IPIP-NEO — what it is, and the IPIP-50 we actually run
IPIP-NEO-120 and IPIP-NEO-300 are public-domain NEO-style facet forms. We run IPIP-50: fifty Goldberg items, five domain scores, then an attachment overlay and an optional partner comparison.
IPIP-NEO is a public-domain inventory from the International Personality Item Pool, built to approximate the NEO-PI-R facet structure. The usual lengths are IPIP-NEO-120 (120 items) and IPIP-NEO-300 (300 items). Both can report NEO-style facets. Deep Personality does not run them.
What this site runs is the IPIP-50: fifty public-domain Goldberg items, ten per Big Five domain, five domain scores. After those fifty items comes an attachment overlay, then an optional partner comparison if two people finish. That is a shorter domain-score path with a relationship layer. It is not a 120-item or 300-item clone.
ipipneo.com (IPIP-NEO-120 / IPIP-NEO-300) and Open Psychometrics are real free hosts for the longer forms. This page is not a dunk. It is the bridge from an IPIP-NEO question to the IPIP-50 path.
Related: IPIP, IPIP-50, and the free Big Five test.
We are not IPIP-NEO. We do not run IPIP-NEO-120. We do not run IPIP-NEO-300. We do not run NEO-PI-R. We are not ori.org. We are not ipipneo.com. We are not Open Psychometrics. We run IPIP-50.
What IPIP-NEO is
IPIP is the International Personality Item Pool: public-domain personality statements. Lewis Goldberg and colleagues published the pool so labs, classrooms, and applications could measure the five-factor space without licensing a commercial inventory. The reference site is ipip.ori.org. We use IPIP-50 items. We are not ori.org.
IPIP-NEO is one family of forms from that pool. It was written to stand in for the facet structure of Costa and McCrae’s NEO-PI-R: five domains, with facets under each domain. John A. Johnson’s IPIP-NEO-120 is the 120-item public-domain form described as thirty facets. IPIP-NEO-300 (also called IPIP-300) is the long form, with more items per facet.
| Name | What it is | On this site |
|---|---|---|
| IPIP-NEO-120 | 120 public-domain items; NEO-style facets | We do not run it. ipipneo.com is a host people use for this form. |
| IPIP-NEO-300 | 300 public-domain items; the long NEO-style facet form | We do not run it. Same family, more items per facet. |
| NEO-PI-R | The commercial Costa & McCrae inventory. Licensed. Not public-domain IPIP. | Not this site. |
| IPIP-50 | 50 public-domain Goldberg items, 10 per domain, five domain scores | What we run |
Saying “IPIP-NEO” is not the same as saying “an IPIP test.” The form matters. A 120-item facet inventory and a 50-item domain inventory answer different questions. The item-pool writeup is IPIP. The longer comparison of the forms is IPIP personality test. The one-sentence answer: we run 50, not NEO.
What Deep Personality runs
The full Big Five test on this site is the IPIP-50:
- Fifty public-domain Goldberg items
- Ten items per Big Five domain
- Five domain scores: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism
- One number (and usually a percentile) per trait
- Not a type
- Not thirty NEO-style facet scores
- Not IPIP-NEO, not IPIP-NEO-120, not IPIP-NEO-300
- Not official MBTI
- Not NEO-PI-R
- Not ori.org’s NEO form
- Not ipipneo.com
After those fifty items, the assessment adds an attachment overlay — anxiety and avoidance, then a style label. If two people finish, a partner comparison puts the two profiles side by side. It is not a match percentage.
The free quiz is ten IPIP items — two per Big Five trait. It is a teaser. It is not the IPIP-50. It is not IPIP-NEO. It does not score attachment.
That is the data this product actually has: IPIP-50 domain scores, an attachment overlay after those fifty items, and an optional partner comparison after two people finish.
You do not get:
- IPIP-NEO, IPIP-NEO-120, or IPIP-NEO-300
- A claim that this product is IPIP-NEO
- NEO-PI-R
- Thirty facet scores
- ori.org’s NEO form
- The ipipneo.com inventory
- An Open Psychometrics IPIP-BFFM result
- A four-letter type
- Official MBTI
- An invented accuracy percentage
- An attachment result from the 10-question quiz
- A diagnosis
- A paper we published
We use public-domain IPIP items. We are not ori.org. We are not ipipneo.com. We do not diagnose.
IPIP-NEO vs IPIP-50 vs this product
| IPIP-NEO | IPIP-50 | This product | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Form | IPIP-NEO-120 (120 items) or IPIP-NEO-300 (300 items) | 50 public-domain Goldberg items, 10 per Big Five domain | The free quiz (ten IPIP items — a teaser), then IPIP-50 |
| What it scores | NEO-style facets under the five domains | Five domain scores: one number (and usually a percentile) per trait | Five IPIP-50 domain scores, then an attachment overlay, then an optional partner comparison |
| Typical host | ipipneo.com. The item pool is documented at ipip.ori.org. Open Psychometrics is a separate free IPIP host (IPIP-BFFM). | Goldberg / the IPIP pool | This site |
| Job | A free research-style facet profile | Five domain scores in a shorter form | Domain scores, then closeness and distance, then an optional side-by-side view |
| On this site | We do not run it. | What we run | What you get here |
Those longer NEO-style forms are real IPIP inventories from the same public-domain pool. Deep Personality does not run them. Deep Personality does not run the IPIP-NEO. The fifty-item form is IPIP-50. The item-pool writeup is IPIP.
When IPIP-NEO-120 or IPIP-300 is the better choice
IPIP-NEO-120 and IPIP-NEO-300 are a good free research choice when the job is facets.
Choose that longer form when:
- You want NEO-style facet scores, not only five domain numbers
- You can sit for 120 items, or for 300
- A research-style facet profile is the point, and a relationship overlay is not
- You want the public-domain stand-in for the NEO facet map, not a commercial NEO-PI-R license
ipipneo.com is a straightforward host for IPIP-NEO-120 and IPIP-NEO-300. Open Psychometrics is a straightforward host for a free individual IPIP dump — their Big Five is the IPIP-BFFM — with no account and nothing else attached. Both are complementary. We do not publish an accuracy percentage against either of them. We do not rank IPIP-50 above IPIP-NEO.
Use those hosts when the facet form, or a bare IPIP-BFFM dump, is the job you came for.
When IPIP-50 plus a relationship overlay is the better job
Choose this path when the job is five domain scores, then how you do closeness, then an optional look at two people.
- You want the Big Five as five spectra, ten public-domain items per domain
- You do not need facet numbers under each domain
- You want an attachment overlay (anxiety and avoidance) after the personality score
- You may want a partner comparison after two people finish
That is a different job from a 120- or 300-item facet inventory. Shorter is not a claim of higher accuracy. Longer is not a claim of higher accuracy. The forms measure at different resolutions. This product adds two steps the facet hosts do not: an attachment overlay, then an optional partner comparison.
The free Big Five test is the free sitting next to this one. What “accurate” can mean is where we say what that word can and cannot mean. We do not print a percentage. Best Big Five personality test covers scored IPIP-50, not IPIP-NEO.
How to start the assessment
- The free quiz is ten IPIP items — two per Big Five trait. It is a teaser. It is not the IPIP-50. It is not IPIP-NEO. It does not score attachment.
- Continue on the Big Five test into the full IPIP-50 — fifty public-domain Goldberg items, ten per domain, five domain scores. The fifty-item form is IPIP-50.
- Add the attachment overlay if you want closeness and distance next to those traits.
- Invite a second person for a partner comparison after both finish.
Start the free quiz. Continue into the IPIP-50 on the Big Five test page.
Honest links
- IPIP-50 — fifty public-domain Goldberg items, ten per domain, five domain scores
- IPIP — the item-pool writeup; we run 50
- IPIP personality test — IPIP-50 vs IPIP-NEO-120 vs IPIP-300
- Free IPIP personality test — the same fifty items, free to start
- Free Big Five test — a short free Big Five sitting
- What “accurate” can mean — no accuracy percentage
- Best Big Five personality test — scored IPIP-50, not IPIP-NEO or BFI-2
- Big Five test — the free quiz, then the full IPIP-50
- Free quiz — ten IPIP items; not the IPIP-50; does not score attachment
- International Personality Item Pool: ipip.ori.org
- IPIP-NEO host: ipipneo.com
- Free IPIP dump: openpsychometrics.org
Sources (public literature, not a Deep Personality study)
- Goldberg, L. R. (1992). The development of markers for the Big-Five factor structure. Psychological Assessment, 4(1), 26–42.
- 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.
- International Personality Item Pool: ipip.ori.org
- IPIP-NEO host: ipipneo.com
- Open Psychometrics: openpsychometrics.org
We do not invent a validity paper. We do not publish an accuracy percentage. We do not cite a Deep Personality study we did not run. We run IPIP-50. We do not run IPIP-NEO.
Start with the free quiz.
Ten IPIP items — a teaser, not the IPIP-50, and not IPIP-NEO. Continue into fifty Goldberg items for five domain scores, then an attachment overlay, then an optional partner comparison.
Start the free quizFrequently Asked Questions
IPIP-NEO is a public-domain inventory from the International Personality Item Pool, built to approximate the NEO-PI-R facet structure. The common lengths are IPIP-NEO-120 (120 items) and IPIP-NEO-300 (300 items). Both can report NEO-style facets. They are not the commercial NEO-PI-R, and they are not the IPIP-50. Deep Personality does not run IPIP-NEO. A host for the longer forms is ipipneo.com.
IPIP-NEO-120 is 120 public-domain items and can score NEO-style facets. IPIP-50 is fifty public-domain Goldberg items, ten per Big Five domain, five domain scores. IPIP-NEO-300 is the 300-item facet form. Deep Personality runs IPIP-50. We do not run IPIP-NEO-120 or IPIP-NEO-300. After the IPIP-50 we add an attachment overlay and an optional partner comparison. ipipneo.com is a fit for the longer facet form. This site is a fit when you want five domain scores plus that relationship layer. Start at /quiz, then continue on /ipip-50 or /big-five-test.
No. We are not IPIP-NEO, not IPIP-NEO-120, not IPIP-NEO-300, not NEO-PI-R, not ori.org’s NEO form, and not ipipneo.com. We run IPIP-50: fifty public-domain Goldberg items, ten per Big Five domain, five domain scores, then an attachment overlay, then an optional partner comparison. If you want IPIP-NEO-120 or IPIP-NEO-300, a host such as ipipneo.com is the complementary choice. If you want five domain scores from fifty public-domain items, start at /quiz, then continue on /big-five-test, /ipip, or /ipip-50. The free quiz is ten IPIP items — a teaser — and does not score attachment.
The IPIP-NEO items are public-domain, so hosts can offer IPIP-NEO-120 or IPIP-NEO-300 without a commercial NEO-PI-R license. ipipneo.com is one of those hosts. Open Psychometrics offers a free IPIP Big Five (IPIP-BFFM), which is a different form. Deep Personality’s free path is not IPIP-NEO. It is a ten-item teaser at /quiz, then the IPIP-50 on /big-five-test or /ipip. We do not charge a license fee for the public-domain IPIP-50 items. We do not run IPIP-NEO. The quiz does not score attachment.
IPIP-NEO is a public-domain stand-in for the NEO facet structure. NEO-PI-R is the commercial Costa and McCrae inventory. It is licensed. It is not the International Personality Item Pool. IPIP-NEO-120 and IPIP-NEO-300 are the free public-domain lengths people use when they want facets without that license. ori.org documents the IPIP pool; we are not that site. Deep Personality runs neither IPIP-NEO nor NEO-PI-R. We run IPIP-50: five domain scores, not facet scores, then an attachment overlay and an optional partner comparison.