That’s not always accurate that the company doing the hiring contributes nothing. (Also good companies could offer to pay for that take-home test time.)
Having done take home before from the hiring side, it was incredibly time-consuming for us. We had someone anonymize the three finalist submissions, and then we had three people each individually review and comment on each one, and then we got together to discuss and choose the final candidate. Once we agreed on one, only then was it de-anonymized.
All-in, it took way more time than a single developer doing three live coding interviews. But my guess would be that most companies wouldn’t be willing to be that deliberate with take home.
Having done take home before from the hiring side, it was incredibly time-consuming for us. We had someone anonymize the three finalist submissions, and then we had three people each individually review and comment on each one, and then we got together to discuss and choose the final candidate. Once we agreed on one, only then was it de-anonymized.
All-in, it took way more time than a single developer doing three live coding interviews. But my guess would be that most companies wouldn’t be willing to be that deliberate with take home.