Introduction
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We love Dover for its unique approach to assisting startups: a free-forever ATS with an intuitive UI and well-developed inbound automation, plus an option to tap into its TA experts without having to hire extra staff.
Ratings
Ease of Use
Best For
Key Differentiator
Price
Free Trial
PROS
- Stunning platform design, very easy to work with.
- Knowledgeable on-demand recruiting partners.
- Free ATS includes unlimited jobs, 75+ job board integrations, and great inbound automation.
CONS
- No native feature for an employee referral program.
- Only supports parsing of English resumes.
- Not ideal for those wanting everything in-house or not using Google Workspace for calendars and emails.
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Despite being a free solution, Dover brought a delightful look and feel to nearly every encounter we had with the platform. The dashboard is clear and well-organized, but if you need a bit of instruction, the help center can offer good help with well-explained articles and videos. For startups new to the software, Dover may even provide a personalized onboarding call.
We also found some really good AI features within this free ATS: an AI for job description generation, an auto-confirmation email for those who just applied, and a chatbot that can filter candidates who meet your criteria. We gave the chatbot a go and asked it, “Show me people with at least 1 year of experience,” and it took less than a second to show only the matches.
We didn’t expect a free solution to be this good at sequencing. We entered only our company name and domain before heading to this feature. To our surprise, it accurately described what we do in the email outreach (check out the above screenshot).
However, to streamline job distribution, we would have liked an option to filter job boards by free and paid. With 76 options available, choosing each one by one is definitely not the best use of time.
You should also keep in mind that Dover doesn't provide multiple software plans like most ATS platforms. Instead, it offers a free ATS and the option to outsource your sourcing to its recruiting partners. Hence, if you have a large team and want to manage everything internally, Dover might not meet your needs.
500+ companies, including OpenSea, WorkOS, and Scale.
Dover offers two distinct options:
- Applicant Tracking System: Totally free and provides unlimited jobs, candidate tracking features, AI-powered applicant sorting, integrations with various job boards, and an introductory onboarding call for eligible startups.
- Recruiting Marketplace: Under this model, recruiters set their own hourly rates, with no placement fees. Your total cost per hire is calculated as the total hours worked multiplied by the recruiter's hourly rate. The total cost to the company for a hire can range between $300 and $30,000, depending on the specific position.
Dover is best for startups seeking a simple yet effective way to track applications and outsource initial screenings.
Based on recent product updates, Dover’s evolution has been on deepening its core value across two fronts: recruiter access and day-to-day recruiting execution.
- Recruiter Marketplace expansion: Over Q4 2025, Dover added seven senior startup recruiters to its marketplace, each with 10 to 20+ years of experience and backgrounds spanning pre-seed startups to post-IPO companies. From our perspective, this signals a continued bet on human expertise as a product feature, positioning Dover as a way for early-stage teams to tap experienced recruiters without building a full in-house function.
- Incremental ATS workflow improvements: On the software side, Dover has focused on removing friction from sourcing and outreach rather than overhauling its ATS. Recent additions, such as bulk sourcing via CSV uploads, clearer visibility and controls over scheduled and failed emails, and AI-generated outreach drafts tied to new jobs, point toward faster recruiter throughput and fewer manual steps.
- Small but practical usability fixes: Dover also rolled out quieter quality-of-life updates, such as drag-and-drop resume uploads that auto-fill candidate details and automatic creation of sourcing campaigns when a job is opened. These are not major feature launches, but they address common annoyances that tend to slow teams down over time.
