For a recruitment firm, reformatting and anonymizing candidate CVs is a repetitive task that eats into billable hours. Each CV arrives in a different layout, with tables, varying fonts, and personal information that must be removed before presenting the profile to a client. Distill tackles precisely this bottleneck. The tool presents itself as an invisible engine that cleans, brands, and anonymizes CVs in about thirty seconds, without manual intervention. Designed for recruitment agencies in the UK, ANZ region, and the European Union, it integrates into existing processes via three channels: simple email transfer, a web interface, or an API. The result is a clean document, compliant with applicant tracking system requirements, ready to send. In this overview, we detail what Distill is, its named features, concrete use cases, benefits, and actual pricing to help you judge whether the tool fits your recruitment activity.
What is Distill?
Distill is an automation engine dedicated to CV formatting and anonymization for recruitment professionals. Concretely, it takes a CV in PDF or Word format as input, then transforms it into a clean and standardized document exported in .docx or .pdf. The processing removes tables, normalizes fonts, and standardizes layout to produce a readable file compatible with applicant tracking systems. At the same time, the tool removes candidate identification elements: name, email, phone, photo, and graduation year. This is not a CV generator for candidates, but a downstream processing tool designed for recruiters, firms, and talent acquisition teams that handle large volumes of incoming profiles.
Main Features
Distill rests on three core features. The first is automatic formatting: the tool converts PDFs and Word documents into clean, ATS-compatible formats by removing tables, normalizing fonts, and standardizing layout. The second is candidate anonymization, which removes name, email, phone, photo, and graduation year, in a zero-retention logic. The third is ATS compatibility, with output claimed to work with over 30 systems, including Bullhorn, Vincere, JobAdder, and Firefish. To adapt to work habits, Distill offers three usage channels: email transfer to a dedicated processing address, a web interface, and API access for custom integrations. Paid plans add elements like brand kits to apply the agency’s visual identity, priority processing queue, and at the highest tier, a dedicated account manager.
Use Cases
The main use case is obvious: an agency receives raw CVs from various sources and must present them to its clients in a homogeneous and unbiased format. With Distill, the recruiter transfers the CV by email or drops it on the interface and retrieves in seconds a branded and anonymized version. Internal talent acquisition teams use it to standardize profiles before selection committees, removing information likely to introduce recruitment bias. RPO providers and staffing agencies handling large volumes can automate the flow via the API so that each incoming CV is processed without human manipulation. Finally, systematic anonymization helps firms subject to compliance requirements present depersonalized applications in line with fair recruitment practices.
Benefits
The most immediate benefit is time saved: what took long minutes of manual reformatting per CV is handled in about thirty seconds. For an agency billing its time, this frees up hours that can be reinvested in sourcing and client relations. The second benefit is consistency: all presented CVs share the same clean layout and branding, which strengthens the firm’s professional image with its clients. The third is compliance and confidentiality: the zero-retention policy, file deletion after processing, and absence of AI training on candidate data address GDPR concerns. Finally, ATS compatibility avoids technical rejections due to poorly structured CVs, streamlining profile passage through client systems.
Pricing
Distill offers a fully free browser option that anonymizes unlimited CVs locally via the integrated AI in Google Chrome, no credit card required. Paid plans follow three tiers, in USD excluding VAT. The Solo plan costs $49/month and covers up to 50 CVs per month, with PDF and Word outputs, API access, unlimited users, and 1 brand kit. The Studio plan at $199/month goes up to 300 monthly CVs, adds 3 brand kits and priority processing queue. The Scale plan at $499/month allows up to 1,000 CVs, unlimited brand kits, a dedicated account manager, and custom billing. Annual subscription offers more than two months free. Note: credits do not roll over from one month to the next.
Conclusion
Distill is a purposeful niche tool, and that is its strength. It does not try to do everything but properly solves one specific recruitment problem: transforming raw CVs into clean, branded, anonymized, and ATS-compatible documents in seconds. For a firm, talent acquisition team, or RPO provider handling regular volumes, the return on investment is easy to measure in billable hours recovered. The free browser option lets you test anonymization without commitment, while paid tiers unlock volume, branding, and API automation. If your activity revolves around presenting candidate applications to clients, Distill deserves a serious try. Outside of recruitment, the tool has no purpose to serve.