The best coding interview platform depends on the gap you are closing. For volume and company-tagged problems, LeetCode. To learn the patterns from videos, NeetCode or AlgoExpert. For text courses such as Grokking, Educative. For a company's online assessment, HackerRank or CodeSignal. To practice explaining your code out loud, a mock interview tool such as Devana or interviewing.io.
The platforms compared
Most of these are places to solve problems and learn patterns; two are places to be interviewed. Each row says what the vendor's own pages state. "Not stated" means the pages do not say, not that the feature is missing, and we have not tested these products in depth.
| Platform | What you get | Mock interviews | Free option | Paid (checked October 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LeetCode | A large problem archive; Premium adds company-tagged questions you can sort by frequency, a debugger and an AI coding assistant | Premium's "interview simulations": a timed question for a company you choose, not a spoken interview | The public problems | Premium $35 a month or $159 a year |
| NeetCode | Study plans (Blind 75, NeetCode 150, NeetCode 250) with a video explanation for every problem; Pro adds courses, 300+ problems in a browser editor, solutions in 8 languages and company tags | Not stated | The study plans and their videos | Pro $119 for a year or $297 for life, shown as discounts on $199 and $599 |
| AlgoExpert | 200 coding questions with two-part video explanations, solutions in 9 languages, an in-browser IDE and a data structures crash course | Not stated on its pricing page | Not stated | All Access (AlgoExpert and six other products) $59 for a year in a countdown sale, against $343 |
| Educative | Text-based courses (2,300+), including the Grokking interview courses | AI mock interviews: 3 a month on Premium, 7 on Premium Plus | Not stated on its pricing page | Standard $104, Premium $139, Premium Plus $174 a year, shown as a limited-time 62% discount |
| HackerRank | A free Interview Preparation Kit: challenges grouped by concept, with discussions and editorials | Timed AI mock interviews in seven formats | The preparation kit | Mock interview price not listed |
| CodeSignal Learn | Coding interview prep course paths in Python, Java and JavaScript, with an AI tutor, Cosmo | Not stated | Not stated | Not shown on the page we checked |
| interviewing.io | Mock interviews with senior engineers, and an AI interviewer with 200+ problems from Beyond Cracking the Coding Interview | Human sessions; a free AI interviewer for coding and system design | The AI interviewer | Human sessions from $179 |
| Devana | AI mock interviews by voice: your code runs in 5 languages while the interviewer asks about it, with company question sets and a scored report | Yes: coding, system design, behavioral and resume-based rounds | 3 interviews a month, up to 20 minutes each | Pro $49 a month, or $29 a month billed yearly; Sprint Pass $19 once |
In US dollars, read on each vendor's own site on October 19, 2026 (interviewing.io on October 18). Sale prices change often. Transparency note: we build Devana.
Which one for which problem
- You do not know how to start most problems. Learn the patterns before the volume: NeetCode's free study plans come with a video for every problem, AlgoExpert and Educative's Grokking courses teach the same ground in video and text, and Devana's free pattern guides cover 16 coding patterns with practice questions.
- You know the patterns but are slow. Volume and timing: LeetCode, on a clock, at the difficulty your target companies use.
- A company has sent you an online assessment. Practice on the platform it uses, HackerRank or CodeSignal, so the editor and the timer are familiar on the day.
- You have one company in mind. LeetCode Premium and NeetCode Pro tag problems by company; Devana's company question sets, such as Google and Amazon, are on its Free plan.
- You solve problems alone but freeze in interviews. That is a speaking problem, not a knowledge one. Practice in a spoken mock interview: Devana's coding rounds, or interviewing.io's AI interviewer and paid sessions. What to do when you get stuck in a coding interview covers what to say.
What no problem archive trains
A live coding round grades more than the final code. Interviewers listen to how you plan, whether you think out loud, how you explain your logic and how you defend it when asked why, and those are habits you only build by saying them. Solving five hundred problems in silence leaves that part untrained, which is why candidates with long solve counts still freeze. Why LeetCode alone is not enough goes into it.
Devana's coding round is built around that gap: it is scored 60% on communication (approach planning, thinking out loud, logic explanation, code defense, handling silence and verbal clarity) and 40% on the code itself (correctness, structure and edge cases), and your code runs, so the code half is checked rather than guessed.
A plan that combines them
- Patterns first, about two weeks. One pattern every day or two, from a video or text course, with three or four problems each.
- Volume, about two weeks. Timed problems on LeetCode or your target company's assessment platform, mixed across patterns.
- Out loud, from the first week. A spoken mock interview every few days, so explaining while you solve is normal by the time it counts.
- Company-specific, the last week. Tagged problems and a company question set, then rest the day before.
For a day-by-day version, see how to prepare for a technical interview in 30 days. To compare mock interview tools of every kind, peer and paid human sessions included, see the best mock interview tools for software engineers.
Frequently asked questions
Which coding interview platform is best in 2026?
It depends on the gap. LeetCode for volume and company-tagged problems, NeetCode or AlgoExpert to learn the patterns from videos, Educative for text courses such as Grokking, HackerRank or CodeSignal when a company sends an assessment there, and a mock interview tool such as Devana or interviewing.io to practice explaining your code out loud.
Is LeetCode Premium worth it?
Mostly in the weeks before an interview at a specific company, for its company-tagged questions sorted by frequency and its timed interview simulations. It costs $35 a month or $159 a year as of October 2026, and the free problems already cover pattern practice.
NeetCode or AlgoExpert?
Both teach the patterns with video explanations. NeetCode's study plans and their videos are free, and Pro was $119 for a year when we checked. AlgoExpert has 200 questions with two-part videos and sells a seven-product bundle, on sale at $59 a year when we checked. Try NeetCode's free plans first.
Do coding interview platforms include mock interviews?
Some do, in different forms. LeetCode Premium has timed interview simulations, Educative's Premium plans include 3 or 7 AI mock interviews a month, and HackerRank runs timed AI mock interviews. For a spoken interview where your code runs, use a mock interview tool such as Devana or interviewing.io.