Meta vs PayPal Interview Questions
Meta lists 217 LeetCode interview questions while PayPal lists 105. They share 47 problems — 22% of Meta's bank and 45% of PayPal's. Focus on the overlap first, then drill into 170 Meta-only and 58 PayPal-only questions.
Overview
Preparation Strategy
Step 1 — Shared core: Solve the 47 overlapping problems first. These are the highest-yield questions for candidates interviewing at both Meta and PayPal.
Step 2 — Company-specific depth: Add Meta-specific problems like Minimum Remove to Make Valid Parentheses, Valid Word Abbreviation, Binary Tree Vertical Order Traversal and PayPal-specific problems from the exclusive lists below.
Step 3 — Difficulty tuning: PayPal skews harder in our data. Budget extra time for Hard problems if you are targeting that company.
Difficulty Comparison
Top Shared Topics
47 Shared Questions
High-priority problems to practice for both Meta and PayPal.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Kth Largest Element in an Array | Medium |
| Merge Intervals | Medium |
| Two Sum | Easy |
| Find Peak Element | Medium |
| Random Pick with Weight | Medium |
| Top K Frequent Elements | Medium |
| 3Sum | Medium |
| Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock | Easy |
| Find First and Last Position of Element in Sorted Array | Medium |
| Subarray Sum Equals K | Medium |
| Valid Parentheses | Easy |
| Subsets | Medium |
| Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters | Medium |
| LRU Cache | Medium |
| Trapping Rain Water | Hard |
| Longest Palindromic Substring | Medium |
| Median of Two Sorted Arrays | Hard |
| Search in Rotated Sorted Array | Medium |
| Group Anagrams | Medium |
| Climbing Stairs | Easy |
| Maximum Subarray | Medium |
| Container With Most Water | Medium |
| Sort Colors | Medium |
| Word Search | Medium |
| Rotate Image | Medium |
| Palindromic Substrings | Medium |
| Course Schedule | Medium |
| Spiral Matrix | Medium |
| Insert Interval | Medium |
| Find the Index of the First Occurrence in a String | Easy |
Showing top 30 of 47 shared problems.
Unique to Meta (170)
Problems in Meta's list that do not appear at PayPal.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Minimum Remove to Make Valid Parentheses | Medium |
| Valid Word Abbreviation | Easy |
| Binary Tree Vertical Order Traversal | Medium |
| Valid Palindrome II | Easy |
| Lowest Common Ancestor of a Binary Tree III | Medium |
| Merge Sorted Array | Easy |
| Pow(x, n) | Medium |
| Binary Tree Right Side View | Medium |
| Simplify Path | Medium |
| Basic Calculator II | Medium |
| Lowest Common Ancestor of a Binary Tree | Medium |
| Nested List Weight Sum | Medium |
Unique to PayPal (58)
Problems in PayPal's list that do not appear at Meta.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many LeetCode questions do Meta and PayPal share?
Meta and PayPal share 47 LeetCode interview questions. 170 problems appear only in Meta's list and 58 appear only in PayPal's list.
What topics overlap most between Meta and PayPal?
The most common shared topics between Meta and PayPal are Array (22 shared questions), Two Pointers (7 shared questions), String (7 shared questions), Sorting (6 shared questions), Hash Table (6 shared questions). Mastering these areas prepares you for both companies.
Which company asks harder LeetCode questions: Meta or PayPal?
Meta has 52 Easy, 132 Medium, and 33 Hard questions. PayPal has 19 Easy, 69 Medium, and 17 Hard questions. PayPal has a higher proportion of Hard problems in its interview set.
How should I prepare if interviewing at both Meta and PayPal?
Start with the 47 shared problems since they cover what both companies ask most often. Then add 20 Meta-specific and 20 PayPal-specific questions to round out your prep.