§ The result
Covey takes the total, softgarden takes more of the criteria.
Covey scores 47 and softgarden 42 under rubric v1.0, a 5-point gap across the Sourcing and ATS-integrated cohorts. softgarden leads more of the criteria than Covey — 5 to 1 — but Bias Audit Transparency, which Covey leads, carries 18% of the rubric, and the weighted sum still falls to Covey. One criterion, Bias Audit Transparency, is both the widest raw gap (Covey 72, softgarden 22) and the heaviest weighted swing, and at 18% weight it makes up 100% of the weighted advantage Covey holds across the 1 criterion it leads.
Vendor profile
Covey
Covey is an AI recruiting platform whose Covey Scout product trains generative-AI bots from plain-language hiring criteria to source, evaluate, and rank candidate profiles for outbound sourcing and inbound applicant screening.
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
Covey is filed under Candidate sourcing AI, softgarden under ATS-integrated AI. They also share 1 secondary category: Screening.
Both are in scope of EU AI Act, Colorado AI Act, NYC LL 144 and Illinois HB 3773.
| Record | Covey | softgarden |
|---|---|---|
| Price tier | Mid | Mid |
| Headquarters | US | DE |
| Founded | 2018 | 2001 |
§ What decides it
The criteria that move the gap, heaviest swing first.
18% weight · 70% of the movement so far
Bias Audit Transparency
Covey 72 · softgarden 22
9.0 weighted points to Covey
12% weight · 83% of the movement so far
Post-Market Monitoring
Covey 30 · softgarden 44
1.7 weighted points to softgarden
15% weight · 89% of the movement so far
FRIA Support
Covey 25 · softgarden 30
0.8 weighted points to softgarden
12% weight · 95% of the movement so far
Human Oversight Design
Covey 52 · softgarden 58
0.7 weighted points to softgarden
20% weight · 98% of the movement so far
Article 11 Technical Documentation
Covey 40 · softgarden 42
0.4 weighted points to softgarden
15% weight · 100% of the movement so far
Data Governance Disclosure
Covey 52 · softgarden 54
0.3 weighted points to softgarden
Weighted delta is the raw difference times the criterion weight, so the 6 figures above sum to +5.2 — the difference between the two totals before either is rounded. Shares are of 12.9 points of movement counted without direction. The table below rounds each side to a whole number first, so its Δ raw total reads +5 beside that +5.2.
§ Category-by-category
Raw score per criterion, with weighted delta.
Δ is Covey minus softgarden.
| Category | Weight | Covey | softgarden | Δ raw | Δ weighted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Article 11 Technical Documentation | 20% | 40 | 42 | -2 | -0.4 |
| Bias Audit Transparency | 18% | 72 | 22 | +50 | +9.0 |
| FRIA Support | 15% | 25 | 30 | -5 | -0.8 |
| Data Governance Disclosure | 15% | 52 | 54 | -2 | -0.3 |
| Human Oversight Design | 12% | 52 | 58 | -6 | -0.7 |
| Post-Market Monitoring | 12% | 30 | 44 | -14 | -1.7 |
| Customer Documentation | 8% | 58 | 58 | - | - |
| Total | 100% | 47 (F) | 42 (F) | +5 | +5.2 |
§ 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 | Covey | softgarden | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cited | Absences | Audit / hosting | Cited | Absences | Audit / hosting | ||
| Article 11 Technical Documentation | 20% | 1 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 6 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| Bias Audit Transparency | 18% | 2 | 0 | Audit reportSources on a separate domain | 3 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| FRIA Support | 15% | 0 | 1 | — | 3 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| Data Governance Disclosure | 15% | 0 | 1 | — | 7 | 0 | Audit reportSources on the vendor's own domain |
| Human Oversight Design | 12% | 1 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 5 | 0 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| Post-Market Monitoring | 12% | 0 | 1 | — | 5 | 1 | Audit reportSources on the vendor's own domain |
| Customer Documentation | 8% | 2 | 0 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 2 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| All criteria | 100% | 6 | 5 | Audit reportSources on the vendor's own domainSources on a separate domain | 31 | 5 | Audit reportSources on the vendor's own domain |
Covey has 11 evidence rows across 7 of 7 criteria — 6 with a source URL, 5 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 Covey sit on a domain separate from the vendor's own site.
Provenance
The scores above are documented by 47 evidence rows on file for these two vendors: 11 for Covey, across 2 distinct source domains, and 36 for softgarden, across 3 distinct source domains.
- Rubric
- v1.0
- Covey last reviewed
- June 7, 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