Why most “free” builders ask you to sign up
An account is how a builder gets your email for follow-up offers and holds your finished resume until you pay. The sign-up wall usually appears right when you click download — after you've already invested an hour.
We do it the other way round: the editor and the PDF run in your browser, so there is nothing to hold hostage and nothing to log into.
What that means in practice
| Builder | Sign-up | Watermark | PDF download | Subscription | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Resumefoldus | No account, no email | Never | Free PDF in any of 6 templates | None — no trial, nothing renews | $0 · optional $4.90 or $9.90 one-time pack |
| Resume.io | Account needed | — | Free plan: TXT only; PDF needs a paid plan | Yes — $2.95 7-day trial auto-renews | $29.95 every 4 weeks after the trial (or $49.95 per quarter) |
| Cvantra | Account needed (“Join & Get Started”) | — | Paid per document (credits) | No — credits that don’t expire | About €1.49 per CV, €1.99 per AI cover letter; 3 designs |
Privacy, without the account
- Your resume text stays on your device until you press an AI button.
- AI requests send only the text needed for that rewrite; we don't store it.
- We count visits with analytics to improve the site; we don't sell data or run ads. See our privacy page.