The Top 10 Free Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) - 2023
The top free applicant tracking systems, along with open source ATS options
An applicant tracking system (ATS) is designed to improve the recruitment process by making hiring simpler and more efficient. Applicant Tracking Systems allow companies of all sizes to stay organized and productive throughout the hiring process by managing job postings, filtering resumes, organizing applicant information, contacting applicants, and scheduling interviews.
However, many of these systems can be very expensive. So, we wanted to curate a list of the best ATS's that have a free option for companies who are just getting started and need a basic option. We're collecting ATS pricing data through a brief, anonymous survey that takes only two minutes. Those who contribute and help the community by filling it out will receive access to the full dataset.
For large businesses with extensive HR departments, purchasing a new ATS may be the best option to fit all your HR needs. If you’re considering purchasing a new ATS, check out our complete guide to the Best ATS solutions.
If your business is small or has no budget, purchasing an expensive ATS may not be financially viable. However, there are many products that will offer the services you need for free. These free applicant tracking systems will help make the hiring process faster and simpler for you and your business.
Lastly, you may want to check out this service that will look at your requirements, and recommend an ATS tailored to you. It's free!
Best Free Applicant Tracking Systems
To select the best free ATS software, our experts scrutinized each tool in-house, asked for weigh-in by external HR experts, met with each vendor for live software demonstrations and gathered user feedback to rate platforms on key factors including user experience and ease of integration. Strong performance on differentiating factors specific to free ATS software, such as the ability to post on job boards and custom job sites, was also crucial.
- User & Candidate Experience
The look and feel of ATS software are critical for the sake of your TA team and candidates. We tested tools for operational efficiency, intuitiveness, and accessibility. Your ATS software choice, for better or worse, will reflect on your company.
- Ease of Integration
Seamless data exchange is a major factor when selecting ATS software, which is why our experts tested for integration capabilities. Limited integrations result in inefficient workflows, so we tested for compatibility with approximately 30 of the most common tools in HR ecosystems, including HRIS, CRM, calendar & email, and onboarding.
- Posting on Job Boards
We expect paid versions of ATSs to include posting to top job boards, but free versions sometimes hold this feature back in “freemium” models. Our researchers read the fine print to be sure vendors didn’t hide this critical aspect of efficiency behind a paywall.
- Custom Job Site
Job seekers are increasingly picky and expect a lot of would-be employers, so our team visited multiple real-world examples of the custom job sites offered by each of these vendors. We looked for clean, logical navigation that held our interest while also providing everything we needed to know.
Our in-house editorial staff has about 70 years of HR experience between us. Much of this experience is with startups, so we know how to buy software on a budget of zero dollars! This hands-on experience means we know “too good to be true” when we see it, so this zero-dollars list is also 100% confirmed to be both good and true.
We take pride in our research process: our criteria are stringent, and our methods are rigorous. Check out this blog covering our in-depth assessment process to learn more about our methodology.
Manatal
Teamtailor
GoHire
Recooty
Zoho Recruit
Freshteam
VanHack
Recruitee
MightyRecruiter
Manatal
Manatal made our list because it's budget-friendly, AI-equipped, and its pricing is transparent—no need to call a sales rep just for a ballpark figure.
PROS
- Manatal provides a 14-day free trial, allowing users to explore its features without any commitment.
- No need to provide credit card information during the trial.
- Straightforward UI that is easy to use.
- Manatal is quite affordable and offers a 15-day free trial for users to test it out before making commitments.
- Manatal is fairly easy to use. It features drag-and-drop enabled pipelines for candidate organization.
- Manatal’s AI-based recommendations feature can save hiring managers quite a bit of time. It’s able to scan job descriptions then search a users talent pool and bring up candidates most suited for the job.
CONS
- During the trial, job board posting, Manatal inbox, email automation, and the GDPR consent request tool are not available to use.
- No indefinitely free plan
- The AI recommendations feature works best with resumes that are in English, and doesn’t work as accurately with other languages according to several users’ feedback. Several users have also complained about Manatal’s interface only being available in English and that career pages cannot be published in languages other than English and Spanish.
- Manatal doesn’t offer a free plan. We mention this as a con as several SMB-geared ATSs do offer a free-forever verison, and that puts Manatal slightly behind competition.
- Manatal doesn’t offer prebuilt integration modules. They do have an open API that allows users to plug in third-party products and custom tools, but that required a bit more time and technical knowledge to accomplish. It’s also worth mentioning that only Custom plan customers can access Manatal’s API and Zapier integration. Customers on the Professional and Enterprise plan cannot.
- Users can search for candidates via Boolean Search or Advanced Search, but cannot combine the two search methods together. E.g users cannot use the Boolean search operators (AND, OR and NOT) within Manatal’s Advanced Search tab.
Manatal is an applicant tracking system (ATS) that utilizes AI to aid HR teams and recruitment agencies in discovering and hiring exceptional talent. The platform offers features like creating custom-branded career pages, posting jobs on multiple boards, and efficiently managing candidate applications. Users can gain deeper insights by importing candidate information from public social media accounts.
Manatal stands out with its customizable recruiting pipeline, resume parsing capabilities, and AI-driven recommendations. Additionally, the platform provides analytics dashboards, a convenient mobile app for access on-the-go, and a Chrome extension that facilitates connecting with and saving potential candidates who match job requirements.
Though Manatal doesn’t offer a free plan, their 14-day free trial offers a generous amount of time with which teams can get to know the platform.
Unilever, Coca-Cola, Panasonic, Ogilvy, Toyota.
Here are Manatal pricing plans (billed annually):
- Professional: $15/user/month, 15 jobs per account, 10,000 candidates, unlimited guests.
- Enterprise: $35/user/month, unlimited jobs, candidates, and guests.
- Custom: Includes Enterprise features, custom options, integrations, and support.
Best For
Manatal free trial is a good starting point for SMBs to see further how the ATS works before making any commitment.
Teamtailor
Teamtailor's focus is on the candidate's first impression, and the platform has been doing a great job in helping SMBs attract talent by offering an ATS with excellent employer branding features built-in.
PROS
- Teamtailor is a user-friendly ATS that is accessible via both browsers and mobile devices.
- Career site builders can work with a drag and drop editor; no coding knowledge is needed.
- Well-built features to support diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), including anonymous hiring and equal employment opportunity (EEO) surveys.
- Unlimited number of users.
- A free trial is available without having to provide payment details.
- Teamtailor’s ATS comes with a robust career site builder that’s also easy to use. It works with drag and drop - no coding knowledge necessary.
- Teamtailor backs several features that support diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI), including anonymous hiring, equal employment opportunity (EEO) surveys, etc..
- Teamtailor is highly rated for their ease-of-use. It’s quite simple to post and promote jobs through their platform.
- There is really in-depth and intuitive help documentation for this solution
CONS
- As several users noted, the analytics function is somewhat hard to fully tackle.
- Hyper-focused on ATS and offers no other HR solutions.
- The customization and video interview features could be improved.
- Teamtailor’s analytics are good, but enterprise clients need to use BI Connectors to build the reporting they need. Right now, you can’t sport data from the system. This is particularly important for companies with 500+ employees, or those who have many different locations or franchises.
- Analytics doesn’t allow recruiters to see their cost per hire, which is a really impactful metric
- While they offer integrations with HRIS, onboarding, etc - they have focused on just being a really good ATS now.
- There are predefined user access levels, but you cannot define your own user access levels which is important, especially for the largest companies.
Teamtailor is a cloud-based applicant tracking system with features that help organizations hire and nurture talent.
What caught our eye is their unique approach to talent acquisition, putting a heavy focus on how your team markets itself to candidates.
The ATS allows businesses to build attractive career sites, market to specific talent demographics through landing pages and talent pools, run referrals, and nurture campaigns for current and future recruitment needs.
Kry, Goodbye Kansas, Vitamin Well, Ponsse, Daniel Wellington.
Teamtailor’s pricing is custom based on customer business size and requirements. For teams under 25 employees, the price for unlimited job postings, candidates, and users in the system typically starts at $3,300.
Best For
Teamtailor used to be a tool for smaller companies, but now their solution caters mainly to 50-400 employee companies that need a powerful but straightforward ATS.
GoHire
GoHire is an affordable applicant tracking system solution that's also easy to use and scalable. Startups and SMBs can derive value from the ATS introductory plans and incorporate more features as they grow.
PROS
- GoHire is simple to use and helps businesses keep track of their hiring process with tools for job postings, candidate screening, interview scheduling, and offer management.
- Freshly added AI content generator tools for job descriptions, career pages, outreach messages, interview questions, and onboarding checklists.
- Extensive job description templates.
- Gives users control of the onboarding process as well as job displays on the website.
- Unlimited hiring pipelines and team members for all plans.
- Discounts for early-stage startups and charities.
There are both pros and cons to using GoHire.io. Let's take a look at some of the most important ones:
- One user appreciated the in-app messaging and email saying “Great templating for messages and emails.” They further liked the fact that they were able to control the on-boarding process as well as display jobs on the website.
- The platform is easy to use and helps businesses keep track of their hiring process by providing them with tools to manage job postings, candidate screening, interview scheduling, and offer management.
- GoHire.io makes it possible to post jobs on multiple job boards giving the user a wide variety of applicants. Therefore, hiring managers and founders can manage the applicants from numerous job boards on one platform. One user stated that they used to receive three job applications for €12.8 when using LinkedIn Jobs paid advertisements, but are now receiving 50+ applicants every month for free while using GoHire.
- The HR team appreciates that GoHire.io has a responsive customer support team. One user even appreciated that they were happy that their feedback was taken seriously and implemented on the ATS.
CONS
- No SMS messaging
- Doesn’t support any candidate file formats other than PDF files
- The career page links to one domain only (which may be a disadvantage for companies with multiple job sites).
- Can only integrate with a few third-party tools
- Email templates have limited customization
- GoHire.io does not support sending SMS to the applicants.
- While GoHire.io has received a lot of positive feedback about its platform, a significant number of users who had bought lifetime deals via AppSummo felt let down when the company discontinued the plan despite stating that it was a lifetime deal.
- One user complained that they were not able to upload multiple file formats for candidates. They were only able to upload PDF files.
GoHire is a simple-to-use ATS that is perfect for smaller companies focused on growing their teams.
We got ourselves a free trial. Although we had previously used it without any issues, this time, we kept seeing this message “Please use your work email to get started.” even though we did use our company email. However, the support team did help us resolve the issue shortly.
Navigating the platform is incredibly straightforward. We particularly appreciate the ease with which we can customize a career page. The dashboard features a dedicated career page editor section where we can effortlessly add and edit information using text, images, and videos, effectively representing our company's brand. The editor's interface resembles that of WordPress, making it user-friendly even for non-technical users.
However, it's worth noting that the career page editor only allows us to direct it to a single domain. This restriction may pose challenges for users who need to point job seekers to multiple domains, potentially causing some inconvenience.
Going further, GoHire simplifies job posting by integrating with multiple job boards and social media sites. With over 700 job description templates, you can quickly prepare postings. The platform even goes beyond basic job posting by providing additional features like candidate screening, ranking, and messaging.
Snagajob, Promoter, Sweetberry, Swapcard, Voucher Cart.
GoHire offers three pricing plans with flexible schedules for both monthly and annual payments. The company also offers a cancel-anytime policy that is helpful when a business is not hiring. For new users, the company offers a free 14-day trial. The plans and their costs when billed annually are:
- Starter: costs $74 per month and includes baseline features, with 3 active job posts, a custom career page, interview scheduling, and unlimited team members.
- Growth: costs $125 per month and provides everything from Starter plus customizable pipelines, bulk actions, screening questions, and mention team members.
- Pro: costs $241 per month and provides all Growth features plus unlimited job posts, automated stage actions, advanced reporting, video questionnaires, and private notes.
Best For
GoHire.io targets startups and small businesses looking for an affordable, efficient, and effective way to manage their hiring process.
To track applicants so that we can develop a catalog for the company, research candidates’ diverse educational backgrounds, make offers and see what we have offered in the past, and monitor the trends in what applicants are seeking!
It’s user friendly. I like that most answers to questions can be found in the software. The ATS helps you find the ideal candidate who has the greatest potential for longevity for the position.
We like GoHire for its accuracy in staying in touch with candidates and keeping everything in one place. I’ve used it for 5 years. Everyone has access to files along with the hiring manager.
The database could provide more space without you asking for more space. I would like to custom add sections that are more helpful to my business specifically. I wish more of my peers used it because it would make it easier for us to share data.
You don’t have to have a ton of training to use the software; it’s user friendly and makes suggestions on how to best accomplish things.
That you don’t need a lot of time to learn how to use the software. The software converts into an excel format allowing you to easily transform data.
HR and hiring managers who are trying to build a portfolio of the company’s talent!
All individuals who are establishing a large talent pool to get candidates from.
Recooty
Recooty offers a free-forever ATS that is an excellent choice for startups and small teams with minimal hiring needs. It is completely free for a single user and provides useful features for a recruiter to keep track of applicants.
PROS
- Recooty offers a cheap subscription, making it affordable for small businesses. In addition to a free trial, it has a free-forever plan allowing users to post up to 10 job openings.
- Recooty is among the simplest ATS to use and navigate.
- Posts jobs on multiple platforms
- Eight languages: Spanish, German, English, Vietnamese, French, Hindi, Italian, and Dutch.
- One user liked the usability of the software, stating that it is 'easy and self-explanatory.'
- The ability to post a job on multiple platforms makes it efficient, as per one user who labels Recooty a 'one-click job posting solution.'
- The company offers a cheap subscription, making it affordable for small businesses.
CONS
- Recooty does not have a mobile app. There’s no Chrome extension either.
- Doesn’t have native communication tools to have multiple people assess candidates and save messages on the platform.
- Can only integrate with Slack and LinkedIn.
- Teams with more than 75 active jobs per month or those needing to hire in more than 20 locations will likely be underserved by this tool.
- The company does not have a mobile application, as stated by many software users.
- Recooty has limited features i.e., unlike its competitors, it doesn’t support employee referrals and one-on-one interviews.
- Recooty offers only two integrations from their dashboard; for Slack and LinkedIn.
- Recooty is more suitable for small and medium businesses and may not be ideal for large enterprises with more job postings and locations.
Recrooty offers a free applicant tracking system that allows for one active job post at a time. It features job widget integration, a tool to create a branded careers page, and social network sharing. From our experience, the free plan has enough functionality for small businesses that are just starting out and only need a basic ATS.
Recruitee is among the most straightforward tools we’ve ever tested. We found the ATS was ready to use as soon as we completed the signup form. Though the free version does not allow users to create a custom domain, they can build a branded career page and create and post jobs on job boards like Indeed, LinkedIn, and Glassdoor. Recooty also makes it easy to post jobs via social media.
Integrations are one of Recooty’s greatest weaknesses. The ATS only connects with Slack and LinkedIn, and only its highest-priced subscription has API support. The free plan also doesn’t support collaborative hiring; it only allows one user to access the platform. Recooty does not have a Chrome extension and native communication tools for collaborative hiring. We’ve been watching and waiting for a mobile app for a couple of years, but so far, there is no sign that the platform will build one soon.
Sendlane, Airtable, Uber, Rack Bank, American Hospital, Trello.
The company offers four pricing plans:
- Free plan - Limited to one active job slot, one user, and one location.
- Pro Plan - the plan goes for $49/month with 10 Active job slots, 10 users, and 3 locations.
- Ultra Plan - goes for $ 99/month with 25 active job slots, 50 users, 10 locations, and all features under the Pro plan.
- Max Plan- goes for $ 199/month while offering 75 active job slots, 100 users, and 20 locations and all features under the Ultra plan.
- All the plans come with a 14-day trial period in which you can test the service without providing your credit card details. After the trial period ends, you will need to update your card to continue using the services.
Best For
Recooty is a good option for small businesses prioritizing affordability, ease of use, and efficiency in its applicant tracking system.
Zoho Recruit
For a free ATS, Zoho Recruit is a decent offer. It’s a basic ATS & CRM, with a free version including free job boards, email management, and interview scheduling.
PROS
- Free version available for anyone to opt for.
- Paid plans offer well-developed resume parsing and extraction, an AI chatbot, and candidate-matching automation.
- Support several languages.
- Transparent pricing structure with the free version and trial option.
- ATS + CRM in one platform
- Backed by a company like Zoho, notable for reliability and good customer service.
- 24/5 support
- Priced quite modestly after the free version
- Certain features like video interviews are available as optional add-ons.
CONS
- Changed its customer support from 24/5 support to 8/5 support.
- The free plan only allows 256MB of storage.
- The free plan only allows 256MB of storage.
- Additional features, such as the client portal, mass email, workflow alerts, and API calls cost extra.
- Some users have complained about the quality of some of the integrations.
- The career site is not fully customizable until past a certain paid plan.
We filled in Zoho’s form and got ourselves a Zoho Recruit's free plan. Overall, Zoho Recruit's free version offers valuable features for candidate and email management, but it does come with limitations in terms of active job openings and storage.
It’s good to see the free plan incorporates some essential services for candidate management, like email and interview scheduling. The career site is customizable (on a basic level, though). We can also post jobs on both free and paid job boards. Another aspect we appreciated is the seamless integration with Google applications and the support for 26 languages, allowing for a diverse pool of applicants to be reached. It's always a time-saver when platforms provide pre-designed templates, and Zoho Recruit delivers five customizable email templates. Additionally, the user-friendly resume search feature makes finding relevant candidate information easier.
However, the free plan comes with some limits. The most notable drawback is that you only get one active job opening at a time. For teams dealing with multiple positions simultaneously, this limitation can be pretty restrictive and could hinder efficient recruitment efforts. Another aspect to keep in mind is the storage limit, which is set at 256MB. This might not be ideal for businesses with larger databases and extensive recruitment needs. We also noticed, instead of 24/5 support, now free users can only get 8/5 support from the Zoho team. On a brighter note, Zoho Recruit provides a 45-day money-back guarantee.
Bosch, Deloitte, Saint-Gobain, PWC, Allianz.
Zoho Recruit offers three paid plans in addition to the free version:
- Standard plan at $30/user/month, with more features like a document library, analytics, and customizations.
- Professional plan at $60/user/month, including assessments and social recruiting.
- Enterprise plan at $90/user/month, providing a complete feature set except for add-ons.
- Add-ons include the client portal and video interview modules. Zoho Recruit also offers a 15-day free trial.
Best For
Zoho Recruit's free version is a great starting point for small teams, including multinational businesses, to track applications and streamline their hiring process effectively. As their needs expand, they can upgrade to more comprehensive plans that align with their growing requirements.
I use Zoho Recruit bi-weekly. The platform has some great features to differentiate between job openings and candidate pipelines. Zoho Recruit contains modules that make applicant tracking an effective process. Its modules are fairly customizable for regular usage. Zoho Recruit ties into my other Zoho products (Desk & Projects).
The platform allows me to update my clients on their candidate pipeline progress easily. Zoho Recruits is user-friendly. The system is pretty intuitive and email support is helpful.
I purchased Zoho Recruit as an add on to Zoho Desk & Zoho Project, a platform I use to manage my remote team. I use the service as a backup when recruiting. It was designed to streamline the recruitment process and cross manage my recruitment goals with my team. I have used Zoho Recruit for 8 months. I occasionally use the Zoho Recruit Marketplace to find specific tools to help my clients.
While email support is helpful, it can take a long time to get a response. Zoho Recruit is an expensive add-on in comparison with other Zoho products. The product takes effort to integrate it with outside tools.
Zoho Recruit is less effective than some of its competitors. Also, the company often tries to upsell you rather than offer a one-stop-shop alternative. I use it less than services like Greenhouse or Workday.
How many recruiters do you have on staff that need Zoho Recruit access? Do you want to continuously get calls for more Zoho products instead of an all-encompassing service? Is Zoho Recruit financially feasible for your budget if you use other Zoho services?
I have used Zoho Recruit for 8 months and have not observed major changes to the service.
Zoho Recruit is good for small-medium sized organizations. It is a great option for those who only have one recruiter as cost is more than $30 per user.
I would not recommend Zoho Recruits to large companies. The cost per recruiter is high when there are more affordable products that offer more features.
Freshteam
Freshteam is a top free ATS with a scalable and affordable pricing model. It offers a comprehensive range of features in one interface, including career site setup, job posting, candidate management, interview scheduling, and more, making it an ideal choice for SMBs.
PROS
- Freshteam’s free-forever plan is super easy to sign up for and get started.
- Transparent pricing plans.
- Easy to navigate, intuitive user interface.
- Customizable and drag-and-drop features make managing the whole hiring process a visual experience with little chance of cognitive overload.
- Budget-friendly for SMBs with a feature set comparable to more expensive solutions.
- Quite scalable with four plans: customers can start with the free plan, then upgrade to more features as their business grows.
- Freshteam is very user-friendly, with an intuitive UI that’s easy to navigate. It features a customizable, Kanban-style view of the full hiring process from initial contact to offer sending. Drag and drop mechanism makes it easy to move candidates around as they progress through the different stages.
- Freshteam is affordable for SMBs to use while still having a comparable feature set to more expensive solutions.
- Freshteam is quite scalable. With four plans to choose from, customers can start out with the free plan, then upgrade to more features as their business grows.
CONS
- The free-forever plan is limited in features and allows only three published job postings.
- Not ideal for enterprise-size companies or any organization with regular, high-volume hiring needs.
- Lack of advanced features for applicant tracking, candidate sourcing, and relationship management.
- While Freshteam has a free-forever plan that small companies can use, the plan is limited in features and allows for only 3 published job postings. That said, Freshteam’s paid plans are quite affordable, and can be used by small businesses - should they need to - without breaking the bank.
- Freshteam might not be suitable for enterprises and agencies that do volume hiring and are in need of advanced applicant tracking, candidate sourcing, and relationship management capabilities, as we've confirmed via several user interviews.
Freshteam stood out to us because it offers more than just an average ATS. It is a user-friendly HR suite with features for candidate screening, hiring, onboarding, time-off management, and more. It also has a super transparent pricing structure, suitable for small businesses and larger organizations.
Freshteam's free plan offers useful capabilities for small teams and startups in the early development stages. The plan allows organizations to create a unique career site, connect with 15 job boards, and manage up to three job openings. Essential features like publishing job ads, analyzing applications, resume checking, interview scheduling, and internal feedback are all included. The drag-and-drop customization feature simplifies personalizing the hiring workflow.
Freshteam's scalability is impressive. The platform offers clear pricing for each plan and provides a free option for basic features or a trial period for paid features. The range of integrations is also notable, including job boards, background checks, candidate assessments, and learning and development tools.
However, there are a few things we’d recommend considering before making a purchase. Customer support is available through tickets, a knowledge base, and emails, but there is no phone support or dedicated team. Some users have reported less responsive support at times.
Additionally, the time-off tool only notifies one manager when a team member requests time off, which can be limiting for organizations with multiple managers overseeing employees. There is no automated follow-up feature for unresponsive candidates, and unlike many competitors, Freshteam does not offer a Zapier integration.
Monster, PharmEasy, Ocado, Reaktor, Nissan, SAP, and the University of Pennsylvania.
Freshteam has four pricing plans:
- Free
- Growth: $1 per employee per month plus a $59 platform fee.
- Pro: $2 per employee per month plus a $99 platform fee.
- Enterprise: $4 per employee per month plus a $169 platform fee.
Best For
While companies of many sizes can benefit from Freshteam's offering, we feel that its current feature sets and pricing are best suited for small and mid-sized companies. Here we should also note that it’s an easy-to-scale product, so it’s nice if you’re starting out with a free tool but are sure to expand its capabilities as your business grows.
VanHack
Apart from their basic job posting services, VanHack offers a free, full-scale applicant tracking system (ATS) that supports unlimited jobs and users. Their platform lets you schedule interviews in as little as three clicks, post jobs, and track candidate progress.
PROS
- VanHack provides a free ATS that allows unlimited jobs and users.
- Easily filter potential candidates based on skills, experience, or customized keywords.
- A significant number of VanHack's job seekers are open to relocation
- Employers have access to a dedicated team of talent acquisition experts to identify potential candidates.
- The platform's salary guide assists job seekers and employers in understanding average compensation for each role.
- VanHack offers a free ATS that supports unlimited jobs and users.
- You can filter your list of potential candidates according to skills, years of experience, or custom keywords fairly easily.
- Many of VanHack’s job seekers are willing to relocate to pursue the right opportunity.
- Employers can work with a dedicated team of talent acquisition experts to find potential candidates.
- The platform’s salary guide helps job seekers and employers get a better idea of average salaries for roles.
CONS
- The platform focuses on tech-related jobs, so finding positions in other industries can be challenging.
- Although VanHack makes every effort, users report some spam messages and emails occasionally bypass their filters.
- Virtual hiring events often lack sufficient time to connect with numerous potential candidates.
- No mobile apps for hiring managers or recruiters to use while on the move.
- Because of the general focus on tech-related jobs, it’s difficult to find jobs in other industries.
- Despite their best efforts, some spam messages and emails do slip through the cracks.
- Virtual hiring events don’t provide enough time to meet many potential candidates.
- VanHack doesn’t currently offer a mobile app for hiring managers and recruiters to use on the go.
VanHack offers a free ATS platform for all employers. Their platform supports unlimited users and jobs, and it doesn’t even require a credit card to get started. This makes it a great option for small businesses, startup entrepreneurs, and those who just want to test the waters and see what they have to offer.
Their ATS includes a Kanban pipeline for all jobs, making it a breeze to manage potential candidates, and you can schedule an interview in as little as three clicks. Users can also post jobs directly from their ATS platform.
Some of VanHack’s customers include Deloitte, Brex, Booking.com, Zalando, Rogers, and SkipTheDishes.
VanHack is completely free for job seekers. For employers, VanHack charges a fee per hire that amounts to 20% of the candidate’s annual salary. Job posts, interviews, and candidate searching are all free.
Best For
VanHack is best for organizations that are looking for potential candidates within the IT industry, especially in on-demand roles. It’s also useful when trying to hire one-off tech roles for your company – regardless of your industry.
Recruitee
Recruitee is best for small and medium-sized businesses looking for an affordable and user-friendly ATS. The platform offers a variety of features, including collaborative hiring and internal referral, and a mobile app that can perform several tasks.
PROS
- Recruitee is priced transparently and competitively, making it a good option for small and medium-sized businesses. It also has a free trial you can opt for without having to add your card info.
- There are no limits on the number of users applied to all plans.
- Recruitee has a user-friendly interface that makes it easy to find and use the features you need.
- Recruitee’s features include job posting, candidate tracking, interview scheduling, and tools to promote referrals and combat hiring bias.
- Pro: Recruitee is highly rated by customers for its ease of use. The majority of them are able to implement and get on with the software without much hassle.
- Pro: Recruitee features a customizable, kanban-like recruiting pipeline. Companies can add as many stages as needed to the pipeline and move candidates easily as they progress through the stages.
- Pro: Recruitee incorporates some measures to reduce hiring bias. For example, you can adjust the permission level for your interviewers and prevent them from seeing the scores each of them are assigning to the same candidate. This way, they won’t be influenced by each other's evaluations.
CONS
- Its pricing went up from our last review of the software, although that’s because of several newly-added features.
- Recruitee's reporting tools can be difficult to use, and they do not offer as much detail as some other ATSs.
- Requires integration of third-party tools for essential functions like skill assessments, onboarding, video interviewing, and e-signatures.
- Con: Several functions that are advertised on Recruitee’s feature list, including skill assessments, onboarding, video interviewing, and e-signatures are not actually built into Recruitee and are only possible through integration with third-party tools, which can be misleading to potential users, especially if it’s their first ATS.
- Con: Several users noted that the Recruitee’s reporting function is limited and at times, doesn’t retrieve data accurately.
- Con: Several users have complained about Recruitee’s support team being slow in responding, and at times, not able to solve issues.
- Con: For a product that’s geared towards SMBs, it lacks a free plan that businesses who are just getting started with ATSs can use for as long as they need, without any time constraints. We list this as a con as several solutions in this space do offer free-forever plans and similar feature sets as Recruitee, which puts it slightly behind the competition to users.
Recruitee is on our recommended free ATS list for some concrete reasons. The first one: Recruitee is an ATS that's easy to navigate and boasts features to make hiring more efficient. It’s easy to track candidates through different stages of the hiring process and we can collaborate with other team members on assessments and interviews.
Another reason is the collaboration feature. We especially like the way that Recruitee makes it easy to collaborate with other team members on making fair hiring decisions. You get to add as many team members to the platform as you wish, assign them appropriate roles, and have them assess the candidates more objectively— without adding extra numbers to your bill.
One of the few downsides to Recruitee is its dependence on third-party integrations for essential functions, which could be found as built-in ones in competing vendors, such as skill assessments, onboarding, video interviewing, or e-signatures. This can be a bit of a hassle and can add to the cost of opting for Recruitee; unless, of course, you don’t need really need any of these features.
Semrush, Mark and Spencer, Transcom, Taco Bell, Toyota, Asus, Livestorm, Rakuten.
Recruitee offers custom plans based on the number of active jobs and other particular needs. The ATS has three pricing plans:
- Launch starts at $269 per month
- Scale starts at $479 per month
- Lead has custom pricing.
Best For
Though companies of different sizes can find Recruitee useful, we feel that the ATS is best suited for small and medium-sized businesses.
I use Recruitee every day, the whole day! It's such a great system to track candidates and it's all in one place. I can contact candidates and it's all recorded. Each candidate has a profile, I can upload documents (offer letters, employment applications, etc.) I can text candidates using another system called JustCall, everything in one place! I can create a website through Recruitee! I can directly share open jobs via Rectuitee on platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.
I like how easy it is to understand and use the system. I love the live support they use, they are fast to get back to you. I like how modern the UI is and how updated it is in terms of the latest features and functionalities.
Great question, we have been using Recruitee for almost a year now, and it has been the best decision ever. We get to track candidates and offer a smooth hiring process. Before having Recruitee in the house, we were using spreadsheets, which was painful and extremely time-consuming, we couldn't track well without many integrations and automation, and the manual efforts were not productive. This ATS is the best!
Something I hope they can work out better is to get the text messages incorporated faster. They claim to have been working on it for a while, but we don’t really know until it is rolled out. I wish they had more integrations as Paylocity, I believe they are expanding their list. The last thing, I wish they give you more options to change the theme color of the screen and other customization options.
Yes, pricing-wise. Modern and easy to use. I have used other ATSs that are not that easy to use. The integrations at Recruitee are great!
They should think about how this ATS offers everything! They are very open to feedback and willing to work on the ideas you might have. This ATS is complete.
Recruitee has helped the company tremendously, it has helped me as a Recruiter and also the Managers. Everyone I know who has used this ATS loves it!
Recruiting, onboarding, background check. Medium to large-sized organizations can maximize their use cases.
It wouldn't work for a small company that is not hiring much. This system is only good for a company that is looking to hire constantly, with respect to the costs and advanced functionalities it has.
MightyRecruiter
Unlike other free products that are often limited in functionality, MightyRecruiter is a robust ATS that allows for unlimited job posting across various job boards. It also comes with a comprehensive resume database, employee referral features, a reporting dashboard and a branded career website at no additional cost.
PROS
- MightyRecruiter allows you to post unlimited jobs to 29+ job boards for free and access a resume database of over 21 million candidates.
- The platform has a clean and intuitive interface that allows you to create job postings, filter, screen, and rate candidates easily.
- The built-in reporting dashboard provides a comprehensive view of how your job postings are performing on various job boards and channels through metrics like number of views, applications, and conversions.
- MightyRecruiter allows you to post unlimited jobs to 29+ job boards for free and access a resume database of over 21 million candidates.
- The platform has a clean and intuitive interface that allows you to create job postings, filter, screen, and rate candidates easily.
- The built-in reporting dashboard provides a comprehensive view of how your job postings are performing on various job boards and channels through metrics like number of views, applications, and conversions.
CONS
- Once created, job postings can take anywhere between 24-48 hours to be approved by MightyRecruiter's team and made live.
- MightyRecruiter does not offer advanced ATS features like integrated assessments, interview scheduling, workflow management, and collaborative hiring for end-to-end recruitment
- While MightyRecruiter is primarily free to use, viewing the full resumes of candidates on their resume database costs extra.
- Once created, job postings can take anywhere between 24-48 hours to be approved by MightyRecruiter's team and made live.
- MightyRecruiter does not offer advanced ATS features like integrated assessments, interview scheduling, workflow management, and collaborative hiring for end-to-end recruitment
- While MightyRecruiter is primarily free to use, viewing the full resumes of candidates on their resume database costs extra.
Ideal for small and medium-sized businesses, MightyRecruiter is a free recruitment software that helps companies streamline their talent-sourcing process. The tool allows you to attract candidates through a custom-branded career page, post unlimited job openings across 29+ job boards, access a resume database of over 21 million candidates, rank and filter candidates. To speed up your sourcing efforts further, the platform packs over 200 ready-to-use job description templates and suggests suitable candidates for your job posts based on defined criteria.
ThinkGlink Media, DocuSign, OpExpert, GTM Pros, Small World Recruiting
MightyRecruiter is free to use. However, viewing the full resumes of candidates on their resume database costs extra.
Best For
MightyRecruiter is best suited for SMBs. It is a free ATS that packs a decent range of features to streamline recruitment for companies hiring under 50 candidates a year.
OpenCATS
OpenCats because is a completely free open-source ATS that packs all the basic features a small business would need to keep track of applicants.
PROS
CONS
OpenCATS is a completely free open source ATS. Designed for recruiters, OpenCATS provides basic ATS services such as candidate tracking, resume parsing, and job requisition and posting.
OpenCATS is a completely free open source ATS.
Best For
OpenCATS is best for companies needing a free ATS in a pinch.
Benefits of using a Free Applicant Tracking System
ATS's are great for recruiting teams that are looking to grow their organization's headcount, and want to stay organized. Even with a free option, companies can expect to gain benefits including:
- Recruiting automation: let's face it, recruiting is a series of many tasks which can take up a considerable amount of time. An applicant tracking system can go a long way towards automating some of these tasks so that you spend less time scheduling, wading through ATS-friendly resumes, collecting interview feedback, etc.
- Compliance: EEOC audits and other forms of equitable recruiting compliance are an important function for applicant tracking systems. Your ATS should keep you compliant with the relevant rules and regulations in your country.
- Candidate experience: An applicant tracking system is a much better candidate experience than simply emailing a resume, or worse yet trying to figure out how to apply in the first place. You can usually also add in employer branding elements to your careers site like a jobs page complete with employee testimonials.
- Recruiter experience: Anyone on your team that does recruiting will be grateful for an ATS. Say goodbye to disparate spreadsheets, dropbox folders, or the random google doc.
- Staying organized: Now you can keep all of your candidate workflows in one place. This means you can focus on the tasks that matter, and grow your company.
Pitfalls when buying a free ATS
One of the key benefits of buying a free ATS is that you get to try out a system before you have to pay for it. While some of these systems do have forever free tiers, the main pitfall to remember here is that you will most likely eventually pay for the system you are using (businesses have to make money after all!).
This means it's really important for your team to choose the right solution, and then make sure you are vetting it as a long term play. It pays to put together a list of questions to ask about applicant tracking systems prior to any demo: Don't let a paid tier sneak up on your unprepared!
Features of Free Applicant Tracking Systems
Even for free (and cheap) versions of software, you can still expect to get many of the basics that you'd find in any ATS:
- Job Site: Most solutions come with a career site built in so that you can have a dedicated place on your website for job seekers to see openings and learn about working at your company.
- Application Submissions: Of course, an ATS will allow you to accept and organized applications from job seekers.
- Interview feedback: Look for solutions that are easy to collect and organize feedback from, especially since most of the people adding feedback are not full time recruiters.
- Job distribution: Many times even free ATS's will distribute your jobs to various free job boards. They may also have the ability to distribute them to paid job boards. Of course, this will cost money.
- Scheduling: Look for an ATS that helps to schedule job seekers for interviews and integrates with your calendar system. This can save a lot of time!
Free Applicant Tracking System FAQs
What is an applicant tracking system?
An applicant tracking system is a software application designed to help HR teams organize recruitment and hiring data.
Why do you need an applicant tracking system?
You need an applicant tracking system to easily manage large volumes of applicants and candidates, streamlining the recruitment process.
What kind of free ATS options are available?
When looking into a free applicant tracking system, you might come across a few different options:
- Free trials of fully-functional paid software that let you try out a system for a week up to thirty days depending on the company.
- Basic subscriptions that offer limited functionality but are completely free to use forever.
Who should look into getting a free applicant tracking system?
Small businesses and startups in particular who aren’t looking to do a ton of hiring at once should look into a free applicant tracking system. An ATS will streamline their hiring process while saving them the cost of buying enterprise software.
However, larger companies may find value in free trials, as it allows them to vet different vendors to find the right solution before buying.
Why is an ATS used in recruitment?
An ATS is used in recruitment to make the end-to-end process of hiring easier. Applicant tracking systems were originally made for large corporations that deal with thousands of job applications every week. Therefore having a software system automatically sort applicant information into a database and analyze the best candidates saves HR teams hours of work.
However, an ATS will still provide value to a small business looking to automate their hiring process.
How do applicant tracking systems work?
Applicant tracking systems work by acting as a liaison between an employer and an applicant. Once an application is submitted, the ATS stores the candidate’s work experience, education, contact information and other details into a database. HR teams use the database to review applications, communicate with applicants, schedule interviews and sometimes administer skills tests.
What features do free applicant tracking systems offer?
A free applicant tracking system won’t have all the features of a paid software, but they can offer a selection of the following:
- Career site
- Job board integration
- Application sorting
- Resume parsing
- Interview schedule
- Candidate messaging
- Chatbots
- Company profile
- Reporting and analytics
- Cloud storage
- Internal candidate portal
- Employee referral tool
- Search functionality
- Team collaboration
- Import/Export capabilities
We hope this listing of free applicant tracking systems was useful for your recruiting team as they look to bring on a new ATS. If you have any additions, please send us a note, or leave a comment, and we’ll be happy to update the list!
Lastly, if you have the budget to use a paid ATS, we recommend checking out our page on the best applicant tracking systems, complete with questions to ask on demos, ROI calculations, etc. Enjoy!
Guides and Blogs on ATS:
What is an ATS? / Benefits of an ATS / How to Calculate ATS ROI / Guide on ATS Pricing / ATS Buyer Guide
About Us
- Our goal at SSR is to help HR and recruiting teams to find and buy the right software for their needs.
- Our site is free to use as some vendors will pay us for web traffic.
- SSR lists all companies we feel are top vendors - not just those who pay us - in our comprehensive directories full of the advice needed to make the right purchase decision for your HR team.
