How to choose an AI interview copilot.

A note on what this page is

We build AcePilot, so treat our conclusions accordingly. What we have tried to do here is set out the questions that actually change the outcome, with our own answers stated plainly, so you can put the same questions to anything else you are considering. We have deliberately not published a feature table for other products: those change monthly, and a stale table dressed up as research is worse than no table.

1. Desktop application or browser extension?

This is the first fork, and it matters most on Google Meet. Meet runs in the browser, and when you share a Chrome tab, Chrome sends that tab's rendered contents — including interface an extension has drawn into the page. A native desktop application runs outside the browser's rendering entirely.

The honest counterpoint: extensions install in one click and need no permissions dance. Desktop apps need a real install and, on macOS, a Screen Recording permission and a restart.

AcePilot: native desktop app for macOS 13+ and Windows 10+, excluded from screen capture and window enumeration.

2. Which platforms does it actually cover?

Ask specifically, because "works with all major platforms" tends to mean the video calls and not the assessment tools. The set that matters is usually Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Webex, a coding platform or two, and plain phone calls for recruiter screens.

AcePilot: Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Webex, HackerRank and CoderPad, and phone calls on speaker. It reads audio your machine plays rather than integrating per-platform, which is why the list is broad.

3. Does it handle coding rounds, or only spoken questions?

A tool that transcribes speech can help in a behavioural round. Coding rounds are harder, because the problem mutates every time the interviewer adds a constraint, and a tool that only heard the opening statement is useless by minute six. The test question: does it read the shared editor as well as the audio?

AcePilot: coding mode reads the editor region and the audio, and returns an approach, the complexity, and a trade-off sentence. It does not write the code for you.

4. What happens to your transcripts and your resume?

You are handing over your employment history and a recording of you under pressure. Ask three things: is audio stored, how long do transcripts live, and is any of it used to train models. Vague answers here are themselves an answer.

AcePilot: audio is processed in the moment and never written to disk. Transcripts are encrypted in transit, kept only long enough for your debrief, then deleted. Nothing is used to train models. You can wipe everything from settings and the deletion is immediate. The detail is in our privacy policy.

5. What shape is the pricing?

Monthly suits a search happening right now. A one-time payment suits people who expect to interview again in two years and would rather not re-subscribe. Watch for tiering that puts the coding features — the expensive ones to run — behind the higher plan.

AcePilot: $25 a month, or $125 once for lifetime access. Every feature is in both plans; there are no tiers and no seats. Full detail on pricing.

6. What is the refund position?

Ask before you buy, not after. Ours is unusual in being restrictive, and we would rather you read it now than be surprised: all sales are final and we do not offer a general money-back guarantee. Statutory consumer rights in the UK and EU still apply and cannot be contracted away, and our terms keep two narrower refund promises — a pro-rata refund if we suspend an account without cause, and one if you reject a change to the terms.

One more thing worth weighing

Latency is the criterion nobody advertises. An answer that lands four seconds after the interviewer stopped talking is useful; one that lands twelve seconds later arrives after you have already started improvising. If you trial anything, trial it against a clock.

Questions people ask

What should I look for in an interview copilot?

Six things decide it in practice: whether it is a desktop app or a browser extension, which meeting platforms it covers, whether it handles coding rounds as well as spoken questions, how it treats your transcripts and resume, how it is priced, and what the refund position is. Latency matters too — an answer that arrives after you have started talking is worse than no answer.

Is a desktop app better than a browser extension?

For interviews, generally yes, and Google Meet is the clearest case. Meet runs in the browser, and sharing a Chrome tab shares that tab's rendered contents including extension UI drawn into the page. A native desktop application runs outside the browser altogether. An extension is easier to install, which is its real advantage.

How much should an interview copilot cost?

The market runs from free tiers to substantial monthly subscriptions. What matters more than the number is the shape: a monthly plan suits a search that is happening now, while a one-time payment suits people who expect to interview again later. AcePilot is $25 a month or $125 once, with every feature in both.