Last reviewed October 2026 · Paradigm Personality Labs research team
What is Predictive Index best at?
Selection. PI’s center of gravity is the hiring decision, supported by interview guides, role profiles, and behavioral plus cognitive scoring. If your primary pain is hiring the wrong people, PI is a serious, well-supported answer with a large installed base of HR leaders who already know how to use it.
What does the platform include?
PI Hire—selection with personalized interview guides and scoring against role profiles
PI Inspire—manager relationship guides and team management content
PI Design—team composition and business strategy alignment
PI Diagnose—engagement diagnostic surveying and root-cause analysis
PI Perform—performance management workflow with manager development built in
Modules are sold separately or bundled.
What science is it built on?
The PI Behavioral Assessment measures four drives—Dominance, Extraversion, Patience, and Formality. PI cites 70+ years of behavioral science, 383+ validity studies, and more than 25,000 employees studied across 120+ roles. The instrument is well regarded in the I-O psychology community on its own terms.
Where Predictive Index is strong
The most recognized brand in the category, which shortens internal approval
A polished, fast buying experience—among the best in enterprise HR software
Genuine depth at the selection decision
Credible published validity evidence for the instrument
A large community of HR leaders already fluent in the model
Where Predictive Index runs out
The insight tends to stay with HR. PI’s design is top-down: data informs HR and managers about employees, rather than reaching employees directly. Individual contributors often never see their own results in a usable form.
Four drives is a narrower lens than five continuous factors. For selection, that resolution is often sufficient. For developmental nuance across an entire workforce, it constrains what can be said about a specific person in a specific role.
Development is module-priced. Reaching the whole organization means buying additional modules, so whole-workforce coverage is a budget decision rather than a default.
The licensing model assumes you employ the people you’re assessing. Organizations built on consultant benches, contractor pools, or placement models frequently find this doesn’t fit.
Who should choose Predictive Index?
Choose PI if selection is your primary problem, you want a known-quantity vendor with strong brand recognition inside your organization, and your development needs are concentrated in the management layer rather than the whole workforce.
When is We by Paradigm the better fit?
When your problem is that development never reaches past the top 15%, you need employees themselves to act on their own results, or your workforce includes contractors and consultants.
Frequently asked questions
What does the Predictive Index measure?
The PI Behavioral Assessment measures four drives—Dominance, Extraversion, Patience, and Formality—and the PI Cognitive Assessment measures general cognitive ability. Together they are used mainly for selection and manager coaching.
Is Predictive Index based on the Big Five?
No. PI uses its own four-drive model. The Big Five (Five-Factor Model) is a separate, continuous-trait framework with five dimensions; the WorkPlace Big Five Profile® used by We adds 23 subtraits beneath them.
Do employees see their own Predictive Index results?
Results are primarily surfaced to HR and managers through PI’s platform. Individual contributors often do not receive their results in a usable, ongoing form, which limits PI as a whole-workforce development tool.
Does Predictive Index work for consultants, contractors, or staffing models?
PI’s licensing assumes you employ the people you assess, so organizations built on consultant benches or placement models frequently find it doesn’t fit. We by Paradigm supports contractor and consultant populations.
Should I replace Predictive Index or add to it?
If PI is doing the hiring job well, keep it for hiring. Organizations most often add a whole-workforce development layer rather than rip out a selection tool that works.
Related: Predictive Index’s site · Predictive Index alternatives · We vs. Predictive Index · Hogan review