27 challenges from beginner to advanced

Ace your system
design interview

theonsite.dev is a system design interview practice platform with an interactive whiteboard canvas, curated real interview questions, session recordings, and reference answer keys.

1 free beginner challenge — no credit card required

01

Pick a challenge

Choose from 27 real interview questions asked at Google, Meta, Stripe, and more.

02

Draw under the clock

Architect your solution on an Excalidraw canvas with a real countdown timer. No peeking.

03

Compare to the reference

Reveal a detailed answer key side-by-side with your diagram. See exactly what you missed.

See it in action

Draw your design under real interview conditions, then compare to a reference answer

theonsite.dev/challenges/url-shortener
BeginnerDesign a URL Shortener
32:15
Recording
BrowserClientHTTPLoadBalancerApp Server 1Shorten ServiceApp Server 2Redirect Servicecache hit?in-memoryRedis~10ms lookupprimaryPostgreSQLurl_mappingsreplicationread replicaPostgreSQLreplicaasync · fire & forgetKafka → Analytics DB← you are here
Then reveal the reference answer
theonsite.dev/challenges/url-shortener/answer
Answer Key — URL Shortener
Compare
Reference
Your diagram
ClientAPI ServerURL ServiceRedisPostgresMissing: load balancer, read replica, analytics pipeline
Reference answer
ClientLoadBalancerServer 1Server 2RedisPostgresAnalytics

Spot exactly what you missed — load balancer, read replicas, async pipelines

27 curated challenges

From beginner-friendly to the hardest questions asked at FAANG

Free
Beginner

Design a URL Shortener

HashingCachingDB
Moderate

Design a Rate Limiter

RedisAlgorithms
Beginner

Design Pastebin

Object StorageCDN
Moderate

Design Twitter's News Feed

Fan-outKafkaRedis
Moderate

Design Dropbox

SyncChunkingS3
Moderate

Design YouTube

Video ProcessingCDN
Advanced

Design Uber

GeospatialReal-time

Everything you need to prepare

A complete practice environment, not just flashcards

Interactive Canvas

Design systems on a Excalidraw-style infinite canvas. Draw components, arrows, and annotations just like a real whiteboard interview.

Session Recording

Record your practice sessions and review them later to spot gaps in your reasoning and improve your communication.

Reference Answer Keys

After your attempt, reveal a detailed answer key written by engineers who've passed interviews at Google, Meta, Amazon, and more.

Progressive Difficulty

Start with approachable beginner challenges, then level up to the complex distributed systems problems asked at top companies.

Simple pricing

Start free, upgrade when you're ready

Free

$0forever
  • 1 beginner challenge
  • Interactive Excalidraw canvas
  • Unlimited practice time
Get started free
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$99/year

$8.25/mo · $19/mo

  • All 27 challenges (moderate + advanced)
  • Session recording & playback
  • Reference answer keys for every challenge
  • Unlimited saved sessions
  • Cancel anytime
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