NTRVSTA wrote this page, and we make one of the two options in it. That said, a Karat interview and an NTRVSTA interview are different things, and we've tried to explain the trade-off fairly. Karat facts come from Karat's own site, linked at the end.
The short answer
A Karat interview is run by a person: one of Karat's trained Interview Engineers conducts a structured technical interview on your behalf. NTRVSTA's interview is run by AI, live, adapting difficulty to each answer, for technical and non-technical roles. Choose Karat if you want human interviewers and are willing to outsource your engineering rounds to a service. Choose NTRVSTA if you want first-round interviews available around the clock at a published price, for engineers and non-engineers alike.
Side by side: Karat interview vs NTRVSTA
How NTRVSTA works
NTRVSTA puts an AI interviewer where a phone screen or first technical round would be. The candidate joins whenever they're ready, any day and any hour, and talks with a video avatar or an audio voice. The interviewer listens and adapts: it pushes harder when a candidate is cruising and backs off when they stall, so the result shows how far their skill really goes.
For engineering roles, the exam library covers Java, Python, C++, JavaScript and more, frameworks like React, Angular and Node.js, and AI/ML and DevOps tools. System-design questions run on an interactive whiteboard, and a hint system lets you see how a candidate uses a nudge, much as a human interviewer might offer one. For other roles, STAR behavioral questions and soft-skill topics take over.
The output is a score breakdown (technical skills, English proficiency, communication), video snippets of key moments and a shareable report. AI resume scoring ranks applicants before you invite them. NTRVSTA connects to your ATS (Lever and others), and setup typically takes a few days.
How a Karat interview works
Karat says its trained human Interview Engineers, which it calls IVEs, conduct technical interviews for employers. They use structured content sets and scoring rubrics so that every candidate for a role gets a consistent interview. Karat also runs vetting interviews for partners and contractors.
In December 2025, Karat launched NextGen, which it calls human-led, AI-enabled interviews. Per Karat, candidates work on multi-file projects with an integrated AI assistant while a live Interview Engineer watches and probes their reasoning. Karat states that AI never makes final hiring decisions.
Karat is independent and based in Seattle. It says a SOC 2 Type II report is available on request. Its published customers include Mastercard, Duolingo, PayPal, Atlassian and Citi.
When Karat is the better choice
- You want a person, not an AI, asking your engineering candidates questions.
- Your engineers are spending too many hours interviewing, and you'd rather hand those rounds to a service than to software.
- You want to see how candidates work with an AI coding assistant on a real project while a human watches, which is what Karat NextGen describes.
- Your security team needs a SOC 2 Type II report, which Karat says it provides on request.
We'll say plainly what our own notes say: if you want human interviewers, a Karat-style service is a better fit than NTRVSTA. A few other limits apply. NTRVSTA is an interview and screening layer, not an ATS. Our native ATS list is short, and our API is coming soon but not live. High-volume hourly hiring with SMS and chat scheduling fits Paradox or Fountain better. And we're a newer, smaller company with fewer published enterprise case studies.
Pricing compared
Karat doesn't publish prices. One of its promotional pages has offered the first 10 interviews free on sign-up, but standard pricing needs a conversation with sales.
NTRVSTA's pricing is public on our pricing section, built on credits: 1 per minute of audio interview, 3 per minute with an avatar. Free Demo costs $0 for 50 credits. Starter costs $299/mo for 1,500 credits, about 30 interviews. Growth costs $699/mo for 4,000 credits, about 80 interviews. Scale costs $1,999/mo for 12,500 credits, about 250 interviews, with an SLA. Enterprise is custom and includes SSO/SAML, a dedicated CSM and an on-prem option.
Growth at 80 interviews a month comes to about $8.74 per interview, or $0.35 a minute. A 25-minute audio interview uses 25 credits, and a 25-minute avatar interview uses 75. Since a human service and an AI interviewer are priced on different terms, our AI interview pricing guide explains what to ask for when you compare them.
Who should pick which
- If you want trained human interviewers on your engineering loop, pick Karat.
- If you need interviews available 24/7 without anyone on either side booking a slot, pick NTRVSTA.
- If you hire for sales, support or operations as well as engineering, pick NTRVSTA.
- If you want a vendor that observes candidates using AI tools on a multi-file project, pick Karat.
- If you need a published price before you can get a pilot approved, pick NTRVSTA.
- If you want both, use NTRVSTA to screen the pool and Karat for the later technical round.
Related pages: Karat alternatives, technical interview platforms, and software engineer interview questions.
Questions
Is Karat an AI interviewer?
No. Karat says its interviews are run by trained human Interview Engineers. In its NextGen format, AI is an assistant the candidate uses inside the coding environment, not the interviewer, and Karat says AI never makes final hiring decisions.
What happens in a Karat interview?
Per Karat, an Interview Engineer runs a structured technical interview using set content and a scoring rubric. In NextGen interviews, candidates work on a multi-file project with an AI assistant while the interviewer observes and asks about their reasoning.
Can an AI interviewer replace a human technical interview?
For the first round, often yes: an adaptive AI interviewer can test fundamentals, coding knowledge and system design at any hour. Many teams still keep a human for final rounds. If you want humans throughout, a service like Karat fits better.
Does Karat have a free trial?
Karat doesn't list a standard free trial, though one Karat promotional page has offered the first 10 interviews free on sign-up. NTRVSTA has a $0 Free Demo plan with 50 credits, and anyone can take a sample interview.
Want to compare an AI first round with a human one? Take a sample interview yourself and judge the questions, or book a 20-minute demo. See our audit on the compliance page.
We checked pricing and features for every product here in October 2026. They change often, so confirm with each vendor before you buy.
