LockedIn AI alternative: pay once instead of monthly

Disclosure: we make Interview LLM. LockedIn AI details below come from LockedIn AI's own pages as we read them on Nov 14, 2026. Product names are trademarks of their owners, and this page isn't affiliated with or endorsed by LockedIn AI.

LockedIn AI vs Interview LLM at a glance

As of Nov 14, 2026:

How LockedIn AI's plans are structured

LockedIn AI sells three paid plans, and they meter usage differently:

• Credits: 400 minutes of live interview help a month. The page says credits never expire and that you can buy top-ups.
• Unlimited: described as having "no meter", so live help isn't counted in minutes.
• Lifetime: "Unlimited paid once".

One detail is easy to miss: the pricing page says subscription prices are shown as the equivalent per month, but each subscription is billed once every 3 months. So the number you see on a plan card is not what leaves your account at checkout; the charge is roughly three times that figure, up front. The page also shows "Cancel anytime" and a money-back guarantee, and there is a free plan that doesn't need a card.

We can't give you the actual numbers. When we loaded the pricing page on Nov 14, 2026, the prices showed "Loading prices" and never rendered. Before you compare, open LockedIn AI's pricing page and note three things: the quarterly charge (not just the per-month figure), how the 400 minutes are counted on the Credits plan, and what conditions apply to the money-back guarantee.

Minutes vs tokens: two ways to meter AI help

LockedIn AI's Credits plan meters time: a live session draws down minutes whether the AI is busy or not. Interview LLM meters nothing itself. You bring an API key, and your provider bills you per token for the requests you actually make. A coding problem is a handful of requests: one to extract the problem from your screenshot, one to write the solution, and optionally one or two for debugging.

To make that concrete, assume one problem uses about 3,000 input tokens (including the screenshot) and 2,500 output tokens across those steps, the same working assumption as our bring-your-own-key cost guide. That's an illustration, not a measurement; screenshots, problem length and reasoning models change it. At list prices as of Nov 14, 2026:

• Claude Sonnet 5.5 ($2 in / $10 out per 1M tokens): about $0.03 per problem.
• gpt-5.4-mini ($0.75 / $4.50): about $0.01 per problem.
• Claude Opus 5.5 ($4 / $20): about $0.06 per problem.

Reasoning ("thinking") tokens are billed as output, so a model that thinks longer costs more per problem.

Cost over a typical 3-month search

We can only total the side we could verify. For Interview LLM, three months at 300 problems a month on Claude Sonnet 5.5, a heavy prep pace, would come to about $39 plus roughly $28 in API usage, using the assumption above. Six months costs the same $39 plus whatever you use.

For LockedIn AI, the 3-month billing cycle means a typical search lines up with one subscription charge, or with a single Lifetime payment if you'd rather not renew. Once you have the current figures from their page, compare that one charge against $39 plus your expected API usage.

What each is built for

LockedIn AI aims to cover the whole job hunt. It listens to the interview, works across many roles, runs on phones and in a browser as well as desktop, and adds a Coding Copilot, an Online Assessment mode, mock interviews, a VS Code extension and career tools like resume and cover letter help.

Interview LLM does one thing. You press a global shortcut to screenshot the problem (up to two screenshots can be queued), and the model you chose extracts the problem, then writes a solution with an explanation and time and space complexity. If your code fails, screenshot the error or your code and ask for debugging help. The window can be moved, resized and adjusted for opacity and zoom from the keyboard. There is no audio and no mobile app.

When LockedIn AI may suit you better

• Your interviews aren't only coding: product, data, sales or customer success rounds where listening to the conversation matters.
• You want to use it from a phone or a browser, not just a desktop.
• You want mock interviews, a VS Code extension or resume and cover letter tools in the same product.
• You'd rather not set up or pay for an API key, and prefer the vendor to handle the AI.
• You want to try a free plan first; Interview LLM has no free tier or trial.

When Interview LLM may suit you better

• Your loop is LeetCode-style coding rounds and online assessments, and you work on a Windows or Mac desktop.
• You don't want a charge every three months. $39 once, and you keep it.
• You want to pick the model: a fast, cheap one for reading screenshots and a stronger reasoning model for solutions.
• You want your API key and session data to stay on your machine. The only outbound calls go to the provider you choose, and the full source code is included so you can read what it sends.

If that matches, you can see pricing and what's included.

A note on interview rules

LockedIn AI advertises a stealth mode, and its own pricing page says that mode "cannot guarantee undetectability on every platform". We don't make claims either way about any tool. Many employers and assessment platforms prohibit outside help during live interviews and online assessments, so read the rules you agreed to and follow them. Used for practice, either tool can help: work a problem, study the worked solution and complexity analysis, then close it and solve the problem again yourself.

Sources (checked Nov 14, 2026)

• LockedIn AI pricing (plans, billing cycle, guarantee, stealth note): lockedinai.com/pricing
• LockedIn AI features and platforms: lockedinai.com
• Anthropic API pricing: platform.claude.com
• OpenAI API pricing: developers.openai.com