Category
Interview/Assessment
Rating
4.8/5 (28 Reviews)
Availability
HQ
San Francisco, United States
Pricing
Custom
Free tier
No
Best for
Capabilities
What is Karat?
Karat is a vendor-run technical interview service rather than software a hiring team operates. Karat's own trained interview engineers conduct live, structured first-round technical interviews on the employer's behalf, available on demand including evenings and weekends. The employer sets the hiring bar; a Karat interviewer runs the session, scores it against standard rubrics, and returns a recommendation with a video recording. The result is signal without committing your own engineers to first-round screening, and every candidate assessed by someone applying the same criteria rather than a different internal interviewer each time.
What are Karat's key features?
Every interview is led live by a Karat interview engineer, not by the employer's team.
The employer receives a recording, code playback and a written recommendation.
A second interviewer validates the scoring before the report is released.
Candidates work in a multi-file codebase in VS Code with a built-in AI assistant.
Performance is benchmarked against Karat's interview corpus by role and geography.
How do recruiting teams use Karat?
- Hand first-round technical interviews to an outside expert so your engineers stay on their own work
- Let a candidate book a live, human-led interview at a time that suits them, including out of hours
- Decide who advances from a recording, scorecard and recommendation without sitting in the first round
- Compare pass rates and time-in-process across suppliers when evaluating contractor talent
Who is Karat best for?
- I do not have engineers to spare for first-round screens and need interviewers from outside
- Enterprise engineering and talent leaders wanting human-led interviews at consistent volume
- Enterprises measuring contractor quality from IT service providers against one standard
What are Karat's pros and cons?
Pros
- Interviews are conducted by trained Interview Engineers rather than software.
- On-demand scheduling lets candidates book a first round the same day.
- Interview data is benchmarked across engagements, showing where your own bar sits.
- A free mock interview programme lets candidates experience the format first.
Cons
- Pricing is not published, so cost per interview cannot be compared before a sales call.
- Throughput depends on interviewer availability rather than software capacity.
- The employer gives up direct control over question selection within the session.
What are people saying about Karat?
Karat holds 4.8/5 across 28 G2 reviews. Reviewers highlight "Improved our recruiting quality and freed up valuable time". Others note "Karat is great for large volume recruiting". One common thread: "Great tool when just starting off or scaling a team".
Consolidated from 28 reviews across G2 · Updated June 21, 2026
How does Karat compare to alternatives?
| Feature | Karat | Arctic Shores | Bryq | CodeSignal | HackerRank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Category | Interview/Assessment | Interview/Assessment | Interview/Assessment | Interview/Assessment | Interview/Assessment |
| AI-first | |||||
| API | |||||
| MCP | |||||
| GDPR | |||||
| Best for | Agency, In-House | Agency, In-House | Agency, In-House | Agency, In-House | Agency, In-House |
Swipe right to see more →
Frequently asked questions about Karat
Other Interview/Assessment tools
12 toolsReady to Fill Your Pipeline?
Book a free 30-minute strategy call. We'll map your current stack, identify the biggest opportunity, and show you exactly how AI can accelerate your pipeline.
30-minute call · No obligation · Custom strategy for your niche