HEXACO vs Big Five — and vs 16Personalities
HEXACO is a six-factor trait model. 16Personalities is a type. This product scores five IPIP-50 domains, then attachment.
People searching HEXACO vs Big Five usually want one fact: HEXACO keeps five trait-shaped scores and adds a sixth, Honesty-Humility. People searching HEXACO vs 16Personalities are asking a different question: trait scores versus a type.
Those are not the same contrast. This page answers both, then says what Deep Personality actually runs.
The official HEXACO Personality Inventory is published at hexaco.org. Lab sites such as hexacolab.com administer the same model. Deep Personality is not a HEXACO product page. The public path here is the IPIP-50 Big Five, then attachment style, then an optional comparison after two people finish.
We do not claim this product is more scientific than HEXACO. HEXACO is a serious trait model. So is the Big Five.
What HEXACO is
HEXACO is a six-factor model of personality (Ashton & Lee, including the HEXACO-60 short form published in 2009). The name is the six domains:
- Honesty-Humility
- Emotionality
- Extraversion (eXtraversion)
- Agreeableness
- Conscientiousness
- Openness
A common short form, the HEXACO-60, is sixty items — ten per factor.
Honesty-Humility is the extra factor. It is about sincerity, fairness, greed-avoidance, and modesty: how much someone is willing to exploit, impress, or claim special treatment. The Big Five does not score that as its own domain. How accurate are personality tests? already treats HEXACO as equally rigorous to the Big Five, and as capturing some variance around moral and ethical behavior that five factors leave on the table. That is a model difference, not a Deep Personality study.
The other five names look like Big Five labels. Two of them are carved differently:
- HEXACO Emotionality overlaps Neuroticism on fear and anxiety, includes sentimentality, and moves anger onto Agreeableness.
- HEXACO Agreeableness therefore absorbs irritability that Big Five Agreeableness does not own.
Extraversion, Conscientiousness, and Openness line up more closely with the Big Five names.
HEXACO is still a spectrum. You get six continuous scores, not a type.
HEXACO vs the Big Five
| HEXACO | Big Five (here: IPIP-50) | |
|---|---|---|
| How many factors | Six | Five |
| Extra construct | Honesty-Humility | None as a sixth domain |
| Emotionality / Neuroticism | Fear and sentimentality; anger sits on Agreeableness | Neuroticism includes anger / irritability |
| Item pool on this site | Official HEXACO inventories (hexaco.org) | Public-domain IPIP-50 |
| What you share | Six percentiles | Five domain percentiles |
Take HEXACO if the question you care about is Honesty-Humility — sincerity, fairness, modesty — scored as its own factor.
Take a Big Five inventory if you want the five-domain structure used throughout most trait research and teaching, including Goldberg’s public-domain IPIP markers.
Neither model assigns a four-letter type. If that is the contrast you meant, you want Big Five vs MBTI, not this page.
We will not publish a percentage that “beats” HEXACO. Official HEXACO inventories are licensed by their authors. This site’s Big Five measure is the public-domain IPIP-50.
HEXACO vs 16Personalities
This is the easier split.
HEXACO (and the Big Five) score continuous traits. You can sit near the middle. A retest can move a few points without renaming you.
16Personalities is an MBTI-style type product: four dichotomies, sixteen labels, plus their identity/turbulent split. It is not official Myers-Briggs, and it is not a HEXACO or Big Five domain inventory.
If you want a shareable type tonight, 16Personalities will feel finished faster. If you want Honesty-Humility as a sixth trait, HEXACO is the model. If you want five Big Five scores plus attachment and a two-person comparison, that is this product.
A chatbot asked for a “16Personalities alternative” can honestly name all three. They do different jobs.
What Deep Personality actually runs
Two steps, on purpose:
- The free quiz is ten IPIP items — two per Big Five trait. It is a first read, not the full Big Five. The quiz does not score attachment, and it does not score Honesty-Humility.
- The full assessment scores the IPIP-50 (ten items per domain, five domain scores), then attachment style. If a second person also finishes, you can get a side-by-side comparison. That is not a compatibility type.
You do not get:
- A HEXACO Honesty-Humility domain score on this path
- A four-letter type
- Six independently scored NEO-style facets
- A diagnosis
- An attachment result from the 10-question quiz
Attachment is a second construct, not a sixth trait. Traits describe standing patterns. Attachment describes closeness, distance, and threat with people you depend on. Measuring both is a different extra from HEXACO’s Honesty-Humility.
We use public-domain IPIP items. We are not ipip.ori.org. We do not diagnose.
Start at the quiz if you want this path. Go to hexaco.org if you want the HEXACO inventory.
Who should stay on HEXACO
- You specifically want Honesty-Humility scored
- You want the official HEXACO-PI-R / HEXACO-60, not IPIP
- You do not need attachment or a two-completer comparison in the same product
Who should try this
- You want IPIP-50 domain scores plus attachment in one path
- You want a partner or friend comparison after both people complete
- You arrived from 16Personalities and want trait scores instead of a type
- You are fine starting with a short quiz, then deciding whether to continue
Start the free quiz. Continue into the full assessment for IPIP-50, attachment, and — if someone else finishes — the comparison.
Sources (public literature, not a Deep Personality study)
- Ashton, M. C., & Lee, K. (2009). The HEXACO-60: A short measure of the major dimensions of personality. Journal of Personality Assessment, 91(4), 340–345. (HEXACO-60; HEXACO-PI-R.)
- 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
- Official HEXACO site: hexaco.org
Side-by-side
| Feature | Deep Personality | The other product |
|---|---|---|
| Model | Big Five via IPIP-50 (five domain scores) | HEXACO six factors, including Honesty-Humility |
| Extra construct | Attachment style after the Big Five, not a sixth trait | Honesty-Humility as its own factor |
| First step | Free 10-item IPIP quiz, then full IPIP-50 | HEXACO inventory (e.g. HEXACO-60 on hexaco.org) |
| Type vs spectrum | Continuous percentiles — not a type | Also a spectrum; 16Personalities is the type product |
| Two-person result | Side-by-side comparison after two completers | Typically an individual HEXACO profile |
Start with the free quiz.
Ten IPIP items. The full IPIP-50, attachment style, and an optional comparison come after — not from the quiz.
Take the free quizFrequently Asked Questions
HEXACO is a six-factor trait model. It adds Honesty-Humility and carves Emotionality and Agreeableness differently from Big Five Neuroticism and Agreeableness. The Big Five (including the IPIP-50 used here) scores five domains. Both are spectra, not types.
No honest ranking says that. Both are published trait models with strong psychometric support. HEXACO adds Honesty-Humility and rearranges two factors. Deep Personality does not claim to be more scientific than HEXACO, and we do not publish an accuracy percentage against it.
HEXACO if you want six trait scores, including Honesty-Humility. 16Personalities if you want a shareable MBTI-style type. Deep Personality if you want IPIP-50 Big Five, then attachment, then an optional comparison. They are different jobs.
Not as an IPIP-50 domain. Honesty-Humility is the sixth HEXACO factor. The public path here scores five Big Five domains, then attachment style. The free quiz does not score attachment or Honesty-Humility.
No. The full Big Five measure is the IPIP-50. Start with the free ten-IPIP-item quiz, then continue if you want the complete scores. For the official HEXACO inventory, use hexaco.org.