AI can write your cover letter, optimise your CV, prep you for interviews, and negotiate your salary. But the category most tools miss? AI career coaching. ApplyArc's Career Coach sees your full pipeline and tells you what to do next.
Here are the 5 best AI tools for job seekers in 2026, compared honestly.
Looking for a deeper guide with stats? Read our full Best AI Tools guide →
| Tool | Price | AI Tools | Cover Letter | ATS Check | Interview Prep | Job Tracking | Free Tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ApplyArc | £19/mo | 17 | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | 50 gens/mo |
| ChatGPT | £20/mo | General | ✅* | ❌ | ✅* | ❌ | Yes (limited) |
| Teal | £29/mo | 3 | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | Limited |
| Jobscan | £49.95/mo | 2 | Limited | ✅ (best) | ❌ | ❌ | 5 scans/mo |
| Grammarly | £12/mo | 1 | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | Yes |
* ChatGPT requires manual prompting. Not built for job search
Free / £19 Pro. 17 AI tools
built for this AI platform for job seekers with 17 specialised tools covering every stage of the job search. From application to offer negotiation.
Best for: Job seekers who want one platform for everything: ATS checking, cover letters, interview prep, and tracking
Free / £20 Plus. General AI
The most popular general-purpose AI. Capable of drafting cover letters, preparing for interviews, and reviewing resumes. But requires manual prompting and has no job search features.
Best for: People who already use ChatGPT and want to add it to their job search workflow
Free / £29 Pro. 3 AI tools
Resume-focused AI tool with job tracking. Strong for building ATS-optimised resumes but limited AI beyond resume features.
Best for: Job seekers primarily focused on building better resumes
£49.95/mo. 2 AI tools
The original ATS scanning tool. Matches your resume against job descriptions to improve ATS pass rates. Single-purpose and expensive.
Best for: People who only need ATS scanning and are willing to pay a premium for Jobscan's established database
Free / £12 Pro. 1 AI tools
Writing assistant that polishes grammar, tone, and clarity. Useful for proofreading applications but not a built for this job search tool.
Best for: Complementary tool for polishing applications written with other tools
Every tool on this list generates content. Only ApplyArc's Coach analyses your search and tells you what to do next.
Coach reviews all your active applications daily. It flags jobs that have gone quiet, interviews coming up, and offers about to expire.
No more guessing when to chase. Coach tracks days since last contact and tells you the best time to send a follow-up for each application.
When a job moves to Interview stage, Coach queues company research and practice questions specific to that role and company.
Coach spots trends in your applications: which industries respond, which roles stall, and where you should focus energy.
ATS depth. Jobscan's ATS database is still the deepest in the industry. If you are targeting Fortune 500 companies with strict ATS systems, Jobscan's scanning is more detailed than ApplyArc's.
General creativity. ChatGPT is better for open-ended brainstorming. Need to strategise your career direction or draft a LinkedIn post? ChatGPT's generalist nature gives it more range than any specialist tool.
Writing polish. Grammarly catches tone and grammar issues that AI generators sometimes miss. It is a great second pass on any AI-generated content, including ApplyArc's outputs.
Cover letters, ATS checker, interview prep, salary negotiation. All from one dashboard. 10 free AI generations per month.
Full 5-tool comparison ranked
Top Huntr replacements
TealHQ replacements ranked
ATS checker replacements compared
Generate tailored cover letters free
Complete AI job search guide