LeetCode alternatives
Mark Dickie · October 2026
Where to practise each kind of interview round, and how each tool charges
The short version
Pick the tool by the round you're about to sit, not by the tool's reputation. LeetCode is still the right place for timed algorithm rounds, and the large companies still run them. For system design, frontend, questions on your stack and mock interviews with a person, there are tools built for each, and several of them charge once instead of renewing every month.
Every price below was checked on the vendor's own site on 5 October 2026. Several were sale prices that day, and I've marked those.
I run Tarmac, one of the tools in the stack-questions section. Weigh what follows with that in mind.
Do companies still ask LeetCode questions in 2026?
The big ones do. Interviewing.io, which sells mock interviews, surveyed interviewers in 2025 and reported that "of the 52 respondents from FAANG, ZERO said that their company has moved away from algorithmic questions". The founders of Hello Interview, another prep company, wrote in The Pragmatic Engineer that "LeetCode 'hard' problems" at Google had gone from rare to normal.
Across all employers the picture is more mixed. CoderPad, which sells interview software, surveyed more than 650 hiring teams for its State of Tech Hiring 2026. It found 43% still rely on algorithm results, 38% use system design, 38% use simulations of real work and 30% use pair programming. Every one of these sources sells something to engineers or to the people hiring them. None of them is neutral, so weigh each against what its publisher sells.
What it means in practice: if the company is large and well known, expect an algorithm round and practise for it. If it's smaller, ask the recruiter. The round may be a pairing session on code that looks like the team's own, and LeetCode won't prepare you for that.
Alternatives for algorithm rounds
| Tool | What you get | How you pay |
|---|---|---|
| LeetCode Premium | The largest problem set, company tags, timed simulations, code judged against tests | Subscription: $35 a month or $159 a year |
| NeetCode Pro | A shorter, ordered problem list with a video walkthrough for each | $297 once for life, or $119 for a year with auto-renew off by default (both sale prices) |
| AlgoExpert | A curated set with video explanations, bundled with its system design and frontend courses | $119 for a year of the bundle (sale price). Doesn't renew automatically, and its FAQ says it doesn't refund |
NeetCode suits someone who wants to be told which problems to do in which order. LeetCode suits someone who already knows the patterns and wants volume, or questions tagged to one company.
Alternatives for system design rounds
| Tool | What you get | How you pay |
|---|---|---|
| Hello Interview | Written system design and low-level design guides, an AI tutor and feedback on your answers. Its mock interviews with people ended on 31 May 2026 | $47 for a month, $79 for a year or $279 for life (sale prices). The month and year don't renew |
| Educative | The Grokking courses and the rest of its catalogue; higher plans add AI mock interviews | Subscription from $59 a month or $139 a year, renewing |
| AlgoExpert | SystemsExpert, inside the bundle above | As above |
For a mid-level role, a design round usually asks you to build something ordinary that has to cope with load, such as a URL shortener or a rate limiter. Work through a few whole designs before going deep on any one technology. Tarmac's system design questions cover the individual decisions those designs turn on, such as caching and consistency.
Alternatives for frontend rounds
GreatFrontEnd is the one tool here built for frontend interviews: JavaScript functions, UI components and frontend system design, with your code run against tests. It sells subscriptions from one month to one year and a lifetime plan paid once, priced in your local currency, so check the figure it shows you.
For React questions with answers marked on the spot, Tarmac has React interview questions, JavaScript and TypeScript.
Mock interviews with a person
| Tool | What you get | How you pay |
|---|---|---|
| interviewing.io | Anonymous mock interviews with engineers from large tech companies, with written feedback; an AI interviewer that is free | From $179 per session, refunded if you're unhappy |
| Aced (formerly Exponent, now also running Pramp) | Peer mock interviews with other candidates and courses; the top plan adds AI mock interviews | 5 peer mocks a month free. Pro is $79 a month, or $12 a month billed yearly, renewing |
A paid session with an experienced interviewer is the closest thing to the real round, and it's the most expensive hour on this page. It's worth it once you can solve problems alone and need to practise doing it while someone watches.
Alternatives for questions on your stack
Many rounds aren't puzzles at all. They're questions on what the ad names, such as how React decides to re-render or what a Postgres query plan tells you. LeetCode doesn't cover this, and it's where Tarmac fits.
Tarmac has 9,302 questions across 76 areas, each fact-checked and reviewed by a person. Answers are marked as you go, and coding questions run your code against tests. Paste a job ad at gettarmac.com/practice and it picks a quiz from the skills that ad asks for. The guide to prep from a job ad has the method and the other tools that do this.
Some areas readers ask about: databases and SQL, Kubernetes, AI engineering, machine learning and behavioural questions. For what each level gets asked, see the senior software engineer guide.
Which interview prep sites charge once instead of a subscription?
| Tool | One payment | Renews |
|---|---|---|
| Tarmac | $19 for a month, $49 for 3 months or $129 for a year | Never. Every plan stops on its own |
| NeetCode Pro | $297 for life | The $119 year has auto-renew off by default |
| Hello Interview | $279 for life | The month and year don't renew |
| AlgoExpert | $119 for a year | Doesn't renew |
| GreatFrontEnd | A lifetime plan, in local currency | Its subscriptions renew |
| InterviewPal | $29 for life | No subscription |
| interviewing.io | Per session, from $179 | No subscription |
| LeetCode Premium | None | Subscription |
| Educative | None | Renews |
| Aced | None | Renews |
A one-payment plan matters most during a job search, because a search ends. Once you've signed, a renewing plan keeps charging until you remember to cancel it.
Sources
- Interviewing.io, How is AI changing interview processes?, 2025.
- Evan King and Stefan Mai, The reality of tech interviews, The Pragmatic Engineer, 2025.
- CoderPad, State of Tech Hiring 2026.
- Prices and features from each vendor's own pages, linked in the tables, read 5 October 2026: LeetCode, NeetCode, AlgoExpert and its purchasing FAQ, Hello Interview, Educative, GreatFrontEnd, interviewing.io, Aced, InterviewPal.