TestGorilla is a Gem alternative for recruiting teams that want candidate sourcing and skills assessments in one platform. Gem, the recruiting platform at gem.com, combines a recruiting CRM, outreach sequences, AI sourcing, and an optional applicant tracking system (ATS). Its AI scores each candidate against your criteria by reading their resume or public profile. Gorilla Sourcing, TestGorilla's sourcing product, also explains every match. Then it shows a skill score for each candidate who completes a TestGorilla assessment. Choose Gem to run your recruiting pipeline in one system. Choose TestGorilla to see assessment results next to the match reasons.
How does TestGorilla compare with Gem?
| Gem | TestGorilla (Gorilla Sourcing) |
What it does | Recruiting CRM, outreach sequences, AI sourcing, scheduling, and analytics, with an optional ATS | AI candidate sourcing and skills assessments in one platform |
Where the candidate data comes from | Gem's database of public profiles, your existing Gem candidates, and one-click adds from 20+ sourcing sites, according to Gem | Profiles gathered from public sources, plus candidates who've taken a TestGorilla assessment |
Skills-tested candidates | Not offered as a searchable pool | 3M+ candidates with an existing TestGorilla skill score |
Evidence shown per criterion | Yes: a confidence score for each criterion, read from the resume or profile | Yes: match, no match, or a blank where the profile says nothing, with evidence from the profile |
Assessment built in | No skills tests of its own. Gem ATS supports take-home assignments and partner tests, such as CodeSignal, as interview stages | Yes: one assessment per role |
Published pricing | For startups and staffing firms, on Gem's pricing page. Other plans are custom | Yes, on the TestGorilla pricing page |
Best for | Teams that want their CRM, outreach, and ATS in one system | Teams that want completed assessment results next to the match reasons before the hiring manager interview |
What is Gem?
Gem is a recruiting platform for candidate sourcing, built around a recruiting CRM. It finds candidates, emails them in multi-step sequences, schedules interviews, and reports on the pipeline, either on top of your existing ATS ("Gem + Your ATS") or with Gem's own ATS ("Gem All-in-One").
Gem's AI features require an AI-Powered seat. The AI Sourcing Agent searches what Gem describes as 800M+ public profiles, and it resurfaces past candidates from your Gem CRM. AI match scores rate each candidate against each criterion you write. AI App Review does the same for inbound applications.
Recruiters praise the CRM most. As of September 28, 2026, Gem had 4.7 out of 5 on G2 from 307 reviews. In a July 2025 G2 review, Kay R. wrote: "Being able to see recruiting activity easily on dashboards. Sequences make candidate outreach easy, too."
The best insights on HR and recruitment, delivered to your inbox.
Biweekly updates. No spam. Unsubscribe any time.
What does Gem cost?
As of September 28, 2026, Gem publishes prices for startups and for staffing firms. Its main corporate plans are custom quotes based on company headcount, according to Gem's pricing page, and AI features require an AI-Powered seat. The startup price selector and the staffing pricing page both open on yearly billing.
Plan | Who it's for | Monthly billing | Yearly billing (a month) | What's included |
Startup Program | Startups with 1–100 employees, priced by company-size band | $300–$900 a month | $130–$405 a month | AI sourcing and CRM, analytics, scheduling, and ATS |
Essentials (staffing) | Recruiting and staffing firms, up to three users | $139 per user | $99 per user | 150 email-finding credits per user a month |
Professional (staffing) | Recruiting and staffing firms, up to 10 users | $199 per user | $149 per user | 750 email-finding credits per user a month |
Enterprise (staffing) | Larger recruiting and staffing firms | Custom | Custom | Adds Gem's AI suite: Sourcing, Application Review, and Sequences |
Gem's pricing pages with monthly billing selected, September 28, 2026. Both open on yearly billing, which shows $130 for the smallest startup band and $99 and $149 per user for staffing.
Startup offer. Startups with fewer than 30 employees get Gem All-in-One free for six months, then 50% off the first paid year, according to Gem's homepage.
Trial. Essentials and Professional have a seven-day trial. Only recruiting and staffing firms are eligible for them.
AI on staffing plans. Essentials and Professional don't list Gem's AI suite. Only Enterprise does.
What do you get back from each tool?
Both tools explain why each candidate matched, using what the profile says. TestGorilla also shows a skill score from an assessment the candidate completed.
Example candidate views. Top: Gem's AI review panel, from Gem's public help center (AI match scores). Bottom: a Gorilla Sourcing candidate card. Both rate each criterion from the profile. They are different roles, not the same search.
Gem's criteria guide tells recruiters to leave skills a resume can't show to the interview. The guide says: "Avoid qualifications that can't be easily determined by reading a LinkedIn-type profile or resume." Its example of one to leave out is "can write idiomatic python code," filed under "better evaluated in an interview." Gem's sourcing documentation says the AI scores each criterion against "the candidate's resume or public profile."
Gem's guide to writing AI scoring criteria, help.gem.com, read September 28, 2026.
TestGorilla's profile matches have the same limit. A profile shows what candidates wrote about themselves. In TestGorilla's Recruiting 2026 survey of 1,428 US talent professionals, 52.5% believed most or all of the profiles and resumes they read were written by AI. Nine in 10 said sourced candidates' claimed AI skills had turned out weaker than their profile at least sometimes.
Hiring research points the same way. In a 2022 review, Sackett and colleagues estimated how closely hiring methods correlate with job performance: .07 for years of experience, .40 for job knowledge tests, .33 for work samples, and .42 for structured interviews. The review compares methods, not products.
A completed assessment adds evidence of the skills it tested. Gorilla Assessments puts that result on the candidate's card in Gorilla Sourcing, next to the match reasons. The Skills tested tab shows candidates who already have a TestGorilla score from an earlier assessment. For your role, you invite candidates to one assessment, so completed results compare directly.
A candidate's completed assessment results in TestGorilla: an overall percentile, then the result for each test. One click from the candidate's card.
What each tool hands you. Gem hands you a score read from the resume. TestGorilla adds a completed assessment result beside the reasons each candidate matched. That's a shortlist that defends itself.
How does TestGorilla source candidates?
Gorilla Sourcing keeps candidate search, outreach, and assessment results in one platform, in four steps.
Describe the role. Type a job title, paste the job description, or write the brief in your own words.
Set the bar. The AI turns your brief into criteria, including ones you implied but didn't spell out. Must haves decide who appears. Nice to haves set the order. Criteria you write in your own words are always nice to haves.
See who fits, and why. Gorilla Sourcing searches 900M+ profiles. Every criterion gets a match, a no match, or a blank where the profile says nothing, with the evidence beside it. Names, photos, follower counts, and polished writing don't affect the ranking.
Add an assessment. Email candidates from your connected mailbox, and invite the ones you like to the role's assessment. Build it from skills tests, job simulations, AI interviews, custom questions, and resume scoring. Each job keeps one pipeline: Leads, Contacted, Invited to assessment, and Completed assessment.
The Skills tested tab in Gorilla Sourcing shows only candidates who already have a TestGorilla score.
TestGorilla's library has 350+ skills tests. Each one is developed with at least two subject matter experts, and the library draws on O*NET, the US Department of Labor's skills database. Read about the science behind TestGorilla's assessments.
When is Gem the better choice?
Gem is the better fit when:
You want one system for the whole pipeline. Gem covers CRM, sequences, scheduling, analytics, and, on All-in-One, the ATS. TestGorilla doesn't replace an ATS or a recruiting CRM.
You run a recruiting agency built on outreach. Gem's sequences and pipeline reporting are what its reviewers praise most, and its staffing plans are self-serve with a seven-day trial.
You're a startup under 30 employees. Six months of Gem All-in-One for free is hard to beat on cost.
You already test skills with a tool you trust. If CodeSignal or iMocha runs as a stage in Gem ATS, Gem may cover what you need.
Which one should you choose?
Stay with Gem if its CRM and sequences do what you need and your shortlists already hold up with your hiring manager.
Move finding and assessing to TestGorilla if the gap is knowing who can do the job before the interview. Keep Gem for candidate history, and keep your ATS. Gorilla Sourcing takes over finding, emailing, and assessing candidates for the role.
To compare fairly, run one open role through both with the same criteria. Compare the matches first. Then compare the skills evidence each shortlist carries, including any partner-test results in Gem, and what it takes to hand each one to your hiring manager. For more options, see our guide to talent sourcing software.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best Gem recruiting alternatives?
Gem recruiting alternatives depend on which part of Gem you'd replace. Teams replacing the whole platform compare all-in-one recruiting systems such as Ashby. Teams replacing the sourcing side compare AI sourcing tools such as Juicebox, hireEZ, and SeekOut. TestGorilla is the alternative for teams that want sourcing and skills assessments in one platform, with assessment results next to the reasons each candidate matched.
How much does Gem cost?
As of September 28, 2026, Gem's corporate plans are custom quotes based on company headcount, and AI features require an AI-Powered seat. The Startup Program costs $130–$405 a month billed yearly, or $300–$900 billed monthly, for 1–100 employees. For staffing firms, Essentials costs $99 per user a month billed yearly or $139 monthly. Professional costs $149 or $199. Enterprise is custom.
Is Gem an ATS or a CRM?
Gem is a recruiting CRM and, through Gem All-in-One, an applicant tracking system. It started as a CRM for sourcing and outreach, and announced Gem ATS in September 2023. "Gem + Your ATS" adds sourcing, CRM, scheduling, and analytics on top of an ATS such as Greenhouse. Some features, such as take-home assignments, only work in Gem ATS.
Does Gem offer a free trial?
Gem's staffing plans, Essentials and Professional, come with a seven-day trial, and only recruiting and staffing firms can buy them. Corporate plans are sold through a demo with Gem's sales team. Startups with fewer than 30 employees get Gem All-in-One free for six months, then 50% off the first paid year, according to Gem's published offer.
Do I have to replace Gem's ATS or CRM to use TestGorilla?
No. You can keep Gem for candidate history and keep your ATS, whether that's Gem ATS or another system. Gorilla Sourcing, TestGorilla's sourcing product, takes over finding, emailing, and assessing candidates for the roles you move. Start with one open role and compare the shortlists with your hiring manager.
You've scrolled this far
Why not try TestGorilla for free, and see what happens when you put skills first.
