The 25 Worst Interview Companies in 2026
At Canonical, 63% of candidates rate the interview negative and only 8% get an offer. Airwallex (47%) and Oscar Health (45%) follow. High pay does not buy a good process: most of the list is well-funded software.
Key findings
Negative is the share of interview reports the candidate rated a negative experience. 200+ rated reports, known employers only. Method at the end.
The 25 worst interview experiences
| # | Company | Negative | Positive | Offer rate | Difficulty | Any complaint | Reports | Median pay |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CanonicalComputer Hardware Development | 63% | 12% | 8% | Hard3.44 | 16% | 520 | $146,317 |
| 2 | AirwallexInternet & Web Services | 47% | 31% | 20% | Average2.97 | 23% | 427 | $222,500 |
| 3 | Oscar HealthInsurance Carriers | 45% | 38% | 26% | Average2.89 | 22% | 1,019 | — |
| 4 | CloudflareInternet & Web Services | 45% | 33% | 21% | Average3.10 | 20% | 634 | $187,825 |
| 5 | OktaSoftware Development | 45% | 39% | 25% | Average2.96 | 21% | 631 | $229,450 |
| 6 | NavanSoftware Development | 44% | 40% | 34% | Average2.82 | 24% | 433 | $269,700 |
| 7 | VertaforeTechnology | 44% | 41% | 35% | Average2.73 | 20% | 309 | $107,400 |
| 8 | BrazeEnterprise Software | 43% | 40% | 21% | Average3.00 | 23% | 361 | $191,256 |
| 9 | GitHubTechnology | 42% | 41% | 19% | Average2.87 | 30% | 443 | $260,420 |
| 10 | AdyenFinancial Transaction Processing | 42% | 38% | 20% | Average3.02 | 17% | 557 | $171,817 |
| 11 | ClickUpEnterprise Software | 42% | 47% | 36% | Average3.03 | 20% | 250 | $230,000 |
| 12 | BumbleInternet & Web Services | 41% | 44% | 28% | Average2.91 | 26% | 277 | $239,250 |
| 13 | GustoInternet & Web Services | 41% | 39% | 27% | Average2.96 | 20% | 587 | $217,575 |
| 14 | RipplingComputer Hardware Development | 40% | 39% | 19% | Average3.02 | 14% | 1,149 | $298,139 |
| 15 | BILLFinancial Transaction Processing | 40% | 43% | 32% | Average2.77 | 22% | 223 | $138,890 |
| 16 | AsanaTechnology | 39% | 42% | 18% | Average3.06 | 19% | 710 | $292,400 |
| 17 | RemitlyBanking & Lending | 39% | 46% | 32% | Average3.00 | 15% | 323 | $196,159 |
| 18 | AddeparEnterprise Software | 38% | 41% | 21% | Average3.01 | 17% | 323 | $184,200 |
| 19 | ConfluentComputer Hardware Development | 38% | 43% | 26% | Average3.05 | 12% | 532 | $218,150 |
| 20 | AnthropicTechnology | 38% | 36% | 4% | Average3.28 | 9% | 550 | $555,000 |
| 21 | Zoom Video CommunicationsIT Support Services | 37% | 44% | 27% | Average2.90 | 21% | 508 | $230,585 |
| 22 | Zoom CommunicationsIT Support Services | 37% | 45% | 27% | Average2.89 | 21% | 514 | $161,613 |
| 23 | UlineWholesale | 37% | 34% | 24% | Average2.95 | 12% | 1,008 | — |
| 24 | ZooxComputer Hardware Development | 37% | 42% | 22% | Average3.04 | 13% | 542 | $214,225 |
| 25 | AxonTechnology | 36% | 43% | 27% | Average3.09 | 19% | 586 | $130,506 |
Canonical is an outlier in every column: 63% negative, 12% positive, 8% offer rate, 3.44 difficulty. Strip it out and the rest of the table runs from 36% to 47% negative with difficulty between 2.73 and 3.28, which is to say ordinary loops that candidates dislike. Read the pay column next to it. Anthropic $555k, Rippling $298k, Asana $292k, Navan $270k, GitHub $260k. Then the complaint column: GitHub 30%, Bumble 26%, Navan 24%, Airwallex 23%. Money is not buying these companies a process anyone wants to go through.
Put this next to the best-experience list and the contrast is sharp. The good list is defense contractors and national labs paying $100k to $175k with 60%-plus offer rates. The bad list is venture-backed software paying $180k to $300k with offer rates around 20%. Pay does not buy process. If anything, the companies with the most money and the most applicants are the ones most likely to leave candidates hanging.
Frequently asked questions
Which company has the worst interview experience in 2026?
Canonical. 63% of candidates rate the process negative, 12% positive, and the offer rate is 8%. Airwallex (47% negative) and Oscar Health (45%) are next.
Do high-paying companies have better interview processes?
No. Sixteen of the 25 worst-rated interview companies pay a median of $180k or more, including Anthropic ($555k), Rippling ($298k) and Asana ($292k).
Which company gets the most complaints?
GitHub. 30% of its interview reports contain a concrete complaint, mostly about ghosting. Bumble (26%) and Navan (24%) follow.
Are bad interview experiences caused by difficulty?
Rarely. Only Canonical (3.44) and Anthropic (3.28) are meaningfully above average difficulty. Vertafore (2.73) and BILL (2.77) are easier than average and still rank in the worst 25.
How this was built
Interview reports are candidate-submitted interview experiences in Dataford's pipeline (Glassdoor, Blind, LeetCode and other sources). Difficulty is 1 (very easy) to 5 (very difficult); 3 is average. Experience is the share of reports marked positive or negative. Offer rate counts only reports that were fully parsed; companies whose reports carry no offer information at all are excluded from offer rankings.
Employee ratings for work-life balance, career opportunities, management and overall are 1 to 5. Where a company has 500+ Glassdoor reviews in its aggregate profile that figure is used; otherwise Dataford's own scraped review sample (100+ reviews). Pay is the company median across tech-role pay bands: leveled total-comp ladders where published, otherwise best-supported posted ranges (15+ data points). Posted ranges understate equity-heavy packages.
Each ranking states its own threshold. Near-duplicate company names were merged and review-farm entries removed. Snapshot 4 September 2026. Built from internal data only.