What it is
An official LeetCode study plan of 150 problems, chosen as classic technical interview questions and grouped by topic. LeetCode positions it as a three-month-plus plan, which works out at roughly ten to twelve weeks of consistent practice, and it mixes easy, medium and hard problems deliberately rather than ramping strictly by difficulty.
Because it lives inside LeetCode, progress tracking is built in: solved problems are marked against the plan without you keeping a spreadsheet.
What it covers
Topic groups rather than patterns. Arrays and strings come first, then the usual progression through two pointers, sliding window, hashing, intervals, stacks, linked lists, trees, graphs, backtracking, divide and conquer, dynamic programming and bit manipulation. The emphasis is coverage of the question types that recur across companies, not teaching you a mental model for each pattern.
How it differs from NeetCode 150
They are the same size and they overlap substantially, so the difference is not the problems. It is the sequencing and the intent.
| Top Interview 150 | NeetCode 150 | |
|---|---|---|
| Maintained by | LeetCode | NeetCode (one creator) |
| Organising idea | Topic coverage for interview readiness | Patterns, taught in a deliberate order |
| Order matters | Not much; work it in any order | Yes, the ordering is a large part of the value |
| Video solutions | Community solutions and discussion | A video walkthrough per problem |
| Progress tracking | Built into LeetCode | On neetcode.io |
| Typical timeline | About 10 to 12 weeks | About 6 to 10 weeks |
| Best for | Breadth before an onsite, when patterns are already familiar | Building pattern intuition from a lower base |
Who should pick it
- Engineers who already know the patterns and want a broad sweep before an onsite, rather than being taught two pointers again.
- People who live in LeetCode already, because the tracking and the discussion threads are in the same place as the problems.
- Candidates with a long runway, since ten to twelve weeks is a real commitment and rushing it wastes the breadth it offers.
Who should not
- Anyone with under a month. No 150-problem list finishes in three weeks at a sustainable pace. Use the Blind 75 instead.
- Anyone new to patterns. The topic grouping assumes you can already recognise when a problem wants a sliding window. NeetCode 150's ordering is built for exactly that gap.
- People who need video explanations for most problems, which is NeetCode's strength rather than LeetCode's.
How to work it without wasting the breadth
Give each problem a genuine twenty-five minutes before reading the editorial, and write down which topic group each failure belonged to. After every group, go back and re-solve the two problems you found hardest, from scratch. The plan's weakness is that topic grouping lets you drift through on recognition without building recall, and re-solving is the cheapest fix.
If a group exposes a pattern you simply do not know, stop the sweep and go read about that pattern properly. Our 15 LeetCode patterns guide is built for that, and the list comparison covers how the four main lists trade off against each other.
Where CoPilot Interview fits
Disclosure: this is our site and we sell an interview assistant. Finishing 150 problems prepares you for the questions you practised; it does not help when an interviewer asks a variant you have not seen, or follows up on complexity while you are still thinking. CoPilot Interview is a native Windows and macOS app that puts suggested answers on your own screen in about four seconds, across coding, system design and behavioral rounds, with a permanent free tier and no credit card.
Frequently asked questions
How long does Top Interview 150 take?
LeetCode frames it as a three-month-plus plan, which is roughly ten to twelve weeks at a consistent pace. At three to five problems a day most people land in that range. It is longer than the usual six to ten weeks for the NeetCode 150, partly because the mix includes more hard problems without a ramp.
Is Top Interview 150 better than NeetCode 150?
Neither is better in general; they suit different starting points. Top Interview 150 is a broad sweep for people who already recognise the patterns, and it tracks progress inside LeetCode. NeetCode 150 is sequenced to teach the patterns and has a video walkthrough for every problem, which matters more if you are building intuition from a lower base.
Is Top Interview 150 free?
The study plan itself is a free LeetCode feature, and progress tracking is included. Some individual problems on LeetCode require a paid subscription, so coverage of the full list depends on your LeetCode plan rather than on the plan itself.
Should I do Top Interview 150 or Blind 75?
It comes down to time. If you have under a month, the Blind 75 is the only one of the two that finishes, and it touches every major pattern. If you have ten weeks or more and already know the patterns, Top Interview 150 gives you considerably more breadth.
Does Top Interview 150 cover system design?
No. It is a coding problem set. System design is a separate round with a different preparation path, which is worth planning for explicitly if your loop includes one, because no amount of algorithm practice prepares you for a conversation about trade-offs.
Can I work Top Interview 150 out of order?
Yes, and that is one of its advantages over NeetCode 150. The topic grouping is not a teaching sequence, so you can start with your weakest areas. If you do jump around, keep a note of which groups you have genuinely finished, since the built-in tracker shows problems solved rather than topics mastered.
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