§ The result
4 points separate ClearCo (ClearCompany) and softgarden.
Under rubric v1.0, ClearCo (ClearCompany) and softgarden finish 4 points apart, 46 to 42, as two ATS-integrated entries. softgarden takes 1 of the 7 criteria, Post-Market Monitoring among them, against 5 for ClearCo (ClearCompany), whose share includes Article 11 Technical Documentation, and 1 is level. One criterion, Article 11 Technical Documentation, is both the widest raw gap (ClearCo (ClearCompany) 56, softgarden 42) and the heaviest weighted swing, and at 20% weight it makes up 55% of the weighted advantage ClearCo (ClearCompany) holds across the 5 criteria it leads.
Vendor profile
ClearCo (ClearCompany)
ClearCo (formerly ClearCompany) is a unified talent-management suite built around an applicant tracking system. Its AI Talent Match scores and ranks new applicants against a requisition's skills and job titles, and its Sourcing Agent runs AI-conducted phone screening calls and returns applicants ranked by score.
Vendor profile
softgarden
softgarden is a German cloud applicant tracking system (multiposting, career sites, applicant management and onboarding) with optional AI features: AI-Assisted Applicant Matching, which highlights applicants who closely match a job's requirements, and a newer LLM-based Screening Assistant, which scores each applicant against screening criteria.
§ The record
ClearCo (ClearCompany) and softgarden are both filed under ATS-integrated AI. They also share 1 secondary category: Screening.
Both are in scope of EU AI Act, NYC LL 144, Colorado AI Act and Illinois HB 3773.
| Record | ClearCo (ClearCompany) | softgarden |
|---|---|---|
| Price tier | Mid | Mid |
| Headquarters | US | DE |
| Founded | 2004 | 2001 |
§ What decides it
The criteria that move the gap, heaviest swing first.
20% weight · 47% of the movement so far
Article 11 Technical Documentation
ClearCo (ClearCompany) 56 · softgarden 42
2.8 weighted points to ClearCo (ClearCompany)
18% weight · 65% of the movement so far
Bias Audit Transparency
ClearCo (ClearCompany) 28 · softgarden 22
1.1 weighted points to ClearCo (ClearCompany)
12% weight · 80% of the movement so far
Post-Market Monitoring
ClearCo (ClearCompany) 37 · softgarden 44
0.8 weighted points to softgarden
12% weight · 90% of the movement so far
Human Oversight Design
ClearCo (ClearCompany) 63 · softgarden 58
0.6 weighted points to ClearCo (ClearCompany)
15% weight · 97% of the movement so far
Data Governance Disclosure
ClearCo (ClearCompany) 57 · softgarden 54
0.4 weighted points to ClearCo (ClearCompany)
8% weight · 100% of the movement so far
Customer Documentation
ClearCo (ClearCompany) 60 · softgarden 58
0.2 weighted points to ClearCo (ClearCompany)
Weighted delta is the raw difference times the criterion weight, so the 6 figures above sum to +4.3 — the difference between the two totals before either is rounded. Shares are of 5.9 points of movement counted without direction. The table below rounds each side to a whole number first, so its Δ raw total reads +4 beside that +4.3.
§ Category-by-category
Raw score per criterion, with weighted delta.
Δ is ClearCo (ClearCompany) minus softgarden.
| Category | Weight | ClearCo (ClearCompany) | softgarden | Δ raw | Δ weighted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Article 11 Technical Documentation | 20% | 56 | 42 | +14 | +2.8 |
| Bias Audit Transparency | 18% | 28 | 22 | +6 | +1.1 |
| FRIA Support | 15% | 30 | 30 | - | - |
| Data Governance Disclosure | 15% | 57 | 54 | +3 | +0.4 |
| Human Oversight Design | 12% | 63 | 58 | +5 | +0.6 |
| Post-Market Monitoring | 12% | 37 | 44 | -7 | -0.8 |
| Customer Documentation | 8% | 60 | 58 | +2 | +0.2 |
| Total | 100% | 46 (F) | 42 (F) | +4 | +4.3 |
§ 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 | ClearCo (ClearCompany) | softgarden | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cited | Absences | Audit / hosting | Cited | Absences | Audit / hosting | ||
| Article 11 Technical Documentation | 20% | 4 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domainSources on a separate domain | 6 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| Bias Audit Transparency | 18% | 4 | 1 | Sources on a separate domain | 3 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| FRIA Support | 15% | 3 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 3 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| Data Governance Disclosure | 15% | 6 | 0 | Sources on the vendor's own domainSources on a separate domain | 7 | 0 | Audit reportSources on the vendor's own domain |
| Human Oversight Design | 12% | 6 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domainSources on a separate domain | 5 | 0 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| Post-Market Monitoring | 12% | 4 | 2 | Sources on the vendor's own domainSources on a separate domain | 5 | 1 | Audit reportSources on the vendor's own domain |
| Customer Documentation | 8% | 4 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domainSources on a separate domain | 2 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| All criteria | 100% | 31 | 7 | Sources on the vendor's own domainSources on a separate domain | 31 | 5 | Audit reportSources on the vendor's own domain |
ClearCo (ClearCompany) has 38 evidence rows across 7 of 7 criteria — 31 with a source URL, 7 documented absences; softgarden has 36 evidence rows across 7 of 7 criteria — 31 with a source URL, 5 documented absences; some documentation or audit rows for ClearCo (ClearCompany) sit on a domain separate from the vendor's own site.
Provenance
The scores above are documented by 74 evidence rows on file for these two vendors: 38 for ClearCo (ClearCompany), across 3 distinct source domains, and 36 for softgarden, across 3 distinct source domains.
- Rubric
- v1.0
- ClearCo (ClearCompany) last reviewed
- September 25, 2026 · HireAIScore editorial team
- softgarden last reviewed
- September 25, 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