SimpleCVBuilder

Free ATS resume Checker

Drop your resumein. We'll tell you what an ATS actually sees and the three things worth fixing first. No signup, no email.

  • Your resume is deleted after 24 hours
  • Email report to yourself
ATS report showing a CV scored 85/100 (good), with sub-scores and a list of three top fixes.
  • GDPR compliant
  • Resume deleted after 24h
  • We never sell your data
  • PDF, Word or paste
  • Results in under 30 seconds

What you'll get

Concrete deliverables, not vague reassurance.

Your ATS score, broken down

Not just a number. You'll see how parseable, structured, and impactful your resume actually reads, separately.

Targeted match score card from a sample report: a match score gauge on the left and a keyword table on the right comparing the CV against a pasted job description, with each keyword marked as found or missing.

Specific keyword gaps

Paste any job spec. We'll show what your resumeis hitting and what it's missing.

3 fixes with before/after

Real rewrites you can copy across, or refine in our editor.

How it works

Three steps. No signup. No nonsense.

  1. 1

    Upload

    Drop in your resume as a PDF or Word file, or paste the text. We never store the original.

  2. 2
    Step 2: Analyse

    Analyse

    We read it the way an ATS does. Same parsing, same blind spots.

  3. 3
    Step 3: Fix

    Fix

    Out comes a score, three fixes worth doing, and an optional JD match.

Here's what you'll see

The full score and three fixes are free. The rest unlocks when you sign up. No email scraping in between.

3 more sections unlock with a free signup

Scan your CV

Methodology

The rubric, the bands, and what we refuse to fabricate.

What we check

  • Parseability: does an ATS see your text?
  • Structure: sections, length, bullet density
  • Content quality: verbs, metrics, phrasing
  • Impact: leadership and ownership signals
  • Keyword match (optional, JD required)
  • Format: scanned PDFs, columns, contact info

How we score

Parseability runs first. If a section is unreadable, we tell you before scoring the rest.

Content quality uses the same rubric our paying users get inside the editor. Same model. Same calibration. We don't cheap out on the free check.

Score bands: 90+ excellent · 75-89 good · 50-74 needs work · below 50 critical.

What we don't fake

  • No fabricated review counts or aggregate-rating stars.
  • No “10,000+ scanned this month” tickers.
  • No invented expert bylines or staged testimonials.
  • No AI-generated portraits passed off as real reviewers.
Truth-only by default

A free ATS resume checker tells you what an applicant tracking system will likely extract from your resume before a recruiter reads it. Upload a PDF or Word file, or paste the text. No sign-up. You get a score out of 100 and the three fixes to make first, usually in under 30 seconds.

How US ATS systems read your resume

Employers collect applications in an applicant tracking system. Workday1, Greenhouse and iCIMS2are three common examples. When you apply, the system parses your resume into a candidate profile: contact details, job titles, employers, dates, degrees and skills. Many application forms now fill themselves in from your upload, which is that parse happening in front of you. Check every field before you submit; Greenhouse's own candidate help says parsing "can make mistakes."3

US conventions matter too. The USC Career Center calls a one-page resume standard practice, with two pages acceptable for 10 or more years of work experience, and advises minimizing personal information such as your birthdate and photo.4

What the ATS score measures

The score is out of 100, built from four sub-scores that match the four chips on your report. Content is weighted at about 35%, parseability 25%, structure and impact 20% each. A score of 90 or above is excellent, 75 to 89 good, 50 to 74 needs work, and below 50 critical.

Parseability

Rule-based, no AI. Can the text be selected, is it a scan, how many columns does it use, and can an email and phone number be found? A scan, or a parseability score under 50, ends the check there.

Structure

We check for standard sections a parser recognizes (summary, experience, education, skills), page count, and how much of your experience is in bullet points.

Content

An AI grader scores your bullets against a fixed rubric: opening verbs, quantified results, passive phrasing and generic claims. Every criticism quotes your own resume.

Impact

Impact looks for evidence of leadership, ownership and seniority. A resume that lists duties instead of results will score low here even if it parses perfectly.

The five ATS failures we check for first on US resumes

Two-column layouts

Many design-heavy templates put skills in a sidebar. Parsers can read across the columns and scramble the order, and Greenhouse lists columned layouts as a parse failure.5 Use one column.

Contact details in headers

Your name, email and phone in a Word header can go missing from your profile. Greenhouse flags contact details in headers, footers and text boxes.5 Keep them in the body.

Scanned PDFs

An image of a resume is not text. Greenhouse lists image uploads among its parse failures.5 Export a text-based PDF, or upload the .docx.

Non-standard section names

Headings like "Where I've Been" can hide your work history from a parser looking for Experience. Save the personality for your summary.

Missing role keywords

Recruiters often filter candidates by the skills and titles in the posting. Paste the job description into the checker to see how many of its keywords your resume covers, then add only the ones you can back up.

ATS resume checker or resume scanner: what is the difference

They are two names for the same kind of tool, and neither is the employer's ATS. Ours checks that your file can be read, then grades structure, content and impact, and matches keywords when you add a job description.

What to do after your free ATS resume check

Fix the three items at the top of your report first; they are ranked by impact.

Frequently asked questions

Is the free ATS resume checker really free?

Yes. You get your score and your top three fixes with no sign-up, no credit card and no email address. A free account unlocks the full fix list and keyword gaps, and lets you open your resume in the builder.

Is my resume ATS friendly?

Upload it and find out in under 30 seconds. The problems we check for first are multi-column layouts, scanned PDFs, contact details a parser cannot find, missing section headings and weak keyword coverage.

Which applicant tracking systems do employers use?

There is no single one. Workday, Greenhouse and iCIMS are common examples, and the web address of the application page often shows which one an employer uses. The same basics help with all of them: one column, contact details in the body of the page, standard section headings and a text-based file.

Is a resume scanner the same as an ATS checker?

In practice, yes. Both names describe a tool that reads your resume the way an applicant tracking system would and reports what it finds. Neither is the employer's own system. What differs between tools is what they check: ours tests whether the text can be read first, then grades structure, content and impact, and matches keywords if you paste in a job description.

How does the free resume scanner work?

We extract the text from your PDF or Word file, or take the text you paste, and run a rule-based parseability check to see whether an ATS can read it. If it can, one AI pass pulls out the facts and a second grades them. Your score and top three fixes come back in under 30 seconds, and your resume and report are deleted after 24 hours.

Can I upload a Word document?

Yes. Upload a Word document saved as .docx, or a PDF, up to 5 MB. Older .doc files are not supported, so save them as .docx or PDF first. You can also paste your resume text instead.

What if my resume is a scan?

We can't read text from a scanned image. Paste the text instead, or upload a text-based PDF or a .docx file.

How many resumes can I check?

Three uploads an hour and ten a day from the same connection. That is enough to fix something, check again and compare.

Where does my resume go?

We never store the file itself. We keep the text we read from it, with your report, for 24 hours so you can come back to it, then delete both within the hour. We never sell or share your data. See our Privacy Policy for the full detail.

How accurate is the score?

The parseability part is rule-based, so the same file gets the same result. Content and impact are graded by AI against a fixed rubric with worked examples, and every criticism has to quote a line from your resume. Treat the score as a strong signal about how readable and convincing your resume is, not a guarantee.

Will my resume pass every ATS?

No checker can promise that. Systems differ, and employers configure them in different ways. What we measure is whether your text comes through cleanly and completely, which every system relies on, and how well it reads once it does.

Stop guessing. Score your resume.

30 seconds. No signup. No watermark.