§ The result
SmartRecruiters leads Brainner on all 7 criteria.
Under rubric v1.0, SmartRecruiters (ATS-integrated) opens a 16-point lead on Brainner (Screening), 62 (D) to 46 (F). SmartRecruiters takes all 7 criteria and Brainner none of them; the nearest contest is Post-Market Monitoring, Brainner 45 to SmartRecruiters 48. Bias Audit Transparency is both the widest raw gap and the heaviest weighted swing — Brainner 42, SmartRecruiters 78 — and at an 18% weight it carries 41% of the weighted advantage SmartRecruiters holds across the 7 criteria on that side of the table.
Vendor profile
Brainner
Brainner is an AI screening layer for applicant tracking systems that scores and ranks applicants against recruiter-weighted criteria with per-criterion justifications, and flags suspected fake applicants using third-party identity and fraud data.
Vendor profile
SmartRecruiters
SmartRecruiters is an enterprise applicant tracking system and talent acquisition suite whose AI layer (the Winston assistant plus SmartAssistant/Winston Match) screens, ranks, and matches candidates to requisitions to support recruiter decisions.
§ The record
Brainner is filed under Screening AI, SmartRecruiters under ATS-integrated AI. They also share 1 secondary category: Sourcing.
Both are in scope of EU AI Act, NYC LL 144, Colorado AI Act and Illinois HB 3773.
| Record | Brainner | SmartRecruiters |
|---|---|---|
| Price tier | Low | Enterprise |
| Headquarters | US | US |
| Founded | 2023 | 2010 |
§ What decides it
The criteria that move the gap, heaviest swing first.
18% weight · 41% of the movement so far
Bias Audit Transparency
Brainner 42 · SmartRecruiters 78
6.5 weighted points to SmartRecruiters
20% weight · 63% of the movement so far
Article 11 Technical Documentation
Brainner 52 · SmartRecruiters 70
3.6 weighted points to SmartRecruiters
15% weight · 78% of the movement so far
FRIA Support
Brainner 30 · SmartRecruiters 45
2.3 weighted points to SmartRecruiters
12% weight · 87% of the movement so far
Human Oversight Design
Brainner 50 · SmartRecruiters 62
1.4 weighted points to SmartRecruiters
15% weight · 95% of the movement so far
Data Governance Disclosure
Brainner 53 · SmartRecruiters 62
1.3 weighted points to SmartRecruiters
8% weight · 98% of the movement so far
Customer Documentation
Brainner 58 · SmartRecruiters 63
0.4 weighted points to SmartRecruiters
12% weight · 100% of the movement so far
Post-Market Monitoring
Brainner 45 · SmartRecruiters 48
0.4 weighted points to SmartRecruiters
Weighted delta is the raw difference times the criterion weight, so the 7 figures above sum to -15.9 — the difference between the two totals before either is rounded. Shares are of 15.9 points of movement counted without direction. The table below rounds each side to a whole number first, so its Δ raw total reads -16 beside that -15.9.
§ Category-by-category
Raw score per criterion, with weighted delta.
Δ is Brainner minus SmartRecruiters.
| Category | Weight | Brainner | SmartRecruiters | Δ raw | Δ weighted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Article 11 Technical Documentation | 20% | 52 | 70 | -18 | -3.6 |
| Bias Audit Transparency | 18% | 42 | 78 | -36 | -6.5 |
| FRIA Support | 15% | 30 | 45 | -15 | -2.3 |
| Data Governance Disclosure | 15% | 53 | 62 | -9 | -1.3 |
| Human Oversight Design | 12% | 50 | 62 | -12 | -1.4 |
| Post-Market Monitoring | 12% | 45 | 48 | -3 | -0.4 |
| Customer Documentation | 8% | 58 | 63 | -5 | -0.4 |
| Total | 100% | 46 (F) | 62 (D) | -16 | -15.9 |
§ Evidence
Cited sources and documented absences, criterion by criterion.
An absence is a finding, not a blank: the reviewer looked for a named artefact and recorded that it is not located. Where a source sits is a fact about hosting only.
| Criterion | Weight | Brainner | SmartRecruiters | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cited | Absences | Audit / hosting | Cited | Absences | Audit / hosting | ||
| Article 11 Technical Documentation | 20% | 4 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 2 | 0 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| Bias Audit Transparency | 18% | 6 | 0 | Sources on the vendor's own domainSources on a separate domain | 1 | 0 | Audit reportSources on a separate domain |
| FRIA Support | 15% | 3 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 1 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| Data Governance Disclosure | 15% | 6 | 0 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 2 | 0 | Audit reportSources on the vendor's own domain |
| Human Oversight Design | 12% | 6 | 0 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 2 | 0 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| Post-Market Monitoring | 12% | 4 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 1 | 1 | Audit reportSources on the vendor's own domain |
| Customer Documentation | 8% | 4 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 2 | 0 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| All criteria | 100% | 33 | 4 | Sources on the vendor's own domainSources on a separate domain | 11 | 2 | Audit reportSources on the vendor's own domainSources on a separate domain |
Brainner has 37 evidence rows across 7 of 7 criteria — 33 with a source URL, 4 documented absences; SmartRecruiters has 13 evidence rows across 7 of 7 criteria — 11 with a source URL, 2 documented absences; some documentation or audit rows for Brainner and SmartRecruiters sit on a domain separate from the vendor's own site.
Provenance
The scores above are documented by 50 evidence rows on file for these two vendors: 37 for Brainner, across 2 distinct source domains, and 13 for SmartRecruiters, across 2 distinct source domains.
- Rubric
- v1.0
- Brainner last reviewed
- September 25, 2026 · HireAIScore editorial team
- SmartRecruiters last reviewed
- June 7, 2026 · HireAIScore editorial team
HireAIScore scores are editorial research, not legal advice, and no vendor pays for placement, scoring or removal — see the methodology, conflicts policy and terms.
§ Where next