How to practise for an interview with AI for free

You can do nearly all of your interview practice for free. Use a chatbot with a voice mode as the interviewer, one mock interview tool for a second opinion, and one real person for a final run. For most people with an interview coming up, that is enough. Job seekers ask about it in words like these:

“Does anyone else use ChatGPT to do fake interview prep? Ive seen someone talk about it I'm honestly not sure how to use the voice feature on it but I've used the chat and it helps me think out what I plan on saying”

Glassdoor Community

“What is a good ai mock interview platform? Final Round AI is incredibly expensive.”

Glassdoor Community

This page is about the days before the interview: which free tools are worth your time, prompts to copy, feedback that tells you something, a 7 day plan, and a shorter plan if the interview is tomorrow.

We make PiriPiri AI, a live interview assistant, and none of the practice tools below are ours. We read each tool’s own pages on October 31, 2026. We did not sign up for them or test them, so our picks are based on what each one offers on paper. Limits change, so check the page before you plan around one.

Which free AI interview practice tools are worth using?

Here is what each one gives you for free as of October 31, 2026. “Not stated” means the tool’s own pages do not say.

A chatbot with voice, for daily practice

ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude are general chatbots, so they know nothing about your interview until you tell them. That is also their strength. You can paste in the exact job post and your CV and ask for any round. None of the three publishes a clear number for free voice use, so keep a second one ready as a backup. Gems and Notebooks are not available during Gemini Live, so a setup saved in one will not come with you.

A mock interview tool, for a second opinion

Huru says every feature for job seekers costs nothing, including unlimited mock interviews, a full AI feedback report, a live AI interviewer and a library of more than 50,000 questions. On paper that is the biggest free offer here, so try it first. It is Huru’s own claim, and it does not state if you need to sign in.

Yoodli’s free Starter plan has live AI roleplays and feedback on recordings you upload, with no card. The catch is the limit, which is 5 sessions in your lifetime rather than 5 a month, and any session over 30 seconds counts. Save them for full mocks late in your plan. On this plan your session data may be used to improve the platform, so leave out anything private.

Interviews by AI gives you 3 questions a month, answered by audio or text, with instant AI feedback. That is too few for practice, but it works as an outside check on your hardest answer.

A real person, for pressure

Aced, which used to be Exponent and took over Pramp, has a free plan with 5 peer mocks a month. You meet another candidate on live video and take turns as the interviewer. You need an Aced account even if you used Pramp before, but no card. Sessions run at set times, shown in Pacific Time on its page, so book early in the week. Playing the interviewer helps too, because you hear how a vague answer sounds from the other side.

Study tools, for technical rounds

interviewing.io calls its AI Interviewer for coding and system design free, and its home page says more than 200 problems and 9 chapters from Beyond Cracking the Coding Interview are free too. The Blind 75 and NeetCode 150 tabs on NeetCode did not load when we checked, so we cannot say if those lists are free.

These build knowledge, but they do not make you talk, so pair them with a spoken mock. For a day-by-day coding schedule, see the one week coding interview guide.

One to skip, and one to ask about

We found no free plan for individuals at Big Interview, only a free course. One customer’s testimonial on its site says a university gives alumni free access, so your college career office may be worth a question.

Some live interview assistants also include a few free mocks. We cover those on our page about the best free AI interview assistant.

What happened to Google Interview Warmup?

The old Google page now redirects to a general tips article, and that article does not mention Warmup. We found no announcement from Google, so we cannot tell you what happened to it. If a list sends you there, use one of the tools above.

Where do paid tools add something?

Free covers most of what one job search needs, but paid tools earn their price in a few cases. Prices are as of October 31, 2026.

• Feedback from an experienced interviewer. Human mocks on interviewing.io start at $179. An experienced interviewer will notice things no chatbot or friend will. For a final round that really matters, this is the paid option that makes the most sense.
• More mocks once free limits run out. Yoodli Pro is $8 a month billed annually. Interviews by AI Pro is $9 a month for unlimited questions and resume upload. Aced Pro shows $12 a month, struck down from $79, and the billing term is not stated.
• Company question lists. LeetCode Premium is $35 a month or $159 a year and adds company-specific questions.
• A set path for a long search. NeetCode Pro is $119 a year or $297 for life, and opens more of its lists. Big Interview is $39 a month, $99 for 3 months or $299 for life, with a 30 day refund.

If you have one interview next week, you probably need none of these.

What prompts can you use to practise with a free chatbot?

Paste one of these into ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude and replace the words in square brackets. Each one asks for one question at a time, for follow ups, and for no feedback until the end. Without that last rule the chatbot stops to coach you after every answer, and the pressure is gone.

Before you paste your CV, take out your phone number, your address and anything confidential from past employers.

HR round

You are an HR recruiter hiring for [job title] at [company]. Run a 15 minute HR round with me.

Ask one question at a time and wait for my answer. Cover: tell me about yourself, why this company, why I am leaving my current job (or, if I am a fresher, why this field), strengths and weaknesses, expected salary, and notice period.

After each answer, ask one follow up question, the kind a real recruiter asks when an answer sounds vague or rehearsed. Do not give feedback or tips until I say "end interview".

Job post: [paste it here]
My CV: [paste it here]

Build your opening before you run this one, because it sets up the rest. The tell me about yourself guide shows how. For more questions to add, use our interview question lists.

Behavioural round

You are the hiring manager for [job title]. Ask me behavioural questions, one at a time, about conflict, failure, a tight deadline, taking ownership, and changing someone's mind.

After each answer, ask two follow up questions that test whether my story is real. Ask what I did, what the result was in numbers, and what I would change. If I say "we", ask what I did myself.

Do not praise me and do not coach me during the interview. Stay in character until I say "end interview".

My background: [three lines about your experience]

The follow ups are the point of this prompt. Most people can tell a tidy story once. Fewer can hold up when someone keeps asking what they did themselves.

Technical round

You are a senior [your field, such as backend developer, data analyst or accountant] interviewing me for [job title]. Ask me technical questions on [topic 1], [topic 2] and [topic 3].

Ask one question at a time. Start easy and get harder when I answer well. If I am wrong, do not give the answer. Ask a follow up question that shows me the gap.

When I say "end interview", list the topics I know well, the topics I only know on the surface, and each question I got wrong with the correct answer.

Act as a coding interviewer. Give me one [easy or medium] problem on [topic]. Do not show the solution.

I will restate the problem, explain my approach, and then write the code here. Ask why I chose this approach, what its time and space cost is, and what happens on one edge case I did not mention.

If my code has a bug, tell me which input breaks it and let me find the bug myself.

A chatbot can be wrong and still sound sure of itself, so check any technical correction against a real source before you learn it.

Practice for non-native English speakers

“My English is not fluent, as I don't have a habit of speaking frequently (but I can write pretty well) How do I improve before the interview?”

Quora

I am preparing for a job interview in English. English is not my first language. My level is [beginner, intermediate or good]. The job is [job title].

Ask me one common interview question at a time, in simple English. After each answer, do these things:
1. Tell me in one sentence what you understood me to say.
2. Show my answer with small corrections only, so it still sounds like me.
3. Name at most two mistakes that I repeat.
4. Give me one shorter, simpler way to say my main point, in words I would really use when speaking.
Then ask me to say that sentence again before you move on.

The first step is a useful test. If the chatbot’s one sentence does not match what you meant, a listener may have missed it too. Use this by voice if you can, because speaking is the habit you are building. A chatbot works from the words it heard, though, so it is a poor judge of your accent. For how you actually sound, ask a person.

How do you get feedback that is useful, not flattering?

Ask “how was my answer?” and a chatbot will usually find something kind to say. It feels good and teaches you very little. Ask instead for things it can only answer from your own words:

• Make it quote you. A comment without a quote could be about anyone.
• Ask what would get you rejected. It gets a sharper reply than “what could be better?”
• Take one fix at a time. Choose one thing to improve so you can remember it during the interview.
• Retest straight away. Answer the same question again and ask if that one habit changed, quoting the line that shows it.
• Test the score itself. Paste the same answer into a new chat and ask for a score again. If the number moves, you have learned how much to trust it.

Use this at the end of any mock:

End the interview. Review only what I actually said, and quote my words.

For each answer, score me from 1 to 5 on three things: did I answer the question that was asked, did I give specific facts, and could a listener follow it. Give one line of reason for each score.

Then tell me which answer would most likely get me rejected, and what a strict recruiter would write in their notes about it. Name the one habit I should fix first.

Do not praise anything unless you can quote it. Do not invent strengths. If you cannot judge something from what you have, such as my tone or body language, say so. Do not rewrite my answers.

If you ask a chatbot to rewrite an answer, tell it to use only facts you gave it and to mark any guess with [CHECK]. Otherwise it may add numbers and results that never happened, and you will have to defend them in a follow up.

A chatbot in a text or voice chat also cannot see your face. A person can. After a mock with a friend, ask them to repeat your answer back in two sentences. Whatever they leave out did not land.

Why practise out loud, and how do you do it?

Typing an answer and saying it are different jobs. When you type, you can stop, delete and try again. In an interview, the first version of your sentence is the one they hear. Many people only find out that an answer is too long, or has no ending, when they say it.

Our guide on what to do when your mind goes blank covers two small studies. In one, people who tested themselves held up under stress and people who re-read did not. In the other, being watched cut students’ performance on a coding task by more than half. Neither studied job interviews, but both suggest that practice should look like the real thing.

How to use voice mode

1. Open the chatbot and paste your prompt into a normal text chat.
2. Start voice mode in that same chat. If it does not seem to remember the prompt, say a short version aloud, such as “Interview me for this job, one question at a time, and no tips until I say end interview.”
3. Put your notes away and look at your laptop camera as you answer.
4. If the voice limit runs out, carry on in text for the questions, and say your answers into your phone’s voice recorder.

The three take method

You only need a phone for this. Pick one question.

1. Take one. Answer with no notes and record it. Do not stop, even if it goes badly.
2. Take two. Listen back. Write three or four cue words for the story, choose one thing to fix, and answer again. Check how long you took to reach your main point. It should come in your first two sentences.
3. Take three. Answer with your camera on, or with someone in the room. Then move on.

Stop at three. After that you start memorising a script, and scripts break under pressure.

What does a 7 day free practice plan look like?

Allow about an hour a day. If you have less time, do days 1, 3, 5 and 6.

Day 1: set up and take a baseline

Collect the job post, your CV and whatever you know about the rounds. Pick 15 likely questions from our question lists and ask a chatbot for 5 more based on the job post. Run the HR prompt by voice for 15 minutes and record it. Do not fix anything yet. Book your Day 6 mock today, because it depends on someone else.

Day 2: your opening

Write cue words for “tell me about yourself”, “why this company” and “why this role”. Do three takes of each. Finish by asking the chatbot those three questions by voice.

Day 3: your stories

Choose six stories from your work or studies, and write three or four cue words for each. Between them they should cover a conflict, a failure, a deadline and a time you led something. Run the behavioural prompt on your three weakest.

Day 4: your job skills

Run the technical prompt on the topics in the job post. Write down each gap and study only those. If you have a coding round, add the coding prompt and fit in what you can from the coding guide.

Day 5: first full mock

Do a 30 minute mock with Huru, one of your Yoodli sessions, or a voice chatbot running the HR and behavioural prompts together. Camera on, no notes. Run the feedback prompt and pick your two weakest answers.

Day 6: mock with a person

Use the same meeting app and the same laptop as the real interview. Ask your friend to add two questions you have not seen and to interrupt you at least once, then to repeat your answers back to you. If no friend can do it, use an Aced peer mock.

Day 7: light day

Answer your two weakest questions again and retest the one habit. Spend your 3 Interviews by AI questions on the answers that still worry you. Write two or three questions to ask the interviewer. Check your camera and audio, then stop. No new topics today.

What if the interview is tomorrow?

“Interview Tomorrow Feeling Unprepared as I just started preparing”

Reddit, r/developersIndia

Then you have about two hours of useful practice, and one free chatbot will do. Skip the sign-ups for new tools tonight.

1. 15 minutes. Paste the job post and your CV. Ask for the 10 questions you are most likely to get, and why each one is likely.
2. 30 minutes. Do three takes each of “tell me about yourself” and “why this job”.
3. 30 minutes. Choose three stories. Run the behavioural prompt with one follow up on each.
4. 30 minutes. Do a voice mock of five questions, then run the feedback prompt. Fix one habit only.
5. 15 minutes. Test your camera and audio, and write two questions to ask them.

Then stop and sleep. For company research, the morning itself and calming down, read the interview tomorrow guide.

Which mistakes waste practice time?

“I'm not able to consistently prepare for interviews”

Blind

A plan helps with that, and so does dropping these, because each one feels like work and gives little back.

• Memorising a chatbot’s answer. It sounds rehearsed and falls apart at the first follow up. It also may not be true of you. Take the structure and use your own words and facts.
• Collecting tools. Pick one chatbot and one mock tool and stay with them.
• Solving problems in silence. In a live coding round your explanation is part of what they watch, so talk while you practise.
• Practising only on your phone. If the interview is on a laptop with Zoom, rehearse on that laptop. Setup problems are much cheaper to find on a practice day.
• Skipping the human mock. It is embarrassing, which is the reason to do it. Better to feel that once in front of a friend. If you still go blank on the day, the blank mind guide has the exact words to use.

How can PiriPiri AI help with your practice?

PiriPiri AI is not a practice tool. It will not play an interviewer or score you, so use the tools above for that. It is a desktop app that listens to a live call on your own computer and suggests answers in a bar only you can see. Its place here is near the end of your plan, as a test of your own setup.

Every new account starts with 3 free sessions of 10 minutes each. Use them on a mock call with a friend, not a real interview. Join Zoom, Google Meet or Teams from the computer, microphone and headphones you plan to use, and ask your friend to put questions to you. You will find out whether the app hears you both on your setup, and if glancing at a suggestion helps you or throws you off. Your Day 6 mock is a natural slot for it.

It runs on Apple Silicon Macs with macOS 14.2 or later and on 64-bit Windows 10 or 11. There is no phone, browser or Intel Mac version, and speech recognition is English only. After the free sessions it costs about $2.50 an interview with no subscription. Some rivals give more free time than we do, ParakeetAI among them. Some employers ban AI help in interviews, so check the rules before you use any tool on a real one.

Questions people ask

Where to go next

For a wider plan, read how to prepare for an interview. For story rounds, use the behavioural questions list.

Keep reading

• Free AI interview assistants: what you really get
• I have an interview tomorrow: what to do tonight
• Interview questions by company