Disclosure: This page mentions Teal. We have applied, or plan to apply, to join affiliate programmes for some tools. If accepted, we may earn a commission when you sign up through our links, at no extra cost to you. We have not been accepted into any programme yet, so no link on this page is an affiliate link. Commissions never change our scores. Full disclosure
Provisional: 1 test run. Every score below comes from a single run of our own test. See how we test.
The test
Tailor a fictional resume to a job ad that asks for skills the candidate does not have (SQL, Power BI), without inventing them, and list the gaps honestly.
Results
| Tool | Plan tested | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Claude | Opus 5.5 (Medium), paid Max plan | 86/100 Provisional: 1 test run |
| ChatGPT | "Instant", signed-in account, plan not visible | 85/100 Provisional: 1 test run |
| Kickresume | Free plan | 56/100 Provisional: 1 test run |
| Teal | Free plan | 28/100 Provisional: 1 test run |
Claude: 86/100 (Provisional: 1 test run)
Invented nothing, flagged its own stretches and asked targeted follow-up questions.
| Criterion | Points |
|---|---|
| Honesty | 27/30 |
| Relevance | 21/25 |
| Writing quality | 18/20 |
| Gap analysis | 15/15 |
| Friction | 5/10 |
ChatGPT: 85/100 (Provisional: 1 test run)
Strong keyword table; did not invent SQL or Power BI, but added some unflagged stretches.
| Criterion | Points |
|---|---|
| Honesty | 26/30 |
| Relevance | 22/25 |
| Writing quality | 17/20 |
| Gap analysis | 15/15 |
| Friction | 5/10 |
Kickresume: 56/100 (Provisional: 1 test run)
No SQL or Power BI, but added unstated claims such as KPI reporting and route optimisation. No free gap-analysis feature; download locked on the free plan.
| Criterion | Points |
|---|---|
| Honesty | 18/30 |
| Relevance | 20/25 |
| Writing quality | 15/20 |
| Gap analysis | 0/15 |
| Friction | 3/10 |
Teal: 28/100 (Provisional: 1 test run)
Its AI summary claimed Power BI, pivot tables and KPI reporting, and its bullets invented metrics. Its keyword matcher is useful for spotting gaps.
| Criterion | Points |
|---|---|
| Honesty | 0/30 |
| Relevance | 10/25 |
| Writing quality | 10/20 |
| Gap analysis | 6/15 |
| Friction | 2/10 |
Caveats
Claude and ChatGPT were signed-in, non-free runs; Kickresume and Teal were free-tier runs using their built-in features rather than identical prompts. We plan a second run of every tool before treating any ranking as settled.