Google vs PayPal Interview Questions
Google lists 2,305 LeetCode interview questions while PayPal lists 105. They share 93 problems — 4% of Google's bank and 89% of PayPal's. Focus on the overlap first, then drill into 2,212 Google-only and 12 PayPal-only questions.
Overview
Preparation Strategy
Step 1 — Shared core: Solve the 93 overlapping problems first. These are the highest-yield questions for candidates interviewing at both Google and PayPal.
Step 2 — Company-specific depth: Add Google-specific problems like Add Two Numbers, Longest Common Prefix, Palindrome Number and PayPal-specific problems from the exclusive lists below.
Step 3 — Difficulty tuning: Google skews harder in our data. Budget extra time for Hard problems if you are targeting that company.
Difficulty Comparison
Top Shared Topics
93 Shared Questions
High-priority problems to practice for both Google and PayPal.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Two Sum | Easy |
| Trapping Rain Water | Hard |
| Median of Two Sorted Arrays | Hard |
| Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters | Medium |
| Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock | Easy |
| 3Sum | Medium |
| Longest Palindromic Substring | Medium |
| Longest Consecutive Sequence | Medium |
| Container With Most Water | Medium |
| Valid Parentheses | Easy |
| Merge Intervals | Medium |
| Number of Islands | Medium |
| Maximum Subarray | Medium |
| Subarray Sum Equals K | Medium |
| Climbing Stairs | Easy |
| Spiral Matrix | Medium |
| Koko Eating Bananas | Medium |
| Search in Rotated Sorted Array | Medium |
| Move Zeroes | Easy |
| LRU Cache | Medium |
| Jump Game | Medium |
| Top K Frequent Elements | Medium |
| Find Peak Element | Medium |
| Valid Anagram | Easy |
| Find the Index of the First Occurrence in a String | Easy |
| House Robber | Medium |
| Kth Largest Element in an Array | Medium |
| Group Anagrams | Medium |
| Rotate Image | Medium |
| Sort Colors | Medium |
Showing top 30 of 93 shared problems.
Unique to Google (2,212)
Problems in Google's list that do not appear at PayPal.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Add Two Numbers | Medium |
| Longest Common Prefix | Easy |
| Palindrome Number | Easy |
| Merge Sorted Array | Easy |
| Create Hello World Function | Easy |
| Merge Strings Alternately | Easy |
| Recyclable and Low Fat Products | Easy |
| Majority Element | Easy |
| Roman to Integer | Easy |
| Reverse Integer | Medium |
| Remove Duplicates from Sorted Array | Easy |
| Merge Two Sorted Lists | Easy |
Unique to PayPal (12)
Problems in PayPal's list that do not appear at Google.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many LeetCode questions do Google and PayPal share?
Google and PayPal share 93 LeetCode interview questions. 2212 problems appear only in Google's list and 12 appear only in PayPal's list.
What topics overlap most between Google and PayPal?
The most common shared topics between Google and PayPal are Array (23 shared questions), Hash Table (8 shared questions), Two Pointers (7 shared questions), Dynamic Programming (7 shared questions), Sorting (7 shared questions). Mastering these areas prepares you for both companies.
Which company asks harder LeetCode questions: Google or PayPal?
Google has 601 Easy, 1205 Medium, and 499 Hard questions. PayPal has 19 Easy, 69 Medium, and 17 Hard questions. Google has a higher proportion of Hard problems in its interview set.
How should I prepare if interviewing at both Google and PayPal?
Start with the 93 shared problems since they cover what both companies ask most often. Then add 20 Google-specific and 12 PayPal-specific questions to round out your prep.