Recruit CRM vs Zoho Recruit
We give Recruit CRM a 2.2 GPA and Zoho Recruit a 2.6, out of 4.0. Zoho Recruit grades higher on value for money. They get the same grade on the free plan, features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Recruit CRM
ATS and client CRM for recruitment agencies, with AI agents
Zoho Recruit
Per-recruiter ATS and recruitment CRM with a free one-job plan
How we grade them
| 2.2GPARecruit CRMFair | 2.6GPAZoho RecruitGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | DGraded against the agency tools it's listed beside. Pro is $95 a user a month on yearly billing ($109 monthly), so ten users is $950. That buys 100 credits a user, unlimited jobs and the AI submission agents, but it's the dearest per seat of the lot. | BStandard is $25 a recruiter a month on yearly billing ($30 monthly), so a ten-person company with one recruiter pays $25 for 10 active jobs, a branded careers site and premium boards. That's in the cheaper quarter, but hiring managers need licences sold in packs of 10. |
| Free plan and trial | CNo free plan, but a 30-day free trial, which is long for this category. | CA free plan with 1 active job per recruiter licence, candidate and email management and interview scheduling. The branded careers site and premium boards start on Standard. The 15-day trial needs no card and drops you onto the free plan. |
| Features | BCandidates, clients, jobs and placements together, AI agents for submissions and pitches, sourcing, sequences over email, LinkedIn and WhatsApp, and timesheets that flow into invoices. The whole agency job, with contractor billing on top. | BPosting to a careers site, 75+ job boards and social media, a candidate CRM, Blueprints and workflows, portals for managers, clients and candidates, and AI matching. The whole job, though AI and automation need Enterprise. |
| Ease of use | CNo App Store rating on record, and credits for sourcing, posting and texting take some working out. | CNo App Store rating on record, and Blueprints, portals and licence packs take some learning. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, iPhone, Android and a Chrome extension, with LinkedIn, Gmail, Outlook, Zoom, Teams, Zapier and Broadbean, and an open API on Business. No desktop app. | BWeb, iPhone and Android, with 200+ integrations such as Google Meet, Teams, Slack, Mailchimp and TestGorilla. No desktop app. |
| Best for | recruitment agencies placing candidates | low-cost hiring for teams already on Zoho |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Recruit CRM and Zoho Recruit. How we grade
Price against what you get
Recruit CRM starts at $95 a month for each person and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Zoho Recruit starts at $25 a month and scores 2.7.
They score the same, and Zoho Recruit starts $70 a month lower. Of the other hiring and applicant tracking tools on the chart, none scores higher than Recruit CRM for less, and none scores higher than Zoho Recruit for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Recruit CRM starts at $95 per user / month, billed annually ($109 billed monthly). Zoho Recruit starts at $25 per recruiter / month, billed annually ($30 billed monthly).
- Zoho Recruit has a free plan. Recruit CRM does not, though it has a free trial.
- Only Recruit CRM lists a browser extension.
- Recruit CRM also covers time tracking and AI agents.
- Zoho Recruit also covers reports and skills tests.
At a glance
| Recruit CRM | Zoho Recruit | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free plan |
| Starts at | $95 per user / month, billed annually ($109 billed monthly) | $25 per recruiter / month, billed annually ($30 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | None | Forever Free: 1 active job per recruiter license, with candidate and email management, interview scheduling and 8/5 support. No add-ons. |
| Free trial | 30-day free trial | 15-day free trial of Enterprise features, no credit card required; it then drops to the free plan |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Workforce Cloud Tech, Inc. | Zoho Corporation |
| Price read from | recruitcrm.io | zoho.com |
| Checked | Oct 18, 2026 | Oct 18, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Recruit CRM
- Recruitment agencies and executive search firms placing candidates with clients
- Contract staffing firms that bill clients for contractors' hours
- Agencies that source heavily from LinkedIn
Zoho Recruit
- Small HR teams that want a free or low-cost ATS
- Staffing agencies that need client and vendor portals
- Teams hiring for several roles at once on a per-recruiter budget
Worth knowing
Recruit CRM
- Built for agencies placing candidates with clients, not for a company hiring its own staff.
- AI sourcing, data enrichment, job posting, texting, calling, workflow automation and analytics all use credits from a shared pool; more can be bought.
- Pro allows 1 hiring pipeline, 15 custom fields, 1 mailbox per user and 1 outreach sequence.
- Timesheets use credits for each active contractor every month, and the Recruit Craft website builder is priced separately except on Enterprise.
Zoho Recruit
- Active jobs are capped per recruiter license: 1 on Free, 10 on Standard and 20 on Enterprise.
- Hiring manager and employee licenses are sold only in packs of 10, and video interviews are charged per job opening.
- AI candidate matching, automation, custom reports and Teams or Meet links need Enterprise.
Key features
Recruit CRM
- ATS and client CRM
- Candidates, client companies, contacts, jobs and placements in one system, with hotlists, talent pools and a kanban pipeline.
- AI agents
- Agents parse custom fields from resumes, build client-ready submissions, write candidate pitch emails and, from Business, reformat resumes in your branding.
- Sourcing and enrichment
- A Chrome extension adds profiles from LinkedIn and the web; AI search of 800M+ profiles and contact enrichment use credits.
- Outreach
- Two-way email and calendar sync, bulk email with open tracking, and sequences across email, LinkedIn and WhatsApp.
- Job multiposting
- Posts a job to 3,000+ boards for credits, with XML job feeds and Broadbean, LogicMelon and CV-Library on Business.
- Timesheets and billing
- Contractors log hours, managers approve them and approved time flows into invoicing, with contractor and client portals.
Zoho Recruit
- Job distribution
- Publishes openings to a customizable careers site, 75+ free, paid and premium job boards, and social media.
- ATS and candidate CRM
- Tracks applicants through hiring pipelines and keeps a candidate relationship database for future roles.
- Blueprints and workflows
- Automates candidate emails, offer approvals and other steps with Blueprints, workflows and custom functions on Enterprise.
- Portals
- Separate portals for hiring managers, clients, vendors and candidates; the vendor portal and employee licenses are paid add-ons.
- AI help
- AI drafts job descriptions, emails and assessments and, on Enterprise, matches candidates to openings.
- 200+ integrations
- Connects out of the box with over 200 apps, such as Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Slack, Mailchimp and TestGorilla.
Plans
Recruit CRM
Pro$95
per user / month, billed annually ($109 billed monthly)
100 credits per user a month, unlimited jobs and candidates, 1 hiring pipeline, 15 custom fields, the Chrome extension and AI submission agents.
Business$135
per user / month, billed annually ($159 billed monthly)
200 credits per user a month, 100 pipelines, a resume formatting agent, multichannel sequences, job feeds, open API, SSO and audit logs.
Enterprise$215
per user / month, billed annually ($259 billed monthly)
Sold through a demo. 2,000 credits per user a month, the Recruit Craft website builder and a named account manager.
Zoho Recruit
Free$0
1 active job per recruiter license, candidate and email management and interview scheduling.
Standard$25
per recruiter / month, billed annually ($30 billed monthly)
10 active jobs per recruiter license, sourcing, premium job boards, a branded careers site, referrals, assessments, reports and 50+ integrations.
Enterprise$50
per recruiter / month, billed annually ($60 billed monthly)
20 active jobs per license, AI candidate matching, candidate and staffing portals, Blueprint, automation, custom reports, SMS and Teams/Meet.
Ways to pay less
Recruit CRM
- Annual discount
Save up to 17% with annual billing
Recruit CRM's pricing page says annual billing saves up to 17%: Pro is $95 per user a month billed annually against $109 billed monthly.
Zoho Recruit
- Annual discount
Save up to 16% with yearly billing
Zoho Recruit's pricing page says yearly billing saves up to 16%: Standard is $25 per recruiter a month billed annually against $30 billed monthly.
