Honest comparison
career-ops is a genuinely good open-source toolkit — free, MIT-licensed, with a large community. If you are a developer who enjoys the terminal, use it; this page will not talk you out of that. The real question is a fork, not a fight: do you want to operate a tool, or do you want the finished research in your inbox?
Runs on your machine inside an AI coding CLI (Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI and others). It scans public job boards and company career pages, scores each listing against your CV, drafts tailored documents, and tracks your applications — all in local files you own. You bring the AI subscription, the terminal comfort, and the hours; it brings well-built structure and zero cost.
Its own philosophy is human-in-the-loop: the tool prepares, you verify and decide.
You fill one guided brief and upload your resume. Four business days later you receive the finished package: a scored pipeline of target roles, 10 company deep-dives with sourced figures, compensation bands, a strategy playbook, and your resume rewritten ATS-plain — plus a private workbench with weekly verified job updates for the first month.
Every claim passes a deterministic verification gate and human review before it ships — the checking is the product.
| career-ops (DIY) | CareerIntel (done for you) | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Open-source toolkit you run in an AI coding CLI | Done-for-you research package, delivered to your inbox |
| Price | Free (MIT) + your AI subscription + your hours | ₹1,499 one-time, first month of weekly updates included |
| Setup | Terminal, Node.js, an AI CLI, YAML config, tuning over weeks | One guided brief + resume upload, ~10 minutes |
| Time to value | Its own docs: early evaluations need nurturing before they get good | 4 business days to the finished package |
| Who does the work | You — scans, evaluations, tailoring, tracking | We do — you review the finished research |
| Verification | You review AI output yourself (batch results are labeled unconfirmed) | Deterministic verification gate + human review before anything ships |
| India coverage | US/EU-weighted boards; India thinner | India-first: ₹ comp bands, CTC vs in-hand, Indian boards + enterprise portals |
| Ongoing updates | Re-run scans yourself, whenever you like | Weekly verified digest — month 1 included, then ₹299/mo, cancel anytime |
| Application tracking | Local markdown tracker + follow-up cadence | Private workbench with a seeded tracker, follow-up reminders + honest funnel stats |
Fair-use note: career-ops facts reflect its public documentation as of July 2026. It is a moving, well-maintained project — check its repo for the current state.
The software is free and open source (MIT license). Running it is not zero-cost: it works inside an AI coding CLI (Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI and similar), so you bring your own AI subscription or API keys, plus a terminal, Node.js, and the hours to configure and tune it. For developers who enjoy that, it is a genuinely good deal.
No — different systems, same problem. career-ops is a toolkit you operate: it scans job boards, scores listings against your CV and tracks applications on your machine. CareerIntel is a done-for-you research service: you fill one brief, and in 4 business days you receive a scored role pipeline, 10 verified company deep-dives, comp bands, a strategy playbook and a rewritten ATS-ready resume — every claim checked before it ships.
Every CareerIntel package passes a deterministic verification gate before delivery: job links are probed for liveness, every resume claim must trace back to your original resume, company figures must carry a source, and compensation math is re-checked. career-ops is honest about the equivalent limitation — its batch evaluations are labeled unconfirmed and the README tells you to review results yourself. With a DIY tool, you are the verification layer.
career-ops ships strong coverage of US and EU job boards and ATS platforms; India-specific boards and salary conventions are thinner. CareerIntel is India-first: compensation bands in rupees (CTC vs in-hand, LPA conventions), Indian job boards and enterprise career portals, and research on companies actually hiring in Indian metros — alongside international coverage for relocation searches.
Yes, and it is a sensible combination. Some customers use the CareerIntel package to decide where to aim — the scored pipeline, company research and rewritten resume — then run career-ops day-to-day to track applications and catch new postings. The two do not conflict; one is research done for you, the other is a tool you drive.
A one-time ₹1,499 for the full package — research workbook, strategy playbook and rewritten ATS-ready resume, delivered in 4 business days — including one month of weekly verified job-listing updates. After the first month, weekly updates continue at ₹299/month, cancel anytime. No login, no seat licence, no lock-in.
One brief, 4 business days, every claim verified. ₹1,499 with the first month of weekly updates included.
Start your briefOr see exactly how the package is built first.