Best Recruiting CRM Software for 2024, Tested and Reviewed

Humanly’s CRM functionality offers a smart, organized approach to keeping track of each candidate interaction and tailoring outreach based on engagement history.

When it comes to candidate calibration and filtering, there was clearly a lot of care put into the development of this duo. During testing, I could pull passive candidates I’ve gathered with Humanly’s sourcing extension, those actively applying before, potential referrals, and existing contacts in the integrated ATS. Then apply personalized ranking to find each role’s top matches. Bye for good, the days of sifting through multiple sources!

Another feature I found especially useful was the Candidate Status Labels, which offer a more nuanced view of each candidate’s status than the usual “active” or “inactive” buckets. For example, a “Sourced” status indicates that a candidate profile is still being processed, while “Reached” provides details on why outreach was stopped—an efficient way to gauge the next steps.

And, recruiters—you’ve got to check out the Saved for Later option on each candidate’s card. This feature allows you to set follow-up reminders (one week, one month, three months, etc.). Imagine when a candidate is interested in a role but needs more time before moving forward, and you’ve got this tool in your hand. Simply lifesaving, isn’t it?

On par with some household names like SmartRecruiters and Recruiterflow, Humanly let me filter candidates who hadn’t responded to past outreach efforts and set up new messaging campaigns to follow up.

Yet, with that smart sourcing and engagement capability comes some compromises in terms of pricing. Although specific pricing is custom, the estimations I've gotten could be steep for some small businesses.

I was also hoping for a more flexible pricing structure from the recruitment CRM software. While Humanly does offer a monthly billing option, it neither offers a free plan nor a free trial.

Feature-wise, Humanly currently doesn’t support some core ATS functionalities, such as job posting, resume parsing, and career sites. So, if these features are must-haves for you, look for our top ATS choices instead.

1,000+ companies, including TheKey, Aya Healthcare, and Noom.

Humanly’s pricing details are not publicly available.

I briefly introduced SmartRecruiters as a highly configurable CRM solution earlier, and here is what I mean by that. First, this platform performed well across all my testing devices: laptop, tablet, and phone— both when I logged in as a recruiter user and as a candidate. Second, from CRM and ATS to onboarding and chatbot, it can single-handedly bundle all these tools under one hub, or, if you prefer, you can pick and choose just what you want.

However, what impressed me most about this recruitment CRM is its Campaign, which lets you narrow down your talent search even further when you set up a campaign. For instance, you can choose to target only people you've contacted within your Contract Driver segment who live within 50 miles of New York and who confirmed in your screening question that they have a driver's license. Then, in the sequence section, you can set up rules to only send the next message X days after the last message was opened or clicked on.

SmartRecruiters has also done a good job with its search functionality. From keywords to Boolean, advanced search, and even custom filters, I haven’t found anything its competitors do that this CRM doesn’t.

But what a bummer! Such a capable option doesn't have an automatic candidate enrichment feature built in. Additionally, due to its enterprise-focused nature, SmartRecruiters doesn't offer a free trial, and its prices are somewhat steep compared to its peers.

4,000+ companies, including VISA, Nine, and Devoteam.

SmartRecruiters CRM tool pricing is a percentage of the core SmartRecruit ATS for unlimited user seats.

I actually met Bullhorn when I still worked in the staffing space a few years back and had a great experience with this tool. Unlike Loxo and Gem, Bullhorn doesn't have the ability to find new candidates, but it’s a robust recruiting solution made for staffing agencies and is extremely helpful when you have a huge candidate database in your ATS to utilize.

With Bullhorn, you can set up rules, like reaching out to profiles for whom you haven't added a new note for 3 months. The system will then auto-contact these candidates with a personalized campaign that you design. Plus, when you create a campaign in Bullhorn, the timing will be adjusted to the recipient's time zone to ensure your messages hit their inbox right when they're most likely to be seen and appreciated. Every staffing recruiter I know always prioritizes searching their existing talent database before anything else, as this is a smart way to utilize resources and has remained their top source of hires for years. So, seeing Bullhorn double down on optimizing this essential aspect is genuinely impressive.

To test this CRM further, I tried its search tools. Fast Find let me find a candidate without having to enter their full name. Advanced Search understood Boolean search terms and was fast at producing search results. There are also Saved Searches to ensure TAs don’t duplicate efforts.

However, I’m quite disappointed that Bullhorn does not have a native feature to enrich talent profiles. You either have to reach out to candidates as a workaround, or purchase enrichment tools like CandidateIQ by Vettd from Bullhorn’s partner marketplace.

The platform’s mobile app was also less intuitive than I had hoped. I can barely do anything beyond the basics, like viewing tasks and companies. All the text I added to a note was turned into lowercase. Moreover, the app didn’t let me see comments on candidate profiles or do any kind of reporting or analytics.

10,000+ companies, including ManpowerGroup, Robert Half, and Adecco.

Bullhorn pricing has not been disclosed, yet according to our research, it tends to be on the higher end of the market.

Recruiterflow is like a Bullhorn version yet made for smaller staffing agencies—it doesn't have all the bells and whistles of a custom plan, but it's way cheaper and, from my experience, easier to work with.

I’ve tested and am pleased with the platform’s Advanced Search. This feature supports Boolean, radius search (with Google Maps integration behind the scenes), and custom filters. You can (and definitely should) combine that with the system's engagement features, as this will give you a powerful combo to one: segment your talent database into smaller communities and two: nurture these communities with email sequences that resonate and go out at the right time.

Another thing I like about using Recruiterflow is its "Recipes" feature. Think about how much time you could save by automating actions like auto-adding candidates who haven't heard from you in 90 days to your nurturing campaign. Or, you could set a rule so that an email introducing new placements lands in the inboxes of vetted candidates who weren't picked by clients each month. Very cool, isn’t it?

There’s no denying this platform is user-friendly, but the Help Center content is not as detailed as what I've seen from other vendors like Manatal. Some of the features also seem to show up way later than what their competitors have. For example, they didn't even have star-rating candidate profiles until June 2024. And as of now, its AI candidate matching is still under development.

1,000+ recruitment firms, including RepVue, Total Aviation Staffing, and Johnson Search Group.

Recruiterflow pricing is between $85 and $99 per user per month when billed annually. There is also a free trial with no credit card info required.

There are 2 main reasons why I think small and mid-sized staffing agencies should check out this platform: one is its pricing structure. Though slightly higher than Manatal, Recruit CRM is still one of the most affordable options out there. Not to mention, you can use its free trial for as long as you want.

The other reason is the maturity of their products. Having kept an eye on Recruit CRM since I’ve joined SSR in 2022, it amazes me the vendor has always kept agency users in mind when developing its platform. This laser focus has totally paid off and made it one of the go-to options for these users to manage both candidates and clients.

On top of a simple but effective applicant tracking tool, Recruit CRM has a modern CRM system that lets you perform a range of client management tasks, from automating resume formatting to submitting candidates and getting feedback from clients, scheduling appointments, managing invoices, and keeping track of all deals and sales opportunities.

Unlike Manatal, which lacks email scheduling, Recruit CRM lets you craft personalized email sequences (this task is now even easier with the help of GPT tools built-in), determine the specific date and time each goes out, and track how it is performing in real-time.

Unfortunately, this email engagement tool is just a tease on its cheapest plan, as you can only have one sequence with that option.

You should also bear in mind that Recruit CRM doesn’t cover SMS messaging and can be quite slow during peak usage.

1,200+ companies, including Avizio, Zeren, and Cooper Coleman.

The cost of Recruit CRM, when billed annually, ranges from $85 to $165 per user per month. A free trial option is available.

I think Manatal should be proud of its candidate enrichment functionality. It can run on autopilot if you let it, and more importantly, it is highly accurate. By leveraging existing profile information as parameters, this platform's AI can trace down matching social media accounts, then dig for any missing intel and fill it into the system for you. Coincidences do happen, so I’m glad the AI is programmed to only enrich a profile when it’s at least 70% confident the found social media account is the right one.

Mantal’s search features are also pretty cool. There's a Quick Search for basic things like finding a candidate by their name. If you need something more specific, like candidates with certain skills, languages, and experience, the Advanced Search is where it's at. This feature ranks each result based on how close it matches what you're looking for, so you get the most relevant profiles in a matter of seconds.

Manatal has done an okay job with engagement features. It offers SMS and emails, and the mass option is also included. However, there are some inconveniences. One issue is that there’s no email campaign scheduling I can find when testing this tool, which can be a real hassle for those working with talent in different time zones.

Additionally, beyond job boards, Manatal has just 7 native HRMS integration options: Sprout, Humaans, HiBob, Omni HR, WorkDigital, Melioris, and BambooHR—a very humble number compared to other CRM tools I’ve picked in this guide.

Manatal is used by 10,000+ organizations, including Adecco, Decathlon, and Tesco.

Manatal pricing starts at $15 per user per month when billed annually. A 14-day free trial is available, and no credit card information is required.

If you’re eyeing a recruitment CRM with seamless automation and robust multi-channel outreach, I highly recommend you look into Loxo. This platform offers emails, texts, calls, and inMails. It recently also added some cool GPT tools to assist recruiters with their engagement work.

Diving deeper into its automation features, auto-add is something I have only seen in Loxo and nowhere else yet. This unique feature enables users to attach an outreach campaign to not just each job but also each job stage independently. During my tech test, it let me have one for my 'Shortlist' job stage and another for my 'Screening' one. And as I added myself as a candidate to this pipeline, I received tailored messages as my profile progressed through these stages.

Fellow automation enthusiasts will easily like Loxo’s auto-refreshing database as much as I do. It’s such a sassy tool that leverages the system’s proprietary search engine and AI to continually enrich candidate profiles with the latest info they can find online, be it job changes, relocations, new contact details, or anything in between.

Alternatively, you can use Loxo Connect to get prospective talent’s contact info. I have to warn you, though, that this tool comes with a fee and your paid credits reset at the end of each month. In other words, all your unused credits in a month will not be rolled over to the next.

I wouldn’t go for this recruitment CRM if my business were on a budget, as Loxo’s free plan doesn't include engagement elements like email sequences, phone calls, SMS texting, and the Outreach GPT. You'll need to upgrade to one of the two most expensive plans to get access to these tools.

Another downside to Loxo is that there’s no mobile app for Android users, and its iOS app is not very user-friendly and lacks certain features like job orders and recruiter notes.

13,000+ companies, including Randstad, Cigna, and Lockton.

Loxo offers a free-forever plan and 3 premium plans starting at $199 per user per month. Potential customers can take advantage of a 7-day free trial before committing to a paid subscription.

In my testing, JobAdder performed just as well as Recruit CRM, Manatal, and Bullhorn when it comes to candidate engagement tools. I can use email, SMS, or even WhatsApp to reach talent through this platform. Plus, there's a bulk messaging option that allows me to send messages to up to 500 profiles at once. I tried bugging 50 of my contacts to see how this feature goes. There were just a few steps to take, and the emails were sent out almost instantly.

Like Bullhorn, I can view my candidates from my integrated ATS (BambooHR was the one I used at the time) right in JobAdder. I can also sort them based on their skills, ratings, lookalikes, and a handful more. What sets this recruitment CRM apart from others I’ve reviewed, though, is its deep integration with SEEK Talent Search Connect. Given that over twelve million candidates on SEEK are available to tap into right within JobAdder, not just the ones already in the ATS,  thanks to this integration, this can’t be a greener flag, especially for teams looking for talent in Australia and Asia.

Also, thanks to this integration, the candidate data enrichment feature gets a boost: Not only does it automatically keep track of activities, notes, and documents, but it also fills in the latest details it finds from SEEK for you.

Unfortunately, there's been a lot of grumbling about how the prices on this platform keep going up. On another note, an awful number of JobAdder users I talked to and myself aren’t happy with the support we’ve been offered. They tend to be slow to respond and often just redirect users to self-help resources.

1,000+ companies, including Firefish, West Recruitment, and MAYDAY.

Those getting to work on candidate sourcing and outreach are no strangers to Gem, a platform specializing in talent management. I've reviewed more than a few tools in this space in my day, and Gem’s re-engagement feature is perhaps the best I’ve seen.

Tracking down profiles that showed interest at first but then didn’t respond to follow-ups tends to be a headache for almost any TA, so I love the fact that Gem allows users to do just that with a few clicks. Once the targetted audience is selected, it’s also pretty easy to get the sequence ready—I used the pre-built email templates so I didn’t have to start from zero, then added some personalization touch here and there, and wrapped things up by choosing the email address from which my sequence will be sent and scheduling. I can imagine how much busy TAs would appreciate this recruitment CRM as they can, in a matter of minutes, revive conversations that have gone cold and bring those candidates back into the active pipeline.

Another thing I like about Gem is its advanced search, particularly through Prospect Search and Gem Prospects. The former lets you curate candidate lists and create talent pools, so your next steps—engaging with these groups—can be more targeted and efficient. Meanwhile, the latter provides you with search tools that work across profiles within your CRM database as well as your connected ATS.

Compared to competitors like Loxo, Gem supports the same wide array of communication channels: emails, phone calls, and SMS. It also recently added InMail sequences—a feature it lacked during my last review. However, while Loxo offers monthly subscription options and a mobile app, Gem offers none of these.

And if you're looking for a recruitment CRM with client management capabilities, my suggestion is to check out different options like Manatal and Recruit CRM, as Gem neither offers a client portal nor resume formatting and invoicing.

1,200+ companies, including Indeed, Slack, and Pinterest.

Gem's pricing is quote-based. A free plan is available for eligible early-stage startups.

Crelate's UI is not my cup of tea as compared to competitors, it looks rather old-fashioned and complicated. But when I tried this platform’s search feature, it was a whole different story. The Search isn’t just robust but also super flexible. For starters, you can choose which quick-filter tiles—those at the top of the dashboard that let you turn different filters on and off—you want to see on this view.

Functionality-wise, this feature enables you to search and filter through your resumes, notes, and tags. Like most recruiting CRM I’ve picked on this page, Crelate also let me do both simple, quick lookups and Boolean logic for more complex queries. Something unique about this feature that you probably won’t find elsewhere is the ability to search and filter at the campaign level. I can actually use criteria like status and date range to narrow down my search results within a specific campaign. How cool is that?

I like the efficiency of Crelate’s profile enrichment tool—it alone can auto-collect several essential talent data points, from phone numbers to email addresses and new employers. Yet, the way it’s marketed is kind of disappointing. Unlike many others that allow most users to have this feature for free, with Crelate, you’ll have to buy it as an add-on to be able to use it.

If you're looking for a corporate-focused solution with great mobile apps, I don’t think you should go with this tool, either. Crelate has always focused on staffing agencies, and its mobile apps don't offer as many features as the browser version.

1,700+ recruitment agencies, including RedfoxTM, Ambassador Search Group, and Extra Effort Solutions, Inc.

Crelate has three plans: Business and Business Plus, priced at $99 and $144 per user per month, respectively, Custom plan is available upon request.