Karat alternative
StepUP vs. Karat
Karat sells interviewing-as-a-service at enterprise price points. StepUP runs live technical interviews with senior technical interviewers at a public per-hire price, built for startups, lean teams and staffing agencies.
StepUP vs. Karat at a glance
| StepUP | Karat | |
|---|---|---|
| Format | Live 60-minute structured technical interview in the candidate's stack | Live technical interviews run on Karat's platform |
| Who evaluates the candidate | A senior technical interviewer, a working engineer in that stack | Karat's own trained interviewers, using your rubric |
| Pricing model | Per hire: up to 10 interviews and scoring of up to 500 inbound candidates included | Per-interview fees with an annual minimum commitment; onboarding often priced separately |
| Public price | Yes: $2,500 per hire, $150 per extra interview | No public price list |
| What you get back | Level verdict, signals, risks and gaps, each linked to a transcript quote; recording and transcript | Interview feedback scored against your rubric |
| Turnaround | Booked within about two working days; report the same working day | Not published |
| Best fit | Startups, lean teams and staffing agencies without senior engineers to spare | Enterprises with steady, high interview volume |
Karat details from its public website and third-party pricing data, October 2026. Something changed? Write to operations@stepup.services and we will correct it.
Where StepUP is different
- →Public price: $2,500 per hire, $150 per extra interview, no subscription and no seats
- →Senior technical interviewers working in the candidate's stack, on an interview plan agreed with your tech lead
- →Report the same working day: level verdict, signals, risks and gaps, each linked to a transcript quote
- →Booking usually within two working days of sending the role, no long enterprise onboarding
- →English by default, Russian and other languages on request
See a real StepUP interview report
Book a discovery call and compare the evidence to what Karat gives you.