Hogan is one of the most thoroughly validated personality tools in the market, with decades of research behind its assessments of personality, derailers, and motives. For senior leadership selection and executive assessment, the depth of evidence behind Hogan is genuinely hard to match.
The two main barriers that push teams to look elsewhere are cost and access. Hogan is priced at the expensive end of the market, and certain assessments require certified administrators, which limits how easily an in-house team can use it at scale without ongoing external support. If either of those is the issue, here are the alternatives worth considering.
Test Partnership
Test Partnership offers validated personality questionnaires grounded in the Big Five model alongside a full cognitive assessment suite, all without requiring certification to administer. The platform is self-service and designed to be straightforward for in-house teams to use independently, which directly addresses the access limitation that Hogan presents.
Where Hogan's depth of personality research is hard to replicate, Test Partnership's advantage is breadth and accessibility: you can run personality, cognitive, and situational judgement assessments in a single workflow, at a price point that scales sensibly with hiring volume.
SHL
SHL offers a comparable level of psychometric rigour to Hogan across its personality and cognitive assessments. The OPQ (Occupational Personality Questionnaire) is one of the most widely validated personality tools available and is broadly comparable to Hogan's HPI in terms of evidence base.
Like Hogan, SHL sits at the enterprise end of the market and the pricing reflects that. But for teams that specifically need a well-validated, widely recognised personality tool and have the budget for it, SHL offers a slightly more scalable and self-serve experience than Hogan.
Criteria
Criteria is worth considering if the main need is a straightforward, accessible personality and cognitive screening tool without the complexity or cost of Hogan. The platform covers cognitive ability, personality, and skills tests in a self-service format that most in-house teams can set up and run without specialist support.
The trade-off is depth. Criteria's personality tool is competent but doesn't carry the same depth of research or the derailer focus (identifying risk factors) that makes Hogan particularly valuable for senior and leadership roles. For volume hiring at mid-level roles, it is a pragmatic alternative.
Thomas International
Thomas International offers behavioral and personality assessments at a more accessible price point and without the certification requirements that Hogan imposes. The DISC-based behavioral assessment is widely used and familiar to many hiring managers, and the platform includes a cognitive assessment alongside it.
The main limitation is that the DISC model has well-documented scientific constraints compared to Hogan's research-backed Big Five approach. If personality validity is the primary requirement, Thomas is a step down from Hogan on rigour. But for teams that want a more practical, accessible behavioral tool without the depth and cost of Hogan, it is a reasonable middle ground.
Conclusion and next steps
If cost and the certification requirement are the main barriers, Test Partnership and Criteria both offer validated personality assessment in an accessible, self-service format at a fraction of the price. If psychometric rigour is still the priority but you need something more scalable, SHL is the closest comparison. And for a simpler behavioral tool without the complexity, Thomas International covers that ground.
You can explore Test Partnership's personality tests and aptitude tests, or find out more about why organisations choose Test Partnership.
Sources: Hogan Assessments, Hogan on G2, SHL, SHL on G2, Criteria, Criteria on G2, Thomas International, Thomas International on G2.
Joshua Hancock
Digital Marketing Manager at Test Partnership. Over 7 years experience as a writer, content strategist, SEO and digital marketer.
