The 7 Best Recruitment Automation Software Tools of 2025

We’ve been familiar with Workable for years. Still, our latest test cemented our understanding of it as an ever-evolving and SMB-friendly tool with a remarkable focus on recruitment automation.

The first feature that caught our attention this time was the no-code career page builder. Simple and intuitive, this feature skips the bells and whistles to provide a practical and comfortable space. It enabled us to craft a career page that reflected our brand within a matter of minutes.

For those frequently handling hiring across different regions, we think you'll appreciate Workable’s built-in Language Kit. It fully translates the candidate-facing experience— from job postings to offer letters— into French, German, Greek, Spanish, and Portuguese. The only part we didn’t like here was that the hiring team’s interface remained in English—it would have been nice to have that same flexibility in the backend.

Now, on to our favorite part: the messaging automation. The range of pre-built templates was vast, and there was even a search bar to help us find what we needed quickly. The personalization options were also awesome, with placeholders for candidate names, company, and interview scheduling links, among a handful of others.

We had a great time playing around with the automation templates. Whether it’s sending out thank-you emails, disqualifying candidates, or sharing links for self-scheduling interviews, it only took us a few clicks to get the system smoothly running on its own.

If making your hiring process more inclusive is on your agenda, you’d want to try this tool. Besides the multi-lingual candidate interface, Workable offers a candidate profile anonymization feature that, in our tests, instantly masked personal details like names, photos, and social profiles.

However, at $169 per month for two active jobs, Workable is definitely not the most budget-friendly option we’ve tested, especially when compared to competitors like Manatal or Recruit CRM.

On a last and meticulous note, it's not possible to auto-merge candidate profiles on Workable at the time of our test. It’d require some manual labor to avoid losing important communication history with candidates. While not a major issue, we thought it was worth mentioning in case you often deal with duplicate profiles.

30,000+ companies, including IT Concepts, Karo Healthcare, and Access Services.

Workable offers three plans: Starter ($169/month), Standard ($299/month), and Premier ($599/month). Additional premium tools like Texting, Video Interviews, and Assessments start at $39/month. Discounts are available for bundled purchases of Recruiting and HR products.

As a rapidly scaling startup, affordability and scalability are non-negotiables to us in picking out recruiting software. So, when we discovered that Manatal starts at $15 per user per month and offers a free trial, we couldn’t help but be intrigued. This recruitment automation software covers everything from AI-driven recommendations to advanced filtering and candidate engagement—an extensive range of functionality rarely found at such a budget-friendly price point.

Similar to LinkedIn Recruiter, Manatal boasts various filters to refine searches and a convenient option to save filters for future use. Yet, what truly caught our attention was the ability to share these filters with other recruiters—a feature that sets Manatal apart from competitors. Having worked in staffing agencies where collaborative searching and filtering were run-of-the-mill tasks, it’s easy to imagine how much more streamlined our work could have been if we had adopted Manatal at that time.

For anyone spending their days navigating dozens of tabs to update candidates’ outdated contacts, Manatal’s Profile Enrichment feature could be a lifesaver. Right after we tapped on the Enrich profile button, the system used AI to identify and extract information from the candidate's publicly available social media accounts such as LinkedIn, GitHub, and StackOverflow, and their profiles were up-to-date in a matter of minutes.

While branded career pages and candidate matches are common in the recruiting software marketplace, Manatal impressed us with its built-in referral management system that lets users enable, disable, and track referral programs with a few clicks. The cherry on top is the post-referral and post-application candidate communication functionality. The system ticks all the boxes for email signatures, customization, and templates.

However, we found it a bit inconvenient that Manatal’s mass email campaigns do not offer options for scheduling beforehand or selecting recipients in bulk. While we have tried out (and loved) both Boolean search and advanced search the platform offered, it's disappointing we can't use them simultaneously. Regarding its candidate matching tool, we spotted a drop in accuracy when challenging the AI with non-English roles. While excelling with English resumes, it didn't perform as well when dealing with resumes in French.

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

Manatal has four plans. The exact costs are as follows (billed annually):

• Professional plan: $15/user/month for up to 15 jobs and 10,000 candidates, with unlimited guests.
• Enterprise plan: $35/user/month for unlimited jobs, candidates, and guests.‍
• Enterprise Plus: $55/user/month, includes Enterprise features, user groups, open API access, SSO log-in, priority support, and access to Beta features.‍
• Custom: Pricing upon request.

If you’re looking for a sourcing tool specializing in outreach and campaign management, Humanly might be your solution— especially if you already have an ATS. After testing it, we found it’s built to streamline outreach and handle sourcing with impressive depth, though it’s not designed to replace traditional ATS features like job postings or onboarding.

Setting up campaigns on Humanly is quite intuitive, with many useful customization options. You can choose who sends the messages and who handles replies. Once we were done with the campaign setup, the system took less than a minute to create a sequence of one initial message and three follow-ups, and we liked that it gave us full control over the messaging content and timing. Plus, this flexibility even extended to various Job Settings, including a unique feature that notifies recruiters when a candidate updates their LinkedIn profile— a nice little nudge for timing the outreach, don’t you agree?

Now, onto our favorite feature: Calibration Candidates, which offers AI-driven sourcing recommendations based on filter criteria and similarity to selected candidates. The fact that the calibration candidates can be sourced from recent activity on Humanly as well as our integrated ATS made it totally on par with other popular brands in the sourcing tech landscape like Fetcher and Rolebot. Moreover, we could also add "calibration candidates" directly from LinkedIn URLs, which we found pretty neat when we have someone specific in mind to guide the AI.

Even better, we could help the AI learn by giving feedback on candidate attributes we liked or disliked, and the smart filtering tool made it easy to define "must-have," "nice-to-have," and "dealbreaker" criteria for more nuanced sourcing.

Regarding candidate communication, we appreciate this tool's balance between automation and control. When a candidate responds to our outreach, for example, we can handle the reply ourselves, delegate it to a teammate, or let Humanly send an automated response. But more importantly, if the AI isn’t sure what response to send, it flags it as an "Unclear Reply," and sends it straight to our inbox. We can’t stress enough how vital this extra layer of accountability is to keep candidate communication authentic and relevant.

Unfortunately, Humanly lacks core ATS functions like job posting and resume parsing, so you’d need a separate ATS if you require those. Also, the AI recruiting software’s pricing is undisclosed and, per our research, is not as SMB-friendly as some competitors like Manatal and Workable.

We also wish it could add the option to mask personal information on candidate profiles anytime soon, as anonymous profile screening has long been a priority for many businesses and TA teams.

1,000+ companies, including Twitch, Udemy, and Noom.

Humanly costs $1,000 per month or $12,000 annually per Stream slot, which supports sourcing for one role at a time (changeable as needed). Platform access includes AI sourcing, automated campaigns, and CRM for up to two users, with ATS integration for all candidate data.

Paradox isn’t the only player in the conversational AI market, but what truly sets it apart is Olivia's exceptional intelligence. While she can't replace human recruiters, having a tireless virtual assistant like her in the hiring process of large companies does bring substantial benefits.

We heard Olivia AI can answer candidate questions in over 100 languages. So, late one night at 10 pm, we decided to test this out by sending the AI two texts, one in Spanish and another in Vietnamese. She didn’t just pass the challenge, she aced it! Fast and helpful responses in both languages without breaking a sweat.

What also impressed us was how accessible this AI is. Whether job seekers are on job boards or social sites like LinkedIn or Facebook, a simple scan of a QR code or a click on a call-to-action button directly from their mobile screens will put them in contact with Olivia.

To see how the recruiting automation works in real life, we let it handle the initial tasks for filling our entry-level roles. And Olivia did prove her worth: The AI suggests fitting roles based on candidates’ queries, gathers crucial info (names, emails, resumes), and schedules interviews—all with a human-like touch.

Paradox didn’t disappoint us in terms of integration capabilities either. As expected from an enterprise-tailored recruiting tool, it can connect with dozens of popular ATSs, CRM systems, background check services, video interviewing platforms, email, calendar, and messaging tools. It also checks the box for custom integration support.

However, there are still a few things we don’t like about Paradox. While it’s not uncommon for recruitment software to undisclose its pricing structure, we wish that Paradox at least provided a free trial for users to evaluate the software before purchase. Additionally, its typical starting price of around $1,000 might be a hefty sum for SMBs. But, to be fair, competitors like HireVue start at much higher prices.

Lastly, while Paradox is proven to be incredibly helpful for complex, high-volume, and time-sensitive recruitment, we must warn you not to overuse it for critical candidate interactions like interviews. Above all, a dehumanized recruitment process is the road best left untraveled.

Unilever, McDonald’s, Amazon, 3M, CVS Health, Nestlé, Lowe’s

Paradox's monthly pricing begins at $1,000.

Zoho Recruit stands out as an automation-friendly recruiting platform designed to streamline workflows for both staffing agencies and in-house recruitment teams. Given its reputation for affordability and extensive customization options, we were eager to see if its automation features truly lived up to the hype. Here’s what we found.

First things first: Zoho Recruit offers impressive control over automated processes. Setting up workflow rules was relatively simple, and we liked how we could trigger automatic actions—such as sending follow-up emails, updating candidate statuses, or assigning tasks—based on specific conditions. The ability to schedule pre- and post-interview emails was a great addition to keeping candidates engaged without requiring constant manual follow-ups.

Another feature we appreciated was approval process automation. Getting approvals for job requisitions or finalizing offers usually involves frustrating email threads and long wait times, so we were impressed that Zoho Recruit automates the entire approval workflow. This ensures that hiring requests are escalated to the right decision-makers instantly and automatically, cutting down on unnecessary delays.

We also tested Zoho Recruit’s assignment rules, which were especially helpful for teams managing multiple job openings simultaneously. In our tests, these rules auto-assigned candidates to specific recruiters based on predefined criteria like job location, department, or industry specialization. Sadly, we noticed these rules only apply to candidates imported through web forms or bulk uploads. If you add candidates manually, you’ll still need to assign them manually.

That brings us to some of the drawbacks we encountered during testing. One of the biggest downsides is that certain automation features, such as client portals and bulk emails, require additional costs. Given that many competitors include these in their standard plans, it was quite disappointing to see Zoho Recruit charging extra for essential automation tools.

Additionally, Zoho Recruit’s learning curve may be steeper than some recruiters would prefer. According to some users we interviewed, setting up complex workflows—such as custom schedules and webhook-based integrations—required a fair bit of trial and error. If your talent acquisition team isn’t particularly tech-savvy, expect that some of the more advanced automation features will take time to master.

Lastly, Zoho Recruit’s mobile app left us wanting more. While the desktop version worked great, the mobile app crashed a few times during our testing, and it doesn’t include all the automation features available on the web version. If you’re constantly on the go and rely on your phone for managing workflows, this could be a real inconvenience.

Deloitte, Saint-Gobain, PWC, and Allianz are among the 8,000+ companies that use this software.

Zoho Recruit offers a free edition and paid plans ($25-$75/user/month) with add-ons like Client Portal and Video Interviews available for an additional fee.

For in-house recruitment teams looking to elevate their hiring game, Scout Talent is an easy choice to recommend.

We’ve examined many AI recruitment offerings over the years, but this one from Scout Talent truly deserves special mention. It includes a wealth of features for a tool that doesn’t come with extra costs. You can ask it to craft job descriptions with just a few clicks, ensuring they sound polished, professional, or even creative, depending on your needs.

For our tests, we used the AI to create a landing page for a recruitment specialist role. By simply entering details such as location, job responsibilities, and the desired tone, the system generated a page complete with an engaging introduction, key qualifications, and a summary of company benefits. The result we received on the first attempt was quite fitting, but in case it didn’t, we could always ask the AI to tweak and regenerate content on the spot.

Compared to other recruiting platforms, we were pleased with the candidate management feature this vendor offers. During our testing, a built-in system of status updates allowed us to see exactly where candidates were in the pipeline—whether they were awaiting review, scheduled for an interview, or had already been sent an offer letter.

We think those who often manage high-volume recruitment will find the built-in candidate pre-screening feature particularly useful. As we have tested it, setting custom pre-screening questions about work authorization and experience levels on our application form resulted in candidates getting categorized automatically, ready for us to review.

Additionally, the AI screening tool can pull relevant skills from resumes and summarize applicants in easy-to-read bullet points. For one candidate, the AI highlighted key strengths, such as experience with applicant tracking systems and a knack for collaboration—just the qualities that caught our attention. This kind of workflow could save recruiters hours of manually shortlisting each application, we’d imagine.

When it comes to job posting in this recruiting automation software, the best word to describe the process is "smooth." On par with other vendors on our list, Scout Talent’s integration with multiple job boards allowed us to post openings with just a few clicks, while the built-in AI gave us a creative edge when advertising on social media platforms. For example, when we used it to generate a LinkedIn post for an entry-level IT role, the system delivered a compelling blurb, several well-placed emojis, and hashtags, all crafted in seconds.

However, one downside to consider with Scout Talent is that, unlike competitors like Breezy HR or Workable, this recruitment technology doesn’t offer a free trial. While the base price of $550 per month for two users isn’t overly steep, costs will increase if you add modules like Engage for talent pooling or Onboard for sending hiring documents.

We should also note that Scout Talent is more focused on simplicity and efficiency than on highly tailored solutions, so companies looking for advanced customization or multilingual support might find themselves better off with other options like Paradox and Greenhouse.

Lastly, if you’re looking for a recruiting automation tool for your staffing agency, this vendor may not meet your needs due to its primary focus on in-house recruitment teams.

1,100+ companies, including Domino's, KFC, Newmont, and General Dynamics.

Scout Talent starts at $550 per month for the base ATS, which includes access for two admin users and unlimited hiring managers. Additional modules like Engage (talent pooling and re-engagement) and Onboard (digital contract management) are available for $200 per month each. The full suite with AI functionality is priced at $850 per month.

When we landed on Fetcher’s dashboard, the first thing that struck us was its straightforward and user-friendly interface. Fetcher requires little to no training and support to get you up and ready to navigate the platform. We logged into our account, headed to the sourcing tool, set out job requirements, and were all set to review potential candidates the system sent.

But what truly blew us away about this recruitment automation software was its sourcing tool. An AI that carefully picks out profiles that match our given requirements, followed by a team of experienced sourcers reviewing the AI’s work before sending us the final batch.

Out of the numerous recruitment tools we have looked into, Fetcher and Rolebot stand alone in offering this approach. And Fetcher even outshines Rolebot for its flexibility: while Rolebot restricts you to a fixed 15 vetted candidates per day, Fetcher grants users the freedom to determine their desired volume. Based on our editor Anh’s experience working in recruitment agencies where dealing with time-sensitive roles is routine, this feature is a huge plus.

Fetcher's candidate outreach tools stand out as well. It’s got all the essentials—automation, email templates with a sprinkle of personalization, and reminders. The analytics aren’t the best, but powerful enough and easy on the eyes with real-time stats on unvetted profiles, news responses, gender and demographic estimates, and search performance.

The platform also offers several ways for users to reach out and get help. You can use email, built-in chat, and native note features. What truly impressed us, though, was that every user can request regular meetings with their sourcing team for additional assistance.

Nevertheless, there are times when Fetcher leaves us scratching our heads with its slow or, worse, freezing dashboard caused by system bugs and glitches. As you might have also noticed, Fetcher is more about sourcing passive candidates than offering a full-cycle recruitment tool, you won’t find native features for job posting, interviews, and onboarding here.

We’re disappointed to find out that, compared to our last review of Fetcher, the tool has discontinued its free plan, which was introduced not too long ago. And what a shame its current pricing is no longer more affordable than LinkedIn Recruiter. Fetcher’s paid plans now start at $549 per month, up from $149, while LinkedIn Recruiter remains at $170 per month.

Fetcher is used by over 500 businesses worldwide, including Andela, Frame.io, Magnite, Foursquare, and CarGurus.

Fetcher’s pricing begins at $549 per user per month, with a custom full-service option (Amplify) available. Volume pricing is offered for large companies and staffing agencies.