Fountain vs Zeal Onboard
Fountain
fountain.comZeal Onboard
zeal.comSide by side
| Figure | Fountain | Zeal Onboard |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | — |
| Free plan | — | — |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | — | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 3 | 2 |
| Spec score · Employment Eligibility Verification Software | 8.3 (#2) | 7.5 (#13) |
| API | Fountain exposes REST APIs for programmatically managing applicants and workers across the product suite. | Zeal provides a REST API with request and response examples and uses API keys for sandbox or production access. |
| Company size | Crunchbase lists Fountain in the 251–500 employee range. | Crunchbase places Zeal in the 11–50 employee range. |
| Founded | 2014 | 2019 |
| Headquarters | Fountain is based in San Francisco, California. | San Francisco, California, United States |
| Integrations | Listed integrations and partners include SAP SuccessFactors, SAP Integration Suite, Checkr, DocuSign, E-Verify, Indeed, HireRight, Harver, Testlify and VONQ. | Listed integration categories include ATS, benefits, registrations, timekeeping, employment verification, location intelligence, tax registrations, background screening, insurance and healthcare insurance. |
| Security | Fountain’s security whitepaper describes AES-256 encryption at rest, TLS encryption in transit, SAML 2.0 single sign-on, and role-based access controls. | Zeal says it maintains SOC 2 certification for data security, availability, and confidentiality. |
| Support | Fountain directs existing customers to sign in to their account to contact a customer support representative. | Zeal says its implementation team handles data migration, project management, and configuration, with ongoing post-launch support, integration help, and compliance guidance. |
| Target customers | Fountain says it serves frontline industries including food service, retail, delivery and logistics, and staffing or outsourced services. | The onboarding product is aimed at staffing companies, labor marketplaces, EORs, PEOs and workforce-management platforms. |
| Webhooks | Webhooks can report stage transitions, background-check changes and post-hire worker events as JSON over HTTPS. | The developer documentation includes webhook guidance for reacting to payroll events in real time. |
| What it does | Fountain is a cloud platform for high-volume frontline hiring, onboarding, scheduling and workforce operations. | Zeal Onboard automates onboarding for 1099 contractors and W-2 employees, combining documents, tax forms, electronic signatures, certifications and remote I-9/E-Verify in one workflow. |
Plans
In their own words
Fountain
Fountain is a hiring platform for organizations recruiting hourly and frontline workers, covering work from an application through onboarding. Its five-product suite addresses sourcing, customer relationship management, hiring, onboarding, and scheduling. Fountain Hire provides configurable hiring workflows, candidate screening, interview scheduling, and AI follow-up. Fountain Compliance handles document collection, identifies missing or incorrect records, and supports rules by region, role, or worker type. Four named AI agents have separate responsibilities: Cue coordinates platform tasks, Anna interviews candidates, Emma answers candidate questions, and Sam gathers satisfaction feedback. The platform runs on the web and through an API, with integrations including SAP SuccessFactors, Indeed, DocuSign, E-Verify, Checkr, and First Advantage. Custom integrations can use webhooks and PUT requests. Security details include AES-256 encryption at rest, TLS in transit, SAML 2.0 single sign-on, and role-based access controls. AI Recruiter credits are sold as non-expiring packs: $900, paid once for 75 interviews, $1,500, paid once for 150, or $2,400, paid once for 300.
Zeal Onboard
Zeal Onboard automates onboarding for 1099 and W-2 workers, combining documents, tax forms, e-signatures, certifications, and remote I-9 with E-Verify. Employers can configure what information to collect and invite workers through a link. The remote I-9 process supports reviews, mobile image capture, location sharing, and E-Verify confirmation. Customers can upload their own documents, add data fields, and set rules for which workers receive each document. The same flow can collect later changes, including tax withholding updates, licenses, certifications, and other paperwork. Onboarding can be branded or customized through the API, then offered as an embedded flow or link. Workers can use a desktop or mobile browser, or a white-labeled mobile app when enabled. Zeal lists integrations for ATS, timekeeping, benefits, registration, background screening, and tax registration; its API can connect internal systems and other tools. The company says it maintains SOC 2 certification and provides implementation, migration, configuration, integration help, and continuing support. Pricing is on request.