§ The result
2 points separate SHL and Versant by Pearson.
Under rubric v1.0, SHL and Versant by Pearson finish 2 points apart, 51 to 49, as two Assessment entries. SHL and Versant by Pearson each lead 3 of the 7 criteria, with 1 level, though the side of the split SHL holds (headed by Bias Audit Transparency) adds up to more weighted points. One criterion, Bias Audit Transparency, is both the widest raw gap (SHL 50, Versant by Pearson 42) and the heaviest weighted swing, and at 18% weight it makes up 59% of the weighted advantage SHL holds across the 3 criteria it leads.
Vendor profile
SHL
SHL is a global talent-assessment provider offering AI-scored cognitive ability, personality, behavioral, situational-judgement, coding, and video-interview assessments that score, rank, and recommend candidates for hiring and development decisions.
Vendor profile
Versant by Pearson
Versant by Pearson is a suite of AI-scored English proficiency tests (plus spoken Spanish, French, Arabic and Dutch) that automatically score candidates' spoken and written responses on Pearson's Global Scale of English within minutes, used by employers such as contact centres and BPOs to screen applicants and benchmark staff through the ScoreKeeper dashboard.
§ The record
SHL and Versant by Pearson are both filed under Assessment AI. They also share 1 secondary category: Screening.
Both are in scope of NYC LL 144, Illinois HB 3773, EU AI Act, Colorado AI Act and Mobley v. Workday.
| Record | SHL | Versant by Pearson |
|---|---|---|
| Price tier | Enterprise | Mid |
| Headquarters | GB | GB |
| Founded | 1977 | 1844 |
§ What decides it
The criteria that move the gap, heaviest swing first.
18% weight · 41% of the movement so far
Bias Audit Transparency
SHL 50 · Versant by Pearson 42
1.4 weighted points to SHL
15% weight · 63% of the movement so far
Data Governance Disclosure
SHL 58 · Versant by Pearson 53
0.8 weighted points to SHL
20% weight · 80% of the movement so far
Article 11 Technical Documentation
SHL 60 · Versant by Pearson 63
0.6 weighted points to Versant by Pearson
12% weight · 91% of the movement so far
Post-Market Monitoring
SHL 40 · Versant by Pearson 43
0.4 weighted points to Versant by Pearson
12% weight · 98% of the movement so far
Human Oversight Design
SHL 58 · Versant by Pearson 56
0.2 weighted points to SHL
8% weight · 100% of the movement so far
Customer Documentation
SHL 60 · Versant by Pearson 61
0.1 weighted points to Versant by Pearson
Weighted delta is the raw difference times the criterion weight, so the 6 figures above sum to +1.4 — the difference between the two totals before either is rounded. Shares are of 3.5 points of movement counted without direction. The table below rounds each side to a whole number first, so its Δ raw total reads +2 beside that +1.4.
§ Category-by-category
Raw score per criterion, with weighted delta.
Δ is SHL minus Versant by Pearson.
| Category | Weight | SHL | Versant by Pearson | Δ raw | Δ weighted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Article 11 Technical Documentation | 20% | 60 | 63 | -3 | -0.6 |
| Bias Audit Transparency | 18% | 50 | 42 | +8 | +1.4 |
| FRIA Support | 15% | 30 | 30 | - | - |
| Data Governance Disclosure | 15% | 58 | 53 | +5 | +0.8 |
| Human Oversight Design | 12% | 58 | 56 | +2 | +0.2 |
| Post-Market Monitoring | 12% | 40 | 43 | -3 | -0.4 |
| Customer Documentation | 8% | 60 | 61 | -1 | -0.1 |
| Total | 100% | 51 (F) | 49 (F) | +2 | +1.4 |
§ 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 | SHL | Versant by Pearson | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cited | Absences | Audit / hosting | Cited | Absences | Audit / hosting | ||
| Article 11 Technical Documentation | 20% | 2 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 3 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| Bias Audit Transparency | 18% | 2 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 4 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domainSources on a separate domain |
| FRIA Support | 15% | 1 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 2 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| Data Governance Disclosure | 15% | 3 | 0 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 3 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| Human Oversight Design | 12% | 2 | 0 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 5 | 0 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| Post-Market Monitoring | 12% | 2 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 2 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| Customer Documentation | 8% | 3 | 0 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 4 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| All criteria | 100% | 15 | 4 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 23 | 6 | Sources on the vendor's own domainSources on a separate domain |
SHL has 19 evidence rows across 7 of 7 criteria — 15 with a source URL, 4 documented absences; Versant by Pearson has 29 evidence rows across 7 of 7 criteria — 23 with a source URL, 6 documented absences; some documentation or audit rows for Versant by Pearson sit on a domain separate from the vendor's own site.
Provenance
The scores above are documented by 48 evidence rows on file for these two vendors: 19 for SHL, across 1 distinct source domain, and 29 for Versant by Pearson, across 2 distinct source domains.
- Rubric
- v1.0
- SHL last reviewed
- June 7, 2026 · HireAIScore editorial team
- Versant by Pearson 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