TL;DR: All three lists beat random grinding, so the real question is fit. Pick NeetCode 150 if you have 3+ months and like learning from videos. Pick Blind 75 if you want the shortest possible free list and you're comfortable assembling explanations yourself. Pick Grokking 75 if your interview is weeks away, you want the problems sequenced and taught rather than just listed, or you did an older list before and want problems matching what companies asked in the past year. Whichever you choose, finish it. Switching lists halfway is the one guaranteed way to lose.
Every week someone asks me some version of "should I do Blind 75 or NeetCode 150?" as if one of them holds a secret the other lacks. They don't. Both are good lists, and both fail people constantly, because the list is only one third of the outcome. The other two thirds are whether the problems are sequenced so patterns actually stick, and whether you study them for recognition or memorization.
I've reviewed candidates on both sides of the table at Meta and Microsoft, and I've watched engineers succeed and fail with every list in this post. So instead of declaring a universal winner, I'll compare them on the dimensions that decide offers, then give you a decision rule that takes about ten seconds to apply.
What each list actually is
Blind 75 is the original. In 2018, a Facebook engineer posted 75 hand-picked LeetCode problems on the Blind forum, arguing that they covered everything he needed to pass interviews at multiple top companies. He was largely right, and the list went viral. It's grouped loosely by topic (arrays, linked lists, trees, DP, and so on), but it was never designed as a curriculum. It's a set, not a sequence.
NeetCode 150 took Blind 75 as a base and expanded it. Every Blind 75 problem is included, plus 75 more that fill real gaps: tries, intervals, bit manipulation, more dynamic programming variations. Its signature feature is a free video walkthrough for every problem, which is why it became the default recommendation on Reddit and YouTube. It's organized by pattern and roughly ordered from easier topics to harder ones.
Grokking 75 is our list, built from the questions top tech companies actually asked in the past year. Like NeetCode, it's organized by pattern. Unlike either list, it's strictly sequenced for learning (each section builds on machinery from the previous one) and it's refreshed for recency, so patterns that became interview staples after 2018, like monotonic stack and matrix traversal, get real coverage. The full list with a 6-week schedule is in The Only 75 LeetCode Problems You Need.
Head-to-head comparison
| Blind 75 | NeetCode 150 | Grokking 75 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Problem count | 75 | 150 | 75 |
| Origin | Blind forum post, 2018 | Expanded Blind 75 | Curated from past year's FAANG questions |
| Organized by pattern | Loosely | Yes | Yes |
| Sequenced for learning | No | Roughly | Yes |
| Recency | Frozen in 2018 | Mostly current | Current (past year) |
| Monotonic stack / matrix / trie coverage | Thin | Good | Good |
| Solutions | Community links | Free video walkthroughs | Full written lessons, 6 languages |
| Cost | Free | Free (videos), paid course optional | Paid course |
| Realistic time to complete | 5-8 weeks | 10-15 weeks | 5-6 weeks |
Three of these rows matter more than people think, so let me expand them.
Coverage vs count
NeetCode 150 has double the problems of the other two, and people read that as "twice as prepared." It doesn't work that way. What predicts interview performance is pattern coverage: whether you've seen each common pattern in enough variations to recognize it wearing a new costume. A well-chosen 75 covers the same pattern space as a good 150; the extra 75 problems buy you more reps per pattern, which is valuable if you have the time and expensive if you don't. I broke down how much volume different situations actually require in How Many LeetCode Problems Should You Actually Solve?
Learning order
This is Blind 75's real weakness, and it's invisible until you're in it. The list mixes difficulties and topics in a way that makes every problem a cold start. Compare that with a sequenced list where you solve six sliding window problems consecutively: by the fourth one, you're not solving from scratch, you're adapting a template, and that's the exact mental motion interviews test. Sequencing is why a well-ordered 75 feels lighter than an unordered 75, and it's the main thing Grokking 75 was designed around.
Recency
Interview fashion moves. Monotonic stack problems like Daily Temperatures barely existed in 2018 loops and are now routine. Tries and matrix traversal show up far more than older lists reflect. Blind 75 predates all of that. NeetCode 150 covers most of it. If your list is frozen in 2018, you can execute it perfectly and still meet a problem class you've literally never practiced.
The decision rule
Answer two questions.
1. How much time do you have before interviews?
- Under 6 weeks: a 75-problem list is the only honest option. NeetCode 150 at that pace means either skipping problems (destroying its coverage advantage) or rushing (destroying retention). Choose Blind 75 or Grokking 75.
- 3+ months: NeetCode 150's extra reps become an asset instead of a burden. It's a genuinely good plan at that timeline.
2. How do you want solutions delivered?
- "I'll figure it out from videos and discussion threads, and I want free": NeetCode 150, or Blind 75 with NeetCode's videos (every Blind 75 problem has one).
- "I want the pattern taught to me first, then problems in a deliberate order": Grokking 75, where each section opens with the pattern's logic and its tell before you touch a problem. If you'd rather learn the full pattern curriculum with more variations per pattern, the complete Grokking the Coding Interview course teaches all 27 patterns and is the deeper version of the same philosophy.
A few specific situations, since these come up constantly:
- Already halfway through NeetCode 150? Finish it. The cost of switching lists exceeds any difference between them.
- Did Blind 75 for a previous job search, interviewing again now? Don't repeat it. You'll be re-recognizing problems instead of practicing recognition. Do a current list; Grokking 75 was built partly for exactly this person.
- New grad with 6+ months? Foundations first, then any of the three. A list can't teach you what a heap is; it assumes you know. Our post on why LeetCode feels so hard explains the difference between a knowledge gap and a recognition gap.
- Interview in two weeks? No list completes in two weeks. Triage instead: sliding window, two pointers, tree BFS/DFS, graph traversal, and intervals, mediums only.
The mistake that beats all three lists
The most common failure mode I see isn't picking the wrong list. It's list-hopping: three weeks of NeetCode, then a Reddit thread praises another list, then a restart, then a third. Every switch resets the sequencing benefit to zero and re-solves problems you've already learned.
The second most common failure is completing a list as a checklist: 150 problems "done," solutions half-remembered, zero ability to state what signals each pattern. If you can't finish the sentence "I should suspect sliding window when the problem says ___," the problem count doesn't matter. (Our LeetCode patterns field guide lists the tell for every major pattern.)
Pick once, using the two questions above. Then work the list the way we described in Learn the Patterns, Not the Problems: section by section, writing down each pattern's tell, recycling your failures.
The takeaway
Blind 75 is a great 2018 answer to a question companies are asking differently in 2026. NeetCode 150 is the right choice for a long runway and video-first learners. Grokking 75 is the right choice for a short runway, taught patterns, and problems matching current interviews. All three work if you finish them and study for recognition. None of them work if you hop between them.
Ready to start? Grokking 75: Top Coding Interview Questions teaches all 75 problems with pattern introductions and solutions in 6 languages, on a 6-week schedule. Have more time and want full depth? Grokking the Coding Interview covers all 27 patterns, rated 4.6/5 by 62,000+ learners.
FAQs
Is NeetCode 150 better than Blind 75? It's a strict superset: every Blind 75 problem is in NeetCode 150, plus 75 more covering tries, intervals, bit manipulation, and extra DP variations. "Better" depends on timeline. With 3+ months, the extra reps help. With 6 weeks, the extra 75 problems are a liability, not an asset.
Do I need to do both Blind 75 and NeetCode 150? No, and doing both is worse than doing one properly. Since Blind 75 is contained in NeetCode 150, "both" just means NeetCode 150. Finish one list with real understanding, then spend remaining time on mock interviews and your failure list, not a second list.
What makes Grokking 75 different from Blind 75? Three things: it's sequenced so each section builds on the previous one, it's refreshed against questions companies asked in the past year rather than 2018, and every problem is taught with a written pattern lesson instead of linked to community solutions. The full list is free to read in our Grokking 75 post.
Can I mix lists, like Blind 75 plus extra problems from NeetCode? You can, but you're then doing curation work the lists exist to do for you, and you'll almost certainly break the learning order. A cleaner version of the same idea: finish one 75-problem list, then add problems only in your weak patterns.
Which list is best for FAANG specifically? Any of the three covers the pattern space FAANG loops draw from. For Google-style loops that lean on harder variations, add depth after your list: more DP and graph problems. Recency matters most for Meta and Amazon, whose question pools rotate faster, which is where a currently-maintained list has the edge.