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.
Ratings
Ease of Use
Best For
Key Differentiator
Price
Free Trial
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.
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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.
I use Zoho Recruit mostly when we’re hiring, not every single day. When roles are open, I’m in it a few times a week checking new applicants and moving people along. I add notes after calls so I don’t forget details later.
It’s also where I double-check who still needs a follow-up. We mainly use it for tracking candidates and staying organized, not for anything fancy.
- Everything is in one place instead of spread across emails and folders.
- It’s easy to see where each candidate is without digging.
- You can adjust stages so it matches how you actually hire.
- It doesn’t take long to learn.
We bought Zoho Recruit because our hiring process honestly got out of control. Resumes were coming in through email, job boards, and referrals, and there was no single place to see everything.
We were constantly asking each other if someone had already been contacted or interviewed. That got frustrating fast. We needed something simple that showed where candidates were and what still needed to be done.
Zoho Recruit gave us one place to track all of that without having to build our own system. I’ve personally been using it for a little over a year now.
- There are more features than we really need.
- Some things take extra clicks.
- A few settings are harder to find than they should be.
- Reporting feels basic.
I’ve used other recruiting tools, and some of them felt like overkill. Too many screens, too many steps, too much setup. Zoho Recruit feels more straightforward. I can log in, see candidates, and know what’s going on right away. I don’t have to think too hard to use it, which I appreciate. It just works for day-to-day hiring.
Make sure it’s something your team will actually use. If it’s too complicated, people avoid it. Look at whether it fits your current hiring process instead of trying to force changes. Pricing matters too, especially if you’re not a large team. Simple is usually better.
It’s gotten easier to customize over time. Small things like reminders and candidate tracking have improved. Updates seem focused on making hiring less manual. It feels more practical now than when we first started using it.
Zoho Recruit is good for small to mid-sized teams that need structure but not complexity. If you don’t have an HR tech expert, this works. It’s especially useful if you’re hiring regularly and just need to stay organized.
Huge companies with very complex hiring rules probably need something more advanced. If you rely heavily on deep analytics, Zoho Recruit may feel limited.
We use it to hire software engineers. The pipeline feature is well-designed and easy to manage. Each stage in the pipeline can be customized to match our hiring process.
We use it regularly during active recruitment periods. Reviewing and filtering applicants is straightforward and efficient.
- Zoho Recruit makes the hiring process more efficient and structured.
- All applicant data is stored in one place for easy access.
- Information and candidate profiles can be easily shared with hiring managers and stakeholders.
I have used Zoho Recruit for two weeks. It is a great platform for recruiting. It has significantly reduced the time and effort required to manage applications.
A minor improvement could be made to the user experience by splitting the review screen into two panes—one for the applicant list and one for details.
The interface can sometimes feel slightly unintuitive for new users. It would be helpful to have more flexibility in customizing notification settings.
Zoho Recruit is the only tool I have used so I can’t compare.
Consider how easy the tool is to use on a daily basis. Look for features that allow smooth collaboration with other stakeholders.
I don't know, as it’s been only a few weeks.
Zoho Recruit is well-suited for any company that needs to hire employees.
I don't know for which kind of companies Zoho Recruit won’t be a good fit.
I use Zoho Recruit almost every day when I’m hiring. Most of the time, I post jobs, track candidates through interview stages, and send emails. I also use it to store resumes and extract information automatically, which saves a lot of manual entry.
The AI matching tool helps identify potential candidates quickly, although I still make the final decisions myself. It’s become my main tool for keeping the hiring process organized and ensuring nothing gets overlooked.
- Zoho Recruit keeps all my candidates and resumes in one easy-to-access location.
- The AI helps match candidates to jobs and saves time.
- Sending emails and updates to applicants is quick and simple.
- The free plan works well for small teams or low-volume hiring.
We purchased it for recruitment, and it's been about a month since we started using it. Our goal was to simplify and centralize the hiring process. We wanted a tool that could help us manage job postings, track candidates, and streamline communication. Zoho Recruit offered the right balance of functionality and ease of use.
I’ve personally used it since day one and rely on it for daily hiring tasks.
- The free trial limits you to only one job posting.
- Customer support during the trial period isn’t very responsive.
- Some features feel limited unless you upgrade to a paid plan.
Zoho Recruit is easy to use, offers access to free job boards, and simplifies candidate pipeline management.
People should consider how easy the platform is to use, what’s included in the free or paid plans, and whether it fits their hiring volume and process. Candidate tracking, basic automation, and reliable support are often more important than advanced features.
I haven’t noticed major changes yet, but among similar tools, Zoho Recruit continues to stand out as one of the best options available.
Zoho Recruit is well-suited for recruitment, talent acquisition, and employee management tasks.
I'm not really sure.
Manatal
Manatal
Zoho Recruit
Zoho Recruit
GoHire
GoHire
Tellent Recruitee
Tellent Recruitee
Teamtailor
Teamtailor
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.
Bosch, Deloitte, Saint-Gobain, PWC, Allianz
- 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 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.
For corporate HR and staffing agencies, Zoho Recruit provides plans with a 15-day free trial and a 45-day money-back guarantee. Here are the detailed pricing options for annual billing:
- Corporate HR can choose from three plans: Free, Standard ($25/month), and Enterprise ($50/month). Add-ons like Employee License ($10/month), Vendor Portal ($6/month), and Video Interview ($12/job opening) are available to paid plan users.
- Staffing firms have access to four plans: Free Forever, Standard ($25/month), Professional ($50/month), and Enterprise ($75/month). They can also add features like Video Interviews ($12/license/month) and Client Portal ($6/license/month) to their plans.
Zoho Recruit is ideal for startups and small to medium-sized companies across various industries.
Zoho Recruit’s most recent updates highlight a dual focus: building intelligence directly into candidate evaluation through Zoho’s own large language model, Zia, while also making efforts to improve user experience on everyday workflows.
- AI-Powered Assessments and Zia LLM: Recruiters can now generate ready-to-use assessments tailored to each role, with Zoho’s native AI model powering the process. The goal is fairness, consistency, and structured recruitment without the manual legwork.
- Profile Summary by Zia: Scanning resumes one at a time is giving way to instant AI summaries. With Zia’s help, recruiters can expect to save time and effort on shortlisting, as they can now view key candidate highlights in either bulleted or descriptive form.
- Numerical Rating in Interviewer Assessments: Candidate evaluation has gained more precision with a numerical rating system. Interviewers can score answers by number, set thresholds, and even switch between rating styles (star, thumbs-up, or numeric) with results converting automatically for consistency.
- Real-Time Notifications in Vendor Portal: Vendors now get instant alerts when jobs are shared or edited, notes are added, or candidate statuses change.
- Smarter Cooling-Off Periods: The cooling-off functionality has been extended to cover the Career Site, Vendor Portal, and Employee Referrals. Recruiters can set durations, trigger alerts, and ensure candidates and vendors enjoy a smoother process.
- Bulk Action Buttons: Custom buttons in List View allow teams to act on multiple records at once, such as candidates, jobs, or clients, from the toolbar.
- Custom Buttons and Links in Portals: Portals for candidates, clients, and vendors now support custom actions. Recruiters can design experiences where users trigger specific workflows themselves.
- CV-Library Integration: UK-based hiring is expected to become easier with this new integration, as it lets recruiters tap into millions of resumes, refine searches, and unlock CVs with credits within Zoho Recruit.
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.
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.
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
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