There are hundreds of AI resume builders now. Most of them are the same template gallery you've seen for a decade, with a 'Improve with AI' button bolted on top. Here's what actually separates a useful tool from a gimmick.
Real ATS parsing, not fake scores. A good AI builder tests your resume against a specific job description, not a generic 'ATS score' out of 100. DraftlyCV's ATS checker extracts the real keywords from a job posting and shows exactly which sections are missing them.
Tone control. A single 'Rewrite' button flattens everyone's resume to the same voice. Look for style presets — ATS-friendly, leadership, concise, impact-driven — so the AI matches the level of the role you're targeting.
Structured output, not a paragraph. Great AI resume builders return structured data — bullets, dates, quantified results — that plug directly into a template. Anything that hands you a wall of text is asking you to do the actual work.
PDF fidelity. What you see in the preview should be what recruiters download. If the preview and the PDF drift, you'll lose interviews to formatting bugs you never noticed.
Pricing that doesn't trap you. Free tiers that lock the download button are a scam. DraftlyCV gives you one full end-to-end resume for free, then unlocks unlimited rewrites and premium templates on Pro.
If you want to try one that ticks every box above, start with DraftlyCV — free, no credit card, and you own every export.