Best Free Resume Builders

You can select a free resume builder, go for the risk-free trials of premium (unlimited) software or you can simply search for free resume and cover letter templates either on the internet or on the resume builders’ websites.

Forever free resume builders

The best option out of all you can choose from to use a resume builder for free is a by using a resume builder service that offers a free plan. There are plenty of companies offering this option and if you are ok with certain limitations – which can be unblocked if you go premium – and/or you just need the resume builder’s services once or a few times, the free pricing plan is definitely a good choice for you.

The only thing you have to do is register on the company’s website and you already have an account. There you can start drafting your resumes without limitations – as none of the companies hinder you from creating resumes. Furthermore, many of the resume builders allow you to import existing documents to your dashboard and sometimes you can create as many resumes as you want. Most of the time (regular) support options are not limited either: you can still use the hints and tips or the pre-written phrases (if there are any), read the blog articles, and get in touch with the staff.

Problems start when you want to create more documents or download them. The better case is when you cannot create unlimited resumes; more annoying is the limitation of the print/download/share/send features, which is very likely with free plans. Furthermore, you have to tolerate that you can create limited cover letters or none at all, your documents will be branded, there are limited templates, font faces and colors, and you cannot track resumes.

Free or risk-free trials for online resume builders

During our research we have encountered an interesting and questionable pricing policy: resume builders don’t like free trials, therefore they either provide free plans with certain limitations or they offer you trials for money. Companies that do offer a free version of their software make it so limited you have no choice but to subscribe to have a useable resume. We consider this method anything but user-friendly, plus it feels like a desperate attempt to get more customers.

That doesn’t mean you cannot take advantage of the paid trials, though. In fact, these trials, which usually last for 14 days, are all risk-free, and if you cancel your subscription within the duration of the trial, you get your money back. This way, you can get to know the chosen software better and you can try out every single feature thereof, like printing/downloading/sharing/sending your documents, resume checkers, complete customer support, various templates, fonts, cover letters etc. without limitations.

Although the free versions of resume builders can be used forever without paying a dime, a risk-free trial is a better choice for those who are planning to subscribe to a premium pricing plan or they want to create only a few resumes and don’t need the software anymore once they are done. In the latter case, however, always cancel your subscription before the end of the trial. Because if you fail to do so, your subscription will be renewed on a monthly base and you might end up paying a fortune for something you don’t need.

Free resume templates

Although our site is about online resume builders and we highly recommend the use thereof, you can still continue using your trusted word processor. In that case, however, you have to do everything by yourself; from editing to section arrangements and converting your documents to PDF. But that doesn’t mean you are forced to build a resume from nothing: all you need to do is search for sample resumes, or better yet, templates in Google and you have plenty of hits with pages full of templates you can save to your hard drive to use them as bases for your own resumes and cover letters.

You are especially lucky if you prefer MS Office software, because Microsoft has 13 resume and cover letter templates on its Office website. In fact, if you have a Microsoft account, you can immediately start using the chosen template with Office Online. Another great solution is Hloom, a website dedicated to free templates of all kinds: invoices, flyers, memos, certificates and, naturally, resumes. In fact, there are 283 templates in total arranged by format and by job fields. The templates are in DOC or DOCX format, so you can open them without problem with MS Office 2007 and up.

And last, but not least, let’s talk about templates you can find on resume builder websites. As we mentioned before, certain software, like Resume Companion, do not force you to become their subscriber; instead they allow you to download its templates without registration.