The DISC personality test is one of the most widely used tools for understanding how people communicate, make decisions, and show up at work. It’s simple, memorable, and easy to roll out in workshops or offsites.
But if you lead a team or an organization, you’ve probably run into its limits:
- You’ve got stacks of DISC reports…but little clarity on what to actually change in how the team works.
- People have also taken HIGH5, MBTI/16 Personalities, Enneagram, or Big Five elsewhere, and all those results live in different tools and PDFs.
- You want a team-level view of personalities and strengths, not just one-off individual reports.
In this guide, we’ll quickly recap what the DISC personality test does well, where it falls short for modern teams, and then walk through 5 of the best DISC alternatives:
- HIGH5 strengths test (Alternative #1)
- teamtype – a team-focused, multi-assessment platform (Alternative #2)
- Myers–Briggs / 16 Personalities
- Big Five (OCEAN)
- Enneagram
Along the way, we’ll show you how to use these tools together with DISC—and how platforms like teamtype let you import all your existing results and turn them into practical insights about how your team can work better together.
If you’re searching for “DISC personality test” options because you want better teamwork, not just more personality labels, this article is for you.
What Is the DISC Personality Test (and When It Falls Short)?
What the DISC personality test measures
The DISC personality test is a behavioral assessment that groups people into four primary styles:
- D – Dominance: direct, decisive, results-focused
- I – Influence: social, enthusiastic, persuasive
- S – Steadiness: patient, reliable, supportive
- C – Conscientiousness: analytical, detail-oriented, precise
Most DISC tools ask you to respond to statements about how you tend to act or feel at work. The output is a profile that describes your dominant style (or blend of styles) and how that shows up in communication, decision-making, and conflict.
Teams and organizations use DISC because it:
- Gives a simple shared language for behavior (“She’s high D, he’s more S/I”).
- Helps people adapt communication—for example, being more direct with Ds and more supportive with Ss.
- Works well in training sessions and workshops where you need a memorable framework.
Why teams start looking for DISC alternatives
As useful as DISC is, teams often reach a point where it’s not enough on its own:
- Narrow focus on behavior: DISC tells you how someone tends to behave, but not necessarily their deeper motivations, strengths, or stress patterns.
- Individual-first, team-second: Many DISC implementations focus on individual reports. Even when you get “team wheels,” it can be hard to translate that into concrete changes in how the team works.
- Scattered data: In reality, people don’t just take one test. You may have DISC, HIGH5, MBTI, Enneagram and more—spread across different vendors and PDFs, with no integrated view.
- Static snapshots: Teams evolve, projects change, people move. A single DISC workshop from two years ago doesn’t keep up with how your team is working today.
That’s why many leaders don’t just want another DISC-style test—they want:
- Tools like HIGH5 that highlight actionable strengths and team potential.
- A platform like teamtype that can integrate DISC and other assessments, import existing results, and give a live, visual map of the team.
- A way to connect personality data directly to how meetings run, how feedback is given, and how teams are structured.
In the next sections, we’ll look at the best alternatives to the DISC personality test—starting with HIGH5 and teamtype—and show how to use them to build healthier, higher-performing teams.
Alternative #1 – HIGH5 Strengths Test: A Strengths-Based Alternative to the DISC Personality Test
What the HIGH5 Strengths Test Is
The HIGH5 strengths test is a positive-psychology assessment that identifies your top strengths—the activities that naturally energize you and where you’re most likely to excel. While the DISC personality test focuses on how you behave, HIGH5 focuses on what you do best.
Why It’s a Good DISC Alternative for Teams
For teams, HIGH5 helps answer, “Who should do what?” much more directly than DISC:
- Strengths, not just styles – Instead of a single DISC style, each person gets a tailored strengths profile.
- Actionable for role design – Easy to use for matching people to tasks, projects, and responsibilities.
- Team-level view – You can see which strengths are concentrated in a team and where there are gaps.
In practice, many teams keep DISC for communication language, but add HIGH5 to design roles, projects, and development plans around strengths.
Best Use Cases of HIGH5
HIGH5 is especially useful when:
- You’re designing or restructuring teams and want to align work with what energizes people.
- You’re running leadership or talent programs and want a strengths-based approach.
- You want something more growth-oriented and less “labeling” than DISC.
How to Use HIGH5 With teamtype
With teamtype, you can:
- Import your team’s HIGH5 results into a shared workspace.
- Combine them with DISC and other assessments you already use.
- See a single team map that shows:
- Who has which strengths.
- How those strengths line up with DISC styles.
- Where to adjust roles or pair people for better collaboration.
If your team already has HIGH5 or DISC reports, a concrete next step is:
Import your existing HIGH5 and DISC personality test results into teamtype and review your combined team map. Then adjust one upcoming project’s role assignments based on those strengths.
Unlike the DISC personality test, which focuses on behavioral styles (D, I, S, C), HIGH5 focuses on:
- What gives you energy at work.
- Where you’re most likely to do your best work.
- How you can intentionally design your role, contributions, and collaboration around your strengths.
For teams, this shifts the conversation from “How do you behave?” to “How can we set you up to do your best work more often?”
Alternative #2 – teamtype (More Than a Test: A Team Operating System for Personality Data)
What teamtype Is
teamtype is a platform for teams to work better together by integrating and interpreting personality assessments. Instead of being just another test, it:
- Lets your team take assessments inside the platform.
- Lets you import existing results (e.g. DISC, HIGH5, MBTI-style, Big Five–style, Enneagram, etc.).
- Turns all of that into a single, visual map of your team.
So rather than asking, “Which test should we pick instead of the DISC personality test?” teamtype helps you use the tests you already have more intelligently.
Why teamtype Is a Top Alternative to DISC for Teams
The DISC personality test gives you a language for behavior. teamtype gives you a way to run the team using that information:
- Centralized insights – No more scattered PDFs and separate portals; DISC, HIGH5, and other results live in one place.
- True team-level view – See how personalities, strengths, and styles combine at the team level, not just per person.
- Actionable recommendations – Use insights to:
- Design balanced teams.
- Anticipate friction points.
- Adjust meetings, feedback, and decision-making norms.
Where DISC is a single tool, teamtype is the hub that makes all your tools useful together.
Best Use Cases of teamtype
teamtype is especially valuable when:
- You already have a mix of assessments (DISC + HIGH5 + others) and want a unified picture.
- You run or support multiple teams (e.g. as a manager, HR/People leader, or coach).
- You want personality data to actually shape:
- Project staffing.
- Leadership decisions.
- Team rituals (standups, retros, offsites).
How to Use teamtype With DISC and HIGH5
To turn DISC and HIGH5 from “interesting reports” into real team decisions:
- Set up your team in teamtype.
- Import existing DISC personality test and HIGH5 results (or any other major assessments you use).
- Review your team map:
- Where are strengths and styles clustered?
- Which roles or tasks may be misaligned?
- Where are potential communication or conflict hot spots?
- Make one concrete change:
- Reassign responsibilities based on strengths.
- Pair people with complementary profiles.
- Adjust how you run key recurring meetings.
For most teams, this is the fastest path from “we’ve taken a bunch of tests” to “we’re actually using this information to work better together.”
Alternative #3 – MBTI / 16 Personalities
What MBTI / 16 Personalities Is
The Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and popular “16 personalities” style tests group people into 16 types (e.g. INTJ, ESFP) based on four preference pairs:
- Extraversion vs. Introversion
- Sensing vs. Intuition
- Thinking vs. Feeling
- Judging vs. Perceiving
Where the DISC personality test focuses on behavioral style, MBTI-style tools focus on how people take in information and make decisions.
Why It’s a Useful DISC Alternative for Teams
MBTI/16 Personalities adds depth in areas where DISC is thin:
- Decision-making and problem-solving – Helps you see who prefers data vs. big-picture, logic vs. people impact.
- Collaboration and communication – Clarifies why some teammates want structure and plans while others want flexibility and options.
- Leadership and stakeholder management – Highlights how different types naturally lead, influence, and respond to change.
For teams that already use DISC as a behavior framework, MBTI-style insights add a “how we think” layer on top of “how we show up.”
MBTI Best Use Cases
MBTI / 16 Personalities works well when:
- You’re designing cross-functional teams and want complementary thinking styles.
- You’re improving communication, especially between technical and non-technical roles.
- You’re running leadership, coaching, or career development programs.
How to Use MBTI-Style Results in teamtype
MBTI becomes much more powerful when it’s not siloed:
- Import MBTI/16 Personalities results into teamtype, alongside DISC personality test, HIGH5, and other assessments.
- See for each team:
- The mix of types and thinking styles.
- How MBTI preferences line up—or clash—with DISC styles and HIGH5 strengths.
- Use this combined view to:
- Pair people for problem-solving (e.g. intuitive + analytical).
- Shape meeting formats (e.g. provide pre-reads for introverts, whiteboard time for extraverts).
- Adapt communication for key stakeholders based on type patterns.
This way, MBTI isn’t just a one-off workshop; it becomes part of an ongoing, team-level operating system inside teamtype.
Alternative #4 – Big Five (OCEAN)
What the Big Five Is
The Big Five (also called OCEAN) is a research-backed personality model that measures five broad traits:
- Openness – curiosity, creativity, preference for novelty.
- Conscientiousness – organization, reliability, follow-through.
- Extraversion – sociability, assertiveness, energy.
- Agreeableness – cooperation, empathy, trust.
- Neuroticism (Emotional Stability) – sensitivity to stress and negative emotion.
Compared to the DISC personality test’s four behavior styles, Big Five gives a more granular, trait-level picture that is widely used in academic and organizational research.
Why It’s a Useful DISC Alternative for Teams
Big Five adds several advantages in a team context:
- Scientific grounding – Strong empirical support and good predictive power for work outcomes (e.g. performance, turnover risk).
- Nuance, not boxes – People sit on a spectrum for each trait, rather than being forced into one category.
- Practical for hiring and role fit – Especially helpful for thinking about:
- Roles that demand high Conscientiousness and low error tolerance.
- Customer-facing roles that benefit from Extraversion and Agreeableness.
- Stress-heavy roles that require higher Emotional Stability.
Where DISC tells you how someone behaves, Big Five helps with how consistently and under which conditions those behaviors are likely to show up.
Best Use Cases
Big Five is particularly valuable when:
- You want a more evidence-based complement to DISC personality test data.
- You’re thinking about hiring, promotion, or succession planning and need trait-level insight.
- You’re monitoring burnout or team health, especially around Emotional Stability and Agreeableness.
How to Use Big Five With teamtype
Big Five data often lives in HR systems or research tools, separate from everyday team decisions. In teamtype, you can:
- Import Big Five-style results along with DISC, HIGH5, MBTI, and Enneagram.
- See each team’s trait profile:
- Are we extremely high on Conscientiousness but low on Openness (risk of rigidity)?
- Do we lack Extraversion in customer-facing squads?
- Combine traits with styles and strengths to:
- Design teams that balance innovation vs. reliability.
- Anticipate stress patterns and support at-risk roles.
- Make staffing decisions that align personality with the actual demands of the work.
This turns Big Five from a one-time assessment into a continuous, team-level decision tool inside teamtype.
Alternative #5 – Enneagram
What the Enneagram Is
The Enneagram is a personality framework that describes nine core types, each driven by distinct motivations, fears, and desires (e.g. Type 3 – Achiever, Type 6 – Loyalist, Type 9 – Peacemaker).
Unlike the DISC personality test, which focuses on observable behavior, the Enneagram focuses on why people behave the way they do—what’s happening under the surface.
Why It’s a Useful DISC Alternative for Teams
Enneagram adds a layer that DISC typically misses:
- Motivations and fears – Helps explain what energizes or threatens each person.
- Conflict triggers – Clarifies why some teammates withdraw, others confront, and others smooth things over.
- Growth paths – Each type has clear patterns for what healthy vs. stressed behavior looks like.
In teams that already know their DISC styles, the Enneagram can deepen understanding of emotional dynamics, conflict, and psychological safety.
Best Use Cases of Enneagram
The Enneagram works particularly well when:
- You’re dealing with team conflict, misalignment, or trust issues.
- You’re focused on leadership development, coaching, or emotional intelligence.
- You want a shared language for what people need to feel safe, motivated, and heard.
How to Use the Enneagram With teamtype
On its own, Enneagram insights often stay in workshop slides or personal notes. In teamtype, you can:
- Import Enneagram types alongside DISC personality test, HIGH5 strengths, MBTI, and Big Five.
- See your team’s motivation map:
- Which types dominate (e.g. many Achievers, few Peacemakers)?
- Where might conflict or misunderstanding naturally arise?
- Combine motivation (Enneagram) with behavior (DISC) and strengths (HIGH5) to:
- Tailor how you give feedback and recognition.
- Design meetings and rituals that feel safe for different types.
- Anticipate stress responses and support people before things escalate.
Used this way, the Enneagram stops being a “deep but isolated” tool and becomes part of a unified, team-level picture of how your people actually work together inside teamtype.
Comparing the 5 Best Alternatives to the DISC Personality Test
| Tool | Primary Focus | Best For Teams | Works With DISC? |
|---|---|---|---|
| HIGH5 | Strengths & energy at work | Role design, engagement, strengths-based development | Yes – adds “what you do best” |
| teamtype | Integrated team personality hub | Running teams using all personality data | Yes – imports, maps & interprets |
| MBTI / 16Personalities | Cognitive & decision preferences | Cross-functional collaboration, leadership | Yes – adds “how you think” |
| Big Five | Research-backed personality traits | Hiring, role fit, performance & risk insights | Yes – adds trait-level nuance |
| Enneagram | Motivations, fears, stress patterns | Conflict, EQ, psychological safety | Yes – adds “why you do it” |
Taken together, these alternatives don’t just compete with the DISC personality test—they complete it. DISC remains a useful behavior lens, but teams get the best results when they combine:
- Style (DISC)
- Strengths (HIGH5)
- Thinking preferences (MBTI)
- Traits (Big Five)
- Motivations (Enneagram)
—inside a shared platform like teamtype.
If you want a deeper dive into how MBTI, DISC, Enneagram and HIGH5 work together in team building, see our guide to personality tests for team building.
From Single Tests to a Unified Team View (Why teamtype Matters)
Most organizations are already rich in personality data:
- Old DISC personality test reports from workshops.
- HIGH5 strengths results from a leadership program.
- MBTI types from coaching or training.
- Maybe even Big Five or Enneagram from individual development.
The problem isn’t a lack of insight—it’s fragmentation:
- Results live in PDFs, emails, or vendor dashboards.
- No one sees the whole team picture.
- Personality data rarely informs real decisions about projects, roles, or team norms.
teamtype solves this by acting as the operating system for all that data:
- Centralizes DISC, HIGH5, MBTI-style, Big Five–style, and Enneagram results.
- Visualizes them at the team level, not just per person.
- Helps you answer questions like:
- “Do we have the right mix of strengths and styles for this project?”
- “Where are we likely to see communication friction or blind spots?”
- “How should we run meetings, feedback, and decision-making for this specific team?”
Instead of asking “Which DISC alternative is best?”, the more useful question becomes: “How do we use all of our personality data together to actually run better teams?” That’s the gap teamtype is built to fill.
FAQ – DISC Personality Test and Its Best Alternatives for Teams
Is the DISC personality test good for teams?
Yes. DISC is great for a shared language of behavior and quick communication wins. It’s weaker on strengths, motivations, and team-level insight, which is why many teams pair it with other tools and use teamtype to tie everything together.
What’s the best alternative to the DISC personality test for team development?
For team development specifically:
- HIGH5 – best as a strengths-focused alternative.
- teamtype – best as a platform that integrates DISC, HIGH5, MBTI, Big Five, and Enneagram so you can actually run teams with that data.
Most teams get the best results by using DISC and these alternatives together.
Should we replace DISC or use it alongside other tests?
Use it alongside other tests:
- Keep DISC for behavior and communication.
- Add tools like HIGH5, MBTI, Big Five, and Enneagram for depth.
- Use teamtype to centralize and interpret everything at the team level.
What’s the main difference between HIGH5 and the DISC personality test?
- DISC: “How do you behave and communicate?”
- HIGH5: “What are you naturally best at and energized by?”
Together (especially inside teamtype), they help you see how someone works and where to place them for maximum impact.
Is the Big Five more “accurate” than DISC?
The Big Five has stronger scientific backing. DISC is simpler and more workshop-friendly. Use Big Five when you want trait-level nuance, and DISC when you want fast adoption. Both become more useful when combined in teamtype.
How does the Enneagram compare to DISC?
- DISC: observable behavior.
- Enneagram: underlying motivations and fears.
For teams, DISC improves surface-level collaboration; Enneagram helps with conflict, trust, and emotional dynamics. Together, they give a fuller picture.
Should we use multiple personality tests together with our team?
Yes—and it’s often better. The key is not to keep them in silos. Use teamtype to:
- Import DISC, HIGH5, MBTI, Big Five, Enneagram.
- See a single team map.
- Make clearer decisions about roles, projects, and how your team works together.
Once you’ve mapped your team in teamtype, you can use targeted team-building questions to help people reflect on how their personalities show up in daily work.
How does teamtype fit with DISC and these alternatives?
teamtype is the hub:
- It integrates DISC and these alternatives.
- Shows patterns at the team level.
- Helps you move from “we took some tests” to “we use this data to design better teams and ways of working.”