There are SO MANY online quizzes out there that say they'll help you find your strengths or your ideal career, and very few deliver. To be fair, that's not really something an online quiz can do for you anyway, but some do the job much better than others. For the record, I'm going to write a whole separate post comparing and evaluating MBTI tests, so I didn't include any here.
If you don't want to read through all the options and just want to jump to my favorites, here they are:
#1: YouScience.com
#3: Career OneStop Skills Matcher
CareerEnjoyment.com Career Test
CareerEnjoyment.com Free Career Test
This test is based purely on preferences. If you have a lot of experience in many different areas and know whether or not you would like, for example, studying diseases under a microscope more than putting together furniture, then this could be useful to you. Otherwise, it's just a fancy way of taking a stab in the dark and you can do that yourself without sacrificing your email address. You can't access your results without a valid email, btw, and this "email-wall" is not disclosed and is instead hidden at the end of the test (a major pet-peeve of mine).
Rating: 1/5
Cost: Free, email
What Career is Right for Me?
What Career is Right for Me? Aptitude Test
Rate your own skill levels. I don't know if I just caught them at a bad time, but the website was SO SLOW when I took this quiz. It was seriously painful. The results were fine but not necessarily insightful. Average experience overall.
Rating: 3/5
Cost: Free, no email or registration
YouScience.com
I know, it's not free, but it is by far the most comprehensive and useful strengths/career test I have ever taken. Set aside some time for this one - it dives deep and it will remind you of high school standardized testing time, but it's worth it, really. I found out that I was skilled at subjects I never would have imagined. Where most tests would have asked: "Are you good at/do you like engineering?", this test actually allowed me to demonstrate (much to my own surprise) that I do in fact have an aptitude for engineering. That's the kind of insight I am looking for on an aptitude test...to find where your interests and your aptitudes coincide.
Rating: 5/5
Cost: $29 for an individual license, lifetime access to your results. Yes, they do require an email to create an account, but they have never marketed to me, ever.
Clifton StrengthsFinder
The Clifton Strengths Finder Test
I know a lot of people like this test. And I just don't get it. I really don't understand how any of this information is useful, or actionable, or enlightening. My top 5 strengths are Input, Ideation, Intellection, Futuristic, and Learner. 3 of those are basically the same thing. The others are super vague, and really didn't help me to understand myself or my strengths any better than I already do. The website is over-designed, it costs too much for what you get, and I used to get marketing emails from them ALL THE TIME. Not a fan.
Rating: 2/5
Cost: $19.99 for your Top 5 Strengths, $49.99 for all 34, $39.99 to upgrade from the basic test
Red Bull Wingfinder
You need to give an accurate email, but they are upfront about registration and don't try to trick you into it, which I appreciate. They also don't ask for any other personal details. I really liked the test itself; it had some similarities to the YouScience test in that it tested aptitudes along with interests. And it didn't just require self-evaluation which is widely unreliable. But considering how detailed and in-depth the test was, I was expecting MUCH more interesting results. All I got were some pretty generic statements about my overall strengths (analytical, innovative, confident, adaptable, stuff like that) but no insight on how best to apply it. I'm disappointed because the test seems well put together but it just didn't go anywhere. (If they put half as much effort into giving in-depth results as they did in designing the graphics on the final section, this probably would have been a winner. Just saying.)
Rating: 3/5
Cost: Free with email registration (you can give a fake email, you just won't get the results emailed to you)
Career OneStop Skills Matcher
This is a self-analysis test, but they give concrete examples for what constitutes each level of skill which is immensely valuable. This test is most useful for determining what your current skill levels are best qualified for; for instance, if you are seeking a mid-career change and don't want to have to get extensive additional education. You can also rate yourself lower for skills you do have, but don't really want to use, and see what jobs might be a better fit for you that way.
Rating: 4/5
Cost: Free, no email or registration
Playbuzz Weakness Quiz
It's quick, silly, and not exactly in-depth, but for what it's worth my result was super accurate!
Rating: 3.5/5
Cost: Free
Sokanu Career Explorer
I would probably have rated this higher if they offered a non-subscription-based payment option for upgraded results. It's a very thorough test that considers your work history, your happiness at your previous jobs, how much money you'd like to make, your natural skills and interests, and more. But I'm just not signing up for another subscription service that does not have any justifiable reason for being a subscription. Just let me pay for my results and move on with my day.
Rating: 4.5/5
Cost: Free for basic results
O*Net Interest Profiler
I went back and forth on whether to include this test here, because it doesn't really have anything to do with strengths, except then I thought that interests CAN certainly be strengths since you're most likely to be motivated and driven in a career that you're interested about vs one that bores you.
Rating: 3.5/5
Cost: Free
CareerFitter and Open Colleges Quizzes
CareerFitter Career Builder Test and Open Colleges Career Quiz
These are just MBTI tests by different names, and not very good ones either. Don't waste your time.
Rating: 0/5
Cost: CareerFitter says it's free but doesn't give you any useful info unless you upgrade to the $19.95 premium report.
Ultimately...
I ranked YouScience so high because it was really the only test where I learned something about myself that I didn't already know, but the Sokanu test deserves its close second place spot. It is very detailed and you get a lot of information about the different career options, I just really wish that it weren't a yearly subscription - I basically won't do subscriptions anymore because it's a hassle and most of the time it doesn't make any sense. I'm certainly not getting more for my money, so why am I paying more?
None of these tests are going to solve the problem for you of what you should do with your life. If only it were that simple. According to my favorite tests, I should be either:
a) An aerospace engineer
b) A museum curator, creative writer, or anthropologist
c) A forensic psychologist or psychiatrist
But digging into those results, we can see that I am highly analytical, enjoy the social sciences, and I'm skilled at 3D visualization, which isn't an answer per se but is a step in the right direction. My actual career is in science writing and copyediting, which none of the tests recommended but I think you can see the connection there.
I hope this list helps you steer clear of junk mail, save some time, and hopefully get some new insights into your strengths and aptitudes!