Discover the very best enneagram test options, whether you’re looking for a free quiz or prefer to invest in a more thorough report, plus gain a frame of reference for understanding your test results.
What is an Enneagram Personality Test?
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An Enneagram test is designed to determine an individual’s personality based on the Enneagram model, which is a system of nine distinct personality types.
An Enneagram indicator test can be used by anyone who may be interested in gaining insight into their personality.
The exact origins of the principles of the Enneagram of Personality are disputed, however contemporary theories associated with the model are derived from the teachings of Bolivian psycho-spiritual teacher Oscar Ichazo and Chilean psychiatrist Claudio Naranjo.
Enneagram type indicator tests were developed later, with one of the most popular, the Riso-Hudson Enneagram Type Indicator (RHETI), created by Don Richard Riso and Russ Hudson in 1993.
Who is an Enneagram Personality Test For?
An Enneagram indicator test can be used by anyone who may be interested in gaining insight into their personality for the purposes of deeper self-awareness and personal development.
What are the Benefits of an Enneagram Test?
The essential Enneagram test is a powerful tool, with some of its associated benefits including:
- Increased self-awareness and clarity
- Provides a framework for understanding behaviour
- Helps develop an awareness of triggers
- Increases compassion for self and others
- Develops consciousness of personal traits
- Provides a system for processing and overcoming core emotional issues
- Increases confidence
- Develops personal growth
How Does an Enneagram Test Work?
Each of the components of the Enneagram help to build the full picture of your personality.
The Enneagram assessment is a series of questions designed to determine which one the nine core personality types best fits your profile.
In addition to your basic Enneagram personality type, there are other important elements of the typology system to consider, which help to build the full picture of your personality. These include:
- Centres
- Wing(s)
- Levels of Development
- Directions of Integration and Disintegration
- Instinctual Subtypes and Variants
We’ll look at each of these in more detail below, but first, let’s take a look at the structure of the Enneagram, the 9 basic personality types, and where to find the best Enneagram test available online.
Structure of the Enneagram
To understand how the Enneagram test works, let’s first take a look at the structure of the Enneagram.
The Enneagram may look complex, but it’s actually fairly simple.
The Enneagram figure comprises a circle with nine equidistant points plotted around its circumference, with one at the top centre of the circle. The points are numbered similarly to a clock: numerically clockwise, with the largest number (9) at the top.
Each point represents one of the nine basic personality types.
Inside the Enneagram, the points are connected to create an equilateral triangle between points Three, Six, and Nine. The way the remaining points are connected creates an irregular hexagon, as follows: One with Four, Four with Two, Two with Eight, Eight with Five, Five with Seven, and Seven with One.
Each point represents one of the nine basic personality types.
The 9 Enneagram Basic Personality Types
The 9 types are most typically referred to by the number assigned to them, however it’s important to note that the numbers are arbitrary and do not carry any value: an eight is not better or worse than a three.
Sometimes the types are referenced by their characteristic roles instead. According to the Enneagram Institute these are as follows:
- The Reformer: The Rational, Idealistic Type: Principled, purposeful, self-controlled, and perfectionistic
- The Helper: The Caring, Interpersonal Type: Demonstrative, generous, people-pleasing, and possessive
- The Achiever: The Success-Oriented, Pragmatic Type: Adaptive, excelling, driven, and image-conscious
- The Individualist: The Sensitive, Withdrawn Type: Expressive, dramatic, self-absorbed, and temperamental
- The Investigator: The Intense, Cerebral Type: Perceptive, innovative, secretive, and isolated
- The Loyalist: The Committed, Security-Oriented Type: Engaging, responsible, anxious, and suspicious
- The Enthusiast: The Busy, Fun-Loving Type: Spontaneous, versatile, distractible, and scattered
- The Challenger: The Powerful, Dominating Type: Self-Confident, decisive, willful, and confrontational
- The Peacemaker: The Easygoing, Self-Effacing Type: Receptive, reassuring, agreeable, and complacent
According to Oscar Ichazo’s theory, each main personality type also has specific themes when it comes to fears, desires, temptations, and more. Below is a table outlining the themes for each type:
Now let’s take a look at the best Enneagram tests available to take online…
What’s the Best Enneagram Test?
Finding the best test will depend upon the test takers personal requirements. Below are the best options for:
- Speed
- User-friendliness
- Gives you your wings as well as your main Enneagram type
- Most accurate test
Best Free Enneagram Personality Test Options
If you’re looking for the best free Enneagram test, one of the following options is your best bet…
The quickest test – Open Psychometrics
If you’re looking for a fast Enneagram test, the Open Psychometrics options is a great choice.
The test comprises of 36 questions which take around 3 – 5 minutes to complete.
I was concerned that the shorter questionnaire might mean less accuracy, but that’s why I made a point of noting down my result for each of the tests I took – and this one came out the same as each of the others.
The information you get at the end is limited, but you do not need to sign up with an email address.
My result: Type 1
The most user-friendly test – Truity
For a nicely designed interface and in-depth test, Truity is decent.
The test consists of 105 questions and takes around 15 minutes to complete.
You will receive your basic personality type for free, but note there is no information provided at all unless you choose to upgrade to access your full report for $29.
My result: Type 1
An Enneagram test with wings and instinctual variant – Eclectic Energies
If you’re looking for a free test that gives you your wings as well as your dominant type, try Eclectic Energies.
Eclectic Energies actually provides two different tests, one being a classic Enneagram test, and the other also giving you your Instinctual Variant.
The tests are fairly quick and simple and I like the additional information that comes with test 2, which is also slightly quicker to complete. I worried this may make it less accurate, but it gave me the same result as every other test I took for the purposes of this post.
My result: Type 1, wing 2, self-preservation variant
Official Enneagram Personality Test (£)
If you’re prepared to part with a small amount of money, you can take the official RHETI® version of the Enneagram for a small fee. This will provide you with the most accurate results, and the most in-depth, detailed report.
According to Statistical Solutions, The Enneagram Institute’s Riso-Hudson Enneagram Type Indicator (RHETI) is 72 percent accurate. However, this test is not free and requires a fee of USD 12 to take.
For an additional USD 12 you can also take the Instinctual Variant Questionnaire (IVQ) to gain deeper insight into your personality.
Enneagram FAQ
There’s so much to learn about the Enneagram, following is more information about how the system works, covering:
- Centres
- Wing(s)
- Levels of Development
- Directions of Integration and Disintegration
- Instinctual Subtypes and Variants
For the most accurate and in-depth insights into an individual’s personality, these components should be considered collectively.
1. How Does the Enneagram System Work?
As I mentioned earlier, there are several components to the Enneagram personality system. To appreciate the true power of the Enneagram and for the most accurate and in-depth insights into an individual’s personality, these components should be considered collectively.
Following is an overview of each element of the Enneagram system you need to be aware of.
2. What Are Enneagram Centres?
As we’ve seen, the Enneagram is comprised of nine different personality types. Each type belongs to one of three triads:
- The Instinctual Centre – motivated by ‘thinking’ issues (types 1, 8, 9)
- The Emotional Centre – motivated by ‘feeling’ issues (types 2, 3, 4)
- The Intellectual Centre – motivated by ‘gut’ issues (types 5, 6, 7)
The sensory theme of each centre is also linked to an emotional theme.
The different types within each centre share similar assets and liabilities, tied to the centre’s specific sensory theme. For example, type One has strengths and vulnerabilities involving instinctual drives.
The sensory theme of each centre is also linked to an emotional theme, arising as an unconscious emotional response to the loss of connection with the core self.
The emotional theme of the Instinctual Centre is rage or anger; the emotional theme of the Emotional Centre is shame or anxiety; and the emotional theme of the Intellectual Centre is Fear.
3. What Are Enneagram Wings?
Your wings are secondary types which add flavour or dimensions to your character.
Each personality type of the Enneagram describes the primary traits of an individual, but commonly they will also have one or two ‘wings’.
Wings refer to the neighbouring types to your own basic personality type. While your basic personality type dominates your personality, your wings are secondary types which add flavour or dimensions to your character, helping you to gain a better understanding of yourself.
4. What Are The Levels of Development?
The Levels of Development provide a framework for the Enneagram types which allows a deeper understanding of personality.
The Levels of Development give the structure required to recognise how these apparently unrelated attributes fit together into categories.
Without these Levels, each type appears to be an arbitrary group of personality traits, with no cohesive elements holding them together.
The Levels of Development give the structure required to recognise how these apparently unrelated attributes fit together into categories, but also how they reflect complex and dynamic human nature.
They also provide insight into healthy and unhealthy traits within individuals belonging to the same type, demonstrating the potential differences between two people who have the same primary type.
5. What Are the Directions of Integration (Growth) and Disintegration (Stress)?
Connecting lines in the Enneagram represent how growth and stress affect each type.
Although the Enneagram is relatively simple once you understand how it works, it also contains layers of information, with the directions of integration and disintegration being one such layer.
The way the basic types are laid out and the lines connecting them on the Enneagram is very deliberate: these connections represent how growth and stress affect each type.
When a type is in a state of spiritual growth and development, they can mimic the healthy behaviours of the connecting type in the direction of integration (growth).
Likewise, when a type is under stress or pressure, they can mimic the unhealthy behaviours of the connecting type in the direction of disintegration (stress).
The direction of integration is 1-7-5-8-2-4-1 and 9-3-6-9.
The direction of disintegration is 1-4-2-8-5-7-1 and 9-6-3-9.
6. What Are Instinctual Subtypes and Variants?
According to Enneagram experts, we each have three distinct instincts.
There are 27 separate Instinctual Variants in total.
One is dominantly developed and expressed, representing our strongest and most comfortable values. One is less developed, but supports our dominant instinct. And the last is underdeveloped, less of a priority in our lives and arguably a weakness.
The three instincts comprise:
- Self-preservation instinct – for preserving life
- Sexual instinct – for continuing our bloodline
- Social instinct – for forming secure social bonds
An individual’s expression of the three instincts creates their own personal Instinctual Stack.
Taking into account dominant instincts combined with the nine personality types, there are 27 separate Instinctual Variants in total.
Since dominant instincts profoundly flavour and influence personality, the profiles of these variants provide significant depth when compared only to the nine basic types.
Learn more about the Enneagram in The Wisdom of the Enneagram, available from Amazon.
Is the Enneagram a Reliable Test?
There has been limited research conducted in the field of Enneagram personality testing, and what is available provides mixed results for the model’s validity and reliability.
While the Enneagram has ultimately been discredited as pseudoscience by some personality assessment experts1, there is some limited research that appears to support Enneagram theory2.
Other Personality Tests Available Online
If you’re interested in taking other personality tests for comparison, another very popular choice (though arguably less reliable) is the Myers-Briggs personality test, also known as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).
Alternatively, if you’re curious about spirituality, you may be interested in taking this Human Design test.
Sources
- Sloat, Sarah. “Why one popular personality test is “pseudoscientific at best””. Inverse. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
- Sutton, Anna (2012) “But is it real?” A review of research on the Enneagram. Enneagram Journal, 5, 5-20