Gem vs Maki, filling the funnel or judging it
Gem vs Maki is a top of funnel tool against a middle of funnel one. Pick Gem if you need people found, nurtured and tracked, with outbound search, a CRM and sequences. Pick Maki if you have plenty of applicants and need them judged: voice screening, skills assessments and an interview co-pilot, all audited for bias.
Gem vs Maki, side by side
Maki trades as Maki People at makipeople.com. Both columns were read on the vendors' sites on 5 October 2026.
| What you are comparing | Gem | Maki |
|---|---|---|
| Funnel stage | Top: sourcing, nurture and rediscovery, then application review and an optional ATS | Middle: intake, screening, assessment, scheduling and interview support on top of your ATS |
| Finding people | A Sourcing Agent across 800M+ profiles, returning verified emails | No outbound search described; its agents work on candidates already in your ATS |
| AI screening | App Review ranks every inbound application with a written reason | Shiro screens across 300+ skills; Mochi runs adaptive voice screens on web or phone |
| Human interviews | Scheduling, then a structured summary written from interviewer feedback | Kumi schedules; Tomo joins Zoom, Teams or Meet, transcribes and scores against competencies |
| Bias evidence | Annual third party audit by BABL | NYC Local Law 144 audit by Holistic AI, EU AI Act readiness, ISO 27001 |
| ATS fit | Sits on Greenhouse, Workday, Lever or iCIMS without migration, or replaces them with Gem ATS | 30+ ATS and HR systems, featured native SAP, iCIMS and Workday |
| Pricing model | Per seat, priced on company FTE count; its agents need the AI-Powered seat type | Credits per candidate interaction, not licences, by quote |
Gem publishes one startup rate; Maki publishes none. No figure appears here.
Two halves of one funnel
Gem's value grows with the number of people you reach. Its Sourcing Agent searches 800M+ profiles, sequences go out by email, SMS and InMail, and the CRM keeps every touch so a silver medallist from last year can be resurfaced in one search. A Gem team measures success in replies and pipeline.
Maki's value grows with the number of people who apply. A job description becomes a structured hiring journey with competencies set at intake, and every later stage scores against them. Mochi replaces the recruiter phone screen, Ken assesses finalists across 400+ skills, and a decision card ends with a hire recommendation and a confidence level.
What happens in a Mochi voice screen
Maki's Mochi page describes this sequence. Gem has no equivalent step, because it does not interview candidates.
- The candidate enters your ATS The ATS stage you configure triggers Maki, which sends the candidate an invitation automatically.
- A call on web or phone The candidate joins a web call or phones in, at any hour, in their own language. Maki makes the web call the default for coverage and branding.
- Adaptive questions, fixed grid Mochi leads the agenda, probes vague answers and scores against a behaviourally anchored grid, judging content rather than accent or delivery.
- Results land in the ATS Scores sync back in real time. Maki says nobody is rejected automatically, though candidates over your threshold can move forward on their own.
Choose Gem if, choose Maki if
Do
- Your problem is too few good applicants, not too many
- Recruiters run outbound campaigns and need sequences across email, SMS and InMail
- Past applicants in your ATS are a hiring source you want worked properly
- You may replace your ATS and want sourcing and tracking from one vendor
Do not
- Thousands apply and recruiters cannot phone screen them all
- You want skills and cognitive assessments with validation behind them
- Hiring in Europe means EU data residency and AI Act readiness matter
- Interviewers want structured notes and scoring during live calls
Best at, and missing, by each vendor's own pages
- Gem strength: outbound search, CRM history and multichannel sequences on one candidate record
- Gem limit: its pages describe no AI screening interview or skills assessment
- Maki strength: voice screening, skills tests and interview scoring on one competency model, audited by Holistic AI
- Maki limit: its pages describe no search for people who have not applied
Who reaches for which
A consultancy with 20,000 graduate applicants across 6 European countries each autumn.
Maki. It names early talent as a use case, screens in many languages and hosts in the EU by default.
Which assessments are validated for our job family?
A US scale-up that needs 5 staff engineers and gets almost no qualified inbound.
Gem. Sourcing, rediscovery and sequences are built for exactly this.
How many of our past finalists can rediscovery surface on day 1?
A retailer screening store staff in 30 cities, where phone screens eat every recruiter's day.
Maki. Mochi replaces the phone screen and Shiro handles knockout and skills checks.
What happens to candidates who drop off mid call?
Hiring managers run inconsistent interviews and write thin feedback.
Either, differently. Gem summarises feedback after the interview; Maki's Tomo structures and scores it during the call.
Do our interviewers want an AI in the call?
How Gem and Maki differ in day to day use
Gem is a place recruiters work. They open it each morning to new sourced matches, sequence replies and ranked applicants, and hiring managers see a Talent Pipeline view. Seats are the unit, so who logs in shapes the bill.
Maki mostly works behind the ATS. Recruiters stay in Greenhouse, Workday or iCIMS while Maki's agents run when candidates reach a stage, then return scores and proctoring data. The places people touch Maki directly are intake, Tomo in live interviews and the decision card. You pay per candidate interaction, not per login.
If you need people found and then interviewed
A plain English brief turned into editable filters, then ranked candidates with a short reason for each.
Gem finds and Maki judges. A team that needs both on a smaller scale can look at The Cognitive: it searches ~900M public profiles with verified emails and phones, then runs a live 10 or 20 minute AI video interview scored 1 to 5 per criterion, with overall written feedback, transcript and recording.
Keep reading
Gem review · Gem alternatives · Maki review · Maki alternatives · Best AI interview platforms
Frequently asked questions
Is Maki better than Gem?
They work on different ends of the funnel. Maki is better at judging applicants at volume, with voice screening, skills assessments and an interview co-pilot on one competency model. Gem is better at finding and nurturing people, with 800M+ profiles, a CRM and multichannel sequences. If you lack applicants, Gem; if you drown in them, Maki.
Gem vs Maki pricing: how does each charge?
Gem prices by company FTE count, with Standard seats and AI-Powered seats for its agents, plus a startup programme. Maki says it charges for candidate interactions, not licences, on a credit model per agent, and publishes no figures. So Gem's bill follows team size and Maki's follows candidate volume.
Can I use Maki with Gem?
Maki triggers its agents from your ATS and lists 30+ ATS and HR systems, featuring SAP, iCIMS and Workday. Its pages do not name Gem. If Gem sits on Greenhouse or Workday, Maki could run from that ATS while Gem handles sourcing. If you run Gem ATS, ask Maki whether it is supported.
Does Gem do AI screening interviews like Maki?
No. Gem's AI ranks applications with a written reason, flags fraud, sources and rediscovers candidates, and summarises human interviewers' feedback. No Gem page read describes an AI holding the screen itself. Maki's Mochi holds adaptive voice screens on web or phone and scores them against a fixed grid.
Does Maki source candidates like Gem?
Not from what its pages describe. Maki's agents start once a candidate is in your ATS, and its homepage frames intake as defining success before sourcing. Gem's Sourcing Agent searches 800M+ external profiles alongside your ATS and CRM. A team with thin inbound would need a sourcing tool beside Maki.
Which is better for hiring in Europe, Gem or Maki?
Maki is built with Europe in mind: EU data residency by default, EU AI Act readiness, GDPR compliance and screening in 45+ languages, per its site. Gem's pages read do not describe EU hosting. If data residency is a requirement, ask both in writing where candidate data is stored.
Do Gem and Maki publish bias audits?
Both point to third party audits. Gem names BABL as its yearly auditor and strips personal details before its AI sees an application. Maki says Holistic AI audited Mochi under NYC Local Law 144 across gender and race or ethnicity, and that bias monitoring runs permanently in production. Read each report before rollout.
Explore: Gem review · Maki review · Gem alternatives · Maki alternatives · Best AI recruitment platforms