Truffle vs Maki, the same stages at very different sizes
Truffle vs Maki is mostly a question of company size. Truffle is self-serve screening for small teams: resumes, one-way interviews and tests, priced on its website. Maki is an enterprise hiring system of named AI agents, from intake to a hire recommendation, sold by quote and rolled out on top of a large ATS.
Truffle vs Maki, side by side
From hiretruffle.com and makipeople.com, read 5 October 2026.
| Truffle | Maki | |
|---|---|---|
| Who it is built for | Lean teams that screen lots of applicants each month | Enterprises; customers named include Deloitte France, Nespresso and Forvis Mazars |
| How it is organised | One product with three screening methods you mix per role | Five named agents: Shiro, Mochi, Ken, Kumi and Tomo |
| First screen | Resume match scores, one-way video or audio, and tests | Shiro screens skills across 300+ of them; Mochi runs adaptive voice interviews |
| Deeper assessment | Aptitude, personality and role skills tests | Ken, late-funnel assessments across 400+ skills |
| Human interviews | Not covered; Truffle hands you a shortlist | Kumi schedules them and Tomo takes notes and scores on Zoom, Teams or Meet |
| Moving candidates on | You decide; Truffle says it never auto-rejects | Can advance people who meet your criteria automatically in the ATS |
| Getting started | Self-serve trial, no card | Demo, then a rollout Maki says takes under 2 months |
Maki's pages name languages for Mochi only on the homepage. Truffle states no language count.
Maki's five stages, from intake to decision
Maki describes one system running on top of your existing ATS. This is its own order.
- Intake A job description goes in and a structured hiring journey comes out, with competencies that drive every later stage.
- Screening Shiro tests skills; Mochi holds a voice conversation in browser or by phone, probing vague answers and scoring against a fixed grid.
- Assessment Ken runs role-calibrated tests for high-stakes hires, which Maki describes as defensible to legal and compliance teams.
- Interview Kumi books the human interview from the ATS. Tomo joins the call, keeps the plan on screen, and produces a transcript, notes and scores.
- Hire recommendation The evidence from every stage is gathered into a single card: scores, a radar chart, any risks, and Maki's hire call with how confident it is.
Why company size decides this one
Truffle is written for the owner or lone recruiter who screens on a Sunday night. Its pricing page jokes about not needing anyone in legal, and every feature sits on every plan. You can sign up, paste a job ad and send a link the same afternoon.
Maki is written for a TA function with a legal team that will read the contract. Its pricing page leads with dedicated environments, audit logs and a data processing agreement, and its rollout plan has a contracting and privacy review stage. Neither approach is wrong. They suit organisations of very different shapes.
Choose Truffle if, choose Maki if
Do
- You are a small business, agency or franchise and want to start today
- You want to see published prices before you speak to anyone
- A recorded answer is enough at the first stage
- You hire without an ATS, or in a small-business one Truffle already lists
Do not
- You run SAP SuccessFactors, iCIMS or Workday and need a native connection
- You need EU data residency and an AI Act readiness story by default
- You want AI support in the human interview rounds too
- You want candidates who pass to move forward automatically
What Maki's enterprise foundation covers
Listed on Maki's pricing and voice interviewer pages. Truffle's pages do not describe equivalents for most of these.
- EU data residency by default, with other residency options
- Dedicated production and sandbox environments
- Role-based admin controls and detailed audit logs
- A formal Data Processing Agreement
- ISO 27001 certification and GDPR compliance
- Mochi bias-audited by Holistic AI under NYC Local Law 144
- A dedicated Customer Success Manager for every customer
- Integrations with 30+ ATS and HR systems
Truffle vs Maki pricing models
Both bill on usage rather than seats, which surprises people. The difference is who can see the price.
| Truffle | Maki | |
|---|---|---|
| Published? | Yes, every plan and the cost of extra credits | No. A personalised quote from sales |
| Unit | A monthly credit pool spent on resumes, tests and interviews | An enterprise platform plus credits per AI agent, charged on candidate interactions |
| Licences | Unlimited team members on every plan | Maki says you pay for candidate interactions, not licences |
| Commitment | Monthly or annual; cancel any time | Contracted after a legal and privacy review |
Ask Maki for a quote that names the agents you will switch on, since each one is metered separately.
What to take away
- Truffle and Maki both screen, assess and rank, but for organisations of different size
- Maki's Mochi talks to candidates by voice; Truffle's interview is a recording
- Maki reaches into human interviews with Tomo; Truffle stops at the shortlist
- Truffle shows its prices; Maki quotes per agent
A live video screen that sits between the two
The criteria a role is scored on, set once before the first candidate is invited.
Outgrowing a self-serve tool but not ready for an enterprise rollout? The Cognitive sits between. Candidates pick a slot for a 10 or 20 minute live AI video interview; each criterion gets a 1 to 5 rating, plus written feedback on the whole, transcript and recording. It also finds people in ~900M public profiles, with verified emails and phones.
Related reading
Maki review · Maki alternatives · Truffle review · Truffle alternatives · Apriora vs Maki
How we checked
Truffle's homepage, pricing, integrations and candidate trust pages, and Maki's homepage, pricing, integrations and Mochi agent pages, were each read on 5 October 2026. Customer names come from the case studies and quotes on Maki's homepage. Anything neither site states is marked as not stated.
Frequently asked questions
Is Truffle better than Maki?
For a small team, Truffle is easier to buy and run: a self-serve trial, published prices and every feature on every plan. For an enterprise with a large ATS, legal review and global hiring, Maki offers more: voice interviews, deep assessments, interview co-pilots, EU data residency and native SAP, iCIMS and Workday connections.
What is Maki's Mochi?
Mochi is Maki's voice interviewer. It opens the call, leads the agenda and asks follow-ups when answers are vague, then scores what was said against a fixed grid. Candidates take it in a browser or on a phone call, and if one hangs up halfway, Mochi calls back or texts them to finish.
Truffle vs Maki pricing: how do they differ?
Truffle lists every plan on its site, each a monthly credit allowance that any number of colleagues can draw on. Maki lists none. Its pricing page describes an enterprise platform fee alongside metered credits, with Shiro, Ken, Mochi and Kumi each billed by use, and asks you to request a quote.
Does Truffle integrate with Workday or SAP?
Neither appears in Truffle's 9-app directory. An enterprise on Workday or SuccessFactors would need Zapier or Truffle's REST API to connect. Maki features exactly those systems: it calls itself an official iCIMS partner and names native Workday and SAP talent suite integrations among 30+ ATS and HR connections.
Does Maki move candidates automatically?
It can. Maki's integration page says candidates who meet your defined criteria can move forward automatically in the ATS. Truffle takes the opposite position on its homepage: it never auto-rejects, and the advance is always yours to click.
Which is more transparent about bias?
Maki points to independent audits by Holistic AI under NYC Local Law 144 for Mochi, with signed reports linked. Truffle says it scores transcripts only, without face or voice analysis, and that an annual independent audit is in progress with a summary to follow.
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