Video interviews are no longer a pandemic workaround—they're permanent infrastructure for recruiting. Nearly 86% of companies now use video interviewing in their hiring process, according to Gartner. The question isn't whether you're doing video interviews; it's which platform you're using and whether it actually makes your life easier or just adds complexity.

Let's cut through the marketing BS and talk about what actually works.

The Main Players

HireVue - The heavyweight champion of recruiting-specific video platforms. HireVue offers on-demand video interviews (candidates record responses to preset questions) and live interviews with AI-powered insights. Their big selling point is the AI analysis of candidate responses, facial expressions, and speech patterns.

Here's the reality: the AI features are controversial as hell. Critics (rightfully) point out that analyzing facial expressions and speech can introduce bias based on race, accent, and disability. HireVue has backed away from some of the more aggressive AI analysis, but the concerns remain valid.

Pricing: Expensive. Think $10,000-$50,000+ per year depending on volume and features.

Best for: Enterprise companies doing high-volume hiring who need structured, scalable processes and don't mind the complexity.

Spark Hire - The mid-market alternative that focuses on one-way video interviews and live interviews without the AI analysis baggage. Simpler interface, lower price, fewer features. For many companies, that's a feature, not a bug.

Pricing: $149-$399/month depending on plan.

Best for: Mid-size companies (50-500 employees) who want video interviewing without enterprise complexity or cost.

Zoom - You already know Zoom. It's not purpose-built for recruiting, but 86% of recruiters use Zoom for at least some interviews because everyone already has it. No learning curve, no special setup, candidates don't need to create accounts.

Pricing: Free for basic; $15-$20/user/month for Pro plans with longer meeting times.

Best for: Literally everyone doing live interviews. It's cheap, reliable, and candidates already know how to use it.

Microsoft Teams - If your company is already in the Microsoft ecosystem (Office 365, Outlook, etc.), Teams makes sense. Integration with Outlook calendars and company directories is seamless.

Pricing: Included with Microsoft 365 subscriptions.

Best for: Companies already using Microsoft 365 who value ecosystem integration over recruiting-specific features.

myInterview - Australian platform focused on video interviews with some AI matching capabilities, but lighter on the creepy facial analysis. Popular in APAC but growing in other markets.

Pricing: Around $99-$249/month depending on usage.

Best for: Companies wanting structured video interviews without HireVue's cost or controversy.

What Actually Matters When Choosing

Candidate experience > everything else. Bad candidate experience tanks your employer brand faster than you can say "technical difficulties". If your platform requires candidates to download software, create accounts, or jump through hoops, you're losing people before they even interview.

Zoom wins on candidate experience because everyone already has it. Specialized platforms lose points for requiring setup, though many have improved with browser-based interviews.

Reliability matters way more than features. Nothing torpedoes an interview faster than frozen video or dropped audio. HireVue and Zoom both have strong infrastructure. Some smaller platforms? Not so much. Read reviews specifically about technical reliability before you commit.

Recording and sharing capabilities. Being able to record interviews and share them with hiring managers is table stakes. Every platform offers this, but ease of sharing and storage limits vary. HireVue gives you unlimited cloud storage. Zoom's free plan limits you to local recording only.

ATS integration. If you're using Greenhouse, Lever, Workday, or another ATS, you want native integration so candidate data flows automatically. HireVue and Spark Hire integrate with most major ATS platforms. Zoom requires more manual work or third-party tools like Zapier.

Asynchronous vs live interviews. This is the big philosophical divide. HireVue and Spark Hire emphasize one-way video interviews where candidates record responses to preset questions. You review them on your schedule. Zoom and Teams are designed for synchronous, live conversations.

One-way interviews save time but feel impersonal and candidates often hate them. Live interviews take more scheduling coordination but create actual human connection. Choose based on your hiring volume and role types.

The AI Analysis Controversy

Let's address this directly: AI-powered analysis of video interviews is ethically questionable and potentially discriminatory.

Studies have shown that facial recognition algorithms have higher error rates for people of color and women. Speech analysis can penalize non-native speakers or people with accents. Analyzing facial expressions assumes universal emotional expressions, which is culturally ignorant.

HireVue has backed away from some of this—they discontinued facial analysis features in 2021 after backlash—but other vendors still use these techniques. If a vendor is selling you AI interview analysis, ask extremely specific questions about what it's analyzing, how it's been validated for bias, and whether they've conducted independent audits. Most can't or won't answer satisfactorily.

My take? Use video interviews for efficiency and remote accessibility, but skip the AI analysis unless you're absolutely certain it's been properly validated and doesn't introduce bias.

Pricing Reality Check

Here's what you're actually looking at cost-wise:

Free tier (Zoom, Teams): $0-$20/month per user - Totally functional for live interviews if you don't need recruiting-specific features.

Mid-tier recruiting platforms (Spark Hire, myInterview): $1,500-$5,000/year - Good balance of features and cost for small to mid-size companies.

Enterprise recruiting platforms (HireVue, Greenhouse Video): $10,000-$100,000+/year - Only makes sense if you're doing hundreds of hires annually and need sophisticated workflow automation.

Calculate ROI based on time saved in scheduling and interview coordination. If you're spending 10 hours per week on interview logistics, a tool that cuts that to 3 hours might justify $10K annually. If you're only hiring occasionally, free Zoom is fine.

What Most Companies Should Actually Do

For small companies and startups (<50 employees): Use Zoom or Teams. You don't need anything fancier. Save your money for actually hiring people, not for software.

For mid-size companies (50-500 employees): Consider Spark Hire or myInterview if you're doing enough hiring that scheduling and interview logistics are eating real time. The ROI is there if you're hiring 30+ people per year.

For enterprise companies (500+ employees): HireVue or similar enterprise platforms make sense if you're doing high-volume hiring and need structured, scalable processes with ATS integration. Just skip the sketchy AI features.

The Bottom Line

Video interviewing is here to stay, but the platform you choose should match your hiring volume, budget, and values.

Most companies don't need specialized recruiting video platforms—Zoom or Teams work fine for live interviews. If you're doing truly high-volume hiring and need asynchronous screening, Spark Hire offers good value without HireVue's cost or ethical baggage.

And please, for the love of all that is holy, test your setup before the interview. Nothing says "we're a disorganized mess" like fumbling with tech during a candidate's first impression of your company.

Key Takeaways:

• 86% of companies now use video interviewing in hiring
• Zoom/Teams are free/cheap and work great for most companies
• Spark Hire and myInterview offer mid-tier recruiting-specific features
• HireVue is expensive but powerful for enterprise high-volume hiring
• AI analysis of interviews raises serious bias concerns—proceed with caution
• Candidate experience and technical reliability matter more than fancy features
• ROI calculation should drive platform choice, not vendor marketing