24 Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS): Full Comparison 2026

Greenhouse is an applicant tracking system built for growing and enterprise hiring teams. We found it stands out for its structured interview approach, flexible workflow customization, and robust integration ecosystem.

It’s best suited for companies focused on improving hiring quality and team collaboration, but may not be ideal for those looking for a simple all-in-one solution.

Key Features

• Structured interview kits to standardize candidate evaluation
• Customizable, drag-and-drop hiring workflows
• Extensive integration marketplace (300+ tools)
• AI-assisted talent matching and fraud prevention features
• Advanced analytics with customizable reporting dashboards

HubSpot, DoorDash, Dropbox, Wayfair.

Approximately $6,000 annually, based on information from our network. Standard contracts require a one-year prepayment, but discounted rates are available for those who prepay for two or three years.

Recent updates show Greenhouse sharpening its focus on signal quality, fraud prevention, and self-serve analytics:

• The Real Talent suite strengthens fraud and identity controls to reduce spam and AI-generated resume abuse using various tools, including CLEAR identity verification.
• The updated Talent Matching uses AI to prioritize candidates based on recruiter inputs and serves as a decision support tool, not an automated selection or rejection tool.
• A new Analytics builder expands self-serve analytics, allowing users to select, filter, group, and visualize data, with transparency provided by read-only SQL validation.
• Greenhouse Analytics is now available across all product tiers, which gives all users reporting access.

We’ve followed Workable for years, but our latest hands-on test revealed a platform that has matured into one of the more thoughtful ATS options for fast-growing medium-sized businesses. Our demo began with the career site builder. The no-code builder felt intuitive and quick, and in under 10 minutes, we had a page that looked sharp and felt aligned with our brand, without needing design help.

Where Workable really started to stand out was in its automation engine. We tested templates for thank-you emails, interview scheduling, and rejections. Setting up the logic took less than five minutes, and the personalization tokens (such as candidate first name or role title) were easy to insert. The real win was that we didn’t need to handhold every communication; Workable just got it done.

Another standout was the AI job description assistant. We prompted it for a Customer Support Manager job, and it returned a structured draft in seconds. But what impressed us was the control: we could shift the tone from formal to casual, revert to earlier versions, or even regenerate just one clunky sentence. It felt less like using ChatGPT and more like collaborating with a content editor.

On the inclusion front, Workable’s Language Kit was better than expected. One of our editors, who’s fluent in Spanish, reviewed the full candidate flow and found the translations to be accurate and appropriately localized. The anonymization tool also worked well, instantly scrubbing names and images from profiles. If you're serious about mitigating bias, this is a rare out-of-the-box feature that requires no IT lift.

There are trade-offs, however. One is pricing. Starting at $299 per month can be hard to justify for teams that don’t need the full range of tools. We also encountered issues with duplicate applicants. There is no auto-merge, so users may have to reconcile histories manually – an oversight that could complicate high-volume hiring.

Another mixed bag is the built-in sourcing tool. Although the ATS system surfaced a decent set of passive candidates during our trial (75 views included), it lacked the depth and granularity we’ve seen in dedicated sourcing platforms like Fetcher or Gem. So while it’s fine for occasional outbound efforts, we don’t think it can replace your sourcing stack if you hire aggressively.

Workable has been used by over 30,000 organizations, including Sephora, Forbes, Bevi, Moodle, and Navarro.

Workable pricing starts at $299 per month for its recruiting module, which includes applicant tracking system software, and $349 when bundled with HRIS.

Over the past few months, Workable’s updates have centered on better data control, smarter filtering, and incremental AI refinement:

• Stronger reporting and data segmentation: Premier-plan users can now filter reports by any field, including candidate stages, disqualification reasons, and other dimensions. This follows earlier enhancements to the reporting interface and expanded filtering options in the candidate database, such as filtering by employer history, education, and application form responses.
• Improved candidate search precision: New database filters allow recruiters to narrow candidates by current or past employers, specific educational institutions or fields of study, and responses to custom application questions.
• AI matching tied to marketplace data: Workable enhanced its partnership with SEEK to better understand how candidates sourced from SEEK, JobStreet, and JobsDB move through hiring stages. These progression insights feed back into Workable’s AI matching engine, with the goal of improving relevance over time.
• Access control simplification: User permissions were redesigned so access levels are defined separately for recruiting and HRIS, making it easier to assign restricted or admin roles without complex combinations.
• Multi-location hiring consolidation: Recruiters can now post a single job across multiple locations while managing candidates in one unified pipeline, reducing duplicate postings and fragmented reporting.
• Incremental UX and localization updates: A visual UI refresh modernized the interface, and Greek language support was introduced, with additional languages planned.

Pinpoint is one of the top ATS systems designed for in-house recruiting teams that manage consistent or high-volume hiring. We found it stands out for its advanced workflow automation, intuitive career site builder, and strong focus on scalable, repeatable hiring processes.

It’s best suited for mid-sized and growing teams that need structured, automated recruiting operations, but may not be ideal for budget-conscious teams or those looking for a free trial.

Key Features:

• Organization-wide workflow automations for consistent hiring processes
• Intuitive career site builder with no coding required
• Automated interview scheduling with time-based controls
• AI-powered candidate matching and engagement tools
• Built-in referral tracking and integrations for assessments and onboarding

CoinShares, Pathways Global, Grant Thornton, Icario, Pivot Energy

Pricing starts at $345/month (billed annually) for the Growth Plan. Plans include unlimited jobs/users, career site builder, analytics, and standard automations, with higher tiers (Enterprise, starting at $1,200/month) adding multi-page career sites, multilingual support, bespoke integrations, onboarding, and implementation support.

Startup discounts are available for companies with fewer than 50 employees.

Over the past few months, Pinpoint’s updates have focused on embedding AI into candidate experience and recruiter workflows, while strengthening reporting and automation controls.

• A new AI tool allows candidates to chat with the company’s careers site to find relevant roles and job information.
• Recruiters can use the AI Candidate Match Score to rank applicants based on specific hiring criteria.
• Filters are now available in the Insights Hub dashboard, including support for Custom Fields, for more precise data segmentation.
• Candidates can be automatically moved to onboarding using automation rules, which supports saved filters, bulk actions, and date-change tracking.
• A new API and Webhooks dashboard centralizes key management and activity logs for teams integrating Pinpoint with other systems.

We were impressed by how far Gem has evolved from its roots in sourcing. In our demo, it became clear that Gem is no longer just a top-of-funnel tool but a fully integrated recruiting platform that now includes ATS, sourcing, interview scheduling, analytics, and CRM. What stood out was not just the breadth of features but how cohesively they worked together. Instead of feeling like disconnected add-ons, the experience felt unified and thoughtfully designed.

The AI application review was one of the most immediately practical features we tested. Recruiters are presented with a ranked list of candidates based on job fit, with scoring derived from auto-generated criteria within the job description. Gem shared that Zillow saw a 75% reduction in review time, which matches our impression of how this tool could streamline workflows. The real-time flagging of top candidates worked equally smoothly during our evaluation, giving the impression of an extra recruiter triaging applicants for us.

The interview scheduling feature, born out of Gem’s acquisition of InterviewPlanner, gave us more control than we expected. If you’ve ever used standalone tools like GoodTime or ModernLoop, the experience will feel familiar, but here, it comes built into the ATS at no extra cost. We liked how easily we could trigger scheduling directly from the pipeline, and how intuitive the self-scheduling links, calendar syncing, and interviewer load balancing felt during testing. For complex interview panels, the availability-request workflow also proved to give recruiters the flexibility they need.

Without a doubt, sourcing is where this platform shows its original DNA. Gem’s AI sourcing agents scan past applicants, CRM data, and a proprietary database of 800 million profiles. Fascinatingly, there are no credit or search caps. In a market where many sourcing platforms restrict usage, this freedom could make a meaningful difference for high-volume recruiting teams.

To be fair, though, Gem is still in the early stages of its journey as a full ATS, so it hasn't yet reached the same level of maturity, configurability, or track record as long-standing platforms like Greenhouse or Pinpoint. While its AI sourcing and ranking features are competitive and even ahead of many, it currently falls short in terms of built-in tools such as job description generation, salary benchmarking, and interview captions, which vendors like Workable already include. Instead, Gem is focusing on developing integrations with Metaview and Pave to bridge that gap. For now, teams that heavily rely on compensation intelligence may find this to be a noticeable shortfall.

Used by over 1,200 companies, including Groq, Tropic, and The Boring Company.

Gem ATS offers a $135/month startup program (with the first six months free for new customers with fewer than 100 employees, on a month-to-month basis). For 100+ employees, custom pricing applies, dependent on size, licenses, and products. Multi-product bundle discounts are available, anywhere from 15 to 50% depending on the number of products you purchase.

Compared to our last update, Gem’s AI Sourcing Agent now draws from over 800 million candidate profiles (up from 650 million earlier this year) and has been named an official Workday Innovation Partner. For HR tech buyers, this means broader access to global talent data and tighter integration for teams already using Workday’s ATS.

VidCruiter has been a significant player in the video interviewing software market for years, but the platform is less well-known for its ATS. However, our research proves the ATS system is robust enough to be listed among other top vendors in the space.

The platform balances the needs of those on both sides of the interview pipeline. TA teams are well-equipped with highly customizable features like job posting, pre-screening, interview scheduling, and real-time reports, and applicants are met with a user experience that was clearly designed with them in mind.

For a glimpse of team culture, vision, and values, users can build a custom career site that delivers a branded digital experience to candidates. The site editor is simple to use, and in our in-house testing, we managed to set everything up without help from the IT or VidCruiter support team. One feature of note: when a candidate accesses a career page supported by VidCruiter, the platform automatically generates recommendations for jobs available near them.

Quick Apply benefits both employers and candidates. With this feature, TA teams can rev up the hiring process without implementing a new ATS, so it’s perfect for teams on a budget. It is also helpful for those counting down the hours left on an ATS contract they don’t plan to renew. The platform offers job seekers the convenience of applying directly from portals such as LinkedIn and Indeed.

The assessment module, however, does lack some of the refinements we’ve seen in competitors that specialize in pre-hire evaluations. If you’ve used tools like HackerRank or CoderPad, you’ll agree with us that VidCruiter’s technical skills testing felt somewhat basic, and the search function didn’t always return the most relevant matches when trying to filter candidates by keyword or tag.

We also want to flag implementation time. A few users we spoke with mentioned the setup process was more time-intensive than expected, particularly for organizations building out multiple workflows or complex interview steps. While VidCruiter does provide a dedicated onboarding rep, it’s not quite a plug-and-play solution if you need to launch in a matter of days.

VidCruiter is used by over 100,000 recruiters, including Lowe’s, Lionsgate, Samsung, Bears, US Foods, and the United Nations.

VidCruiter prices start at $1,000 annually, according to our sources. 

Since we last checked in, VidCruiter addressed a specific issue we had listed as a “CON” when we wrote a review three years ago. We are happy to report that the number of pre-built integration options now satisfies the criteria and has moved to the “PROs” list. Bravo for your impressive partner network, and welcome to the “pros”!

Spark Hire ATS enables collaborative hiring and has evolved significantly over the past year. What began as a video-first ATS has grown into a thoughtfully integrated platform that combines structured workflows, embedded AI tools, and clear candidate visibility for hiring manager participation. After testing it multiple times, what stands out most is how it centralizes all candidate information in an easy single view for easier hiring manager collaboration.

The interface remains one of Spark Hire’s biggest strengths. Each time we logged in, the system felt clean and manageable. Even with the addition of AI features and deeper reporting, we did not feel buried in menus or overwhelmed by options. For small Talent Acquisition teams, that clarity matters.

The “Efficiency Checkup” inside the position workflow is a good example of practical innovation. It recommends adding tools such as AI Resume Review, one-way video interviews, predictive assessments, offers, and automated reference checks directly into the hiring flow. We like that these features are surfaced where hiring managers already work instead of being hidden in settings. It gently nudges teams toward more structured, data-informed hiring.

The AI Evaluation Summary is another highlight. It compiles interview feedback, resume reviews, and reference checks into a structured overview that highlights strengths, concerns, and attribution. In our experience, this shortened debrief conversations and reduced the need to comb through scattered notes.

Spark Hire’s easy coordination features for recruiters and hiring managers remain one of its strongest differentiators. The self-service interview scheduling, calendar integrations, and approval workflows enable easy, seamless hiring for lean teams.

The upgraded assessment analytics dashboard unifies reporting across assessment types and introduces pipeline progression visibility along with a “Qualified” metric. For SMBs that want more than basic funnel tracking, this feels like a meaningful step forward. It gives hiring teams better insight into how effectively they are identifying strong candidates without requiring advanced technical expertise.

Operational improvements also show maturity. Audit logs accessible via API provide visibility into logins, role changes, and API activity, which is important for compliance-minded organizations. The reusable scorecard library, personalized notification controls with Slack delivery, improved position layouts, and a redesigned internal job board all contribute to a more cohesive and structured hiring experience.

That said, we do find the platform clearly favors structured, process-driven hiring environments. Consequently, teams seeking highly customized or unconventional workflows may find some guardrails restrictive. While the AI summaries are helpful, they may feel overly simplified for organizations that prefer deep manual evaluation of raw feedback.

There is also no free trial and no monthly subscription option, which can make it harder for cautious buyers to test the platform before committing. Although analytics are strong for the SMB market, companies seeking enterprise-grade workforce modeling will likely need to export data for deeper analysis.

7,000+ organizations, including Fiverr, Monday.com, Sodastream, Vimeo, and KPMG.

Spark Hire ATS offers three main pricing tiers. When billed annually:

• Recruit Pro plan is $299/month for businesses up to 200 employees needing essential automation
• Recruit Growth plan is $499/month, targeting companies up to 500 employees with a need for advanced workflows and insights
• ‍Recruit Enterprise plan requires contacting Sales for a custom quote and is designed for companies with more than 500 employees

Spark Hire, initially known for video interviews, acquired SMB recruitment platform Comeet in 2023. We’re excited to see how they pick, choose, and blend the best features!

After testing AvaHR, we were struck by its thoughtfully designed interface and how easy it made every step of the hiring process. From the moment we logged in, we could tell the team behind this ATS system had put serious effort into crafting a user experience that’s intuitive yet powerful.

A standout feature right from the start was the Pipeline Triggers. Based on where an applicant is in the process, it can automate tasks like sending thank-you emails or requesting feedback from the team— to spare recruiters from the mundane, easy-to-miss details.

The design of the Candidates section is also really nice. It offers a bird' s-eye view of all applicants' key information, including their application dates, hiring stages, and contact details. During our tests, the filter function worked great for narrowing down candidates by job title, department, and other criteria. The only minus was that we couldn’t find any advanced options like Boolean searches.

On par with other robust ATS systems, AvaHR's candidate communication features let us send emails and SMS messages directly from the platform. For these workflows, you can use templates and bulk actions to make things fasyer. Our favorite, though, was the Shared Inbox. It kept all incoming messages, questionnaires, and scorecards, which made it much easier to manage candidate interactions and keep the team aligned.

However, we noticed that the interview scheduling feature was absent at the time of this review. Thankfully, it’s already on the vendor’s roadmap. We’ll keep you posted on how this feature plays out once it’s released.

We think AvaHR should also improve its integration capabilities a bit more since seven options are a modest number compared to other platforms we’ve evaluated.

And while the team offers free data imports if you’re migrating from another ATS (which we love), we can’t say the pricing is as competitive as some competitors like Zoho Recruit, considering there’s no free plan and some features, such as eSignatures and employee referrals, will come with extra fees.

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

AvaHR offers 3 pricing plans: Starter at $89 per month, Grow at $179 per month, and Pro at $279 per month (billed annually).

AvaHR hasn’t rolled out any new features since its rebrand in April 2025.

ClearCompany positions itself as more than an ATS, and in our testing, that positioning felt earned, especially when we looked at how recruiting connects to the broader suite.

From a workflow perspective, we found the ATS structured and intuitive. Job creation, candidate progression, and offer management followed a logical flow, and onboarding transitions were particularly smooth. Moving a candidate from offer to new hire required minimal clicks, and onboarding tasks were clearly organized. For teams that want recruiting and onboarding tightly linked, this is one of ClearCompany’s stronger points.

Where we’ve seen the most meaningful evolution is with ClearInsights, ClearCompany’s cross-suite analytics layer. Rather than limiting reporting to recruiting metrics, ClearInsights connects hiring data with performance, learning, engagement, and compensation. In practical terms, that means we could explore lifecycle questions like which sourcing channels produce long-term high performers or how interview evaluations correlate with eventual performance outcomes. This moves the platform beyond operational tracking into strategic analysis. The emphasis on responsible, assistive AI — where insights support decision-making without automating it outright — also felt measured and appropriate for enterprise environments.

That said, we definitely are not a fan of the ATS’s candidate search. When testing against multiple filters—skills, keywords, location—we occasionally had to tweak searches more than expected to surface the right profiles. This could slow things down for TA teams who rely heavily on boolean strings or need to sort through large volumes of applicants quickly.

Reporting customization has also been a mixed experience. Prior to ClearInsights, some users felt constrained by reporting flexibility. ClearInsights appears designed to address this by broadening cross-module analytics, but organizations expecting deeply configurable, standalone BI-level reporting may still want to assess whether it meets their needs during a demo.

Another consideration: ClearCompany doesn’t currently offer a mobile app for recruiters or hiring managers. In an increasingly mobile-first world, this absence could be a drawback for teams that need to approve reqs, review resumes, or message candidates while on the move. That said, the browser experience is responsive, and we didn’t encounter any major limitations using it on mobile devices. Still, dedicated apps tend to offer faster workflows, and it’s something we hope to see added down the line.

Mitsubishi Electric, Chick-fil-A, Goodwill, Axiom Bank, Bios, FlixBrewHouse, and Halco.

ClearCompany pricing starts at $60 per user per month.

Recent updates suggest ClearCompany is pushing toward a holistic talent intelligence platform, layering advanced analytics and AI across its existing suite.

• Introduction of ClearInsights: ClearCompany is positioning ClearInsights as a unified analytics layer that connects data across recruiting, onboarding, performance, learning, engagement, and compensation.
• Cross-journey question answering: The focus is on enabling complex, strategic queries that previously required manual reporting or were difficult to measure at all. Examples include linking sourcing channels to long-term performance outcomes, connecting interview performance to eventual high-performer status, or analyzing which learning paths correlate with early success.
• Shift toward strategic HR enablement: Instead of static dashboards, ClearInsights is positioned as interactive and intuitive, enabling near-instant answers to cross-functional talent questions.
• ‍Responsible AI positioning: ClearCompany also continues to frame these capabilities within a “responsible AI” approach, emphasizing transparency and customer confidence in how insights are generated and used.

Zoho Recruit has evolved into a more modern, AI-enhanced applicant tracking system, with several recent upgrades that genuinely assist recruiters. A clear example is the AI Interview Insights feature. This tool helped us speed up post-interview evaluations by providing transcripts and AI-generated summaries of one-way video interviews. In our experience, it made it easier and faster to identify strong or weak answers, though we highly recommend that teams still read critically and fact-check summaries to ensure fair and defensible hiring decisions.

Zoho Recruit also brings more structure and cohesion to the often-fragmented recruiting workflows in small and mid-sized companies. The updated Resume Harvester launches sourcing directly from job openings, and features like resume parsing, email sync, and job board posting work together without requiring third-party tools. Contrary to the painfully manual work we’ve seen a recruiter would have to endure to stay up to date on sourcing, communication, and advertising spread across different apps, Zoho Recruit offered a single space where we could manage all of these.

But the best part of Zoho Recruit might be its flexibility for teams working with clients and vendors. With the vendor and client portals, which include real-time notifications and access to detailed candidate profiles, handling multi-stakeholder hiring becomes manageable. Also, we found features such as territory-based access, structured approval workflows, and multilingual profile summaries are well integrated and show maturity in the product’s design, especially for distributed teams.

Still, this ATS demands a good level of digital fluency from users. Compared to tools like Ashby and Teamtailor, Zoho Recruit’s interface feels somewhat dense and crowded. The onboarding materials are decent, but we wish there were phone support for faster responses. Also, some of the platform’s best capabilities, like mass emails or career site customization, are only available on higher-tier plans or as paid add-ons. This may limit value for smaller teams or early-stage companies.

8,000+ companies, including Bosch, Deloitte, and Allianz.

Zoho Recruit offers plans for corporate HR and staffing agencies with a 15-day free trial and a 45-day money-back guarantee (annual billing).

• Corporate HR: Free, Standard ($25/month), and Enterprise ($50/month). Paid plans can add Employee License ($10/month), Vendor Portal ($6/month), and Video Interview ($12/job opening).
• Staffing Firms: Free Forever, Standard ($25/month), Professional ($50/month), and Enterprise ($75/month). Add-ons include Video Interviews ($12/license/month) and Client Portal ($6/license/month).

Zoho Recruit has focused its recent development on expanding AI capabilities, improving vendor and sourcing workflows, and giving teams more visibility into system usage.

• New features rolled out: AI Interview Insights now delivers transcripts and AI‑generated summaries for one‑way interviews, giving hiring teams a faster way to review responses. Zoho also introduced another AI-powered feature to help recruiters generate candidate assessments with minimal setup.
• Enhanced features: Zia has been upgraded with multilingual profile summaries and AI-assisted note writing for faster documentation across global teams. Resume Harvester received usability updates, including launch from job openings, Quick View profiles, and multi-search suspension. Subscription and storage tracking now has been consolidated so admins can monitor limits in one place.

As HR tech editors with years of working experience as recruiters and HR professionals, we understand the importance of finding the right talent efficiently, and Manatal has proven to be a valuable tool in this regard.

The first on our thumbs-up list is that it’s budget-friendly. We appreciate the transparency in pricing, as there is no need to contact sales just to get a ballpark figure. The platform offers a 14-day free trial.

Using Manatal was straightforward, thanks to its user-friendly interface and the convenience of drag-and-drop-enabled pipelines. The AI-based candidate recommendations feature is a time-saver. It compares job descriptions' language to skills listed by individuals in the talent pool.

Manatal is web-based, so it is compatible with multiple devices. The ability to migrate data from our existing hiring software was also a welcome feature that made for a smooth transition.

They have also begun offering free, live training webinars and introduced several product enhancements in the past year. A key feature update is the Advanced Search, which now supports a blend of Boolean and Semantic search, providing options for Required, Preferred, and Must Not criteria to enhance precision.

We encountered a few limitations during our evaluation. The AI recommendation feature does not operate well in languages other than English, and Manatal lacks a free version. Integration is limited, and ADP and Zapier integrations are restricted to top-tier plans.

Unilever, Coca-Cola, Panasonic, Ogilvy, Toyota.

Manatal pricing starts at $15 per user per month. More specifically:

• Professional: This plan costs $15 per user per month for up to 15 jobs per account and 10,000 candidates. Customers on this plan can add unlimited guests.
• Enterprise: This plan costs $35 per user per month for unlimited jobs per account and unlimited candidates and guests.‍
• Enterprise Plus: This plan costs $55 per user per month and includes all Enterprise features, user groups, open API access, SSO log-in, priority support, and access to Beta features.
• Custom: Pricing upon request.

Recent updates show Manatal leaning heavily into AI-assisted sourcing, screening, and data structure, while also expanding job distribution and integrations.

• AI-driven candidate screening and ranking: Manatal recently introduced an AI Recommendation Engine (Public Beta) that extracts job requirements, ranks candidates across the database, provides explainable results, and allows weighting controls.
• Launch of Manatal AI Interviewer: The new AI Interviewer conducts asynchronous interviews, generates job-based or custom questions, supports multiple languages, and delivers summaries with strengths and weaknesses.
• Expanded AI integrations for engagement: Through a new integration with HeyMilo, teams can automate candidate outreach, run SMS screening, and conduct AI-powered voice or video interviews, with results syncing back into Manatal.
• Broader sourcing through People-Match AI: The People-Match AI integration now supports one-click contact creation from LinkedIn, Xing, SEEK, Naukri, and other platforms. It includes duplicate detection and sourcing traceability via original URL tracking. While currently in Public Beta, it signals stronger sourcing automation.
• More structured data capture: Customizable Object Creation Forms allow admins to define required fields for Candidates, Jobs, Organizations, Contacts, and other objects. This helps standardize data entry and reduce incomplete records as teams scale.
• ‍Expanded job board reach: A new integration with CV-Library Group enables free job distribution across its UK network, increasing sourcing visibility without added posting costs.

If we were seeking potential candidates within our large internal talent database, we'd turn to Recruit CRM once again. This feature lets you combine text filters, Boolean, and radius search to get the best results. You can even mark unavailable talent (e.g., those currently hired by other clients) as “off limits” so your team won’t find them and communicate with them by mistake.

One common approach we see in most ATS to keep candidate data fresh and accurate is the use of Social Enrichment—the software auto-enriches candidate profiles with their available social media accounts. Recruit CRM does not offer such a feature. Yet, it allows users to bulk or individually email candidates to update their application info. Once candidates submit the form, the data is auto-pulled into the ATS system. While this process may not be entirely automatic, it does simplify the work of maintaining talent data and, just as importantly, ensures GDPR compliance.

Recruit CRM knocked it out of the park on its recruitment agency tools. It lets you send certain candidate data to clients in a few clicks. Plus, the client portal is interactive—clients can choose between Kanban and list view, move stuff around, and give feedback on each profile—then all of which are logged into the system for tracking purposes.

Automation-wise, Recruit CRM offers GPT features for crafting job postings, emails, notes, and even call and candidate profile summaries. What particularly sticks out to us, though, is how this vendor partners with Workato to enable some real convenient 3rd-party automation for users. For example, your TAs get Slack notifications for every new candidate added to Recruit CRM. Additionally, the vendor will jump in to solve arising automation issues, so you don’t have to seek Workato’s support yourself.

Our primary issue with Recruit CRM is the limited number of in-system profiles matching the user ideal candidate it provides: 2 matches per candidate for Pro and 50 for Business and Enterprise. Lastly, designed with staffing firms in mind, this vendor doesn’t do employee referrals and is not ideal for corporate recruiters.

Recruit CRM’s clients include global staffing firms like Cooper Coleman, Zeren, and Avizio.

Recruit CRM has three plans: Pro is $85 per user per month, Business is $125 per user per month, and Enterprise is $165 per user per month when billed annually. A free trial is also available, no credit card is required.

Recent updates show Recruit CRM leaning further into AI-assisted matching and structured data capture.

• AI Candidate Matching with bimetric scoring: Recruit CRM introduced a new AI matching engine that evaluates candidates using a two-way “bimetric” scoring system. Instead of relying on keyword strings, the system analyzes holistic profile elements such as skills, experience, education, location, language, job titles, and industry. Recruiters can generate up to 25 ranked matches from a candidate profile and immediately take action (add to job, hotlist, email, etc.).
• Upgraded AI Resume Parsing (powered by Sovren): The resume parser now integrates with Sovren to extract more detailed and structured data from resumes, including work history, education, social links, and other profile elements. It supports multiple languages, making it more suitable for agencies operating across regions.
• ‍Profile enrichment and workflow integration: The parser can update incomplete candidate records when new resumes are uploaded, helping maintain cleaner, more complete databases over time. It also integrates with Public API and Zapier workflows, allowing parsing when candidates enter the system through external channels.

Trakstar Hire (formally RecruiterBox) is a web-based ATS system for midsize companies. Our experience navigating the platform was quite positive. The platform supports unlimited job posting on multiple job boards and social media sites. Users can sponsor those listings for maximum visibility and receive resumes through customizable application forms.

We especially liked that customizing the workflow takes just a few clicks. They’ve done a great job balancing ease of navigation with numerous features and configurations available.

Trakstar Hire’s automation stood out as we tested the tool. Once resumes are in, the platform parser automatically extracts candidates’ details and creates profiles in seconds.

The offer management feature is well-made. We especially liked the offer letter templates that were ready to send after just a few tweaks for personalization: end-to-end, we created a mock template in less than 5 minutes. It also manages e-signatures without third-party integration.

However, when the need arises to connect to a third party, Trakstar Hire’s integration abilities are a relative letdown.

They have covered some of the critical basics with the following apps: Namely, BambooHR, Slack, Checkr, QuickBooks, PandaDoc, G Suite, and Outlook/Office 365 Calendar, but we hope more integrations are in the works!

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

Our sources indicate that Trakstar Hire has a starting price of $199 per month.

Unfortunately, we have not detected any product updates for the applicant tracking system since its acquisition by Mitratech in mid-2023.

Ashby is an all-in-one TA solution that combines your recruiting CRM, ATS, sourcing, scheduling, and analytics into one platform.

We recently met with Ashby’s to look at recent product developments, and what stood out is how easy they have made it to re-engage with former applicants. If our experience working in recruitment positions has taught us anything, it is that efficiency is essential.

We see it like this: you’re wasting time and effort if you don’t maintain a connection with former candidates because these folks are primed, familiar, and pre-vetted members of your talent pool.

Some are “silver medalists” or applicants who made it to the offer stage, and others may possess a unique skill or trait that your current team is lacking. Ashby can create custom attributes to filter your talent pool, so you’ll never lose touch with “good fit, bad timing” candidates.

We would recommend this ATS system to TA teams seeking powerful reporting capabilities. Ashby’s reports are highly customizable, track all data points throughout your hiring process in real-time, and are easy on the eye.

We also noticed that Ashby has consistently worked hard to improve its product based on user feedback. Check out their blog page, and you’ll see that the ATS literally rolls out new features every month.

Regarding implementation, it takes SMBs a few days and larger organizations 6-8 weeks to get Ashby up and running. The ATS doesn’t charge for data migrations and system setup, and according to our research, Ashby’s customer support and success teams have been immensely helpful in making the switch a seamless experience.

1,000+ customers, including Quora, Deel, and Ramp.

Ashby costs between $300 and $900 per month for teams with no more than 100 employees.

Recent updates show Ashby continuing to double down on analytics depth and usability, with AI layered in to improve comprehension.

• AI-powered report interpretations: Ashby introduced one-click “Explain Report” functionality that generates a high-level summary of a report’s configuration (time frame, filters, groupings, visualization) alongside AI-generated insights highlighting notable patterns in the data to help teams move from raw metrics to actionable talking points faster.
• AI-assisted report titles and notes: Report titles and note fields now support AI generation, making it easier to maintain clear, descriptive documentation across growing report libraries. This is particularly useful for teams building dashboards that hiring managers and executives can self-serve from.
• ‍Dashboard-level interpretations: The “Explain Report” feature also works directly within dashboards, reflecting any applied filters. This allows users to confirm exactly what they’re presenting before leadership reviews or team syncs.

BambooHR is an applicant tracking system (ATS) built into a broader HRIS, designed for small to mid-sized teams that want hiring and employee data in one place. We found it stands out for its unified system, which reduces data silos and simplifies workflows across recruiting and HR.

It’s best suited for teams prioritizing ease of use and centralized data management, but may not be ideal for those needing advanced recruiting functionality or global support coverage.

Key Features

• Built-in ATS within a full HRIS for centralized employee data
• User-friendly mobile app for managing hiring on the go
• Customizable hiring workflows with guided setup
• Integrated job posting and applicant tracking (including SEEK)
• Improved interview scheduling with self-scheduling and buffer controls
  

We also think international teams should proceed with caution. Given that BambooHR’s support hours are limited to standard U.S. business times, it’s not ideal for teams that require 24/7 support across multiple time zones.

And while the UI is generally intuitive, some workflows, such as customizing onboarding checklists or adjusting user permissions, did take more time to figure out than we expected.

30,000+ companies, including Quora, Universal Group, Reddit, Asana, Change.org, University of Maryland, Grammarly, Stance, Postmates, Wistia, the Jacksonville Jaguars, and ZipRecruiter.

Starts at $3,000 and is based on a per-employee per-month model. We've seen companies pay as low as $8, but typically between $12 and $14 per employee per month if they use the full HRIS with a few other modules.

Over the past few months, BambooHR’s updates have focused on tightening integrations and reducing interview scheduling friction:

• BambooHR now syncs more employee data fields from Remote, improving data consistency across both systems.
• A new SEEK integration allows direct job posting and automatic applicant import into BambooHR.
• Candidate self-scheduling now allows two availability windows daily, and interviewers can add buffer time between meetings.

Ripplings ATS offers intelligent, intuitive workflows built into dozens of features and automation. Typically, when an HRIS adds an ATS system to their suite, it’s a half-hearted afterthought. Many are perfunctory, underpowered, and easily out-classed, even by mediocre standalone ATS platforms. But Rippling has built a reputation based on solid product choices, and this one is no exception.

Their ATS is fully built out and offers a feature set that would be a viable standalone product if it weren’t so nicely intertwined with the rest of the Rippling platform.

Based on what’s included, it is clear that they’ve considered the candidate's experience. Little touches, like text messages to connect with candidates, show they know that personal preferences matter.

Another nod to the candidate experience (and what you can learn from it) is the abundant, customizable, anonymous surveys. Rippling recognizes the connection between their public reputation and their candidate experience.

Even with all these candidate-focused features, Rippling hasn’t lost touch with the needs of the people who will use their product most: busy TA/HR teams hiring for SMBs and startups.

Though demand generation is still on the roadmap, elements of their recruiting feature are laudable. It automatically integrates job boards like LinkedIn, Monster, and Zip Recruiter.

Finally, mobile access is a nice touch for busy recruiters, and their open API partnerships with vendors outside their platform leave little to be desired.

For years, companies have had to choose between the superior performance of standalone ATS solutions and the efficiency and security of all-in-one platforms. With Rippling’s ATS, companies who chose the all-in-one solution no longer have to rely on an external ATS.

Bank of America, Motorola, Citigroup, Inc., Dwell, Superhuman, Expensify, Checkr

Rippling pricing starts at $8 per user per month for HR Unity, but the ATS is made available on a higher tier plan (HR Cloud) with undisclosed pricing.

ICIMS ATS is feature-rich and well-suited for large, multilingual organizations and high-volume agencies. Users can create custom-branded career sites, employee-generated testimonial videos, and personalized email or text campaigns through the platform.

In addition to externally-focused features, ICIMS facilitates users in promoting existing employees through internal mobility programs. This is especially relevant in the context of enterprise scale, as is their global support and industry versatility. This platform is used by businesses operating in healthcare, manufacturing, technology, retail, and more.

The takeaway from our demo and hands-on testing is that although this ATS system offers an astonishing number of features, it’s somewhat difficult to operate. This is reflected in user reviews, too. Remember that our writers scrutinize HR tech all day, so we tend to be sticklers for good design and intuitive UI. However, for some, no sacrifice is represented using a tool that looks and feels a little clunky.

We also wouldn’t recommend ICIMS to those tight on HR tech budget, given that the annual pricing usually starts at $14,000, not to mention the implementation cost is quite high compared to other recruiting solutions.

ICIMS has over 4,000 customers, including Ulta, Target, Microsoft, PwC, Uber, and UPS.

ICMS pricing typically starts at around $14,000 per year.

Recent ICIMS’ product updates appear to be evolving from a configurable enterprise ATS into a more automation-first talent acquisition platform.

• Agentic AI for sourcing: The new CXM AI sourcing agent introduces automated candidate discovery, search optimization, matching, and orchestrated outreach. Rather than relying purely on recruiter-driven Boolean search, ICIMS is embedding automation into sourcing workflows. Expanded behavior-based campaign conditions further personalize outreach based on candidate engagement patterns.
  
• ATS experience enhancements: Profile views now centralize insights across Global, Job, and Application contexts, making it easier to evaluate candidates without jumping between screens. Interview feedback reporting has also expanded, allowing organizations to analyze feedback trends by job title, department, and other dimensions.
• Friction-reducing integrations: ICIMS introduced more turnkey integrations to reduce setup overhead, alongside additions to its Apply network, including LinkedIn Apply Connect and Veritone Hire.
• ‍CRM and career site improvements: Updates include dynamic internal referral buttons, additional document uploads for Talent Community sign-ups, easier workflow status editing from candidate profiles, expanded reporting fields (skills, campaigns, engagement scores, custom fields), and improved data export capabilities.

We like how simple it is to post and syndicate jobs across portals, and we love the upfront pricing on the website. Many customers start with JazzHR’s lowest-cost plan, and as their needs expand beyond basic features, they often upgrade incrementally. Being able to select features as needed keeps spending under control.

Because they do not offer mobile apps, our product testing included a considerable amount of time with our phones in hand, navigating the mobile web environment. We were impressed with how well the ATS system could manage the tasks a recruiter does on the go, like sending out a quick reply in the 15 seconds you have before your next meeting.

However, at least among our in-house recruiter veterans, the consensus was that complex tasks should be saved for the desktop version.

One of our writers shared this real-world story from a former job with a tiny company: they signed up for a free payroll software trial before they were actually ready to buy. They used the software for a couple of weeks just to get a sense of the basics of how to run payroll; then, they ended their relationship with the company.

Of course, we don't recommend this - but we know how hard it is to run an SMB. So, along with JazzHR, which we DO recommend, we suggest getting creative with your professional development!

JazzHR is used by over 6,500 businesses, including the Seattle Seahawks, L'Occitane En Provence, TED Conferences LLC, and Chick-fil-A.

JazzHR has three plans. When paid annually:

• Hero costs $75 per month.
• Plus costs $269 per month.
• Pro costs $420 per month.

Tellent Recruitee knows SMBs and has designed a tool that speaks to their needs. The most apparent SMB-focused elements are transparent pricing. There is no mystery there: budget-conscious companies get a clear picture of what they’re paying for without surprises.

What’s less obvious, but arguably more impactful, is how much a lean talent acquisition team can accomplish with unlimited seats, a clean user experience, and collaboration-friendly workflows. Tellent Recruitee’s design makes it easy to share the hiring workload across recruiters, hiring managers, and interviewers. That accessibility translates to real efficiency gains. We’ve seen it firsthand (several of our writers have SMB recruiting backgrounds), and user feedback continues to back this up.

Feature breadth has also expanded in meaningful ways. The addition of Automated Actions lets recruiters trigger role-based tasks, send personalized candidate emails, and streamline interview logistics with minimal effort. Journeys now support pre-onboarding, giving new hires access to their setup tasks before day one. Meanwhile, the new AgencyHub centralizes collaboration with third-party recruiters, and WhatsApp Hiring provides instant, AI-assisted candidate communication right inside the platform.

When we first test-drove the platform, however, we flagged the absence of built-in video interviews, skills assessments, and onboarding as a drawback compared to other ATS systems. That critique is still valid, unfortunately, as many of those functions remain dependent on integrations. To be fair, though, the gap has narrowed thanks to features like Journeys (which now extend into pre-boarding) and tighter marketplace connections to tools that fill those needs. For teams that don’t mind an add-on approach, Tellent Recruitee’s curated marketplace makes integrations straightforward and reliable.

Vice, Greenpeace, Autodesk, Tide, Mollie

Tellent Recruitee pricing starts at €270/month (used to be $199 in our last review update). A free trial is available.

Tellent Recruitee’s recent updates reflects a product maturing around process automation, AI-assisted screening, and stronger job distribution capabilities.

• Workflow Automations: Configurable automations built around triggers, actions, and conditions were introduced recently as a clear push toward operational efficiency in the ATS.
• AI Screening Assistant (beta): The new Screening Assistant reviews applications against predefined criteria and surfaces relevant information for recruiters. 
• CareersHub enhancements: Tellent Recruitee added customizable job page layouts and a pages library, enabling different layouts for departments, job types, or locations.
• Improved contract and campaign editing: Updates to contract management allow users to edit live or scheduled job campaigns more easily, reducing administrative friction when roles or budgets change mid-campaign.
• ‍Expanded job board contracts and integrations: Tellent Recruitee recently expanded its ATS to enhance sourcing and data fluidity. It now integrates with Indeed Sponsored Jobs (via VONQ) and job platforms including Stellenanzeigen.de, Willhaben.at, Meinestadt.de, and Werk.nl, alongside tools like Pipedream and Swipe4Work.

From our collective in-house experience, we know that the right approach to recruiting is full-cycle. Lever leans into the CRM mentality with functions that attend to potential candidates, current candidates, and (ideally) current employees who used to be candidates.

This may seem like an obvious strategy, but it’s genuinely (and surprisingly!) unique among ATS platforms.

Users can source candidates from multiple channels, including numerous career sites, social media, and internal referrals. Connecting with potential hires is streamlined with automated workflows that include the sophisticated nurture campaigns mentioned above. Regardless of where they end up in the hiring pipeline, these campaigns keep talent engaged with your company.

The video interview integration with Zoom stands out. In addition to synchronizing seamlessly with scheduling features, it allows for customization of interview type between live, structured, and asynchronous, or some mix of the two.

Another highlight is the range of industries and company sizes that Lever can serve. This ATS platform works for any user with consistent hiring needs, whether a tiny but rapidly growing tech start-up or an established business in a field with high turnover rates (think retail or hospitality).

However, our testers found some shortcomings in line with other reviews you might read: resume parsing, and report generation features could be improved.

Lever is used by over 5,000 companies, including Netflix, Shopify, Eventbrite, Cirque du Soliel, and Reddit.

Lever pricing can start anywhere at $6,000, depending on specific business cases.

Lever’s recent product direction shows two parallel tracks: ongoing AI expansion (with Winter 2026 features rolling out progressively) and immediate modernization of the core ATS experience.

• Modernized Interface: Lever is rolling out a refreshed visual system with updated colors, improved contrast, and cleaner navigation, aimed at reducing visual fatigue and making the platform more intuitive for daily recruiter use.
• Faster, More Flexible Job Posting: An improved text editor, drag-and-drop content sections, and easier reordering of job posting elements allow teams to format and customize postings with less manual effort.
• Smarter Application Management: Recruiters can now set default application questions, reorder them with drag and drop, and send applications directly to sourced candidates, reducing repetitive configuration and improving compliance consistency.
• Automation Visibility Enhancements: Users can search, sort, filter, and group automation workflows, and clearly see which automations are tied to specific application questions, improving governance as workflow complexity grows.
• AI Interview Companion (Rolling Release): Formerly Interview Intelligence, this expanded suite includes automated transcripts and summaries, 17-language translation, configurable enablement for new jobs, expanded syncing for internal and unlisted roles, structured interview and intake guides, and a Visual Insights dashboard to quantify AI-driven productivity gains.
• AI Screening Companion: Lever is introducing AI-powered top-of-funnel screening with Candidate Insights (powered by ProboTalent), a Screening Companion Agent that surfaces talent-fit signals and next steps, Candidate Loss Risk detection to flag at-risk top candidates, and Candidate Transparency tools for personalized rejection emails.
• ‍Process Flexibility and Governance: Features like Undo Hire within Onboarding and enhanced attribute mapping with role-based access controls strengthen administrative flexibility while maintaining data integrity and security.

Teamtailor continues to impress us with its ability to make small teams feel like big brands. We’ve always loved its elegant approach to employer branding, especially the customizable career sites and nurturing tools, but the latest updates make it even more competitive as a full-funnel recruiting platform.

We demoed the new onboarding module and found it refreshingly straightforward. You can create pre-set templates with custom tasks, messages, forms, and documents, then apply those by department or role when a new hire accepts their offer. The onboarding dashboard widget gives your HR or hiring team a real-time view of progress, and it’s all centralized.

For hiring managers juggling multiple candidates, Teamtailor now has an improved comparison window. You can view interview notes, co-pilot screening criteria, application dates, and current stages side-by-side. It’s a small UX tweak, but one that really speeds up decision-making in high-volume pipelines.

Another useful feature we explored is Restricted Access, which allows admins to limit specific stages to specific users. For example, an IT lead could be looped in only during the hardware setup stage of onboarding. It’s a nice control layer if you involve multiple departments in hiring.

Despite these wins, Teamtailor still lacks broader HRIS tie-ins and the advanced analytics power that some talent teams might want. Plus, the new onboarding tools and offer approval features come as paid add-ons, which may push pricing above what very early-stage startups can afford.

Still, for companies who want an ATS that scales with them and makes them look good while doing it, Teamtailor remains a top pick.

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

Teamtailor’s pricing starts at $1,200 annually, according to our sources.

The Avature platform allows users to customize dashboards set up automated workflows, and leverage the power of an all-in-one ATS + CRM.

We got some hands-on experience with the tool, so we asked our colleagues with the most recruiting experience to test the limits of its purported customizability.

The results? This tool is easy to tailor to your company’s processes and goals. During our test run, we quickly built unique recruiting workflows for individual roles or entire departments.

The platform operates through a no-code interface that allows non-technical users to modify the system (with lots of permissions in place). While this level of detail may be overkill for smaller organizations with simple needs, this is a plus for large teams. Those that operate at a global enterprise scale will get the most out of Avature.

More than 6,500 companies use Avature. This includes Shell, Cisco, L'Oréal, Mondelez, Siemens, and KPMG.

Avature's pricing structure is tiered based on the number of employees and maximum recruitment users, starting at £60,500 per year for 1-2,500 employees and 20 recruitment users, and increasing up to £260,000+ per year for 20,000+ employees and 100+ recruitment users. These prices do not include implementation fees and are based on a minimum two-year contract. Educational institutions receive a 25% discount.

Avature’s recent releases show a decisive move toward agentic AI and explainable intelligence, building on its earlier investments in semantic search and resume parsing.

• Avature Copilot and specialized AI agents: The platform now includes Copilot, which orchestrates task-specific agents such as Writing, Knowledge, Insights, Interviewing, and Operating. Rather than offering a single chatbot layer, Avature embeds contextual AI across workflows — drafting job descriptions, surfacing internal documentation, comparing candidates, summarizing feedback, and even handling administrative to-dos in real time.
• Agentic Automation: Avature has expanded beyond isolated automation rules to coordinated, prompt-driven workflows. A single instruction can now trigger multi-step processes aligned with business rules, blending human input and AI execution across sourcing, screening, onboarding, and beyond.
• Semantic Matching and Recommendations: Building on its NLP foundation, Avature continues to deepen semantic capabilities. Features such as Job Recommendations, Candidate Recommendations, Similar People, and Similar Jobs aim to accelerate discovery using contextual matching rather than keyword logic.
• Matching Explainability: In contrast to opaque scoring systems, Avature emphasizes transparency. Recruiters can see how factors like skills, job titles, and location contribute to match scores and adjust weighting criteria, maintaining control over recommendation logic.
• Skills Framework and ontology: The platform now incorporates a proprietary, continuously updated skills ontology. It supports skills suggestions, proficiency ratings, and prioritization of must-have versus nice-to-have competencies, reinforcing a skills-based talent strategy.
• ‍Resume parsing maturity: Avature’s resume parser, first introduced in 2013, has evolved into a multilingual neural-network-powered engine supporting over 30 languages and powering data population across sourcing extensions and profile imports.