The Best Free ATS CV Checkers in 2026, Compared

Every ATS checker gives you a score, and the scores rarely agree, because each tool measures something slightly different and none of them can see inside the software a given employer uses. What helps is knowing what each one checks, what it costs, whether you need an account and whether it can read the job ad. We went through the checker and pricing pages of six of them in October 2026, ours included.

Checker	Free	Account	Compares with a job ad
Personal Job Coach CV Score	Yes	No	No (our Gap Analysis does, free on your first job)
Jobscan	5 scans a month	Yes	Yes
Enhancv	Yes	Results by email	Optional
Resume Worded	Free to start	Yes	Yes, English CVs only
Teal	Top 5 keywords	No card needed	Yes
Kickresume	Premium only, free for students and teachers	Yes	No, that's a separate tool

What an ATS Checker Can and Can't Tell You

An applicant tracking system does two things that matter to you: it turns your CV into text it can store and search, and it lets a recruiter sort or filter candidates, often by words from the ad. A checker can tell you whether your layout survives the first step (columns, tables and text inside headers or images are the usual problems) and, if you give it the ad, which of its words your CV doesn't use. It can't know how a particular recruiter has set up their filters, which is why two checkers can give the same CV very different scores. Our guide to ATS CV format covers the layout side in detail.

Personal Job Coach CV Score: Free, No Account, 8 Checks

Our CV Score reads your CV in about 30 seconds and scores it on eight checks: formatting, section structure, contact details, quantified results, skills, experience descriptions, generic phrases and the summary. There's no account and no card, and each check gets its own score, so you can see whether the problem is a two-column template or bullet points with no numbers in them. To check against one specific job, our Gap Analysis compares your CV with that ad's exact wording, free on your first job. The scoring logic is laid out in how your ATS score is calculated.

Jobscan: The Best-Known Job Ad Match

Jobscan compares your CV with a job ad you paste and lists the hard skills, soft skills and other terms from the ad that your CV is missing. A free account gets 5 scans a month. Premium removes the cap, and Jobscan's own blog puts it at $49.95 a month or $89.95 every three months. Its own comparison table rates its support for other languages as limited, so it's at its best with an English CV and an English ad. More in Personal Job Coach vs Jobscan.

Enhancv: A Free Checker That Emails You the Results

Enhancv's CV checker is free and sorts its checks into seven areas, from ATS essentials, sections and content to tailoring, red flags, bias and how senior the CV reads. Paste the job ad too and it adds suggestions for that role. You upload the CV and the feedback arrives by email. There's also a paid Pro checker, and its CV builder is free for 7 days, but we couldn't read a reliable price on its pricing page when we checked.

Resume Worded: Detailed Feedback, English CVs Only

Resume Worded scores your CV and can compare it with a job ad you paste. It's free to start, with an account and a confirmed email address, though it doesn't spell out the free limits. Pro costs $49 a month, $99 every three months or $229 a year. It only accepts English CVs, in PDF or DOCX, which rules it out for a CV in French or Spanish.

Teal: Keyword Matching Inside a Job Tracker

Teal's checker lives inside its CV builder and job tracker. The free plan, with no card needed, gives basic keyword matching against each job with the top 5 keywords, plus a few AI writing credits, and Teal+ lifts the limits from $9 a week. The interface is in English only. It's a good fit if you already track your applications there.

Kickresume: Thorough, but Not Free

Kickresume's ATS checker runs more than 20 checks on formatting, design, fonts, structure and content. It's a Premium feature, though, free only for verified students and teachers, and Premium costs $24 a month, $54 every three months or $96 a year. Matching your CV against a specific job is a separate tool.

Which Checker Should You Use?

Start with a free check on layout and content, ours or Enhancv's, because a CV the software can't read gains nothing from keyword work. Then, for the jobs you really want, compare your CV with the ad itself: Jobscan's free scans and Teal's top keywords do that in English, and our Gap Analysis does it in English, French and Spanish, free on your first job. Once the score stops moving, stop chasing it, because a CV a recruiter enjoys reading is worth more than the last five points.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a completely free ATS checker?

Yes. Our CV Score is free with no account, and Enhancv's checker is free too. Jobscan's free account gives you 5 job ad scans a month, and Teal's free plan shows the top 5 keywords for each job.

What is a good ATS score?

It depends on the checker, since each one weighs different things. For ours, see what counts as a good ATS score.

For more, see our free ATS score checker and how to improve your CV ATS score.

Sources: the checker, pricing and help pages of Jobscan (and its pricing comparison), Enhancv, Resume Worded, Teal and Kickresume, checked on 29 October 2026. Plans and prices change, so check each site before you decide.