The best free personality test depends on what you want
For a research-based result, pick a Big Five / IPIP test. For a fun type label, pick 16Personalities.
The best free personality test depends on what you want. For a research-based result, pick a Big Five / IPIP test: the Open Psychometrics IPIP-BFFM, or IPIP-NEO (the item pool is ipip.ori.org). For a fun type label, take 16Personalities. For a type and a career catalog, look at Truity. For a free attachment-style quiz, use Attachment Project or read the free attachment style test. For Big Five scores plus an attachment overlay and an optional partner comparison, use Deep Personality — IPIP-50, an attachment overlay, and an optional partner comparison.
Best free personality test by goal
| Goal | Pick | What you get | Cost to start |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free research Big Five | Open Psychometrics IPIP-BFFM; IPIP-NEO via ipip.ori.org | Five factor scores from 50 public-domain IPIP items, or 30 facets from IPIP-NEO (120 or 300 items) | Free to take |
| Fun 16-type label | 16Personalities | A four-letter type, with free type descriptions | Free basic, paid report |
| Type and career catalog | Truity | A catalog: type results, a Big Five-shaped test, and career tools | Free basic, paid report |
| Free attachment-style quiz | Attachment Project or the free attachment style test | Their attachment quiz, or the note on what a free start does and does not score | Their page says the quiz is free. The note here is free to read |
| Big Five, an attachment overlay, and a partner comparison | Deep Personality | IPIP-50 domain scores, an attachment overlay, and an optional partner comparison | Free to start |
What each pick gives you
Free research Big Five. Open Psychometrics hosts an IPIP Big-Five Factor Markers test: fifty items on a five-point scale, scored as extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness. The test page cites Goldberg’s 1992 markers and does not list a price. Cost to start: free. IPIP-NEO is the longer public-domain facet form (120 or 300 items, 30 facets) and is free to take. The item pool lives at ipip.ori.org. We do not run IPIP-NEO. The short Big Five writeup is the free Big Five test. The IPIP writeup is the free IPIP personality test.
Fun 16-type label. 16Personalities returns a four-letter type. Their homepage describes the personality test and the type descriptions as free. Their premium page sells a separate Career Suite, listed at $29, as a longer career guide. Cost to start: free basic, paid report. It is not official MBTI. It is a type label, not five continuous scores.
Type and career catalog. Truity keeps several frameworks in one catalog: a Big Five-shaped test, TypeFinder, Enneagram, career tools, and more. Their TypeFinder page says you can view an overview of your results without buying, and that a fuller report is optional and paid. Cost to start: free basic, paid report. We do not run TypeFinder, Enneagram, or a career test.
Free attachment-style quiz. Attachment Project says, on their attachment-theory page, that the quiz is free. That is their product. The free attachment style test says what a free start on this site does. The free quiz is ten IPIP items. It does not score attachment. We do not administer the 36-item ECR-R.
Big Five, an attachment overlay, and a partner comparison. That is the Deep Personality row. The section below says what is included. Cost to start: free to start. Prices are on pricing.
What “free” usually means
“Free” on a personality test usually means one of two things. Free to take means you can answer the items and see a basic result without paying first. A free full report means the long written interpretation is included, not sold afterward. Those are different. A test can be free to start and still charge for a longer report, or for a second feature such as comparing two people. Read the host’s own page before you assume the whole result is included.
How to pick
Pick by the result you want.
- Research scores. You want numbers on traits that researchers use. Start with a Big Five / IPIP test: Open Psychometrics IPIP-BFFM for five scores, or IPIP-NEO when facets are the point.
- A type label. You want a fun name to share. 16Personalities is the usual pick. Truity is the pick when you also want a career catalog in the same account.
- A relationship. You want Big Five scores, then closeness and distance, then two profiles side by side. That path is below.
What “accurate” can mean — reliability and validity, not a percentage — is on most accurate personality test. What “best” can mean, without a crown, is on best personality test. Other routes are on alternatives.
What Deep Personality gives you
Deep Personality runs the IPIP-50: fifty public-domain Goldberg items, ten per domain, five domain scores. Then an attachment overlay. Then an optional partner comparison after two people finish. The comparison is not a compatibility percentage.
Deep Personality is free to start: the short quiz is a ten-item IPIP teaser, it is not the IPIP-50, and it does not score attachment.
You can start for free. The short quiz is ten public-domain IPIP items. It is a teaser, it is not the IPIP-50, and it does not score attachment. The full report is paid: Individual is $9.99 per month and includes the attachment overlay. A preview of the written report is available before you pay.
Partner comparison is $14.99 per month. A one-year Comparison gift is $49. Both include the individual report, the attachment overlay, and a partner comparison. Lifetime, at $149 once, includes partner comparison and does not renew.
The free quiz is ten IPIP items. It does not score attachment, and it is not the IPIP-50. The length note is IPIP-50. Current prices are on pricing.
Honest links
- Free Big Five test — a free Big Five sitting, including Open Psychometrics
- Free IPIP personality test — the IPIP-50 writeup
- Free attachment style test — what a free start does and does not score
- Most accurate personality test — what “accurate” can mean. No accuracy percentage
- Best personality test — a scored Big Five, not a type
- Alternatives — pick by competitor or by goal
- IPIP-50 — fifty Goldberg items, five domain scores
- Pricing — current prices
- Open Psychometrics IPIP-BFFM, IPIP, IPIP-NEO, 16Personalities, Truity, Attachment Project
Sources (their pages and public literature, not a Deep Personality study)
- Open Psychometrics IPIP-BFFM: openpsychometrics.org/tests/IPIP-BFFM — fifty items, no price listed.
- Goldberg, L. R. (1992). The development of markers for the Big-Five factor structure. Psychological Assessment, 4(1), 26–42.
- International Personality Item Pool: ipip.ori.org
- IPIP-NEO host: ipipneo.com. IPIP-NEO is free to take (120 or 300 items, 30 facets). We do not run that form.
- Johnson, J. A. (2014). Measuring thirty facets of the Five Factor Model with a 120-item public domain inventory: Development of the IPIP-NEO-120. Journal of Research in Personality, 51, 78–89.
- 16Personalities describes the personality test and type descriptions as free. The Premium Career Suite is listed at $29.
- Truity’s TypeFinder page says you can view an overview of your results without buying, and that a fuller report is optional and paid.
- Attachment Project: attachmentproject.com. Their attachment-theory page says the quiz is free.
We do not publish an accuracy percentage. We did not run a study that ranks these products.
Start with the free quiz.
Ten IPIP items — a teaser, not the IPIP-50. It does not score attachment. Continue into the IPIP-50 for five domain scores, then an attachment overlay. A partner comparison is a separate plan, after two people finish.
Start the free quizFrequently Asked Questions
It depends on what you want. For a research-based result, pick a Big Five / IPIP test: Open Psychometrics IPIP-BFFM for five scores, or IPIP-NEO (free to take, 120 or 300 items) when you want facets. For a fun type label, 16Personalities. For a type and a career catalog, Truity. For a free attachment-style quiz, Attachment Project, or the overview at /free-attachment-style-test. For Big Five plus an attachment overlay and an optional partner comparison, Deep Personality. Deep Personality is free to start: the short quiz is a ten-item IPIP teaser, it is not the IPIP-50, and it does not score attachment. See /free-big-five-test, /alternatives, and /pricing.
We do not name a most accurate free personality test, and we do not publish an accuracy percentage. “Most accurate” is job-dependent: for trait measurement it means retest reliability and construct validity, not a crown. A free research form can still be Open Psychometrics IPIP-BFFM or IPIP-NEO. What “accurate” can mean is on /most-accurate-personality-test. Deep Personality is free to start: the short quiz is a ten-item IPIP teaser, it is not the IPIP-50, and it does not score attachment. We do not call Deep Personality the most accurate free personality test.
Yes. Open Psychometrics IPIP-BFFM is a completely free research form: public-domain items, and the test page does not list a price. IPIP-NEO is free to take (120 or 300 items, 30 facets) at ipipneo.com; the item pool is at ipip.ori.org. 16Personalities describes the personality test and the type descriptions as free. Deep Personality is free to start: the short quiz is a ten-item IPIP teaser, it is not the IPIP-50, and it does not score attachment. You can start for free. The short quiz is ten public-domain IPIP items. It is a teaser, it is not the IPIP-50, and it does not score attachment. The full report is paid: Individual is $9.99 per month and includes the attachment overlay. A preview of the written report is available before you pay.
Their homepage describes the personality test and the type descriptions as free. A longer Career Suite is listed at $29 on their premium page. The result is a four-letter type, not five IPIP-50 domain scores. We are not 16Personalities, and we are not official MBTI.
The free quiz at /quiz is ten IPIP items. It does not score attachment, and it is not a partner comparison. After two people finish, the partner comparison puts IPIP-50 domains side by side and attachment side by side. It is not a compatibility percentage. Partner comparison is $14.99 per month. A one-year Comparison gift is $49. Both include the individual report, the attachment overlay, and a partner comparison. Lifetime, at $149 once, includes partner comparison and does not renew. The path is /personality-comparison-with-partner.