§ The result
SmartRecruiters takes the total, Checkr takes more of the criteria.
SmartRecruiters scores 62 (D) and Checkr 54 (F) under rubric v1.0, an 8-point gap across the ATS-integrated and Screening cohorts. Checkr leads more of the criteria than SmartRecruiters — 3 to 2 — but Bias Audit Transparency, which SmartRecruiters leads, carries 18% of the rubric, and the weighted sum still falls to SmartRecruiters. Bias Audit Transparency is both the widest raw gap and the heaviest weighted swing — Checkr 35, SmartRecruiters 78 — and at an 18% weight it carries 80% of the weighted advantage SmartRecruiters holds across the 2 criteria on that side of the table.
Vendor profile
Checkr
Checkr is an FCRA-regulated background screening platform that uses machine learning to parse, classify and standardize criminal, employment, education and motor-vehicle records, and to route them through customer-configured adjudication rulesets that flag candidates as eligible, review or escalated for employment decisions.
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
Checkr is filed under Screening AI, SmartRecruiters under ATS-integrated 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.
| Record | Checkr | SmartRecruiters |
|---|---|---|
| Price tier | Mid | Enterprise |
| Headquarters | US | US |
| Founded | 2014 | 2010 |
§ What decides it
The criteria that move the gap, heaviest swing first.
18% weight · 72% of the movement so far
Bias Audit Transparency
Checkr 35 · SmartRecruiters 78
7.7 weighted points to SmartRecruiters
15% weight · 90% of the movement so far
FRIA Support
Checkr 32 · SmartRecruiters 45
1.9 weighted points to SmartRecruiters
12% weight · 94% of the movement so far
Human Oversight Design
Checkr 66 · SmartRecruiters 62
0.5 weighted points to Checkr
8% weight · 98% of the movement so far
Customer Documentation
Checkr 68 · SmartRecruiters 63
0.4 weighted points to Checkr
12% weight · 100% of the movement so far
Post-Market Monitoring
Checkr 50 · SmartRecruiters 48
0.2 weighted points to Checkr
Weighted delta is the raw difference times the criterion weight, so the 5 figures above sum to -8.6 — the difference between the two totals before either is rounded. Shares are of 10.8 points of movement counted without direction. The table below rounds each side to a whole number first, so its Δ raw total reads -8 beside that -8.6.
§ Category-by-category
Raw score per criterion, with weighted delta.
Δ is Checkr minus SmartRecruiters.
| Category | Weight | Checkr | SmartRecruiters | Δ raw | Δ weighted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Article 11 Technical Documentation | 20% | 70 | 70 | - | - |
| Bias Audit Transparency | 18% | 35 | 78 | -43 | -7.7 |
| FRIA Support | 15% | 32 | 45 | -13 | -1.9 |
| Data Governance Disclosure | 15% | 62 | 62 | - | - |
| Human Oversight Design | 12% | 66 | 62 | +4 | +0.5 |
| Post-Market Monitoring | 12% | 50 | 48 | +2 | +0.2 |
| Customer Documentation | 8% | 68 | 63 | +5 | +0.4 |
| Total | 100% | 54 (F) | 62 (D) | -8 | -8.6 |
§ 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 | Checkr | SmartRecruiters | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cited | Absences | Audit / hosting | Cited | Absences | Audit / hosting | ||
| Article 11 Technical Documentation | 20% | 3 | 1 | Audit reportSources on the vendor's own domain | 2 | 0 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| Bias Audit Transparency | 18% | 3 | 2 | Audit reportSources on the vendor's own domain | 1 | 0 | Audit reportSources on a separate domain |
| FRIA Support | 15% | 2 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 1 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| Data Governance Disclosure | 15% | 4 | 0 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 2 | 0 | Audit reportSources on the vendor's own domain |
| Human Oversight Design | 12% | 5 | 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% | 3 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 2 | 0 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| All criteria | 100% | 24 | 6 | Audit reportSources on the vendor's own domain | 11 | 2 | Audit reportSources on the vendor's own domainSources on a separate domain |
Checkr has 28 evidence rows across 7 of 7 criteria — 24 with a source URL, 6 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 SmartRecruiters sit on a domain separate from the vendor's own site.
Provenance
The scores above are documented by 41 evidence rows on file for these two vendors: 28 for Checkr, across 2 distinct source domains, and 13 for SmartRecruiters, across 2 distinct source domains.
- Rubric
- v1.0
- Checkr last reviewed
- August 2, 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