Exponent vs interviewing.io, in short: Exponent, now called Aced, is a membership with courses and unlimited peer mock interviews, at $79 a month for Pro or $12 a month billed annually as of October 2026. interviewing.io sells individual mock interviews with senior engineers from top companies, starting at $179 a session, plus a free AI Interviewer for coding and system design. Pick Aced for breadth, product management and cheap volume; pick interviewing.io for a realistic technical round with a vetted interviewer before a big-tech onsite.
We make CoPilot Interview, a different kind of practice tool, and cover it as a third option near the end. Every Aced fact below comes from aced.io (its pricing, practice and coaching pages and its rebrand post) and every interviewing.io fact from interviewing.io (its homepage, FAQ and gift page), all read on October 20, 2026.
The verdict: which to pick
- Pick Aced (Exponent) if you want to learn the frameworks as well as practice them, you're preparing for product management or another non-engineering tech role, or you want many mock interviews with people for a flat monthly price.
- Pick interviewing.io if you're a software engineer with an onsite coming up and want feedback from someone who makes hiring decisions at a FAANG or FAANG-adjacent company, in a format close to the real round.
- Use both if you can: Aced for weeks of learning and peer reps, then one or two interviewing.io sessions in the final stretch. Learning first and expert feedback last gets more out of each paid session.
Exponent vs interviewing.io: side-by-side comparison
| Aced (formerly Exponent) | interviewing.io | |
|---|---|---|
| Company | Exponent Labs, LLC (named in the site footer) | Interviewing.io Inc., San Francisco |
| How you pay | Membership, monthly or annual, plus optional coaching | Per session; no subscription found |
| Free option | Basic: sample lessons and questions, 5 peer mocks a month | AI Interviewer for coding and system design; 200+ free problems |
| Main paid price | Pro $79/mo, or $12/mo billed annually | Human mock interviews from $179 each |
| Who you practice with | Peers preparing for the same kind of interview; paid coaches | Senior, staff or principal engineers and engineering managers who make hiring decisions |
| Roles covered | PM, software engineering, system design, EM, data, ML, TPM, design, BizOps, security, investment banking and more | Engineering: algorithms, coding, system design, ML, front-end, EM, behavioral, staff-plus |
| Learning content | Courses, video answers, company guides, question database | Company process guides, a replay library, free book chapters |
| AI practice | Expert plan: AI mock interviews, AI feedback and an AI coach | Free AI Interviewer with feedback at the end |
| Video | Peer sessions and coaching sessions use video | Audio and chat only, fully anonymous |
| Company-specific prep | Company guides; coaches you can filter by company | Interviewers from a specific company; dedicated Amazon, Google and Meta coaching |
| Refunds | Memberships: within 5 days of purchase; unused coaching within six months | Full refund if you are unhappy with your interview |
| Jobs | Job referral platform, with priority on paid plans | Jobs portal access when you do well in practice |
For each product in depth, read our Exponent (Aced) review and interviewing.io review.
Pricing compared (as of October 2026)
Aced (Exponent) plans
| Plan | Month to month | Billed annually | Includes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $0 | $0 | Sample lessons and questions, 5 peer mocks a month, basic job referrals |
| Pro | $79/mo | $12/mo | All courses, solutions, company guides, unlimited peer mocks, full question database, priority referrals |
| Expert | $99/mo | $20/mo | Everything in Pro, plus AI mock interviews, AI interview feedback and chat with the AI coach |
| 1:1 coaching | $249 a session | — | On a coach page we checked: $675 for 3, $999 for 5 ($200 each) |
Plan prices are from Aced's pricing page, which shows the annual plans as monthly figures without a yearly total, so confirm the total at checkout. See our Exponent pricing guide for more.
interviewing.io prices
| Option | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| AI Interviewer | Free | Coding and system design, FAANG-style |
| Human mock interview | From $179 | Varies by subject and whether you want an interviewer from a specific company |
| Gifted interviews | $179 each | 10% off for 4 or more, per the gift page |
| Dedicated coaching | Not published | 3, 5 or 10 sessions with a mentor from Amazon, Google or Meta |
The starting price is from the interviewing.io FAQ and the per-gift price from its gift page.
What a prep plan costs
Our arithmetic from the listed prices, using Aced Pro month to month, before tax, discounts or company-specific premiums:
| Plan | Aced only | interviewing.io only | Both |
|---|---|---|---|
| Four weeks, no paid expert | $79 (Pro, one month) | $0 (AI Interviewer only) | $79 |
| Four weeks plus two expert sessions | $577 (Pro + two coaching sessions at $249) | $358 (two mocks) | $437 (Pro + two interviewing.io mocks) |
| Three months plus three expert sessions | $912 (three months of Pro + a 3-session coaching pack) | $537 (three mocks) | $774 (three months of Pro + three mocks) |
The pattern is clear: interviewing.io is the cheaper way to buy time with an expert, and Aced is the cheaper way to buy volume and content. That's why the combination often beats either alone. If you'd study for most of a year, Aced's annual rate ($12 a month for Pro on its pricing page) lowers the Aced columns.
Human practice: peers vs senior engineers
Aced Practice. Aced's practice page says it matches you with a peer based on your schedule, current role, experience level and interview history. Each of you interviews the other for about 30 minutes, in coding tracks your peer gets a question in advance, and afterwards you trade notes using rubrics. AI grading and a transcript need a paid membership. Tracks include product management, data structures and algorithms, system design, behavioral, finance, SQL, data science and ML, and frontend. Since July 2024, new Pramp sessions run here too; see Pramp vs interviewing.io.
interviewing.io. Its homepage says every interviewer is a senior, staff or principal engineer or engineering manager who makes hiring decisions at FAANG or FAANG-adjacent companies, and its FAQ adds that each has at least 4 years of experience and has run at least 20 interviews for that company. Sessions are anonymous, with audio and chat in a collaborative code editor, and end with an in-depth rundown of what you did well and how to improve. Afterwards you can unmask and connect with your interviewer.
Paid coaching. Aced coaches run 1-hour video sessions with written feedback, and you can switch coaches at any time. interviewing.io's dedicated coaching pairs you with an interviewer from Amazon, Google or Meta for 3, 5 or 10 sessions with a lesson plan.
AI practice compared
Aced puts its AI tools on the Expert plan: AI mock interviews, AI interview feedback and chat with Ace, an AI coach that, per its rebrand post, draws on the company's courses, guides and resources. At $99 billed monthly, that's the priciest way to get AI practice on this page. interviewing.io's AI Interviewer is free and runs coding and system design interviews in the style of a FAANG mock, with detailed feedback at the end, and you can work through more than 200 problems from Beyond Cracking the Coding Interview. It doesn't cover behavioral or PM rounds.
Refunds
Aced: full refunds on memberships within 5 days of purchase; plans renew automatically until you cancel from your account page. Unused coaching sessions never expire and can be refunded within six months of purchase, minus any multi-session discount, and Aced asks you to cancel or reschedule at least 24 hours ahead.
interviewing.io: its FAQ says that if you're unhappy with your interview, it will issue a full refund. Because you pay per session, there's no subscription to cancel.
Who each one fits
Aced fits you if you're preparing for a PM, TPM, design, data or finance interview; you want lessons and company guides as well as practice; you'll prep for several months, where the $12 annual rate for Pro is hard to beat; or you want people to practice with at a flat price. It fits less well if you need judgment from someone who hires at your target company, since a peer may not have that and coaching costs $200 to $249 a session.
interviewing.io fits you if you're an experienced software, ML or front-end engineer, or an engineering manager, with a big-tech onsite in the next few weeks; you want to know how a real interviewer would level you; or anonymity helps you perform. It fits less well if you're not in engineering, need volume on a budget, or want video practice.
A third option: CoPilot Interview
CoPilot Interview fills the gap between them: cheap, daily spoken reps. It's a desktop app for Windows 10+ and macOS 12+. Its Mock Interview builds the interview from your résumé and the job description, lets you pick the level, 3, 5 or 8 questions and a mix of behavioral, technical, system design and coding questions, reads each question aloud and scores your spoken answer out of 10 with what to fix and a model answer, then gives you a report card. It has no courses and no human interviewers.
| Free option | Paid from | Practice with | Refund | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CoPilot Interview | Best choice for job-specific practice: 15 minutes every day, all four modes, no card or signup | Best choice for a short search: $14.99/mo Standard (sale; regular $19.99); hour packs from $5.99 | An AI interviewer, from your résumé and the job description | 14 days on the first payment of a new subscription, if under 30 minutes of live session time used |
| Aced (formerly Exponent) | Basic: 5 peer mocks a month | Pro $79/mo, or $12/mo billed annually | Peers; paid coaches | Within 5 days of purchase |
| interviewing.io | AI Interviewer | From $179 a session | Senior engineers | Full refund if unhappy |
Disclosure: we make CoPilot Interview.
CoPilot Interview also has a live Candidate Mode for real calls. Follow the rules of the employer or assessment you're in — many people use it only to practice, which works on the free plan. For the single-tool comparisons, see the Exponent alternative guide and the interviewing.io alternative guide, or practice for free on the system design interview page.
Do your daily reps for free
Before you pay for a membership or a $179 mock, rehearse out loud. CoPilot Interview's browser mock interview has 113 real questions across 9 tracks, and the free desktop app scores each spoken answer out of 10 with what to fix.
Try a free AI mock interviewFAQ
Is Exponent or interviewing.io better?
They do different jobs. Exponent, now called Aced, is better for learning frameworks and for cheap volume through peer mock interviews, especially for product management. interviewing.io is better for a realistic technical round with a senior engineer who makes hiring decisions at a top company. Many engineers use Aced first and book interviewing.io before the onsite.
Is Exponent the same as Aced?
Yes. Exponent renamed itself Aced in a post published on August 17, 2026, and tryexponent.com now redirects to aced.io. The site footer still names Exponent Labs, LLC, and new Pramp sessions also run on Aced Practice.
Which is cheaper, Exponent or interviewing.io?
For volume, Exponent (Aced): Pro is $79 a month, or $12 a month billed annually, with unlimited peer mocks, as of October 2026. For expert time, interviewing.io: human mocks start at $179 a session, while an Aced coaching session costs $249 on a coach page we checked.
Do Exponent and interviewing.io have free options?
Yes. Aced's Basic plan is free with sample lessons, sample questions and 5 peer mocks a month. interviewing.io's AI Interviewer is free for coding and system design, along with more than 200 problems from Beyond Cracking the Coding Interview.
Which is better for system design interviews?
Both cover it. Aced has a System Design course and system design peer mocks, which suit learning. interviewing.io offers system design and ML system design mocks with senior engineers, plus a free AI Interviewer for system design, which suit testing yourself before an onsite.
Which is better for product manager interviews?
Exponent (Aced). Product management is one of its main course tracks and a peer mock track. interviewing.io's subjects are all engineering interviews, so PM candidates will not find a dedicated track there.