10+ Best Applicant Tracking Systems for Small Businesses (2026)
The best ATS for small businesses, updated by our in-house HR tech experts and researchers for 2025.
A small business ATS is software designed for teams with limited HR resources to digitize and enhance their applicant tracking process. For such companies, there’s a fine line between bootstrapping your budget and shooting yourself in the foot, and our experience tells us that the ROI on the proper ATS software catering to SMB growth will make you wonder why you spent so long making do with Excel.
In this guide, our HR tech experts will introduce you to a few relatively affordable applicant tracking systems for small businesses that will pay off dividends if you’re looking to streamline your hiring process with automation, improve your recruitment efficiency, or better your employer brand and candidate experience.
We have assessed over 50 applicant tracking systems specifically through the lens of small business needs, combining hands-on product testing, live vendor demos, and expert and user feedback. Based on our research and experience, the best ATS platforms for small businesses tend to excel in resume parsing, job posting, pipeline management/user experience, and integration capacity.
- Resume Parsing: The ability to reliably parse resumes and provide meaningful analytics is a core feature of any ATS, but for small businesses, it’s especially critical due to their often modest human resources. A small business can’t afford a bad hire, but you also don’t want to spend countless precious hours going through hundreds of resumes. Hence, resume parsing should filter the best candidates, saving you time. To gauge each ATS’s resume parsing capability, we ran simulations where we sent sample resumes through the system’s application pipeline and assessed how well it extracted and organized key data.
- Job Posting: Whether a small business is expanding across borders or focusing on niche roles, tight budgets are a universal challenge. That’s why we prioritized ATS tools that maximize job posting efficiency by offering access to a good mix of job boards (both general and niche) and provide tools like job description crafting, salary estimators, and language support to help teams tailor postings effectively. To ensure job ads meet relevant legal requirements, we also verified that each platform complies with GDPR and EEOC standards and maintains a clear audit trail of job posting activity.
- Pipeline Management and User Experience: Pipeline management supports automation and efficiency, the foundation of candidate experience. A well-designed small business ATS is crucial because it reflects your company's image. We ran candidate simulations through each pipeline to test for intuitiveness, accessibility, and cohesive visual design. Then, we assessed the performance from both the candidate's and recruiter's perspectives.
- ATS Integration: Compatibility with other software is essential because even at small businesses, the candidate pipeline tends to and should weave through multiple internal data points and systems, such as calendars for scheduling, candidate sourcing tools, and background check services. To ensure each ATS would work with most HR ecosystems, our researchers checked for compatibility with dozens of the top HR tools used by small businesses.
You can read our HR tech assessment process for more details.
Workable
We found Workable an excellent ATS for small businesses because it combines ease of use, broad job posting reach, and scalable features that help lean teams run structured, professional hiring processes without needing extra tools or technical support.
PROS
- Allows SMBs to explore the platform’s offerings via a 15-day free trial.
- Supports one-click job posting to over 200 sites and lets you access its talent pool with over 400 million profiles.
- You can conduct cognitive and personality assessments within Wordable, without needing third-party tools.
- The anonymized screening feature can help reduce unconscious hiring bias.
- You can post jobs with one click to over 200 sites. You also get access to access to Workable’s talent pool with over 400 million profiles.
- Workable has built-in cognitive and personality candidate assessment. The platform also has features for offer management, which means you can create offer letters and collect e-signatures without needing to use third-party tools
- You can reduce unconscious hiring bias with Workable’s anonymized screening feature. It helps you hide identifying candidate information from the sourced and applied stages of the hiring process.
CONS
- No automated reference checking and onboarding features.
- Features like candidate texting, video interviews, and assessments are not included in plans but must be bought separately.
- Workable could do better with duplicate candidate merging since one person will have numerous candidate records on the ATS if they apply for multiple positions.
- The reporting feature needs to be more detailed and customizable.
- The candidate search function could have more filters.
- Workable doesn’t provide automated reference checking and onboarding features.
- Useful features such as candidate texting, video interviews, and assessments are not offered in any of Workable’’s plans and instead, sold separately.
- Several users complained about the reporting feature not being detailed or customizable enough, and that the candidate search function could use more filters.
Through our testing, demos, and user feedback, we found that Workable ATS provides small businesses with an ideal blend of ease, flexibility, and a future-ready design. While many ATS platforms either oversimplify for small teams or overwhelm them with enterprise-level complexity, Workable strikes a rare balance: it’s intuitive enough for small hiring teams to adopt quickly, yet robust enough to scale as the business grows.
First, let’s mention this ATS’s plug-and-play setup: small businesses often don’t have the IT resources to configure complex systems, and Workable’s straightforward onboarding, 15-day free trial, and clean interface make it easy to get started. The platform also provides broad job posting reach, giving lean teams access to over 200 job boards and 400 million candidate profiles, which helps maximize recruiting impact without adding extra headcount or budget.
Importantly, Workable includes built-in tools that small businesses often lack, such as anonymized screening, cognitive and personality assessments, and structured interview kits. These are the features that can help your small business run a fair, efficient, and consistent hiring process without relying on additional tools or external vendors.
We also appreciate that Workable’s pricing is transparent and its platform is scalable, meaning small teams can adopt the system with confidence that it won’t become obsolete as they expand. However, be mindful that some features, like video interviewing and texting, actually cost extra as they are paid add-ons. Additionally, while the platform offers reporting tools, as highlighted in the user review from Angela Lowry right below, these are quite basic and often require teams to export data into spreadsheets for meaningful analysis.
Workable has been used by over 20,000 organizations, including Sephora, Forbes, Bevi, Moodle, and Navarro.
Workable provides different pricing options to accommodate various business needs. However, their Starter plan was removed in mid 2025. That leaves only the Standard and Premier plans, which cost $299 and $599 per month respectively. For organizations looking for integrated solutions, bundled options that include HR and recruiting functionalities start at $349 per month.
Best For
Workable’s ATS is a good bet for small businesses aiming to scale, as you can start small and know the platform has the capacity to handle more complex needs as you grow.
When Synergized was still using Workable, it was part of our daily workflow. My area of the company is Recruiting, so I appreciated the easy access and having all the tools readily available to find prospective candidates.
The key workflow involved job posting and sourcing. Being able to post across multiple platforms during high-volume periods helped significantly reduce time spent searching for applicants.
As mentioned, collaboration and feedback are important for all agencies but especially effective for small teams. This also helped reduce time spent on lengthy processes by allowing us to quickly see where candidates stood and how they were rated moving forward.
- Workable provides powerful analytics and reporting tools that supported hiring decisions.
- It facilitates team collaboration and communication with real-time feedback.
- It streamlines job postings across multiple boards, simplifying the process.
Synergized implemented Workable for candidate sourcing across multiple job boards such as LinkedIn, Indeed, and Glassdoor. After a year of use, it proved beneficial for building a customized hiring pipeline and facilitating team collaboration.
Synergized is a small team, so Workable was useful for tracking candidates through different stages while allowing team members to share feedback or leave comments on prospective hires.
Workable was also efficient in helping us review recruiting analytics and reports, so we could evaluate the effectiveness of our hiring process. This included reviewing sources of hire, time to hire, and other key metrics.
- Workable is expensive for smaller teams, which is ultimately why we switched platforms.
- The user interface could be simplified, as the large number of features can be overwhelming for smaller agencies.
- Although Workable posts across several platforms, its reach is still somewhat limited considering the cost.
Workable has strong sourcing features, but it’s harder to justify the price when other platforms offer more advanced features and integrations. Its effectiveness depends on your company’s size and specific needs. If you are primarily using the platform for job posting, it could be a good fit.
Choosing a user-friendly interface is important. If platforms are overloaded with features, they can become overwhelming. Finding an ATS that integrates with multiple boards and platforms will help streamline the hiring process efficiently.
While some companies may not need in-platform collaboration, having the ability to take notes and track applicant status is key for maintaining efficiency and consistent communication.
Workable has implemented automated resume screening and interview scheduling, which helps reduce the time it takes to hire a candidate. The platform is also expanding the number of interfaces it integrates with, which allows for more diverse candidate sourcing.
Workable is better suited for larger companies due to its price and extensive features. Larger organizations may benefit more from its communication tools and automated scheduling. It can significantly reduce the time required to complete recruitment tasks.
Smaller agencies may find it cost-ineffective and may not need all the features. These organizations often have more time to engage personally with applicants, so the platform's interface may not offer enough value for their hiring needs.
Greenhouse
We've long found Greenhouse to be a formidable player in the ATS market, particularly in supporting the growth of SMBs with global operations and/or value-driven, unbiased hiring. Its job boards support 19 languages, while its resume anonymization auto-masks candidates' personal details. Remarkably, it's one of the rare few platforms we've encountered that can parse resumes in 26 languages.
PROS
- Offers access to more than 1,000 job boards.
- Built-in internal mobility, referral programs, and onboarding capabilities.
- Interview kits for structured assessment of candidate skills, traits, and qualifications.
- Resume parsing in 26 languages, job boards in 19 languages, and interviews in 6 languages.
- Resume anonymization removes personal details like photos, names, and gender from resumes.
- Send branded, automated email and text notifications from your company’s domain.
- Over 500 pre-built integrations and an open API for seamless connectivity.
- Greenhouse's onboarding feature is built and executed well. New hires transition smoothly from candidate to employee.
- iOS and Android apps work well for recruiters on the go. Users can review applications, schedule interviews, view candidates' profiles, and more.
- 450+ third-party integrations.
CONS
- While they are suitable for the SMB market, they tend to do better with headcounts of 75+.
- Undisclosed pricing. No free trial is available.
- No monthly subscription option. Higher priced than some competitors.
- Bulk reject and email features are available in the Candidates tab, but not during the application review stage.
- The new UI, released in 2024, has garnered negative feedback from some users, who have found it more challenging to navigate than the previous version.
- Greenhouse’s pricing is undisclosed, and they do not offer a trial version.
- Some users note that reporting customization is quite limited and difficult to navigate.
- In-person/live support could be improved.
Greenhouse is often seen as an enterprise-grade ATS, but based on our testing and experience, it offers several standout advantages that can also benefit small businesses ready to invest in a structured, high-performing hiring system.
For small teams, Greenhouse’s exceptional sourcing reach, with access to over 1,000 job boards, strong internal mobility features, and built-in referral programs. This means that, as an employer, you can utilize the platform’s integrations for external candidate sourcing while making the most of your talent database.
The level of thoroughness and consistency of interview kits we saw in Greenhouse was better than most we’ve tested. They’re structured in a way that helps hiring teams assess not just skills, but candidate traits and qualifications.
Additionally, if you’re hiring people across the globe, like us, you’ll appreciate this vendor's language inclusion. It handles resume parsing in 26 languages and job postings in 19 languages, with the ability to conduct interviews in 6 languages. That’s far beyond what we’ve seen from most other ATS platforms.
We also thought the resume anonymization feature was very useful. It removed applicants' personal details such as photos, names, and gender so we could focus on the qualifications that matter most.
Integration-wise, Greenhouse offers over 500 pre-built options, plus an open API, so it’s quite reassuring that the ATS can fit smoothly into almost any existing HR tool.
However, Greenhouse's pricing is a bit of a mystery and, from what we've seen, not as budget-friendly as other options like Loxo or Manatal. There is no free trial, and no monthly billing option. For a small team of 10, it could cost over $6,000.
The platform has also recently updated its user interface. Sadly, it didn’t get very positive feedback from users, and we can see why. Compared to the previous design, this version somehow requires more clicks to perform certain actions, such as sending an interview self-schedule. Thankfully, Greenhouse does offer the option for users to go back to the old UI under their account settings (which was just what we did).
Another inconvenience we’ve noticed is the absence of bulk rejection and email features during the application review stage. While these features are available in the Candidates tab, we trust having them in the initial review process would streamline things a bit more.
6,500+ companies, including Evernote, Nerdwallet, and Coursera.
Undisclosed.
Best For
Regarding their SMB offering, Greenhouse is best paired with growth-focused organizations. Those burgeoning companies hiring at volume and operating internationally, while small, stand to make the most out of this ATS.
I was responsible for creating and maintaining applicant workflows, reporting, audits, and end-user support and troubleshooting. I also assisted in setting up and testing integrations with other third-party tools.
I was in the system multiple times a week, primarily using the reporting suite with both templated and custom reports. The reporting may not be as intuitive as other platforms, but I found it easy to navigate with experience.
Once our workflows were established, only minor tweaks were needed. Recruiters, generalists, hiring managers, and interviewers also used the system regularly to review candidates and create and approve offer letters.
The customization options, from workflows to permissions, made it easy to adapt the tool to our established processes. Navigation is intuitive and streamlined. The reporting suite is robust, and the premade dashboards were great for highlighting trends for the team.
I used Greenhouse for just over two years as a systems owner and administrator. The company selected Greenhouse to modernize and streamline the recruiting process in preparation for a growth phase.
Since the company was locked into a contract with its HRIS, it had been looking for a standalone, specialized ATS. Greenhouse is a leader in the space, and HR team members had experience with the platform, so it was an easy choice.
Throughout my time using Greenhouse, there were no discussions about moving to another tool, as overall satisfaction remained high.
The pricing tiers are frustrating; I personally feel that if a company specializes in one area (ATS), features should be readily available without additional costs, especially when the base price is already high.
The lack of a standard sandbox environment made testing difficult. Also, there is a steep learning curve for the reporting suite.
I have used many standalone ATS and ATS modules, and I can comfortably say that Greenhouse is at the top of the list. I appreciate that even though Greenhouse is a leader, it is not complacent.
There are constant updates and bug fixes, with feature releases that are genuinely helpful. Other tools have stagnated or “fixed” parts of the platform while ignoring updates to core functionality.
I think the main consideration is whether you want a standalone ATS or prefer to use a module as part of your HRIS, if available.
Another consideration is usage. If your company does not have a high volume of requisitions or candidates, or a need for enhanced reporting capabilities, another (cheaper) platform or process may be more appropriate.
Greenhouse has continually released new features, fixed bugs, and deployed enhancements to the reporting suite. The new features seem to align with current trends (candidate self-scheduling, enhanced AI, and efforts to reduce bias where possible).
The core functionality hasn’t changed (e.g., no payroll features), which I believe has helped the company focus on what users truly want.
Greenhouse is great for companies with over 150 employees that have a large candidate pool and a high number of open requisitions.
While approving job postings and offers is easy, admins should have a more technical focus as there is a learning curve with setup and reporting.
Companies needing customization in workflows and approvals would be a great fit for Greenhouse.
A small company with few open positions at a given time would not benefit from using Greenhouse—the implementation would not be worth the effort.
If a company is looking for an all-in-one platform or for functionality outside of recruiting, I would not recommend Greenhouse.
Likewise, a company seeking a cost-effective solution may want to explore other options.
AvaHR
AvaHR has done a nice job with its customized hiring automation frameworks. We enjoyed the ability to post to 50+ job boards for free while showcasing our company culture with videos, photos, and text. Additionally, the Pipeline Triggers, which automate routine tasks based on the candidate's progress, are a standout feature that we've found to be quite rare among SMB-focused ATS solutions.
PROS
- Culture Profiles let you add videos, photos, and text to showcase your company's work environment.
- Pipeline Triggers automate repetitive actions based on a candidate's stage, such as sending thank-you emails or requesting hiring team feedback.
- Custom questionnaire builder for candidate pre-assessments.
- Data migration service is available at no additional cost.
- Transparent pricing, free trial available.
- Culture Profiles let you add videos, photos, and text to showcase your company's work environment.
- Pipeline Triggers automate repetitive actions based on a candidate's stage, such as sending thank-you emails or requesting hiring team feedback.
- Custom questionnaire builder for candidate pre-assessments.
- Data migration service is available at no additional cost.
- Transparent pricing, free trial available.
CONS
- No free plan, a free trial requires a credit card.
- Pricier than competitors like Loxo and Zoho Recruit.
- Additional charges for features like eSignatures and employee referrals.
- Interview scheduling feature is unavailable (still in development).
- No free plan, a free trial requires a credit card.
- Pricier than competitors like Loxo and Zoho Recruit.
- Additional charges for features like eSignatures and employee referrals.
- Interview scheduling feature is unavailable (still in development).
AvaHR stood out in our tests as a well-designed and functional ATS with solid automation and reporting features.
One apparent plus of this vendor is its transparent pricing and free trial offerings across its subscription plans. We signed up for the free trial of the Standard plan using a Gmail account. The only downside was having to provide credit card information to activate the trial, but other than that, the process was a breeze. Within minutes, we were all set to explore the tool.
Our first impression of AvaHR’s UI was that it was so well thought out. There was nearly nothing to be confused about. And it’s easy on the eye, too. Take the example of their AI job description creator. During our testing, it impressed us with the solid draft it produced with just a few sentences of role requirements provided. We also found it easy to get our application form ready. All we needed to do was define which fields were required and which were optional in the form settings.
The Candidates section gave us a bird’s-eye view of all applicants, including their application dates, stages in the hiring process, and contact details. There was also a convenient Filters button in the top right corner that let us filter candidates based on their tag, stage, job title, department, and a few others. The system didn’t take more than a few seconds to provide results in our tests, but we couldn’t help but be disappointed to discover there was no Boolean or custom filter to be found.
AvaHR’s reporting met our expectations for an SMB-focused ATS. The tool has done a great job of providing key data, from total impressions to page views, clicks, and applications for each job posting. We particularly appreciated the clear visualizations offered by the overview bar and line chart. It made it easier to watch how our jobs were performing.
For businesses migrating from another ATS, you’re in luck! AvaHR’s team offers to handle data import at no extra fee.
However, we did notice that this ATS is slightly pricier than some competitors like Zoho Recruit. Additionally, features like eSignatures and employee referrals are not included in the lowest subscription plans and must be purchased separately if you want to use them.
1,000+ companies, including BuzzRX, Redirect Health, State Farm, and Margaritaville.
AvaHR offers three plans: Starter ($89/month), Grow ($179/month), and Pro ($279/month).
Best For
AvaHR is best suited for U.S.-based small to medium-sized businesses with 100 or more employees.
We use AvaHR almost daily as part of our ongoing recruitment efforts at Impression Foot and Ankle. It serves as our central hub for posting job ads, managing open roles, and screening applicants.
One of the most valuable workflows for us is the automated candidate communication, which keeps applicants informed and engaged without requiring manual follow-up. We also rely heavily on AvaHR’s customizable hiring stages, which help us move candidates through the pipeline smoothly and consistently.
The platform’s collaboration tools allow multiple team members to leave feedback and ratings, making it easier to make quick, informed hiring decisions. It has become an indispensable part of how we attract and evaluate top clinical and administrative talent.
- AvaHR’s automated candidate communication saves us hours each week by keeping applicants informed and engaged without manual effort.
- The customizable hiring pipelines make it easy to tailor workflows to different roles across our clinics.
- The user interface is clean and intuitive, enabling our team—from admins to hiring managers—to collaborate easily without extensive training.
- Their customer support is responsive and helpful, making implementation and ongoing use smooth and efficient.
At Impression Foot and Ankle, we were experiencing major inefficiencies in our hiring process, including disorganized applicant tracking and inconsistent communication with candidates.
We needed a solution that could streamline our recruiting workflow, help us present a more professional front to applicants, and reduce the time our team spent on manual follow-ups.
We chose AvaHR because of its user-friendly interface, strong automation features, and how well it adapts to the needs of a growing practice like ours. Since implementing it over a year ago, we’ve seen significant improvements in both the speed and quality of our hiring.
I’ve personally used AvaHR for about 14 months, and it has become an essential part of how we bring new talent into our clinics—organized, efficient, and stress-free.
- There’s a slight learning curve when setting up more advanced workflows, though the support team is quick to assist.
- We would like to see deeper integrations with some of the niche medical software tools used in our practice.
- The mobile experience could be more robust for better access on the go.
We’ve used BambooHR in the past, and while it is a solid all-in-one HR platform, AvaHR stands out by focusing specifically on the hiring experience.
AvaHR is more intuitive for building custom pipelines, automating communication, and facilitating team collaboration during the hiring process. It is lighter, faster, and easier to implement—especially for small to mid-sized businesses that want to move quickly without a steep learning curve.
Unlike BambooHR, which can feel generalized, AvaHR provides a more tailored and flexible approach to recruiting. We prefer AvaHR for its simplicity, focus, and adaptability to our specific hiring needs without unnecessary features.
When buying a hiring tool like AvaHR, consider how intuitive the platform is—your team should be able to adopt it quickly without extensive training. Look for customization options in the hiring pipeline so the system can support your process instead of imposing a rigid structure.
Automation features are essential, especially for communication and scheduling, as they save time and enhance the candidate experience. Also, check whether the tool integrates with your existing systems or offers flexible data exporting options.
Test the responsiveness of customer support early on, as it's a strong indicator of long-term success with the platform.
The application is continuously updated with new features that align with hiring needs. The addition of AI-powered tools—such as a job description writer and candidate scoring—has been especially helpful and reflects their commitment to innovation.
AvaHR is well-suited for small to mid-sized businesses that are growing quickly and need a streamlined, easy-to-use hiring system without the complexity of enterprise-level HR suites. It is ideal for organizations seeking to centralize recruiting, improve candidate communication, and enable collaboration without requiring internal HR tech expertise.
Teams with multiple locations or departments, such as medical practices, retail operations, or franchises, will benefit from its customizable pipelines and unlimited user access.
AvaHR works best for companies that prioritize a smooth, professional candidate experience and want to hire efficiently without sacrificing personalization.
AvaHR may not be ideal for very large enterprises that require a comprehensive all-in-one HRIS with extensive payroll, benefits administration, and compliance management.
Organizations with highly complex or heavily regulated hiring processes might find its customization options limited compared to more robust enterprise-level solutions.
Recruit CRM
Recruit CRM is popular among employment agencies and SMBs because it combines ATS and CRM features in one platform, offers a generous free trial, and has transparent pricing.
PROS
- Combines ATS and recruiting CRM in one platform.
- Affordable and transparent pricing. Free trial available.
- Resume parser provides unlimited resume parsing and supports 28 languages.
- Support available for all users includes live chat, training sessions, and dedicated CMS.
- Regular product feature updates.
- No extra fees required for basic data migration that includes importing Excel/CSV files with candidates & clients. During the implementation process of this software, the customer service personnel will help transfer your data for free.
- Great customer service. Their average response time is under two minutes.
- Powerful Linkedin Integration & Executive/Recruitment Report PDF Generator to save time
- Tons of resources made available to users including blogs and articles that give you all the information you need to know about how the software works, job description templates to help you get acquainted with all the possible job openings you will be looking to close, and a glossary that gives you the A-Z of recruitment practices.
CONS
- Limited to two candidate matches and 1 email sequence in the Pro plan.
- Can’t search logged text under Call Notes.
- Not the best fit for corporate recruitment.
- Lacks employee referral and onboarding features.
- Limited native integrations. Recruit CRM only integrates natively with LinkedIn, Zapier, Logic Melon, some email apps, and Google and Outlook calendars. If you want to run background checks, for example, using Checkr or other background verification platforms, you won’t be able to do that unless you use Zapier’s API extension.
In our testing, Recruit CRM impressed us with its ability to meet the needs of small businesses, particularly recruiting agencies that require handling both client and candidate pipelines.
Small teams who spend hours daily on data entry will appreciate the AI resume parser that Recruit CRM offers. It can parse up to 100 files at a time and works with resumes from multiple sources in 28 different languages.
Recruit CRM is easier to use than many other ATSs we’ve tried. In addition to the mobile apps (which we tested and loved), the Kanban view offers a visual way to manage candidate pipelines. Automation enthusiasts will love the drag-and-drop functionality and automated email triggers at various stages. As a bonus, the in-app instructions are clear-cut and make navigation easier.
Small or medium-sized agencies could hardly go wrong with this vendor’s CRM tools. You can manage client relationships, schedule meetings and emails, and track interactions, all from within the platform. Plus, you get unlimited access to training materials, the live chat takes two minutes on average to reply, and there’s a roadmap page where you can request new features.
Unfortunately, Recruit CRM’s Pro plan limits candidate matches to two and email sequences to one—a letdown, particularly for those with multiple placements to fill at a time but can’t afford higher-tier plans. Also, remember that the search function can only search for keywords in candidate resumes and profile data fields, but not in the user’s logged call notes.
Lastly, Recruit CRM is not intended to serve corporate users, so it lacks certain features that in-house TA teams usually prioritize in their ATS, such as referral and onboarding.
1,200+ companies, including Randstad, Michael Page, ManpowerGroup, Kelly Services, and PageGroup.
Recruit CRM offers three pricing tiers:
- Pro Plan: $85 per user/month when billed annually, $100 per user/month when billed monthly.
- Business Plan: $125 per user/month when billed annually, $150 per user/month when billed monthly.
- Enterprise Plan: $165 per user/month, billed annually only.
Best For
Recruit CRM is best suited for small to midsize recruiting, staffing, executive search, and headhunting agencies that prioritize automation and ease of use.
During my time at Maersk, I relied on RecruitCRM almost daily to oversee the recruitment process from start to finish efficiently. This system played a crucial role in monitoring all our interactions with candidates, from initial contact to the final hiring decision. It streamlined communication between departments and offices worldwide, ensuring everyone involved in recruiting was on the same page.
Additionally, it centralized candidate information and conversations, making coordination and follow-up tasks easier throughout our recruitment efforts. Consistently using this tool was vital to maintaining a successful recruitment approach.
Efficient Tracking: It keeps all candidate information and statuses at our fingertips.
Customizable Workflows: We can tweak processes to fit exactly how our teams work.
Integration Friendly: It works well with our other HR and operational systems.
During my time at Maersk, we implemented a platform called RecruitCRM to address the challenges we faced in managing recruitment efficiently and effectively on a global scale due to our widespread operations and the need to oversee numerous recruitment activities each year. The application enabled us to consolidate candidate information in one place, which helped organize our communications and monitor the overall progress of recruitment processes.
I used the system for more than two years, and it significantly improved our ability to coordinate efforts across different regions, leading to a more seamless and cohesive hiring process. This development greatly enhanced our approach to handling our diverse recruitment needs.
Learning Curve: It took time for everyone to get the hang of it.
Occasional Glitches: Sometimes, there are minor bugs, especially after updates.
Limited Awareness: The shipping industry uses so many products that many people aren't familiar with this one.
RecruitCRM stands out due to its flexibility in accommodating recruitment processes and its ability to integrate seamlessly with other systems or tools. This sets it apart from tools that may lack user-centered features and customization options.
I recommend ensuring it can scale with your organization and integrate with your existing systems. Ease of use is also crucial—no one wants a tool that’s difficult to learn. Additionally, check how robust their customer support is because you’ll likely need their help at some point.
When I used it, I noticed upgrades that enhanced its user-friendly interface and incorporated new features based on feedback from users. It seems they are quite dedicated to adapting to market needs.
It's perfect for large, international companies like ours that deal with a high volume of applicants across many different sectors. It's robust enough to handle complex processes and large amounts of data.
Small companies or startups might find it too much for their needs. If the recruitment process is straightforward or doesn’t involve many stakeholders, they might be better off with a more concise, less feature-rich system.
Zoho Recruit
Like most Zoho products, Zoho Recruit is affordable and feature-rich. The ATS is a strong choice for small businesses, offering a free plan that provides small teams with access to core tools, including job posting, candidate management, and interview scheduling, without upfront costs.
PROS
- Combines ATS + candidate CRM in one system, giving small teams an all-in-one tool to track applicants and manage relationships.
- Free plan and scalable paid tiers with a 15-day free trial and a 45-day money-back guarantee.
- 24/5 support available.
- 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 is limited to just one active job and 256MB of storage.
- Features like the client portal, mass email, workflow alerts, and API are paid features.
- Integrations, at times, don’t work properly, requiring disconnecting and reconnecting.
- The career site is not fully customizable until past a certain paid plan.
- 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.
In our testing, Zoho Recruit proved to be a strong ATS option for small businesses that want more than just the basics. While its free plan gives small teams a taste of core functionalities, the paid plans and add-ons ensure the platform scales alongside them as they grow.
Let’s first dive into Zoho’s free plan. It covers the essentials for managing candidates, emails, and interview scheduling. While the customization options are somewhat limited, we were glad to see the ability to post jobs on both free and paid job boards, including the niche ones. Integrating with Google applications and support for 26 languages are definite pluses, making connecting with applicants from different backgrounds easier. Another time-saving feature is the availability of five customizable email templates, which can be a real help. However, the biggest con of the free plan is that you only get one active job at a time. The storage limit is also on the smaller side, set at 256 MB.
On the bright side, creating a career page with customizable templates is straightforward, though it might not be the most visually stunning option out there. Another cool feature we came across is Zia, the AI-based chatbot. It automatically responds to applicants’ FAQs and keeps them updated on job availability and application statuses. Plus, there's a handy automated candidate matching feature: you create a new job and specify the desired skills, and Zoho Recruit will rank the candidates based on how well their resumes meet set requirements.
However, teams need to plan carefully: while the base plans are affordable, important tools like the client portal, workflow alerts, video interviewing, and some integrations come as paid add-ons. We also encountered some occasional integration issues, where we needed to manually reconnect third-party tools to keep workflows running smoothly. Additionally, the career site customization options feel somewhat limited on lower-tier plans, which may frustrate small businesses trying to present a polished employer brand.
Bosch, Deloitte, Saint-Gobain, PWC, Allianz.
Zoho Recruit provides a range of paid plans alongside the free version:
- Standard plan is priced at $30/user/month, offering features such as a document library, analytics, and customizations.
- Professional plan priced at $60/user/month, which includes assessments and social recruiting capabilities.
- Enterprise plan priced at $90/user/month, providing a comprehensive set of features (doesn’t include add-ons).
- Add-ons available include the client portal and video interview modules. Zoho Recruit also offers a 15-day free trial for users to explore the platform's capabilities.
Best For
Zoho Recruit is best for small businesses and small agencies that want a cost-effective ATS and candidate CRM solution with the flexibility to scale.
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.
- 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.
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.
- 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.
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.
- 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.
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.
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.
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.
Pinpoint
While often seen as a tool for mid-sized and growing companies, we found Pinpoint to be a strong fit for small businesses with ambitious growth plans. It combines an intuitive ATS with a built-in talent CRM, robust automation workflows, and customizable career sites.
PROS
- Pinpoint’s ATS is highly customizable and values collaborative hiring.
- Pinpoint offers unlimited active jobs, team members, external recruiters, training, and support for all users regardless of their plans.
- The customer support team is helpful and responsive to customers’ requests.
- The pricing is transparent. Startups with under 50 people can benefit from its discounted pricing.
- It’s got a robust career site builder you can easily customize without the help of IT.
- It provides over 100 third-party integrations. Also offers custom integrations (but only for Enterprise plan).
- Pinpoint is an agile ATS that is highly customizable and values collaborative hiring.
- It’s got a simple and transparent pricing structure.
- Pinpoint offers unlimited jobs and team members in all of its plans.
- Their customer service team is highly praised by users.
- The career site builder is very robust, allowing teams to attract and convert the right talent.
- There are over 100 HR software integrations to choose from, and Pinpoint’s team is adding 3-5 every month.
CONS
- Pinpoint offers its employee onboarding module with additional fees.
- It can be expensive for budget-minded teams.
- Doesn’t offer a free trial or free version.
- Multilingual support is only available for the Enterprise plan.
- The employee onboarding module does cost extra.
- It isn’t the best fit if you’re looking for the cheapest ATS.
- There isn’t a free trial or free version at this time.
Pinpoint's applicant tracking system is highly regarded by users for its intuitive interface, neat automation workflows, and robust career site builder, which we found perfect for small businesses to create a polished, professional hiring process.
We love how easy it is for candidates to apply through the career site. Here’s an example of what going the extra mile looks like: if your candidates are not ready to apply, they can opt into a talent community to stay in touch with your company. After testing a few dozen vendors, we can confirm this is something you can’t find in most other ATSs.
We were also impressed by Pinpoint’s customer service. Regardless of the plan you opt for, you will get a dedicated success manager, concierge onboarding, and unlimited support via phone, email, and live chat. There really isn’t anything we dislike about it.
Just a few things to keep in mind, though. There’s no free trial or free plan to try before buying. And when compared with other solutions, Pinpoint tends to be more expensive than some small-business-focused competitors, with the cheapest plan costing $345 per month. If you’d like to use its onboarding module, you need to purchase it separately.
We should also warn you that although Pinpoint has a considerable number of native integration options, its bespoke integrations are only available to Enterprise plan subscribers with a minimum of 150 employees.
300+ companies, including CoinShares, Pathways Global, Grant Thornton, Icario, and Pivot Energy.
Pinpoint offers a Growth plan starting at $345 per month and an Enterprise plan starting at $1,200 per month, both with annual billing. Startups with under 50 employees may be eligible for Pinpoint's startup program.
Best For
Pinpoint is a good choice for small in-house recruiting teams that value a polished, candidate-friendly ATS with exceptional customer support.
We use Pinpoint daily, it's an ATS, so it does the typical things an ATS does. This includes, creating career pages on our corporate website that explains some basics about Article, and allows a candidate to decide if they’d they feel they’d be aligned to working with us.
On the career site, all the open jobs are visible for potential candidates to see. They can then decide to apply, upload a resume and fill in some basic info. On our side of the ATS, we create the jobs that are posted - designing the interview flows, application questions, and scorecards, then advertising them to the selected job boards.
We use Pinpoint to evaluate the viability of applicants, referrals, and candidates we source, being a single point of truth. Once candidates are selected to proceed, we use Pinpoint to move through the interview process, giving the hiring manager visibility into the hiring process.
For candidates, we use Pinpoint to schedule and communicate with candidates, who are selected for this process, but also to reject those candidates who are not. There is a lot more of course but this is a basic walk-through, and I’d assume if you’re reading this, you have a good idea of what an ATS does.
They're an ATS that is ascending, and not coasting on reputation; they've continuing to evolve, with new useful features, and integrations quickly rolling out.
Overall, I’d argue that Pinpoint puts candidates first, with easy applications and great branded communication. Adding to this, candidate-centric design is the built-in self-scheduling for interviews, and including a candidate NPS score - this is key to letting my team and I understand the candidate experience.
The new automation feature they launched where you can create rejection emails based on application questions has saved my team a lot of time by not having to screen candidates who do not meet minimal requirements, currently, this is about 29% of applications. We have been creating custom rejection emails for each automation, this allows the candidate to know specifically why they were rejected, and if they answered the application incorrectly by mistake, allow them to reapply.
I’m also a fan of their pronoun feature, which allows candidates to share their preferred pronouns. Little touches can make a huge difference when building inclusive hiring practices.
They continue to have fantastic support and as a partner, they really care about my team and our success. Adding to this are the people they hire, who are really great and it makes interacting with them so much easier.
With less talk/hype and more substance, you can tell they focus on the product and customers, not on the hype marketing machine jumping on whatever the trendy topic is.
We have used Pinpoint for 2+ years now, with a TA team that was quickly growing (we’d have over 20 users at peak). As an organization, we had just started hyperscaling, and we end up growing over 3x in under 18 months.
As we started on this journey, I quickly found that the ATS we were using, couldn’t keep it up. It was, designed for SMBs and smaller recruitment teams. One of the biggest pain points was it lacked the ability to reject candidates through an anonymous email, instead, when candidates were rejected it came from each recruiter's email - given the volume of applicants, this solution was not feasible and would lead to a poor candidate experience.
Additionally, the previous ATS ecosystem was small and wasn’t growing quickly, and it lacked the ability to build a career site out of the box.
We also needed the ATS to be easy to use, not just for the recruiters, but also, for the number of new hiring managers who would quickly need to understand how to use the ATS. This made the case to look replace the old ATS clear, we made a scorecard and started to evaluate our ATS options, ultimately landing on Pinpoint.
- Some of the UI/UX could be improved, particularly when you're screening large volumes of candidates, minor but it would be helpful.
- Because it lacks a deep integration into LinkedIn, we need to use LinkedIn’s “job wrapping” feature.
- The newer automation feature is really powerful, however, setting them up requires too many clicks, it’s not a huge deal, but it could be made smoother.
Much easier application process than most ATSs, making it very candidate friendly. Overall, they nail the mid-market really well, with enough features, integrations, and reporting, but they’re not hard to use and overly cumbersome compared to big ‘enterprisey’ ATSs.
When selecting an ATS I’m a proponent of using the following ranking:
- Candidate experience, regardless of the market, the best talent will always have options, if the application experience and communication experience is poor, they’ll choose to work elsewhere
- Recruiter experience since they use the tool the most. If they don’t like it, or it’s overly complex they’re going to work around it, rather than through it
- Hiring manager experience, will they log in, and actually use it
- Support, if I have an issue will it get resolved?
- Ecosystem/ integrations, an ATS should not do everything, rather it’s the hub to connect point solutions with
- I'm a huge fan of how they rolled out candidate pronouns, allowing candidates to share their preferred pronouns when applying.
- Multiple new integrations have been launched.
- Much faster page loading response times from when we first rolled it out.
Mid-sized to enterprise organizations.
I'm not sure. Maybe small companies that don't have a dedicated HR team.
JazzHR
Purposely built for teams with less than 500 employees, JazzHR provides almost every key feature of an ATS, like career pages, employer branding, candidate sourcing, and talent CRM, at a transparent and affordable price. Free trials are also available.
PROS
- JazzHR is quite affordable and doesn’t place any limits on the number of users added. It also offers a free, 21-day trial that anyone can sign up for.
- It’s got built-in features for offer management. You can choose from existing offer letter templates or create your own and share them with successful candidates.
- You can automate triggers for candidates to be automatically notified via email when their application has moved a stage further in the hiring process. Several other email responses can be automated.
- JazzHR is quite affordable and doesn’t place any limits on the number of users added. It also offers free, 21-day trials that anyone can sign up for.
- JazzHR has built-in features for offer management. You can choose from existing offer letter templates or create your own and share them with successful candidates
- You can automate triggers for candidates to be automatically notified via email when their application has moved a stage further in the hiring process. Several other email responses can be automated.
CONS
- Some users reported a learning curve with JazzHR's UI and that it took them some time to get used to it.
- Although a product geared towards SMBs, it lacks a free plan. We mention this as a con since other SMB-geared recruiting products often do offer free-forever versions, which puts JazzHR slightly behind the competition.
- Several users have mentioned that the reporting feature is difficult to use, with very little room for report customizations.
- JazzHR currently lacks a mobile app, and the browser version isn’t well-optimized for mobile use.
- Some users reported a learning curve with JazzHR's UI and that it took them some time to get used to it
- For a product geared towards SMBs, it lacks a free plan. We mention this as a con since other SMB-geared recruiting products do offer free-forever versions, which puts JazzHR slightly behind the competition.
- Several users have mentioned that the reporting feature is difficult to use with very little room for report customizations.
- JazzHR currently lacks a mobile app, and the browser version isn’t well-optimized for mobile use.
JazzHR delivers a solid mix of affordability, core ATS functionality, and scalable features that we believe are perfect for meeting the evolving needs of growing SMBs.
One of its biggest advantages is that it places no limits on the number of users, a huge plus for small businesses that want to loop in hiring managers, interviewers, or stakeholders without worrying about stacking up per-user fees. We also liked how job postings across multiple boards are simple and efficient, helping small teams maximize reach without extra software.
You can start with the lowest-priced plan (Hero) that includes essential features like posting up to three job openings and then upgrade to higher plans as your company grows, ensuring you don’t pay for features you don't need. The other two plans (Plus and Pro) have more advanced features for automating, customizing, and analyzing the hiring process.
Unlike some competing SMB-focused ATS platforms, however, JazzHR doesn’t offer a free-forever plan, which we see as a significant downside, particularly for very small teams looking to start lean. Several users we spoke with also noted the UI can feel clunky at first, with a steeper learning curve than some more modern, plug-and-play systems.
JazzHR has been used by over 10,000 businesses to date, including TED, Fox Dealer, Clearly, Massaro, and Heath Ceramics.
JazzHR has three plans. When billed annually, these plans cost as follows:
- Hero: $75 per month for unlimited users and 3 open jobs.
- Plus: $269 per month for unlimited users, unlimited open jobs, ATS, interviews, and assessments.
- Pro: Custom pricing for everything from Plus, along with offers and e-signatures, reporting, and all-access support.
Best For
JazzHR is specifically built for teams at organizations with 5 to 500 employees, regardless of industry or recruiting maturity.
I use JazzHR as my interview guide and to share my feedback with other key parties. When I launch the interview guide it will guide me through great questions to ask and allow me to type in their responses and rate what I thought about their response. When you interview dozens of people, your feedback begins to run together after a while. I like that the guide also gives me some direction and consistency in the interview process. I don't have to try to guess what questions to ask and ensure I'm being fair. I also use JazzHR to send offer letters and allow the applicants to e-sign. This makes tracking the hiring process so much easier than completing it manually.
I like how user friendly it is. I like that you can make offers within the software and track the status of them (have they opened it, have they signed it etc). I like that you are able to see the history of applicants so you know if they have applied previously or at other properties of your organization.
We bought JazzHR as a means to streamline our hiring process. We had so many hands in the pot, without solid communication and it was a mess! JazzHR is a one stop shop for the hiring process. The interview guide allows you to view questions to ask, and actually provide the answer you were given so that when you are meeting to discuss applicants you can simply pull up the interview notes in a seamless way. You no longer have to wonder who the candidate spoke to, what the feedback was, or even if they've applied previously. You can vote on applicants as a team to get the consensus of who the ideal candidate will be. I have personally used JazzHR for 2 years.
I truly do not have any cons for JazzHR.
Ideal criteria would be ease of access, workflow logistics, is it ideal for my organization size\type. You want your software program to be able to sustain the task at hand. Can you reach someone for support when needed? Do you have 24 hour support? If not, how long do you wait? How long would my ROI take? How quickly can a user complete the process from start to finish? These are all things to consider when buying these types of products.
They have sped up the hiring process via JazzHR. Now you can post to dozens of job boards in one click just like that! They have replaced the outdated system of hiring that once existed.
Property Management is the area I have used it. We have to hire for over 200 apartment communities. Corporate offices for sure. Large Businesses, Mid size businesses, small businesses.
None really. Even small offices could benefit from JazzHR because it is cost effective. They have plans as low as $49\month, which would likely be affordable for even the smallest businesses. Even if you are a one man operation, you can use JazzHR to keep up with your notes on applicants.
Teamtailor
Teamtailor’s biggest selling feature is its career page, which is well-built and so easy to navigate. The SMB-focused ATS platform also features elements that promote diversity, equality, and inclusion throughout the hiring process. Plus, free trials are available, and they don’t require your credit card details.
PROS
- Teamtailor is a straightforward ATS that is mobile-friendly.
- Drag-and-drop career site builders.
- Built-in tools to support diversity, equality, and inclusion DEI initiatives.
- Customer support and the help center are notably good.
- Offers one simple plan with unlimited job postings, candidates, and users.
- Free trials are available; no credit card is required.
- Teamtailor’s ATS comes with a robust career site builder that’s also easy to use. It works with drag and drop - no coding knowledge necessary.
- Teamtailor backs several features that support diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI), including anonymous hiring, equal employment opportunity (EEO) surveys, etc..
- Teamtailor is highly rated for their ease-of-use. It’s quite simple to post and promote jobs through their platform.
- There is really in-depth and intuitive help documentation for this solution
CONS
- Their analytics module isn’t very easy to adjust.
- No offerings for other core HR tools
- Features for customization and video interview could be improved.
- Lacks pricing transparency.
- Teamtailor’s analytics are good, but enterprise clients need to use BI Connectors to build the reporting they need. Right now, you can’t sport data from the system. This is particularly important for companies with 500+ employees, or those who have many different locations or franchises.
- Analytics doesn’t allow recruiters to see their cost per hire, which is a really impactful metric
- While they offer integrations with HRIS, onboarding, etc - they have focused on just being a really good ATS now.
- There are predefined user access levels, but you cannot define your own user access levels which is important, especially for the largest companies.
Teamtailor’s ATS has a unique approach to talent acquisition, which pays a lot of attention to how your company presents itself to candidates.
In our assessments, we found that the platform’s drag-and-drop career site builder is one of the best in class for SMBs: it allows small teams to create sleek, attractive, and mobile-friendly career pages without needing design or coding skills. This kind of polished first impression is a huge advantage for small businesses trying to stand out in a competitive talent market.
Another way TeamTailor differentiates itself from the pack is how the platform structures its pricing. It’s a single plan with all features included, and thus, this plan's pricing adapts to your company's size. We are also huge fans of the vendor’s all-inclusive plan, which offers unlimited jobs, candidates, and users, making it easier for small companies to scale without worrying about per-seat costs or feature upgrades.
Unfortunately, the analytics feature is where Teamtailor falls short. Our test results show that it’s not particularly flexible or customizable. We noticed the onboarding tool was recently added, but other HR modules, such as performance management, are still missing. And while we appreciate that Teamtailor offers free trials with no credit card required, the absence of upfront pricing transparency can make it more challenging for small businesses to compare costs during the vendor selection process.
Kry, Goodbye Kansas, Vitamin Well, Ponsse, Daniel Wellington.
Teamtailor’s pricing will vary depending on your company size. To give you an idea, $3,300 is a usual starting price for organizations with fewer than 25 employees.
Best For
Teamtailor is an excellent choice for startups and small and medium-sized businesses looking for a straightforward ATS with outstanding features for employer branding.
We used teamtailor to publish jobs to job boards and social media and update or deactivate postings. We also were able to set up recruiting teams and set up the questions we needed for candidates. Also, it was very useful in keeping track of the many candidates, where they were in the process and, if they were not selected, the reasons why. We also used the triggers to communicate with candidates throughout the process, get needed information, and track communications. We also created career pages to better attract candidates and give a better sense of our company to potential applicants and increase the number of applicants.
I really liked the templates to create career pages, and felt it gave users a sense of the company and really made us look polished. The ability to track candidates was a huge advantage, eliminating the need to remember or to scroll through notes or emails to recall where someone was in the hiring process. I felt it was really easy for the entire team to use, especially hiring managers who are not in the HR department and needed an intuitive, simple way to participate.
I used teamtailor for a little over a year, and it was incredibly helpful in attracting and recruiting hard-to-get top talent. We needed our company to stand out, and to create an experience for applicants that would give a sense of our culture and why we are special and unique to work for. The ease with which we could create ads, the great templates provided, and the overall immersive experience for applicants improved not just the quality and number of applicants we received, but the conversion to hires. We also felt that throughout the process, our candidates had a better sense of who we are and seemed more engaged in the interviewing process as a result. Also, it integrated well with the various job boards and social media we needed to use, making it more efficient in getting the word out regarding openings.
I was not impressed with the analytics. Also, though it makes communicating and tracking candidates easy, being able to opt out of automatic emails would have been good on occasions, and it didn't have flexibility that way. Sometimes there were issues with scheduling too, and it didn't seem to always coordinate people's calendars completely.
This is a very comprehensive and complete ATS, and very easy to use. I have only used one other, and would say that teamtailor had better features and was easier to use.
I think it is important to consider the needs of the business. If you don't do extensive recruiting, this product may be more than you need. Is simply posting ads and getting responses enough, or are you finding a lack of quality candidates? If so, this may solve that. Are you hiring candidates who are in very high demand? If so, you should consider how you are presenting your company and if the process and features this tool provides may be able to make it more attractive to such candidates and is often what they expect.
It appears the company has increased the amount of knowledge, advice and resources regarding the recruiting process to users over time.
This is ideal for an organization that does a great deal of hiring, and has a lot of people involved in the hiring process. It is also great for companies that need to hire candidates that are in very high demand.
I think a small company that doesn't have a lot of hiring, or that maybe has mostly part time or more entry level jobs may not need something like this.
Tellent Recruitee
Tellent Recruitee is highly recommended for SMBs due to its user-friendliness and robust collaboration features. Companies also find the ATS’ permission adjustment functionality helpful in reducing biased hiring. What’s more? There’s a free trial that won’t require your payment info.
PROS
- Tellent Recruitee now offers users an AI-powered tool working as a job description builder.
- Permission adjustment features enable businesses to reduce hiring bias.
- Pricing is transparent. You can also opt for Tellent Recruitee’s free trial to explore the tool.
- Tellent Recruitee puts no limits on the number of users for all of its plans.
- Offers a mobile app where users can receive notifications of candidate interactions and perform several tasks on their Android/iOS devices.
- Tellent Recruitee is highly rated for ease of use and quick implementation.
- It offers a customizable, kanban-style recruiting pipeline with adjustable stages.
- The software also helps reduce hiring bias by allowing permission level adjustments for interviewers, preventing them from seeing each other's candidate scores.
- Quarterly product updates based on users’ feedback.
CONS
- The platform lacks built-in functions for skill assessments, onboarding, video interviewing, and e-signatures, requiring users to use third-party integrations to be able to use such features.
- The reporting feature, at times, doesn't retrieve data accurately.
- Tellent Recruitee has increased its pricing (although it corresponds to an addition of features in each plan).
- Some features (skill assessments, onboarding, video interviewing, e-signatures) are only available via third-party integrations.
- Anonymous candidates’ resume screening still in development.
- No monthly contract option. Price has trended up over the last three years.
Tellent Recruitee is a great pick for SMBs looking for a collaborative and user-friendly ATS. We had a great experience navigating the platform: it has a nice UI and a Kanban-like recruiting pipeline where we can customize every stage of the process and move candidates by dragging and dropping the cards. The people behind Tellent Recruitee also did a great job in developing the overdue candidate reminder tool: when a candidate sits for too long in your pipeline without getting any updates, it will send a friendly reminder to you.
Another thing we like about Tellent Recruitee is its collaboration capability. The platform says: you can have as many users as you need in Tellent Recruitee, no matter which plans you have opted for, and it doesn’t cost you an extra penny, and it means it. This, combined with the permission adjustment feature, makes it easier to deliver collaborative and unbiased hiring.
That said, some trade-offs were also spotted. First was the absence of built-in tools for skill assessments, onboarding, video interviewing, and e-signatures. While small teams can rely on integrations to fill these gaps, this approach may increase operational complexity. We also noticed that the reporting feature sometimes fails to retrieve data accurately, which can be frustrating for SMBs that rely on clear, real-time hiring metrics to make decisions. Additionally, Tellent Recruitee has increased its pricing recently, though to be fair, those increases have come alongside meaningful feature updates.
Semrush, Mark and Spencer, Transcom, Taco Bell, Toyota, Asus, Livestorm, Rakuten.
Tellent Recruitee offers three annual plans with an 18-day free trial.
- Start costs €270/month for 5 job slots and basic recruitment tools.
- Advance at €343/month, provides unlimited job slots, workflow automation, and permission settings.
- Optimize priced at €1,374/month, includes API access, dedicated customer success, and guided onboarding.
Tellent Recruitee’s latest updates bring in smarter automation with Automated Actions, pre-onboarding through Journeys, and even AgencyHub to simplify working with external recruiters. We also found the new WhatsApp Hiring integration to be a nice way of cutting down on no-shows while keeping candidates engaged. On the HR side, updates like DATEV payroll integration, flexible time tracking, and customizable employee data views help extend Tellent Recruitee’s value past recruiting into everyday workforce management. All of this shows that while Tellent Recruitee remains simple enough for SMBs, it’s also evolving into a platform that can grow with them.
Best For
Tellent Recruitee is a good bet for small and medium-sized businesses looking for an easy-to-use ATS with robust features for collaborative hiring.
I use Tellent Recruitee for the following tasks:
- Job Posting – Create and manage multiple postings across job boards.
- Candidate Tracking – Automate actions such as moving candidates between stages and sending notifications. Pre-built templates help accelerate closures.
- Collaboration – Share notes, evaluations, and tasks for each candidate.
- Automation – Use automated workflows for repetitive tasks such as email communications and interview scheduling.
- Talent Pool – Maintain talent pools of prequalified candidates for future openings.
- Reporting and Analytics – Use customizable dashboards to track time-to-hire and recruiter efficiency.
- Blacklisting – Flag and blacklist fake candidate profiles to inform future recruitment efforts.
- The user interface is intuitive and easy to navigate, making it simple to manage recruitment workflows.
- Automation of repetitive tasks like emails, interview scheduling, and pipeline management saves significant time.
- Collaboration tools such as shared notes, interview templates, and tagging improve teamwork and streamline the process.
We followed a manual process for recruiting and needed a tool that could integrate with Workday, improve agility, enhance recruiter capabilities, and streamline interview scheduling and ATS optimization for faster candidate reviews. I have used the tool for over two years.
Benefits observed:
- Automated job posting to multiple job boards, including LinkedIn.
- Candidate tracking and management.
- Collaboration features such as shared notes, evaluation forms, and reviews.
- Automation tools like email templates and scheduling links.
- Integration with Workday.
- It’s difficult to post the same job in multiple locations; we’ve had to duplicate postings manually.
- Integration with Workday was problematic, leading us to use it as a separate tool.
- Onboarding features such as offer rollout options are missing and would be a valuable addition.
- Ease of Use – The interface is intuitive and has a shorter learning curve than other platforms.
- Customization – Offers customizable hiring workflows and careers page builders; Workable offers similar features but to a lesser extent.
- Automation – Supports automated job postings, email templates, scheduling tools, and HR tool integrations; Zoho Recruit and Workable offer fewer integrations or restrict features in tiered plans.
- Target Audience – Best suited for growing companies with moderate hiring volumes (3–7 positions at a time), with a focus on collaborative hiring and employer branding—not ideal for mass hiring needs.
What I prefer:
- Strong collaboration features, including shared notes, evaluation forms, and feedback tools.
- Branded career pages enhance employer visibility.
- Automated workflows save time and effort in repetitive tasks.
- Hiring Needs – Evaluate whether the tool fits the type and volume of hiring; it’s better for niche or limited hiring (under 10 roles), not for high-volume needs.
- Cost – May be expensive for smaller companies.
- Integration – Ensure it integrates well with your existing systems.
- Scalability – Assess whether the platform can scale with growing hiring demands.
- Training Time – Consider the time needed to train recruiters and hiring managers.
Tellent Recruitee has made several updates to meet evolving user needs:
- AI-generated job descriptions and bulk actions for candidate management have been added.
- The Power Search feature allows quicker access to specific candidates or communication history.
- Support for remote hiring, including video interviews, has been implemented.
Mid-sized organizations with under 1,000 employees and annual hiring of around 200–300 positions max will find Tellent Recruitee useful.
Tellent Recruitee is not well-suited for mass hiring or large enterprises.
Trakstar Hire
Trakstar Hire outperforms the typical ATS with features like unlimited job posting, resume duplication detection, and advanced customization capabilities. Trakstar Hire is a favorite pick for SMBs as its undisclosed pricing is negotiable based on customers’ annual number of job openings.
PROS
- Recruitment workflow is highly customizable.
- Native, in-platform collaboration hiring features allow users to delegate tasks, collect evaluations, and schedule interviews without third-party tool integrations.
- Users can create unlimited job posts and add as many hiring managers as they need without added cost.
- Offer management is built into the product, so users can create, send, and store offer letters directly through the platform. They even do e-signatures!
- Trakstar Hire’s recruitment workflows are highly customizable. You can edit them as needed to reflect your company’s hiring process.
- You can post as many jobs as needed with Trakstar Hire without any limitation.
- Trakstar Hire has offer management tools built-in. Users can create offer letters and collect e-signatures within Trakstar Hire without needing to integrate it with third-party tools.
CONS
- Limited integration options with third-party HRIS and payroll solutions.
- No mobile apps.
- As Trakstar Hire offers only one plan with all features included, some businesses looking for a basic ATS may need more time to find it.
- No free trial or free plans. Trakstar’s pricing is all-or-one and undisclosed.
- Trakstar Hire has limited integration options with third-party HRIS and payroll solutions.
- Several users have complained about being unable to sort candidates and search results in an order other than displayed.
- Trakstar Hire isn’t a scalable platform; they have a single plan, all features included, which means customers may end up paying for features that they don’t need.
- Trakstar doesn’t publically list their pricing nor allows visitors to create trial accounts directly from the website, which is unusual for a software solution aimed at mid-market companies.
Trakstar Hire ATS (formerly Recruiterbox) is ideal for midsize companies. Still, the platform does work out deals for small businesses as they have room for negotiation based on how many job openings they have annually.
Rather than offering a feature-light product, Trakstar Hire ATS carries nearly everything you can ask for in a modern application tracking system: resume management, candidate sourcing, interview scheduling, offer management, collaborative hiring, reports, and careers site management.
Does the company overdo it? Based on our experience with Trakstar, the answer is yes and no.
It’s challenging to master many things simultaneously, but Trakstar Hire makes learning their tool manageable by presenting users with a well-made set of core products. We’ll start with job posting.
When a job is added to the platform, it is automatically distributed to LinkedIn, Facebook, Google, careers pages, job boards, and search engines. There is no limit to the number of jobs you can post, which is helpful for teams who hire frequently.
We love a smooth, customized workflow, and Trakstar Hire delivers in the “tailored experience” department. Users can customize literally every step of the way, making their hiring experience stand out against the rest but also fold into the best operational flow for the business.
We are also big fans of products with built-in features like offer management. No plug-in is necessary! Creating, sending, and storing offer letters all in one place makes sense.
There’s no such thing as a perfect tool, and we’d be remiss if we didn’t point out some aspects of the platform that cause us concern.
A free trial was available when they were still Recruiterbox in 2021. In 2023, there’s no more free trial, and the pricing is now undisclosed.
We’ve already touched on the lack of integrations, but it’s worth restating. Though it’s a very capable ATS, being unable to integrate with standard HR tools is a significant drawback.
Makita, Couchsurfing, Lonely Planet, Untappd, Quality Ironworks.
Trakstar Hire has one plan that includes all of its features without any limits. The pricing is custom depending on headcount.
Best For
Trakstar Hire is a powerful ATS for SMBs assessing one hundred or more candidates annually.
I used Trakstar regularly as part of my day-to-day HR and recruiting work. On a weekly basis, I reviewed incoming applications, moved candidates through the hiring stages, and coordinated with hiring managers.
I used the system to post and manage job openings, track candidates, and collect interview feedback. On a monthly basis, I relied on reporting and pipeline visibility to monitor hiring progress. It was a key tool for keeping the process organized and consistent.
- I like that Trakstar Hire kept the entire recruiting process in one place, which made it easier to stay organized and avoid losing track of candidates.
- The platform made collaboration with hiring managers smoother.
- I appreciated how straightforward it was to move candidates through different stages.
- It helped keep candidate communication centralized, which saved time and reduced back-and-forth emails.
Trakstar was already in place when I joined my organization, as it was the system being used to manage recruiting at the time. It was implemented to bring structure and consistency to the hiring process and reduce reliance on manual tracking and email communication.
The platform allowed the team to manage job postings, applicants, interviews, and feedback in one centralized location, which made collaboration much easier. I used it regularly for about two years as part of my responsibilities. It became a core tool in our recruiting workflow and something we relied on consistently throughout the hiring process.
- Trakstar Hire had a learning curve for new users, particularly hiring managers who were not familiar with applicant tracking systems.
- The reporting options could have been more customizable.
- Some areas felt dated and required too many clicks when moving candidates through the pipeline.
Compared to other systems I have used, Trakstar stood out for its solid core recruiting functionality and straightforward workflows, even if it was not as widely recognized as some larger platforms. Since it was less familiar to some hiring managers, there was a learning curve for certain leaders.
- Make sure the system supports the full hiring process in one place to avoid manual work or disconnected tools.
- The platform should be intuitive for recruiters and hiring managers, especially those who use it most often.
- Strong vendor support and implementation guidance can have a significant impact on long-term success.
Over time, the platform became more streamlined and user friendly, with improvements that made collaboration and candidate tracking easier. Enhancements to scheduling and pipeline visibility helped reduce manual effort.
Trakstar Hire is well suited for small to mid-sized organizations that need a straightforward, centralized system to manage the hiring process from start to finish.
Trakstar Hire is not well suited for large organizations, especially those already accustomed to enterprise platforms such as Oracle or Workday.
Recooty
Recooty offers a free-forever plan that allows users to post jobs on multiple platforms. The platform’s paid plans pack a handful of recruitment essentials at conservative prices, making it a great ATS option for SMBs.
PROS
- Features a user-friendly and simple interface for easy navigation.
- Offers competitive pricing, ensuring accessibility for small businesses.
- Users can test the software before subscribing through a free trial.
- Provides full set of ATS basics, including job posting, candidate tracking, interview scheduling, candidate assessment, offer management, and onboarding.
- Enables efficient job posting to multiple platforms with a "one-click" solution.
- Supports eight languages: German, English, French, Hindi, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, and Vietnamese.
- One user liked the usability of the software, stating that it is 'easy and self-explanatory.'
- The ability to post a job on multiple platforms makes it efficient, as per one user who labels Recooty a 'one-click job posting solution.'
- The company offers a cheap subscription, making it affordable for small businesses.
CONS
- Lacks mobile applications.
- No Chrome extension for importing candidates (e.g., from LinkedIn).
- Limited integrations (Slack and LinkedIn only).
- Suitable for small and medium-sized businesses.
- Not ideal for large enterprises with extensive hiring needs across multiple locations.
- The company does not have a mobile application.
- Recruitment features can be quite basic compared to some competitors.
- Integrations are somewhat limited.
- Not suitable for large enterprises with more job postings and locations.
Recooty is great for SMBs looking for an easy-to-use, affordable, and efficient applicant tracking system. However, if you're looking for a more robust solution with more features, you may want to consider a different ATS.
Our in-house assessment showed that Recooty is a plug-and-play tool. It is easy to set up and easy to navigate. Users can post jobs to multiple boards, track applicants, and set up automated email notifications with just a few clicks. It’s not an exaggeration to say Recooty is a self-explanatory ATS.
Another thing we like about Recooty is its affordability. The software is priced competitively, and you can even start with the free plan. Though it’s limited to one active job at a time, it offers some good features like branded career pages, multiple job boards, and unlimited applications.
Recooty supports not only English but also seven additional languages. However, Recooty lacks a mobile app, despite pressure from users over the years. Recooty isn’t a good call for recruitment teams that need a Chrome extension to support their candidate search on websites like LinkedIn.
The level of customization is lacking compared to higher-priced ATSs in the space, and resume parsing is accessible for only the two highest-priced plans. Integration options also leave something to be desired, as you can only connect the ATS with your LinkedIn and Slack.
Sendlane, Airtable, Uber, Rack Bank, American Hospital, Trello.
Recooty offers a 15-day free trial. Their three paid subscription options start at $79 monthly (billed annually).
Best For
Recooty is an affordable ATS option ideal for small to mid-sized businesses needing minimal setup and multilingual hiring capabilities.
Keka
Keka’s ATS offers a well-rounded mix of recruiting tools, automation options, and integration potential. We were drawn to its flexibility, as SMBs can use it as a stand-alone system or connect it with Keka’s HR, payroll, and performance modules for a single-platform experience. Its tiered pricing makes it accessible for smaller teams while offering advanced automation, integrations, and customization for more complex hiring needs.
PROS
- Customizable hiring stages and requisition workflows for each department.
- AI-assisted job description creation and built-in resume parsing.
- Candidate self-scheduling and structured interview scorecards.
- Duplicate application detection with configurable reapplication rules.
- Advanced tier adds workflow automation, CV-JD match scoring, and integrations with job boards, assessments, and video interviews.
- Federal and state tax filing is included at all tiers.
- Flexible pay schedules with direct deposit support.
- Overtime and leave policy automation to match local labor laws.
- Benefits, loans, and expense tracking in one place.
- Built-in dashboards and reports to monitor payroll trends.
- Accounting integrations for streamlined finance workflows.
CONS
- No self-service free trial; demo with sales is required first.
- Implementation fee applies for setup and (if needed) HR/payroll integration.
- Platform was slow to load during our demo.
- “Free Trial” access is gated behind a sales demo and disclosed only after signup.
- Implementation fees for setup, tax configuration, and data migration.
- Advanced tools (custom reports, asset tracking, engagement surveys) only available in higher tiers.
- Multi-entity payroll and API access require add-on fees.
- Slow load times in the demo raise usability concerns about payroll deadlines.
Keka ATS (named HIRO) gives SMB recruiters a full set of tools to manage hiring from requisition to offer, with the flexibility to adapt workflows to different roles and departments. In our demo, the left-hand navigation made it easy to access job postings, candidate lists, and reports without losing track of where we were in the process.
We started with job and requisition management, where hiring managers can create openings, define custom pipeline stages, and tailor them per department or role. Internal and social referral channels are built in, and an AI assistant can generate job descriptions from scratch. The system also supports internal job boards for promoting roles to current employees.
Candidate management is one of Keka ATS’s stronger areas. Recruiters can parse resumes, tag candidates, and assign them to talent pools for future openings. The demo showed three types of interview scheduling: online, face-to-face, and self-scheduling, the last of which lets candidates pick from pre-set time slots—something that reduces back-and-forth considerably. Each interview can be linked to scorecards, which help interviewers rate candidates against consistent criteria, minimizing bias.
Interestingly, there’s a duplicate detection feature that flags candidates who reapply too soon. Recruiters can set the “cool-down” period and choose whether to merge or overwrite old application data. In the Advanced plan, we also saw integrations with major job boards (LinkedIn, Indeed, Monster), assessment platforms, and video interview tools, plus CV-JD match scoring to quickly identify the best fits.
Offer management and preboarding are built in: recruiters can send offer letters, run them through an approval workflow, and collect candidate data through a dedicated portal. That data can then flow into Keka’s HR module if purchased, but the ATS itself is fully functional as a stand-alone tool.
However, from our experience, the buying and onboarding process felt more rigid than with many other ATS platforms we’ve tested. In fact, we aren’t happy that the “Free Trial” option stated on Keka’s site is just a tease, as once you sign up, you’re booked in for a sales demo before you can actually touch the product.
We’d recommend you factor in the implementation fee for setup and any HR/payroll integration, given that it could bump up the total cost more than you might expect at first glance. And the slow page load times we saw during our demo, although they could be just a one-off event due to a bad internet connection, may be something you’d want to keep in mind when exploring the platform yourself, especially if you’re a busy recruiting team handling dozens of candidates a day.
10,000+ companies, including eBay, Randstad, and ONEPLUS.
Keka offers two plans, Pro ($50/month/recruiter) and Advanced ($75/month/recruiter), both with free trials after sales demos.
Best For
Small to mid-sized businesses seeking a flexible ATS that can operate independently or integrate with Keka’s HR/payroll products as they grow.
BambooHR
BambooHR is among the top ATS options for SMBs, thanks to its ease of use and full-stack features built-in. The platform also offers flexible plans, which means businesses can benefit from having custom offerings based on their needs.
PROS
- Flexible and tailored pricing, allowing you to choose and scale up features based on your specific needs.
- Free 7-day trials are offered, providing an opportunity to explore and evaluate the ATS functionalities before making a financial commitment.
- Well-performing mobile app, which facilitates application review, communication, and collaboration features on the go.
- User-friendly interface and intuitive design.
- Flexible packaging and custom pricing is the way they roll. You can pick out one or two packages and pick other modules as add-ons based on your needs.
- Very simple and straightforward tool, easy to use.
CONS
- Payroll capabilities are limited to U.S.-based employees, which may be a drawback for companies with an international workforce.
- Customer support is available only during U.S. business hours, potentially causing delays in resolving urgent inquiries for users in different time zones.
- Modules like time tracking, performance management, and surveys are offered as add-ons, requiring additional investment to access these functionalities.
- Payroll is only available for US-based employees
- Customer support is only offered during US business hours.
- Some modules like time tracking, performance management, and surveys are only available as add-ons.
Having looked at dozens of SMB-oriented ATS platforms, we find it impressive that BambooHR packs most of the essential recruiting features into a modestly priced HRIS package.
First, let’s discuss the ATS’s customization capability. During our testing, we appreciated how BambooHR made these features accessible without overwhelming the user—everything felt simple, which is a great strength for small businesses with limited recruiting experience.
We also found the candidate application organization process intuitive. It was fast and easy to track candidates through every stage of the hiring process, from application to final e-signature. Plus, BambooHR allowed us to create new hire packets, which provide essential details on what new hires can expect during their first days—a helpful tool that makes onboarding smoother.
BambooHR’s mobile app for hiring is equally loveable. Users we spoke to enjoyed the flexibility it provided. Through the app, hiring managers could post jobs, review resumes, communicate with candidates, and coordinate with other team members while on the move. Just to be sure, we also tested these mobile capabilities ourselves, and phew! The experience was positive. This ability to carry out hiring activities from a smartphone is a real differentiator—especially when compared to tools like JazzHR, which, although feature-rich, lacks the same level of mobile optimization.
BambooHR also scores points with its flexible pricing options. The ATS, though custom, is modestly priced and allows you to choose and scale up features based on your specific needs. A free 7-day trial is also available upon request, so anyone interested can explore and evaluate the platform before committing financially.
When we compared BambooHR to other applicant tracking systems catering to SMBs, such as Trackstar Hire and Zoho Recruit, we found BambooHR’s user interface to be particularly well-designed and easy to use. Additionally, the collaboration features within BambooHR, like the ability to comment on candidate profiles and track team progress, were well-executed and on par with the best that tools like Recruitee offer.
However, it’s worth mentioning that BambooHR doesn’t offer its ATS as a standalone tool. Instead, it’s mixed with time off, benefits, and employee experience, which can be an overkill for those looking for just applicant tracking software.
It’s also quite a letdown to find out that though BambooHR’s customer support is helpful, it’s only available during U.S. business hours, which could lead to delays if you’re in other time zones.
33,000+ companies, including Quora, Universal Group, Reddit, and Asana.
BambooHR pricing is custom. For companies with more than 25 employees, pricing is based on a per-employee, per-month model, while those with 25 or fewer pay a flat monthly rate. There are no annual contracts, and volume discounts are automatically applied as employee counts increase.
Best For
BambooHR is an excellent choice for small businesses, ideally U.S.-based and rapidly growing, that are looking for a feature-rich HRIS with ATS tools built in, all at a reasonable price.
There are multiple ways to incorporate BambooHR into your business workflows from an HR perspective. We used it for job postings, hiring, and onboarding. Also, we used it for tracking PTO, employee records, and payroll. We found it helpful for benefits enrollment too.
A relatively new feature is tracking employee satisfaction through eNPS, which is great ,and BambooHR includes the ability to use it for performance management.
I have found BambooHR to be simple in its design for a user-friendly approach. Also, with an average cost of $17 per employee (flat rate for more employees) it's saved both time and money.
Everything our small company needs is available in one platform, which is nice not to have to "hop around" to other platforms.
We are a small company that could not afford to hire an entire human resources department. Also, we wanted to move to a platform to house, e.g., employee records, track hiring processes, and data management. BambooHR was a way for us to accomplish these goals at a reasonable price and brought the company into the 21st century!
We used this platform for a couple of years for our benefits enrollment, administration, and hiring processes. It was user-friendly for our employees.
BambooHR has "add-on" features that can drive up the costs. The "straightforward" (i.e., limited) features may not be suitable for mid-to large-scale businesses. BambooHR has had its challenges with year-over-year capabilities.
BambooHR is user-friendly and great for small businesses. It is a "pay as you need" in its features, so you don't have to buy the entire package, if you will.
A careful analysis of your business needs from an HR perspective is required. For instance, how many employees do you have, what are your challenges in the HR realm (e.g., multiple systems for each function), and how much can you afford. This is a feature-based platform and can be helpful for any-sized business (smaller is my suggestion) to select what you need based on affordability.
BambooHR has become more user-friendly with more options.
BambooHR is good for a small business, based on cost and options it offers.
Large-scale or international businesses with hundreds of employees that have a cross-functional human resources department that uses/needs a platform that has multiple features in one, platform-based cost, and BambooHR may not be that.
Manatal
Manatal is an affordable ATS with a 14-day free trial. Its AI features are handy and drag-and-drop functionality also makes organizing candidate pipelines easy.
PROS
- Affordable ATS with a 14-day free trial.
- User-friendly interface with drag-and-drop pipelines.
- Good AI features for job description generation and profile recommendations.
- Free data migration from existing hiring software with automatic duplicate detection.
- Suitable for both in-house TAs and recruiting agencies.
- Supports multiple languages.
- Manatal is quite affordable and offers a 15-day free trial for users to test it out before making commitments.
- Manatal is fairly easy to use. It features drag-and-drop enabled pipelines for candidate organization.
- Manatal’s AI-based recommendations feature can save hiring managers quite a bit of time. It’s able to scan job descriptions then search a users talent pool and bring up candidates most suited for the job.
CONS
- AI can only generate English job descriptions, limited to 200 per month.
- Core product available only in English and Spanish.
- No free plans available.
- Limited native integrations. API and Zapier integrations for top-tier plans only.
- Boolean Search and Advanced Search cannot be used simultaneously.
- The AI recommendations feature works best with resumes that are in English, and doesn’t work as accurately with other languages according to several users’ feedback. Several users have also complained about Manatal’s interface only being available in English and that career pages cannot be published in languages other than English and Spanish.
- Manatal doesn’t offer a free plan. We mention this as a con as several SMB-geared ATSs do offer a free-forever verison, and that puts Manatal slightly behind competition.
- Manatal doesn’t offer prebuilt integration modules. They do have an open API that allows users to plug in third-party products and custom tools, but that required a bit more time and technical knowledge to accomplish. It’s also worth mentioning that only Custom plan customers can access Manatal’s API and Zapier integration. Customers on the Professional and Enterprise plan cannot.
- Users can search for candidates via Boolean Search or Advanced Search, but cannot combine the two search methods together. E.g users cannot use the Boolean search operators (AND, OR and NOT) within Manatal’s Advanced Search tab.
Manatal is a budget-friendly ATS solution that caters specifically to SMBs without compromising essential features. It even has a free trial without requiring credit card info.
Manatal’s AI tool is a real asset. It can generate English job descriptions and sift through your existing candidate database to surface individuals it finds most suitable for the role. The results are pretty awesome and available almost instantly. Its usefulness was reduced when we asked the AI to suggest non-English-speaking candidates, though.
Manatal has a user-friendly interface and native drag-and-drop-enabled pipelines, which are very easy to use. Plus, being mobile-optimized means there’s no need to download any apps from users who need to access Manatal on the go.
We also appreciate how transparent Manatal's pricing is. The platform has a scalable “custom” plan in addition to three lower-tier plans. On its website, it breaks down what’s included in each plan and how much it costs. With prices starting at $15 per user per month, it’s safe to say this ATS is affordable for most SMBs. For those having a hard time with their existing ATS and looking for a switch, Manatal’s offer of free data migration is quite compelling.
However, as mentioned earlier, Manatal’s AI tool works best in English only and only allows for 200 generations per month. Despite having a fairly good pricing structure, Manatal doesn’t offer a free plan like several others in this space. We should also note that its API and Zapier integrations are limited to top-tier plans, while the pre-built integration list is limited.
10,000+ companies, including Unilever, Coca-Cola, Panasonic, Ogilvy, and Toyota.
Manatal has four plans:
- Professional ($15 per user per month)
- Enterprise ($35 per user per month)
- Enterprise Plus ($55 per user per month)
- Custom plans (available on demand)
A 14-day free trial is available, no credit card info required.
Best For
For startups and SMBs with limited budgets who are seeking an easy-to-use ATS with AI features, Manatal is a top choice.
Why You Should Trust Us
The contributors to this buyer guide represent decades of experience and perspective. We called on Stefanie Sher (Director of Talent Acquisition, Replicated), Tracie Marie (Founder, Hire Incentive), Zachary Larson (People Operations leader with 10+ years experience), Phil Strazzulla (SSR Founder), Huda Idris (SSR Software Advisor), and SSR HR Tech Researcher and Editor Anh Nguyen to help you find the right tool for your team.
Benefits of ATS for Small Businesses
Benefits of using an ATS for small businesses include saving time, improving the quality of hires, reducing costs, becoming more data-driven in recruitment, facilitating collaborative hiring, and building a talent pool.
- Save time: Recent applicant tracking system statistics show that recruiters can reduce time-to-hire by up to 20% when using an ATS solution. Additionally, 86% of recruiters report that ATS solutions have helped them shorten their time-to-hire, at least to some extent. For SMBs, these numbers mean fewer manual tasks and faster candidate movement through the pipeline, freeing up time for team members who often have to wear multiple hats beyond recruiting.
- Increase the quality of hire: Compared to manual applicant tracking, an ATS tailored to the needs of small businesses can aid tremendously in structured evaluations, reduce bias, and ensure that the most qualified candidates rise to the top. Statistically, 78% of recruiters confirm that an ATS has improved the quality of hire.
- Save money: Small businesses can enjoy $10,000 annual savings using an applicant tracking system. Output from our ATS calculator has shown that a 500-person company can save up to $468,000 from a new ATS.
- Become more data-driven with recruitment: Though the small teams are held to the same legal standard as larger ones, they generally don’t have the same access to legal counsel. A quality ATS will help cross the Ts and dot the Is, allowing your business to focus and grow.
- Forster collaborative hiring: In small businesses, where “wearing many hats” is the norm, an ATS brings structure and transparency to collaborative hiring. It organizes tasks, centralizes candidate information, and clarifies who’s responsible for what, helping teams work together efficiently without letting anything slip through the cracks.
- Build a talent pool: A high-quality talent pool doesn’t create itself. Small business ATSs typically can also function as a recruiting CRM, helping small businesses establish and nurture a repository of skilled workers. By creating and managing ongoing relationships with both passive and active job seekers, a lean team can reduce the effort and expense of filling a new role; they can simply tap into the existing pool rather than starting the search from scratch. Some tools even help with considering internal candidates.
How to Choose the Best ATS for Small Businesses
Small businesses seeking an applicant tracking system might find it helpful and time-saving to start by considering just 3 to 5 vendors recommended by industry experts. Additionally, reviewing user feedback, attending product demos, and trialing the ATS firsthand can provide valuable insights to help narrow down the choices further.
- Look for unbiased insights: Most ATS vendors have websites with plenty of information on how good their product(s) are, but rarely do they highlight gaps, trade-offs, or shortcomings. For this reason, we suggest you make the most of third-party reviews, buyer guides, and independent product breakdowns to gain a balanced view of each ATS’s pros and cons. This broader perspective helps you understand where each tool performs well (and where it may fall short) so you can make the right decision for your team’s realities.
- Learn from other small business ATS users: There’s a tremendous amount of value in the feedback of real product users, particularly those working at startups and small businesses. What are their ATS decision criteria? What are their expectations about hiring software vs. reality? How satisfied are they with the purchased ATS? In each of our small business ATS’s detailed reviews, we include insights directly from HR and recruiting professionals using the tools so that you can learn from their firsthand experiences.
- Talk to 3-5 most potential vendors: If your business is too small to justify sending out a formal ATS request for proposal (RFP), you'll need to vet companies yourself. Take advantage of our recommended tools to shortlist the top 3-5 relevant vendors. Then, schedule and come to their product demos prepared. We’d suggest having a list of applicant tracking system questions specific to your small business needs (whether they offer unlimited users, what automation features are included at entry-level plans, how well they support scaling as your hiring needs grow, etc.), as it can significantly help to identify which options match your priorities more efficiently.
Pro Tip: Shopping for a new ATS can be challenging. Contact our HR software advisor for free, personalized assistance in shortlisting vendors that fit your needs and budget.
Bonus Tips for First-Time Small Business ATS Buyers
If you’re a small business weighing whether to invest in an ATS and how to make the right choice, we recommend watching this insightful discussion with Phil Strazzulla, founder of SelectSoftware Reviews, and Rahul Bansal, CEO of TribalVision, as they delve into the whole process of choosing a system that fits your team’s size, budget, and long-term goals.
FAQs
What is an Applicant Tracking System (ATS)?
An applicant tracking system for small businesses is a hiring tool designed to help lean teams streamline and organize the recruitment process, from posting jobs and sourcing candidates to managing interview pipelines and maintaining records. For organizations with limited time and resources, a small business ATS removes manual tasks, keeps everything in one place, and ensures the hiring process stays efficient, even as the team grows.
What features are essential for a small business ATS?
Key ATS features for small businesses include resume parsing to extract candidate information automatically, job posting to distribute listings across multiple job boards quickly, candidate pipeline management to track where each candidate stands in the process, candidate searching and filtering to surface the best fits fast, reporting and analytics to monitor hiring progress and identify bottlenecks, and integrations with video interview tools, HRIS, and communication apps to keep workflows smooth without needing a large tech stack.
When should a small business start using an ATS?
A good rule of thumb is that your small business has at least 20 positions to fill per year, as at this level, you will most likely see the significant ROI the ATS brings to your recruitment process.
How much does an ATS cost an SMB?
Specifics on ATS pricing vary based on factors such as business size, job vacancies, integrations, and team location. Based on our research, small businesses typically pay between $15 and a few thousand dollars per month for an ATS, with some free editions available.
Is there any free ATS?
Yes, there is! Manatal (free trial available), Recooty (free trial available), and Wellfound (free plan available) are our favorites. You can find more options in our best free ATS buyer guide.
How many ATS options should an SMB consider when doing demos?
According to Tracie Marie, one of the experts we talked about for this piece, three can be a good starting number for vendor demos, and you should aim to include slightly less than your budget and one slightly more, as “you can see the differences in features among those vendors this way.”
Conclusion
An SMB-focused applicant tracking system can bring real, measurable benefits to small businesses by automating manual tasks, streamlining candidate workflows, improving collaboration, and integrating with essential tools, all of which help lean teams hire faster and more effectively.
Having said that, it’s important to remember that even the best ATS can’t solve underlying issues like a toxic workplace culture or unclear hiring goals. For a supercharged modern ATS to make a difference, the right mindset—ready and willing to adopt the technology, commit to structured processes, and align the tool with broader business and people goals—is critical.
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