Hiring & Applicant Tracking

Contents

1. 01WelcomeWhat these tools do, how many we grade and what to know before choosing
2. 02Our top threeThe three we'd look at first, and who each one suits
3. 03What they costWhat paid plans start at, the best buy at each budget and the free plans
4. 04The gradesThe highest graded, and how the whole category does on each subject
5. 05Keep or make?Which are worth paying for, and which you could make yourself
6. 06Every toolAll of them, best graded first, with what each costs
7. 07Quick answersThe questions people ask when choosing, each answered in a line or two
8. 08About ToolGPAWho made this guide, what else is on the site, and how to cite it

ToolGPA put this guide together from each tool’s own pages, their app-store listings and our grades. Every fact in it is on the Hiring & Applicant Tracking page too, where it is kept up to date. Checked Oct 18, 2026.

Post a job to many boards at once, keep every applicant in one place and move the best ones through interviews.

Before you choose, here are 7 things to know about hiring and applicant tracking tools, worked out from every one we grade.

1. 1

   We grade 15 hiring and applicant tracking tools

   3 of them are free or have a free plan, and 6 more let you try before paying. Everything in this guide comes from their own pages and our grades.

2. 2

   Paid plans start at $89.17 a month in the middle

   From $15 (Manatal) to $299 (Workable), going by what each one's paid plans start at.

3. 3

   Best value: Breezy HR and Manatal

   Nothing on our chart scores higher than these without costing more.

4. 4

   7 of 15 have iPhone and Android apps

   15 run in a web browser and 0 have a Windows app. Check the one you need before you fall for anything.

5. 5

   The middle GPA is 2.2

   0 score 3.0 or higher. The highest is Manatal, at 2.8.

6. 6

   Best free option: Breezy HR

   Breezy HR has the highest GPA of the free ones, 2.6. Flat-priced applicant tracking with a free one-job plan.

7. 7

   15 worth keeping, 0 you could make

   By our keep-or-make rules, 15 do something you couldn't reasonably build yourself, 0 are simple enough to make with an AI app builder, and 0 are a close call.

Part 02 · Top three

Our top three

The three we'd look at first, and who each one suits

The three hiring and applicant tracking tools we'd look at first. First place suits the most people; second and third are the best picks for the people it leaves out. Each has an Insider's Guide of its own.

1. 1st

   

   2.8GPA

   Manatal

   Free trial · from $15/mo

   For: Most small companies hiring for themselves

   Manatal's Professional plan is $15 a user a month billed annually ($19 monthly), with unlimited hiring managers, so a company with one person running hiring pays $15. It parses resumes and fills profiles from LinkedIn and GitHub, suggests candidates for each job, builds a career page and posts to free and premium job boards, with a Chrome extension for sourcing. Know the limits: Professional stops at 15 jobs and 10,000 candidates, there are no phone apps, only a progressive web app, the 14-day trial leaves out job board posting, and posting opens only once the account is verified after paying.

   The Manatal Insider’s Guide

2. 2nd

   

   2.6GPA

   Breezy HR

   Free plan · from $157/mo

   For: Teams hiring for one role at a time who want to pay nothing

   Breezy HR's free Bootstrap plan gives unlimited users one open job or candidate pool at a time, with a careers site, posting to 50+ job boards and resume parsing. Startup is a flat $157 a month billed annually ($189 monthly) for unlimited jobs and users, and adds questionnaires, stage automations, self-scheduling and the phone apps. Its iPhone and iPad app averages 4.6 from about 340 ratings. It is second because the free plan shows only candidates added in the last 30 days, which a slow hire runs into, and a second open role costs more than ten times Manatal's price for one user.

   The Breezy HR Insider’s Guide

3. 3rd

   

   2.6GPA

   Zoho Recruit

   Free plan · from $25/mo

   For: Recruiters who want phone apps at a low price per seat

   Zoho Recruit posts jobs to a careers site, 75+ job boards and social media, tracks applicants in pipelines and keeps a candidate CRM, on the web, iPhone and Android. The free plan allows 1 active job per recruiter license, and Standard is $25 a recruiter a month billed annually ($30 monthly) for 10 active jobs, a branded careers site and premium boards. It is third because, for one recruiter, Manatal holds more jobs for less, hiring manager licenses come only in packs of 10, AI matching and automation need Enterprise at $50, and there is no App Store rating on record.

   The Zoho Recruit Insider’s Guide

Going by our grades, Breezy HR and Manatal give the most for the money among hiring and applicant tracking tools: no tool on this chart scores higher without costing more.

Paid plans start at a middle price of $89.17 a month across the 10 that charge, from $15 (Manatal) to $299 (Workable).

0 of the 10 score above the category's average while starting at or below its middle price. 4 cost more than the middle price and score below the average.

Every tool gets five grades, A to F, each with its reason, and a GPA that averages them. Here are the 12 highest graded hiring and applicant tracking tools, then how the whole category does on each subject.

Tool	Value	Free	Features	Ease	Platforms	GPA
Manatal	A	C	B	C	B	2.8
Breezy HR	C	C	B	B	B	2.6
Zoho Recruit	B	C	B	C	B	2.6
Homerun	C	C	B	C	B	2.4
Tellent Recruitee	C	C	B	C	B	2.4
Top Echelon	C	C	B	C	B	2.4
Recruit CRM	D	C	B	C	B	2.2
TestGorilla	D	B	C	C	B	2.2
Workable	D	C	B	C	B	2.2
Ashby	C	F	B	C	B	2.0
Greenhouse	C	F	B	C	B	2.0
JazzHR	C	F	B	C	B	2.0

Some software does something you couldn’t reasonably build yourself. Some is simple enough that an AI app builder could make the core of it in an afternoon. Here’s where hiring and applicant tracking tools land, by the same rules for every tool.

• 15

  Keep it

  It does something you could not reasonably make for yourself, or it costs nothing.

• 0

  Your call

  You could make the core of it, and you would give something up.

• 0

  You could make this

  What it does is the kind of thing an AI app builder makes well, and it charges every month.

Every hiring and applicant tracking tool we grade, with its GPA and what it costs. Each one has a page of its own on toolgpa.com, with its Insider’s Guide.

1. 1ManatalFree trial · from $15/mo2.8
2. 2Breezy HRFree plan · from $157/mo2.6
3. 3Zoho RecruitFree plan · from $25/mo2.6
4. 4HomerunFree trial · from €109/mo2.4
5. 5Tellent RecruiteeFree trial2.4
6. 6Top EchelonFree trial · from $79/mo2.4
7. 7Recruit CRMFree trial · from $95/mo2.2
8. 8TestGorillaFree plan · from $74/mo2.2
9. 9WorkableFree trial · from $299/mo2.2
10. 10AshbyFrom $270/mo2.0
11. 11GreenhousePaid2.0
12. 12JazzHRFrom $1,000/yr2.0
13. 13LeverPaid2.0
14. 14PinpointPaid2.0
15. 15TeamtailorPaid2.0

ToolGPA grades software the way a school report grades a pupil: five subjects, a letter for each with the reason written beside it, and a GPA that averages them. Prices, plans and platforms are read from each maker’s own pages and dated, so you always know how fresh a figure is.

ToolGPA is free to read. It may earn a commission from affiliate links and it works with sponsors, but anything paid for is labelled and no one can pay for a grade. Every tool on the site has a guide like this one, free to download and pass on. It all lives at toolgpa.com.

• 2,021

  tools graded

• 54

  categories

• 426

  price changes on record

• 579

  apps priced in 12 countries