- Home
- Free ATS resume checker
Free tool
Free ATS resume checker: see your keyword match score for any job
Upload your resume, paste a job link, and see how well your resume matches that job post — the way an applicant tracking system (ATS) keyword search sees it. Free, no account, about a minute.
What the free ATS check gives you
- A keyword match score from 0 to 100% for one specific job post.
- The 15–35 keywords that job post screens for, ranked as required, preferred, or nice to have.
- Which keywords your resume already has, which it has only in other words, and which are missing.
- No sign-up. We do not save the check unless you ask us to.
How the ATS resume checker works
- Add your resume. Upload a PDF or Word file (up to 5 MB), or paste the text.
- Add the job. Paste a link from Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby, Workday, or most company career pages. If a page does not load, paste the job description text.
- Read the result. The checker reads the job post the way a recruiter builds an ATS search: it pulls out the hard skills, tools, methods, and qualifications the role asks for. Then it checks your resume for each one.
Most applicant tracking systems — Workday, Greenhouse, Lever, iCIMS, SuccessFactors, Taleo — let recruiters search and filter applicants by keyword. A recruiter who types "stakeholder management" will not find a resume that only says "worked with partner teams". The checker shows you those gaps before a recruiter's search does.
How the keyword match score is calculated
The score is a weighted share of the job's keywords that appear in your resume text, word for word:
| Keyword type | Weight | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Required | 3 | "SQL" in a list of must-have qualifications |
| Preferred | 2 | "Looker" under "nice if you have" |
| Nice to have | 1 | "fintech experience" mentioned once in passing |
A keyword counts only when the exact term appears as a whole word or phrase, not inside another word. Matching ignores capital letters and treats hyphens, slashes, and spaces the same, so "A/B testing" matches "A-B testing". This is strict on purpose: an ATS keyword search is strict too.
Why "you have it, but not in the job's words" matters
The most common gap is not a missing skill. It is a skill you have, written in different words. Your resume says "talked to customers every week"; the job post says "user research". A person sees the match. A keyword search does not.
The checker flags these separately, so you know which gaps you can fix by rewording a true bullet, and which are real skill gaps. Read our study of how job posts phrase the same skill to see how often this happens.
What is a good ATS match score?
There is no official pass mark. Applicant tracking systems do not publish a cut-off, and most do not give resumes a single score that auto-rejects people. What a high match does is make you show up when a recruiter searches or ranks applicants for that job's terms.
A useful way to read your result:
- Every required keyword you truly have should be on the page, in the job's own words. This matters more than the overall number.
- A low score with many "in other words" matches usually means wording, not fit. That is the easiest gap to close.
- A low score with many truly missing required skills may mean the role is a stretch. That is useful to know before you spend an hour on the application.
How to improve your ATS score honestly
- Mirror the job title near the top of your resume, if it is true to your experience.
- Use the job's exact phrase for skills you have. Write "stakeholder management", not "managed relationships with partners".
- Put keywords in context. A bullet that shows the skill with a result beats a keyword list.
- Never add a skill you do not have. Interviews test it, and reference checks catch it.
- Keep the format simple: one column, real text (not an image), standard section headings.
Our full guide: how to tailor your resume to a job description.
Questions
Is the ATS resume checker really free?
Yes. The keyword match score and the full keyword lists are free with no sign-up. A tailored resume needs a free account. The first 3 tailored resumes are free, then packs start at $9 for 10.
Do you save my resume?
Not for the free check. The result stays in your browser tab. If you ask for a sign-in link from the result page, we keep the check with that link so it works on another device, then delete it when the link is used or expires.
Which ATS does this simulate?
None in particular. Systems such as Workday, Greenhouse, Lever, and iCIMS all let recruiters search and filter by keyword. The checker shows exact keyword coverage for one job post, which is what those searches depend on.
Is a 100% match the goal?
No. Add only the keywords that are true for you. A resume stuffed with every keyword reads badly to the recruiter who opens it, and an interview tests every skill on the page.
What files can I upload?
PDF and Word (DOCX) files up to 5 MB, or pasted text. Scanned image PDFs do not have readable text, and many applicant tracking systems cannot read them either.