# Crelate review (2026): is it worth $85 a month per user, billed yearly?

> Applicant tracking and recruiting CRM for staffing and search firms

Checked Nov 12, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA.

Crelate is a recruiting platform that combines an applicant tracking system, a recruiting CRM, a job portal, resume parsing and sourcing tools. It is aimed at staffing firms, search firms and in-house recruiting teams, and includes AI assistants for sourcing and data upkeep.

- **Category:** Hiring & Applicant Tracking
- **Made by:** Crelate, Inc.
- **Website:** https://www.crelate.com
- **Runs on:** Web, iOS, Android
- **Who should skip it:** Tight if you are bigger than 2 users, as Essentials stops there with 20k contacts.
- **Facts last checked:** Nov 12, 2026

## Pricing

As of Nov 12, 2026, Crelate is a paid product with a free trial, starting at $85 per user / month, billed annually.

- **Pricing model:** Free trial
- **Free plan:** None.
- **Free trial:** Free trial offered; its length is not stated on the pricing page.

| Plan | Price | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Essentials | $85 per user / month, billed annually | Applicant tracking, recruiting CRM, job portal and resume parsing for up to 2 users and 20k contacts. Contact sales to buy. |
| Business | $119 per user / month, annual or monthly | Adds the AI Assistant, client and team portals, reports and analytics, email connections and technical support. |
| Business Plus | Custom | Adds advanced AI Assistant, premium client portals, automation and sequences, full API and more storage. Billed annually. |
| Platform | Custom | Usage-based pricing on a user or site license, quoted by sales. |

Read from https://www.crelate.com/pricing on Nov 12, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Crelate before buying.

## Key features

- **Applicant tracking and CRM:** One system holds candidates, client contacts and placements, with full-text and Boolean search and resume parsing.
- **Job portal and job distribution:** A branded job portal with custom application forms. The comparison table lists free job board distribution at 50 postings per user.
- **Client and team portals:** Clients and hiring managers get a portal to review candidates. User limits per portal differ by plan, from 10 to 100 users.
- **AI assistants:** An AI Assistant is on Business, with Discover Agent for finding talent, Insights Agent and Data Quality Agents listed as options.
- **Mobile recruiting:** The plan table lists mobile recruiting on iOS and Android on every plan.
- **API and webhooks:** The plan table lists API access at 60 requests per minute on Business and 120 on higher plans; webhooks are not shown on Business.

## Good for

- Staffing and search firms that need an ATS and a CRM together
- Teams that want client portals for hiring managers

## Worth knowing

- Essentials covers up to 2 users and 20k contacts, and is bought through sales.
- Email campaigns, text messaging, eSignature and contact enrichment carry an additional fee, per the plan table.
- Business Plus has no published price, and webhooks are not shown on the Business plan.
- The page does not say whether the $119 Business price is the annual or the monthly rate.

## ToolGPA grades

**GPA: 2.2 out of 4**, graded Nov 12, 2026. Crelate is an applicant tracker and recruiting CRM for staffing and search firms, from $85 a user a month billed annually. Essentials is capped at 2 users and 20k contacts and is bought through sales. Email campaigns, texting, eSignature and enrichment cost extra.

- **Value for money: C.** $85 a user a month annual on Essentials and $119 on Business, against a category middle of $85 and a dearer quarter from $149.
- **Free plan and trial: C.** A free trial is offered, but its length and whether a card is needed are not stated.
- **Features: C.** ATS, CRM, job portal, AI assistant and API. Email campaigns, texting and eSignature carry extra fees, and webhooks are not shown on Business.
- **Ease of use: C.** No rating on record. Recruiting software with portals and workflows to configure.
- **Platforms and integrations: B.** Web, iPhone and Android, with Indeed, Dice, Zapier, Outlook and Gmail links. No desktop app.

These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Crelate's own pages on 12 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews.

## Where it stands among hiring and applicant tracking tools

- Crelate's GPA of 2.2 is higher than 30 of the 48 other hiring and applicant tracking tools we grade, and level with 8.
- It stands best on platforms and integrations (B, above 16 of 48) and worst on features (C, above 0).
- Its paid plans start at $85 a month for each person, against a middle price of $84.17 for the category: 13 of the 25 others that charge start lower.
- On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.3 out of 4. 4 tools score higher and cost less.

The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/hiring

## Keep it, or make your own?

**Keep it.** To replace Crelate you would be making jobs posted to dozens of job boards at once, which takes an agreement with each board. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one. It costs $1,020 a year.

- You could make: Applicant tracking: an app builder makes this well.
- You could not: Jobs posted to dozens of job boards at once, which takes an agreement with each board.
- You could not: A real app for iOS and Android. Something home-made would be a web page.
- You could not: It is priced for each person, which means accounts and billing for a team.
- You could not: It plugs into other products, Indeed, Dice and CareerBuilder among them, and has an API.
- You could not: AI features, unless you pay a model provider for each request yourself.

A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it.

## Works with

Indeed, Dice, CareerBuilder, RingCentral, Zapier, Outlook, Gmail

**Tags:** Applicant tracking, Job board posting, AI features, Public API

## Alternatives

- [Bullhorn](https://toolgpa.com/tools/bullhorn): ATS, CRM and AI recruiting software for staffing agencies. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/bullhorn-vs-crelate)
- [Recruit CRM](https://toolgpa.com/tools/recruit-crm): ATS and client CRM for recruitment agencies, with AI agents. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/crelate-vs-recruit-crm)
- [Loxo](https://toolgpa.com/tools/loxo): AI-native ATS, CRM and sourcing for recruiting firms. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/crelate-vs-loxo)
- [JobAdder](https://toolgpa.com/tools/jobadder): Recruitment CRM and applicant tracking for agencies and in-house teams. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/crelate-vs-jobadder)
- [Top Echelon](https://toolgpa.com/tools/top-echelon): ATS and recruiting CRM for recruiting agencies and staffing firms. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/crelate-vs-top-echelon)

## Sources

The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 12, 2026:

- https://www.crelate.com/pricing

Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/crelate
Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).