Tool profile
Criteria: cost, fit and limits
Criteria is a pre-employment testing and interviewing suite made by Criteria Corp that offers cognitive, personality, emotional intelligence and skills assessments, asynchronous and live video interviews, and AI upgrades for proctoring and interviewing. It is sold in three plans.
What to know first
Criteria sells three plans: Assess for testing, Interview for video, and Hire, which bundles both. None shows a price, each has a Request Pricing button, and a free trial link has no stated length. AI features are sold as upgrades on top: AI Proctoring for Assess, Criteria AI Interview for Interview and Criteria AI Hire for the combined plan. The security page lists ISO 27001, ISO 42001 and SOC 2 Type II.
Criteria at a glance
| Maker | Criteria Corp, United States |
|---|---|
| Free plan | Free trial only |
| Entry price | Quote only |
| API access | No |
| Category | Best AI Pre-Employment Assessment Software in 2026, rank 5 of 13 |
| Website | criteriacorp.com |
Who Criteria is best for
Employers that test and interview in one place
Criteria Hire contains everything in both Assess and Interview, so test scores and video interviews can be reviewed by the same hiring team.
Buyers who need AI governance evidence
ISO/IEC 42001:2023 certification, stated on the security page, speaks to AI management and is rare among the vendors in this category.
Teams that want to write their own tests
TestMaker and a template library let an employer build custom assessments instead of using only the vendor's validated ones. Employers can add their own test content.
Criteria plans and pricing
| Plan | Price | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Criteria Assess | Not published (Request Pricing) | Cognitive, personality, emotional intelligence, risk and skills assessments, TestMaker and template library, non-AI proctoring, branded experience, standard ATS integrations, SSO and MFA. |
| Criteria Interview | Not published (Request Pricing) | Asynchronous video interviewing and real-time video interviews with transcripts, summaries and insights, standard ATS integrations, SSO and MFA. |
| Criteria Hire | Not published (Request Pricing) | Everything in Assess plus everything in Interview, with an AI upgrade named Criteria AI Hire available on top. |
Checked November 2026.
What Criteria does
- AI Proctoring
- Sold as an upgrade to Criteria Assess, it applies AI analysis to proctored assessments. The base plan keeps a non-AI proctoring option, so the upgrade is a choice rather than a requirement.
- AI Interview Agent
- Criteria names an AI Interview Agent and a Criteria AI Interview upgrade for its interview product, plus an AI Scoring add-on for interviews mentioned on the homepage.
- Live video interviews
- Real-time interviews come with transcripts, summaries and insights, so panel members who missed the call can read what was said and the key points. Panel members can scan the summary before deciding.
- Assessment variety
- Cognitive, personality, emotional intelligence, risk and skills tests sit in one plan, along with a branded candidate experience, which suits employers that want a single test vendor.
- Criteria Develop
- A post-hire development product sold separately as an add-on, which extends results from selection into employee growth planning. It is priced as an add-on and is not part of the selection plans.
How Criteria handles your data
Criteria's security and compliance page lists ISO/IEC 27001:2022, ISO/IEC 42001:2023 and SOC 2 Type II, and the privacy policy lists the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework. Many features are provided and hosted in the United States and/or Australia, with AWS named as storage provider and no region stated. The privacy policy says data is kept as long as needed for its stated purposes without giving periods, and that anonymized, aggregated information may be used to develop new products and features. Whether customer data trains AI models is not stated.
Where Criteria falls short in practice
- Unpublished pricing. No plan shows a figure, billing basis is not stated and the free trial has no stated length, so budgeting needs a sales call before any pilot.
- AI sold as upgrades. AI Proctoring, AI Interview and AI Hire are extra tiers on top of base plans, which means the cost of AI features is a separate negotiation.
- No EU hosting named. Hosting is described as United States and/or Australia. A European employer subject to strict residency policy has no stated EU option to choose. Ask which region a contract can fix.
Works with
Alternatives to Criteria
Criteria: common questions
Does Criteria publish its prices?
No. The plans page shows Criteria Assess, Criteria Interview and Criteria Hire with a Request Pricing button on each, and does not state the billing basis. A Start Free Trial link exists, though trial length and terms are not given. Expect to describe your hiring volume and roles to a salesperson to get a number.
What does Criteria Hire include?
Criteria Hire contains everything in Criteria Assess plus everything in Criteria Interview, so testing, asynchronous video and real-time interviews come together. The plans page also names an AI upgrade called Criteria AI Hire. Whether that upgrade is included in a quote or priced separately is something to ask when you request pricing.
Which certifications does Criteria state?
The security and compliance page names ISO/IEC 27001:2022, ISO/IEC 42001:2023 and SOC 2 Type II. The privacy policy adds participation in the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework. We have not seen the certificates, so ask for them and check scope, particularly for the AI features that ISO 42001 would cover.
Where does Criteria store candidate data?
The privacy policy says many features are provided and hosted in the United States and/or Australia, and names AWS as a storage provider without a region. No EU hosting option appears on the pages we read. A European buyer should ask whether a specific region can be contractually fixed.
Is AI proctoring included in Criteria Assess?
Not as an AI feature. Criteria Assess includes non-AI proctoring, and AI Proctoring is sold as an upgrade that applies AI analysis to proctored assessments. If cheating detection matters, ask how the upgrade is priced and what evidence it gives a reviewer.