Zoho Recruit's Free Applicant Tracking Solution (Review) - 2024

Written by
Rodrigo Vázquez-Mellado
HR and B2B software analyst and advisor, tech writer and editor, former conversational designer
March 4, 2025
Contributing Experts
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Zoho Recruit

4.4 (2252)
Zoho Recruit
Zoho Recruit

Introduction

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Zoho Recruit Versus the Competition

As it’s usual with all of Zoho's product, Zoho Recruit is quite robust and feature-rich. It also has a free plan, which includes the ATS, and supports 26 different languages, allowing recruiters to cast a wide net.

If you're ready to get a Zoho Recruit demo, we suggest getting in touch for a look at the product and quote. Otherwise, read on!

Ratings

4.4

Ease of Use

Best For

Key Differentiator

Price

Starts at $25/mo

Free Trial

Yes

PROS

  • 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

  • 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.

Zoho Recruit Alternatives:

Manatal

It's hard to come by a low-cost option that can do as much as Manatal does. For as little as $15, you'll get a user-friendly solution with robust AI ATS features for profile enrichment, candidate recommendations, and email engagement. Plus, the price transparency and no-credit-card-required free trial mean you don't need to call a sales rep just to get a ballpark figure.
Popularity Score
4.2 / 5
User Score
4.7 / 5
Product Score
4.2 / 5
Visit Website

Manatal

It's hard to come by a low-cost option that can do as much as Manatal does. For as little as $15, you'll get a user-friendly solution with robust AI ATS features for profile enrichment, candidate recommendations, and email engagement. Plus, the price transparency and no-credit-card-required free trial mean you don't need to call a sales rep just to get a ballpark figure.
Popularity Score
4.2 / 5
User Score
4.7 / 5
Product Score
4.2 / 5
Learn More

Recooty

In our experience, Recooty is easily one of the most intuitive applicant tracking software available—you can dive in immediately after completing a simple signup form, with little to no instructions required. The free trial lets you post jobs to multiple free job boards, customize your career site, and explore all of the platform’s AI offerings.
Popularity Score
4.2 / 5
User Score
4.8 / 5
Product Score
4.3 / 5
Visit Website

Recooty

In our experience, Recooty is easily one of the most intuitive applicant tracking software available—you can dive in immediately after completing a simple signup form, with little to no instructions required. The free trial lets you post jobs to multiple free job boards, customize your career site, and explore all of the platform’s AI offerings.
Popularity Score
4.2 / 5
User Score
4.8 / 5
Product Score
4.3 / 5
Learn More

Wellfound

Owing to its popularity among job seekers with a startup mindset, Wellfound (formerly Angellist Talent) free ATS is a must-check-out for any startup searching for talent worldwide, especially in the tech space.
Popularity Score
4 / 5
User Score
4.2 / 5
Product Score
4.1 / 5
Visit Website

Wellfound

Owing to its popularity among job seekers with a startup mindset, Wellfound (formerly Angellist Talent) free ATS is a must-check-out for any startup searching for talent worldwide, especially in the tech space.
Popularity Score
4 / 5
User Score
4.2 / 5
Product Score
4.1 / 5
Learn More

Zoho Recruit

For a free ATS, Zoho Recruit is a decent offer for most SMBs because it combines basic ATS & CRM in one place, free job boards, email management, and interview scheduling, all within its unlimited free plan.
Popularity Score
4.1 / 5
User Score
4.4 / 5
Product Score
4.4 / 5
Visit Website

Zoho Recruit

For a free ATS, Zoho Recruit is a decent offer for most SMBs because it combines basic ATS & CRM in one place, free job boards, email management, and interview scheduling, all within its unlimited free plan.
Popularity Score
4.1 / 5
User Score
4.4 / 5
Product Score
4.4 / 5
Learn More

GoHire

GoHire is an affordable applicant tracking system solution that's also easy to use and has lots of pre-built templates and AI tools for assistance. It’s also known for its scalability. Startups and SMBs can derive value from the ATS introductory plans and incorporate more features as they grow.
Popularity Score
4.2 / 5
User Score
4.6 / 5
Product Score
4.5 / 5
Visit Website

GoHire

GoHire is an affordable applicant tracking system solution that's also easy to use and has lots of pre-built templates and AI tools for assistance. It’s also known for its scalability. Startups and SMBs can derive value from the ATS introductory plans and incorporate more features as they grow.
Popularity Score
4.2 / 5
User Score
4.6 / 5
Product Score
4.5 / 5
Learn More

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Zoho Recruit Review

Can a platform pack an Applicant Tracking System and a Candidate Relationship Management tool into a single hub? This is what the guys at Zoho set out to do with their recruiting product. Notably, this is only one of Zoho’s products that has become popular with many HR teams, along with Zoho People and Zoho Shifts. Zoho Recruit is only one of Zoho’s 50+ products helping businesses not only in recruitment but also in finances, sales, marketing, support, and collaboration.

That being said, Zoho Recruit is notable for being tailored to the needs of staffing agencies, internal HR teams (at big and small companies), and even freelance headhunters alike. At each of those use cases, and the many iterations therein, Zoho can source candidates from over 75 job boards and keep track of every touchpoint; from application to hire. 

Typical talent acquisition tasks like email management, interview scheduling, and updating candidate’s status, can be automated. Although used by bigger companies, this is part of what has made Zoho Recruit popular with small companies and startups, where time is of the essence and maybe recruitment is a shared responsibility across roles. 

Although we cover this in more detail on our pricing section, Zoho Recruit has always been a popular bet for its value too. Their free plan is good enough for small recruiting firms or freelancers focusing on one job opening, and it just keeps getting bigger after that. 

To give you an idea, the Standard plan includes 250 active jobs, AI candidate matching, advanced analytics, automatic screenings and assessments, background checks, and assignment rules you can set up. A nice thing about their pricing is that popular modules like video interviews (one-way or live) are available as separately-priced add-ons. This ability to mix and match is something that has always made Zoho stand out. You can switch as you go, according to your needs. This is especially worth considering as their plans have evolved over the years to include the features that start making waves in the market.

What users think of Zoho Recruit

Reviewer's Rating
5/10

We use Zoho Recruit for our internal recruitment efforts. Tech support has been lackluster. There are A LOT of add-ons and additional costs. Limited customization and UX could definitely be improved. This is truly a recruiting-only platform.

What do you like about this tool?
  • It is simple and easy to use.
  • Pushes job postings to multiple sites.
  • Great for managing communications with candidates.
  • Reminds us to communicate with candidates.
Why did your organization buy this tool, and how long have you used it for?

We've been using Zoho recruit for 5 months. Thus far, we have found it to be an extremely simple platform to use. There are not a lot of options for customization. Integrations often disconnect and the mobile app is often non-functional.

What do you dislike about this tool?

The free version offers very little storage. Some resumes do not download correctly if formatting due to formatting. Having to pay extra for specific add-ons even with some of their paid tier's such as mass emails, API calls, or a designated client portal is disappointing. It's not mobile-friendly. Tech support is not good.

How is this tool different than their competitors?

Zoho Recruit is the very best tool for small businesses, who can often get lost or struggle to find ROI with competitors.

What Instructions should people think about when buying this type of tool?

Zoho Recruit is truly a tool best used in smaller businesses with minimal recruitment activity. Also, this is truly a recruiting tool--it does not feed into onboarding tasks in other systems. The cost of add-ons can be a bit much, and some of these features might be included in a lower-cost solution. Language needs should also be a consideration.

How has this tool changed or evolved over time to meet users needs?

I have not seen Zoho evolve since we have implemented it.

What specific type of user or organization is this tool very good for?

Small organizations with minimal recruitment needs.

What specific type of user or organization would this tool not be a good fit for?

Large organizations.

Reviewer's Rating
5/10

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).

What do you like about this tool?

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.

Why did your organization buy this tool, and how long have you used it for?

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.

What do you dislike about this tool?

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.

How is this tool different than their competitors?

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.

What Instructions should people think about when buying this type of tool?

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?

How has this tool changed or evolved over time to meet users needs?

I have used Zoho Recruit for 8 months and have not observed major changes to the service.

What specific type of user or organization is this tool very good for?

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.

What specific type of user or organization would this tool not be a good fit for?

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.

Reviewer's Rating
10/10

Zoho Recruit is used on a nearly daily basis in our organization. We use numerous workflows to reduce wasted time in the recruiting cycle. We have workflows set up to cue each person in the process when it’s their turn to take action. This eliminated having to monitor systems constantly, freeing up personnel to accomplish other tasks or work on other applicants.

What do you like about this tool?
  • It has helped us find many high quality applicants.
  • The filters it’s got help us work through applicants.
  • We can customize many workflows through it.
Why did your organization buy this tool, and how long have you used it for?

My organization needed to be able to sort through and source very specific types of applicants. With other software we used such as Indeed, Monster or LinkedIn, filtering through the loads of applications was a struggle. And even when we had a big number of applicants to sort through we struggled to find those perfect fits. Zoho solved these issues and made it easier to sort through and find multiple perfect fits.

What do you dislike about this tool?
  • Sometimes we get flooded with candidates and if you're not careful when sorting, it can get overwhelming. For example, the last job I posted had an application feeding right to Zoho and I received over 1300 applications in one day.
  • Sometimes we don’t find someone to meet all needs. Although this is rare, I would say maybe one out of 20 jobs we may come up empty. We can lower our standards with some of the jobs but then that's when we get overwhelmed with applications.
  • There is a bit of a learning curve when bringing on new users.
How is this tool different than their competitors?

I feel like zoho stacks up very well and the cost can be significantly better than their main competitor Linkedin Recruiting.

What Instructions should people think about when buying this type of tool?

What type of people they are looking for. Do they need advance searches for specific qualifications

How has this tool changed or evolved over time to meet users needs?
What specific type of user or organization is this tool very good for?

I believe Zoho Recruit can meet the needs of most organizations no matter how big or small. If they have higher than entry level positions, then this tool can bring a lot of value.

What specific type of user or organization would this tool not be a good fit for?

Entry level searches or companies that do not do a lot of hiring

Reviewer's Rating
9/10

At my organization, we use Zoho Recruit as our primary applicant tracking system (ATS) to manage our recruitment process. We use it on a daily basis to streamline our workflows and improve our recruitment efficiency.

One of the key workflows we use Zoho Recruit for is managing job postings. Zoho Recruit allows us to create job postings and post them on various job boards and social media platforms, all from within the tool. This saves us time and effort and helps us to reach a wider pool of candidates.

What do you like about this tool?
  • Customizable workflows: Zoho Recruit provides customizable workflows that allow organizations to create tailored recruitment processes that match their specific needs.
  • Integrations with other Zoho applications: Zoho Recruit is part of the larger Zoho suite of business applications, and it can integrate with other Zoho applications such as Zoho CRM and Zoho People, which can help streamline overall business processes.
  • Collaborative recruiting: Zoho Recruit allows for collaboration between team members, making it easier to work together during the recruitment process.
  • Candidate tracking: Zoho Recruit provides tools for tracking candidate progress throughout the hiring process, including interview scheduling and email communication.
Why did your organization buy this tool, and how long have you used it for?

Zoho Recruit helps my organization manage job postings, applications, and candidate information in a single platform. This streamlines the recruitment process and helps my HR team save time and effort. Zoho Recruit allows my organization to centralize all candidate data in one location, which can make it easier to manage and track candidate progress throughout the hiring process. It also provides features for collaboration between team members, which can help improve communication and coordination during the recruitment process. I've been using Zoho Recruit for the last 2 years.

What do you dislike about this tool?
  • While Zoho Recruit offers integrations with other Zoho applications, it has limited integrations with other third-party applications, which may limit its functionality and usability for some organizations.
  • While Zoho Recruit offers customizable workflows, some users have expressed that there are limitations to the customization options available, which may not fully meet their organization's needs.
  • Some users have found that Zoho Recruit has a steep learning curve, which may require additional training for some users to fully utilize the platform's features and functionality.
How is this tool different than their competitors?

Zoho's tiers are very rigid, and I would hope they would make their product more modular and allow customers to buy modules separately. For a small startup, the professional and enterprise-grade turn out to be very expensive, and we could easily trade some features we don't use for features we would like to use.

What Instructions should people think about when buying this type of tool?
  • Consider the specific needs of your organization and the recruitment processes that you need to support. Evaluate the features and functionality of Zoho Recruit to ensure that it meets your organization's specific requirements.
  • Evaluate the user interface of Zoho Recruit to ensure that it is easy to use and navigate and that it does not require extensive training for users to get up to speed.
  • Evaluate the customization options available in Zoho Recruit to ensure that you can tailor the recruitment process to match your organization's specific requirements.
How has this tool changed or evolved over time to meet users needs?

Zoho Recruit has expanded its customization options, enabling users to create workflows tailored to their specific needs. The customizable workflows allow users to create automated processes and custom stages for candidates.

Zoho Recruit has introduced artificial intelligence (AI)-powered automation features that help automate tasks, such as candidate matching, resume parsing, and lead prioritization.

What specific type of user or organization is this tool very good for?

Zoho Recruit offers a cost-effective solution for small and medium-sized businesses that need to manage their recruitment processes without investing in expensive HR software. Zoho Recruit has features specifically designed for staffing agencies and recruiters, such as candidate submittal tracking, resume parsing, and sourcing tools, making it an excellent choice for these types of users.

What specific type of user or organization would this tool not be a good fit for?

While Zoho Recruit can handle recruitment processes for small to medium-sized businesses, it may not be as well-suited for large enterprises with complex recruitment processes and a large number of open positions.

Zoho Recruit is a general-purpose recruitment software and may not be the best fit for industries with specialized recruitment needs, such as healthcare, finance, or technology. These industries often require specialized recruitment software in addition to an ATS that can handle their unique requirements.

Who shouldn't buy Zoho Recruit

Those wanting a simpler tool sharply focused on certain parts of the recruitment process— for instance, video interviews or career site design— may find Zoho’s Recruits offering too general. Since they cover such a broad spectrum of needs, it can take them time to get the design up to modern standards, in some cases.

Zoho Recruit Customers

Bosch, Deloitte, Saint-Gobain, PWC, Allianz

Zoho Recruit: Good for all-in-one recruitment
visit Zoho Recruit

Zoho Recruit Key Features

  • Automated candidate relationship workflows: Create custom workflows that send alerts and triggers at specific candidate touch points, ensuring you never miss an opportunity to connect with job seekers. 
  • Background screening: You won’t need an additional software for background checks, as Zoho Recruit has this as a built-in feature.
  • Resume extractor: Use a Chrome plug-in to parse resumes from most websites.
  • Resume parser mapping: Standardize parsed resumes to a structure preferred by your company.
  • Parsing review: Review the parsed resume for inconsistencies.
  • Client Portal: Your staffing agency can provide a portal for your clients to input their open roles, provide feedback on candidates up for review, and even make interview decisions.

Zoho Recruit also has capabilities for:

  • Resume inboxes (get resumes from emails)
  • Candidate import from documents
  • Duplication checker
  • Assessments and feedback
  • Candidate management
  • Interview scheduling
  • Note taking tool
  • Career site

Zoho Recruit Key Integrations

Zoho Recruit integrates with the top products on several categories, for instance:

  • Job boards: Indeed, Monster, CareerBuilder and over 70 more
  • Recruiting: DaXtra, LinkMatch, Hiretual, SignalHire
  • Background checks: Checkr, Verified First, HireRight
  • Collaboration: Slack, Zoho Cliq, Zapier
  • Social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter

Also, Zoho Recruit has open API capabilities and the Zapier integration; so you can integrate seamlessly with your tech stack.

Zoho Recruit Pricing

Zoho Recruit has three paid plans on top of the free plan.

  • Standard is $30 per user per month, with many more features compared to the Free version.
  • Professional is $60 per user per month, with key features like assessments and social recruiting.
  • Enterprise is $90 per user per month, and rounds out Zoho's entire feature set, except for the add-ons. 

The client portal and video interview modules are what’s available as add-ons. Zoho Recruit also has a 15-day free trial, as well as a free-forever version. The free version has limited features and only 1 active job at a time.

Zoho Recruit is Best For

Zoho Recruit is perfect for large and small companies of various industries that use premium and niche job boards to give them an edge over competitors. It is also worth considering for smaller recruiting firms, but also has tons of functionality that enterprise companies would value. Of course, any company wanting a free ATS that can integrate with the rest of their tech stack would be wise to consider them.

How has Zoho Recruit Changed Over Time?

Zoho Recruit Implementation

With the Zoho Recruit platform, you only need to set up a Zoho Recruit account to get started. After that, you can now post a job and start sourcing candidates. 

For bigger teams, based on complexity of customer requirements and the amount of requested features, Zoho Recruit’s implementation time can vary widely, from a couple of weeks or even up to several months.

Zoho Recruit Customer Success

Customer support caters to new and existing customers who have questions about pricing, licenses, and other services. In addition, Zoho has offices worldwide, so you won’t have to worry about your concerns getting lost in an email inbox. Their support is typically handled on a 24/5 basis.

About Zoho Recruit

The Zoho story goes back to 1996, with the founding of AdventNet Inc. Back then, the company made a network management tool that was popular internationally, but mainly in the Japanese market. Then, in 2001, they launched Zoho CRM, which quickly became one of their best-selling apps. 

Then, in 2005, the company caught up with the times and started offering cloud-based applications. They began with the Writer app, then Show (a presentation tool), Creator (custom application builder), and Zoho Sheets. It wasn’t long until they realized that there could be a Zoho tool for just about every kind of business app. If you’re curious, the Zoho ‘about page’ actually has an interactive timeline where you can see the evolution of the company year to year. Nowadays, Zoho has over 75 million users worldwide, several offices across the globe, and more than 50 products for marketing, finance, customer and tech support, team collaboration, and of course, HR and recruitment.

Company HQ

Austin, Texas and Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Number of Employees

13,000+

Year Founded

1996

Amount Raised

FAQ

Zoho Recruit Alternatives

Manatal

SMB-friendly ATS with AI-based features, free trial available

Popularity score
4.4 / 5
user score
4.7 / 5
Product score
4.2 / 5
Recooty

Affordable, multilingual ATS with no obligation, 15-day free trial

Popularity score
4.8 / 5
user score
4.8 / 5
Product score
4.3 / 5
Wellfound

Unlimited job posts, best for tech startups

Popularity score
/ 5
user score
4.2 / 5
Product score
4.1 / 5
GoHire

Simple ATS, discounts available for early-stage startups and charities

Popularity score
4.3 / 5
user score
4.6 / 5
Product score
4.5 / 5
Teamtailor

User-centric ATS with appealing employer branding features

Popularity score
4.6 / 5
user score
4.3 / 5
Product score
4.1 / 5
Recruitee

Collaborative ATS with the option to try free for 18 days

Popularity score
4.4 / 5
user score
4.4 / 5
Product score
4.5 / 5
Monday.com

Free plan packs numerous pre-built templates for applicant tracking

Popularity score
4.5 / 5
user score
4.6 / 5
Product score
4.3 / 5

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