Verdict: a peer is free, an interviewer is not a peer. Aced (formerly Exponent), home of what used to be Pramp, gives you five free peer mock interviews a month, and free is a real argument. But a peer is another nervous candidate: you spend half of each hour interviewing them, and neither of you runs real hiring loops. DevInterview.AI puts an AI interviewer on the other side of the table, on demand, unlimited, for $19.99 a month.
Disclosure: we build DevInterview.AI, and this is our site. Every price below was checked against vendor pages on September 1, 2026, with sources linked at the bottom.
Quick comparison
| DevInterview.AI | Aced (formerly Exponent) | |
|---|---|---|
| Who interviews you | A live voice AI interviewer | Another candidate, matched to you |
| Price | $19.99/mo, $49.99/qtr, $99.99/yr, unlimited | Free: 5 peer mocks/mo. Pro $79/mo, or $12/mo billed annually. Expert AI tier $99/mo |
| Human expert option | No | 1-hour expert session sold separately, listed at $199 |
| Formats | Coding, system design, behavioral, company-specific | Peer mocks across SWE, PM, data and more; some tracks in beta |
| Scheduling | On demand, any hour | Fixed daily time slots, matched with a partner |
| Feedback | Scored evaluation and hire verdict every session | Your peer's impressions, plus session transcripts |
| Courses | 20+ courses; first course free, all of them with a subscription | 19+ courses across many roles, paywalled beyond samples |
What Aced (formerly Exponent) actually is
A prep membership: role-specific courses, a question database with video answers, job referrals, a community, and the peer mock tool that used to be Pramp (acquired in November 2021). Exponent renamed itself Aced in August 2026, so you will see both names. The free Basic plan includes five peer mocks a month with no card. Pro at $79 a month, or an annual plan displayed as $12 a month, unlocks the full course and question catalog. A newer Expert AI tier at $99 a month adds AI mock interviews, 10 to 20 minute audio sessions on behavioral and product management questions with no coding, and time with a human expert is a separate $199 line item.
The peer format itself is the real trade-off. Matching pairs you with another candidate at a fixed time slot; you interview them for half the session, they interview you for the other half. Camaraderie is real, and so is the cost: half your practice hour is spent being the interviewer, your feedback comes from someone as inexperienced as you, and partner quality is a lottery.
Where Aced (formerly Exponent) wins
Price, breadth, and humans. Five free live sessions a month with a real person on the other end is the best free practice deal in the space, full stop. Their course catalog also covers roles we do not touch: product management, TPM, data science, engineering management. If you are a PM, they are the obvious pick over us.
Where DevInterview.AI wins
The interviewer, and the schedule. Our sessions are asymmetric the way real interviews are: you are always the candidate, the full session is yours, and the thing across the table asks follow-ups, challenges your approach, and never no-shows. Sessions start on demand rather than at the next matching slot, run coding in a real editor with execution in seven languages, run system design for 45 minutes on a canvas, and end with a scored evaluation and hire verdict you can track across weeks. Peers cannot score you consistently; a rubric can.
Who should pick which
- Zero budget: the five free peer mocks on Aced (formerly Exponent), genuinely.
- SWE prepping for real loops on a deadline: DevInterview.AI, because all of your hours go to your own reps with consistent scoring.
- PM, TPM, or data roles: Aced's catalog fits; ours is engineer-only.
FAQ
Is Pramp still free?
Yes, on Aced (formerly Exponent): free accounts get five peer mock credits a month. Membership removes the cap.
What happened to Pramp?
Exponent acquired Pramp in November 2021 and, in July 2024, moved its peer mocks onto its own platform as Exponent Practice. Exponent renamed itself Aced in August 2026, so they now run on Aced.
Is a peer mock as good as an AI mock?
They train different things. A peer gives you a live human and costs nothing, but half the hour is theirs, and the feedback is amateur. An AI interviewer gives you every minute of every session, consistent scored feedback, and no scheduling. Plenty of people do both.
How much does an Aced (formerly Exponent) membership cost?
Free tier with 5 peer mocks a month. Pro is $79 a month, or an annual plan shown as $12 a month on their pricing page. The Expert AI tier is $99 a month, and one-hour expert sessions are sold separately, listed at $199.