Kepler is a recruitment CRM built around AI Chat. You ask in plain English and it searches your CVs, notes, emails and call transcripts, scores every candidate against the job and proposes updates you approve. It is one plan at USD 99 per user per month, with the AI and the migration included.
The difference is how you work.
Kepler is a simple, modern CRM where you ask AI Chat in plain English instead of searching by hand. AI Chat is included on every plan, monthly and annual, with no add-on or upgrade needed.
Clockwork does not have built-in AI search across your database, so AI across records means connecting your own ChatGPT, Claude or Copilot on top of its USD 149 plan.
Written from Clockwork's own public documentation and pricing pages, . Tell us if we have something wrong and we will correct it.
Longer reads: the full Clockwork review and the best Clockwork alternatives in 2026.
| Dimension | keplerKepler | Clockwork |
|---|---|---|
| AI Chat and search | 3 dimensions: 3 Kepler ahead | |
| Search |
Kepler
Kepler ahead.
Ask in plain English AI Chat searches your CVs, notes, emails and call transcripts. |
Clockwork
Name and keyword search, with filters Filters for status, company, school, job title and last update. |
| AI across your database |
Kepler
Kepler ahead.
Built in, as AI Chat Included in the price. An MCP server connects Claude or ChatGPT too. |
Clockwork
Not built in Runs through your own ChatGPT, Claude or Copilot subscription, billed by that provider. |
| Meeting notes |
Kepler
Kepler ahead.
Its own notetaker on every call Joins Teams, Zoom and Google Meet calls and files the summary, next steps and transcript on the record. |
Clockwork
No notetaker of its own AI meeting notes come through the Quil partner integration. |
| Matching and CVs | 4 dimensions: 3 Kepler ahead | |
| Candidates scored |
Kepler
Kepler ahead.
Every candidate, from 0 to 100 Against criteria taken from the job description, which you can edit. |
Clockwork
Selected candidates, fifty at a time Cai rates the candidates you select inside a project. |
| Explaining a score |
Kepler
Kepler ahead.
The evidence under each criterion Each criterion shows the line from the CV, call or email behind it. |
Clockwork
A rating and an assessment note Cai writes the note as a draft for a user to review. |
| CV formatting |
Kepler
Kepler ahead.
Your own branded CV template Formats a candidate’s CV onto it and downloads DOCX or PDF. |
Clockwork
Status and candidate reports Exported as PDF or DOCX. |
| CV parsing |
Kepler
Both have this.
CVs parsed in bulk Old-system exports too, turned into searchable profiles. |
Clockwork
Both have this.
Resume parsing Listed on its pricing page. |
| Records and email | 4 dimensions: 2 Kepler ahead | |
|
Kepler
Kepler ahead.
AI drafts in every composer From the thread, the record and the job. One click summarises a thread. |
Clockwork
Microsoft 365 and Google integrations Listed among its integrations. |
|
| Contact details |
Kepler
Kepler ahead.
Finds emails, mobiles and LinkedIn URLs Built in, for one record or in bulk, with a review step. |
Clockwork
Third-party providers Through Clockwork’s browser extension. |
| Automations |
Kepler
Both have this.
Automations you can see and switch off Each shows what it reads, what it writes and when it last ran. |
Clockwork
Both have this.
Workflows and automations Included in its one plan. |
| Consent |
Kepler
Both have this.
A consent record for each candidate With the lawful basis and an expiry date. |
Clockwork
Both have this.
GDPR consent management With a candidate portal. |
| Price and plans | 3 dimensions: 3 Kepler ahead | |
| Price |
Kepler
Kepler ahead.
USD 99 per user per month Billed annually, or USD 129 monthly. Every feature is included. |
Clockwork
USD 149 per user per month Billed annually, or USD 179 monthly, on its one plan. |
| AI in the price |
Kepler
Kepler ahead.
AI Chat on every plan Monthly and annual, with no add-on or upgrade needed. |
Clockwork
AI across records costs extra Your ChatGPT, Claude or Copilot subscription is billed by that provider. |
| Migration |
Kepler
Kepler ahead.
Done for you, free On every plan, with fifty of your own records to check first. |
Clockwork
A separate service Priced by volume and scope. |
AI Chat is on every page of Kepler. It reads candidates, CVs, notes, emails and call transcripts, returns the records it used and writes nothing until you approve. Clockwork’s candidate search matches names and keywords, and AI across its records runs through your own ChatGPT, Claude or Copilot account.
Active data engineers in London who have used Kafka in production, available within a month
Found 4 candidates. Three mention Kafka on their CV; one said it on a recorded call last week.
| Candidate | Current employer | Notice | Why it matched |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sophia Bennett | Monarch Analytics | 1 month | Kafka streaming for card transactions at Halcyon CV |
| Amir Hassan | Northwind Capital | 2 weeks | Kafka feed for the risk platform CV |
| James Okafor | Juniper Systems | 3 months | Rebuilt the Kafka clickstream pipeline CV |
| Oliver Chen | Northwind Capital | Immediate | Mentioned running Kafka on the 2 Sep call Call note · 2 Sep |
Kepler scores every candidate from 0 to 100 against the job. The criteria come from the job description and you can edit them. Each one shows the line from the CV, call or email behind it, which is what a partner needs when a client asks about a longlist. Clockwork’s Cai rates the candidates you select inside a project, fifty at a time.
| Candidate | Match | Role title | Current employer | Skills | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sophia Bennett | 92Strong | Senior Data Engineer | Monarch Analytics | Python, Spark, AWS, Terraform, dbt | |
| Amir Hassan | 81Good | Data Engineer | Northwind Capital | Python, Spark, EMR, SQL, Airflow | |
| James Okafor | 74Good | Senior Data Engineer | Juniper Systems | Spark, Azure, Databricks, Kafka, Scala | |
| Mei Tan | 68Weak | Engineering Manager, Data | Atlas Cloud | AWS, Leadership, Python, Snowflake | |
| Elena Rossi | 55Weak | Analytics Engineer | Forma | dbt, SQL, Python, Looker | |
| Oliver Chen | 49Off spec | Platform Engineer | Northwind Capital | AWS, Kubernetes, Terraform, Go |
Select a candidate to read the evidence.
92
judge score
Strong match
3 of 4 criteria met
Assessment
A strong fit for the brief. Sophia has run a production Spark platform on AWS and has managed a team through a migration. Financial services exposure is via a payments client rather than a bank.
Candidate
Criteria · 3 of 4
Kepler’s notetaker joins Teams, Zoom and Google Meet calls. It files the summary, the next steps and the full transcript on the candidate or client the call belongs to, and the transcript is searchable afterwards. Clockwork does not have its own meeting notetaker. AI meeting notes come through its Quil partner integration.
Screening call for the Senior Data Engineer role at Northwind Capital. James is interested and available.
Kepler's CV parsing and formatting come from RemakeCV, built by the same team and used by 300+ recruitment agencies. The migration that fills your database on day one runs on an engine that has been reading real agency CVs for years, not on something written for this launch.
The 300+ figure is RemakeCV's agency count. The parser reading your archive is the one those agencies already run.
Whatever your current system gives you, plus loose CVs and spreadsheets sitting in folders. Not sure how to export? We will walk you through it.
Extraction, mapping, de-duplication and validation, the unglamorous half most vendors leave on your desk. Your custom fields are recreated rather than flattened into notes.
Fifty of your own records, fully parsed. Your people, not a demo set. Tell us what we got wrong and we re-run.
The full database goes in, mailboxes and calendars connect, and history backfills onto the right records. We stay on it until your team is working.
Kepler's one price next to the Clockwork plan that carries the features compared on this page. Cheaper tiers are listed underneath with what they leave out.
USD 99 per user / month, billed annually
USD 129 billed monthly
One plan, monthly or annual. AI Chat and every feature on this page are included, with no add-on or upgrade needed.
USD 149 per user / month, billed annually
USD 179 billed monthly
Clockwork sells one plan. Cai, the client portal, automations and the MCP connector are in it.
From Clockwork's pricing page, checked 13 Sep 2026.
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 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.
Kepler is USD 99 per user per month billed annually, or USD 129 monthly, for one plan with every feature, unlimited records 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 (read 13 Sep 2026). It bills data migration, Premium Support at USD 3,500 a year and the AI provider’s subscription separately.
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.
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.
Yes, one for each 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.
Kepler’s migration is done in days, free, on every plan. You send a Clockwork export plus any loose CVs and spreadsheets, and Kepler maps, cleans and checks the data. You review fifty of your own records, and then Kepler runs the full load with activity, stages and history included. You can export your whole workspace at any time with no exit fee.
Bring your hardest search to a 15-minute call. We will run it live, on real records, and talk through what a migration would look like.