Kickresume is a European resume builder with a large template catalogue, an AI writer, an ATS checker, a LinkedIn and PDF importer and a free tier that actually lets you download: four basic templates, unlimited downloads, no subscription required. Premium unlocks the other forty templates, full customisation, the AI writer and the ATS checker, priced at $24 / €24 a month, $18 / €18 a month quarterly or $8 / €8 a month yearly when we checked (the same numbers in both currencies), with a 14-day money-back guarantee and free Premium for students. This review covers what the free tier is good for, what Premium adds, how the templates behave in an ATS, and where Kickresume sits against builders with a subscription trap and against free ATS checkers.
Key takeaways
- A real free tier: four templates, unlimited downloads, no card.
- Premium is $24 / €24 monthly, $18 quarterly or $8 a month yearly, free for verified students.
- The AI Writer’s draft lands in a Premium template with Premium sections, so its PDF is locked until you switch templates or pay.
- ATS checker is a Premium feature, which is the tool you would need to judge the designed templates.
- Best for: students, and anyone who wants a free download from a European, GDPR-hosted builder.
How this review was done
Verdict in one paragraph
Kickresume is one of the more honest deals among resume builders: the free tier produces a real, downloadable resume, the paid tiers are subscriptions you choose rather than trials that convert, students get Premium free, and the company is EU-hosted under GDPR. Its weakness is the same as most design-led builders: many of the premium templates are two-column, photo-first designs that look excellent and parse unevenly, and the ATS checker that would catch that is itself a Premium feature. If you like a current look but apply through portals, our modern resume templates include one-column designs with a single accent color. One more thing to know before you rely on the free tier: the AI Writer's draft is created in a Premium template with a Premium font and Premium sections, so the resume it hands you cannot be downloaded as a PDF until you either pay or rebuild it in a free template. Use a single-column template, and test the export with a free file-level checker before you upload it anywhere.
Kickresume pricing (14 September 2026)
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 / €0 | 4 basic resume templates, 4 cover letter templates, 1 website template, 20,000 pre-written phrases, 1,500+ examples, unlimited downloads |
| Monthly | $24 / €24 per month | 40+ resume and cover letter templates, all colours and fonts, AI Writer, ATS Resume Checker, Career Map, ATS analytics, personalised AI features, LinkedIn and PDF import, mobile apps, priority support |
| Quarterly | $18 / €18 per month, $54 / €54 every 3 months | Everything in Monthly, plus $72 / €72 in gift vouchers |
| Yearly | $8 / €8 per month, $96 / €96 every 12 months | Everything in Monthly, plus $120 / €120 in gift vouchers |
What Kickresume does well
- A real free tier. Four templates and unlimited downloads with no trial, which is more than Resume Now, Resume Genius or Zety offer.
- A well-made catalogue. Forty-plus templates the company says were designed with recruiters and typographers, matching cover letters, and a personal-website builder.
- Imports. Load an existing PDF or a LinkedIn profile and edit from there (Premium).
- AI Writer. Generates a draft from a job title and a posting; good for a first pass, needs numbers added.
- Student policy and EU hosting. Free Premium for verified students; data hosted in the EU under GDPR.
Where it falls short
- Design-first templates parse unevenly. Two-column and sidebar layouts, icon rows and skill graphics are common in the premium catalogue; each of those is a documented cause of extraction loss.
- The AI draft is locked behind Premium by default. When we let the AI Writer create a resume, the editor reported "This resume uses 3 premium features" (the Sharp template, the IBM Plex Serif font, and the Skills and Strengths sections), and the Download page offered only "Export Text Only" with "Download as PDF" greyed out under "Upgrade to unlock". Switch to one of the four free templates and delete the Premium sections to get the free PDF.
- The ATS checker is paid. The tool that would tell you which templates to avoid is behind Premium.
- Monthly price is high. $24 / €24 a month is at the top of the market; the yearly plan is the sensible one if you pay at all.
- Free customisation is limited. Free users get two fonts and limited colours; that is by design, and it is disclosed.
Are Kickresume templates ATS-friendly?
The simpler templates are; the popular designed ones need care. Pick single-column layouts, keep skills as text, keep contact details in the body and export as PDF. Then read what a parser extracts: the free ATS resume checker shows the extracted text and 34 findings without an account, so you can test a Kickresume export before deciding whether the template is safe for online applications.
What OwlApply does differently (and what it does not)
- Kickresume wins the free download. Four templates, unlimited exports, no card. OwlApply has no free PDF export (the download needs Pro), and pretending otherwise would be the kind of claim this review exists to check.
- What OwlApply gives away instead: the free ATS resume checker with no account and no Premium tier, on any file including a Kickresume export. Kickresume’s own ATS checker is behind Premium, which is the tool you would need to judge its designed templates.
- Different bundle. Kickresume Premium is $24 monthly or $8 a month yearly. OwlApply's plans and current prices are on the pricing page, and Pro adds the job board that ranks openings against your resume, the autofill extension, the job tracker and live AI mock interview practice.
- Where Kickresume wins: a larger and better-designed catalogue, a personal-website builder, mobile apps, and free Premium for verified students. For a creative-industry resume it is the stronger product.
The other builders we tested the same way
We opened an account on each of these and checked the price it showed on the same day, so the numbers can be compared against one another: Zety (trial-then-subscription), Resume Now (trial-then-subscription), Resume Genius (trial-then-subscription), Enhancv (seven-day free plan), Canva (free design tool), Teal (free tracker plus builder), Resume Worded (feedback tool, not a builder). All nine, including OwlApply, are set side by side in the best AI resume builders comparison, with the same-day prices in one table.
Test any exported resume, from any builder
Upload the PDF, read the extracted text and the file-level findings with their fixes. Free, no account, deleted after 24 hours.