§ The result
Textkernel leads Mercor on all 7 criteria.
Rubric v1.0 puts 28 points between Textkernel (Sourcing) and Mercor (Screening): 51 for Textkernel, 23 for Mercor. Textkernel leads every one of the 7 criteria and 5 of them by 20 raw points or more, Bias Audit Transparency among them; Mercor leads none. Bias Audit Transparency is the widest raw gap and the heaviest weighted swing at once (Mercor 10, Textkernel 55, 18% weight), but it accounts for only 29% of the weighted advantage Textkernel holds across the 7 criteria on that side of the table.
Vendor profile
Mercor
Mercor is an AI talent platform that runs automated 20-minute AI video interviews and semantic resume/profile matching to vet, score, and place candidates and expert contractors, and offers an enterprise applicant-screening product that scores employers' applicant pools against role rubrics with pass/fail recommendations.
Vendor profile
Textkernel
Textkernel provides AI-powered CV/resume and job parsing, semantic search, and candidate-job matching technology (including the acquired Sovren engine) embedded inside ATS, job board, and HR systems.
§ The record
Mercor is filed under Screening AI, Textkernel under Candidate sourcing 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 Mercor is in scope of Mobley v. Workday.
| Record | Mercor | Textkernel |
|---|---|---|
| Price tier | Enterprise | Enterprise |
| Headquarters | US | NL |
| Founded | 2023 | 2001 |
§ What decides it
The criteria that move the gap, heaviest swing first.
18% weight · 29% of the movement so far
Bias Audit Transparency
Mercor 10 · Textkernel 55
8.1 weighted points to Textkernel
20% weight · 53% of the movement so far
Article 11 Technical Documentation
Mercor 22 · Textkernel 55
6.6 weighted points to Textkernel
15% weight · 71% of the movement so far
Data Governance Disclosure
Mercor 22 · Textkernel 55
5.0 weighted points to Textkernel
12% weight · 79% of the movement so far
Post-Market Monitoring
Mercor 20 · Textkernel 40
2.4 weighted points to Textkernel
12% weight · 87% of the movement so far
Human Oversight Design
Mercor 42 · Textkernel 60
2.2 weighted points to Textkernel
15% weight · 94% of the movement so far
FRIA Support
Mercor 20 · Textkernel 32
1.8 weighted points to Textkernel
8% weight · 100% of the movement so far
Customer Documentation
Mercor 40 · Textkernel 62
1.8 weighted points to Textkernel
Weighted delta is the raw difference times the criterion weight, so the 7 figures above sum to -27.8 — the difference between the two totals before either is rounded. Shares are of 27.8 points of movement counted without direction. The table below rounds each side to a whole number first, so its Δ raw total reads -28 beside that -27.8.
§ Category-by-category
Raw score per criterion, with weighted delta.
Δ is Mercor minus Textkernel.
| Category | Weight | Mercor | Textkernel | Δ raw | Δ weighted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Article 11 Technical Documentation | 20% | 22 | 55 | -33 | -6.6 |
| Bias Audit Transparency | 18% | 10 | 55 | -45 | -8.1 |
| FRIA Support | 15% | 20 | 32 | -12 | -1.8 |
| Data Governance Disclosure | 15% | 22 | 55 | -33 | -5.0 |
| Human Oversight Design | 12% | 42 | 60 | -18 | -2.2 |
| Post-Market Monitoring | 12% | 20 | 40 | -20 | -2.4 |
| Customer Documentation | 8% | 40 | 62 | -22 | -1.8 |
| Total | 100% | 23 (F) | 51 (F) | -28 | -27.8 |
§ 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 | Mercor | Textkernel | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cited | Absences | Audit / hosting | Cited | Absences | Audit / hosting | ||
| Article 11 Technical Documentation | 20% | 1 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 2 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| Bias Audit Transparency | 18% | 1 | 1 | — | 2 | 1 | Audit reportSources on the vendor's own domain |
| FRIA Support | 15% | 1 | 2 | — | 1 | 1 | — |
| Data Governance Disclosure | 15% | 2 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 1 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| Human Oversight Design | 12% | 2 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 3 | 0 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| Post-Market Monitoring | 12% | 1 | 1 | — | 1 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| Customer Documentation | 8% | 2 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 3 | 0 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| All criteria | 100% | 10 | 8 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 13 | 5 | Audit reportSources on the vendor's own domain |
Mercor has 16 evidence rows across 7 of 7 criteria — 10 with a source URL, 8 documented absences; Textkernel has 18 evidence rows across 7 of 7 criteria — 13 with a source URL, 5 documented absences.
Provenance
The scores above are documented by 34 evidence rows on file for these two vendors: 16 for Mercor, across 4 distinct source domains, and 18 for Textkernel, across 1 distinct source domain.
- Rubric
- v1.0
- Mercor last reviewed
- June 7, 2026 · HireAIScore editorial team
- Textkernel 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