How Much Does a Professional CV Rewrite Cost in the UK?

If you want a number for your own situation, our free CV pricing checker shows the typical price for your career level, tells you whether a quote you've had is fair, and compares named UK services.

The UK CV writing market in 2026

The market for professional CV help has changed significantly in recent years. AI tools have driven prices down at the lower end, while established career consultants and executive CV specialists continue to charge premium rates for a more personal service.

There's also a lot of variation in quality at every price point. A £200 service isn't automatically better than a £30 one, and a £10 service isn't automatically a waste of money. What matters is what you're getting and whether it fits your situation.

What you get at different price points

£0: free tools and templates

Canva, CV Library, Reed, and various online tools offer free CV templates and builders. These are fine for formatting but won't improve your content. They also tend to produce heavily templated CVs that look identical to thousands of others, which is a problem when recruiters see the same layout dozens of times a day.

Best for: Someone who just needs a clean layout and is confident writing strong content themselves.

Under £30: AI-assisted CV rewriting services

A growing category of services use AI to rewrite and optimise CVs at low cost. Quality varies significantly. The best of them, particularly those built specifically for CV writing rather than general AI tools, can produce genuinely strong results: proper ATS optimisation, keyword matching to the job description, and coherent professional language. The worst produce generic output that reads like it was written by a machine, which it was.

The key differentiator at this price point is whether the service tailors output to a specific job description or just produces a generic rewrite.

Best for: Job seekers on a budget who want ATS optimisation and a significant content improvement without the cost of a human consultant.

£40 to £100: entry-level human CV writers

This is where most UK CV writing services start. The CV Centre (from £45), PurpleCV (from £50) and iCover (from £40) all have entry prices here, as listed in our pricing checker with the date we last checked each one. Freelance marketplaces like Fiverr and PeoplePerHour have a wide spread, from very cheap template work to senior-level services, and quality varies widely. With a service in this band, a writer works from your existing CV and a questionnaire, usually by email. Read recent reviews and ask what is included before you pay. "From" prices usually mean the entry-level tier, and longer career histories cost more.

Best for: Early and mid-career job seekers who want a person to work on their CV without spending hundreds of pounds.

£100 to £300: established CV writers

Services aimed at mid and senior careers sit here. TopCV starts at £99 and Bradley CVs at £195, and the higher tiers of cheaper services land here too: Aberdeen CVs charges £120 for an advanced career CV and iCover £170 for an executive one (prices and Trustpilot ratings for each). At this level you can expect more contact with your writer, often a phone consultation, more than one draft, and sometimes a writer who knows your sector. Check exactly what is included, as it varies from service to service.

Best for: Senior professionals and career changers who want thorough human involvement and are comfortable with the cost.

£300 to £500+: executive career consultants

At this level you're typically getting a thorough package: CV rewrite, LinkedIn profile optimisation, interview coaching, and ongoing career strategy support. The CV itself is one component of a broader engagement. For C-suite candidates targeting roles that pay £100k+, this investment can make sense. For most job seekers, it doesn't.

Best for: Senior executives, board-level candidates, or those making a high-stakes career transition where every detail matters.

Is it worth paying for a CV rewrite?

The honest answer: it depends on what the alternative costs you.

If you're applying for a role that pays £35,000 a year and you've been out of work for two months, the cost of that unemployment is already £5,800 in lost earnings. A £10 or £50 investment in a better CV is trivially small by comparison.

The question isn't really "can I afford a CV rewrite?" It's "can I afford not to fix this if my current CV isn't working?"

A CV that consistently gets rejected is costing you far more in lost salary than any rewrite service charges. The maths almost always favour investing in fixing it.

What to look for when choosing a service

• Tailoring to the job description: a generic rewrite is much less valuable than one that's been optimised for the specific role you're applying for
• ATS optimisation: does the service understand how applicant tracking systems work and actively format and keyword-optimise for them?
• Turnaround time: how quickly will you receive your document?
• Revision policy: what happens if you're not happy with the result?
• Sample work or reviews: can you see examples of previous output or read genuine customer reviews?

If you've already been quoted a price, put it into our CV pricing checker. It compares the quote with what UK services charge at your career level, and it says plainly when we're not the right fit for you.