compared
Free Plan Option | Starter Monthly Pricing | Multiple Language Support | Pre-recorded and Live Interviews | Mobile Apps | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
✕ | $149* | via Chrome translate | ✓ | ✕ | |
$189* | 15+ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
✓ | $90* | 10+ | Pre-recorded interviews only | ✕ | |
✕ | VCall for quote | 40 | ✓ | ✕ | |
*Annual plans with discounted pricing are also available, but require a lump sum and upfront payment of all yearly fees.
Spark Hire: Best Overall & for Those Needing a Standalone Video Interview Platform
Pros
- Privately chat with collaborators during live interviews
- Transcripted recordings for easy replay and candidate evaluation
- Uses Chrome translate to work in multiple languages; has hosted interviews in 100+ countries
- Offers both interactive and pre-recorded video options
- Excellent analytics of interviews, ratings, and rejections
Cons
- No free plan option
- No free trial
- Doesn’t have mobile apps for iOS and Android devices
- Lacks live phone support
Plans & Pricing
- Lite: $149 monthly
- Pro: $299 monthly
- Growth: $499 monthly
- Enterprise: Call for a quote
Discounted rates are also available if you commit to an annual plan and pay all yearly fees in a lump sum and upfront.
Spark Hire is a highly rated video interviewing software with excellent features to make it easy to select your next employee. It ranks as our top pick for its reasonably priced plans, in-video private team chat, and anonymous candidate evaluation. Additionally, you can choose interview questions from its bank of libraries to use for pre-recorded or live interviews. The software integrates with Google, iCloud, Outlook.com, Exchange, and Office 365 for easy interview scheduling.
In our evaluation, Spark Hire earned an overall rating of 4.64 out of 5 and scored top marks in nearly all of our criteria. It would have received a higher overall rating if it offered a free plan or a free trial. The provider also lost a few points because it no longer has a mobile app, although its platform is mobile-friendly.
Spark Hire Overview
Breezy: Best Video Interview Platform for Integrated Recruiting Tools
Pros
- Full-service recruiting software
- Candidates can schedule their own interview with the self-schedule portal
- Advanced multi-path questionnaires
- Free trial
- Has mobile apps
Cons
- Limited focus on video interview features
- Dedicated account manager only with paid plans
- No video transcriptions
- Free plan doesn’t include access to video interviewing tools
Plans & Pricing
- Bootstrap: $0; recruiting tools only
- Startup: $189 monthly; includes video interviewing features
- Growth: $329 monthly
- Business: $529 monthly
- Pro: Call for a quote
If you commit to an annual plan, you get two months free (as of this writing).
Add-ons
- SMS/Text Messaging: Starts at $165 monthly
- Candidate Match Score: Starts at $165 monthly
- Incognito Apply: Starts at $165 monthly
Breezy is a complete recruiting system that includes live and pre-recorded video interviewing. The real advantage of this software is that, unlike standard video interview software like Spark Hire, Breezy takes you from job ads to onboarding. Breezy is one of our top recommended applicant tracking systems and the best overall option in our guide to the best recruiting apps.
Breezy came in close second to Spark Hire, with an overall rating of 4.54 out of 5. It scored well for video tools and functionality and had perfect scores for reporting and our expert evaluation. Its inability to transcribe video interviews, its paid option to anonymize candidates, and its higher price (compared to Spark Hire) brought its score down. Plus, its free plan does not include video interviewing, and even if you upgrade to its paid tiers, the video interviewing tool is relatively basic.
Breezy Overview
Willo: Best for One-way Interviews
Pros
- Free forever pan
- Built-in multilanguage support
- Digital ID checking
- Question generator
- 5,000+ integrations
Cons
- Pre-recorded interviews only
- No live phone support
- Help site hard to find online
- Does not anonymize candidates
Plans & Pricing
- Free Forever: $0
- Launch: $90 monthly
- Growth: $249 monthly
- Scale: $399 monthly
- Enterprise: Call for a quote
Annual plans with discounted rates and up to three months free are also available (as of this writing). Pricing varies depending on the length of the contract (one, two, or three years). However, this requires a lump sum and upfront payment of all yearly fees.
Willo is a relatively new, yet increasingly popular video interviewing application. It differs from the others on our list in that it only provides pre-recorded interviews, but the service is inexpensive, offers a great set of tools, and has the highest user rating of those on our list. Some of its best features include an intelligent question generator and digital right-to-work and ID checks that certify candidates are who they claim to be.
Scoring 4.15 out of 5 in our evaluation, Willo is a strong contender, especially considering the hit it took for not offering two-way interviewing. It lost points for not having phone support and no how-to guides or help documents on the website. It cannot anonymize candidates (consider Spark Hire, Breezy, and Codility for that). However, the free plan and low rates earned it a perfect score in pricing.
Willo Overview
Codility: Best Video Interview Software for Hiring Engineers & Programmers
Pros
- Real-time candidate evaluation with live coding
- Skills-based programming assessments
- Candidate feedback forms
- Allows live coding during interviews
- Candidate anonymization
Cons
- Pricing is not transparent; you must speak with a representative
- Limited to certain fields
- No mobile apps
- No interview transcription
Plans & Pricing
Pricing for Codility is not transparent on its website. To get exact pricing, you must speak with an Account Executive, who will provide a quote according to your specific business needs.
Designed for programmers and software engineers, Codility offers more than standard video interview software with features that make it easier to assess the strengths of the candidate in programming, from feedback forms covering skills, tasks, and ambiguities to a dedicated place to code during the interview itself. Live coding during interviews (unique to Codility) allows for the candidate to demonstrate their skills in real time. Codility is not just for software engineers, however. It serves clients in the technology, finance, government, ecommerce, transportation, and entertainment industries.
With an overall score of 4 out of 5 in our evaluation, Codility ranked well in our video tools category for its live coding feature during interviews. It also did well in functionality due to the ability to code in multiple languages and its in-software scheduling functions. Where Codility fell behind was in pricing, due mainly to its lack of transparency. Similar to Spark Hire, it also doesn’t have a mobile app.
Codility Overview
Methodology: How We Evaluated the Best Video Interview Software
We reviewed over a dozen video interview platforms, looking for those that catered to small businesses and offered monthly plans. While we considered specific use cases, we favored those that worked for a wider range of industries and needs. Then, we rated them for function and ease of use.
Click through the tabs below to see our full evaluation criteria:
10% of Overall Score
Free, low-cost, and unlimited package options ensure all businesses can try the software. We gave points to those that offer free plans, transparent pricing, and are affordable for small businesses.
20% of Overall Score
In this criterion, we looked for essential features such as pre-recorded video questions, transcripted interviews, interview evaluation and collaboration metrics, and the ability to limit a candidate’s time for recording.
20% of Overall Score
We evaluated each software on its functionality, including supporting multiple languages, linking to private interview rooms, scheduling capabilities, and the ability to anonymize candidate information to eliminate bias.
10% of Overall Score
We looked at customer service quality trends, user feedback, and average scores from third-party review sites like Capterra and G2.
10% of Overall Score
Reporting was based on the availability of basic reporting and analytics, as well as a rating system for collaborating with other team members.
15% of Overall Score
Our expert score was based on our personal assessment of each video interview software and whether its tools are easy to navigate and recommended for use by small businesses.
15% of Overall Score
Ease of use was evaluated based on the software’s ease of implementation, live support, mobile friendliness, and the ability to integrate with applicant tracking systems.
How to Choose the Best Video Interview Software
First, understand your needs. Some video interview platforms, like Willo, only offer one-way interview tools but are less expensive and strong on analytics. Others, like Breezy, include video interviewing as part of an overall recruiting package. Some save their advanced features for their custom plans.
Other things to consider:
- How often or how long do you need the software? Note that annual plans are usually cheaper, while free plans are great for very limited use.
- Do you have special requirements? Codility, for example, lets you test a coder’s skills live during the interview.
- Do you need an applicant tracking system or already have one? Many video interview platforms integrate, but some ATS systems already have their own video tools, like Breezy.
Next, do your research on review sites like ours and on user-review sites like Capterra and G2. Finally, take advantage of free trials or free plans to test the software for yourself before making a decision.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
We recommend Spark Hire as the best software for interview videos. It’s easy to use, is priced competitively, and offers great tools both for pre-recorded interviews and live interviews. On our evaluation rubric, it earned perfect scores in four out of seven categories—and real-world users give it 4.8 out of 5 stars (averaged over popular review sites like G2 and Capterra).
Video interviewing software goes beyond a FaceTime or Zoom meeting. The software lets you schedule interviews, conduct them in the application, transcribe the interview (and sometimes analyze it for keywords), collect feedback and ratings from those involved in the interviewing process, and integrate with applicant tracking software.
It can also let you set up pre-recorded (or one-way) interviews by letting you create written or recorded questions, then send the link to the candidate to allow them to answer on their own schedule and send them back to you. The analysis and rating tools work here as well.
Video interviewing software lets you set up, record, store, rate, and share candidate interviews conducted virtually. It saves you the time, money, and hassle often involved with in-person interviews and gives you a deeper understanding of the individual than a phone screening interview can.
Bottom Line
Video interviewing software is more than a convenience, and users report it has reduced the time and cost of hiring an employee. They are an excellent way to streamline your hiring process, saving you time, increasing responses, and reducing bias. You can find standalone services that integrate into your existing ATS software or find HR software that includes video interviewing. Most offer a bank of questions and scheduling, collaboration, and evaluation tools.
Overall, we found Spark Hire the best for those needing a standalone service. With excellent features in an intuitive format, it’s highly regarded by users in small businesses and large companies. It’s also reasonably priced for the services it provides.