16 Personalities Alternatives: Tests Worth Your Time
16personalities.com has introduced millions to personality testing. The colorful graphics, relatable type descriptions, and shareable results make it viral-friendly.
But here's the thing: 16 Personalities isn't quite MBTI, isn't quite Big Five, and doesn't fully commit to either framework. The result is a test that's engaging but scientifically muddled.
If you're ready for something more rigorous, this guide covers alternatives that deliver real insight.
What 16 Personalities Actually Is
16 Personalities presents itself as MBTI-based—you get a four-letter type like INTJ or ENFP. But under the hood, it measures Big Five traits and maps them onto MBTI categories:
| 16 Personalities Calls It | It's Actually Measuring |
|---|---|
| Introverted vs. Extraverted | Extraversion (Big Five) |
| Intuitive vs. Observant | Openness (Big Five) |
| Thinking vs. Feeling | Agreeableness (Big Five, reversed) |
| Judging vs. Prospecting | Conscientiousness (Big Five) |
| Assertive vs. Turbulent | Neuroticism (Big Five, reversed) |
This hybrid approach means you're taking a Big Five test dressed in MBTI clothing, with the fifth factor (Neuroticism/Turbulence) tacked on as a subtype.
The Problem with Hybrid Approaches
You lose Big Five's nuance: Big Five gives you percentile scores. 16 Personalities forces those into binary categories. Someone scoring 51% toward Thinking and someone scoring 99% toward Thinking both get "T"—but they're very different people.
You inherit MBTI's flaws: The sixteen types don't represent natural psychological clusters. Research shows personality traits distribute normally (bell curves), not bimodally (two peaks). Types are a convenient fiction.
The fifth dimension is orphaned: The Assertive/Turbulent axis doesn't integrate with the four-letter type system. It's essentially measuring Neuroticism separately, which Big Five already handles better.
Alternatives That Actually Commit
Proper Big Five Tests
If you want to measure what 16 Personalities is secretly measuring, go straight to the source.
IPIP-NEO (Free) The International Personality Item Pool offers research-quality Big Five assessments. The full version has 300 items; shorter versions exist.
What you get:
- Percentile scores on all five factors
- Subscale scores for 30 facets (6 per factor)
- No pseudoscientific type mapping
NEO-PI-R (Paid, administered by professionals) The gold standard in personality assessment. Used in clinical and organizational settings worldwide.
Big Five Inventory (BFI) (Free) A brief, validated measure often used in research. Good for a quick but accurate snapshot.
Enneagram Tests
The Enneagram offers what Big Five doesn't: a framework built around motivation, fear, and growth.
The Enneagram Institute's RHETI (Paid) The most thorough Enneagram test available. 144 forced-choice questions that discriminate between types well.
Truity's Enneagram Test (Free) A solid free option that gives you scores for all nine types rather than forcing a single result.
Eclectic Energies Enneagram Tests (Free) Offers both classical and instinctual variant versions.
HEXACO Tests
An upgrade to Big Five that adds the Honesty-Humility dimension—measuring sincerity, fairness, modesty, and greed-avoidance.
HEXACO-PI-R (Free at hexaco.org) The official HEXACO measure. 200 items for the full version, 60 for the brief.
Why it matters: Honesty-Humility predicts outcomes that Big Five misses, including workplace deviance, ethical behavior, and relationship manipulation.
Archetype-Based Assessments
For those who want the "type" experience without the scientific compromise.
Archetype systems work differently from trait models:
- Instead of five dimensions, you have underlying psychological drives
- Instead of types or percentiles, you have probability distributions
- Your result is the archetype whose ideal pattern most closely matches your distribution
One approach uses five psychological drives:
| Drive | Color | Essence |
|---|---|---|
| Structure | White | Order, fairness, responsibility |
| Understanding | Blue | Curiosity, analysis, mastery |
| Agency | Black | Ambition, independence, strategy |
| Intensity | Red | Passion, authenticity, spontaneity |
| Connection | Green | Belonging, nurturing, patience |
These combine into 25 archetypes—from pure types like the Maverick (pure Black) to hybrids like the Strategist (Blue-Black) or the Crusader (Red-White).
Example archetypes:
- Anchor (pure White): Creates stability through clear principles and reliable structure
- Rationalist (pure Blue): Seeks understanding as the foundation for all action
- Oracle (Blue-Green): Combines analytical depth with empathetic wisdom
- Vanguard (Black-Red): Channels ambition through intense, decisive action
Why this works better than 16 Personalities:
- Probability distributions acknowledge that you're not purely one type
- Motivation-based rather than behavior-based
- Includes shadow expressions (how strengths become weaknesses under stress)
- Growth paths specific to your archetype
- No forced binary categories—your result shows how drives blend
DISC Assessments
If your goal is practical workplace application rather than deep self-discovery:
Everything DiSC (Paid, organizational) The industry standard for workplace communication training.
Free DISC profiles (Various providers) Many consulting firms offer free versions. Quality varies, but the basic framework is sound.
DISC doesn't pretend to measure fundamental personality—it's about behavioral styles in professional contexts. That honest scope makes it more useful than 16 Personalities for team building.
VIA Character Strengths
A positive psychology approach measuring 24 character strengths:
VIA-IS Survey (Free at viacharacter.org) Identifies your signature strengths across six virtue categories. Backed by research from the VIA Institute on Character.
Good for: People who want to focus on developing strengths rather than categorizing personality.
Head-to-Head Comparison
| Test | Type vs. Trait | Scientific Backing | Depth | Free Option |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 Personalities | Hybrid (confused) | Low | Medium | Yes |
| Big Five (IPIP) | Trait | High | Medium | Yes |
| Enneagram | Type | Medium | High | Yes |
| HEXACO | Trait | High | Medium | Yes |
| Archetype Systems | Distribution | Medium | High | Varies |
| DISC | Style | Medium | Low | Yes |
| VIA | Strength | Medium | Medium | Yes |
What Makes a Good Personality Test
Test-Retest Reliability
If you take a test twice, you should get similar results (assuming you haven't fundamentally changed). 16 Personalities, like MBTI, suffers from the binary problem—small shifts in your answers can flip your type entirely.
Good tests report reliability coefficients above 0.80. Ask for evidence.
Construct Validity
Does the test measure what it claims? Big Five and HEXACO have decades of validation research. The Enneagram has less, but the theory is coherent. MBTI's cognitive functions have almost none.
Practical Value
A test result should change something—how you approach work, relationships, or growth. If your result is just a fun label, you've been entertained, not informed.
Transparent Methodology
Be suspicious of tests that won't explain how they work. Black boxes might be optimized for engagement metrics rather than accuracy.
Making the Switch
If 16 Personalities was your first serious encounter with personality assessment, here's how to level up:
Recognize what resonated: Your 16 Personalities type probably captured something real. An ENFP result suggests high Extraversion and Openness—that doesn't evaporate just because the test methodology is flawed. Keep the insight, question the framework.
Expect less polish: Scientific tests prioritize accuracy over engagement. The results might be less shareable but more useful. You're trading viral-friendly graphics for actual insight.
Go deeper on motivation: Trait models tell you what you're like. Enneagram and archetype systems tell you why. Both perspectives have value. Consider taking multiple tests to triangulate.
Apply what you learn: The point of personality assessment is insight that improves decisions. If you're not applying results, you're just collecting labels. Ask: what should I do differently based on this?
Don't overcorrect: Some people swing from MBTI true-believer to MBTI skeptic who dismisses all personality testing. That's overcorrection. The goal is calibrated confidence—using these tools while understanding their limits.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is 16 Personalities completely wrong?
No. It's measuring real personality traits (Big Five dimensions)—just imprecisely and with misleading framing. Your result captured something genuine about your personality. The issue is that the four-letter type oversimplifies what the underlying scores reveal.
Why does 16 Personalities add the -A/-T suffix?
The Assertive/Turbulent dimension measures Neuroticism from the Big Five model. 16 Personalities adds it because they're secretly measuring Big Five but presenting it in MBTI language. The -A/-T suffix is where the fifth factor leaks through.
Which 16 Personalities alternative is most similar?
If you liked the type experience, try the Enneagram—it gives you a type with subtypes (wings, instinctual variants) and growth paths.
If you want what 16 Personalities was actually measuring, take the IPIP-NEO (free Big Five test)—you'll get the same underlying dimensions without the binary typing.
Can I trust any online personality test?
Yes, with scrutiny. Look for:
- Published psychometric data (reliability, validity studies)
- Clear explanation of methodology
- Results that acknowledge uncertainty
- No extravagant claims about predicting life outcomes
Free tests from research institutions (IPIP, HEXACO, VIA) tend to be more trustworthy than commercial offerings optimized for shareability.
How do I know if a test result is accurate?
Cross-validate. Take multiple reputable tests and look for convergent results. If Big Five, HEXACO, and an archetype assessment all point toward similar patterns, you're probably seeing something real. If results contradict wildly, one or more tests might not be capturing your personality accurately.
A Better Assessment Experience
Ready for a personality test that doesn't sacrifice rigor for virality?
Take the SoulTrace assessment and discover:
- Your distribution across five psychological drives (not forced into boxes)
- Which of 25 archetypes matches your unique pattern
- Your shadow expressions—how your strengths backfire under stress
- Growth paths tailored to your archetype
The assessment uses adaptive Bayesian methodology—each question is selected based on your previous answers to maximize information gain. Twenty-four questions. No padding.
You're not one of sixteen types. You're a unique blend of psychological drives that forms a recognizable pattern.
Find out what that pattern actually is.