JOIN vs softgarden

JOIN

Scorecards, interview scheduling with two-way Google and Outlook sync, roles and permissions, interviewer pools and automated candidate messaging are all listed — the daily core my team needs. But this is checkmark-level evidence: we found no public information on per-stage history with attribution, approval workflows for offers, or drop-off reporting, so a decision is documented to the level of a scorecard rather than an auditable record.

softgarden

What the pages show is an applicant overview with team communication, dashboards with time-to-hire and time-to-interview, and a system history that logs access attempts and every change to records — that history is exactly what I want when a decision is contested. But we found no public information on structured scorecards, on hiring-manager access limited to their own vacancies, or on approval workflows for requisitions and offers, and process configuration is described only at a basic level in the Core package. That leaves a decision made but not documented the way I can defend it.

JOIN

Multiposting with StepStone as Preferred Partner, Indeed as Platinum and LinkedIn, 250+ paid boards, source attribution stored on every application, mobile-first applications and Quick Apply give me the German paid-board reach I judge on. We found no public information on Bundesagentur für Arbeit posting, Google for Jobs markup, career-page languages, accessibility, or budget tracking per board, which holds this below the top of the band.

softgarden

Multiposting to more than 1,200 job boards plus social media and Google Ads, with conversion rates and entry channels analysed per advert, is real distribution muscle, and the career page is included in both tiers with SEO-optimised adverts. But the captured pages name no German board — we found no public information on the Bundesagentur für Arbeit or a major German paid board — and nothing on Google for Jobs markup, budget tracking per board, or a mobile application without an account. For filling sixty roles a year across German locations, the unnamed-board gap is the one that bites.

JOIN

The privacy policy states deletion or full anonymisation once the storage period lapses, and GDPR rights are built into every candidate profile — but the period is not stated as configurable, and we found no public information on a consent or expiry step for the talent pool, on access logging, or on deletion-run reporting. That is a compliance posture, not governance I can evidence in an AGG dispute.

softgarden

Automated deletion of applicant data configurable to our requirements with a recommended six-month retention, a stated four-week answer time for data-subject requests, and a system history logging access attempts and record changes cover most of what I am actually liable for. We found no public information on talent-pool consent or its expiry, on candidate self-service for their own data, or on whether deletion runs are logged and how deletion propagates to backups and connected boards. The access logging pushes it above the middle of the scale; the silence on talent-pool consent holds it back.

JOIN

AI is marketed as a benefit — a job-ad generator in every tier and "screenen Sie mit KI" on the startup page — and we found no public information on what the screening evaluates, a per-feature switch, the model or provider behind it, or even an assurance that humans decide. An unexplained AI screen next to a name is precisely what I cannot defend to a works council.

softgarden

A KI Screening Assistant and candidate matching are marketed, with the use cases listed and the assurance that the AI is "transparent und ohne Blackbox" — but we found no public information on what the matching evaluates, whether each feature can be switched off, which model provider runs it, or where the processing happens. A match score I cannot explain to a candidate or a works council is precisely what these pages leave open, and the co-determination question stays unanswered.

JOIN

API access and Zapier/Make from the Advanced tier up, two-way calendar sync, and an Excel candidate export give a small team a bridge to build on. We found no public information on a handover to a named DACH HR system such as Personio or DATEV, on e-signature, SSO or SCIM, or on published API limits and documentation.

softgarden

An onboarding module and an in-house media arm show the hire continues past the offer inside the vendor's own suite, and the terms of use name Textkernel and Cronofy among engaged subcompanies. But we found no public information on an API, on handover to any HR system common in DACH such as Personio or DATEV-connected systems, on SSO, or on e-signature for contracts — so the retyping risk into the HR system is not settled by anything published.

JOIN

A Swiss parent with Swiss governing law and exclusive Swiss venue operates the product alongside German and Spanish subsidiaries, and hosting is stated as "primär in der EU" — a qualifier that leaves parts of the chain unexplained. Subprocessors appear only as categories (job portals, LinkedIn) and we found no public information on a full list or on where CV parsing and the AI features run; ISO 27001:2022 and an Article 27 EU representative are real but do not answer those questions.

softgarden

German hosting on named WIIT and Equinix data centres in Frankfurt and Düsseldorf, a Berlin contracting entity with a German register number and VAT ID, a published subcompany list including Textkernel, a downloadable data-processing agreement, ISO 27001/27017/27018 and DEKRA certifications, and the statement that no third-country transfer of applicant data takes place — that is most of the chain evidenced. Two things hold it back: the collected sovereignty information flags a US Cloud Act exposure via the support tool Intercom, which softgarden engages through its Irish entity and says only handles support requesters' business email, and we found no public information on where the AI matching runs or which provider it uses.

JOIN

Standard at 17 € pro Job/Monat and Advanced at 34 € pro Job/Monat with annual billing, both up to 15 active jobs, plus VAT treatment, payment terms and notice periods are public and clear. But we found no public information on the cost of paid job-board postings, and Enterprise from 15 open roles is quoted only as "Staffelpreise" behind a contact prompt — at my volume, the invoice is a sales conversation.

softgarden

The Core tier is public at ab 199 € / Monat including five advertised jobs and unlimited users, VAT treatment is given as "Alle Preise zzgl. MwSt.", and a brochure with all packages, functions and prices is offered for download. But the All-in-One tier is "Individuelle Preisgestaltung", and we found no public information on job-board posting costs, prices for the AI modules or other add-ons, or the minimum term — so the real annual invoice is not computable from the pages alone.