ChadView, ShadowHint, Enigma AI and three more: testing 6 AI interview copilots in 2026

The "AI helps during a live interview" category emerged around 2023, exploded in 2025, and by 2026 there are at least seven active products in the Russian-speaking tech market with nearly identical promises: launch the app, hit a hotkey, get the answer to whatever the interviewer just asked, window invisible during screen share.

Under the hood — different teams, different model providers, different operating systems, different price tags. On the landing pages they all look the same. In practice, they aren't.

We installed six of the most popular ones in the Russian-speaking interview-prep scene, ran them through test calls and real interviews, and broke them down honestly. Where they're strong, where they oversell, and where JobPath beats each one on specific facts. Where JobPath doesn't lead — said so too.

TL;DR table

Service	OS	Free plan	Paid pricing	Languages	Native app	Auto-apply
JobPath	Win / Mac / Linux	15 min/month	$9 – $19/mo	RU + EN	yes	yes (HH.ru)
ChadView	Chrome only	no	~$15/mo	EN + RU + 4	no (extension)	no
ShadowHint	Windows	yes (limits unclear)	subscription	RU	yes	yes (HH.ru)
Enigma AI	Win / Mac	150 credits	per-credit pricing	RU	yes	no
Sobes.tech	Win / Mac	no	$10 – $46 / period	RU	yes	no
Hintsage	Windows	no	subscription	EN + multi	yes	no
InterviewHunter	Win / Mac / Linux β	200K tokens/mo	$20/mo	50+	yes	no

Now in detail.

ChadView — the only one that lives in your browser

What it is. A Chrome extension. It transcribes the call directly inside the Zoom/Meet/Teams browser tab using WebAPI and sends the text to OpenAI's ChatGPT. The answer comes back as an overlay on top of the tab.

Strengths. One-click install from Chrome Web Store, no .exe required. Works on Windows, macOS, Linux, ChromeOS — anywhere Chrome runs. Six languages including Ukrainian and Portuguese, useful for emigrating engineers. Pricing roughly $15/month — middle of the market.

Weaknesses.

• Browser clients only. If the interviewer sends a desktop Zoom link, the extension can't attach.
• No real OS-level stealth. The Chrome window itself is captured by screen-share — the overlay is hidden via CSS focus, but it's not OS filtering.
• No screenshot reading for live coding (Codility, HackerRank tasks — no help).
• ChatGPT API only. No Claude option, no model choice.
• Pricing inconsistency on the site: the landing shows ~1500 RUB/mo, the checkout header sometimes flashes ~3900 RUB/mo. Confusing.

Who fits. People who refuse to install anything and live entirely in the browser. Decent entry point to the category. On real interviews it's the weakest of the six.

ShadowHint — RU-only, Windows-only, aggressive marketing

What it is. Native Windows desktop app. Claims 236ms response latency, a 13,000-question database, and a bot that submits 1000 applications per day to HH.ru.

Strengths. Supports 16+ video-call platforms: Discord, Meet, Teams, Zoom (browser), Jitsi, Webex, VK Calls, Yandex Telemost. RU-localized interface, RU-tuned prompts, RU-domain question bank — clearly targeted at the Russian candidate.

Weaknesses.

• Windows only. Cuts off macOS and Linux completely. That's serious — among developers, Mac is at least 30-40% of the market. Backend engineers on Linux are out.
• No English UI. For interviews at international companies, the service doesn't fit.
• Landing promises a "free version" but specific limits aren't disclosed until you register.
• 1000 applications/day on HH.ru sounds great until you realize HH.ru actively bans accounts at that volume — our (JobPath's) measured safe limit is 50/day per profile before the anti-spam triggers.

Who fits. If you're on Windows, exclusively in the Russian market, and want maximum localization. JobPath competes here directly — same RU+EN, same 13K question bank, plus auto-apply, plus macOS, plus Linux. If macOS isn't needed, ShadowHint is a viable alternative.

Enigma AI — premium tier with credit-based economics

What it is. Native Win/Mac app. Landing brags about Claude Opus, 50-100ms latency, 95% transcription accuracy, sliding-window memory, system-design diagram generation. Testimonials from candidates hired at Yandex, Sber, VK, Tinkoff, Ozon.

Strengths. Genuinely uses Claude Opus (Anthropic's premium model). Genuinely native macOS. Genuinely doesn't show the window during screen share. Custom knowledge base upload up to 100,000 characters — load your own docs for a specific company or framework. System-design diagrams are a feature nobody else has.

Weaknesses.

• Credit-based economics. Landing doesn't disclose credit price. Starting 150 credits on signup gets you about one test interview (their own docs say a typical interview uses 200-300 credits). After that — pay. How much exactly — visible only inside your account. Deliberately structured so you can't price-compare upfront. That's annoying.
• RU UI only. Useless for international interviews.
• No HH.ru auto-apply — purely an interview helper.
• No Linux.

Who fits. Senior engineers with budget, targeting top Russian tech companies, who want maximum model quality. If money's not a constraint and accuracy beats price, this is a strong play. For mainstream candidates — too expensive.

Sobes.tech — no free plan, aggressive 90-day discount

What it is. Win/Mac desktop. Beyond the AI helper — mock interviews, question bank, resume generation, post-interview analysis, choice of four AI providers (OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, Grok).

Strengths. The widest "all-in-one" in this list. Plenty around the helper itself: practice ahead of time, run mocks, get post-interview breakdown. Supports exotic-for-the-market platforms: Salute Jazz, MeetZone, BigBlueButton — sometimes used by enterprise interviewers.

Weaknesses.

• No free plan at all. Entry tier is ~$10 for 7 days. Pay first, try second. Don't like it — refund, maybe (refund policy isn't documented on the landing). This is the biggest red flag in the category: you can't validate before purchase.
• 90-day plan at ~$46 looks like "buy in advance" pricing — but in 90 days your job-search situation will be completely different. That packaging milks budgets, doesn't serve users.
• No auto-apply.
• RU only.

Who fits. If you need the all-in-one bundle for the Russian market and don't mind paying upfront. JobPath covers the same ground (mock interviews, question bank, helper, auto-apply) plus a free plan to validate first.

Hintsage — the only one with Telegram answer delivery

What it is. Native Windows desktop. Standard AI helper plus a few unusual features: teleprompter mode (read the answer like off a prompter), answer delivery to Telegram (read off your phone next to you so it doesn't show on screen), cursor masking, hidden from task manager.

Strengths. The Telegram delivery is genuinely smart. On some interviews the company watches your screen via webcam (anti-cheat), and reading off a second monitor gets caught by eye movement. Slipping a phone under the desk with the answer works. Also offers model choice (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini), and the teleprompter mode helps weaker actors.

Weaknesses.

• Windows only. No macOS, no Linux.
• No free plan. No public pricing on the landing either.
• Heavy focus on "beat the cheat detector" (phantom window mode, hotkey blocking, task-manager hiding). Useful, but it pulls them into a permanent stealth arms race with detection vendors.
• Clearly EN-first. Russian functionality exists but localization quality lags.

Who fits. Windows user, willing to pay, wants Telegram answer delivery. Niche but valid. Not a leader for any other use case.

InterviewHunter — the quiet honest competitor

What it is. Native Win/Mac/Linux (beta). 50+ languages. $20/month flat, free plan with 200,000 tokens/month (8-12 minutes).

Strengths. The only one besides JobPath with real Linux support. Clean minimalist UI. Auto-mode — AI decides when to answer without hotkeys. Document uploads (resume, JD) for context. $20/month — competitive.

Weaknesses.

• Russian landing is thin — clearly an EN-first international product.
• 200,000 free tokens is barely enough to test, certainly not enough to interview seriously. Paid plan kicks in fast.
• No HH.ru auto-apply.
• Linux build in beta — for power users, not mass-market yet.

Who fits. Need Linux, don't need Russian, $20/mo budget — solid pick. For the Russian market it's the best foreign option.

Where JobPath honestly wins

We're not pretending we lead on everything. Here are the specific fact-based scenarios where JobPath beats each competitor.

Native Windows + macOS + Linux simultaneously. Only InterviewHunter comes close (Linux in beta). ShadowHint — Windows only. Hintsage — Windows only. ChadView — browser-only. Sobes.tech and Enigma — no Linux.

RU + EN runtime switching. Switch the interface language before the call, everything works. ShadowHint, Enigma, Sobes.tech — RU only. Hintsage — EN-first. JobPath — both natively.

HH.ru auto-apply included in the subscription. Only us and ShadowHint do this. We do 50 applications/day within safe limits, AI-generated cover letters, 16 filter parameters. ShadowHint promises 1000/day — unrealistic given HH.ru's anti-spam.

Transparent pricing with a real free plan. 15 minutes/month free, then $9 Basic, $19 Premium. Sobes.tech — no free plan. Enigma — opaque credit math. Hintsage — no public pricing.

13,000+ question bank for prep before the interview — only JobPath and ShadowHint have this. The rest don't, or have small subsets.

Where JobPath doesn't lead:

• Premium AI model. Enigma openly uses Claude Opus, we mix Claude Sonnet and GPT-4o per task. If you need maximum depth in system design at a senior interview, Enigma gives slightly better raw model output (at non-disclosed pricing).
• System-design diagrams. Only Enigma offers these.
• Telegram answer delivery. Only Hintsage.
• Widest international language support. InterviewHunter at 50+.

If those specific features are critical, take the corresponding product. If they aren't (and for most candidates they aren't), JobPath wins on everything else.

What to take for your situation

By scenario, plain.

MacBook + Russian-language interviews. JobPath or Enigma AI. JobPath is cheaper and pricing-transparent, Enigma gives the top-tier model at opaque cost.

Windows + Russian market only. JobPath or ShadowHint. Direct competition — pick by free trial.

Linux. JobPath or InterviewHunter. No other options exist in the category.

Want to try something free right now. JobPath (15 min/mo) or InterviewHunter (200K tokens/mo). The rest either have no free plan or symbolic ones.

Chrome only, refuse to install. ChadView — the only fit.

Need HH.ru auto-apply too. JobPath or ShadowHint. No other real options.

Interviewing at Google or Stripe from Russia. JobPath (RU+EN) or InterviewHunter (50 languages). Local RU services aren't built for international screening calls.

Where to start

Interview next week — grab JobPath free, install the desktop client from jobpath.world, set your role. 15 minutes of AI copilot per month covers the call that actually matters. If it pulls you out — upgrade to Basic at $9. If it doesn't — uninstall, no harm done.

Want a back-pocket alternative — install InterviewHunter alongside, both are free to start, you'll see the difference in one or two interviews.

The category is young, the leaderboard will keep shifting. Right now, for the Russian-speaking market with multi-OS support, transparent free tier, and HH.ru auto-apply: JobPath leads on specific facts. If your requirements are different, the table at the top of this article tells you who else to take.