§ The result
Versant by Pearson leads softgarden by 7 points.
Versant by Pearson scores 49 and softgarden 42 under rubric v1.0, a 7-point gap across the Assessment and ATS-integrated cohorts. softgarden and Versant by Pearson each lead 3 of the 7 criteria, with 1 level, though the side of the split Versant by Pearson holds (headed by Article 11 Technical Documentation) adds up to more weighted points. One criterion, Article 11 Technical Documentation, is both the widest raw gap (softgarden 42, Versant by Pearson 63) and the heaviest weighted swing, and at 20% weight it makes up 52% of the weighted advantage Versant by Pearson holds across the 3 criteria it leads.
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.
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
softgarden is filed under ATS-integrated AI, Versant by Pearson under Assessment 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. Only Versant by Pearson is in scope of Mobley v. Workday.
| Record | softgarden | Versant by Pearson |
|---|---|---|
| Price tier | Mid | Mid |
| Headquarters | DE | GB |
| Founded | 2001 | 1844 |
§ What decides it
The criteria that move the gap, heaviest swing first.
20% weight · 49% of the movement so far
Article 11 Technical Documentation
softgarden 42 · Versant by Pearson 63
4.2 weighted points to Versant by Pearson
18% weight · 91% of the movement so far
Bias Audit Transparency
softgarden 22 · Versant by Pearson 42
3.6 weighted points to Versant by Pearson
12% weight · 94% of the movement so far
Human Oversight Design
softgarden 58 · Versant by Pearson 56
0.2 weighted points to softgarden
8% weight · 97% of the movement so far
Customer Documentation
softgarden 58 · Versant by Pearson 61
0.2 weighted points to Versant by Pearson
15% weight · 99% of the movement so far
Data Governance Disclosure
softgarden 54 · Versant by Pearson 53
0.1 weighted points to softgarden
12% weight · 100% of the movement so far
Post-Market Monitoring
softgarden 44 · Versant by Pearson 43
0.1 weighted points to softgarden
Weighted delta is the raw difference times the criterion weight, so the 6 figures above sum to -7.5 — the difference between the two totals before either is rounded. Shares are of 8.5 points of movement counted without direction. The table below rounds each side to a whole number first, so its Δ raw total reads -7 beside that -7.5.
§ Category-by-category
Raw score per criterion, with weighted delta.
Δ is softgarden minus Versant by Pearson.
| Category | Weight | softgarden | Versant by Pearson | Δ raw | Δ weighted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Article 11 Technical Documentation | 20% | 42 | 63 | -21 | -4.2 |
| Bias Audit Transparency | 18% | 22 | 42 | -20 | -3.6 |
| FRIA Support | 15% | 30 | 30 | - | - |
| Data Governance Disclosure | 15% | 54 | 53 | +1 | +0.1 |
| Human Oversight Design | 12% | 58 | 56 | +2 | +0.2 |
| Post-Market Monitoring | 12% | 44 | 43 | +1 | +0.1 |
| Customer Documentation | 8% | 58 | 61 | -3 | -0.2 |
| Total | 100% | 42 (F) | 49 (F) | -7 | -7.5 |
§ 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 | softgarden | Versant by Pearson | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cited | Absences | Audit / hosting | Cited | Absences | Audit / hosting | ||
| Article 11 Technical Documentation | 20% | 6 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 3 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| Bias Audit Transparency | 18% | 3 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 4 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domainSources on a separate domain |
| FRIA Support | 15% | 3 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 2 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| Data Governance Disclosure | 15% | 7 | 0 | Audit reportSources on the vendor's own domain | 3 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| Human Oversight Design | 12% | 5 | 0 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 5 | 0 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| Post-Market Monitoring | 12% | 5 | 1 | Audit reportSources on the vendor's own domain | 2 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| Customer Documentation | 8% | 2 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 4 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| All criteria | 100% | 31 | 5 | Audit reportSources on the vendor's own domain | 23 | 6 | Sources on the vendor's own domainSources on a separate domain |
softgarden has 36 evidence rows across 7 of 7 criteria — 31 with a source URL, 5 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 65 evidence rows on file for these two vendors: 36 for softgarden, across 3 distinct source domains, and 29 for Versant by Pearson, across 2 distinct source domains.
- Rubric
- v1.0
- softgarden last reviewed
- September 25, 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