# AI recruiting assistants: what AI models recommend, September 2026

HR AI Recommendation Index, September 2026 Edition. Asked as "AI recruiter" and as "AI-powered candidate screening tool", six framings each, to twelve models with search on, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. Page: https://hr-ai-index.com/talent/ai-recruiting-assistants/

**Standing:** GoPerfect leads with 19% of first choices; verdict contested. 42 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| # | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GoPerfect | 19% | 0% | 11 |
| 2 | Workable | 17% | 8% | 24 |
| 3 | Manatal | 12% | 5% | 19 |
| 4 | Ashby | 7% | 21% | 14 |
| 5 | Greenhouse | 5% | 12% | 16 |
| 6 | SeekOut | 2% | 0% | 13 |
| 7 | Zoho Recruit | 2% | 9% | 11 |
| 8 | Gem | 2% | 0% | 10 |
| 9 | hireEZ | 0% | 0% | 14 |
| 10 | Juicebox | 0% | 8% | 13 |
| 11 | Paradox | 0% | 12% | 16 |
| 12 | HireVue | 0% | 40% | 25 |

## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt

- Claude Haiku 4.5: GoPerfect; alternatives Juicebox, Workable
- GPT-5.4 mini: SeekOut; alternatives Paradox
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Ashby; alternatives Findem, Humanly, Juicebox
- Perplexity Sonar: GoPerfect; alternatives Autonomy Recruit, Workable
- Grok 4.1 Fast: Workable; alternatives Ashby, hireEZ
- Mistral Small: Ashby; alternatives Greenhouse, TheHireHub.AI, hireEZ
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Greenhouse; alternatives Ashby, Gem, SmartRecruiters, Workable
- Llama 4 Maverick: Autonomy Recruit; alternatives Humanly, Lever, TheHireHub.AI
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Gem; alternatives Ashby, Autonomy Recruit, Greenhouse, TheHireHub.AI
- Kimi K2: Greenhouse; alternatives GoPerfect, Lever, Workable
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: TheHireHub.AI; alternatives Ashby, Autonomy Recruit, Greenhouse, Workable
- MiniMax M2.5: TheHireHub.AI; alternatives Ashby, Lever, Workable

## Sources the answers cite

68 of 72 answers came back with a source list, from 12 of 12 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- greenhouse.com: 30 answers, 36 citations
- goperfect.com: 29 answers, 45 citations
- hiretruffle.com: 24 answers, 34 citations
- thehirehub.ai: 21 answers, 28 citations
- pin.com: 20 answers, 30 citations
- selectsoftwarereviews.com: 17 answers, 18 citations
- lindy.ai: 17 answers, 17 citations
- herohunt.ai: 14 answers, 16 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://greenhouse.com/blog/best-ai-recruiting-software (29 answers)
- https://hiretruffle.com/blog/ai-recruiting-software (23 answers)
- https://lindy.ai/blog/best-ai-recruiting-tools-2024 (17 answers)
- https://selectsoftwarereviews.com/buyer-guide/ai-recruiting (16 answers)
- https://thehirehub.ai/guides/ai-recruiting-tools (15 answers)
- https://goperfect.com/blog/best-ai-recruitment-platforms-for-mid-sized-companies-in-2026 (14 answers)
- https://guideflow.com/blog/ai-recruiting-software (14 answers)
- https://joveo.com/blog/best-ai-candidate-screening-tools (10 answers)
- https://goperfect.com/blog/best-ai-candidate-screening-software-for-small-and-mid-size-businesses-in-2026 (9 answers)
- https://herohunt.ai/blog/best-ai-recruiting-tools-2026-15-ranked-and-priced (9 answers)

## Warned against

- Workday: 9 of 9 labels negative. "defendant in the landmark *Mobley v. Workday* lawsuit, which alleges that its AI screening systems systematically excluded qualified Black, older, and disabled applicants" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt)
- HireVue: 10 of 25 labels negative. "HireVue is facing allegations that its video-interviewing platform discriminates against candidates with disabilities" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt)
- Eightfold AI: 9 of 18 labels negative. "A California lawsuit against Eightfold reframes the issue as a transparency and consumer protection violation, alleging the AI tools generated secret candidate reports without disclosure." (Claude Haiku 4.5, negative prompt)
- Ashby: 3 of 14 labels negative. "Potentially Greenhouse, Lever (by Employ), Ashby (FCRA investigations for AI screening/interviews)" (Grok 4.1 Fast, negative prompt)

## Record

- Method: https://hr-ai-index.com/methodology/
- Raw judge labels and full responses: https://hr-ai-index.com/data/
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as HR AI Recommendation Index, September 2026 Edition, hr-ai-index.com.