What are Kepler and Clockwork?
Kepler is an AI-first recruitment CRM. Its centre is AI Chat, on every page: you ask a question in plain English, and it searches your own database and proposes updates for you to approve. Everything comes on one plan at one price, with the AI included.
Around AI Chat sit the parts of a working desk:
- pipelines, jobs, tasks, custom fields and saved views
- Gmail and Outlook sync, with AI-drafted emails you send yourself
- a notetaker for Microsoft Teams, Zoom and Google Meet calls
- CV parsing, and CV formatting onto your own branded template
- a client portal, a consent ledger and reporting on billings and consultant splits
- email campaigns, automations, a careers site on your own domain and a public API
Kepler also has contact enrichment, and single sign-on is available on the Enterprise plan.
Clockwork is executive search software for retained search firms, in-house executive recruiting teams and institutional investors. It is organised around a collaboration portal where the client comments on candidates, works the longlist and reads status reports. Around the portal sit a recruiting CRM, resume parsing, Cai (Clockwork’s generative AI) and email integrations.
What is the main difference between Kepler and Clockwork?
The main difference is how you work. In Kepler you ask AI Chat: “who has run a carve-out in the Nordics?” It searches every CV, note, email and call transcript, returns the people with the evidence, and adds them to a shortlist once you approve.
Kepler’s AI is built into the CRM and included in the price. It finds, drafts and proposes updates, and nothing is written until a person approves it. For firms that also use Claude or ChatGPT, Kepler offers an MCP server so those tools can work on the same data.
Clockwork’s model is portal-first. Cai helps inside a project by drafting a job description and research criteria and rating selected candidates. Clockwork does not have built-in AI search across your database. For AI work across records, you connect your own ChatGPT, Claude or Copilot, and that provider bills its own subscription.
How do Kepler and Clockwork search your own database?
Kepler searches by meaning and by keyword together, across candidates, CVs, notes, emails and call transcripts. Ask for “someone who ran a payments business in the Nordics” and Kepler finds the line in a CV, a screening note or a call.
Clockwork’s candidate search matches names and keywords, with filters for status, company, school, job title and last update. Quick Search matches the People database as you type.
Calls feed Kepler’s search too. Its notetaker joins Teams, Zoom and Google Meet calls and files the summary, next steps and transcript on the right record. Clockwork does not have its own meeting notetaker. AI meeting notes come through its Quil partner integration.
How do Kepler and Clockwork assess a longlist?
Kepler scores every candidate from 0 to 100 against the job. The score is based on criteria taken from the job description, which you can edit. Each criterion shows the line from the CV, call or email behind it.
Clockwork’s Cai drafts five research criteria from the project data and rates candidates you select inside a project, fifty at a time. It returns a rating and an assessment note for a user to review.
On a retained search, seeing the line behind each criterion helps when a client asks why one person is on the longlist and another is not.
How do Kepler and Clockwork compare feature by feature?
| Area | Kepler | Clockwork |
|---|---|---|
| How you work | Ask AI Chat in plain English. It finds people and updates records once you approve. | Client collaboration portal at the centre, with Cai inside each project |
| Search | Ask in plain English and AI Chat searches your CVs, notes, emails and call transcripts. | Name and keyword search with filters |
| AI across your database | AI Chat is built in, and an MCP server connects Claude or ChatGPT too. | Not built in. Runs through your own ChatGPT, Claude or Copilot subscription. |
| Matching | Every candidate gets a score from 0 to 100 against the job. | Cai rates selected candidates, fifty at a time |
| Meeting notes | A notetaker joins Teams, Zoom and Google Meet calls and files the summary and transcript on the record. | No notetaker of its own. AI meeting notes through the Quil integration. |
| Client portal | Clients rate, comment on and request interviews with the candidates you share for a job. | Client feedback, a shared longlist, status reports and visibility controls |
| AI drafts emails in every composer and summarises a thread in one click. | Microsoft 365 and Google integrations | |
| Contact enrichment | Finds emails, mobile numbers and LinkedIn URLs for one record or in bulk. | Third-party providers through Clockwork’s Chrome extension |
| Consent | A consent record for each candidate, with the lawful basis and an expiry date. | GDPR consent management and a candidate portal |
| Single sign-on | Available on the Enterprise plan | Through Okta and Microsoft Azure |
| Price | USD 99 per user per month billed annually, with everything included | USD 149 per user per month billed annually, one plan |
| Migration | Done for you, free on every plan | A separate service, priced by volume and scope |
How much does Clockwork cost?
Kepler is USD 99 per user per month billed annually (USD 1,188 per seat per year), or USD 129 monthly. That is one plan with every feature, unlimited records and storage, and free migration. AI Chat is included on every plan, monthly and annual, with no add-on or upgrade needed.
Clockwork sells one plan at USD 149 per user per month billed annually, or USD 179 monthly. It includes Cai, the client portal, automations and the MCP connector. Both figures were read on Clockwork’s pricing page on 13 Sep 2026.
Clockwork lists these outside the seat price:
- data migration, priced by volume and scope
- Premium Support at USD 3,500 per year
- Elite onboarding and advisory at USD 25,000
- the ChatGPT, Claude or Copilot subscription you need for AI across records, billed by that provider
Which search firms is Kepler built for?
Kepler is built for a search firm that wants a simple CRM with the AI included, where finding a person means asking a question. It suits a firm with years of CVs, screening notes, emails and call recordings that a name-and-filter search does not reach.
For that firm, Kepler:
- searches all of that material in plain English
- scores every candidate from 0 to 100 against a brief, with the line behind each criterion
- files call transcripts from Teams, Zoom and Google Meet on the right record
- proposes record updates from emails and calls, for a person to approve
- formats a candidate’s CV onto the firm’s own template as DOCX or PDF
- gives each hiring manager a portal to rate and comment on the shortlist
It does this at one published price, USD 99 per user per month billed annually, with the migration done for you.
Can you migrate from Clockwork to Kepler?
Yes. Kepler runs the migration for you, free, on every plan. You send a Clockwork export plus any loose CVs and spreadsheets, and Kepler maps, cleans and checks the data.
Custom fields are rebuilt as real fields, and activity, stages and history come across. Before the full load you review fifty of your own records. The migration is done in days.
The CV parser behind it comes from RemakeCV, a CV tool built by the same team and used by 300+ recruitment agencies. Kepler also exports your whole workspace at any time, with no exit fee.
Frequently asked questions
Is Clockwork better than Kepler?
It depends on how you want to work. If you want a simple, easy-to-use CRM with the AI included, choose Kepler. You ask AI Chat in plain English and it searches your CVs, notes, emails and call transcripts, scores candidates against the job and proposes updates for you to approve. It is one plan at USD 99 per user per month billed annually, with the migration done for you.
If you want a portal-first executive search tool, where the client works the longlist alongside you and AI across records runs through your own ChatGPT, Claude or Copilot subscription, Clockwork is built for that, at USD 149 per user per month billed annually.
How much does Clockwork cost?
Clockwork sells one plan at USD 149 per user per month billed annually, or USD 179 monthly (read 13 Sep 2026). Clockwork bills data migration, Premium Support at USD 3,500 a year and the AI provider’s subscription separately. Kepler, for comparison, is USD 99 per user per month billed annually, or USD 129 monthly, for one plan with every feature, unlimited records and free migration.
Does Clockwork have AI search across the database?
Kepler does: you ask AI Chat in plain English and it searches every CV, note, email and call transcript. Clockwork does not have built-in AI search across your database. Its Cai drafts job descriptions and research criteria and rates selected candidates inside a project, fifty at a time. For AI across records, Clockwork connects your own ChatGPT, Claude or Copilot, which that provider bills separately.
Does Clockwork have a meeting notetaker?
Kepler’s notetaker joins Microsoft Teams, Zoom and Google Meet calls and files the summary, next steps and transcript on the right record, where the transcript becomes searchable. Clockwork does not have its own meeting notetaker. AI meeting notes come through its Quil partner integration.
Does Kepler have a client portal?
Yes, one per job. A hiring manager signs in by email link with no account to create, sees the candidates you share (optionally blind, with a redacted CV), rates them 1–5, comments and requests interviews. Clockwork’s client portal offers client feedback, a shared longlist, status reports and visibility controls.
Can Kepler format a candidate onto our firm’s template?
Yes. Kepler formats a candidate’s CV onto your own branded template and downloads it as DOCX or PDF. Edits to the formatted copy do not touch the profile. Clockwork exports client reports, such as project status and candidate status reports, as PDF or DOCX.
How long does it take to move from Clockwork to Kepler?
Kepler’s migration is done in days, free, on every plan. You send a Clockwork export plus any loose CVs and spreadsheets, review fifty of your own records, and then Kepler runs the full load with activity, stages and history included.
Sources
Every claim about another vendor on this page comes from that vendor's own public material. Where a vendor does not publish something — pricing is the usual one — this post says so rather than estimating.
- Clockwork — Platform Pricing One plan at USD 149 per user per month paying annually and USD 179 paying monthly. Resume parsing, GDPR consent management, candidate portal, workflows and automations, and the integration list including Quil.
- Clockwork — Features Client portal, real-time status report, long list and custom reports.
- Clockwork — Onboarding and Setup Services “Data Migration - Priced By Volume” with custom pricing based on size and scope. Premium Support at USD 3,500 per year. Elite onboarding, advisory and consulting at USD 25,000.
- Clockwork — Security SSO through Okta and Microsoft Azure.
- Clockwork — MCP Connector for AI The MCP server for Claude, ChatGPT and Copilot, included at no additional cost, with a paid AI provider subscription typically required.
- Clockwork Knowledge Base — Unlock the Power of A.I. and FAQs AI provider subscription and usage fees are separate and billed directly by that provider.
- Clockwork Knowledge Base — Cai: AI Rating and Notes Cai rates candidates selected inside a project, fifty at a time, and its notes are draft documentation reviewed by a user.
- Clockwork Knowledge Base — Position View: Cai (Clockwork AI) Cai generating job descriptions, requirements and five research criteria.
- Clockwork Knowledge Base — Project View: Candidate Search Name and keyword search plus filters for status, colour category, client visibility, company, school, job title and last update.
- Clockwork Knowledge Base — Exportable Reports Differences Project status and candidate status reports exported as PDF or DOCX.
- Clockwork Knowledge Base — Chrome Extension Outline The extension uses third-party enrichment providers.
- Clockwork — Quil partner integration AI meeting notes reach Clockwork through the Quil partner integration.
- Kepler pricing USD 99 per user per month billed annually (USD 1,188 per seat per year), one plan with every feature, unlimited records and storage, free done-for-you migration, and full workspace export with no exit fee.
Kepler is a recruitment CRM and this post is published by Kepler, so read it as an interested party's account. We have tried to describe Clockwork as its own team would recognise it, and every factual claim is sourced above. If something here is out of date or wrong, tell us and we will correct it.