CitedCV vs Teal for writing a CV

The short answer

Use Teal when you are running many applications at once and want one place to save jobs, track their status and keep a tailored resume version per job, on a free tier that lets you build and download without paying. Use CitedCV when the text itself is the risk: every bullet must trace to a fact you supplied, and a line nobody can check must go. Teal is the better job-search workspace; CitedCV is the stricter writer.

A note on the word. In the UK, Europe and Turkey the document is a CV (curriculum vitae, or özgeçmiş in Turkish); in the US the same one-to-two-page document is a résumé, which is the word Teal uses. This page uses CV for both.

Both tools use a language model to write. The difference is what the model is allowed to write from, and what happens to a sentence that cannot be verified.

What Teal does

Teal, made by Teal Labs, Inc, describes itself as a job-search workspace. Its homepage leads with a job tracker and a free Chrome extension that saves postings from more than 40 job boards, and an AI resume builder that matches a resume to a job description, scores the match and rewrites summaries and bullets in the language of the posting. It imports an existing resume as PDF, Word or pasted text, or from a LinkedIn profile, and its resume builder page says it exports as PDF or Word with no download limit.

What it does well

The tracker and the extension are the reason to use it: save a job, generate a resume version for it, draft a cover letter, and track the application on one board. The free tier is real by the site's own description: unlimited resumes, more than 100 templates, unlimited job tracking and a small allowance of AI credits, with a paid plan called Teal+ for unlimited AI writing, advanced analysis and premium templates (see its pricing page). It is an established product with a large user base.

Where it goes wrong

Teal's AI writes toward the job description. Its resume builder page says the AI helps you find where to add metrics, dollars or percentages, and that when a posting names a skill you have not highlighted it generates content ideas to showcase relevant experience. Nothing on the pages we read says the writer will refuse a number you never supplied, and no line in the output carries a source. The accuracy check is yours: the same page tells you to review every AI-generated line and make sure it is accurate. Its headline figures on interview rates carry a footnote saying they are self-reported and not guaranteed.

What CitedCV does

CitedCV is a grounded, zero-hallucination AI CV builder. It writes only from facts you provide: a form, a PDF, DOCX or TXT file read in your browser, or your answers to interview questions. The writing model (MiniMax M3) receives the confirmed facts and nothing else. Those facts are the source of truth, and every bullet in the output carries the ids of the facts it was written from.

What it does well

A deterministic verifier checks every number, date and named entity against your facts, and a language-model entailment check runs on top; a line that fails is rewritten once, then dropped, and is never shipped. A filler linter scores each CV for human-likeness, so stock phrases are flagged rather than encouraged. Templates are single-column with standard headings, exported as PDF and DOCX and re-parsed to confirm the file reads back correctly, which is what ATS-friendly means in practice for Workday, Greenhouse, Lever, Taleo and SuccessFactors. Regional presets for the US, UK, EU, Turkey and Germany settle photo, date of birth and page length.

Where it falls short

It cannot write what you did not give it; thin facts make a thin CV, and it asks questions instead of filling gaps, so the first build takes longer than Teal's. It costs credits: five are free at signup, a full build costs ten, a quick draft five, and packs start at 30 credits for $9 (see /en/pricing). There are eight templates, three free and five premium, all single-column. The interface is English and Turkish only. And it builds the CV and nothing else: no job tracker, no browser extension, no cover letters yet. If those are what you came for, Teal has them and CitedCV does not.

Side by side

When Teal is the better choice

• You are applying to dozens of jobs and the hard part is keeping track, not writing.
• You want to save postings from job boards with a browser extension and work from them.
• You need cover letters, email templates and interview tracking in the same tool.
• You have no budget and want to build and download without paying.
• You already have a resume you trust and want it matched to each posting's keywords.

When CitedCV is the better choice

• You have been caught out by an invented metric, or you work in finance, healthcare, law or the public sector, where one unverifiable line ends an interview.
• You want to show a recruiter the fact behind any bullet they question.
• You would rather answer questions than accept a rewrite that sounds better than what happened.
• You are applying across the US, UK, EU, Turkey or Germany and want the conventions handled.
• You want the export re-parsed after it is written, not only described as ATS-friendly.

Honest verdict

For most active job seekers, Teal is the more useful tool, because most of a job search is not writing. It is free to start, it is established, and its tracker and extension solve a real problem that CitedCV does not touch. Its weakness is narrow but specific: its writer aims at the posting, its pages state no rule against a number you never supplied, and it leaves the fact-check to you.

• Choose Teal if you need a workspace and are willing to fact-check the AI's rewrites yourself.
• Choose CitedCV if you need every line to carry a source and would rather it wrote less than wrote wrong.
• Choose both if you can: they do different jobs.

Using both: track in Teal, write in CitedCV

The two tools do not compete for the same minute of your time. The pairing that works is to let Teal hold the search and let CitedCV write the document.

1. Save the postings you want in Teal with the extension and read what each one asks for.
2. Write your facts for one role in CitedCV: a form, an uploaded old CV, or the interview. Answer the questions it asks about gaps.
3. Build, read the bullets with their fact ids, and export PDF and DOCX.
4. Attach the file to the job in Teal's tracker and run its match score if you want a keyword view.
5. If Teal suggests a keyword you can honestly claim, add the fact in CitedCV and rebuild; if you cannot claim it, leave it out.

How to check either tool's output for invented claims

CitedCV runs this check for you and shows the result as fact ids; with Teal you run it yourself. A tool that offers to add metrics where a bullet has none is offering you a number to defend, and a keyword the posting wants is not a skill you have.

1. List every number in the draft and write its source next to it.
2. Check every title and date range against your contract or LinkedIn profile.
3. Delete any skill that was added because the posting mentioned it, unless you can point to where you used it.
4. Search for results-driven, proven track record, spearheaded and leveraged, and replace each with what you did.
5. Read the draft aloud; a sentence you would not say is a sentence you cannot defend.

Which should you pick

• Pick Teal for the search: tracking, saving jobs, cover letters, and a free builder you will fact-check yourself.
• Pick CitedCV for the document: cited lines, verified numbers, and a re-parsed single-column export.
• Pick neither as a guarantee. No CV tool can promise an interview, and applicant tracking systems do not detect AI text; they parse structure and match keywords.

Questions people ask

Sources

1. Teal: resume and job search tools (homepage)www.tealhq.com/
2. Teal: free AI resume builder, features and FAQwww.tealhq.com/tools/resume-builder
3. Teal+ pricing: free tier and premium featureswww.tealhq.com/pricing
4. A survey on hallucination in large language models (arXiv 2311.05232, 2023)arxiv.org/abs/2311.05232
5. RoleWorth: best AI resume builder 2026, a comparison of Rezi, Teal, Kickresume, Resume.io and Enhancvroleworth.com/guides/best-ai-resume-builder-2026