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Hiring without an HR department: the recruiting software small employers use
Posting a job to the boards, sorting the applicants and booking the interviews can all run from one tool, at prices from a few dollars a user to thousands a year.
In a small business, hiring usually falls to the owner or a manager who has another job to do. The work is the same as in a large company: write the ad, get it onto the job boards, read the applications, decide who to talk to and find a time for the interview. Recruiting software, often called an applicant tracking system, keeps those steps in one place.
The nine tools below run from free plans for a first hire to systems built for recruitment agencies. Each handles the three main jobs, posting, screening and scheduling, a little differently, and the prices, in US dollars, vary widely.
Getting the job in front of people
Every tool here posts jobs, but the reach differs. Breezy HR posts an open position to more than 50 job sites in one click. 100Hires posts to more than 13 job boards at once, including Indeed, LinkedIn, Glassdoor, ZipRecruiter, Monster, Jooble, Adzuna and Talent.com. Manatal shares openings on more than 2,500 organic and premium channels. Spark Hire posts to several job boards, and Zoho Recruit publishes openings to job boards, with premium job boards, a branded careers site and social recruiting on its Standard plan.
JazzHR's Hero plan includes job postings starting at three a month, premium job listings and a LinkedIn Recruiter integration, though JazzHR notes that posting depends on eligibility rules and can be limited by job board restrictions and usage limits. TalentHR handles job postings and gives the business a custom career page. Recruit CRM sells job multiposting as an add-on that reaches more than 5,000 channels, at $20 a month billed yearly for seven jobs a month.
Sorting the applicants
Once applications arrive, the tools help cut the pile down. The plainest method is a knockout question that filters out applicants who do not meet a basic requirement. 100Hires sets these up to filter unqualified applicants automatically, Manatal offers screening and knockout questions, TalentHR has custom screening questions, and Breezy HR automates pre-screening, with candidate questionnaires on its Startup plan.
AI also comes into this step, usually on the higher plans. Spark Hire's AI Resume Review allows 6,000 reviews a year on its Recruit Pro plan. Recruit CRM includes an AI resume parser on its Pro plan. Zoho Recruit puts AI candidate matching on Enterprise, at $50 per recruiter a month billed annually, and JazzHR puts it on Plus, at $3,480 a year, along with structured interviews, assessments and task automation. Manatal offers an AI Interviewer as an add-on.
Booking the interviews
Scheduling can mean a lot of back-and-forth email. Several tools let candidates pick their own slot. 100Hires sends a self-scheduling link with two-way sync to Google Calendar, Outlook and Office 365. Breezy HR adds interview self-scheduling on its Startup plan, along with video interviews through its own video or Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams. Spark Hire offers self-service scheduling and one-way video interviews, although automated scheduling of panel interviews is not part of Recruit Pro.
Others connect to the calendar the employer already uses. JazzHR's recruiting calendar syncs with Google Calendar or Outlook and comes with video interview integrations, interview guides and candidate evaluation templates. TalentHR works with Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook Calendar, Manatal has an activities calendar with calendar integration, and Zoho Recruit's free plan includes interview scheduling. Loxo lists interview scheduling as coming soon.
Free and low-cost ways to start
Three of these tools have free plans. Zoho Recruit's free plan is aimed at startups hiring their first team: it allows one active job per recruiter license and includes candidate management, email management and interview scheduling. Its Standard plan costs $25 per recruiter a month, billed annually, for up to 10 active jobs per license, and the tool runs on the web, Android and iOS. Breezy HR's free Bootstrap plan has unlimited users and candidates but one active position or candidate pool at a time; unlimited positions and the automations start with Startup at $157 a month, and interview guides and scorecards with Growth at $273 a month. TalentHR is free for up to 10 users and also includes onboarding tools.
For a business that hires now and then, the cheapest paid plans are per user. Manatal's Professional plan costs $15 per user a month and allows up to 15 jobs per account, up to 10,000 candidates and unlimited hiring managers, with a 14-day trial; workflow automation is on Enterprise at $35. TalentHR's paid plans start from $2 per user a month, but they require at least 15 users, changed in steps of five, and new users get a 14-day trial of the Premium features.
100Hires is built for small business teams that hire between 5 and 50 roles a quarter. Its Start plan costs $49 a month, billed annually, but it is limited to three jobs, 100 candidates and one user. The Advanced plan lifts those limits and adds automated emails and 1,000 AI credits a month, and Pro, at $399 a month, adds contact enrichment and 5,000 AI credits. During the 14-day trial, the whole account can receive up to 10 candidates from outside job boards.
Plans priced by the year
Some tools are priced as yearly commitments, which changes the decision for an employer who hires only a few times a year. JazzHR, recruiting software for small businesses and growing teams, starts with Hero at $1,000 a year billed annually. Plus costs $3,480 a year and allows up to 200 active jobs, and offers and eSignatures start with Pro at $5,508 a year.
Spark Hire, hiring software for small and medium organizations, starts at $335 a month billed annually on Recruit Pro, and all of its Recruit plans are only available on an annual contract.
Tools built for recruiters
Two of the tools are designed mainly for recruiters. Recruit CRM is an applicant tracking system combined with a CRM. It is built for recruitment agencies and can also support in-house recruiting teams and freelance recruiters. Its Pro plan starts at $95 per user a month, with job board posting, the AI resume parser, unlimited email templates and two-way email and calendar sync. Automated email sequences are on Business at $135, and multiposting with direct apply on Enterprise at $215. There is a 30-day trial.
Loxo combines an applicant tracking system, a recruiting CRM, sourcing, outreach and AI search, with unlimited jobs, candidates and companies. Its Core plan, for firms that run the work themselves, starts at $149 per user a month billed annually and includes email and calendar sync and a Chrome extension. Professional, at $199, adds Loxo Source and its agentic workforce. Annual plans are paid up front, and there is a seven-day trial. Both are priced per user for people who recruit all the time, which is a different job from an owner filling one role.
