§ The result
2 points separate Sova Assessment and Brainner.
Sova Assessment (Assessment) edges Brainner (Screening) by 2 points under rubric v1.0, 48 to 46. Brainner takes 3 of the 7 criteria, Bias Audit Transparency among them, against 4 for Sova Assessment, whose share includes FRIA Support. One criterion, FRIA Support, is both the widest raw gap (Brainner 30, Sova Assessment 40) and the heaviest weighted swing, and at 15% weight it makes up 50% of the weighted advantage Sova Assessment holds across the 4 criteria it leads.
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
Sova Assessment
Sova Assessment is a UK-based enterprise talent assessment platform combining personality questionnaires, cognitive and ability tests, situational judgement, video interviews, virtual assessment centres and AI-led role simulations into a single occupational-psychology-validated candidate scoring workflow.
§ The record
Brainner is filed under Screening AI, Sova Assessment under Assessment AI. They record no secondary category in common.
Both are in scope of EU AI Act, NYC LL 144, Colorado AI Act and Illinois HB 3773. Only Sova Assessment is in scope of Mobley v. Workday.
| Record | Brainner | Sova Assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Price tier | Low | High |
| Headquarters | US | GB |
| Founded | 2023 | 2015 |
§ What decides it
The criteria that move the gap, heaviest swing first.
15% weight · 33% of the movement so far
FRIA Support
Brainner 30 · Sova Assessment 40
1.5 weighted points to Sova Assessment
18% weight · 49% of the movement so far
Bias Audit Transparency
Brainner 42 · Sova Assessment 38
0.7 weighted points to Brainner
20% weight · 63% of the movement so far
Article 11 Technical Documentation
Brainner 52 · Sova Assessment 55
0.6 weighted points to Sova Assessment
12% weight · 76% of the movement so far
Human Oversight Design
Brainner 50 · Sova Assessment 55
0.6 weighted points to Sova Assessment
12% weight · 90% of the movement so far
Post-Market Monitoring
Brainner 45 · Sova Assessment 40
0.6 weighted points to Brainner
8% weight · 97% of the movement so far
Customer Documentation
Brainner 58 · Sova Assessment 62
0.3 weighted points to Sova Assessment
15% weight · 100% of the movement so far
Data Governance Disclosure
Brainner 53 · Sova Assessment 52
0.1 weighted points to Brainner
Weighted delta is the raw difference times the criterion weight, so the 7 figures above sum to -1.6 — the difference between the two totals before either is rounded. Shares are of 4.5 points of movement counted without direction. The table below rounds each side to a whole number first, so its Δ raw total reads -2 beside that -1.6.
§ Category-by-category
Raw score per criterion, with weighted delta.
Δ is Brainner minus Sova Assessment.
| Category | Weight | Brainner | Sova Assessment | Δ raw | Δ weighted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Article 11 Technical Documentation | 20% | 52 | 55 | -3 | -0.6 |
| Bias Audit Transparency | 18% | 42 | 38 | +4 | +0.7 |
| FRIA Support | 15% | 30 | 40 | -10 | -1.5 |
| Data Governance Disclosure | 15% | 53 | 52 | +1 | +0.1 |
| Human Oversight Design | 12% | 50 | 55 | -5 | -0.6 |
| Post-Market Monitoring | 12% | 45 | 40 | +5 | +0.6 |
| Customer Documentation | 8% | 58 | 62 | -4 | -0.3 |
| Total | 100% | 46 (F) | 48 (F) | -2 | -1.6 |
§ 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 | Sova Assessment | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cited | Absences | Audit / hosting | Cited | Absences | Audit / hosting | ||
| Article 11 Technical Documentation | 20% | 4 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 3 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| Bias Audit Transparency | 18% | 6 | 0 | Sources on the vendor's own domainSources on a separate domain | 4 | 2 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| FRIA Support | 15% | 3 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 2 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| Data Governance Disclosure | 15% | 6 | 0 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 4 | 1 | Audit reportSources on the vendor's own domainSources on a separate domain |
| Human Oversight Design | 12% | 6 | 0 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 5 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| Post-Market Monitoring | 12% | 4 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 4 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domainSources on a separate domain |
| Customer Documentation | 8% | 4 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 6 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domainSources on a separate domain |
| All criteria | 100% | 33 | 4 | Sources on the vendor's own domainSources on a separate domain | 28 | 8 | 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; Sova Assessment has 34 evidence rows across 7 of 7 criteria — 28 with a source URL, 8 documented absences; some documentation or audit rows for Brainner and Sova Assessment sit on a domain separate from the vendor's own site.
Provenance
The scores above are documented by 71 evidence rows on file for these two vendors: 37 for Brainner, across 2 distinct source domains, and 34 for Sova Assessment, across 3 distinct source domains.
- Rubric
- v1.0
- Brainner last reviewed
- September 25, 2026 · HireAIScore editorial team
- Sova Assessment last reviewed
- August 2, 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