In short
ChatGPT has a Free plan at $0 that includes voice, and ChatGPT Plus costs $20 per month. With a good prompt, it can run a solid practice interview, out loud if you switch to voice. MockWise gives 5 free credits with no card, then sells one-time credit packs from $9 that never expire. The key difference: ChatGPT does what your prompt tells it, while MockWise builds the interview from your resume, pushes back with follow-ups and scores every answer on the same grid without any setup. Verdict: if you want a free, flexible practice partner and do not mind writing the rules, use ChatGPT with the prompt below; if you want a realistic interview with stable scores you can track over several sessions, use MockWise.
Prices and plan features read on November 4, 2026 from each vendor's official pages: chatgpt.com/pricing, openai.com/chatgpt/pricing, the OpenAI help center article What is ChatGPT Plus? and mockwise.io/pricing. Prices change; check both before you pay.
How we compared
We are MockWise, so read this page knowing who wrote it. ChatGPT is not really a competitor in the usual sense: it is a general assistant that millions of people already pay for, and many of them use it to prepare for interviews. That is a perfectly good choice for a lot of candidates, so this page starts by showing you how to do it well.
Our rules:
- Every price, plan and feature attributed to ChatGPT comes from OpenAI's own pages, read on the date above. When a point could not be checked on both sides, we left it out of the table.
- We compare what each tool does by default, for someone preparing for a job interview. A general assistant can be pushed far with clever prompts; we say so where it matters.
- We include a section on where ChatGPT is the better choice.
How to run a mock interview with ChatGPT
If you want to try ChatGPT first, do it properly. Most disappointing ChatGPT mock interviews come from a one-line prompt like "ask me interview questions". You get a list of ten generic questions at once, no pressure and polite praise. Here is a better setup.
1. Give it the material. Paste the job description, and paste or upload your resume. The ChatGPT pricing page lists uploads on every plan, limited on Free.
2. Paste a prompt that sets the rules. For example:
You are the hiring manager for the role described below. Interview me for 20 minutes. Ask one question at a time and wait for my answer. Mix behavioral questions with questions about my actual resume. When an answer is vague, ask one follow-up question that pushes for specifics, numbers or my personal role, before moving on. Do not give me feedback or encouragement during the interview. At the end, score each answer from 1 to 5 on structure, clarity and impact, quote the weakest sentence of each answer, and rewrite my weakest answer. Job description: [paste]. My resume: [paste].
3. Answer out loud. On November 4, 2026, the ChatGPT pricing page listed voice on the Free plan, and expanded voice on Go and Plus. Switch to voice after pasting the prompt. Speaking an answer is a different skill from typing one, and the interview is spoken.
4. Keep the rules for next time. Save the prompt somewhere, or keep the practice in a ChatGPT project, so the next session uses the same grid and you can compare.
5. Retake the weakest answer. Ask for the same question again a day later and compare the scores. The improvement comes from the retake, not from reading the feedback.
That setup gets you a long way, for free. What it does not remove is the work of being both the candidate and the person who designs the interview.
Why people look for something other than ChatGPT
Candidates who search for a ChatGPT alternative for interview practice rarely complain about the answers. They complain about the setup and the consistency.
The interview is only as good as the prompt. If you forget to ask for follow-ups, you usually do not get pressure. If you forget to forbid encouragement, you get a friendly conversation rather than an interview.
Scores drift unless you define them. If you ask "how did I do?", the answer changes in style and standard from one conversation to the next. To compare Tuesday with Friday, you have to bring your own grid every time.
Progress lives in your notes. Nothing gives you a list of your past interview scores unless you keep one yourself.
It is a general assistant. That is its strength. It is also why the interview is something you build, not something that is already there when you open it.
None of this makes ChatGPT a bad choice. It is a flexible tool, and flexibility means you do the structuring.
Side-by-side comparison
| MockWise | ChatGPT | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | An AI interview simulator built only for job interviews | A general-purpose AI assistant |
| Entry paid price | $9 one-time (5 credits) | Plus at $20 per month |
| Billing model | One-time credit packs, nothing renews | Monthly subscription for paid plans |
| Free access | 5 free credits at signup, no card; resume analysis costs no credit | Free plan at $0, with limited messages and uploads |
| Spoken practice | Yes, voice interview with an AI interviewer | Yes, voice is listed on the Free plan and expanded on Go and Plus |
| Using your resume | The interview is built from your resume, no prompt needed: 3 credits to create, then 1 per new session | You upload or paste it and write the instructions yourself |
| What happens when you stop | Credits never expire | Cancel at any time; access to paid features runs to the end of the period |
On refunds: OpenAI's help center states that subscription fees are non-refundable, except for customers in the EU, UK or Turkey, who can request a refund within 14 days of purchase.
Where ChatGPT is the better choice
- You want to start for free right now. The Free plan costs nothing, includes voice, and the prompt above gives you a useful session today.
- You already pay for ChatGPT. If you have Plus for work or study, interview practice costs you nothing extra.
- You want total control. You can write any scenario: an unusual role, a hostile interviewer, a case question from your own industry, a question in a language MockWise does not cover. A general assistant has no fixed format to work around.
- You want help beyond the interview. Researching the company, drafting a thank-you email or comparing two offers all happen in the same tool.
Where MockWise is the better choice
- You want an interview, not a prompt project. Upload your resume and MockWise builds the interview around your real roles and experience. See mock interview with your resume.
- You want follow-ups you did not ask for. The AI interviewer asks follow-up questions on its own when an answer is thin, and sometimes challenges it, the way a real hiring manager does.
- You want the same grid every time. Every answer is scored on structure, clarity and impact, so a retake is compared against the same standard.
- You want your progress saved. Session scores are kept in a progress dashboard, so you see whether you are actually improving across sessions.
- You want ready-made modules. HR and behavioral, technical and salary negotiation practice are already set up. See salary negotiation practice.
- You do not want a subscription. One-time packs from $9, credits never expire, and 5 free credits at signup to try it. See free mock interview.
What MockWise does not do: it is not a general assistant, it will not research companies or draft your emails, it runs resume-based interviews in five languages (English, French, Spanish, German and Italian) rather than any language you choose, and it cannot guarantee you get the job. No practice tool can.
Which one should you choose?
- If you want to practice tonight for free and like writing your own rules: take ChatGPT with the prompt above.
- If you already pay for ChatGPT Plus and only need a few practice rounds: take ChatGPT.
- If you want an unusual scenario or a language outside the five MockWise covers: take ChatGPT.
- If you want an interview built from your resume without writing a prompt: take MockWise.
- If you want follow-up questions and pressure by default: take MockWise.
- If you want stable scores you can compare over several sessions: take MockWise.
- If you want to prepare the salary conversation as well as the interview: take MockWise.
Many candidates do both: ChatGPT for research and question brainstorming, MockWise for the spoken rehearsal with scores.
Try a real mock interview for free
You can compare the two in one evening. Run the prompt above in ChatGPT, then create a free MockWise account: 5 credits, no credit card, and resume analysis costs nothing. Do one voice session in each and keep the one that felt closer to a real interview.
If you are comparing more broadly, our guide to the best AI mock interview tools covers the other categories, and our comparisons with Final Round AI and Yoodli cover the subscription tools.