Application speed vs application selection
ShouldApply vs Simplify: Apply Faster vs Apply Smarter
Simplify's Copilot is a Chrome extension that autofills job applications across ATS platforms like Workday, Greenhouse, and Lever. The free tier is genuinely useful: unlimited autofill, a tracker, and job matching. Simplify+ adds AI resume tailoring, cover letters, and answers to screening questions.
One clarification worth making: Simplify is not true auto-apply. It fills the forms; you still review and click submit on each one. And the deeper difference with ShouldApply is philosophical. Simplify optimizes for application throughput. ShouldApply optimizes for application selection. Speeding up applications to ghost jobs and bad fits just means losing faster.
Last updated
The short version
Speeding up the wrong applications just loses faster
Simplify's free autofill genuinely saves time on repetitive ATS forms, and costs nothing. The disagreement is about whether throughput is the bottleneck.
Everything on this page about Simplify links to their own pages, with the date we checked it.
The short answer
- Pick Simplify if
- Filling ATS forms is your bottleneck. The free autofill genuinely saves time and costs nothing.
- Pick ShouldApply if
- You are applying plenty and converting little, and the problem is which jobs you picked.
The same hundred listings
Two strategies, one identical outcome
Both columns end with thirty real opportunities, because the number of viable roles was fixed before either tool got involved. Only one column spends ninety minutes on the other seventy.
Apply to everything, quickly
Autofill removes the form friction
- Applications sent
- 100
- Ghost jobs among them
- 30
- Depth mismatches
- 40
- Genuinely viable
- 30
Ninety minutes of form-filling, and seventy rejections that were decided before you applied.
Score first, then apply
Scoring removes the wrong targets
- Listings scored
- 100
- Dropped on ghost probability
- 30
- Dropped on depth or salary
- 40
- Applications sent
- 30
The same thirty real opportunities, each one getting a tailored application instead of a template.
This is the whole argument. Volume tools move faster through a list whose composition they cannot change. Filtering changes the composition.
A clarification worth making
Neither of us is really auto-apply
Both products are more careful than the category name suggests, in different ways.
Simplify
The Copilot extension fills form fields from your saved profile on ATS pages. You still find each job, review the filled answers, and click submit yourself. Nothing is submitted on your behalf, which is more honest than the category usually is.
ShouldApply Premium
The Auto-Apply Queue does submit for you, but only after each application is scored and you have explicitly approved it. Automation applied after selection, rather than instead of it.
Feature by feature
ShouldApply and Simplify, side by side
Every row is a claim we would defend in writing. Simplify's free tier does things ours does not.
| Feature | ShouldApplyScore a job free | Simplify |
|---|---|---|
| Core function | Job fit scoring (0-100) | Application autofill + tracker |
| Philosophy | Apply to less, convert more | Apply to more, faster |
| Auto-apply | Approval-gated queue (Premium) | Autofill only, you submit each one |
| Fit explanation | “Why Not 100” deductions | Match tags, no depth breakdown |
| Skill depth analysis | L1–L5 | Not included. No |
| Ghost job detection | Included. Yes (0-95%) | Not included. No |
| Application tracker | Not included. Not yet | Included. Yes |
| Pricing transparency | $14/mo Pro, $29/mo Premium, public | No public pricing page (in-app only) |
| Free tier | 9 tools no signup + limited scoring | Unlimited autofill + tracker |
One thing we will not hedge
You should be able to see the price before you sign up
Simplify publishes no public pricing page; Simplify+ prices appear only inside the app. Independent reviews in 2026 report roughly $39.99 per month, $19.99 per week, or about $90 per quarter, with promotional rates lower. We are citing reviewers rather than the vendor because there is nothing at the vendor to cite, and that is itself the point.
ShouldApply is $14/month for Pro and $29/month for Premium, on a public page, with 9 tools usable without an account.
Our pricing page →Where we are the wrong tool
You probably don't want ShouldApply if
- Filling out ATS forms is genuinely your bottleneck. Simplify's free autofill solves that and we do not.
- You want a Chrome extension. Ours is not shipped.
- You are a student or new grad chasing internship lists, which is Simplify's original and still strongest niche.
- You have already decided where to apply and just want the mechanics faster.
Two speeds
Select carefully, then move quickly
These two genuinely stack. Score to decide, autofill to execute.
Phase one · ShouldApply
Choosing what to apply to
This is a judgment call about depth, level and whether the posting is live. It is the half of the process that determines the outcome, and it does not improve by being done faster.
At the wrong speed: Autofilling forty applications you never evaluated produces forty rejections faster than doing it by hand. Throughput multiplies whatever decision quality you started with, including none.
Phase two · Simplify
Getting through the forms
Retyping your work history into another Workday form is mechanical, repetitive and adds nothing to your chances. This is exactly the half worth automating, and the autofill is free.
At the wrong speed: Doing this slowly by hand is pure waste. The only part worth writing yourself is the open-ended question, guided by the gap report.
Straight answers
Questions about ShouldApply and Simplify
Is Simplify actually auto-apply?
No. The Copilot autofills forms from your saved profile, and you review and submit each application yourself. Nothing goes out without your click. ShouldApply Premium's Auto-Apply Queue submits on your behalf, but only after you approve each queued application.
What does Simplify+ cost?
Simplify doesn't publish pricing; you see it inside the app. Independent reviews in 2026 report roughly $39.99/month, $19.99/week, or about $90 per quarter, with promo rates lower. ShouldApply's pricing is public: free tier, $14/month Pro, $29/month Premium.
Doesn't applying to more jobs improve my odds?
Only if the applications are viable. Sending 100 fast applications where 30 are ghost jobs and 40 are depth mismatches yields the same interviews as 30 targeted ones, with 70 extra rejections for your morale. Scoring first changes the denominator.
Speed is cheap. Selection is the edge.
Score jobs free at ShouldApply, then apply fast wherever you like.
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