+1 (844) 755 8378
Did you know that organizations adopting skills-based hiring tools have reported up to a 50% reduction in time-to-hire.
As a result the demand for reliable skills assessment platforms has grown exponentially and companies are gravitating toward providers with proven track records of success.
Testlify and Sova have emerged leading skills assessment platforms in the market, each offering comprehensive pre-employment assessment capabilities designed to enhance the hiring process for organizations worldwide.
However, choosing between the two can be quite a challenge. In this article, we will be drawing comparisons between the two platforms to help you determine which platform best fits your hiring needs.
Summarise this post with:
What is Testlify?
Testlify is a leading AI-powered skills assessment platform that empowers organizations to quickly identify the best candidates worldwide and make more objective hiring decisions.
How does Testlify work
Testlify is designed to optimize your hiring process. Our conversational AI powered interview & talent assessment platform enables recruiters to assess candidates’ skills with precision, empowering you to make well-informed decisions. Here’s how Testlify works:
1. Create tailored assessments
Recruiters can create tailored assessments by choosing from a library of 3000+ pre-built tests or leveraging AI to generate custom questions. The platform supports diverse question formats, including multiple-choice, open-ended and even coding challenges.
Furthermore the platform supports the creation of conversational AI-powered interviews that simulates on-the-job scenarios across chat, voice, and video formats.
2. Send candidate invitations
Once an assessment is ready, recruiters can invite candidates via email. Candidates do not need to create an account; they can access the assessment directly through the invitation link, ensuring a smooth and user-friendly experience.
3. Advanced anti-cheating and proctoring measures
To maintain the integrity of the assessment process, Testlify incorporates advanced proctoring features. These include webcam monitoring, screen recording, browser lockdowns, and location tracking, ensuring that assessments are completed honestly and without external assistance.
4. AI-Powered scoring and analytics
Testlify employs AI to automatically score assessments, providing recruiters with detailed insights into candidates’ performance. The platform offers comprehensive reports that break down scores by skill, question type, and overall performance, facilitating informed decision-making.
5. Integration with applicant tracking systems (ATS)
To streamline the hiring workflow, Testlify integrates seamlessly with over 100 ATS platforms, including Greenhouse, Lever, and Recruitee. This allows you to effortlessly import candidates’ profiles, compare assessment results and make data driven hiring decisions.
6. Data compliance
Testlify is GDPR compliant and prioritizes the security of your recruitment data. It features advanced admin management, strong security integrations, rigorous data governance, comprehensive audits, and robust privacy protections, all backed by SOC 2 Type II, AICPA, and ISO 27001 certifications.
What is Sova?
Sova is a talent-assessment platform offering a suite of hiring tools for skills-based recruitment. It provides a library of scientifically validated tests including cognitive, aptitude, and psychometric assessments tailored for volume hiring.
In addition to its skills tests, Sova offers one-way and live video interview modules with structured questions and optional AI-assisted scoring.
How Sova works?
Sova combines expert-designed assessments with enterprise grade analytics to help organizations identify and hire the right candidates. Here’s how the platform works:
1. Create custom assessments
Choose from the platform’s selection of pre-made tests that are fully customizable, allowing you to easily add, remove, or modify questions.
2. Invite candidates
Sova plugs right into your ATS enabling you to invite candidates to assessments, track results, and automate progress through hiring stages effortlessly.
3. Automated scoring
Automatically progress candidates through hiring stages and outcomes based on predefined rules thereby saving time, reducing manual effort, and ensuring a consistent assessment process.
4. Reporting and analytics
Once candidates complete their assessment, recruiters can access in-depth reports on their performance to make objective, data-driven decisions. You can also send candidates personalized feedback and auto-generate custom candidate feedback reports that align with your organisation’s identity.
5. Data compliance
Sova is compliant with GDPR, CCPA, SOC 2, and ISO 27001, ensuring candidate data is managed securely, transparently, and responsibly at every stage of the recruitment process.
Testlify vs. Sova feature comparison
Choosing the right hiring platform can transform your business. That’s why our in-depth, feature comparison of Testlify and Sova highlights the key features you need to make the right choice.
| Features | Testlify | Sova |
|---|---|---|
| Test Library | ||
| Role-specific tests | ✓ | ✗ |
| Coding tests | ✓ | ✗ |
| Cognitive ability tests | ✓ | ✓ |
| Programming tests | ✓ | ✗ |
| Number of programming languages supported | 45+ | ✗ |
| Situational judgment tests | ✓ | ✓ |
| Typing test | ✓ | ✗ |
| Software skills tests | ✓ | ✗ |
| Non-technical tests | ✓ | ✓ |
| Psychometric tests | ✓ | ✓ |
| Personality tests | ✓ | ✓ |
| Motivation test | ✓ | ✗ |
| Assessment templates | ✓ | ✗ |
| Custom assessments creation | ✓ | ✓ |
| Assessments | ||
| Custom assessment builder | ✓ | ✗ |
| Custom coding questions | ✓ | ✗ |
| Multiple-choice questions | ✓ | ✓ |
| Short answer questions | ✓ | ✗ |
| Long answer questions | ✓ | ✗ |
| Rating questions | ✓ | ✗ |
| Date questions | ✓ | ✗ |
| Fill in the blanks | ✓ | ✗ |
| Microsoft Word/Excel/PowerPoint questions | ✓ | ✗ |
| Google Docs/Slides/Sheets questions | ✓ | ✗ |
| Qualifier questions | ✓ | ✗ |
| File upload questions | ✓ | ✗ |
| Assessments curated by I/O psychologists | ✓ | ✓ |
| Quality check | ✓ | ✓ |
| Interview | ||
| Audio interviewing (Voice AI) | ✓ | ✗ |
| One-way audio interview | ✓ | ✓ |
| Video interviewing (Video AI) | ✓ | ✗ |
| One-way video interview | ✓ | ✓ |
| Chat simulation (Chat AI) | ✓ | ✗ |
| Custom interview questions creation | ✓ | – |
| Candidate Experience | ||
| Customizable email templates | ✓ | ✓ |
| Mobile-friendly | ✓ | ✓ |
| Candidate support | ✓ | ✓ |
| Welcome video | ✓ | ✓ |
| Average assessment length | 40-60 minutes | 5-25 minutes |
| Assessment attempts | Customizable | – |
| Anti-cheating Features | ||
| Session recording | ✓ | ✓ |
| Snapshot capturing | ✓ | ✗ |
| Mouse tracking | ✓ | ✓ |
| Disabled copy-paste | ✓ | ✗ |
| Microphone and camera access | ✓ | ✓ |
| Location access | ✓ | ✓ |
| IP address tracking | ✓ | ✓ |
| Question-level activity logs | ✓ | ✓ |
| Full-screen mode | ✓ | ✗ |
| Force full-screen mode | ✓ | ✗ |
| Tab proctoring | ✓ | ✓ |
| AI assistance detection | ✓ | ✗ |
| Restrict multiple monitors | ✓ | ✗ |
| Randomization of question sequence | ✓ | ✓ |
| Time limit on tests | ✓ | ✓ |
| Screen sharing | ✓ | ✓ |
| Dual camera proctoring | ✓ | ✗ |
| Honesty Agreement | ✓ | ✓ |
| Reporting and Analytics | ||
| Detailed reports | ✓ | ✓ |
| Public link to share reports and scorecards | ✓ | ✗ |
| Exportable/downloadable reports | ✓ | ✓ |
| Recruiting analytics | ✓ | ✓ |
| Candidate benchmarking | ✓ | ✗ |
| Completion rate and response insights | ✓ | ✗ |
| Enterprise Friendly | ||
| White label | ✓ | ✓ |
| Custom branding | ✓ | ✓ |
| ATS integrations | 100+ | 11+ |
| User, role, and access management | ✓ | ✓ |
| Bulk candidate invite | ✓ | ✓ |
| Share public link invite to candidates | ✓ | ✗ |
| Candidate pipeline management | ✓ | ✓ |
| Internationalization | ✓ | – |
| Campus hiring support | ✓ | ✗ |
| Dedicated account manager | ✓ | ✓ |
| Security and Compliance | ||
| GDPR | ✓ | ✓ |
| CCPA | ✓ | ✓ |
| SOC2 | ✓ | ✓ |
| ISO 27001 | ✓ | ✓ |
| Customer Support | ||
| 24/7 support | ✓ | ✗ |
| On-call support | ✓ | ✓ |
| Email support | ✓ | ✓ |
| Product demo | ✓ | ✓ |
| Training & onboarding tour | ✓ | ✓ |
Testlify vs. Sova: Test library & test types
Testlify offers unique conversational AI-powered interviews (chat, voice, video), along with over 3,000 tests covering 4,500+ job roles across 50+ industries. Test types include:
- Cognitive ability tests (e.g., problem-solving, logical reasoning, attention to detail)
- Role-specific tests (e.g., tailored assessments for various job roles)
- Blue collar hiring tests (e.g., practical skill assessments for blue-collar roles)
- Programming tests (e.g., coding, algorithm design, technical proficiency)
- Software skills tests (e.g., Microsoft Office, CRM systems, other software tools)
- Psychometric tests (e.g., personality traits, emotional intelligence, behavioral tendencies)
- Situational judgment tests (e.g., decision-making, conflict resolution, judgment in real-life situations)
- Live coding tests (e.g., real-time coding challenges and assessments)
- Typing tests (e.g., speed, accuracy, data entry proficiency)
- Language tests (e.g., proficiency in speaking and writing specific languages)
Sova’s library emphasizes scientifically-validated, psychometric and aptitude tests. It offers standard question-based assessments such as:
- Personality questionnaires
- Motivation questionnaires
- Competency questionnaires
- Logical reasoning tests
- Numerical reasoning tests
- Verbal reasoning tests
- Situation judgement tests
- Checking & accuracy tests
- Learnability assessments
Verdict: Testlify offers a broader range of test types and an expansive library that covers highly technical and non-technical roles alike, giving it an edge for organizations that need a one-stop-shop for diverse assessments.
Sova, on the other hand, focuses on depth and scientific rigor in a more curated set of assessments, which is excellent for enterprise use cases requiring validated psychometrics.
Testlify vs. Sova: Custom question types
Testlify allows employers to create tailored assessments with 15+ custom question types, including scenario-based MCQs and AI-powered interviews.
- Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)
- Open-ended and descriptive questions
- AI-powered Chat simulation
- AI-powered Video interview
- AI-powered Audio interview
- Custom coding questions and live coding tests
- Fill-in-the-blanks
- File upload questions
- Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides questions
- Microsoft office questions
- Rating, number, and date questions
- Qualifier questions
Sova also recognizes the importance of customization, especially for its enterprise clientele. The platform supports tailored assessments; in fact, Sova’s highest-tier offering emphasizes fully customized solutions.
Users can work with Sova to blend different test components into one assessment or even develop custom content.
For example, the Advanced plan includes features like Tailored assessments and Custom blended assessments, indicating that Sova can incorporate an organization’s own questions or adjust the weightings and content of an assessment to align with specific competencies.
Verdict: Testlify shines in its self-service flexibility even on lower-tier plans, users can add a variety of custom questions and assemble tests on their own with ease. This makes Testlify ideal for teams that want to quickly tweak or build assessments in-house.
Sova provides customization too, especially at enterprise level, ensuring assessments align perfectly with a company’s needs, though deep customization might involve working with Sova’s team.
Overall, Testlify’s more accessible and DIY approach to custom questions gives it an advantage for most recruiters.
Testlify vs. Sova: White-labeling capabilities
Testlify offers white-labelling capabilities, allowing companies to fully customize the platform with their own branding. This includes adding logos, personalizing emails, and modifying the test interface to best fit the look and feel of your own company.
A standout feature is the ability to personalize invitation and rejection emails. Instead of sending generic messages, companies can craft communications that reflect their brand’s tone and values, leaves a lasting impression on candidates.
Sova places a significant emphasis on delivering a premium candidate experience, and part of that is robust white-labeling and branding options built into the platform. In Sova, users can custom-brand the entire assessment experience from the candidate welcome pages to the assessment interfaces and even the reports that get generated.
You can apply your organization’s logo, imagery, and corporate color schemes throughout the platform so that candidates consistently see your brand.
Sova allows embedding rich media and customized text in candidate instructions or introduction pages, meaning you can, for example, show a welcome video from your CEO or include branded graphics in the test introduction.
Verdict: Both Testlify and Sova offer extensive white-labeling capabilities, enabling you to deliver assessments under your own brand umbrella. You really can’t go wrong with either here as both platforms let you customize logos, colors, and candidate communications to fit your company identity.
This level of personalization enhances the overall candidate journey, making assessments feel like a natural extension of your organization’s hiring process.
Testlify vs. Sova: Conversational interviews
Testlify leverages conversational AI to simulate on-the-job scenarios across chat, voice, and video formats, bringing real-world context into the hiring process.
- Chat AI: Assess problem-solving, written communication, and critical thinking by engaging candidates in realistic text-based scenarios, like handling a billing dispute or calming an angry customer.
- Voice AI: Evaluate verbal fluency, tone, and persuasion by having candidates respond to role-specific prompts, such as those for sales or customer support.
- Video AI: AI avatars guide candidates through complex job scenarios in asynchronous video interviews, allowing employers to analyze non-verbal communication, confidence levels, and emotional intelligence.
Sova’s approach to interviews is more traditional in nature. The platform includes a Video Interviews module as one of its core product offerings.
With Sova, recruiters can set up one-way video interviews (where candidates record answers to preset questions) as well as two-way (live) video interviews that can be conducted and recorded through the platform.
Where Sova adds a modern twist is through AI video interview scoring: in its Advanced tier, Sova offers automated AI-driven scoring of video interviews.
This implies that Sova’s AI can analyze a candidate’s recorded video responses and evaluate aspects like speech content, sentiment, or other indicators to provide a score or insight.
Verdict: Testlify support for conversational AI powered interviews provides a more immersive assessment experience, making it ideal for assessing individuals for roles that demand strong communication skills and real-world problem-solving abilities.
Sova certainly has a capable video interviewing tool ideal for structured one-way or live interviews. But in terms of creating realistic job simulations without needing to have a human interviewer present, Testlify’s conversational AI interviews make it the more forward-thinking choice.
Testlify vs. Sova: Anti-cheating & proctoring features
Testlify employs advanced anti-cheating and remote proctoring features ensure that every assessment reflects real skill and genuine effort. The features include:
- Face detection
- AI identity verification
- Webcam snapshots
- Full-screen detection
- Dual camera proctoring
- Copy/paste tracking
- Mouse-out tracking
- IP proctoring
- Live video monitoring
- Question randomization
- Honesty Agreements
- Question-level activity logs
- AI assistance detection
- Screen recording
Sova employs a robust range of anti-cheating features to closely monitor candidate activity throughout assessments, flagging suspicious behavior and areas of concern for further review. The features include:
- Browser and mouse tracking
- Id verification
- Copy-paste tracking
- IP address & device checks
- Plagiarism detection
- Screen proctoring
- Question randomization
- Timed tests
- Item banks
- Applicant agreement
Verdict: Testlify is the stronger option here. The platform comes with an extensive suite of remote proctoring features, including dual-camera proctoring, AI assistance detection and detailed activity logs.
While Sova includes essential proctoring tools like copy-paste tracking and webcam/screen monitoring, its capabilities are more limited in scope compared to Testlify.
For high-stakes assessments or large-scale hiring, Testlify delivers greater control, visibility, and assurance against misconduct.
Testlify vs. Sova: Integrations
Testlify integrates seamlessly with 100+ ATS platforms and HRMS, allowing you to effortlessly import candidates’ profiles, compare assessment results and make data driven hiring decisions.
Sova offers 11+ out-of-the-box integrations with major ATS platforms like Greenhouse and SAP SuccessFactors allowing you to send pre-hire assessments, measure results, and extend offers all from one platform.
Verdict: Testlify is built with integration in mind, offering seamless connectivity with over 100 Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) and third-party tools. This extensive compatibility makes it highly adaptable to diverse recruitment workflows.
In contrast, Sova supports a more limited set of 11+ integrations, which may pose challenges for organizations looking for broader system compatibility and end-to-end workflow automation.
Testlify vs. Sova: AI overviews
Testlify supports AI overviews, which provide a concise summary of a candidate’s overall performance in an assessment, highlighting strengths and areas for improvement to help recruiters quickly evaluate candidates.
Sova use of AI is centered more on assessment scoring (as discussed in video interviews) than on summarizing candidate performance. As of now, Sova does not feature an AI-generated overview or written summary of results in the way Testlify does.
Verdict: Testlify’s AI-generated overviews simplify the evaluation process by offering quick, actionable insights into candidate performance. Sova does not come with this feature, meaning recruiters will have to put in the extra effort to interpret assessment results.
Testlify vs. Sova: Reporting & insights
Testlify provides detailed analytics on candidate behavior, question-level insights, and benchmarking. You can visualize how candidates compare across roles and industries.
Furthermore candidate assessment reports can be easily shared with key decision-makers in PDF, Excel, or CSV formats, making it easier for them to make informed hiring decisions.
Sova provides comprehensive reporting and analytics designed to give a complete picture of each candidate. Once candidates complete their assessments, the hiring team can generate detailed individual reports.
Additionally, Sova offers the option to create candidate feedback reports, enabling recruiters to share valuable insights with candidates about their performance.
Verdict: Both Testlify and Sova deliver strong reporting and analytics capabilities that turn raw assessment data into meaningful insights for hiring decisions.
Common strengths include: comprehensive performance breakdowns, easy identification of top candidates, and the ability to share results with stakeholders in a digestible format.
Testlify offers more in terms of analytics depth and visualization. The platform’s reports incorporate AI insights and benchmarking charts that can be very compelling when making the case for a candidate or for refining your tests.
Testlify vs. Sova: Customer support
Testlify is known for its responsive and personalized customer support, provided by human agents across multiple channels. The platform offers dedicated onboarding for new customers and priority support for enterprise clients, ensuring a great user experience.
The Testlify team also welcomes customer feedback and have been noted to roll out improvements in response to customer needs.
In addition to live support, the platform also features a help center with documentation, FAQs, and best practice guides, so your team can self-serve answers to common questions.
Sova, catering to large enterprises, emphasizes a high-touch customer support model. From the outset, clients are typically onboarded with the help of Sova’s team. All Sova plans come with onboarding and support included and notably, even the Core plan provides a dedicated customer success manager for the client.
Verdict: Both Testlify and Sova offer robust, multi-channel customer support with priority assistance for enterprise clients. Each platform ensures a smooth user experience through responsive communication and helpful onboarding resources, making them equally reliable when it comes to customer support.
Testlify vs. Sova: Pricing plans
Testlify offers flexible pricing plans that scale with your business, providing everything from basic assessments for startups to advanced features for enterprise-level hiring.
- Starter plan: Ideal for early-stage startups, this plan offers access to a limited number of candidate credits per year and supports up to three user accounts. It’s designed to help small teams get started with skills-based hiring in a cost-effective way.
- Basic plan: This plan provides additional candidate credits, more user accounts, and expanded flexibility with a broader range of assessments, making it a great fit for growing businesses.
- Business & Premium plans: These plans are tailored for scaling and enterprise-level organizations. They include thousands of candidate credits annually, support for multiple users, and access to advanced features such as unlimited assessments, white-label branding, and priority support.
- Unlimited plan: For companies seeking unrestricted access, Testlify offers an unlimited plan at $75,000/year. This plan includes unlimited candidate credits and full platform functionality, ideal for large enterprises with ongoing, high-volume hiring needs.
Sova’s pricing is positioned at the enterprise level and is significantly higher, reflecting its comprehensive offering and target market:
- Core Plan: Designed for teams beginning their journey with skills-based hiring, the Core plan offers an all-in-one solution with pre-built assessments and reports. It includes unlimited candidates (subject to fair use), unlimited live roles, unlimited users, analytics dashboards, ATS integration, custom branding, onboarding, and dedicated support. Pricing starts at £2,000/month (billed annually) with a one-time onboarding fee of £4,600.
- Advanced / Custom Plan: Built for enterprises that need flexibility and scalability, the Custom plan gives you everything from Core plus advanced customization. This includes tailored and blended assessments, AI-powered video interview scoring, custom reporting, data extracts, integrations, and competency mapping. With premium support, this plan ensures the assessment process is fully aligned with your organization’s unique hiring needs. Pricing is available on request.
Verdict: The pricing difference between Testlify and Sova is stark. Testlify is much more cost-effective and transparent, offering plans that smaller and mid-sized businesses can afford and a trial to boot. Sova is considerably more expensive, aimed at companies that are ready to invest thousands per month in a hiring solution
For organizations on a tight budget or those who want to start small and grow, Testlify clearly has the advantage. It provides great value for the functionality and has the flexibility of lower tiers and free trials.
Sova’s pricing might be justified for large enterprises that will fully utilize its suite and require the enterprise-grade service, but even then, many will question if the additional cost yields commensurate benefits over solutions like Testlify.
Is Testlify a better alternative to Sova?
Testlify and Sova are both strong contenders in the skills assessment space, but which platform is better ultimately depends on your hiring goals, team structure, and candidate evaluation strategy. That said, Testlify emerges as the stronger alternative and here’s why:
- Broader test coverage: Testlify provides a much larger and more diverse test library, featuring over 3,000 assessments tailored to 5,000+ job roles across 50+ industries. Sova, while rooted in robust psychometric science, offers a more curated but narrower range of assessments focused on personality, motivation, cognitive, and situational judgment tests.
- Advanced conversational interviews: While Sova offers one-way and live video interviews, Testlify goes further with interactive chat, voice, and video interviews powered by conversational AI. This innovative approach provides a more immersive, real-world assessment experience and is well-suited for high-volume hiring, where recruiters need scalable yet meaningful ways to assess large candidate pools efficiently.
- Superior proctoring: While both platforms offer anti-cheating tools, Testlify goes further with advanced features like dual-camera proctoring, AI assistance detection, and detailed activity logs, making it more suitable for high-stakes or compliance-driven assessments.
- Extensive ATS integrations: Testlify supports 100+ ATS and HR tool integrations, giving it a clear advantage over Sova’s 11+ integrations. This makes Testlify more adaptable for teams that rely on integrated hiring pipelines and automated workflows.
Other best alternatives to Sova
| Feature | TestGorilla | Adaface | Vervoe | Mercer Mettl | HireVue | TestDome | Codility |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Test Library | 300+ | 500+ | 300+ | 400+ | 1000+ | 130+ | 1100+ |
| Custom Test Creation | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Automated Scoring | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Video Interviewing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Proctoring Options | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| ATS Integrations | 17+ | 9+ | 12+ | 16+ | 15+ | 6+ | 11+ |
| Reporting & Analytics | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Final thoughts
Both Testlify and Sova can elevate your hiring process, but the right choice depends on your organization’s priorities. Sova offers a well-established, content-rich platform with a broad test library, making it a dependable option for companies seeking a traditional skills assessment platform.
Testlify, on the other hand, represents the future of hiring. It goes beyond standard assessments to transform how you engage with candidates. With a vast test library, conversational AI-powered interviews, and advanced proctoring features, Testlify empowers you to identify top talent and make the right hiring decisions.
Book a demo with Testlify to explore how it can elevate your hiring strategy.
