Comparison
What AI interview assistants actually cost
AI interview assistants are priced in three ways: monthly subscriptions, one-time licences, and bring-your-own-key tools where you pay an AI provider directly for usage. Below are the prices shown on each vendor's own pricing page on November 14, 2026, and a worked estimate of what API usage costs.
Prices change often and some vendors show different prices by region or billing period. Every figure below links to the page it came from; treat that page as the source of truth. We sell System Design LLM and Interview LLM, which appear in the table; we've tried to describe every product the same way.
Prices at a glance (as of Nov 14, 2026)
| Product | Paid pricing shown | Free option | Model costs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Final Round AI | Pro from $25/mo (page notes savings of up to 40% on some plans) | Free plan for prep; no free trial of live sessions | Included |
| Interview Coder | $299/month (shown against $499), or $799 one-time lifetime (shown against $1,598) | Free download; AI features need a subscription | Included (monthly plan lists 1,000 usage credits) |
| LockedIn AI | Credits, Unlimited, and Lifetime plans; prices didn't render on the pricing page when we checked | "Start for free" offered | Included |
| Cluely | Pro $19.99/month; Pro + Undetectability $149.99/month | Starter plan with limited responses | Included |
| Verve AI | Standard $16.99/mo, Pro $34.99/mo (billing period not stated next to the price; page offers annual, quarterly and monthly) | Free plan: 3 sessions of 15 min, 5 mock interviews | Included |
| Parakeet AI | $78/week, $149.90/month, or $49.99/month billed yearly | First mock interview free | Included |
| System Design LLM | $39 one-time | No | You pay your AI provider directly |
| Interview LLM | $39 one-time | No | You pay your AI provider directly (or use a local model) |
The three pricing models
Monthly subscription
Most assistants charge monthly, with large discounts for annual billing. That's convenient if you're interviewing for a few weeks and want everything managed for you, but costs add up if your search runs for months, and the headline "from" price often assumes a yearly commitment. Check the billing period before you compare.
One-time licence
You pay once and keep the software. Interview Coder's lifetime tier, LockedIn AI's Lifetime plan, and our two products are examples. The difference is who pays for the AI model: some lifetime plans include usage, while bring-your-own-key products expect you to connect your own API account.
Bring your own key (BYOK)
You paste an API key from OpenAI, Anthropic (Claude) or Google (Gemini) into the app, and the provider bills you per token. You choose the model, you can switch providers, and the vendor never sits between you and the model. The trade-off is setup: you need an API account with billing enabled.
What BYOK usage actually costs
An interview-style prompt (system instructions, the question, maybe a screenshot) is a few thousand input tokens, and a thorough structured answer is a few thousand output tokens. Assuming 5,000 input + 4,000 output tokens per answer at list API prices on Nov 14, 2026:
| Model (provider list price per 1M tokens, in / out) | Per answer | 100 answers |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Sonnet 5.5 ($2 / $10) | ~$0.05 | ~$5 |
| Claude Haiku 5.5 ($0.10 / $0.50) | ~$0.003 | ~$0.25 |
| GPT-6 Astra ($10 / $50) | ~$0.25 | ~$25 |
| GPT-6 Luna ($0.10 / $0.50) | ~$0.003 | ~$0.25 |
| Gemini 4 Carbon ($2 / $10 through Nov 30; $4 / $20 from Dec 1, 2026) | ~$0.05–$0.10 | ~$5–$10 |
Reasoning models also bill their internal "thinking" tokens as output, which can double these numbers. Even so, a month of heavy practice on a mid-tier model typically costs a few dollars in API usage. That's the main reason one-time BYOK tools come out cheaper than subscriptions over any prep period longer than a few weeks.
How to compare fairly
- Normalise to your timeline. If you expect to interview for three months, multiply monthly prices by three and compare against one-time prices plus estimated API usage.
- Check the billing period next to each price. "From $X/month" is often the annual rate.
- Check limits: credits, session minutes, and which models are included at each tier.
- Check fit: some tools are general meeting assistants, others focus on coding rounds or system design. See what an AI system design assistant does.
- Check the rules for your interview. Many employers prohibit outside assistance during live interviews. Use any assistant in line with the rules you've agreed to.
Sources (checked Nov 14, 2026)
- Final Round AI pricing: finalroundai.com/pricing
- Interview Coder (pricing section on homepage): interviewcoder.co
- LockedIn AI pricing: lockedinai.com/pricing
- Cluely pricing: cluely.com/pricing
- Verve AI pricing: vervecopilot.com/pricing
- Parakeet AI pricing: parakeet-ai.com/pricing
- Anthropic API pricing: platform.claude.com/docs/en/about-claude/pricing
- OpenAI API pricing: developers.openai.com/api/docs/pricing
- Gemini API pricing: aistudio.google.com/docs/pricing
FAQ
What is the cheapest AI interview assistant?
Several tools have free tiers with tight limits (short sessions or a few sessions a month). Among paid options, a one-time licence that uses your own API key is usually cheapest over a few months of prep, because API usage for interview-length prompts typically costs cents per answer. Subscriptions cost less only if you need a single month.
Why are some AI interview assistants so expensive?
Subscription tools pay for the AI model usage of every customer and price in heavy users, plus marketing and support. Bring-your-own-key tools move model costs to your own provider account, so you pay only for what you use.
Do I need a paid OpenAI, Anthropic or Google account for bring-your-own-key tools?
You need an API account with billing enabled at the provider you choose. API billing is separate from consumer chat subscriptions such as ChatGPT Plus or Claude Pro.