The short answer
- For coding rounds only: Interview Coder is the more focused tool, if $299 a month or a one-off $799 suits you.
- For meetings, sales calls and general screen help: Cluely is built for that, and its free and $19.99 plans are cheap ways to try it. They do not hide from screen shares.
- For a job search with both coding and spoken rounds: a dedicated interview assistant that handles both, on a monthly plan or a one-week pass, usually costs less than either.
At a glance
| Interview Coder | Cluely | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Coding interviews | Meetings, sales calls and interviews |
| Runs as | Desktop app for Windows and macOS | Desktop app for macOS and Windows, plus an iOS app |
| Coding problems | Hotkey screenshots, solution with explanation | General screen help |
| Spoken questions | Audio mode with Start, Pause and Finish buttons | Listens to the call continuously |
| Personalisation | Role and years of experience, set once | General |
| Models | Not named on its website | 9 models |
| Hidden from screen shares | Yes, with a detailed list of stealth features | Only on Pro + Undetectability |
| Free option | Free download; AI features need a plan | Free plan, without stealth |
| Price | $299 a month (1,000 credits) or $799 lifetime | Pro $19.99 a month; Pro + Undetectability $149.99 a month |
A shared history
Roy Lee built Interview Coder as a student, then co-founded Cluely with Neel Shanmugam in 2025, after both left Columbia University. Launch coverage at the time described Interview Coder as part of Cluely. Today they are sold as separate products with separate pricing, and they have grown in different directions: Interview Coder stayed with coding interviews, while Cluely now markets itself as an AI assistant for meetings.
Coding interviews
This is where the two differ most. Interview Coder is built around a coding round: a hotkey captures the problem, and it returns an approach, the code and the complexity. It asks for your role and years of experience once, from a short list, and its website does not name the models it uses. It keeps no chat history, so if an answer is wrong you regenerate it rather than ask a follow-up.
Cluely is a general assistant. It can read a coding problem from your screen and suggest an answer, but it has no coding-specific workflow, no language picker for solutions and nothing that types code for you. For a LeetCode-style round, Interview Coder is the better fit of the two.
Spoken questions
Cluely was built for live conversation. It listens to the call continuously, works with Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Webex and Slack, and supports more than 12 languages. Answers are general by design, because it does not know whether you are in an interview, a sales call or a team meeting.
Interview Coder's audio mode needs you to press Start Interview, Pause and Finish at the right moments. It works, but it adds clicks during the part of the interview where you most need to concentrate, and a missed click can mean the AI hears only half a question.
Staying out of the screen share
Interview Coder lists its stealth features in detail, including hiding from the Dock, the tray and Activity Monitor, and click-through. In one reviewer's test, opening its language dropdown showed the dropdown in the shared screen, so pop-ups are the weak spot.
Cluely's free and $19.99 Pro plans do not hide from screen shares; that needs Pro + Undetectability at $149.99 a month. Its own help centre adds two cautions: use keyboard shortcuts rather than mouse clicks during a call, and it does not work around proctoring software.
Whatever you choose, read the rules for your interview first: many employers and assessment platforms do not allow outside help.
Price
| Interview Coder | Cluely | |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free download, AI features need a plan | Free plan, no stealth |
| One month with stealth | $299 (1,000 credits) | $149.99 |
| Three months with stealth | $799 (lifetime) | $449.97 |
| Six months with stealth | $799 (lifetime) | $899.94 |
| Cheapest paid option | $299 for a month | Pro at $19.99, or from $11.99 a month billed yearly, without stealth |
For a month or two, Cluely with stealth costs less. From about the sixth month, Interview Coder's $799 lifetime licence is cheaper, so it pays off only for a long search, or if you expect to interview again in later years. Most job searches last a few months. Interview Coder lists its lifetime plan at $1,598 and has sold it at $899 before, so check the current price.
Which should you pick?
For most candidates, our pick is neither: it is Solvro, which handles coding and spoken rounds in one app for less (details below). Between these two:
- Interview Coder suits coding-only rounds, if $299 a month or a one-off $799 is acceptable.
- Cluely suits meetings and sales calls more than interviews; budget $149.99 a month if you need it hidden from screen shares.
Our pick: Solvro
Solvro is a desktop assistant built only for interviews and assessments, covering the ground between the two. Interview mode listens continuously and answers each spoken question from your resume and the job description, with no buttons to press. Coding Test mode reads the problem with CtrlShiftS and returns the approach, complexity and code, which auto-typing can type with human timing. MCQ mode handles multiple-choice tests, and Query mode anything else on screen. You choose between five models: Gemini 3.7 Flash, Gemini 3.1 Pro, Claude Sonnet 5, Claude Opus 5 and Claude Fable 5.
| Interview Coder | Cluely | Solvro | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coding rounds | Yes | General | Yes, with auto-typing |
| Spoken questions | Start, Pause and Finish buttons | Yes | Yes, automatic |
| Uses your resume and job description | Role and years only | General context, not interview-specific | Yes |
| Follow-up questions in context | No | Yes | Yes |
| Hidden from screen shares | Yes | $149.99 plan only | Yes, on every plan |
| Free trial | Free download, AI features need a plan | Free plan, no stealth | 10 answers and 10 Interview minutes, no card |
| Price | $299 a month or $799 lifetime | $19.99 to $149.99 a month | Interview mode $49 a month, or $24 for 7 days |
Solvro is not the cheapest tool on the market; see what every AI interview assistant costs. It is built for interviews alone, which is why it handles coding and spoken rounds in one window. For deeper comparisons, read Solvro vs Interview Coder and Cluely alternatives.
Check the rules first
Most employers and assessment platforms prohibit outside help in their terms. Solvro keeps its window out of screen captures, but no tool can promise it will never be noticed, and breaking those rules can cost you an offer. Decide for yourself whether that risk is worth taking.
Competitor plans, prices and features are summarised from public product pages and reviews and change often; check each vendor’s own site before you buy. Product names are trademarks of their owners. Solvro is not affiliated with or endorsed by them.
Frequently asked questions
No. Roy Lee built Interview Coder and then co-founded Cluely in 2025, and early coverage described Interview Coder as part of Cluely, but today they are separate products. Interview Coder is a coding-interview copilot; Cluely is a general meeting assistant.
Interview Coder, because it is built for coding rounds: hotkey screenshots and a solution with its complexity. Cluely gives general screen help without a coding-specific workflow.
For a search of a few months, Cluely: its stealth plan is $149.99 a month, against $299 a month or $799 for life for Interview Coder. Cluely's $19.99 Pro plan is cheaper still, but it does not hide from screen shares.
Only on its Pro + Undetectability plan at $149.99 a month. Its help centre also says it does not work around proctoring software.
Solvro handles both in one desktop app: Interview mode answers spoken questions from your resume and the job description, and Coding Test mode reads the problem and returns code. Interview mode is $49 a month or $24 for a 7-day pass, with a free trial.