Google Interview Warmup Alternative: Replacing the Tool Google Shut Down in 2026

Google quietly shut down Interview Warmup in April 2026 with no official announcement. The tool, free and signup-free, let anyone practice answering interview questions out loud with real-time transcription and AI analysis. It's now replaced by a "How to prepare for an interview" article page that redirects to Gemini Live (source: Final Round AI – Google Interview Warmup Shut Down).

Problem: Gemini Live is not an interview simulator. It's a generic voice assistant. And for English speakers outside the US, coverage was already thin in Interview Warmup.

This guide tours the alternatives that pick up where it left off, compares their prices, real limits, and honestly says which to pick based on what you're after.

What happened with Interview Warmup

Interview Warmup launched in 2022 as part of the Grow with Google program, originally to support candidates enrolled in Google Career Certificates (source: Google Blog – Helping job seekers prepare for interviews). The tool covered 5 fields: Data Analytics, E-Commerce, IT Support, Project Management and UX Design, plus a "General" category.

What candidates concretely lose:

• A free, no-signup, browser-only environment. You arrived, picked a field, spoke. Zero friction.
• A real-time transcript with AI analysis of domain keywords detected in your answer, the split between "experience / skills / goals", and repetitions.
• 3 structured question types: Background (career), Situational (scenarios), Technical (knowledge).
• Privacy guarantee: no long-term storage of responses, no humans behind the scenes.

It was basic but clean. For a candidate who just wanted to hear themselves answer out loud without filming, it was the lowest-friction tool on the market.

The 2026 market: why the shutdown stings

The 2026 recruiting backdrop makes losing a free tool especially painful. Per the French APEC agency, the manager job market is rebounding with 305,800 hires expected in 2026 (+4%), after two years of decline (source: APEC – 2026 Manager Hiring Forecast). But competition is fierce: on average, 73 candidates apply per role, 3 land an interview, 1 gets the offer (source: Tool4Staffing – 20 key 2026 recruiting numbers).

In other words, getting to the interview means already being in the top 4% who cleared screening. Mis-preparing at that stage means wasting a ticket that cost a lot to earn.

The 5 alternatives to consider in 2026

Honest round-up — what's free, what's native in your language, what genuinely replicates the Interview Warmup experience, and what's off-target.

1. Velyq — the native bilingual alternative

• Price: free (Free tier) or Premium €14.99/month
• Language: native French (and English)
• What replaces Interview Warmup: free text-based interview simulator, answer analysis, structured feedback on clarity, STAR structure, and concrete proof.
• What goes further: sector-specific interviews (tech, finance/investment banking, consulting), real-time voice simulator with an AI recruiter (Premium tier), ATS resume analysis, cover letter generator.
• Limit: the live voice is paid. Text remains free unlimited on the general path.

This is the tool we build. We won't pretend to be objective — but we can say precisely what we cover and what we don't: see /pricing.

2. Huru — the closest to Interview Warmup

• Price: $24.99/month after a trial (source: Huru AI Pricing 2026 – Revoyant)
• Language: multilingual interface, but mostly English-trained models
• What it covers: unlimited video simulations, 20,000+ question bank, AI feedback, mobile app
• Limit: paid from day one (no durable free tier), and coaching stays generic, not tailored to a specific local market (French consulting firms, APEC salary bands, etc.)

3. Gemini Live (Google's official redirect)

• Price: free with a Google account
• Language: most major languages
• What it covers: free voice conversation with Gemini.
• Limit: Gemini Live is not an interview simulator. It's a conversational assistant. You can ask it to play a recruiter, but:
  • No structured scoring
  • No STAR methodology detection
  • No specific analysis for consulting / finance / tech interviews
  • No session-to-session progress tracking (no persistent memory by default)

Useful as a rough draft, insufficient as a serious prep tool.

4. Yoodli — the B2B pivot

• Price: freemium (free tier limited to a few sessions/month)
• Language: mainly English
• What it covers: communication analysis (pace, filler words, clarity, repetition). Excellent on that niche.
• Limit: Yoodli has clearly pivoted to B2B "enterprise communication training" in 2026. The consumer candidate segment is deprioritized. For a candidate looking for a direct Interview Warmup substitute, it's no longer the top pick.

5. Pramp — tech-specific, peer-to-peer

• Price: free
• Language: English only
• What it covers: technical interviews in peer-to-peer format (you take and give an interview).
• Limit: tech profiles only, English only, and you need a human partner (so scheduling).

Comparison table

Which alternative to pick based on your profile

Why we think a 100% local-language tool was missing

Even before the shutdown, Interview Warmup didn't cover local market specifics. BCG / McKinsey / Bain interviews in Paris don't go like a Google technical interview. Investment banking interviews (BNP, Société Générale, Rothschild) expect deal sheets, brain teasers, mental math — Interview Warmup asked none of that. Local politeness norms, the "tell me about yourself" phrasing expected locally, the weight of cultural fit in regional companies... none of it was addressed.

What we've tried to build with Velyq is exactly that blank on the map: local sector tracks, a voice coach that knows the grading grids at regional firms and scale-ups, and a free tier that doesn't require a credit card to start.

To try the voice simulator on the candidate side: create a free account. No paid plan without an explicit click, no card required.

FAQ — common questions

Why did Google shut down Interview Warmup? Google didn't communicate officially. Reading between the lines — widely echoed in specialized press — Google wants to funnel users into Gemini Live, their conversational model, rather than maintain a dedicated tool (source: Final Round AI). The shutdown happened in April 2026.

Does Gemini Live really replace Interview Warmup? Not really. Gemini Live is a general conversational assistant. You can ask it to simulate a recruiter, but you don't get structured feedback, STAR scoring, filler-word detection, or tracked progress. It's a partial substitute, not a 1-for-1 replacement.

Is there a free interview simulator in English (or French) in 2026? Yes. Velyq offers a free unlimited text-based interview simulator in English and French, with answer analysis and structured feedback. Real-time voice is Premium at €14.99/month. Other tools exist (Persuasiv AI, RecrutLabs, Pistonne-moi) but are more recent and less complete.

Does Velyq's free tier cap questions? No for the text simulator. Sector-specific interviews (tech, consulting, finance) and the voice simulator are included in Premium €14.99/month, with no free trial requiring a card — Free stays Free.

What's the best free alternative to practice out loud? For raw voice with no structured feedback: Gemini Live (free, multilingual, raw). For voice with structured feedback: either pay (Huru, Velyq Premium) or find a partner for Pramp (English, tech only).

How long should you train before an interview? A 2024 Yoodli study indicates that candidates who practice at least 10 minutes before an interview are about 40% more likely to convert. For a high-stakes interview (MBB consulting, investment banking, FAANG tech), expect 3-5 sessions of 30 min spread across the week before.

Go further

• The STAR method: the framework to answer any question — the method AI feedback tracks under the hood.
• The 10 most asked interview questions — question bank for practice, with template answers.
• Can AI actually help you ace your interviews? — state of the candidate AI market in 2026.

Article written by the Velyq Team · Last updated April 23, 2026. All cited data comes from public 2024-2026 sources (APEC, Final Round AI, Revoyant, Google Blog). Views on Velyq are those of its creators and are owned as such.