§ The result
softgarden leads Keka on 6 of the 7 criteria.
Inside the ATS-integrated cohort, rubric v1.0 puts softgarden on 42 and Keka on 37, 5 points apart. softgarden leads 6 of the 7 criteria and the remaining criterion is level, so Keka is ahead on none of them; the closest of the 6 softgarden leads is Bias Audit Transparency, Keka 20 to softgarden 22. One criterion, Article 11 Technical Documentation, is both the widest raw gap (Keka 30, softgarden 42) and the heaviest weighted swing, and at 20% weight it makes up 48% of the weighted advantage softgarden holds across the 6 criteria it leads.
Vendor profile
Keka
Keka is an HR and payroll suite whose Keka Hire ATS scores each applicant against recruiter-defined role requirements and runs an AI screening conversation that decides which candidates reach the shortlist.
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
Keka 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 | Keka | softgarden |
|---|---|---|
| Price tier | Low | Mid |
| Headquarters | IN | DE |
| Founded | 2014 | 2001 |
§ What decides it
The criteria that move the gap, heaviest swing first.
20% weight · 48% of the movement so far
Article 11 Technical Documentation
Keka 30 · softgarden 42
2.4 weighted points to softgarden
12% weight · 67% of the movement so far
Human Oversight Design
Keka 50 · softgarden 58
1.0 weighted points to softgarden
15% weight · 79% of the movement so far
Data Governance Disclosure
Keka 50 · softgarden 54
0.6 weighted points to softgarden
12% weight · 88% of the movement so far
Post-Market Monitoring
Keka 40 · softgarden 44
0.5 weighted points to softgarden
18% weight · 95% of the movement so far
Bias Audit Transparency
Keka 20 · softgarden 22
0.4 weighted points to softgarden
8% weight · 100% of the movement so far
Customer Documentation
Keka 55 · softgarden 58
0.2 weighted points to softgarden
Weighted delta is the raw difference times the criterion weight, so the 6 figures above sum to -5.0 — the difference between the two totals before either is rounded. Shares are of 5.0 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 -5.0.
§ Category-by-category
Raw score per criterion, with weighted delta.
Δ is Keka minus softgarden.
| Category | Weight | Keka | softgarden | Δ raw | Δ weighted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Article 11 Technical Documentation | 20% | 30 | 42 | -12 | -2.4 |
| Bias Audit Transparency | 18% | 20 | 22 | -2 | -0.4 |
| FRIA Support | 15% | 30 | 30 | - | - |
| Data Governance Disclosure | 15% | 50 | 54 | -4 | -0.6 |
| Human Oversight Design | 12% | 50 | 58 | -8 | -1.0 |
| Post-Market Monitoring | 12% | 40 | 44 | -4 | -0.5 |
| Customer Documentation | 8% | 55 | 58 | -3 | -0.2 |
| Total | 100% | 37 (F) | 42 (F) | -5 | -5.0 |
§ 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 | Keka | softgarden | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cited | Absences | Audit / hosting | Cited | Absences | Audit / hosting | ||
| Article 11 Technical Documentation | 20% | 2 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 6 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| Bias Audit Transparency | 18% | 3 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 3 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| FRIA Support | 15% | 2 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 3 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| Data Governance Disclosure | 15% | 5 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 7 | 0 | Audit reportSources on the vendor's own domain |
| Human Oversight Design | 12% | 7 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 5 | 0 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| Post-Market Monitoring | 12% | 3 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 5 | 1 | Audit reportSources on the vendor's own domain |
| Customer Documentation | 8% | 6 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 2 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| All criteria | 100% | 28 | 7 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 31 | 5 | Audit reportSources on the vendor's own domain |
Keka has 35 evidence rows across 7 of 7 criteria — 28 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.
Provenance
The scores above are documented by 71 evidence rows on file for these two vendors: 35 for Keka, across 1 distinct source domain, and 36 for softgarden, across 3 distinct source domains.
- Rubric
- v1.0
- Keka 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