The Best ATS CV Checkers Compared (2026): Free Limits, Prices and Privacy

How we compared them

We read each tool's own checker page, pricing page, help articles and privacy policy on 31 October 2026, from a browser in the EU, so prices are the ones an EU visitor sees, in the currency shown. We compared what the free version really gives you, whether you need an account, whether it matches your CV against a job ad, which languages it supports, what it costs, and what the company says about your data and AI training. We didn't upload test CVs, so this compares what the tools offer, not how good their advice is.

Disclosure: we make TakeMeUp.cv, one of the tools below. We've described it with the same criteria, including what it doesn't do.

Jobscan

• What it checks: a match rate between your resume and a job description you paste in (hard skills, job title, soft skills, other keywords), plus formatting and best-practice findings.
• Free: “5 Free Resume Scans monthly”; you need an account.
• Paid: $49.95 a month, or $89.95 every 3 months, with a 7-day trial.
• Languages: English only, by Jobscan's own help centre.
• Data: US company (Seattle), servers in the US; its privacy policy names Anthropic, OpenAI and Google Cloud AI as AI providers and says nothing about AI training either way.

Resume Worded

• What it checks: 30+ checks including a parse simulation, formatting (tables, columns, images), keywords and impact; a separate tool compares your resume with a job description.
• Free: “several free uploads” and a subset of the analysis; you need an account.
• Paid: $49 a month, $99 every 3 months or $229 a year; no refunds for first-time buyers.
• Languages: “English resumes in PDF or DOCX only”.
• Data: the privacy policy doesn't name the company's legal entity or country; it says its AI providers are contractually barred from training on your data.

Enhancv

• What it checks: “27 crucial checks” in seven groups, from ATS basics and parse rate to job tailoring against a pasted job ad; the deeper recruiter and bias checks are paid.
• Free: a free checker (its pricing page lists the full ATS check under Pro, so expect the free version to be partial).
• Paid: €29.75 every 3 months as shown in the EU; prices vary by region.
• Languages: localised checker pages in 13 languages besides US English, including German, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Polish and Czech.
• Data: EU company (Sofia, Bulgaria); the checker page says it never uses your data “for AI model training”. Its privacy policy was last updated in July 2024.

Zety

• What it checks: formatting, content and keyword issues with a score and suggestions, tailored to a job title you select.
• Free: unclear. The checker page promises a free review report, but on the pricing page Resume Check is inactive in the free plan, and free downloads are TXT only.
• Paid: $1.95 for a 14-day trial, then $25.95 every 4 weeks, or $71.40 a year.
• Languages: regional sites in German, Spanish, French, Italian, Polish and Brazilian Portuguese.
• Data: operated by BOLD LLC (Puerto Rico, US); we found no statement about AI training in its privacy policy.

Novorésumé

• What it checks: a score from 0 to 100 across format, job match, content, sections and technical elements, against a job description you paste in. AI-based (Claude).
• Free: “no sign-up required to see your score”; 2 uses a month of its AI tools (10 with Pro).
• Paid: one-off passes with no auto-renewal: €19.99 for 1 month, €47.99 for 3 or €89.99 for 6.
• Languages: checker pages in English, Danish, German and Spanish.
• Data: EU company (Copenhagen, Denmark); its policy says its AI providers don't train on your data.

Teal

• What it checks: 15+ AI checks inside its resume builder, plus job-description keyword matching.
• Free: basic analysis and the top 5 matched keywords; the check runs in the builder, so you sign up.
• Paid: $13 every 7 days, $29 every 30 days or $79 every 90 days.
• Languages: English only, by Teal's own FAQ.
• Data: US company (Florida); it says it doesn't use your resumes or job descriptions to train AI models.

Kickresume

• What it checks: an ATS score from 20+ checks in design, structure and content, compared with resumes in its database.
• Free: your overall score and three category scores; the full report is paid. Students and teachers get Premium free.
• Paid: €24 a month, €54 every 3 months or €96 a year, as shown in the EU.
• Languages: checker pages in English, Slovak, Spanish, German, Portuguese and Italian.
• Data: EU company (Bratislava, Slovakia), hosted in the EU; its policy says it may train its systems on anonymised user documents, and you can object.

TakeMeUp.cv (our product)

• What it checks: 21 rules on your CV's content, such as missing contact details or dates, placeholder text, bullets without numbers or with weak openings, unusual characters, length, gaps, very short jobs and the size of your skills list. Each issue costs 15, 8 or 3 points from 100.
• Free: the full report, unlimited re-checks, no account needed. Uploading a PDF or Word file is limited to 3 a day without an account (20 with one).
• Not included: matching your CV against a job ad is a separate paid feature. And because an upload is rebuilt into a TakeMeUp template, the check doesn't judge your original file's layout; tools like Resume Worded and Enhancv do.
• Languages: 14 interface languages; the weak-opening check works in 12.
• Data: run by a sole trader in Romania (EU). The scoring uses no AI; uploads are read once by Anthropic's Claude with your consent, and we don't use CVs to train AI.

Which one should you use?

• To match one CV against a specific job ad for free: Jobscan (5 scans a month, account needed), Novorésumé (2 a month, no account) or Teal (top 5 keywords).
• For a CV in another language: avoid the English-only tools (Jobscan, Resume Worded, Teal). Enhancv, Novorésumé, Kickresume and TakeMeUp.cv have non-English versions; we didn't test how well each handles non-English content.
• To keep your data in the EU: Novorésumé, Enhancv, Kickresume (unless you object to anonymised training) and TakeMeUp.cv are EU-based.
• To try without an account: Novorésumé and TakeMeUp.cv show a score without signing up.
• To avoid subscriptions: Novorésumé sells one-off passes; TakeMeUp.cv sells a one-off download.

What no ATS checker can tell you

Most applicant tracking systems don't reject CVs on their own: they turn applications into searchable data, and recruiters search and filter it. So a checker's score isn't a pass mark. It's a list of things that make your CV harder to read or less likely to come up in a search. Scores from different tools aren't comparable, and chasing 100% by stuffing keywords makes a CV worse for the human who reads it next.