9 Best Free Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) in 2024
The top free applicant tracking systems, tested, reviewed and rated by SelectSofware Reviews' HR tech experts. Find feature breakdowns, subscription comparisons, and more below.
An applicant tracking system (ATS) is a software platform that makes hiring simpler and more efficient by optimizing each step of the hiring process. An ATS manages job postings, filters resumes, organizes applicant information, contacts applicants, and schedules interviews.
However, many ATS systems can be very expensive so if your business is small or has no budget, purchasing one may not be financially viable. Fortunately, there are many products that offer the services you need for free:
The free ATS systems listed here can help make the hiring process faster and simpler for you and your business without the costs. Many of them are also easy to upgrade to a paid and more robust version if you ever need it!Lastly, a quick note before you scroll to the shortlist— We're collecting ATS pricing data through a brief, anonymous survey that takes only two minutes. Those who contribute and help the community by filling it out will receive access to the full dataset.
Best Free Applicant Tracking Systems
To select the best free ATS software, our experts scrutinized each tool in-house, asked for weigh-in by external HR experts, met with each vendor for live software demonstrations, and gathered user feedback to rate platforms on critical factors, including candidate experience, ease of integration, and automated workflows. This guide highlights differentiating factors specific to free ATS software, like free posting to job boards.
- User & Candidate Experience: The look and feel of ATS software are critical for your TA team and candidates. We tested tools for operational efficiency, intuitiveness, and accessibility. Your ATS software choice, for better or worse, will reflect on your company.
- Ease of Integration: Integration capabilities enable seamless data exchange and are significant factors when selecting ATS software. We checked each tool for compatibility with the most common tools in HR ecosystems, including HRIS, CRM, calendar & email, and onboarding.
- Posting on Job Boards: A standard ATS is expected to include automated posting to top job boards, but free versions sometimes hold this feature back in their “freemium” models. We read the fine print to be sure vendors didn’t hide this critical aspect of efficiency behind a paywall.
- Custom Job Site: Job seekers are increasingly picky and expect a lot from would-be employers, so our team visited dozens of custom career sites to familiarize ourselves with the standards. We chose ATSs that hit the mark for clean, logical navigation that held our interest while also providing everything we needed to know.
Our in-house editorial staff has about 70 years of HR experience between us. Much of this experience is with startups, so we know how to buy software on a budget of zero dollars. This hands-on experience means we know “too good to be true” when we see it.
We take pride in our research process: our criteria are stringent, and our methods are rigorous. Check out this blog covering our in-depth assessment process to learn more about our methodology.
Manatal
Zoho Recruit
GoHire
Recooty
VanHack
Teamtailor
MightyRecruiter
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Manatal
Manatal made our list because it's budget-friendly, AI-equipped, and its pricing is transparent—no need to call a sales rep just for a ballpark figure.
PROS
- Manatal provides a 14-day free trial, allowing users to explore its features without any commitment.
- No need to provide credit card information during the trial.
- Straightforward UI that is easy to use.
- 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
- During the trial, job board posting, Manatal inbox, email automation, and the GDPR consent request tool are not available to use.
- No indefinitely free plan
- 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 an applicant tracking system (ATS) that utilizes AI to aid HR teams and recruitment agencies in discovering and hiring exceptional talent. The platform offers features like creating custom-branded career pages, posting jobs on multiple boards, and efficiently managing candidate applications. Users can gain deeper insights by importing candidate information from public social media accounts.
Manatal stands out with its customizable recruiting pipeline, resume parsing capabilities, and AI-driven recommendations. Additionally, the platform provides analytics dashboards, a convenient mobile app for access on-the-go, and a Chrome extension that facilitates connecting with and saving potential candidates who match job requirements.
Though Manatal doesn’t offer a free plan, their 14-day free trial offers a generous amount of time with which teams can get to know the platform.
Unilever, Coca-Cola, Panasonic, Ogilvy, Toyota.
Here are four Manatal pricing plans when billed annually:
- Professional: $15/user/month, 15 jobs per account, 10,000 candidates, unlimited guests.
- Enterprise: $35/user/month for unlimited jobs, candidates, and guests.
- Enterprise Plus: $55/user/month and includes all Enterprise features, user groups, open API access, SSO log-in, priority support, and access to Beta features.
- Custom: Tailored for larger businesses requiring advanced functionalities and support. Pricing upon request.
Best For
Manatal free trial is a good starting point for SMBs to see further how the ATS works before making any commitment.
Zoho Recruit
For a free ATS, Zoho Recruit is a decent offer. It’s a basic ATS & CRM, with a free version including free job boards, email management, and interview scheduling.
PROS
- Free version available for anyone to opt for.
- Paid plans offer well-developed resume parsing and extraction, an AI chatbot, and candidate-matching automation.
- Support several languages.
- Transparent pricing structure with the free version and trial option.
- 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
- Changed its customer support from 24/5 support to 8/5 support.
- The free plan only allows 256MB of storage.
- 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.
We filled in Zoho’s form and got ourselves a Zoho Recruit's free plan. Overall, Zoho Recruit's free version offers valuable features for candidate and email management, but it does come with limitations in terms of active job openings and storage.
It’s good to see the free plan incorporates some essential services for candidate management, like email and interview scheduling. The career site is customizable (on a basic level, though). We can also post jobs on both free and paid job boards. Another aspect we appreciated is the seamless integration with Google applications and the support for 26 languages, allowing for a diverse pool of applicants to be reached. It's always a time-saver when platforms provide pre-designed templates, and Zoho Recruit delivers five customizable email templates. Additionally, the user-friendly resume search feature makes finding relevant candidate information easier.
However, the free plan comes with some limits. The most notable drawback is that you only get one active job opening at a time. For teams dealing with multiple positions simultaneously, this limitation can be pretty restrictive and could hinder efficient recruitment efforts. Another aspect to keep in mind is the storage limit, which is set at 256MB. This might not be ideal for businesses with larger databases and extensive recruitment needs. We also noticed, instead of 24/5 support, now free users can only get 8/5 support from the Zoho team. On a brighter note, Zoho Recruit provides a 45-day money-back guarantee.
Bosch, Deloitte, Saint-Gobain, PWC, Allianz.
Zoho Recruit offers three paid plans in addition to the free version:
- Standard plan at $30/user/month, with more features like a document library, analytics, and customizations.
- Professional plan at $60/user/month, including assessments and social recruiting.
- Enterprise plan at $90/user/month, providing a complete feature set except for add-ons.
- Add-ons include the client portal and video interview modules. Zoho Recruit also offers a 15-day free trial.
Best For
Zoho Recruit's free version is a great starting point for small teams, including multinational businesses, to track applications and streamline their hiring process effectively. As their needs expand, they can upgrade to more comprehensive plans that align with their growing requirements.
I use Zoho Recruit bi-weekly. The platform has some great features to differentiate between job openings and candidate pipelines. Zoho Recruit contains modules that make applicant tracking an effective process. Its modules are fairly customizable for regular usage. Zoho Recruit ties into my other Zoho products (Desk & Projects).
The platform allows me to update my clients on their candidate pipeline progress easily. Zoho Recruits is user-friendly. The system is pretty intuitive and email support is helpful.
I purchased Zoho Recruit as an add on to Zoho Desk & Zoho Project, a platform I use to manage my remote team. I use the service as a backup when recruiting. It was designed to streamline the recruitment process and cross manage my recruitment goals with my team. I have used Zoho Recruit for 8 months. I occasionally use the Zoho Recruit Marketplace to find specific tools to help my clients.
While email support is helpful, it can take a long time to get a response. Zoho Recruit is an expensive add-on in comparison with other Zoho products. The product takes effort to integrate it with outside tools.
Zoho Recruit is less effective than some of its competitors. Also, the company often tries to upsell you rather than offer a one-stop-shop alternative. I use it less than services like Greenhouse or Workday.
How many recruiters do you have on staff that need Zoho Recruit access? Do you want to continuously get calls for more Zoho products instead of an all-encompassing service? Is Zoho Recruit financially feasible for your budget if you use other Zoho services?
I have used Zoho Recruit for 8 months and have not observed major changes to the service.
Zoho Recruit is good for small-medium sized organizations. It is a great option for those who only have one recruiter as cost is more than $30 per user.
I would not recommend Zoho Recruits to large companies. The cost per recruiter is high when there are more affordable products that offer more features.
GoHire
GoHire is an affordable applicant tracking system solution that's also easy to use and scalable. Startups and SMBs can derive value from the ATS introductory plans and incorporate more features as they grow.
PROS
- GoHire is simple to use and helps businesses keep track of their hiring process with tools for job postings, candidate screening, interview scheduling, and offer management.
- Freshly added AI content generator tools for job descriptions, career pages, outreach messages, interview questions, and onboarding checklists.
- Extensive job description templates.
- Gives users control of the onboarding process as well as job displays on the website.
- Unlimited hiring pipelines and team members for all plans.
- Discounts for early-stage startups and charities.
There are both pros and cons to using GoHire.io. Let's take a look at some of the most important ones:
- One user appreciated the in-app messaging and email saying “Great templating for messages and emails.” They further liked the fact that they were able to control the on-boarding process as well as display jobs on the website.
- The platform is easy to use and helps businesses keep track of their hiring process by providing them with tools to manage job postings, candidate screening, interview scheduling, and offer management.
- GoHire.io makes it possible to post jobs on multiple job boards giving the user a wide variety of applicants. Therefore, hiring managers and founders can manage the applicants from numerous job boards on one platform. One user stated that they used to receive three job applications for €12.8 when using LinkedIn Jobs paid advertisements, but are now receiving 50+ applicants every month for free while using GoHire.
- The HR team appreciates that GoHire.io has a responsive customer support team. One user even appreciated that they were happy that their feedback was taken seriously and implemented on the ATS.
CONS
- No SMS messaging
- Doesn’t support any candidate file formats other than PDF files
- The career page links to one domain only (which may be a disadvantage for companies with multiple job sites).
- Can only integrate with a few third-party tools
- Email templates have limited customization
- GoHire.io does not support sending SMS to the applicants.
- While GoHire.io has received a lot of positive feedback about its platform, a significant number of users who had bought lifetime deals via AppSummo felt let down when the company discontinued the plan despite stating that it was a lifetime deal.
- One user complained that they were not able to upload multiple file formats for candidates. They were only able to upload PDF files.
GoHire is a simple-to-use ATS that is perfect for smaller companies focused on growing their teams.
We got ourselves a free trial. Although we had previously used it without any issues, this time, we kept seeing this message “Please use your work email to get started.” even though we did use our company email. However, the support team did help us resolve the issue shortly.
Navigating the platform is incredibly straightforward. We particularly appreciate the ease with which we can customize a career page. The dashboard features a dedicated career page editor section where we can effortlessly add and edit information using text, images, and videos, effectively representing our company's brand. The editor's interface resembles that of WordPress, making it user-friendly even for non-technical users.
However, it's worth noting that the career page editor only allows us to direct it to a single domain. This restriction may pose challenges for users who need to point job seekers to multiple domains, potentially causing some inconvenience.
Going further, GoHire simplifies job posting by integrating with multiple job boards and social media sites. With over 700 job description templates, you can quickly prepare postings. The platform even goes beyond basic job posting by providing additional features like candidate screening, ranking, and messaging.
Snagajob, Promoter, Sweetberry, Swapcard, Voucher Cart.
GoHire offers three pricing plans with flexible schedules for both monthly and annual payments. The company also offers a cancel-anytime policy that is helpful when a business is not hiring. For new users, the company offers a free 14-day trial. The plans and their costs when billed annually are:
- Starter: costs $74 per month and includes baseline features, with 3 active job posts, a custom career page, interview scheduling, and unlimited team members.
- Growth: costs $125 per month and provides everything from Starter plus customizable pipelines, bulk actions, screening questions, and mention team members.
- Pro: costs $241 per month and provides all Growth features plus unlimited job posts, automated stage actions, advanced reporting, video questionnaires, and private notes.
Best For
GoHire.io targets startups and small businesses looking for an affordable, efficient, and effective way to manage their hiring process.
To track applicants so that we can develop a catalog for the company, research candidates’ diverse educational backgrounds, make offers and see what we have offered in the past, and monitor the trends in what applicants are seeking!
It’s user friendly. I like that most answers to questions can be found in the software. The ATS helps you find the ideal candidate who has the greatest potential for longevity for the position.
We like GoHire for its accuracy in staying in touch with candidates and keeping everything in one place. I’ve used it for 5 years. Everyone has access to files along with the hiring manager.
The database could provide more space without you asking for more space. I would like to custom add sections that are more helpful to my business specifically. I wish more of my peers used it because it would make it easier for us to share data.
You don’t have to have a ton of training to use the software; it’s user friendly and makes suggestions on how to best accomplish things.
That you don’t need a lot of time to learn how to use the software. The software converts into an excel format allowing you to easily transform data.
HR and hiring managers who are trying to build a portfolio of the company’s talent!
All individuals who are establishing a large talent pool to get candidates from.
Recooty
Recooty offers a free-forever ATS that is an excellent choice for startups and small teams with minimal hiring needs. It is completely free for a single user and provides useful features for a recruiter to keep track of applicants.
PROS
- Recooty offers a cheap subscription, making it affordable for small businesses. In addition to a free trial, it has a free-forever plan allowing users to post up to 10 job openings.
- Recooty is among the simplest ATS to use and navigate.
- Posts jobs on multiple platforms
- Eight languages: Spanish, German, English, Vietnamese, French, Hindi, Italian, and Dutch.
- 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
- Recooty does not have a mobile app. There’s no Chrome extension either.
- Doesn’t have native communication tools to have multiple people assess candidates and save messages on the platform.
- Can only integrate with Slack and LinkedIn.
- Teams with more than 75 active jobs per month or those needing to hire in more than 20 locations will likely be underserved by this tool.
- The company does not have a mobile application, as stated by many software users.
- Recooty has limited features i.e., unlike its competitors, it doesn’t support employee referrals and one-on-one interviews.
- Recooty offers only two integrations from their dashboard; for Slack and LinkedIn.
- Recooty is more suitable for small and medium businesses and may not be ideal for large enterprises with more job postings and locations.
Recrooty offers a free applicant tracking system that allows for one active job post at a time. It features job widget integration, a tool to create a branded careers page, and social network sharing. From our experience, the free plan has enough functionality for small businesses that are just starting out and only need a basic ATS.
Recruitee is among the most straightforward tools we’ve ever tested. We found the ATS was ready to use as soon as we completed the signup form. Though the free version does not allow users to create a custom domain, they can build a branded career page and create and post jobs on job boards like Indeed, LinkedIn, and Glassdoor. Recooty also makes it easy to post jobs via social media.
Integrations are one of Recooty’s greatest weaknesses. The ATS only connects with Slack and LinkedIn, and only its highest-priced subscription has API support. The free plan also doesn’t support collaborative hiring; it only allows one user to access the platform. Recooty does not have a Chrome extension and native communication tools for collaborative hiring. We’ve been watching and waiting for a mobile app for a couple of years, but so far, there is no sign that the platform will build one soon.
Sendlane, Airtable, Uber, Rack Bank, American Hospital, Trello.
The company offers four pricing plans:
- Free plan - Limited to one active job slot, one user, and one location.
- Pro Plan - the plan goes for $49/month with 10 Active job slots, 10 users, and 3 locations.
- Ultra Plan - goes for $ 99/month with 25 active job slots, 50 users, 10 locations, and all features under the Pro plan.
- Max Plan- goes for $ 199/month while offering 75 active job slots, 100 users, and 20 locations and all features under the Ultra plan.
- All the plans come with a 14-day trial period in which you can test the service without providing your credit card details. After the trial period ends, you will need to update your card to continue using the services.
Best For
Recooty is a good option for small businesses prioritizing affordability, ease of use, and efficiency in its applicant tracking system.
VanHack
Apart from their basic job posting services, VanHack offers a free, full-scale applicant tracking system (ATS) that supports unlimited jobs and users. Their platform lets you schedule interviews in as little as three clicks, post jobs, and track candidate progress.
PROS
- VanHack provides a free ATS that allows unlimited jobs and users.
- Easily filter potential candidates based on skills, experience, or customized keywords.
- A significant number of VanHack's job seekers are open to relocation
- Employers have access to a dedicated team of talent acquisition experts to identify potential candidates.
- The platform's salary guide assists job seekers and employers in understanding average compensation for each role.
- VanHack offers a free ATS that supports unlimited jobs and users.
- You can filter your list of potential candidates according to skills, years of experience, or custom keywords fairly easily.
- Many of VanHack’s job seekers are willing to relocate to pursue the right opportunity.
- Employers can work with a dedicated team of talent acquisition experts to find potential candidates.
- The platform’s salary guide helps job seekers and employers get a better idea of average salaries for roles.
CONS
- The platform focuses on tech-related jobs, so finding positions in other industries can be challenging.
- Although VanHack makes every effort, users report some spam messages and emails occasionally bypass their filters.
- Virtual hiring events often lack sufficient time to connect with numerous potential candidates.
- No mobile apps for hiring managers or recruiters to use while on the move.
- Because of the general focus on tech-related jobs, it’s difficult to find jobs in other industries.
- Despite their best efforts, some spam messages and emails do slip through the cracks.
- Virtual hiring events don’t provide enough time to meet many potential candidates.
- VanHack doesn’t currently offer a mobile app for hiring managers and recruiters to use on the go.
VanHack offers a free ATS platform for all employers. Their platform supports unlimited users and jobs, and it doesn’t even require a credit card to get started. This makes it a great option for small businesses, startup entrepreneurs, and those who just want to test the waters and see what they have to offer.
Their ATS includes a Kanban pipeline for all jobs, making it a breeze to manage potential candidates, and you can schedule an interview in as little as three clicks. Users can also post jobs directly from their ATS platform.
Some of VanHack’s customers include Deloitte, Brex, Booking.com, Zalando, Rogers, and SkipTheDishes.
VanHack is completely free for job seekers. For employers, VanHack charges a fee per hire that amounts to 20% of the candidate’s annual salary. Job posts, interviews, and candidate searching are all free.
Best For
VanHack is best for organizations that are looking for potential candidates within the IT industry, especially in on-demand roles. It’s also useful when trying to hire one-off tech roles for your company – regardless of your industry.
Teamtailor
Teamtailor's focus is on the candidate's first impression, and the platform has been doing a great job in helping SMBs attract talent by offering an ATS with excellent employer branding features built-in.
PROS
- Teamtailor is a user-friendly ATS that is accessible via both browsers and mobile devices.
- Career site builders can work with a drag and drop editor; no coding knowledge is needed.
- Well-built features to support diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), including anonymous hiring and equal employment opportunity (EEO) surveys.
- Unlimited number of users.
- A free trial is available without having to provide payment details.
- 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
- As several users noted, the analytics function is somewhat hard to fully tackle.
- Hyper-focused on ATS and offers no other HR solutions.
- The customization and video interview features could be improved.
- 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 is a cloud-based applicant tracking system with features that help organizations hire and nurture talent.
What caught our eye is their unique approach to talent acquisition, putting a heavy focus on how your team markets itself to candidates.
The ATS allows businesses to build attractive career sites, market to specific talent demographics through landing pages and talent pools, run referrals, and nurture campaigns for current and future recruitment needs.
Kry, Goodbye Kansas, Vitamin Well, Ponsse, Daniel Wellington.
Teamtailor’s pricing is custom based on customer business size and requirements. For teams under 25 employees, the price for unlimited job postings, candidates, and users in the system typically starts at $3,300.
Best For
Teamtailor used to be a tool for smaller companies, but now their solution caters mainly to 50-400 employee companies that need a powerful but straightforward ATS.
Monday.com
Monday.com boasts a versatile platform with multiple use cases, including recruitment processes. Its customizable templates, intuitive features, and seamless integrations provide a holistic solution for managing the entire hiring workflow, from applicant tracking to onboarding and beyond.
PROS
- The platform is quite versatile which means you can use it for many processes outside of recruitment.
- Monday.com offers over 200 pre-built templates you can use straight away or simply customize your own.
- There’s a free plan with lots of useful features, including access to the aforementioned prebuilt templates, unlimited documents, and up to 3 boards.
- Free plan available, and affordable, scalable plans for small to midsize businesses
- Easy to learn and use
- Customizable dashboard
- Collaborative document creation with the ability to turn content in docs into tasks in projects with a few clicks
- Gamified progress tracking with visual celebrations for users
- Workflow automation for repetitive tasks
- Built-in communication tools reduce reliance on email
- Customized forms for in-house or client use that can be easily turned into projects
CONS
- There is a slight learning curve because Monday.com isn’t your typical ATS or recruiting solution, but rather a versatile platform that you can mold and shape to manage different processes.
- To make use of all of the integrations and automation it's known for, you must upgrade to the Standard plan.
- 3+ users are required to get on any of the paid plans
- Limited storage on the Basic plan
- Could be too complex for simple project management needs
- No phone customer support
- Tracking different conversations can be difficult because of all the clutter
While Monday.com isn't a dedicated applicant tracking system (ATS), it offers a range of customizable templates and features that effectively support the recruitment process. During our testing, we discovered that Monday.com's pre-built templates provide a solid foundation for managing the entire hiring pipeline within a single platform.
One of the standout features is the highly customizable columns in the ATS template. We found it easy to add columns for specific information, such as an applicant's source and input category choices. The drag-and-drop functionality is a delight, allowing you to effortlessly move candidate cards between different stages of the recruitment process, like from “Screening” to "Qualified", and so on.
Monday.com strikes a balance between manual and automated processing. While moving cards is a manual task, you can set rules to automate repetitive actions, saving valuable time. The platform also offers a range of views, including Gantt charts, timelines, and calendars, enabling you to visualize your recruitment processes in a way that suits your preferences.
Integrations with recruitment platforms, Google tools, and other productivity software enhance Monday.com's ATS capabilities. You can perform tasks like resume parsing and access shared files and conversations for each candidate card. The ability to send emails, collaborate, and communicate with other HR staff directly within the platform is a notable convenience.
Compliance tracking is another area where Monday.com shines. The platform allows you to assign tasks related to privacy and security measures, such as providing non-disclosure agreements and ensuring candidates undergo necessary training.
Lastly, and to top everything off, Monday.com’s built-in reporting and analytics features are capable of providing you with valuable insights into the overall recruitment workflow. This way, you are able to base all your decisions on accurate data and can continuously work on improving the process for everyone involved.
Over 200k businesses use Monday.com including Lionsgate, Glossier, and Oxy.
Monday.com’s pricing ranges from $9-$19, depending on the plan you choose. There’s also a free forever plan for up to 2 user seats and 3 boards. For the full pricing breakdown, visit Monday.com’s Pricing page.
Best For
Monday.com can be used by businesses of all sizes due to its versatility and scalability.
MightyRecruiter
Unlike other free products that are often limited in functionality, MightyRecruiter is a robust ATS that allows for unlimited job posting across various job boards. It also comes with a comprehensive resume database, employee referral features, a reporting dashboard and a branded career website at no additional cost.
PROS
- MightyRecruiter allows you to post unlimited jobs to 29+ job boards for free and access a resume database of over 21 million candidates.
- The platform has a clean and intuitive interface that allows you to create job postings, filter, screen, and rate candidates easily.
- The built-in reporting dashboard provides a comprehensive view of how your job postings are performing on various job boards and channels through metrics like number of views, applications, and conversions.
- MightyRecruiter allows you to post unlimited jobs to 29+ job boards for free and access a resume database of over 21 million candidates.
- The platform has a clean and intuitive interface that allows you to create job postings, filter, screen, and rate candidates easily.
- The built-in reporting dashboard provides a comprehensive view of how your job postings are performing on various job boards and channels through metrics like number of views, applications, and conversions.
CONS
- Once created, job postings can take anywhere between 24-48 hours to be approved by MightyRecruiter's team and made live.
- MightyRecruiter does not offer advanced ATS features like integrated assessments, interview scheduling, workflow management, and collaborative hiring for end-to-end recruitment
- While MightyRecruiter is primarily free to use, viewing the full resumes of candidates on their resume database costs extra.
- Once created, job postings can take anywhere between 24-48 hours to be approved by MightyRecruiter's team and made live.
- MightyRecruiter does not offer advanced ATS features like integrated assessments, interview scheduling, workflow management, and collaborative hiring for end-to-end recruitment
- While MightyRecruiter is primarily free to use, viewing the full resumes of candidates on their resume database costs extra.
Ideal for small and medium-sized businesses, MightyRecruiter is a free recruitment software that helps companies streamline their talent-sourcing process. The tool allows you to attract candidates through a custom-branded career page, post unlimited job openings across 29+ job boards, access a resume database of over 21 million candidates, rank and filter candidates. To speed up your sourcing efforts further, the platform packs over 200 ready-to-use job description templates and suggests suitable candidates for your job posts based on defined criteria.
ThinkGlink Media, DocuSign, OpExpert, GTM Pros, Small World Recruiting
MightyRecruiter is free to use. However, viewing the full resumes of candidates on their resume database costs extra.
Best For
MightyRecruiter is best suited for SMBs. It is a free ATS that packs a decent range of features to streamline recruitment for companies hiring under 50 candidates a year.
As an employer using MightyRecruiter to post tutoring jobs, I check in once a week and have been using the platform for little under a year. I rely on its user-friendly interface to efficiently create and manage job listings, ensuring maximum visibility across various channels. The applicant tracking system (ATS) is crucial for systematically managing candidate applications, and I regularly engage with it to review and respond to submissions. MightyRecruiter's tools facilitate seamless communication with applicants, allowing us to share and review feedback and evaluations.
I appreciate the platform's user-friendly interface, which makes it easy to create and manage tutoring job listings efficiently, even with limited time investment.
I value MightyRecruiter for offering free options and catering to employers with limited budgets. Making it a practical and cost-effective choice for job postings.
The ATS provided by MightyRecruiter streamlines the candidate management process, allowing me to systematically track, review, and respond to applications in a way that aligns seamlessly with our tutoring hiring needs.
Our organization adopted Mighty Recruiter to address challenges in our recruitment process and has used it for the past 7 months. The primary pain point we aimed to solve was the need for a more streamlined and centralized solution for our hiring efforts. MightyRecruiter has significantly improved our recruitment workflow by providing a user-friendly platform for posting jobs, tracking applicants, and collaborating with team members. The platform's applicant tracking system (ATS) and free model have been particularly beneficial, allowing us to efficiently manage and evaluate candidate applications.
- I've observed that the candidate pool can be relatively small at times, and expanding this pool or providing more diverse sourcing options would enhance our ability to attract more people.
- The resume database that Mighty Recruiter promotes no longer works due to data protection laws, but they still promote it, leading to a misunderstanding of the product.
- I wish MightyRecruiter provided more customization options for job postings, allowing us to better showcase the unique aspects of our tutoring opportunities.
MightyRecruiter stands out from competitors such as ZipRecruiter, Handshake, and Indeed in several ways. While ZipRecruiter may offer a larger pool of applications, the cost-effectiveness of MightyRecruiter, especially for an employer with a limited budget, is a significant advantage. MightyRecruiter's free options make it a practical choice when compared to Handshake, which is also free but lacks the expansive features for job postings and candidate tracking that MightyRecruiter provides.
I prefer Indeed over MightyRecruiter simply because I have access to more candidates.
When considering a tool like MightyRecruiter for posting tutoring jobs, several key criteria should guide the decision-making process. First, evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the platform, especially in comparison to other options on the market. For roles, focus on the platform's ability to reach a targeted and relevant candidate pool, ensuring that the tool aligns with your specific hiring needs. Additionally, assess the user interface and functionality to ensure the platform is user-friendly and capable of streamlining your job posting and applicant tracking workflows.
There hasn't been much changes to the tool.
MightyRecruiter is well-suited for small to medium-sized organizations or employers with limited budgets.
Large organizations with large hiring needs for multiple openings for multiple roles.
OpenCATS
OpenCats because is a completely free open-source ATS that packs all the basic features a small business would need to keep track of applicants.
PROS
CONS
OpenCATS is a completely free open source ATS. Designed for recruiters, OpenCATS provides basic ATS services such as candidate tracking, resume parsing, and job requisition and posting.
OpenCATS is a completely free open source ATS.
Best For
OpenCATS is best for companies needing a free ATS in a pinch.
Recruitee
Recruitee is best for small and medium-sized businesses looking for an affordable and user-friendly ATS. The platform offers a variety of features, including collaborative hiring and internal referral, and a mobile app that can perform several tasks.
PROS
- Recruitee is priced transparently and competitively, making it a good option for small and medium-sized businesses. It also has a free trial you can opt for without having to add your card info.
- There are no limits on the number of users applied to all plans.
- Recruitee has a user-friendly interface that makes it easy to find and use the features you need.
- Recruitee’s features include job posting, candidate tracking, interview scheduling, and tools to promote referrals and combat hiring bias.
- Pro: Recruitee is highly rated by customers for its ease of use. The majority of them are able to implement and get on with the software without much hassle.
- Pro: Recruitee features a customizable, kanban-like recruiting pipeline. Companies can add as many stages as needed to the pipeline and move candidates easily as they progress through the stages.
- Pro: Recruitee incorporates some measures to reduce hiring bias. For example, you can adjust the permission level for your interviewers and prevent them from seeing the scores each of them are assigning to the same candidate. This way, they won’t be influenced by each other's evaluations.
CONS
- Its pricing went up from our last review of the software, although that’s because of several newly-added features.
- Recruitee's reporting tools can be difficult to use, and they do not offer as much detail as some other ATSs.
- Requires integration of third-party tools for essential functions like skill assessments, onboarding, video interviewing, and e-signatures.
- Con: Several functions that are advertised on Recruitee’s feature list, including skill assessments, onboarding, video interviewing, and e-signatures are not actually built into Recruitee and are only possible through integration with third-party tools, which can be misleading to potential users, especially if it’s their first ATS.
- Con: Several users noted that the Recruitee’s reporting function is limited and at times, doesn’t retrieve data accurately.
- Con: Several users have complained about Recruitee’s support team being slow in responding, and at times, not able to solve issues.
- Con: For a product that’s geared towards SMBs, it lacks a free plan that businesses who are just getting started with ATSs can use for as long as they need, without any time constraints. We list this as a con as several solutions in this space do offer free-forever plans and similar feature sets as Recruitee, which puts it slightly behind the competition to users.
Recruitee is on our recommended free ATS list for some concrete reasons. The first one: Recruitee is an ATS that's easy to navigate and boasts features to make hiring more efficient. It’s easy to track candidates through different stages of the hiring process and we can collaborate with other team members on assessments and interviews.
Another reason is the collaboration feature. We especially like the way that Recruitee makes it easy to collaborate with other team members on making fair hiring decisions. You get to add as many team members to the platform as you wish, assign them appropriate roles, and have them assess the candidates more objectively— without adding extra numbers to your bill.
One of the few downsides to Recruitee is its dependence on third-party integrations for essential functions, which could be found as built-in ones in competing vendors, such as skill assessments, onboarding, video interviewing, or e-signatures. This can be a bit of a hassle and can add to the cost of opting for Recruitee; unless, of course, you don’t need really need any of these features.
Semrush, Mark and Spencer, Transcom, Taco Bell, Toyota, Asus, Livestorm, Rakuten.
Recruitee offers custom plans based on the number of active jobs and other particular needs. The ATS has three pricing plans:
- Launch starts at $269 per month
- Scale starts at $479 per month
- Lead has custom pricing.
Best For
Though companies of different sizes can find Recruitee useful, we feel that the ATS is best suited for small and medium-sized businesses.
I use Recruitee daily, as our primary recruitment lead my role involves creating our recruitment strategy and being involved in the end-end process/recruitment cycle.
Having a system that I can trust, that allows candidates to quickly and easily upload their resumes and apply with us has been integral in our ability to continue to scale the company and grow our teams.
We use Recruitee not only to house candidates for current/open positions, but to categorize, sort, and save profiles of those who we believe may be a good fit for roles later down the line. Being able to use Recruitee to build and foster long-standing relationships allows us to continue to grow our organization and visibility in the tech talent market.
1. Ease of use - UI/UX: everything is extremely intuitive, as a recruiter things are where they should be and I don't have to spend a lot of time searching for settings or information
2. Customer service/transparency: the team at Recruitee has always provided us with top-notch customer service, and has always been great about answering any questions or concerns we have. The ability to vote on and suggest product improvements makes you feel that they care - and the number of improvements/suggestions they implement is fantastic. Being able to know what's upcoming on the roadmap is also really useful for us.
3. Integrations: being able to integrate with our other systems and tools is extremely important to us so that all of our candidate data can be housed in one place.
4. Analytics: being able to actually track your time to hire, number of applicants/role, and many, many more are critical for understanding your recruitment process and cycle, as well as being able to implement improvements.
5. KANBAN visibility: once you recruit in KANBAN you'll never go back to having a list view of your candidate pipeline. Being able to quickly view a role and visually see the health/number of applicants in each stage is probably my favorite feature.
We bought Recruitee because our previous ATS was hindering our recruitment process. It was time-consuming for us as the employer and for the candidates applying and interviewing with us. I strongly believe our previous ATS was causing us to lose potential candidates.
As a company, we've been using Recruitee since November 2022. However, I was a customer at my previous organization so I began using their system back in 2020.
I was determined to bring in a new ATS within my first week of joining RBR and received positive support from the entire company. I vetted out and demoed several other options as I wanted to ensure I wasn't being biased in my selection of an ATS, however, Recruitee was the clear winner for us due to its ease of use, time-saving capabilities, and overall customer support/service from their teams.
Setting up Recruitee was a breeze, we had a team assist us with implementation and training our managers, and because of their ability to create such an intuitive system, it's taken little to no time for our managers to understand how the system works.
1. Better integration with LinkedIn (I've chatted with the team and know this is in the works)
2. Continue to build out the scheduling feature (again, chatted with the team about this)
3. More automation for sorting candidates - for example, if a candidate applies and selects certain answers to screening questions being able to tag/filter candidates based on those answers
Recruitee is far superior to many of its competitors. Coming from using a LARGE system that was primarily for payroll, having a system that is focused on recruitment is extremely important if you really want to have a strong recruitment process.
Again, their customer service and support is something that just can't be beaten. And the speed at which they review customer feedback and integrate new solutions is incredible.
Our must-haves when looking at an ATS were:
1. Ease of use (both internally and externally): simple to use, training for managers, and candidates having the ability to easily and quickly apply
2. Search ability: need to be able to search in our own ATS for candidates, easily and using Boolean search
3. Kanban board style of view/dashboard - click and drag option
4. Easy Implementation- Integration Specialist or team to assist
5. Enhance/Encourage Collaboration: the ability to tag team members in candidates' profiles and collaborate within the ATS
What I would recommend to those looking for a new ATS is to start with your current pain points (if applicable) then build out your must-haves and nice-to-haves. Do some demos of different ATSs and make sure to actually test them for yourself. We found a lot of demos seemed interesting but once we were in the system it was clunky and difficult to use. Recruitee was by far the most intuitive.
Since I initially started using Recruitee there have been countless new features, integrations, and options made available to their customers. It is clear that they listen to the feedback they receive as they understand those using the product on a day-to-day basis will likely share the best ideas/feature requests that will actually be used/appreciated by their customers.
When I think back to when I first started using Recruitee to now, it's incredible to see all of the new features such as the referral portal, scheduling features, req approvals, and more that have been added to their features list!
I think Recruitee is great for organizations that are agile and need to operate very quickly. Those who are looking to hire and scale their organizations and who are looking for an ATS that can scale with them are the ideal customer for Recruitee.
I think slow-paced organizations, those that thrive on outdated systems/tools, or those that don't necessarily have the desire to update their recruitment processes would not be a good fit.
Benefits of using a Free Applicant Tracking System
Key benefits of free ATSs include improved compliance, enhanced candidate/recruiter experience, and efficiency through automation. Overall, this software is great for recruiting teams that want to grow their organization's headcount while staying organized.
- Recruiting automation: Expanding headcount is a massive endeavor comprised of tiny, interdependent tasks that take up considerable time. A good ATS can automate interview scheduling, resume parsing, and generate interview feedback, resulting in greater efficiency and fewer errors.
- Compliance: EEOC audits and other forms of equitable recruiting compliance are essential for applicant tracking systems. Your ATS should have features that help keep you compliant with your local rules and regulations.
- Candidate experience: A well-made ATS ensures a positive applicant experience. Employers can make branded design choices on custom career sites, including personal touches like employee testimonials.
- Recruiter experience: A good ATS is a tremendous benefit for a TA team. Trust us: your team is ready to say goodbye to the patchwork of clunky spreadsheets, dropbox mysteries, and scattered Google Docs.
- Staying organized: An ATS keeps all your candidate information, contact history, and workflows in one place. This means your team can focus on the tasks that really matter and grow your company.
Common Pitfalls When Buying a Free ATS and How to Avoid Them
The main pitfall to avoid is using the free plan of an ATS vendor whose paid plans are not suitable for you. Don’t think of this as a short-term solution. Instead, be highly selective and treat your choice as a potential long-term partnership.
In the world of business, nothing is ever truly free. Although “try it before you buy it” is one of the key benefits of signing up for a free ATS, and some vendors offer forever-free plans that you can theoretically, uh, use forever, most teams will eventually need to upsize their plans to meet their growing needs.
We recommend that shoppers do loads of research (including on ATS pricing) and come prepared with questions when prepping for a product demo. Don't let a paid tier sneak up on you unprepared!
Features of Free Applicant Tracking Systems
Even for free (and cheap) versions of ATS software, you can expect to get many of the basics that you'd find in any fully-fledged system:
- Custom Job Site: Most platforms offer a plug-and-play career site template for you to embed in your company website. This can cover your “careers” page or individual pages created for specific recs.
- Organizational framework: ATSs keep all the pieces of the hiring process in order: applications, resumes, cover letters, interviews, dates, and emails are kept orderly by an ATS.
- Interview Feedback: Look for solutions that make collecting and organizing interviewer feedback easy. Interviewer feedback is a critical part of a consistent and unbiased interview process.
- Job distribution: Your free ATS should distribute your recs to free job boards. Many offer integrations with for-pay job boards, which, of course, you have to pay for.
- Scheduling: Look for an ATS with a scheduling feature that works with your company’s existing communication tools. This single element is where you’ll see the most significant benefit of an ATS: automated scheduling features save a lot of time!
Free Applicant Tracking System FAQs
What is an applicant tracking system?
An applicant tracking system is a software application designed to help HR teams organize each feature of the hiring process.
Why do you need an applicant tracking system?
An ATS can easily manage large volumes of applicants. Automating and streamlining the recruitment process saves your team’s time, improves candidate experience, and reduces costly (and sometimes legally overwhelming!) errors.
What kind of free ATS options are available?
When looking into a free applicant tracking system, you are likely to find two options:
- Free trials of fully functional paid software allow you to try out a system for a limited time.
- Subscriptions that offer limited functionality but are entirely free to use forever.
Who actually uses free ATSs?
The surprising answer is that it’s companies of all sizes.
Slow-growing SMBs and startups are great clients for free ATS platforms. Rather than attempting to scale up from a patchwork of disorganized spreadsheets and documents, a free ATS can help growing teams lay down an organizational framework that they’ll thank themselves for in the future. They also benefit from not buying oversized enterprise software they may or may not grow into.
Large companies with big allocated budgets also use free ATS to test-drive options before they buy.
Why is an ATS used in recruitment?
The core function of the ATS is to make the end-to-end hiring process better for the candidate and easier for the employer. The first platforms were created for large corporations processing thousands of job applications weekly. Quickly, it became clear that businesses of any size could benefit from this software. This is now ubiquitous in the recruitment process.
How do applicant tracking systems work?
Applicant tracking systems act as a liaison between an employer and an applicant. When a candidate submits an application, the ATS reads their profile and resume, while sorting and storing the candidate’s work experience, education, contact information, and other details.
On the employer’s side, TA teams interact with the neatly filed candidate information tucked into a database. Via a user interface, permissions are granted for everyone involved in the hiring process to access information on individual candidates or company-wide hiring trends.
Scheduling features are a bread-and-butter standard, and skills assessments are becoming increasingly popular.
What are the standard features that free ATSs offer?
This general list offers a picture of the features you should research and evaluate before you buy. You’re likely to find a great deal of variation between each vendor.
- Career site
- Job board integration
- Application sorting
- Resume parsing
- Interview schedule
- Candidate messaging
- Chatbots
- Company profile
- Reporting and analytics
- Cloud storage
- Internal candidate portal
- Employee referral tool
- Search functionality
- Team collaboration
- Import/Export capabilities
We hope this listing of free applicant tracking systems was helpful for your recruiting team as they look to bring on a new ATS. If you have any additions, please send us a note or comment; we’ll happily update the list!
Guides and Blogs on ATS:
We hope this listing of free applicant tracking systems was useful for your recruiting team as they look to bring on a new ATS. If you have any additions, please send us a note, or leave a comment, and we’ll be happy to update the list!
Lastly, if you have the budget to use a paid ATS, we recommend checking out our page on the best applicant tracking systems, complete with questions to ask on demos, ROI calculations, etc. Enjoy!
Guides and Blogs on ATS:
What is an ATS? / Benefits of an ATS / How to Calculate ATS ROI / Guide on ATS Pricing / ATS Buyer Guide
About Us
- Our goal at SSR is to help HR and recruiting teams to find and buy the right software for their needs.
- Our site is free to use as some vendors will pay us for web traffic.
- SSR lists all companies we feel are top vendors - not just those who pay us - in our comprehensive directories full of the advice needed to make the right purchase decision for your HR team.
