Maki vs Elly for an enterprise funnel or a startup's next hire
Maki vs Elly is mostly a question of company size. Maki suits enterprises that already have applicants and an ATS and want voice screening, skills tests and interview notes on every one. Elly suits early stage teams that need candidates found, screened and often a recruiter to run the search, with its own ATS included.
Maki vs Elly, side by side
From each company's own site, read on 5 October 2026.
| Area | Maki | Elly |
|---|---|---|
| Who it is for | Enterprise hiring, with use cases for frontline, early talent, specialists and staffing firms | Early stage teams, per its own FAQ |
| Where candidates come from | Your ATS: agents start when a candidate reaches a stage you configure | Elly's own proprietary database of millions of profiles, plus your applicants |
| Screening interview | Mochi: an adaptive AI voice screen by web or phone, scored on a fixed grid | AI Interviewer: an asynchronous, two-way interview with follow-up questions and category scores |
| Assessments | Shiro across 300+ skills; Ken for late funnel assessments across 400+ skills | AI application review that scores every inbound candidate |
| Human interviews | Tomo joins Zoom, Teams or Meet to transcribe and guide the interviewer | A notetaker and Ask Elly to search past interviews and decisions |
| ATS | Sits on top of yours; 30+ ATS and HR systems, with SAP, iCIMS and Workday featured | Includes an ATS built for early stage companies, and connects to existing ones |
| People involved | Customer success manager, onboarding and integration workshops | A forward deployed recruiter runs the first search |
Worth knowing first
Maki and Elly rarely meet in the same deal. Maki starts at an ATS stage, and its pages describe no search for new people. Elly starts with an empty pipeline and fills it. The right pick depends on which of those problems you have.
How the AI interviews differ
Maki's Mochi is a voice screen. The candidate joins a web call, or a phone call, and the AI opens, leads and closes the conversation, probing vague answers and scoring the evidence against a fixed behaviourally anchored grid. Maki says it scores content rather than accent, and that it replaces the recruiter phone screen across many languages.
Elly's AI Interviewer is asynchronous: candidates take it on their own time, and the AI asks role specific questions with follow-ups when an answer lacks depth. Teams set categories such as communication or problem solving, each gets a numeric score, and a composite ranks the field. Elly lists high volume, early career and frontline roles as its strongest fit.
Choose Maki if, choose Elly if
A retailer or bank receives tens of thousands of applications a year and wants every one screened in the candidate's own language.
Maki. Mochi and Shiro run from the ATS stage and send scores back automatically.
Which agents the credit model covers and how auto-progression thresholds are set.
Legal and compliance need a published bias audit before any AI touches candidates.
Maki. It publishes Holistic AI audits under NYC Local Law 144 and claims EU AI Act readiness.
Whether audits cover every agent you plan to switch on.
A 25 person startup with no recruiter needs a senior engineer and has no applicants yet.
Elly. It sources from its own database, screens, and can put a recruiter on the search.
Which of its 3 pricing options fits one role versus ongoing hiring.
You have no ATS and want one alongside sourcing and AI interviews.
Elly. Its platform includes an ATS built for early stage companies.
How data exports if you later move to a larger ATS.
Maki and Elly in day to day use
A Maki customer's recruiters rarely open a separate tool. Invitations go out when candidates hit a configured ATS stage, progress and results sync back, and candidates above a threshold can move forward automatically; Maki says nobody is rejected automatically. Recruiters read a decision card with a scorecard, risk flags and a hire recommendation with a confidence level.
An Elly customer works inside Elly. A kickoff call becomes written criteria, Elly returns a ranked list, structured interviews run, finalists get scheduled and the recruiter is briefed before each call. Elly's pitch is memory: months later you can ask who you met before that fits a new role.
Maki vs Elly pricing models
Elly publishes its prices; Maki does not. Here are the models only.
| Term | Maki | Elly |
|---|---|---|
| How it is charged | Usage based credits per AI agent, for candidate interactions rather than licences | 3 options: an annual Platform plan, a one-off batch of screened candidates, or a Full Search fee per hire |
| Price published | No, a personalised quote | Yes, on its pricing page |
| Search fee | None, since its pages describe no search service | A percentage of first-year salary with a stated minimum, paid when the hire starts |
| Guarantee | None described | An optional 90 day replacement guarantee on Full Search for an added fee |
If you want sourcing and a live interview without a services contract
A live, two-way AI video interview at a time the candidate booked.
The Cognitive sits between the two. It searches ~900M public profiles with verified emails and phones, like a sourcing tool, and runs a live AI video interview of 10 or 20 minutes that returns 1 to 5 scores per criterion, overall written feedback, a transcript and a recording. You set it up yourself with no recruiter attached.
Read next
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Frequently asked questions
Is Maki better than Elly?
They solve different problems. Maki is better for an enterprise with heavy applicant volume and an existing ATS that needs consistent screening and assessments. Elly is better for an early stage team that needs candidates found and screened, often with a recruiter running the search.
Maki vs Elly pricing: how do they charge?
Maki uses usage based, credit based pricing per AI agent and gives a personalised quote. Elly publishes 3 options: an annual Platform plan, a one-off batch of sourced and screened candidates, and a Full Search priced as a percentage of first-year salary per hire.
Does Maki source candidates like Elly?
Maki's pages describe no candidate sourcing. Its workflow starts at intake and its agents are triggered from your ATS when a candidate reaches a set stage. Elly's AI Sourcer searches its own proprietary data sources and returns profiles with verified contact information where available.
Is Elly's AI interview live or recorded?
Elly calls its AI Interviewer asynchronous: candidates take it on their own time, and it is two-way, asking follow-up questions when an answer is thin. Maki's Mochi is a voice conversation by web or phone that the AI leads from start to finish.
Can I use Maki or Elly with my ATS?
Maki is built to run on top of an existing ATS and lists 30+ ATS and HR integrations, featuring SAP's talent suite, iCIMS and Workday. Elly says it connects to your ATS and hiring tools, and also includes its own ATS for early stage companies.
Which has a published bias audit, Maki or Elly?
Both point to one. Maki links Holistic AI audits under NYC Local Law 144 for Mochi. Elly links a live Warden AI audit of its AI Candidate Matching and says its AI Interviewer has had an independent Warden AI evaluation.
How long does it take to go live with Maki or Elly?
Maki says integrated, branded and live in under 2 months, after contracting, privacy review and configuration. Elly starts with a call to define the role and a second call to present candidates, with a forward deployed recruiter running the first search.
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