Hand picked by our HR Technology experts after product testing, user research, and much debate - enjoy!
Even before coronavirus, video interview platforms existed for companies looking to streamline their interview processes. But especially because of the pandemic, recruiters have to become more creative to screen and interview the top talent.
The best video interviewing software can shrink the amount of time your talent acquisition team spends on screening candidates, effectively diminishing your time to fill as well. Yet no matter how great speeding up your hiring process may be, it might not be worth it if the price point is too high for your return on investment.
Our goal with this guide is to help small business and startups leverage the power of video interview software while sticking to a tighter budget. Below you can find the best free-to-use solutions, free trials and inexpensive options to empower your hiring team during the interview process. If you find that your company is ready to upgrade to a paid solution, check out our landscape of the best video interview platforms.
We take research seriously. To make sure we’re offering our readers the very best solutions in a given software category, we are methodical, rigorous, and expansive in our research. We consult with HR professionals, vendors, and industry experts. We cut through the noise to bring you a carefully curated list of vendors, along with other essential information, to help you find the right software platform for your business.
Here’s how we chose who makes the cut:
Product: We believe in gaining a comprehensive understanding of a product before we recommend it, so we start by getting to know the software. Whenever possible, we meet with a senior executive (CEO or Head of Product) for a demo and Q&A. We also test the product ourselves to make sure it has a solid UI, intuitive workflows, and the features to make it a best-in-class offering.
User feedback: We go straight to the source and compile feedback on user experience. Real-world input supports our commitment to diligence in our software evaluation methods and the products we recommend. Keeping up with the everyday experience of HR pros also puts new vendors on our radar, and it keeps us close to our community so we can better connect the right products to the right people.
Financial metrics: We are certified finance nerds, so we use all the data we can get our hands on to make selections for our guides. We comb through data for concrete statistics like retention rates, growth, profitability, and scalability. We evaluate the bottom line of each product because we know making a software purchase can put your reputation on the line.
Best for a use case: Software is never a one-size-fits-all product. Sometimes the best solution is free or cheap. Other times it’s the one that is best for global companies or the one that’s sized right for early-stage startups. Keeping this in mind, we include solutions across the spectrum so our readers can find the best fit for their unique needs.
Here's more detail if you want to read more about how we research vendors. Our dedicated staff writers rely on hard data, impartial experts, and user feedback to ensure our reviews are helpful, truthful, and hopefully a pleasure to read!
We researched numerous solutions to come up with a list of the best free video interview platforms as of 2023.
Why we love it
:
Hireflix is all about simplicity; they lead the one-way video interviewing space with a minimalist and modern interface that's super easy to figure out.
Hireflix
Review:
Hireflix is an online, one-way video interviewing platform designed to help hiring teams streamline the recruitment process, hire faster, and provide a seamless candidate experience. They offer a 1-month free trial of their product, after which it costs $75/month onwards. Using Hireflix, you can build an asynchronous interview within minutes, send it to hundreds of candidates simultaneously, and share recorded interviews for evaluation with your team.
Hireflix
Customers:
United Nations, IcelandAir, Chick-fil-A, CoinGecko, TravelPerk, and hundreds more.
Hireflix
Pricing:
After a 1-month free trial, Hireflix has three pricing plans that you can choose from. When billed annually, here's what they look like:
All plans allow you to build one-way interviews, invite candidates at scale, and review responses as a team. They also include unlimited users, unlimited active jobs, integrations, and support.
After a 1-month free trial, Hireflix has three pricing plans that you can choose from. When billed annually, here's what they look like:
All plans allow you to build one-way interviews, invite candidates at scale, and review responses as a team. They also include unlimited users, unlimited active jobs, integrations, and support.
Best For
Hireflix is ideal for small and medium businesses that want to focus exclusively on one-way video interviews.
Why we love it
:
myInterview allows you to conduct virtual interviews and screen potential candidates for further consideration. The free-forever plan provides you with access to up to 10 one-way, pre-recorded videos.
MyInterview
Review:
myInterview lets you hire the most suitable candidates by conducting virtual video interviews. The free plan gives you access to up to 10 one-way, pre-recorded video responses from potential candidates, allowing you to view them whenever you want. It has some limitations, however. For instance, you can send interview links for only one open position at a time, and you can't conduct live or synchronous interviews with the candidates either.
MyInterview
Customers:
myInterview customer list include prominent names like Ocado, Facebook, Six Flags, Chick-fil-A, and more.
myInterview customer list include prominent names like Ocado, Facebook, Six Flags, Chick-fil-A, and more.
MyInterview
Pricing:
myInterview has with five pricing plans:
myInterview has with five pricing plans:
Best For
Companies of all sizes can use myInterview and derive value while staying within their budgets.
Why we love it
:
Willo’s video interview solution is simple to set up and get started, unlike many other enterprise grade platforms in this space. It’s also priced affordably and flexibly so that you don’t have to go allin on a massive annual contract without understanding the tool. In fact, they have a free tier you can try out to make sure it’s as intuitive as we think it is. However, you should be aware that some of the bells and whistles you may find with a more mature product don’t exist in this tool.
Willo
Review:
What’s amazing about Willo’s free tier is that you get the full product, it’s just that you are capped to 10 interviews per month. However, for smaller companies, this can be more than enough. And, their first tier of pricing is very affordable for companies that are hiring on a regular basis who need to upgrade to a paid plan.
The product is simple to use. You set up your company branding, define the role you want to use video to recruit for, the questions you want answered, and send out the link to candidates.
The tool was originally built to be candidate first (and still is!), so you don’t have to worry much about bugs or someone not figuring out how to record their answers. In fact, <1% of interviews need technical support, it’s a metric they track to make sure the product is working well.
Willo
Customers:
Danone, NHS Scotland, 7 Eleven, Samsung, University of Pennsylvania
Danone, NHS Scotland, 7 Eleven, Samsung, University of Pennsylvania
Willo
Pricing:
Willo has a free tier where you can interview up to 10 people per month. This is great for small companies that want to try video interviewing, or larger companies that want to get a deeper feel for the product before moving to a paid tier.
Otherwise, the product is priced based on the number of users your team has.
We appreciate Willo has transparent pricing that is also accessible to SMBs. In addition to the annual pricing quoted above, they do have month to month plans (annual plans get a 50% discount).
Willo has a free tier where you can interview up to 10 people per month. This is great for small companies that want to try video interviewing, or larger companies that want to get a deeper feel for the product before moving to a paid tier.
Otherwise, the product is priced based on the number of users your team has.
We appreciate Willo has transparent pricing that is also accessible to SMBs. In addition to the annual pricing quoted above, they do have month to month plans (annual plans get a 50% discount).
Best For
Willo’s video interview platform is best for companies that are hiring a lot either due to high growth, or scale. And, their customer base reflects that with everything from airport managers to Coinbase as customers.
Even though these examples are quite large businesses, many of their customers are small and medium-sized companies due to their pricing model which starts at $75/mo for up to 5 users. In fact, most of their customers are 250 - 5,000 employee companies.
Why we love it
:
SparkHire is a trusted video interviewing platform that allows all new customers to trial their offerings for free for up to 14 days.
SparkHire
Review:
SparkHire is the biggest name in video hiring platforms, with over 5000 customers. They offer a 14-day free trial of their solution, which includes one-way and live interviews as well as evaluation and collaboration tools for HR teams. They also have a well-built mobile app that allows candidates to complete video interviews from their cell phone.
SparkHire
Customers:
USPS, Ikea, Volkswagen, Bae Systems, Love's
SparkHire
Pricing:
SparkHire has four plans:
The platform also offers a 20% discount for annual subscriptions on Lite, Pro, and Growth plans.
SparkHire has four plans:
The platform also offers a 20% discount for annual subscriptions on Lite, Pro, and Growth plans.
Best For
Companies looking to try a best-in-breed solution before buying.
Why we love it
:
Not only does Recright have a video interviewing tool that handles both live and pre-recorded interviews, they also have an applicant tracking system (ATS) that complements its video interviewing tool quite well.
Recright
Review:
Recright has a 14-day free trial, which includes not only their video interviewing software but also an ATS that seamlessly integrates with the interviewing tool. Recright prides itself on being an all-in-one platform for posting jobs, getting applications and collaborating with colleagues throughout the hiring process. Uber and Netflix trust Recright to handle their video recruiting workflow.
Recright
Customers:
Uber, Netflix, Volvo, ABB, KPMG
Recright
Pricing:
After the free trial, Recright has three pricing plans. Essential is their basic package for 295 euros per month (about $360). The Pro plan adds extra features, candidates, and users for 445 euros per month (about $540). The Premium plan is custom priced.
After the free trial, Recright has three pricing plans. Essential is their basic package for 295 euros per month (about $360). The Pro plan adds extra features, candidates, and users for 445 euros per month (about $540). The Premium plan is custom priced.
Best For
Companies seeking an easily integrated ATS and interviewing combo.
Why we love it
:
interviewstream is a specialized video interviewing platform that simplifies the interview process, both for candidates and hiring teams.
interviewstream
Review:
interviewstream offers 30-day free access to their interviewing platform, which also includes support and training resources for recruiters, candidates and hiring teams. It has both one way and on-demand video platforms. One of their key features is interview scheduling, which allows candidates to book a time from your Gmail or Outlook availability to eliminate back-and-forth emails.
interviewstream
Customers:
Santander, Hershey, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
interviewstream
Pricing:
The pricing of interviewstream's plans isn't disclosed upfront. Contact their Sales team to get a custom price quote.
Best For
Mid to large size companies looking for a lengthy trial before they buy.
Why we love it
:
Zoom is a popular, easy to use and free video conferencing platform that can be accessed on browsers, desktops as well as mobile devices.
Zoom
Review:
Zoom has exploded in popularity during COVID-19 to become the best known video conferencing software on the market. As such, most interviewees have more than likely used it before and will be comfortable using it again because of how user friendly it is.
Zoom is free to use for up to 40 minutes per meeting, making it good for most interviews but can lead to awkward endings if it runs over. It is also only usable for real-time interviewing, lacking most of the necessary features to be functionally all-encompassing for your human resources department.
Zoom
Customers:
Uber, Zendesk, Logitech, Veeva, Rakuten, Atlassian, Nasdaq, Western Union
Zoom
Pricing:
Zoom is free for meetings up to 40 minutes with up to 100 participants with unlimited one-on-one meetings. Premium plans start at $150 per license year up to $300 per license per year.
Zoom has 5 plans:
Best For
Anyone in need of easy video chat.
Why we love it
:
We can't talk about free video conferencing tools without mentioning Skype. It is a well-known veteran in this space, used for years by millions of people.
Skype
Review:
Skype is one of the veterans of video conferencing, being around for almost 20 years now. It's a great free tool for real-time interviewing and allows you to create a meeting online without even needing to make an account or download their app.
While Skype is definitely convenient, it doesn't have any of the key features that make a solution ideal for recruiting. But it's a good alternative if your company is still deciding on a different solution.
Skype
Customers:
Skype
Pricing:
Best For
Anyone looking for free calling, whether video, audio, or phone.
With the right video interviewing solution, companies can expect to screen higher volumes of candidates much faster, allowing for more personal interaction time with the best candidates. On top of this, there are times when physical face-to-face interviewing becomes impossible, such as talking with candidates from across the globe for remote positions. A more dire situation is the current COVID-19 crisis, where most companies have gone completely remote and in-person interaction must be limited. However, even in normal situations with a regional company, video interview tools makes a big difference.
There are two different types of video interviews out there:
Here's a comprehensive list of benefits to using video interviewing software:
Keep in mind that a free video interviewing tool might be limited in these features when compared to paid plans.
Job seekers have a lot on their plates, from sending in applications to prepping for job interviews to crafting thoughtful follow up emails. A video interviewing tool provides multiple benefits such as:
Just because the platforms offer baseline simplicity for candidates doesn't mean your company shouldn't also try to make the process easier.
Set proper interview expectations by making welcome videos or having hiring managers record themselves asking the questions. Providing interview tips also goes a long way to humanize the process.
As with any free software, you're only getting limited functionality.
In the case of video conferencing apps, you'll miss out on the best tools for efficient hiring decisions. You'll still be committing your hiring team to many hours spent having real-time conversations too.
In the case of asynchronous video interviewing software, that might mean that you only get a set amount of users, videos per period or number of open positions. In addition, interviews may be less comprehensive by only having a certain number of questions or restrictive time limits.
As usual, be careful with free trials. They often require a payment method on file. Be sure to cancel in time to avoid any subscription fees!
Free video interview software is a solution for companies to remotely conduct job interviews with potential candidates.
There are two types of free video interviewing software, live video interviewing and asynchronous video interviewing, also called pre-recorded video interviews.
Each type of free video interview software works differently. Live video interview platforms act like regular interviewing, but over a video conferencing platform where a candidate and a hiring manager speak in real-time. Asynchronous video interview platforms allow a candidate to answer pre-defined interview questions on their own time that are later reviewed by a recruiter.
You should use video interviewing software because it has many benefits, including decreased time-to-hire, more effective than phone screens, standardizing of the interview process, less biased hiring, better candidate experience, less time spent screening applicants, and email automation throughout the interview process.
Asynchronous video interviewing is very valuable to both the candidate and the hiring team. It saves time from playing phone tag for screening. It reduces hiring bias by standardizing the process. It allows candidates to interview on their own time. Candidates also can rerecord their video responses, leading to less stress to get everything right the first time. The hiring team can better evaluate candidates because they can rewatch answers whenever they want. Overall, there is much more functionality for hiring teams and ease-of-use for candidates.
Free solutions are typically temporary. As your company grows, your software solutions will have to grow along with it. That's no different with free video interviewing software. Consider these solutions a stepping stone for your company and expect to eventually upgrade.
When upgrading, be sure to check out our comprehensive list of the best video interviewing software complete with benefits, pitfalls, pricing and ROI to ensure a smart purchase decision!
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