The reviews
Every assessment, ranked by evidence
13 instruments reviewed against the published research. The order is deliberate: best-supported first, never most popular first.
How to read the evidence grade
3 reviewed
Research instruments
Instruments with independent peer-reviewed replication behind both their reliability and their validity. All of these are free.
BFI-2
Big Five Inventory-2
A 60-item Big Five inventory that adds a validated facet layer, and the instrument to reach for when you want research quality without a 30-minute commitment.
- Cost
- Free
- Time
- 8-12 min
- Useful
- 4/5 usefulness
HEXACO
HEXACO Personality Inventory-Revised
The Big Five plus a sixth factor for honesty and humility, which turns out to be the dimension that predicts who exploits other people.
- Cost
- Free
- Time
- 15-25 min
- Useful
- 4/5 usefulness
The Big Five
Five-Factor Model (OCEAN)
The consensus trait model in academic personality psychology, and the benchmark every other instrument on this site is measured against.
- Cost
- Free
- Time
- 20-30 min
- Useful
- 4/5 usefulness
4 reviewed
Workplace tools
Sold to organisations. Generally better evidenced than the popular tests and generally documented by the vendor rather than by independent researchers.
CliftonStrengths
CliftonStrengths (formerly StrengthsFinder)
Ranks 34 talent themes in your personal order. Excellent at generating useful language about what you are good at, and structurally unable to compare you to anyone else.
- Cost
- $24.99+
- Time
- 30-35 min
- Useful
- 4/5 usefulness
DiSC
Everything DiSC and related four-factor behavioural models
The default corporate communication-styles tool. Practical, low-friction, and built on a 1928 framework whose author never made a test.
- Cost
- $40+
- Time
- 15-20 min
- Useful
- 4/5 usefulness
Emotional Intelligence
MSCEIT, EQ-i 2.0, and TEIQue
Not one test but two incompatible families measuring different things under the same name. Knowing which one you took is the whole game.
- Cost
- Free
- Time
- 15-45 min
- Useful
- 4/5 usefulness
HBDI
Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument
A four-quadrant thinking-preference model whose practical framework is reasonable and whose neuroanatomical story is not supported by modern neuroscience.
- Cost
- $140+
- Time
- 20-30 min
- Useful
- 3/5 usefulness
1 reviewed
Aptitude assessments
Measures what you can do rather than what you say about yourself. A different question from personality, and a better-evidenced one for career decisions.
5 reviewed
Popular tests
The tests most people have actually heard of. Several are enjoyable and useful while resting on thin empirical foundations, and the reviews say both things.
16Personalities
NERIS Type Explorer
The free four-letter test almost everyone has actually taken. It is not the MBTI, it is built on Big Five machinery, and it is better than its reputation in one specific way.
- Cost
- Free
- Time
- 10-15 min
- Useful
- 4/5 usefulness
Enneagram
Riso-Hudson Enneagram Type Indicator (RHETI)
A nine-type system organised around core motivation and defensive strategy. Unusually good at describing why people do things, and unusually short of evidence that the nine types are real.
- Cost
- $20+
- Time
- 30-40 min
- Useful
- 4/5 usefulness
MBTI
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
The most famous personality instrument in the world, and the clearest case on this site of popularity and evidence pointing in opposite directions.
- Cost
- $59.95+
- Time
- 15-25 min
- Useful
- 3/5 usefulness
The Four Tendencies
A twelve-question free quiz about one narrow thing: how you respond to expectations. Narrow is the point, and it is why it is more useful than its length suggests.
- Cost
- Free
- Time
- 5-10 min
- Useful
- 4/5 usefulness
Colour Personality Systems
True Colors, Insights Discovery, and the Hartman Color Code
A family of four-colour workplace models that are easy to remember, easy to run a workshop around, and largely unsupported as measurement.
- Cost
- Free
- Time
- 10-20 min
- Useful
- 2/5 usefulness