§ The result
SEEK leads softgarden on all 7 criteria.
SEEK sits 12 points above softgarden under rubric v1.0 — 54 against 42 — with SEEK filed under Screening and softgarden under ATS-integrated. SEEK leads every one of the 7 criteria, softgarden none of them, and the closest of the 7 is FRIA Support, SEEK 32 to softgarden 30. One criterion, Article 11 Technical Documentation, is both the widest raw gap (SEEK 70, softgarden 42) and the heaviest weighted swing, and at 20% weight it makes up 48% of the weighted advantage SEEK holds across the 7 criteria it leads.
Vendor profile
SEEK
SEEK runs employment marketplaces in Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia (SEEK, Jobstreet and Jobsdb), and its seekAi employer tools label and rank applicants as 'high-fit' using a model trained on millions of past hirer shortlisting decisions, target job ads at predicted high-fit candidates, and run AI voice or text pre-screens, recommended shortlists and reference checks through a feature called Assist.
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
SEEK is filed under Screening AI, softgarden 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 | SEEK | softgarden |
|---|---|---|
| Price tier | Mid | Mid |
| Headquarters | AU | DE |
| Founded | 1997 | 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
SEEK 70 · softgarden 42
5.6 weighted points to SEEK
18% weight · 75% of the movement so far
Bias Audit Transparency
SEEK 40 · softgarden 22
3.2 weighted points to SEEK
15% weight · 83% of the movement so far
Data Governance Disclosure
SEEK 60 · softgarden 54
0.9 weighted points to SEEK
12% weight · 89% of the movement so far
Post-Market Monitoring
SEEK 50 · softgarden 44
0.7 weighted points to SEEK
12% weight · 93% of the movement so far
Human Oversight Design
SEEK 62 · softgarden 58
0.5 weighted points to SEEK
8% weight · 97% of the movement so far
Customer Documentation
SEEK 64 · softgarden 58
0.5 weighted points to SEEK
15% weight · 100% of the movement so far
FRIA Support
SEEK 32 · softgarden 30
0.3 weighted points to SEEK
Weighted delta is the raw difference times the criterion weight, so the 7 figures above sum to +11.7 — the difference between the two totals before either is rounded. Shares are of 11.7 points of movement counted without direction. The table below rounds each side to a whole number first, so its Δ raw total reads +12 beside that +11.7.
§ Category-by-category
Raw score per criterion, with weighted delta.
Δ is SEEK minus softgarden.
| Category | Weight | SEEK | softgarden | Δ raw | Δ weighted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Article 11 Technical Documentation | 20% | 70 | 42 | +28 | +5.6 |
| Bias Audit Transparency | 18% | 40 | 22 | +18 | +3.2 |
| FRIA Support | 15% | 32 | 30 | +2 | +0.3 |
| Data Governance Disclosure | 15% | 60 | 54 | +6 | +0.9 |
| Human Oversight Design | 12% | 62 | 58 | +4 | +0.5 |
| Post-Market Monitoring | 12% | 50 | 44 | +6 | +0.7 |
| Customer Documentation | 8% | 64 | 58 | +6 | +0.5 |
| Total | 100% | 54 (F) | 42 (F) | +12 | +11.7 |
§ 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 | SEEK | softgarden | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cited | Absences | Audit / hosting | Cited | Absences | Audit / hosting | ||
| Article 11 Technical Documentation | 20% | 4 | 1 | Audit reportSources on the vendor's own domain | 6 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| Bias Audit Transparency | 18% | 2 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 3 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| FRIA Support | 15% | 1 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 3 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| Data Governance Disclosure | 15% | 4 | 1 | Audit reportSources on the vendor's own domain | 7 | 0 | Audit reportSources on the vendor's own domain |
| Human Oversight Design | 12% | 5 | 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% | 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% | 23 | 7 | Audit reportSources on the vendor's own domainSources on a separate domain | 31 | 5 | Audit reportSources on the vendor's own domain |
SEEK has 30 evidence rows across 7 of 7 criteria — 23 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 SEEK sit on a domain separate from the vendor's own site.
Provenance
The scores above are documented by 66 evidence rows on file for these two vendors: 30 for SEEK, across 3 distinct source domains, and 36 for softgarden, across 3 distinct source domains.
- Rubric
- v1.0
- SEEK 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