Careers platform comparison
If you already know Unifrog or Kudos, you probably do not need another long list of careers-platform features. The more useful question is whether your school needs a large account-based careers ecosystem, or a simpler way to get more students engaging with careers guidance and give your team clearer, current evidence to work with.
Certyz takes a different approach. Students can complete the assessment without creating an account or providing an email address, receive personalised career guidance using live and regional labour-market data, and contribute immediately to a school dashboard that updates as assessments are completed.
For careers leaders and senior leadership teams, choosing a careers platform is not simply a feature comparison. It is a decision about student engagement, careers provision, evidence, staff workload and budget.
Certyz, Unifrog and Kudos take different approaches. This comparison focuses on the areas most likely to matter when a school is reviewing its careers provision and deciding where a platform should fit within it.
Why schools consider Certyz
If your priority is getting students to engage with careers guidance, giving them current information they can actually use and giving your team clearer insight into the cohort, a more focused platform can make sense.
Less friction
Students do not need to register, provide an email address or remember another password before completing the Certyz assessment.
Better context
Student reports combine personal career fit with live vacancies, advertised salaries, regional opportunity and graduate-market context.
Clearer evidence
As students complete assessments, your school dashboard updates with aggregated insight into interests, pathways and confidence without requiring manual data entry.
At a glance
Unifrog and Kudos are established careers platforms. Certyz is not trying to reproduce every part of those systems. It focuses on reducing student friction, bringing current labour-market evidence directly into guidance and giving careers teams useful cohort insight without adding unnecessary administration.
| Area | Certyz | Unifrog | Kudos |
|---|---|---|---|
| Getting students started | Students can start immediately. The 6-question assessment requires no account, login or email and is designed to take under 5 minutes. | Account-based student journey within a broader careers and progression platform. | Account-based student journey within an established careers platform. |
| What students receive | A personalised career report combining their interests, subjects and preferred activities with current labour-market evidence. | Broad careers and progression tools within an ongoing student account. | Career exploration and guidance within an ongoing student account. |
| Current labour-market evidence | Live vacancy counts and advertised salary ranges are embedded directly in student reports using the Adzuna API. | Labour-market information forms part of the wider careers platform. | Labour-market information forms part of the wider careers platform. |
| Local relevance | Regional Opportunity Scores across 12 UK regions help students understand how opportunity differs where they live. | Broader careers research is available within the platform. | Broader careers research is available within the platform. |
| Graduate context | HESA graduate data is used alongside vacancy and salary signals to give students additional context about the graduate market. | Graduate-market context may be available elsewhere within the platform, but this page focuses on Certyz’s use of HESA data within student reporting. | Graduate-market context may be available elsewhere within the platform, but this page focuses on Certyz’s use of HESA data within student reporting. |
| School insight | Your dashboard updates in real time as students complete assessments, giving your careers team an immediate aggregated view without manual data entry or assessment exports. | Reporting forms part of a broader school-wide progression platform. | Reporting and careers activity sit within the wider platform. |
| Gatsby evidence | Professional supports evidence relating to Gatsby Benchmarks 1, 2 and 3 alongside your wider careers programme. | Supports schools with careers programme and Gatsby-related reporting. | Supports careers provision within the school. |
| Implementation | Web-based with no app or browser extension required. Students do not need individual accounts to complete the assessment. | A broader account-based platform with more areas of the student progression journey managed within the system. | An established account-based careers platform. |
| Evaluating the platform | Free 12-week pilot with an agreed student cohort. No credit card and no automatic renewal. | Contact the supplier about current demonstration or evaluation options. | Contact the supplier about current demonstration or evaluation options. |
Comparison based on publicly available supplier information and Certyz product information. Schools should confirm current competitor pricing, licensing and product capabilities directly with each supplier before making a procurement decision.
Student participation
If you are running an activity with a whole year group, every additional step matters. Forgotten passwords, account setup and email verification can turn a careers session into an administration exercise.
With Certyz, students can open the assessment and begin. There is no student account, login or email address required.
The assessment contains six questions and is designed to take under five minutes, making it practical for tutor time, careers lessons, assemblies and larger cohort activities.
Account-based platforms can make sense when you want students maintaining an ongoing record across many parts of their progression journey. Certyz removes that requirement where the immediate goal is careers exploration and useful insight.
Labour-market information
You can tell a student that a career is growing or that salaries are competitive. It is much more useful when they can see the current evidence behind that conversation.
Certyz places live vacancy counts and advertised salary ranges directly inside the student's report using data from the Adzuna API.
Regional Opportunity Scores cover 12 UK regions, so a student in the South West does not have to rely on a single national picture when exploring their options.
HESA graduate data provides additional context around graduate supply. The result is a careers conversation that combines personal fit with evidence about the market students may eventually enter.
Data used within Certyz student reports
Labour-market information is intended to add context to a student's choices. It does not determine which career a student should pursue.
Careers leadership
Careers teams need visibility as well as student-facing guidance. The Certyz school dashboard updates in real time as students complete assessments.
There is no need to manually transfer assessment responses into a spreadsheet or export assessment results before careers leaders can begin seeing participation and aggregated cohort patterns.
On the Professional plan, Certyz can support evidence relating to Gatsby Benchmarks 1, 2 and 3.
Professional plan
Benchmark 1
A stable careers programme
Benchmark 2
Learning from career and labour-market information
Benchmark 3
Addressing the needs of each pupil
Gatsby evidence support is part of Professional, not Starter. Certyz supports a school's wider careers programme rather than replacing the activities required to meet the Gatsby Benchmarks.
Choosing the right approach
You may already use, or have considered, Unifrog or Kudos. They are established platforms and may be the right fit if your school wants students working within a broad account-based environment across multiple stages of their progression journey.
Certyz is designed for a different requirement.
If you want to get students exploring careers quickly, connect their choices with current labour-market evidence and understand what is happening across your cohort without introducing another complex student workflow, Certyz gives you a more focused option.
You are not paying for complexity simply because careers software has traditionally been delivered that way. Starter is £495 per academic year + VAT and Professional is £995 per academic year + VAT, with a free 12-week pilot available before you commit.
The question is therefore not which platform has the longest feature list. It is which platform solves the careers problems your school actually needs to solve.
Certyz pricing
Certyz publishes its school pricing so careers leaders and budget holders can understand the likely cost before starting a conversation.
Up to 250 students and 3 staff accounts
£495/ academic year + VAT
Up to 1,000 students and unlimited staff accounts
£995/ academic year + VAT
Includes Gatsby Benchmark 1, 2 and 3 evidence support.
Tailored pricing is available for MATs, larger schools and colleges.
View full pricingBefore committing, consider testing the student journey with a real cohort. Look at participation, the quality of the guidance students receive, the usefulness of the resulting school insight and the amount of staff administration required.
Certyz offers schools a free 12-week pilot with an agreed student cohort so careers teams can evaluate the platform in their own setting before taking out an annual subscription.
Evaluate Certyz in your school
Use Certyz with an agreed student cohort and see how the assessment, student reports and school insight fit into your existing careers programme.
No credit card. No automatic renewal.
