17 Best Applicant Tracking Systems for Small Businesses (2026)

Greenhouse is often seen as an enterprise-grade ATS, but based on our testing and experience, it offers several standout advantages that can also benefit small businesses ready to invest in a structured, high-performing hiring system.

For small teams, Greenhouse’s exceptional sourcing reach, with access to over 1,000 job boards, strong internal mobility features, and built-in referral programs. This means that, as an employer, you can utilize the platform’s integrations for external candidate sourcing while making the most of your talent database.

The level of thoroughness and consistency of interview kits we saw in Greenhouse was better than most we’ve tested. They’re structured in a way that helps hiring teams assess not just skills, but candidate traits and qualifications.

Additionally, if you’re hiring people across the globe, like us, you’ll appreciate this vendor's language inclusion. It handles resume parsing in 26 languages and job postings in 19 languages, with the ability to conduct interviews in 6 languages. That’s far beyond what we’ve seen from most other ATS platforms.

We also thought the resume anonymization feature was very useful. It removed applicants' personal details such as photos, names, and gender so we could focus on the qualifications that matter most.

Integration-wise, Greenhouse offers over 500 pre-built options, plus an open API, so it’s quite reassuring that the ATS can fit smoothly into almost any existing HR tool.

However, Greenhouse's pricing is a bit of a mystery and, from what we've seen, not as budget-friendly as other options like Loxo or Manatal. There is no free trial, and no monthly billing option. For a small team of 10, it could cost over $6,000.

The platform has also recently updated its user interface. Sadly, it didn’t get very positive feedback from users, and we can see why. Compared to the previous design, this version somehow requires more clicks to perform certain actions, such as sending an interview self-schedule. Thankfully, Greenhouse does offer the option for users to go back to the old UI under their account settings (which was just what we did).

Another inconvenience we’ve noticed is the absence of bulk rejection and email features during the application review stage. While these features are available in the Candidates tab, we trust having them in the initial review process would streamline things a bit more.

6,500+ companies, including Evernote, Nerdwallet, and Coursera.

Undisclosed.

Through our testing, demos, and user feedback, we found that Workable ATS provides small businesses with an ideal blend of ease, flexibility, and a future-ready design. While many ATS platforms either oversimplify for small teams or overwhelm them with enterprise-level complexity, Workable strikes a rare balance: it’s intuitive enough for small hiring teams to adopt quickly, yet robust enough to scale as the business grows.

First, let’s mention this ATS’s plug-and-play setup: small businesses often don’t have the IT resources to configure complex systems, and Workable’s straightforward onboarding, 15-day free trial, and clean interface make it easy to get started. The platform also provides broad job posting reach, giving lean teams access to over 200 job boards and 400 million candidate profiles, which helps maximize recruiting impact without adding extra headcount or budget.

Importantly, Workable includes built-in tools that small businesses often lack, such as anonymized screening, cognitive and personality assessments, and structured interview kits. These are the features that can help your small business run a fair, efficient, and consistent hiring process without relying on additional tools or external vendors.

We also appreciate that Workable’s pricing is transparent and its platform is scalable, meaning small teams can adopt the system with confidence that it won’t become obsolete as they expand. However, be mindful that some features, like video interviewing and texting, actually cost extra as they are paid add-ons. Additionally, while the platform offers reporting tools, as highlighted in the user review from Angela Lowry right below, these are quite basic and often require teams to export data into spreadsheets for meaningful analysis.

Workable has been used by over 20,000 organizations, including Sephora, Forbes, Bevi, Moodle, and Navarro.

Workable provides different pricing options to accommodate various business needs. However, their Starter plan was removed in mid 2025. That leaves only the Standard and Premier plans, which cost $299 and $599 per month respectively. For organizations looking for integrated solutions, bundled options that include HR and recruiting functionalities start at $349 per month.

Deel ATS makes the most sense if you are already using Deel. Because it sits inside the same system as HR, onboarding, and payroll, it cuts down on a lot of the usual back-and-forth between tools. Candidate data flows straight into the rest of the employee lifecycle, which we found especially useful for reducing manual handoffs once someone is hired.

The hiring workflow covers the basics and feels fairly structured. You can set up stages, assign interviewers, and collect feedback in a consistent way. It does take a bit of upfront setup, but once everything is in place, the process is easy to follow. We didn’t run into much confusion moving candidates through stages, and having feedback tied directly to the candidate profile helped keep things organized.

Scheduling and communication are where Deel ATS works particularly well. Because it connects directly with Google Workspace and Microsoft Outlook, you can send emails, schedule interviews, and manage calendars without leaving the platform. We liked that this cuts down on open tabs and the need to copy information between tools. It also helps that email threads, interview invites, and updates are logged automatically, so there is less risk of something slipping through the cracks.

The interview experience is solid. You can assign interviewers, require structured feedback, and review everything in one place. We found the recordings and transcript summaries useful for revisiting interviews, especially when multiple stakeholders are involved.

Deel ATS also offers an AI screening feature where the matching is based only on what candidates submit and how that lines up with the job criteria. It does not try to make decisions for you or pull in outside data. In our view, this makes it feel more like a filtering tool than a full screening system, which some teams will prefer.

To be fair, though, some teams may find Deel’s ATS feature set a bit basic compared to dedicated platforms, especially when it comes to integrations and sourcing. It supports a smaller set of job boards and does not include features like blind hiring or built-in candidate engagement tools. If your hiring process depends heavily on outbound recruiting or more complex pipelines, you may find those gaps fairly quickly.

Another consideration is that the ATS requires Deel HRIS as a foundation, which makes it less flexible if you are only looking for a hiring tool.

40,000+ companies globally.

Deel ATS is custom-priced and requires Deel HRIS (starting at $5/employee/month) as a foundation.

AvaHR stood out in our tests as a well-designed and functional ATS with solid automation and reporting features.

One apparent plus of this vendor is its transparent pricing and free trial offerings across its subscription plans. We signed up for the free trial of the Standard plan using a Gmail account. The only downside was having to provide credit card information to activate the trial, but other than that, the process was a breeze. Within minutes, we were all set to explore the tool.

Our first impression of AvaHR’s UI was that it was so well thought out. There was nearly nothing to be confused about. And it’s easy on the eye, too. Take the example of their AI job description creator. During our testing, it impressed us with the solid draft it produced with just a few sentences of role requirements provided. We also found it easy to get our application form ready. All we needed to do was define which fields were required and which were optional in the form settings.

The Candidates section gave us a bird’s-eye view of all applicants, including their application dates, stages in the hiring process, and contact details. There was also a convenient Filters button in the top right corner that let us filter candidates based on their tag, stage, job title, department, and a few others. The system didn’t take more than a few seconds to provide results in our tests, but we couldn’t help but be disappointed to discover there was no Boolean or custom filter to be found.

AvaHR’s reporting met our expectations for an SMB-focused ATS. The tool has done a great job of providing key data, from total impressions to page views, clicks, and applications for each job posting. We particularly appreciated the clear visualizations offered by the overview bar and line chart. It made it easier to watch how our jobs were performing.

For businesses migrating from another ATS, you’re in luck! AvaHR’s team offers to handle data import at no extra fee.

However, we did notice that this ATS is slightly pricier than some competitors like Zoho Recruit. Additionally, features like eSignatures and employee referrals are not included in the lowest subscription plans and must be purchased separately if you want to use them.

1,000+ companies, including BuzzRX, Redirect Health, State Farm, and Margaritaville.

AvaHR offers three plans: Starter ($89/month), Grow ($179/month), and Pro ($279/month).

In our testing, Recruit CRM impressed us with its ability to meet the needs of small businesses, particularly recruiting agencies that require handling both client and candidate pipelines.

Small teams who spend hours daily on data entry will appreciate the AI resume parser that Recruit CRM offers. It can parse up to 100 files at a time and works with resumes from multiple sources in 28 different languages.

Recruit CRM is easier to use than many other ATSs we’ve tried. In addition to the mobile apps (which we tested and loved), the Kanban view offers a visual way to manage candidate pipelines. Automation enthusiasts will love the drag-and-drop functionality and automated email triggers at various stages. As a bonus, the in-app instructions are clear-cut and make navigation easier.

Small or medium-sized agencies could hardly go wrong with this vendor’s CRM tools. You can manage client relationships, schedule meetings and emails, and track interactions, all from within the platform. Plus, you get unlimited access to training materials, the live chat takes two minutes on average to reply, and there’s a roadmap page where you can request new features.

Unfortunately, Recruit CRM’s Pro plan limits candidate matches to two and email sequences to one—a letdown, particularly for those with multiple placements to fill at a time but can’t afford higher-tier plans. Also, remember that the search function can only search for keywords in candidate resumes and profile data fields, but not in the user’s logged call notes.

Lastly, Recruit CRM is not intended to serve corporate users, so it lacks certain features that in-house TA teams usually prioritize in their ATS, such as referral and onboarding.

1,200+ companies, including Randstad, Michael Page, ManpowerGroup, Kelly Services, and PageGroup.

Recruit CRM offers three pricing tiers:

• Pro Plan: $85 per user/month when billed annually, $100 per user/month when billed monthly.
• Business Plan: $125 per user/month when billed annually, $150 per user/month when billed monthly.
• Enterprise Plan: $165 per user/month, billed annually only.

In our testing, Zoho Recruit proved to be a strong ATS option for small businesses that want more than just the basics. While its free plan gives small teams a taste of core functionalities, the paid plans and add-ons ensure the platform scales alongside them as they grow.

Let’s first dive into Zoho’s free plan. It covers the essentials for managing candidates, emails, and interview scheduling. While the customization options are somewhat limited, we were glad to see the ability to post jobs on both free and paid job boards, including the niche ones. Integrating with Google applications and support for 26 languages are definite pluses, making connecting with applicants from different backgrounds easier. Another time-saving feature is the availability of five customizable email templates, which can be a real help. However, the biggest con of the free plan is that you only get one active job at a time. The storage limit is also on the smaller side, set at 256 MB.

On the bright side, creating a career page with customizable templates is straightforward, though it might not be the most visually stunning option out there. Another cool feature we came across is Zia, the AI-based chatbot. It automatically responds to applicants’ FAQs and keeps them updated on job availability and application statuses. Plus, there's a handy automated candidate matching feature: you create a new job and specify the desired skills, and Zoho Recruit will rank the candidates based on how well their resumes meet set requirements.

However, teams need to plan carefully: while the base plans are affordable, important tools like the client portal, workflow alerts, video interviewing, and some integrations come as paid add-ons. We also encountered some occasional integration issues, where we needed to manually reconnect third-party tools to keep workflows running smoothly. Additionally, the career site customization options feel somewhat limited on lower-tier plans, which may frustrate small businesses trying to present a polished employer brand.

Bosch, Deloitte, Saint-Gobain, PWC, Allianz.

Zoho Recruit provides a range of paid plans alongside the free version:

• Standard plan is priced at $30/user/month, offering features such as a document library, analytics, and customizations.
• Professional plan priced at $60/user/month, which includes assessments and social recruiting capabilities.
• Enterprise plan priced at $90/user/month, providing a comprehensive set of features (doesn’t include add-ons).
• Add-ons available include the client portal and video interview modules. Zoho Recruit also offers a 15-day free trial for users to explore the platform's capabilities.

100Hires takes a different approach from most applicant tracking systems built for small businesses. While competitors like Workable or Breezy HR focus primarily on managing inbound applicants, 100Hires bundles sourcing, outreach, and tracking into a single platform. For a two-person recruiting operation that can't justify separate subscriptions for a sourcing tool, a recruiting CRM, and an ATS, that's a meaningful distinction.

Setup is fast. During our review, we created an account, connected a Gmail inbox, and had a live job posting syndicated to LinkedIn and Indeed within about 20 minutes, with no implementation call required.

The sourcing infrastructure is the platform's clearest strength. Job postings can be distributed to more than 100 boards simultaneously, and the Chrome extension lets recruiters pull candidates directly from LinkedIn or GitHub profiles into the pipeline without switching tabs. We also appreciated several practical administrative controls that are easy to overlook until they become necessary, such as automatic candidate merging when duplicate email addresses or LinkedIn profiles are detected.

100Hires’ AI features have matured notably over the past two years. The platform now generates job descriptions, interview questions, candidate summaries, and salary benchmarks. The most operationally useful addition is candidate scoring. Rather than reviewing resumes in the order they arrived, recruiters can sort the applicant list by AI-generated score and work from the top down. Whether you trust the ranking enough to skip low scorers entirely will depend on your role and risk tolerance, but for a 200-applicant pool, the functionality can help with prioritization.

However, we found the analytics fairly limited beyond standard metrics. Reports cover candidate sources, time-to-hire, disqualification reasons, and nurture campaign performance, yet they’re presented as separate views rather than within a centralized dashboard. From our tests, it also doesn’t seem that users can build custom reports or create tailored visualizations without exporting data to spreadsheets or external BI tools, which may not be a cup of tea for teams that present hiring metrics on a regular basis.

Integration depth follows the same pattern. The core recruiting stack is well covered across job boards, calendar, email, and video interviewing, but native connections to HRIS and payroll systems are thin. If your organization runs on Workday, ADP, or a similar enterprise platform, expect to rely on Zapier or a custom API build rather than a pre-built integration.

The interface is undoubtedly easy to use, though it's more functional than polished. Compared to Pinpoint, which invests noticeably in visual hierarchy and interaction design, 100Hires feels utilitarian. That's unlikely to be a deciding factor for most buyers, but worth knowing if your team spends eight hours a day on the tool.

100Hires serves more than 5,000 companies across 150+ countries, including G42, EXANTE, Argano, and Memgraph.

100Hires features four annual billing plans: Start ($49/month for 3 jobs/1 user), Advanced ($199/month), and Pro ($399/month). AI features are available across all plans, while the Pro tier adds contact enrichment, an email carousel, and warm-up features for higher-volume outreach. Custom Enterprise pricing covers SSO and dedicated management. All tiers include a 14-day trial with no credit card required.

We first came across Kula as a sourcing automation tool, so we were keen to see how far it had moved. The founder, an early recruiter at Stripe and Uber, built the platform around how recruiters actually work, and 18 months ago it went live as a full applicant tracking system covering everything from opening a requisition through to the offer. For a lean team, the appeal is consolidation: sourcing, scheduling, AI interview notes, and analytics sit in one place rather than across, let’s say, an ATS, a sourcing tool, and a calendar scheduler.

That said, what stood out most in our demo was the native AI notetaker. Unlike interview intelligence tools that are built to integrate with an existing ATS, Kula can record each interview, write the summary, and auto-fill the scorecard inside the candidate profile. The team behind health benefits platform Plum told Kula their hiring managers were "fascinated" by it, and it was easy to see why in our walkthrough. As another analyst put it, they’ve essentially brought a product concept like Brighthire’s into an ATS.

Furthermore, the headcount-based pricing is a sensible fit for SMBs, since you pay by company size rather than per seat. We also liked the AI scoring, which stack-ranks applicants against criteria you define and shows the reasoning behind each score rather than a bare number.

That said, Kula is still a young company and a new product. While they seem to be covering a lot of ground fast, reporting is a common complaint among users, who cite limited depth and no stage-by-stage funnel view. There is no resume parsing yet, and occasional bugs surface during use. For teams that want to be on the cutting edge of AI hiring, though, those are tradeoffs worth weighing.

Kula serves 220+ companies, including DeepScribe, Healthie, Plum, Dapper Labs, Vidyard, and CleverTap.

Kula uses all-inclusive, headcount-based annual pricing with every feature included and no per-seat fees or usage credits. Custom pricing applies above ~100 employees, and a free trial is available after a demo.

Kula launched in 2021 as a sourcing and outreach automation tool and, 18 months ago, relaunched as a full AI-native ATS spanning the entire hiring lifecycle. Recent additions include the AI notetaker, AI scoring, conversational analytics, built-in scheduling, and a Kula API and MCP for AI agents.

Pinpoint's applicant tracking system is highly regarded by users for its intuitive interface, neat automation workflows, and robust career site builder, which we found perfect for small businesses to create a polished, professional hiring process.

We love how easy it is for candidates to apply through the career site. Here’s an example of what going the extra mile looks like: if your candidates are not ready to apply, they can opt into a talent community to stay in touch with your company. After testing a few dozen vendors, we can confirm this is something you can’t find in most other ATSs.

We were also impressed by Pinpoint’s customer service. Regardless of the plan you opt for, you will get a dedicated success manager, concierge onboarding, and unlimited support via phone, email, and live chat. There really isn’t anything we dislike about it.

Just a few things to keep in mind, though. There’s no free trial or free plan to try before buying. And when compared with other solutions, Pinpoint tends to be more expensive than some small-business-focused competitors, with the cheapest plan costing $345 per month. If you’d like to use its onboarding module, you need to purchase it separately.

We should also warn you that although Pinpoint has a considerable number of native integration options, its bespoke integrations are only available to Enterprise plan subscribers with a minimum of 150 employees.

300+ companies, including CoinShares, Pathways Global, Grant Thornton, Icario, and Pivot Energy.

Pinpoint offers a Growth plan starting at $345 per month and an Enterprise plan starting at $1,200 per month, both with annual billing. Startups with under 50 employees may be eligible for Pinpoint's startup program.

JazzHR delivers a solid mix of affordability, core ATS functionality, and scalable features that we believe are perfect for meeting the evolving needs of growing SMBs.

One of its biggest advantages is that it places no limits on the number of users, a huge plus for small businesses that want to loop in hiring managers, interviewers, or stakeholders without worrying about stacking up per-user fees. We also liked how job postings across multiple boards are simple and efficient, helping small teams maximize reach without extra software.

You can start with the lowest-priced plan (Hero) that includes essential features like posting up to three job openings and then upgrade to higher plans as your company grows, ensuring you don’t pay for features you don't need. The other two plans (Plus and Pro) have more advanced features for automating, customizing, and analyzing the hiring process.

Unlike some competing SMB-focused ATS platforms, however, JazzHR doesn’t offer a free-forever plan, which we see as a significant downside, particularly for very small teams looking to start lean. Several users we spoke with also noted the UI can feel clunky at first, with a steeper learning curve than some more modern, plug-and-play systems.

JazzHR has been used by over 10,000 businesses to date, including TED, Fox Dealer, Clearly, Massaro, and Heath Ceramics.

JazzHR has three plans. When billed annually, these plans cost as follows:

• Hero: $75 per month for unlimited users and 3 open jobs.
• Plus: $269 per month for unlimited users, unlimited open jobs, ATS, interviews, and assessments.‍
• Pro: Custom pricing for everything from Plus, along with offers and e-signatures, reporting, and all-access support.

Teamtailor’s ATS has a unique approach to talent acquisition, which pays a lot of attention to how your company presents itself to candidates.

In our assessments, we found that the platform’s drag-and-drop career site builder is one of the best in class for SMBs: it allows small teams to create sleek, attractive, and mobile-friendly career pages without needing design or coding skills. This kind of polished first impression is a huge advantage for small businesses trying to stand out in a competitive talent market.

Another way TeamTailor differentiates itself from the pack is how the platform structures its pricing. It’s a single plan with all features included, and thus, this plan's pricing adapts to your company's size. We are also huge fans of the vendor’s all-inclusive plan, which offers unlimited jobs, candidates, and users, making it easier for small companies to scale without worrying about per-seat costs or feature upgrades.

Unfortunately, the analytics feature is where Teamtailor falls short. Our test results show that it’s not particularly flexible or customizable. We noticed the onboarding tool was recently added, but other HR modules, such as performance management, are still missing. And while we appreciate that Teamtailor offers free trials with no credit card required, the absence of upfront pricing transparency can make it more challenging for small businesses to compare costs during the vendor selection process.

Kry, Goodbye Kansas, Vitamin Well, Ponsse, Daniel Wellington.

Teamtailor’s pricing will vary depending on your company size. To give you an idea, $3,300 is a usual starting price for organizations with fewer than 25 employees.

Tellent Recruitee is a great pick for SMBs looking for a collaborative and user-friendly ATS. We had a great experience navigating the platform: it has a nice UI and a Kanban-like recruiting pipeline where we can customize every stage of the process and move candidates by dragging and dropping the cards. The people behind Tellent Recruitee also did a great job in developing the overdue candidate reminder tool: when a candidate sits for too long in your pipeline without getting any updates, it will send a friendly reminder to you.

Another thing we like about Tellent Recruitee is its collaboration capability. The platform says: you can have as many users as you need in Tellent Recruitee, no matter which plans you have opted for, and it doesn’t cost you an extra penny, and it means it. This, combined with the permission adjustment feature, makes it easier to deliver collaborative and unbiased hiring.

That said, some trade-offs were also spotted. First was the absence of built-in tools for skill assessments, onboarding, video interviewing, and e-signatures. While small teams can rely on integrations to fill these gaps, this approach may increase operational complexity. We also noticed that the reporting feature sometimes fails to retrieve data accurately, which can be frustrating for SMBs that rely on clear, real-time hiring metrics to make decisions. Additionally, Tellent Recruitee has increased its pricing recently, though to be fair, those increases have come alongside meaningful feature updates.

Semrush, Mark and Spencer, Transcom, Taco Bell, Toyota, Asus, Livestorm, Rakuten.

Tellent Recruitee offers three annual plans with an 18-day free trial.

• Start costs €270/month for 5 job slots and basic recruitment tools.
• Advance at €343/month, provides unlimited job slots, workflow automation, and permission settings.
• Optimize priced at €1,374/month, includes API access, dedicated customer success, and guided onboarding.

Tellent Recruitee’s latest updates bring in smarter automation with Automated Actions, pre-onboarding through Journeys, and even AgencyHub to simplify working with external recruiters. We also found the new WhatsApp Hiring integration to be a nice way of cutting down on no-shows while keeping candidates engaged. On the HR side, updates like DATEV payroll integration, flexible time tracking, and customizable employee data views help extend Tellent Recruitee’s value past recruiting into everyday workforce management. All of this shows that while Tellent Recruitee remains simple enough for SMBs, it’s also evolving into a platform that can grow with them.

Trakstar Hire ATS (formerly Recruiterbox) is ideal for midsize companies. Still, the platform does work out deals for small businesses as they have room for negotiation based on how many job openings they have annually.

Rather than offering a feature-light product, Trakstar Hire ATS carries nearly everything you can ask for in a modern application tracking system: resume management, candidate sourcing, interview scheduling, offer management, collaborative hiring, reports, and careers site management.

Does the company overdo it? Based on our experience with Trakstar, the answer is yes and no.

It’s challenging to master many things simultaneously, but Trakstar Hire makes learning their tool manageable by presenting users with a well-made set of core products. We’ll start with job posting.

When a job is added to the platform, it is automatically distributed to LinkedIn, Facebook, Google, careers pages, job boards, and search engines. There is no limit to the number of jobs you can post, which is helpful for teams who hire frequently.

We love a smooth, customized workflow, and Trakstar Hire delivers in the “tailored experience” department. Users can customize literally every step of the way, making their hiring experience stand out against the rest but also fold into the best operational flow for the business.

We are also big fans of products with built-in features like offer management. No plug-in is necessary! Creating, sending, and storing offer letters all in one place makes sense.

There’s no such thing as a perfect tool, and we’d be remiss if we didn’t point out some aspects of the platform that cause us concern.

A free trial was available when they were still Recruiterbox in 2021. In 2023, there’s no more free trial, and the pricing is now undisclosed.

We’ve already touched on the lack of integrations, but it’s worth restating. Though it’s a very capable ATS, being unable to integrate with standard HR tools is a significant drawback.

Makita, Couchsurfing, Lonely Planet, Untappd, Quality Ironworks.

Trakstar Hire has one plan that includes all of its features without any limits. The pricing is custom depending on headcount.

Recooty is great for SMBs looking for an easy-to-use, affordable, and efficient applicant tracking system. However, if you're looking for a more robust solution with more features, you may want to consider a different ATS.

Our in-house assessment showed that Recooty is a plug-and-play tool. It is easy to set up and easy to navigate. Users can post jobs to multiple boards, track applicants, and set up automated email notifications with just a few clicks. It’s not an exaggeration to say Recooty is a self-explanatory ATS.

Another thing we like about Recooty is its affordability. The software is priced competitively, and you can even start with the free plan. Though it’s limited to one active job at a time, it offers some good features like branded career pages, multiple job boards, and unlimited applications.

Recooty supports not only English but also seven additional languages. However, Recooty lacks a mobile app, despite pressure from users over the years. Recooty isn’t a good call for recruitment teams that need a Chrome extension to support their candidate search on websites like LinkedIn.

The level of customization is lacking compared to higher-priced ATSs in the space, and resume parsing is accessible for only the two highest-priced plans. Integration options also leave something to be desired, as you can only connect the ATS with your LinkedIn and Slack.

Sendlane, Airtable, Uber, Rack Bank, American Hospital, Trello.

Recooty offers a 15-day free trial. Their three paid subscription options start at $79 monthly (billed annually).

Having looked at dozens of SMB-oriented ATS platforms, we find it impressive that BambooHR packs most of the essential recruiting features into a modestly priced HRIS package.

First, let’s discuss the ATS’s customization capability. During our testing, we appreciated how BambooHR made these features accessible without overwhelming the user—everything felt simple, which is a great strength for small businesses with limited recruiting experience. 

We also found the candidate application organization process intuitive. It was fast and easy to track candidates through every stage of the hiring process, from application to final e-signature. Plus, BambooHR allowed us to create new hire packets, which provide essential details on what new hires can expect during their first days—a helpful tool that makes onboarding smoother.

BambooHR’s mobile app for hiring is equally loveable. Users we spoke to enjoyed the flexibility it provided. Through the app, hiring managers could post jobs, review resumes, communicate with candidates, and coordinate with other team members while on the move. Just to be sure, we also tested these mobile capabilities ourselves, and phew! The experience was positive. This ability to carry out hiring activities from a smartphone is a real differentiator—especially when compared to tools like JazzHR, which, although feature-rich, lacks the same level of mobile optimization.

BambooHR also scores points with its flexible pricing options. The ATS, though custom, is modestly priced and allows you to choose and scale up features based on your specific needs. A free 7-day trial is also available upon request, so anyone interested can explore and evaluate the platform before committing financially.

When we compared BambooHR to other applicant tracking systems catering to SMBs, such as Trackstar Hire and Zoho Recruit, we found BambooHR’s user interface to be particularly well-designed and easy to use. Additionally, the collaboration features within BambooHR, like the ability to comment on candidate profiles and track team progress, were well-executed and on par with the best that tools like Recruitee offer.

However, it’s worth mentioning that BambooHR doesn’t offer its ATS as a standalone tool. Instead, it’s mixed with time off, benefits, and employee experience, which can be an overkill for those looking for just applicant tracking software.

It’s also quite a letdown to find out that though BambooHR’s customer support is helpful, it’s only available during U.S. business hours, which could lead to delays if you’re in other time zones.

33,000+ companies, including Quora, Universal Group, Reddit, and Asana.

BambooHR pricing is custom. For companies with more than 25 employees, pricing is based on a per-employee, per-month model, while those with 25 or fewer pay a flat monthly rate. There are no annual contracts, and volume discounts are automatically applied as employee counts increase.

The first thing we noticed about Homebase was how quickly it gets out of your way. The Hiring Assistant writes the job post for you and publishes it to top job boards in one click. For small teams, being able to go from zero to live applicants without touching a single setting is a meaningful time saver.

The application experience is clearly designed with mobile users in mind. In our testing, candidates could apply quickly without needing a resume or a desktop, and the text-to-apply option made it even easier to capture interest on the spot. This resulted in a steady flow of applicants, particularly for hourly roles where convenience tends to matter more than polish.

Once candidates start coming in, the AI Hiring Assistant takes over the screening process through live conversational exchanges with each applicant. Rather than leaving hiring managers to sift through raw applications, it builds a complete candidate profile from those conversations and surfaces the most relevant experience in an easy-to-scan format. The "Top Match" label gives owners a clear starting point for deciding whom to prioritize.

Interview scheduling is one of the more tedious parts of hiring, and Homebase handles it well. With auto-scheduling enabled, candidates select or propose times based on the hiring manager's availability, cutting out the back-and-forth that typically drags this stage out.

We also appreciate how everything sits within the same system. Job posting, candidate tracking, background checks, and onboarding all happen in one place, which makes the overall process feel more contained and easier to manage day to day.

There are, however, a few limitations that became more noticeable over time. The Starter plan is limited to a single active job post, and we also found some of the workflows a bit rigid—for example, requiring duplicate job posts rather than simply reopening them.

As we spent more time with the platform, it became clear that Homebase is built specifically for SMB hourly hiring. That focus is a strength for straightforward hiring, but it means the platform won’t be much of help for those looking for enterprise-grade customization or deep analytics.

Fuzzy Goat Yarn Shop, The Blind Goat & Xin Chao, and Arthritis and Osteoporosis.

Homebase offers two main pricing tiers for hiring tools per location:

• Starter Plan ($30/month): Includes one job post, 20 AI screeners, and 1-click job board posting.
• Unlimited Plan ($199/month or $99/month annually): Offers unlimited job posts and screeners, five monthly background checks, and full access to scheduling, screening, and onboarding.

Keka ATS (named HIRO) gives SMB recruiters a full set of tools to manage hiring from requisition to offer, with the flexibility to adapt workflows to different roles and departments. In our demo, the left-hand navigation made it easy to access job postings, candidate lists, and reports without losing track of where we were in the process.

We started with job and requisition management, where hiring managers can create openings, define custom pipeline stages, and tailor them per department or role. Internal and social referral channels are built in, and an AI assistant can generate job descriptions from scratch. The system also supports internal job boards for promoting roles to current employees.

Candidate management is one of Keka ATS’s stronger areas. Recruiters can parse resumes, tag candidates, and assign them to talent pools for future openings. The demo showed three types of interview scheduling: online, face-to-face, and self-scheduling, the last of which lets candidates pick from pre-set time slots—something that reduces back-and-forth considerably. Each interview can be linked to scorecards, which help interviewers rate candidates against consistent criteria, minimizing bias.

Interestingly, there’s a duplicate detection feature that flags candidates who reapply too soon. Recruiters can set the “cool-down” period and choose whether to merge or overwrite old application data. In the Advanced plan, we also saw integrations with major job boards (LinkedIn, Indeed, Monster), assessment platforms, and video interview tools, plus CV-JD match scoring to quickly identify the best fits.

Offer management and preboarding are built in: recruiters can send offer letters, run them through an approval workflow, and collect candidate data through a dedicated portal. That data can then flow into Keka’s HR module if purchased, but the ATS itself is fully functional as a stand-alone tool.

However, from our experience, the buying and onboarding process felt more rigid than with many other ATS platforms we’ve tested. In fact, we aren’t happy that the “Free Trial” option stated on Keka’s site is just a tease, as once you sign up, you’re booked in for a sales demo before you can actually touch the product.

We’d recommend you factor in the implementation fee for setup and any HR/payroll integration, given that it could bump up the total cost more than you might expect at first glance. And the slow page load times we saw during our demo, although they could be just a one-off event due to a bad internet connection, may be something you’d want to keep in mind when exploring the platform yourself, especially if you’re a busy recruiting team handling dozens of candidates a day.

10,000+ companies, including eBay, Randstad, and ONEPLUS.

Keka offers two plans, Pro ($50/month/recruiter) and Advanced ($75/month/recruiter), both with free trials after sales demos.

Manatal is a budget-friendly ATS solution that caters specifically to SMBs without compromising essential features. It even has a free trial without requiring credit card info.

Manatal’s AI tool is a real asset. It can generate English job descriptions and sift through your existing candidate database to surface individuals it finds most suitable for the role. The results are pretty awesome and available almost instantly. Its usefulness was reduced when we asked the AI to suggest non-English-speaking candidates, though.

Manatal has a user-friendly interface and native drag-and-drop-enabled pipelines, which are very easy to use. Plus, being mobile-optimized means there’s no need to download any apps from users who need to access Manatal on the go.

We also appreciate how transparent Manatal's pricing is. The platform has a scalable “custom” plan in addition to three lower-tier plans. On its website, it breaks down what’s included in each plan and how much it costs. With prices starting at $15 per user per month, it’s safe to say this ATS is affordable for most SMBs. For those having a hard time with their existing ATS and looking for a switch, Manatal’s offer of free data migration is quite compelling.

However, as mentioned earlier, Manatal’s AI tool works best in English only and only allows for 200 generations per month. Despite having a fairly good pricing structure, Manatal doesn’t offer a free plan like several others in this space. We should also note that its API and Zapier integrations are limited to top-tier plans, while the pre-built integration list is limited.

10,000+ companies, including Unilever, Coca-Cola, Panasonic, Ogilvy, and Toyota.

Manatal has four plans:

• Professional ($15 per user per month)
• Enterprise ($35 per user per month)
• Enterprise Plus ($55 per user per month)
• Custom plans (available on demand)

A 14-day free trial is available, no credit card info required.

Hirex is best understood as a “step-up ATS” for small businesses. We found it to be ideal for teams transitioning away from spreadsheets, email-based hiring, or overly basic tools, though it doesn’t yet operate at the same level as enterprise systems.

As we explored the built-in AI, we noticed that while it isn’t the most advanced we’ve seen, it is highly practical for streamlining candidate screening and organization. Once candidates apply, the system parses resumes and automatically scores them based on job-specific criteria pulled from the job description. In our testing, we spot-checked profiles at both the top and bottom of the rankings, and we found the results to be accurate. Of course, we believe human oversight remains essential, but this level of automation can save hiring managers a significant amount of time.

We also appreciated how flexible the hiring pipeline is during our evaluations. It was easy for us to customize, and the integrations allow teams to send assessments and video interviews directly from the platform while receiving results automatically in the candidate profile. This combination of flexibility and centralization proved to be especially valuable for small businesses, where hiring workflows are still evolving and often rely on multiple tools for different stages of the process.

The candidate profile page served us well as a shared workspace. We were able to review resumes, leave comments, track communication, and complete scorecards all in one place. In practice, this made collaboration between recruiters and hiring managers much smoother, even without a formal hiring structure.

That said, we recognized that Hirex is not trying to compete head-on with enterprise ATS platforms, which became clear to us in a few areas. First, we found the AI capabilities to still be relatively basic. While resume parsing and scoring are helpful, we did not observe more advanced functionality. According to the vendor, lots of promising features (LinkedIn sourcing agent, AI interview note taker, natural language filters, AI phone interviews), are on the roadmap.

Second, we noted that the integration ecosystem is still developing. Although Hirex offers integrations across key areas—assessment, HRIS, job board, sourcing, and video interviewing—the selection (30+) is simply not as comprehensive as what is available from industry leaders such as Greenhouse (400+), Pinpoint (100+), and Workable (270+). As hiring needs grow more complex, we believe this could become a limitation.

Lastly, Hirex's current focus is Turkey, and while it's managed to hold its own against major competitors in the tough European market, its footprint is still regional. The immediate consideration is their very recent, early-stage expansion into the U.S. and UK, which suggests their global scalability and comprehensive support are still developing. Nevertheless, their impressive growth over the last year inspires our confidence in their future development.

Hirex serves around 40 companies to date.

$250/month; a 30-day trial is available.