Jobscan vs Teal: Scanner or Workspace? (2026)
Jobscan vs Teal is not really a contest between two resume tools: it is a choice between a scanner and a workspace. Jobscan exists to compare one resume against one job description and hand you a match rate plus the words you are missing. Teal exists to run the whole search: unlimited resume versions, a job tracker, keyword matching and AI writing, all in one place with a free tier that is a real product rather than a trial. They overlap enough to look like rivals, and the right answer depends almost entirely on whether your bottleneck is checking or organising.
This guide compares them on what the free plans actually include, what each costs, how their scoring and AI writing differ, how to switch, and who should stay exactly where they are. It also says plainly when neither one is the purchase you need.
Every figure about Jobscan and Teal below was read on their own pricing pages in September 2026: jobscan.co/pricing and tealhq.com/pricing. Prices change, so confirm on their site before you pay.
The short verdict
- Pick Jobscan if you want a hard number on how well one resume matches one posting, and a list of the exact terms missing from it. The scan is the product, and nothing else here does it as directly.
- Pick Teal if you are applying to a lot of roles and losing the thread. Unlimited resumes and unlimited job tracking cost nothing on the free plan, and that alone replaces a spreadsheet.
- Pick neither if the resume is basically fine and what you are short of is the text: the bullets and the cover letter for one specific posting. That is a writing problem, and a monthly subscription to a scanner or a workspace is a long way round to solving it.
Jobscan vs Teal at a glance
| Feature | Jobscan | Teal | InstaResume |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core job | Score a resume against one posting | Run the whole job search | Write tailored text for one posting |
| Free plan | 5 resume scans a month | Unlimited resumes, unlimited tracking | 5 generations, granted once |
| Cheapest paid | $29.98 / month on the quarterly plan | $29 every 30 days | $9 / month |
| Longest-term price | $89.95 every 3 months | $79 every 90 days | $9 / month, no commitment |
| Free trial | On the quarterly plan (length varies, 7 to 30 days) | None needed: free tier is permanent | None needed: free tools need no sign-up |
| Job tracker | Yes, on the free plan | Yes, unlimited on the free plan | No |
| Match score | Match Rate per scan | Match Score in the builder | No score |
| Card to start | Yes, for the trial | ”No credit card required to start.” | No |
What each free plan actually gives you
This is where the two products separate most sharply, and it is the part most comparisons skip.
Jobscan’s free plan is metered by the scan. It lists 5 free resume scans monthly and 5 ATS & Recruiter Findings, alongside the Job Tracker, Resume Builder, Resume Manager, Chrome extension and post-interview thank-you notes. Five scans is five postings a month. If you are applying to three roles a week, the free tier runs out in the first week and stays out.
Teal’s free plan is metered by the AI. Free Forever includes unlimited resumes, unlimited job tracking, 10 templates, basic resume analysis, one email template per job stage, and keyword matching limited to the top 5 keywords from a job description. Its AI credits are the tight part: 10 resume bullets, 2 professional summaries and 2 cover letters.
So the two free plans run out at opposite ends. Jobscan’s stops you checking; Teal’s stops you writing. Read your own search and pick accordingly: if you already know what to write and want it verified, Jobscan’s five scans go further than Teal’s two cover letters. If you are drowning in applications and need them in one place, Teal’s unlimited tracking is free for as long as you want it.
What Jobscan costs
| Plan | Price | Billed as |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Forever |
| Quarterly | $29.98 per month | $89.95 every 3 months |
| Monthly | $49.95 per month | $49.95 every month |
Jobscan’s page marks the quarterly plan “For 3 months after FREE trial Save 40%” and offers a free trial on it, whose length Jobscan has moved between 7 and 30 days. Two details from its own FAQ are worth knowing before you click:
- The trial is quarterly-only. Jobscan states: “There is no trial period if you opted out to gain full access to LinkedIn Optimization or selected a monthly plan.” Choose monthly and you are billed $49.95 immediately.
- Cancelling takes the data with it. Jobscan’s cancellation policy says that when the subscription expires, “you will lose access to paid features and all data associated with those features.” If your scan history matters to you, export what you need before the period ends.
Premium adds unlimited scans and optimizations, an AI cover letter generator, an AI bullet point generator, the LinkedIn Optimizer, unlimited keyword comparisons, AI Job Match, a keyword synonym detector and discounts on Auto Apply credits and interview practice.
What Teal costs
| Billing period | Price | Teal’s own per-day figure |
|---|---|---|
| Every 7 days | $13 | $1.85 a day |
| Every 30 days | $29 | $0.96 a day |
| Every 90 days | $79 | $0.87 a day |
Teal+ removes every free-plan cap: unlimited templates, unlimited keywords from the job description, unlimited analysis, advanced design settings and unlimited AI for bullets, summaries and cover letters. Teal’s page says “No credit card required to start” and “Upgrade or downgrade your plan or cancel at any time.” Refunds are requested by email at membersupport@tealhq.com.
The weekly tier is the trap. $13 a week is about $52 a month for the same features that cost $29 on the 30-day plan and $79 for a whole quarter. Teal’s own per-day figures make the gap visible: $1.85 a day against $0.87. If you buy Teal+, buy a month or a quarter.
Jobscan vs Teal on price, honestly
On paid plans Teal is the cheaper product by a wide margin: $79 for three months against Jobscan’s $89.95 for three months looks close until you notice Teal’s free plan already covers the tracking and the resume versions, so many people never need the paid tier at all. Jobscan’s free plan, by contrast, is a sampler: five scans and you are at the paywall.
Jobscan’s answer to that is depth on the one thing it does. The scan compares a resume against a specific posting and returns a match rate with the hard skills, soft skills and job titles you are missing, plus formatting findings. Teal’s keyword matching does a lighter version of the same job and caps it at the top five keywords until you pay.
Where each one falls short
Jobscan. The report tells you what is missing, not what to say instead: the rewriting is still yours, and its AI generators only arrive with Premium. The monthly plan at $49.95 is the most expensive way to buy it, and it is the plan with no trial. And a match rate is a proxy: raising it is not the same as writing a better application.
Teal. The free AI allowance is genuinely small: two cover letters is one or two applications’ worth of writing, and it does not refill into a second month of searching. The paid tier is priced by the week by default, which is the most expensive door. And Teal is broad: if you only ever open the generator, you are paying a workspace price for a writing tool.
Both. Neither writes the finished application text on a free plan more than a couple of times, and neither submits anything for you.
How to switch, either direction
Nothing here locks you in, and no migration is needed: both start from a resume file.
- Export your current resume as a PDF or DOCX from whichever tool holds it. Teal exports from the builder; Jobscan keeps uploads in Resume Manager.
- If you are leaving Jobscan, cancel before the renewal and download anything you want to keep first, because its policy removes access to data tied to paid features when the subscription expires.
- If you are leaving Teal, downgrade rather than delete. The free plan keeps unlimited resumes and tracking, so it is a useful place to park a search between bursts.
- Re-upload to the new tool and re-tailor once per posting. Neither product carries over the other’s tailoring; only the underlying resume travels.
When neither is the right purchase
Both of these products assume your problem is assessment or organisation. For a lot of people it is neither. The resume is fine. The tracker is a spreadsheet that works. What is missing is the paragraph and the five bullets aimed at the posting open in the other tab, and that is the whole of the gap.
- Choose InstaResume if the text is the bottleneck. It takes what you have actually done, pulls the language out of the posting, and returns tailored bullets or a cover letter grounded in your real background rather than invented. Export is PDF and DOCX, history is saved, and Pro is $9 a month for 500 generations. The free account starts with 5 generations, granted once, and the free tools need no sign-up at all.
- Use Teal’s free plan alongside it if you are running a long search: track applications for $0, and spend on writing only when an application actually matters.
- Use Jobscan’s free scans as a spot check on the resume you already have, rather than as a monthly habit.
Who should stay where they are
- Stay with Jobscan if the match rate has changed how you write and you are applying often enough to use unlimited scans. Buy the quarterly plan, not monthly.
- Stay with Teal if the tracker is the part you open every day. The free plan is the reason to stay, and most people should not upgrade until the AI limits genuinely bite.
- Stay with neither if you are applying to one or two roles a week. Free tiers plus a single cheap month of a writing tool will likely cover the whole search.
For the longer reads on each product on its own, see our Jobscan review and Teal review. If your next question is how to actually rework the resume once you know what is missing, how to tailor a resume to a job description covers the mechanics.
Frequently asked questions
Is Teal cheaper than Jobscan?
Yes, on every comparable plan as of September 2026. Teal+ is $29 every 30 days or $79 every 90 days; Jobscan is $29.98 a month billed as $89.95 quarterly, or $49.95 monthly. Teal’s free plan is also far more generous, with unlimited resumes and unlimited job tracking against Jobscan’s five scans a month.
Does Teal have an ATS score like Jobscan?
Both give you a number. Jobscan’s match rate comes from a scan of one resume against one posting and lists the specific terms missing. Teal shows a match score inside the builder and highlights keywords from the job description, capped at the top five on the free plan.
Can I use Jobscan and Teal together?
Yes, and it is a reasonable setup: track applications in Teal’s free plan and spend Jobscan’s five free scans on the roles you care most about. Neither tool objects, since both work from a resume file you control.
Do I need a credit card to try either?
Teal says “No credit card required to start” on its free plan. Jobscan’s free tier also needs no payment, but its free trial of the quarterly plan does, and per its own FAQ, choosing the monthly plan gives you no trial at all.