Hi, I’m Brian, a former senior software engineer and now software engineering mentor at Pathrise. I have worked with hundreds of software engineers to help them land their dream job. Check out my article where I compare Coderbyte vs Leetcode.
- Similarities and differences between Coderbyte vs Leetcode
- Topics offered on Coderbyte vs Leetcode
- Prices for Coderbyte vs Leetcode
- Ratings and reviews of Coderbyte vs Leetcode
- Alternatives to Coderbyte vs Leetcode
- How do Coderbyte and Leetcode compare to Pathrise?
Similarities and differences between Coderbyte and Leetcode
Coderbyte and Leetcode are both interview prep tools for software engineers. They host coding challenges and other resources to help users ace technical interviews.
Similarities
- Both programs are open to anyone with no formal admissions process.
- Coderbyte and Leetcode both feature hands-on coding questions, video solutions, and mock interviews.
- Similarly, users can sort questions by topic and skill level on Coderbyte and Leetcode. Hoever, Leetcode also allows paid users to sort questions by company to prepare for job interviews.
- Both platforms support in-browser coding windows so users can solve coding challenges directly on their website in dozens of programming languages.
- Students can complete coding challenges and contests.
- Their forums and discussion boards are extremely active, with thousands of users who share solutions, questions, and discussion questions.
- Finally, both programs host free content, but require a membership for full access.
Differences
- Companies sometimes interview Leetcode users who perform well in contests, while many companies use Coderbyte as their primary assessment tool for technical screenings and remote interviews.
- Coderbyte offers free 1-week starter courses that teach students the fundamentals of JavaScript, Ruby, Python, and algorithms. On the other hand, Leetcode focuses on interview prep, with no crash courses available.
- Leetcode users can sort coding questions by specific companies. Likewise, Coderbyte curates entire interview prep kits for companies like Google and Microsoft.
- Coderbyte users get custom personalized improvement recommendations, predictive interview success scores, and detailed progress reports. Although Leetcode users can compete in contests, the program is not especially personalized.
Topics offered on Coderbyte and Leetcode
Coderbyte and Leetcode help aspiring software engineers prepare for technical interviews by hosting practice questions on a variety of software topics, including:
- String
- Arrays
- Binary search
- Hash tables
- Linked lists
- Trees
- Prime numbers
- Breadth first search
While both platforms offer detailed video solutions that explain key concepts, Coderbyte hosts week long starter courses to help students learn new software skills. Leetcode focuses on problems and contests to sharpen existing skills, not teach users new software skills.
Prices for Coderbyte and Leetcode
Coderbyte hosts 11+ free coding challenges and starter course videos. Free users also get access to contests and partial access to their week long starter courses. For full access, users need to pay $35 per month or $150 annually. But, users can also make a 1-time payment of $29 for a 14-day plan or pay $79 for a 90-day plan. Paid subscribers get access to 300+ coding challenges, 1,000,000+ user solutions, detailed video solutions, mock interview opportunities, and official interview prep materials from top tech companies like Amazon and Facebook.
Leetcode offers thousands of software problems, 10 digital “playgrounds” to build software projects, and an active discussion board with thousands of members for free. Both free and paid users earn rewards as they participate in contests and sharpen their technical interview skills. Plus, companies can sponsor these contests and even hire top performers. Their in-browser playground coding window supports 14+ popular programming languages and allows users to write, test, and debug software projects in real time.
Premium Leetcode users pay $35 per month or just $159 annually for problem sets based on real company questions, grouped together by company. They host over 200 questions for Google alone. Other Premium content includes access to detailed video solutions, a debugger, priority judging for contests, unlimited “playgrounds” to build software, and mock interviews.
Ratings and reviews of Coderbyte and Leetcode
Coderbyte has mostly positive reviews. The platform is rated 4.5/5 stars on G2, where users described it as an effective tool for both hiring and interview practice. In addition, it is listed among the top coding challenges of 2020 on Medium, where users appreciated the mix of officially curated and user-submitted solutions. Their in-depth video solutions were also a big hit. However, some people were confused by how long they should spend on challenges. Users noted that they could spend anywhere from 5 minutes to 2 hours writing a solution with no clear timing guidelines.
Reviewers on Capterra loved that the platform was personalized with “good metrics for feedback.” However, some felt memberships weren’t worth paying for as “solutions to all of the problems provided in this platform can be found on Google.” Many Capterra reviewers also described the platform as “easy to use” and “easy to set up.” Others were impressed by the “good variety of challenges” available, appreciating that the platform offers “support for multiple languages” in their accessible coding window. Overall, Coderbyte users seem satisfied with the practical challenges, detailed solutions, and personalized feedback.
Leetcode reviews
Leetcode does not have too many reviews, but the platform is very popular. Users on Quora praised Leetcode for their thorough and well-organized questions, especially since they can sort challenges by specific companies. Their detailed solutions and bustling discussion board were also big hits. Users appreciated the “straight to the point problem statements” that made challenges accessible and engaging. Their hands-on platform was also popular.Users liked that the coding window “runs the correct solution too so you can immediately know if yours is right or wrong.”
However, one user felt their company organized challenge option “isn’t that useful” and was concerned that it “gives the false impression that people can just memorize all those specific questions once they get an interview with X company.” Overall though, users were very satisfied with Leetcode’s massive library of well-organized coding problems with thorough solutions.
Alternatives to Coderbyte and Leetcode
If you decide not to use Coderbyte or Leetcode, there are a good number of alternative resources aspiring software engineers can turn to for interview prep:
- The study tool Interview Cake was created by a former Google software engineer to help aspiring software engineers ace their technical interviews. Their full course teaches technical skills, behavioral interview strategies, new approaches to thinking about interviews, and lots of technical interview hacks. Students complete hands-on challenges throughout the course. Learn more about Interview Cake in our review.
- Similarly, Codebasil hosts coding interview questions written by experienced software engineers at top tech companies like Amazon, Apple, and Facebook
- Another popular prep tool for software engineering interviews is AlgoExpert. Their platform hosts 115 hand-picked technical interview questions, 70+ hours of video solutions, assessments, and even a crash course on data structures. Users can also participate in mock interviews and get formal certificates for their resumes.
- The community-created Codewars platform hosts free technical interview challenges uploaded by users. Like Leetcode, their program features a bustling community forum and an in-browser coding window where users can write, test, and debug in dozens of programming languages.
- Aspiring software engineers looking for fun, engaging platforms can check out CodinGame and CodeSignal. These interview prep tools turn software practice problems into arcade-style games.
More alternatives
- Similar to Leetcode’s corporate-style challenges, the free platform CodeKata hosts coding challenges based on problems software engineers face in a real corporate environment. They even mimic specific requests from marketing or sales teams.
- Aspiring software engineers who want casual practice can subscribe to Daily Coding Problem for 1 technical interview problem every day. Not only are the challenges free, but they also come with detailed solutions.
- People seeking mock interviews can check out Interviewing.io. Their platform connects users with software engineers at top tech companies for realistic mock interviews and thorough feedback. Read more about Interviewing.io in our review.
- Similarly, Gainlo pairs users with software engineers for mock interviews and immediate feedback. Their program simulates the real interview environment and tailors the experience to the role users are applying for.
- The interview prep platform Pramp pairs aspiring software engineers for mock interviews. Their program is completely free.
How do Coderbyte and Leetcode compare to Pathrise?
Coderbyte and Leetcode are online platforms that help software engineers prepare for technical interviews. While they both host coding challenges with detailed solutions, Coderbyte also offers short courses, interview kits for top tech companies, and greater personalization.
Pathrise also puts a great deal of emphasis on technical interview preparation through workshops, pair programming, and 1-on-1 sessions. However, as a full service organization, we help with all phases of the job search. Fellows in our program work closely with mentors on resume optimization, cold emailing, behavioral interviewing, and salary negotiation as well. So far, our experienced mentors have already helped 800+ students and professionals land great tech jobs.
Fellows in the Pathrise program are encouraged to use prep platforms like Coderbyte or Leetcode for extra practice so they go into technical interviews with total confidence. We also have confidence in fellows, offering a 9% income share agreement (ISA) so they only pay after they land a job. On average, fellows land a job in just 3-5 months.
Pathrise is a career accelerator that helps people land their dream job in tech through mentoring and technical training. Fellows in our program can see their interview scores double and their application responses triple. If you are interested in working 1-on-1 with any of our mentors to optimize your job search, become a Pathrise fellow.
Apply today.
