# Free Resume Builder > Build a resume from 24 free templates, each graded by a real ATS parser, and export PDF and Word with no watermark. A checklist names the line to fix. Source: https://www.revquix.com/tools/resume-builder Cost: free, needs a free account --- Build a resume from 24 free templates, check it with a real ATS parser, and export PDF and Word with no watermark. A free account saves your work; optional AI help uses credits, and new accounts get 20 free. ## At a glance - You give: Your history - typed, or imported from a PDF, Word file, LinkedIn or resume.json - You get: PDF, Word, text and JSON files, plus a checklist of what to fix - Takes: About fifteen minutes from an empty document - Costs: Nothing to build or export. AI assists are optional, 1-3 credits ## What an ATS actually does to your resume An applicant tracking system does not look at your resume. It runs a parser over the file, pulls out whatever text it can find, and hands a recruiter a structured record built from that text. Everything a human eventually sees is downstream of that extraction, which means a beautiful document that parses badly is worse than a plain one that parses cleanly. The failures are boringly consistent. Two columns interleave into nonsense because the parser reads left to right across the page. Text baked into an image or an icon font extracts as nothing at all. Invented section headings like "My Journey" are not recognised as Experience, so the roles under them are filed nowhere. Dates written as 03/2021 are ambiguous, and a parser that guesses wrong puts your most recent job last. ## What this builder does about it 24 templates, and every one is rendered through our own ATS parser before it ships. The 12 single-column templates use real headings and no tables, text boxes or header regions, and pass every check. The two-column designs pass every check but one, a warning about non-standard section labels, and the Word and plain text exports are always one column. Each template shows its grade. As you type, a checklist runs against the document and names the specific line that needs work: a bullet that runs past the length a recruiter scans, a role with no measurable result in it, a date range that reads as a gap. It is not a score out of 100 and it never invents one. - Single-column templates for any careers portal, each passing every parser check - Standard section headings a parser recognises without guessing - Real selectable text with the fonts embedded, never an image of text - Dates in one unambiguous format across every entry ## Four formats, and the parse check You get a PDF and a Word document from the same source, so the two can never disagree, a plain text version for the forms that ask you to paste, and a JSON Resume file as a backup. Most builders charge for the Word export or leave it out; it is free here because some older systems still parse .docx more reliably than any PDF. Then the part no other builder can offer: export the real file and run it through our own ATS checker, the same engine an employer's screener behaves like. You see the extracted text in reading order and every check named - single column, selectable text, standard headings, contact parseable, fonts embedded, chronology. Not a preview of your resume, but the thing a machine reads back from it. ## What it will not do It will not hide the trade-off. A two-column design reads well to a person and costs a little with some parsers, and the grade on each template says exactly what it gives up. If you want a design portfolio piece, build it somewhere else and keep a single-column version for the applications that go through a screener. It will not write your resume for you. The optional AI rephrases lines you wrote and asks you for facts you have not written down yet; where a bullet needs a number your material does not contain, it marks a placeholder instead of inventing one. And it cannot tell you whether a specific company's system will like your file - no tool can, because those systems are configured privately. What it can tell you is what text comes back out of your file, which is the part that is knowable. ## Questions people ask ### Is the resume builder really free? Building, editing, and exporting to PDF, Word or plain text cost nothing, with no watermark, no export limit and no card at signup. The four optional AI assists cost 1-3 credits each and always say what they cost before they run. A new account starts with 20 credits. ### Is there a watermark or a download limit? No. PDF, Word (.docx), plain text and JSON exports are all free, with no watermark, no limit on how many times you export and no paid tier on the download. The download is the step where many builders ask for payment; here every format is free from the first resume. ### Why do I need an account for a free tool? Because your resume is saved to it. The document lives on our servers so you can come back to it from another device, and it stays until you delete it - there is no timer. Without an account we would either lose your work when the tab closed or have to build a claim flow, and both are worse than one sign-in. ### How many templates are there, and are they ATS-friendly? 24, all free. 12 are single-column and pass every check our ATS parser runs on the exported file. The rest are two-column designs that pass every check but one, a warning about non-standard section labels, with nothing blocking. Each template shows its grade before you choose it, and the Word and plain text exports are always one column. ### Is the AI free? The builder is free; the four AI assists use credits, and each says its price before it runs: the Impact Interview is 1 credit per role, sharpening bullets is 1 per 5 bullets, a summary draft is 1, and tailoring to a job description is 3. New accounts get 20 credits, and a failed run costs nothing. ### Should I send the PDF or the Word file? Send the PDF unless the posting asks for a .docx. Our PDF has selectable text and embeds its fonts, which is what makes a PDF safe rather than the format itself; for a careers portal, a single-column template is the safest choice. Use the Word file when a form explicitly wants one, and the plain text version for boxes that ask you to paste your resume in. ### Does the AI write my resume for me? No, and it is built so it cannot. The assists rephrase lines you wrote and elicit facts you have not written down yet - the Impact Interview asks you three to five questions about one job and builds bullets from your answers. Where a line needs a figure your material does not contain, it inserts a marked placeholder rather than inventing a number. ### Can I import a resume I already have? Yes - a PDF or Word file up to 10 MB, your LinkedIn profile saved as a PDF, or a resume.json. Everything imported goes through a review step first where anything the parser was unsure about is flagged amber for you to confirm, so nothing lands in your document unchecked. ### Can I import my LinkedIn profile? Yes, through LinkedIn's own Save to PDF option on your profile page. Save that PDF, then import it here like any other resume: your roles, education and skills come in through the same review step, with anything the parser was unsure about flagged for you to confirm before it lands in your document. ### How many resumes can I keep? Up to 10 per account, for example one for each kind of role you apply for. Each one is saved until you delete it, with no timer, and deleting one makes room for another. Every version can be exported in every format as often as you like. ### Can I add a photo? Yes. Add one and choose its shape, size and which side it sits on. A photo carries no text, so it does not change what a parser reads from the rest of your resume. Whether to include one is the employer's convention rather than the software's, so leave it off where a posting or a country's norms ask you to. ### Is a CV the same as a resume? In India the two words are mostly used interchangeably for a job application, and one document serves both. Strictly, a CV is a longer and complete record of education, research and work, used mainly for academic roles, while a resume is a one or two page summary aimed at one job. This builder makes the second, and auto-fit keeps it to one or two pages.