Interview Signal vs ReCo: two bot-free interview tools for recruiters compared

ReCo and Interview Signal both transcribe interviews without a bot joining the call and both keep the transcript on the recruiter's own device, but they help at different moments. ReCo (usereco.io) is a Chrome extension that reads Google Meet and Microsoft Teams captions and is built around the written client recommendation, drafted paragraph by paragraph and exported to Word, for €39 per license per month as of November 2026. Interview Signal (interviewersignal.com) is a Windows and macOS desktop app built around the live interview: a question guide from the job description, follow-ups during the call and a scorecard whose quotes are checked against the transcript, from $49 a month on Solo. Neither writes into an applicant tracking system (ATS). Choose ReCo if your calls are on Meet or Teams and the report is the slow part of your week; choose Interview Signal if you need Zoom or softphone screens covered, or want help while the candidate is still talking.

We make Interview Signal. Every fact about ReCo below was checked on ReCo's own site, help center, Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions on November 2, 2026, and is linked so you can confirm it. For ReCo on its own, see ReCo for recruiting.

Interview Signal vs ReCo at a glance

Sources: ReCo's transcription page, help center, reports page, Privacy Policy and pricing, all as of November 2026; Interview Signal pricing and security.

How does each tool get into the call?

ReCo never touches the call's audio on video interviews. Its transcription page says it reads the closed captions that Google Meet or Microsoft Teams generate, so no audio or video is captured. The condition is that both the call and ReCo run in Chrome; the Teams and Meet desktop apps are not supported. The help center lists the usual fixes when nothing appears: turn on Meet's captions, match the call language in ReCo, and keep Meet and ReCo in the same Chrome profile. Zoom is not named.

Interview Signal listens to the audio already running through the interviewer's computer, so it works beside Zoom, Teams and Meet without reading a browser tab, and it does not depend on captions being switched on. The trade-off is that the audio itself leaves the machine: it goes to a speech-to-text provider in short chunks during the call and is not retained. ReCo's caption method sends no audio at all for online calls, which is a genuine privacy advantage if your interviews are all on Meet or Teams.

Neither adds a participant, so neither gets held in a Teams lobby, and neither gives the candidate an on-screen cue. Interview Signal provides a read-aloud consent line, notice text by jurisdiction and a one-click pause; ReCo's terms include a candidate notice you can paste into an invitation. Either way, tell the candidate; our consent script has wording.

Phone screens and in-person interviews

For phone screens, the two tools ask for different habits. ReCo's method is to call from your own phone, put it on speakerphone next to the laptop and let the computer microphone pick up both sides; audio streams to Speechmatics in the EU and is not stored, and the mode is a paid add-on, enabled after you contact ReCo and priced on request. Interview Signal captures a phone screen the same way it captures a video call, through the computer's audio, so a softphone or calling app on the desktop works on every plan. A call on a mobile that never runs through the computer is not a phone screen it can label; putting the mobile on speaker puts both voices on your microphone, which is the in-person case below.

In person, ReCo is the stronger of the two. Its Privacy Policy says speakers are told apart, though not identified, when it transcribes from the microphone. Interview Signal transcribes an in-person interview, but both voices go on the interviewer's microphone, so it cannot verify quotes as the candidate's: areas come back "Probe further", scores above 5 are capped, and follow-ups and "Score as we go" do not start on their own. You press Evaluate, add your own scores with +, and press the refresh arrow for follow-ups. If in-person interviews are most of your work, read AI note takers for in-person interviews before choosing either.

What happens during the interview?

ReCo puts the context on one screen: the job description, the CV (with personal details blinded before AI sees it), your Session Guide with its questions, your notes and the live transcript. Help comes when you ask for it. Chat with ReCo has read the CV, the role and the call so far, and its Suggest Questions action proposes STAR-method questions from the role, the CV and the live transcript (interview guides page).

Interview Signal works on the interview without being asked. Its question guide is built from the job description, and must-ask questions stay pinned until you have asked them. It suggests follow-ups with a reason (probe, clarify, evidence), fills a scorecard as the interview goes, and scores on demand when you press Evaluate; an optional second model (Dual AI) gives another read. A private answer check flags answers that read as AI-written or read out, with a question to try; it never changes a score and never goes into the submittal. Panels can split questions across interviewers, sharing only which questions each person marked as asked, not scores or transcripts.

What do you have when the call ends?

ReCo's strength is the document. Its report editor writes one paragraph per requirement in your guide, and for each paragraph you choose the evidence it may use: transcript, CV, Session Notes, job description or Guide Notes. You can regenerate one block with your own instruction, write a section by hand and export an editable Word document on your firm's or your client's letterhead. That level of control over a long executive search report is something Interview Signal does not offer: it drafts the submittal in the agency's template and can rewrite it with your own notes from the call, but you do not pick the sources paragraph by paragraph.

ReCo also says it "does not score or rank candidates". Interview Signal does: each score in its scorecard carries the candidate's own quotes, and any quote that is not in the transcript is removed before you see it. It then writes the client submittal and exports to copy, Markdown, Word, a CSV row, email, Slack, next-round questions, and notes shaped for Bullhorn, Greenhouse, Lever or JobAdder. If your clients or hiring managers compare candidates on rated evidence, that is the deciding difference; if they read a narrative recommendation, ReCo's editor may suit you better.

Where does the candidate's data go?

The two tools are closer here than most pairs. ReCo's terms say transcripts, CVs, reports and chat history are stored locally in your browser and stay there after you cancel. When you run an AI feature, the sources you chose go to OpenAI's API with speaker names replaced by "Recruiter" and "Candidate", and the Privacy Policy says OpenAI keeps API inputs for up to 30 days and does not train on them. ReCo is based in Poland and its terms include a GDPR data processing addendum.

Interview Signal keeps transcripts, quotes, candidate names, notes and submittals on the recruiter's computer; the server keeps only counts and durations. Two caveats: the candidate's name and company are sent to the AI model when it writes the submittal, and saved roles (title, job description, brief, kit) and templates are stored on the team account (security details). Interview Signal has no CV blinding step, which ReCo has. For the questions to ask any vendor, see where AI note takers store interview data.

On ATS integration they are level: neither has one. ReCo exports to Word; Interview Signal gives you text shaped for four ATSs that you paste in.

Pricing compared

ReCo publishes one license at €39 per month, plus VAT for businesses (VAT included for individuals), with a 14-day free trial and no card; five or more licenses and the phone and face-to-face add-on are quoted on request (ReCo pricing). Interview Signal's free plan is 20 minutes of transcription with no card, then hours at $9 for one, $29 for five or $69 for fifteen that never expire; Solo is $49 a month or $468 a year; Team is $59 a seat a month, or $49 billed yearly, with a minimum of three seats (pricing). ReCo prices in euros and Interview Signal in dollars; we have not converted them.

ReCo's trial is the more generous way to test a real workflow: two weeks against 20 minutes. Interview Signal's pay as you go is the better deal for a hiring manager with a handful of interviews a month.

Choose ReCo if / choose Interview Signal if

Choose ReCo if:

• Every interview is on Google Meet or Teams, and taking them in Chrome is fine.
• Your output is a long written recommendation, and you want control over each paragraph's sources.
• You want no audio processed on video calls, and CVs blinded before AI sees them.
• You interview in person often and can pay for the microphone add-on.

Choose Interview Signal if:

• Clients host on Zoom, or you would rather not move every Teams or Meet call into Chrome.
• You screen by softphone and want that included in the price.
• You want a question guide, follow-ups and a scorecard during the call, not only after it.
• Your clients compare candidates on scores backed by checked quotes.

Both are young products, and Interview Signal has few public reviews, does not record video and is desktop only, so test either on real interviews before you commit a desk. Other bot-free tools are compared in AI note takers without a bot, and Interview Signal vs Tactiq covers another caption-based extension.

What to test before you decide

Run the same interviews through ReCo's trial and Interview Signal's free minutes, with candidates told, and check:

1. A Teams interview hosted by a client. Could you join in the
   way you normally do, and did the transcript start?
2. A phone screen on your usual setup. Was each speaker's
   text labelled correctly?
3. Three names and three numbers from the transcript. Were
   they right?
4. The time from hanging up to a report or submittal you
   would actually send to the client.
5. How you would delete one candidate's interview on request,
   and what happens when you move to a new laptop.

Score the answers the same day. If the first test fails because your clients use Zoom or the Teams app, ReCo is out; if your week is long written reports from Meet calls, its editor is hard to beat.