Criteria is a solid pre-employment assessment platform with a well-validated cognitive test and a decent personality and skills battery. For organisations that need reliable cognitive screening at a reasonable price point, it does what it says.
That said, the two things that most commonly drive people to look elsewhere are the platform's dated look and feel, and a candidate experience that hasn't kept pace with newer entrants. If that's what's prompting the search, here are the most relevant alternatives to consider.
Test Partnership
Test Partnership covers similar ground to Criteria: cognitive ability, personality, and situational judgement, but with a platform and candidate experience that feels considerably more modern. The cognitive assessments are well-validated and cover numerical, verbal, and inductive reasoning in a clean, accessible format.
The standout differentiator is MindmetriQ: a suite of gamified cognitive assessments that measure the same underlying cognitive abilities but in a fully interactive format that is harder to game with AI assistance. If the candidate experience or AI resistance is part of why you're looking, Test Partnership addresses both directly.
The platform is self-service, straightforward to set up, and backed by strong customer support, which makes it a practical choice for in-house teams without a dedicated assessment specialist.
SHL
SHL is the enterprise benchmark for psychometric assessments. If the concern is that Criteria's normative data or validity evidence isn't deep enough for your context, including senior hiring, graduate schemes, or large-scale benchmarking. SHL is the most credible step up.
The trade-offs are cost and complexity. SHL's pricing is built for enterprise budgets, procurement can be slow, and the platform itself isn't notably more modern than Criteria's. But for organisations where psychometric credibility is the primary requirement and budget isn't the constraint, SHL is the natural comparison.
Thomas International
Thomas International is worth considering if behavioural profiling is a bigger part of your hiring process than Criteria currently supports. Thomas has been in the assessment space since 1981 and its behavioural assessment (based on a DISC framework) is widely used across mid-market organisations.
The caveat is that DISC has well-documented scientific limitations compared to Big Five-based personality models, so if psychometric rigour matters for personality measurement, that is worth factoring in. Thomas is best suited to teams that want straightforward behavioural profiling alongside cognitive testing and are comfortable with the DISC approach.
TestGorilla
TestGorilla is worth considering if breadth of skills-based testing is what Criteria is missing for your use case. Their library covers a much wider range of role-specific hard skills, including coding, Excel, specific tools and platforms, and is well-suited to teams screening across a variety of technical and practical roles.
The trade-off is psychometric depth. TestGorilla's skills tests are useful for practical screening, but the cognitive and personality components don't carry the same validation rigour as dedicated psychometric publishers. If cognitive ability is central to your hiring decisions, a specialist provider will serve you better.
Conclusion and next steps
If the main frustration with Criteria is the platform experience or candidate engagement, Test Partnership is the most direct upgrade: comparable psychometric quality with a modern interface and a gamified cognitive option. If you need enterprise depth and brand credibility, SHL is the standard. For behavioural profiling, Thomas International is a reasonable option, and for skills-based breadth, TestGorilla covers the widest ground.
You can explore Test Partnership's aptitude tests and find out more about why organisations choose Test Partnership.
Sources: Criteria, Criteria on G2, SHL, SHL on G2, Thomas International, Thomas International on G2, TestGorilla, TestGorilla on G2.
Joshua Hancock
Digital Marketing Manager at Test Partnership. Over 7 years experience as a writer, content strategist, SEO and digital marketer.
