A free alternative to Kickresume
Who wrote this: CVLoom — we compete with Kickresume, so read accordingly. Everything we say about them is deliberately conservative and checkable against their own site; everything we say about us is exact.
Kickresume's editor is genuinely polished — we studied it hands-on — but the product meets you with a registration wall before you have typed a word, and again at the exit: build with anything, then a purple box at Download itemises which premium features your resume uses and what unlocking them costs. This page is for the people who met that second box.
What Kickresume does
A guided builder with a five-step lifecycle (Fill in → Design → Improve → Proofread → Download), a large example library, an AI writer, and 44 templates. As of this writing, a handful of basic templates are free end-to-end; the rest are fully usable in the editor and gated at export. Free downloads are a watermarked preview or plain text. An ATS score is shown free, but the explanations behind the number sit in a premium modal, and font changes, some section types, and a per-resume human proofreading service are paid.
Side by side
| Kickresume | CVLoom | |
|---|---|---|
| Signup | Account before you can build | None — the editor is the landing page |
| Free templates | A few basic ones end-to-end; the rest export-gated | All 585+, free to build and download |
| PDF export | Premium for most templates; free tier gets preview or text | Free, formatted, watermark-free |
| ATS scoring | Score free, explanations premium | Score and all 30 rule explanations free |
| AI writing | Generates fluent bullets, invents metrics | Suggests bullets with metrics left as placeholders you fill |
| Price | Subscription (see their pricing page) | Free; no paid tier exists |
Competitor details are as of this writing and simplified — pricing and tiers change; their site is the source of truth. Our column is exact.
What the subscription buys you
- •The export of anything built on a premium template or font — the editor lets you use them freely, and the toll booth is the download button.
- •The explanations behind the ATS score. The number is free; the why is premium.
- •A per-resume human proofreading service, and some section types (for example Achievements).
Where CVLoom fits
- ✓No account to build, edit, or download. The first thing you see is the editor, not a signup form.
- ✓The PDF is free — formatted, selectable text, no watermark, no itemised unlock list at the end.
- ✓They label 8 of 44 templates “ATS Friendly” with no numbers; we publish the score every one of our 585+ templates earned from our 30 public rules — 555 are certified at 90+.
- ✓The score explanations are the free part here: all 30 rules are public at /ats-rules, each with the why and the fix. Nothing is blurred.
- ✓In our hands-on test, their AI writer filled bullets with specific numbers we never provided. Ours marks every suggested metric as an editable placeholder you confirm — nothing invented gets exported silently.
- ✓Ten teacher and tutor templates rather than one token option — seven certified, the flagships at 92–94 — with a written teacher resume guide behind them.
The one-sentence version: CVLoom is a free ATS resume checker that publishes its full 30-rule checklist — you see every rule it scores you against, with no signup and nothing stored.
Common questions
Is Kickresume free?
Partly. A small set of basic templates works end-to-end free; premium templates and fonts are usable in the editor but gated when you export, where a box itemises what your resume uses. The lasting free exports are a watermarked preview or plain text. CVLoom has no gated tier — every template exports a clean PDF free.
Does CVLoom show the reasoning behind its ATS score?
Yes — that is the point of it. All 30 rules are published with the why and the fix, the checker is unlimited, and every template page prints the score its own export earned. Kickresume shows you a number and sells you the explanation.
What about their AI writer?
It writes fluent, well-structured bullets — and in our test it invented specific metrics we never gave it, which is a risk in a document you sign your name to. Our AI leaves every number as a bracketed placeholder you confirm or delete before export.
Can I move my Kickresume resume over?
Yes. Export from Kickresume (their free text export is enough) and use CVLoom's import — upload or paste, and it becomes an editable document in any of our templates. The AI import uses one of five free daily runs.
If their editor won you over, the subscription buys a polished product — that is a fair trade to make with open eyes. But if what you wanted was the resume, ours downloads free with the score printed on it.
585+ templates — each showing the ATS score it earned — a real PDF at the end, and a 30-rule check that shows you every rule. Free, no signup.
More comparisons
Kickresume is a trademark of its respective owner. CVLoom is not affiliated with or endorsed by Kickresume; the name is used only to identify the product being compared.