Is Teal's free plan actually free forever?

Yes — unlike most competitors on this site, Teal's free tier doesn't expire and isn't a trial. The catch is scope: keyword matching caps at the top 5 keywords and AI credits are limited per type. Teal+ ($29/30 days) removes those caps.

Which has the better free plan?

Depends what you need. Teal's free plan covers more ground — tracker, templates, some AI — but caps the keyword-matching feature at 5 results. SteadyCV's free plan is narrower in scope but keyword matching itself is unlimited.

Which is cheaper for full AI tailoring?

SteadyCV Pro is $9/mo. Teal+ is $29 every 30 days (or $79 every 90 days). SteadyCV is roughly a third of the price.

SteadyCV vs Teal

Teal's free tier is the most generous of any competitor we've checked — this isn't the usual paywall story. Here's the actual difference.

SteadyCV

Free

Resume checks against a job posting with no monthly cap — no account needed to run one
1 saved resume, 5 AI actions/month, PDF export once you do register

Paid

$9/mo — unlimited resumes, all 27 templates, 100 AI actions/month, AI tailoring, PDF + Word export

Teal

Free

Free forever: unlimited resumes, unlimited job tracking, access to 10 templates
Job-description keyword matching capped at the top 5 keywords (unlimited on Teal+)
Resume analysis marked "Basic"; AI credits capped — 10 for bullets, 2 for summaries, 2 for cover letters

Paid

Teal+: $29 every 30 days, $79 every 90 days, or $13/week
Unlimited templates, unlimited keyword matching, unlimited AI credits, advanced design mode

Feature by feature

Feature	SteadyCV	Teal
Free plan that never expires
Keyword matching on free plan	Unlimited	Top 5 keywords only
No account required to run a check		Required for the builder & tracker
Cheapest full-access paid plan	$9/mo	$29/mo
Job application tracker	Pro only	Free, unlimited
Networking CRM / application autofill
Templates on free plan	9	10

Where Teal wins

Teal's free tier is the most generous one on this page — unlimited resumes and unlimited job tracking, not a trial dressed up as free. Their full suite goes well past resumes: a networking CRM, interview tracker, and autofill for applications.
More kinds of AI credits on the free tier (bullets, summaries, cover letters) than SteadyCV's flat 5 actions/month, even though each is individually capped.

Where SteadyCV wins

Keyword matching against a posting stays fully unlimited on the free plan — Teal's free tier caps matching at the top 5 keywords, full matching needs Teal+.
$9/mo vs $29 every 30 days for full AI tailoring and unlimited matching.
No account needed for a single anonymous check.

The honest verdict

Teal's free plan is the strongest one in this comparison, full stop — if you want a complete job-search operating system (tracker, CRM, autofill) and can live with the top-5 keyword cap, it's a genuinely good free option. If keyword matching against a specific posting is the actual bottleneck, SteadyCV does that one job without a cap, and without asking $29/mo to remove it.

Check my resume — free

FAQ

Is Teal's free plan actually free forever?: Yes — unlike most competitors on this site, Teal's free tier doesn't expire and isn't a trial. The catch is scope: keyword matching caps at the top 5 keywords and AI credits are limited per type. Teal+ ($29/30 days) removes those caps.
Which has the better free plan?: Depends what you need. Teal's free plan covers more ground — tracker, templates, some AI — but caps the keyword-matching feature at 5 results. SteadyCV's free plan is narrower in scope but keyword matching itself is unlimited.
Which is cheaper for full AI tailoring?: SteadyCV Pro is $9/mo. Teal+ is $29 every 30 days (or $79 every 90 days). SteadyCV is roughly a third of the price.