Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) in 2026
Every major ATS ranked on features, pricing, ease of use, and integrations.
30 tools on this page. 25 of 30 publish a starting price; listed monthly pricing runs from $15/user/month (Manatal) to Redirects to Spark Hire: from USD 335/month billed annually (Comeet); 4 offer a free plan; 30 are backed by a primary source we checked.
The best ATS in 2026 depends entirely on your scale. Under 50 hires/year: Zoho Recruit. 50-500 hires: Greenhouse. 500+ hires: Bullhorn (agencies) or SmartRecruiters (enterprise). There is no universal best ATS.
You're hiring 1-2 people and just need to track applications. A shared spreadsheet or Notion board is fine until you're past 10 active candidates.
The first three on this page
Ordered by category fit and the evidence we hold, not by a score.
A budget ATS with an unusually candid pricing page, and effectively two products in one ladder. Start at EUR 42 a month on annual billing is a single-user starter with three jobs and 100 candidates; Advanced at EUR 172 is unlimited on jobs, candidates and users at once. There is little between them, so the decision is which of the two you are. The headline price requires a prepaid annual contract with no refunds, and the free trial caps external-board candidates at ten, so it cannot show what a real vacancy looks like.
One of the older names in small-business applicant tracking, now inside Swipeclock's WorkforceHub while keeping its own name and pricing. The entry price of USD 29.99 a month is genuinely low and published to the cent, but the page gives four figures without saying what any of them include or how many users they cover, so the transparency is thinner than it looks. The onboarding module is the real differentiator and it is built around US forms and US compliance, which decides the question for most European buyers.
The in-house ATS with the clearest pricing under 100 employees: one monthly price per company-size band, reporting built in rather than exported.
Which one should you pick?
- Full pipeline management with custom stages, automations, and reporting
- Free plan covers 1 active job. enough to test before committing money
- Built-in assessments and video interviews eliminate the need for separate tools
- Structured interview kits with scorecards are the best in the market
- 400+ integrations. whatever tool you use, Greenhouse probably connects to it
- DE&I features built into every workflow stage, not bolted on
Still comparing applicant tracking systems tools?
Answer five questions about your team, stack and budget. You get an independent shortlist of three tools, trade-offs included.
At-a-glance comparison
| Tool | Starting price | Free plan | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100Hires | 14-day trial, then from EUR 42/month billed annually | A single recruiter or founder hiring on a small budget, Teams that want every limit removed in one upgrade rather than gradually | |
| ApplicantStack | 14-day trial, then from USD 29.99/month | US small businesses hiring on a tight software budget, Employers that want tracking and new-hire paperwork from one vendor | |
| Ashby | From $300/month | In-house talent teams under 100 employees, Companies that want tracking, sourcing and scheduling in one product | |
| Breezy HR | Free for one position, then from $157/month | In-house teams hiring continuously, with many people involved, Employers making a first hire, on the single-position free plan | |
| Brightmove | From $125/month (Standard) | Staffing agencies and RPO providers with mixed recruiter and stakeholder user types, Agencies that want visibility for executives without paying a full recruiter seat | |
| ClearCompany | Quote only | US employers consolidating recruiting, onboarding and performance with one vendor, HR teams that want one employee record across the whole lifecycle |
Ordered by how squarely each tool answers the question above, then by how much of it we can back up. Vendors cannot pay for a position.
- 1
Low-cost applicant tracking system for very small teams. Start is EUR 42 a month billed annually (EUR 86 monthly) and carries 3 jobs, 100 candidates and one user; Advanced is EUR 172 annually (EUR 216 monthly) and is unlimited on jobs, candidates and users while adding automated emails, knockout questions and a custom careers domain; Pro is EUR 346 and adds contact enrichment and migration support; Enterprise is quoted. A 14-day trial caps external-board candidates at ten. Annual is prepaid with no refunds.
Pricing on requestfrom 14-day trial, then from EUR 42/month billed annuallyCore SystemsBest for: A single recruiter or founder hiring on a small budget, Teams that want every limit removed in one upgrade rather than gradually, Buyers who want the awkward terms stated before they sign - 2
Long-standing US applicant tracking system with an onboarding module for new-hire paperwork, now part of Swipeclock's WorkforceHub but still sold and priced under its own name. Four published tiers run from USD 29.99 to USD 159.99 a month with a 14-day trial. The pricing page does not state what each tier includes or how many users it carries, and the product, its compliance features and its onboarding forms are all US-shaped.
Pricing on requestfrom 14-day trial, then from USD 29.99/monthCore SystemsBest for: US small businesses hiring on a tight software budget, Employers that want tracking and new-hire paperwork from one vendor, Teams already using Swipeclock or WorkforceHub for time and attendance - 3
All-in-one recruiting platform for in-house teams, combining applicant tracking, sourcing CRM, scheduling and reporting. Priced by company size rather than per recruiter.
Paidfrom From $300/monthCore SystemsBest for: In-house talent teams under 100 employees, Companies that want tracking, sourcing and scheduling in one product, Teams that report on hiring without exporting to a spreadsheet - 4
ATS priced per company with unlimited users on every plan. The free Bootstrap plan runs one active position with a branded career site, 50+ job boards and CV parsing; Startup $157/month, Growth $273 adds scorecards and interview guides, Business $439 adds offers and HRIS integrations, all on annual billing.
Freemiumfrom Free for one position, then from $157/monthFree PlanCore SystemsBest for: In-house teams hiring continuously, with many people involved, Employers making a first hire, on the single-position free plan, Companies that want a career site and job board distribution included - 5
Applicant tracking built for staffing agencies, RPO providers and recruiting firms, priced by utilisation rather than by flat seat. Standard starts from $125 a month, the RPO add-on is $100 per recruiter seat, and the Back Office and Wizdom analytics modules each start from $499 a month, so the working configuration decides most of the bill.
Pricing on requestfrom From $125/month (Standard)Core SystemsBest for: Staffing agencies and RPO providers with mixed recruiter and stakeholder user types, Agencies that want visibility for executives without paying a full recruiter seat, Recruiting firms that need back-office administration inside the same vendor- +Publishes an entry price and module prices, where most agency systems publish nothing
- +Prices read-only and hiring-manager users differently from recruiter seats
- +Broad independent review base — 4.3 across 264 Capterra reviews at check time
- 6
US talent management suite, now presenting as ClearCo, sold as modular packages: ClearRecruit for hiring, ClearTalent, ClearGrow and ClearLearn, with TotalTalent as the combined offering. The recruiting module is a genuine ATS with onboarding attached, but it is one part of a suite covering performance, engagement and learning. No prices are published for any module, there is no free plan and no trial, and the route to purchase is a booked demo.
Pricing on requestfrom Quote onlyCore SystemsBest for: US employers consolidating recruiting, onboarding and performance with one vendor, HR teams that want one employee record across the whole lifecycle, Organisations that expect to add modules over time - 7
Collaborative in-house applicant tracking system whose pricing URL now 301-redirects to Spark Hire's, so the published prices a buyer lands on are Spark Hire's Recruit tiers. Recruit Pro starts at USD 335 a month and Growth is USD 499, both billed annually with no monthly option; Enterprise is quoted. Those tiers bundle applicant tracking with video interviewing, reference checking and assessments. The redirect shows where the buy route goes; whether Comeet is still sold separately, and on what terms, is not published either way.
Pricing on requestfrom Redirects to Spark Hire: from USD 335/month billed annuallyCore SystemsBest for: In-house teams that want tracking, video interviewing and assessments on one contract, Organisations comparing Spark Hire's Recruit tiers - 8
Applicant tracking with a genuinely free core tier: unlimited users, unlimited jobs, job-board posting and Gmail or Outlook integration at no cost, with a single $199 monthly Premium tier adding AI applicant scoring and AI note taking. Dover's Recruiter Marketplace is a separate recruiting service on deposits and hourly rates, not part of the ATS price.
Freemiumfrom Free, then $199/month (Premium)Free PlanCore SystemsBest for: Founders hiring their first roles without an ATS budget, Lean in-house teams where per-seat pricing is the blocker, Small companies that want hiring managers in the system at no extra cost- +The free tier includes unlimited users and unlimited jobs, which is where most free ATS tiers cap you
- +Two public ATS prices with no seat multiplier, so total cost is trivial to model
- +One paid step rather than a tier ladder to be upsold through
- 9
AI hiring suite for medium-to-large employers and government, with EVA-REC as the applicant tracking platform inside it: end-to-end acquire-to-hire workflow, resume filtering, interview scheduling, a centralised resume database and AI candidate matching. No public price; a $10,000 figure shown on Capterra is aggregator metadata rather than a vendor rate.
Pricing on requestfrom Quote onlyCore SystemsBest for: Medium-to-large employers wanting AI screening inside the hiring platform, Government and public-sector hiring with high application volumes, Buyers consolidating an ATS, screening and scheduling into one vendor- +AI matching and resume filtering are part of the platform rather than a separate purchase
- +Explicitly aimed at enterprise and government hiring rather than at startups
- +A reasonable independent base on Capterra — 4.8 across 82 reviews at check time
- 10
Freshworks' small-business applicant tracking system with lightweight HR, onboarding and time-off management. When checked in August 2026 the vendor's product page returned HTTP 404 and we found no current product or pricing page for it on the Freshworks site, so no current plans, prices or trial can be established from the vendor. Third-party write-ups report a sunset with renewals stopping in March 2026 and access ending in 2027, which we could not confirm at the vendor and record as reported rather than as fact. Whether it is still sold, and on what terms, is unknown: ask Freshworks directly before buying or renewing.
Pricing on requestfrom Not publishedCore SystemsBest for: Existing customers who need their current terms confirmed by Freshworks - 11
Applicant tracking system built around structured hiring: interview plans, scorecards, permissions and a large integration marketplace. Three plans, all priced on quote.
EnterpriseCore SystemsBest for: Companies where several interviewers assess the same candidate, In-house teams that want a defined, repeatable hiring process, Organisations that need permissions and governance to hold at scale - 12
Applicant tracking priced by concurrent active jobs rather than by seat: $120 a month for 3 active jobs, $280 for 10 and $500 for 25, with unlimited users and an unlimited candidate database on every plan. Euro prices are published alongside. Above 25 active jobs, Enterprise is quoted.
Pricing on requestfrom From $120/month (3 active jobs)Core SystemsBest for: Small and mid-size teams with a steady number of concurrently open roles, Organisations where many colleagues need to review candidates, European buyers who want a published euro price rather than a converted one- +Unlimited users and an unlimited candidate database on every plan
- +Published prices in two currencies for each active-job tier
- +The meter matches the workload driver for teams whose headcount is stable
- 13
Hiring platform built for decentralised, multi-location employers — automotive, hospitality and healthcare are the named markets — covering applicant tracking, candidate communication and hiring workflow, with onboarding, background checks, compliance and analytics available in the broader product. Sold on quote; no public price.
Pricing on requestfrom Quote onlyCore SystemsBest for: Multi-location and multi-brand employers hiring the same roles across sites, Automotive, hospitality and healthcare employers with high-turnover hiring, Head-office teams that need local hiring to be consistent and visible- +Purpose-built for decentralised multi-location hiring rather than adapted to it
- +An unusually large independent review base — roughly 4.5 across about 1,386 G2 reviews at check time
- +Candidate communication and documents are centralised rather than bolted on
- 14
Netherlands-based applicant tracking system for small in-house teams, built around a designed careers page on your own domain. Priced per job slot and employee seat: Light EUR 89 a month billed annually with 3 job slots and 25 seats, Basic EUR 159 with 6 and 75, Plus EUR 249 with 10 and 150; monthly billing is EUR 99, 179 and 289. Extra employee seats are EUR 4 a month. A 15-day free trial with no card. Euro and sterling pricing with VAT rules stated for the Netherlands and the rest of Europe.
Pricing on requestfrom 15-day trial, then from EUR 89/month billed annuallyCore SystemsBest for: Small European in-house teams that care how the careers page looks, Benelux buyers who want euro pricing and local VAT handled, Companies with a handful of open roles at a time - 15
Enterprise applicant tracking system sold to employers: configurable requisition-to-offer workflows, candidate matching and ranking, scheduling, offers and recruiting analytics, with candidate CRM, career sites, employer branding, onboarding and internal mobility sold as separate applications around it. Quote-led, with no public rate card for the ATS.
Pricing on requestfrom Quote onlyCore SystemsBest for: Large and global employers hiring across multiple countries, Talent acquisition teams that need configurable workflows and approval chains, Organisations whose recruiting has to integrate into an existing HCM estate- +Documented integration layer, with a developer route for connectors that do not exist yet
- +Named security and privacy certifications a procurement review can start from
- +Multi-language career sites and localised candidate workflows built into the product
- 16
Long-established applicant tracking system for small in-house teams, sold in annual plans. Hero is USD 1,000 a year and starts at three job postings a month; Plus is USD 3,480 and adds up to 200 active jobs, structured interviews, assessments and task automation; Pro is USD 5,508 and adds offers and eSignatures. Posting to a dozen free job boards is included, with paid syndication available. No free plan or trial is published, and seats per plan are not stated.
Pricing on requestfrom From USD 1,000/year billed annuallyCore SystemsBest for: Small in-house teams hiring steadily, Companies that want job board posting included with the ATS, Buyers who can commit annually - 17
Cloud-based recruitment management platform designed for agencies and in-house teams. Integrates with 200+ job boards worldwide.
EnterpriseCore SystemsBest for: Growing companies, HR departments, Talent acquisition teams - 18
Applicant tracking system for small teams, priced by concurrently open jobs rather than by user. Beginner is free for one active job; Lite is USD 49 a month billed annually for five; Standard USD 99 for fifteen; Pro USD 249 for forty. Every tier including the free one carries unlimited users, so hiring managers and interviewers cost nothing to add. A 14-day trial covers the paid features.
Freemiumfrom Free for 1 job, then from USD 49/month billed annuallyFree PlanCore SystemsBest for: Small teams where several people need access to the same pipeline, Companies hiring a handful of roles at a time, Buyers who want to run a real vacancy before paying anything - 19
Modern ATS and CRM hybrid designed for collaborative, data-driven recruiting.
EnterpriseCore SystemsBest for: Fast-growing startups, Mid-market companies, Collaborative hiring teams - 20
AI-powered ATS and recruitment CRM built for agencies and HR teams.
Per Userfrom $15/user/monthCore SystemsBest for: Recruitment agencies, Small to mid-size HR teams, Budget-conscious organizations - 21
Irish applicant tracking system for small and mid-sized employers whose pricing URL now 301-redirects to Cezanne HR's enquiry form, leaving no published price, plan structure or trial to evaluate and a buy route that leads to another company. app.occupop.com still returned a login page when checked, which establishes that the login is reachable and not that service, support or development continue as before. No published statement says whether the product continues in its own right, becomes part of Cezanne HR, or is wound down.
Pricing on requestfrom Not published; enquiry route leads to Cezanne HRCore SystemsBest for: Existing Occupop customers deciding what to do next, Buyers who are genuinely evaluating Cezanne HR's wider HR system - 22
Oracle Fusion Cloud Recruiting: the recruiting component of Oracle Cloud HCM, covering career sites, requisitions, candidate and application management, pools and campaigns, selection processes, interviews, offers, internal opportunities and agency submissions, with a documented REST and Direct Apply integration model. Distinct from Oracle Taleo, the older Oracle recruiting product documented separately. Quote-led, with no public Recruiting price.
Pricing on requestfrom Quote onlyCore SystemsBest for: Organisations already running or adopting Oracle Cloud HCM, Global employers needing configurable recruiting workflows across countries, Enterprises whose security review works from named privileges per object- +Recruiting and the HR record share one platform, so internal mobility works on current data
- +Configurable across requisitions, career sites, selection processes, offers and agency submissions
- +Granular data-role and security-profile model with documented per-object privileges
- 23
UK-built applicant tracking system for in-house teams, positioned around careers sites, candidate experience and reporting, with an integration list the vendor puts above 100 across HRIS, background checking, assessment and job boards. Sold entirely through booked demos: there is no pricing page, no published tier or unit, no free plan, no trial and no self-serve signup.
Pricing on requestfrom Quote onlyCore SystemsBest for: In-house talent teams that treat candidate experience as part of the purchase, Employers replacing a separate careers site alongside an older ATS, UK and US organisations with enough hiring volume to justify a sales cycle - 24
All-in-one mass-recruitment platform combining an ATS with recruitment project management for high-volume, multi-project and multi-entity hiring: separate company accounts with their own roles and branding, job groups behind a single share link and QR code, bulk candidate invitations, AI-assisted screening with evaluation reports, built-in interview management, and candidate chat with WhatsApp and email notifications. No public pricing was established.
Pricing on requestfrom Not publicly pricedCore SystemsBest for: High-volume hiring across several projects and legal entities, Construction, facility management and similar project-operations sectors, Teams coordinating hiring today through spreadsheets, email and messaging apps- +Company and project hierarchy is modelled rather than approximated with tags
- +Bulk actions and shared job-group links are designed for mass hiring
- +Candidate and team communication sit inside the platform
- 25
Small-business applicant tracking system priced by company headcount rather than by user. Starter is USD 79 a month billed annually (USD 99 monthly) for up to 20 employees, 5 active jobs and 5 job locations; Standard is USD 149 annually (USD 199 monthly) and removes the job and location limits up to 250-plus employees; Premier is quoted. Job board syndication to a stated 200-plus boards, interview scheduling, calendar sync and GDPR compliance are included, with a 15-day free trial and no card.
Pricing on requestfrom 15-day trial, then from USD 79/month billed annuallyCore SystemsBest for: Companies under twenty employees buying their first ATS, Teams that want job board posting included rather than bought separately, Small in-house hiring with a handful of locations - 26
Collaborative hiring platform with AI-powered candidate recommendations, employer branding tools, and pipeline analytics.
EnterpriseCore SystemsBest for: Growing companies, HR departments, Talent acquisition teams - 27
European applicant tracking system that combines the pipeline with a careers site builder, sourcing and recruitment marketing. Essential and Growth are both listed from USD 100 a month or USD 1,000 a year, with the displayed figure rising as you add job slots; Enterprise is quoted. A 14-day trial is available. Because the price moves with job-slot count, the starting figure is a floor rather than a plan price.
Pricing on requestfrom 14-day trial, then from USD 100/monthCore SystemsBest for: Small European teams that want a careers site and campaigns alongside tracking, Employers building an employer brand without a separate marketing subscription, Teams whose hiring volume grows gradually rather than in spikes - 28
Applicant tracking system for in-house teams that combines the hiring pipeline with the career site, employer branding and candidate relationship management. Sold on unlimited users, price on request.
EnterpriseCore SystemsCandidate ExperienceBest for: In-house hiring teams that want the career site inside the ATS, Companies that involve hiring managers in the process, Employer brand work that has to reach candidates directly - 29
The talent-acquisition component of Workday HCM: requisitions including evergreen and confidential ones, candidate management, career sites, screening, interviews, offers, internal mobility, compliance reporting and analytics, with HiredScore AI for Recruiting integrated. Bought as part of a Workday agreement rather than as a standalone ATS, and quote-led throughout.
Pricing on requestfrom Quote onlyCore SystemsBest for: Global enterprises already running Workday HCM, Organisations that need configurable recruiting governance across countries and business units, Employers for whom internal mobility and talent discovery are strategic rather than occasional- +Recruiting and the employee record share one platform, removing an integration and a reconciliation
- +Configurable governance through business processes, domain security policies and security groups
- +Internal mobility works on data the platform already holds
- 30
ATS sold as two editions, one for staffing agencies and one for in-house teams. Staffing: free, then EUR 25 / 50 / 75 per user per month on annual billing. Corporate: free, then EUR 25 / 50. Each licence is capped on active jobs: 1, 10 or 20. 15-day trial.
Freemiumfrom Free, then from EUR 25/user/monthFree PlanCore SystemsBest for: Small agencies and in-house teams at the bottom of the ATS market, Companies already running other Zoho products, A first hire, on the free edition's single active job
100Hires offers a free trial
Trial length and terms are set by the vendor.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the best applicant tracking systems?
100Hires, ApplicantStack, Ashby lead this list. The full page carries 30 tools in this category, each with the pricing we could verify and a link to the evidence behind it.
How is this list ordered?
Category fit first: how squarely a tool sits in the subcategory this page is about. Then evidence, meaning whether we hold a primary source for its pricing and positioning and how recently we checked it. External review volume only breaks ties, and it is capped so a large user base cannot outrank being the right kind of tool. No vendor can pay for a position.
Why is pricing missing for some tools?
25 of 30 tools on this page publish a starting price. The rest quote on request, so we show no figure rather than an estimate. Ask for a written quote at your seat count before comparing them on cost.
Are there free options?
Yes, some tools here offer a free plan or a free trial, marked on each entry. Free plans in this market usually cap seats or volume, so check the limit against your hiring numbers before treating it as a long-term option.
Following this space?
Pricing moves and tools get replaced. Leave an email if you'd like the occasional note about meaningful changes in the catalogue — hand-sent, no schedule, no series, and you can reply to any of it.
Written by Pieter Henderyckx, a working recruiter
This guide is compiled from vendor documentation, public pricing pages and the catalogue's own evidence records, and ordered by how well each tool answers the question at the top of the page. Where a tool has been used in real recruitment work, its own page says so and who used it. Vendors cannot pay for a place in this list.