Recruitment ATS pricing starts at $15 per user per month on an annual plan among the paid products compared here, but your bill depends on the plan, contract and services you need. For five recruiters, that starting rate means $900 a year before extras; compare the complete desk you will use, not just the cheapest seat.
A price list helps you shortlist. It does not tell you what your agency will actually pay. The useful number is the written total for your team, with the billing period, limits and exit terms attached.
What are the published ATS entry prices in September 2026?
Checked 24 September 2026. All prices below are in USD. Annual rates are monthly equivalents paid on an annual basis, not promises of monthly cancellation. These are entry plans, not equivalent feature bundles; taxes and separately charged services are excluded.
| Platform | Published entry price | What qualifies that price |
|---|---|---|
| Manatal Professional | $15/user/month annually; $19 monthly | 15 jobs per account; 10,000 candidates. |
| Zoho Recruit Standard | $25/recruiter/month annually; $30 monthly | Staffing Agency edition. A limited free edition also exists. |
| Crelate Essentials | $85/user/month, paid annually | Maximum 2 users and 20,000 contacts. Business is $119/user/month, annual or monthly. |
| Recruit CRM Pro | $95/user/month annually; $109 monthly, reported for US buyers | 2026 reviews differ. See verification caveat below; obtain a regional quote. |
| Bullhorn Starter | $99/user/month | Published small-agency rate. Confirm contract length; Pro and Max are quote-only. |
| Recruiterflow Platform | $119/user/month annually; $149 monthly | AIRA plan has custom pricing. |
| Loxo Core | From $149/user/month annually | Annual payment upfront; advertised as a limited-time new-customer offer. |
| JobAdder | No public numerical price | Tailored proposal. Request the price and term for your selected plan. |
| Vincere | USD quote required | Publishes GBP entry pricing, not a USD rate on the page checked; 12-month minimum. |
| Crumblelead | $30/user/month monthly; $25 annual equivalent | One plan; annual billing saves $60/user/year. No seat minimum. |
Sources: vendor pricing pages and Zoho’s USD agency comparison, listed below. Recruiterflow’s live annual selector shows $119; the monthly selector shows $149. Reading only the page’s initial text can miss that distinction.
Recruit CRM needs extra care. Ooligo’s September 2026 review reports US Pro pricing per user per month of $95 on annual billing or $109 on monthly billing, while RecruitCompare lists $85 per month without a clear billing basis. That is a reported $85–$109 range, not an offer: the sources differ in billing detail and regional context. Our live check returned lower dollar figures without explicitly identifying the currency, so we could not verify an equivalent USD offer. Confirm your region’s rate before budgeting.
Vincere does publish prices, so calling it entirely quote-only would be inaccurate. Its checked page uses GBP and separates the CRM licence from an agency-level AI package. Ask for a USD proposal covering both rather than treating an exchange-rate conversion as a vendor quote.
Why the cheapest plan may not cover your desk
Start with a real job. Import several CVs, shortlist candidates, arrange interviews and record a placement. Then ask which plan you have just used. A demo can show a higher tier than the price you wrote down.
Manatal can be the better budget choice if your agency fits its Professional limits. Zoho Standard allows 100 active jobs, making it worth testing when that capacity matters; its agency comparison puts semantic search and two-way email sync on higher paid tiers. The cheaper seat still needs to support your actual working day.
Crelate illustrates a different constraint: its $85 Essentials plan stops at two users. A five-person team should evaluate Business at $119, or a higher plan if required. Its client portals can make it a better fit for agencies whose client collaboration needs go beyond sending CVs.
Recruit CRM deserves consideration when built-in calling and recording are requirements; its Pro page lists both. Recruiterflow can be the better choice when recruitment and sales automation are central to your process. Loxo Core is worth testing for its unlimited jobs and candidates, especially when database capacity drives your shortlist.
Bullhorn Core’s marketplace access may justify its higher price if your agency depends on those integrations. JobAdder can also be the stronger fit where its integration partners support an existing workflow. Vincere warrants attention for temp or contract operations needing timesheet management. A perm-focused agency and a staffing business with back-office requirements are buying different things.
Where does the real cost sit?
Feature tiers and usage allowances
Some costs appear when you need a higher plan; others depend on how much you use. Neither model is automatically unreasonable. The problem is discovering a charge after you have built everyday work around a feature.
For example, Recruit CRM lists 1,000 workflow tasks per user per month within Enterprise. Loxo Professional lists 2,500 credits per seat each month, pooled across the team. Ask what consumes an allowance, whether it expires, what happens at the limit and who can approve extra spending. An allowance is useful only if you can translate it into a normal month on your desk.
Setup and migration
Ask for an itemised implementation scope. Does it include importing attachments, testing relationships between records, training and correcting the first import? A spreadsheet upload and a checked migration of your working history are different jobs.
Do not assume every established vendor charges setup fees. Bullhorn advertises free implementation for Starter, Core and Pro. Loxo Core advertises free migration for teams of at least three seats, with guided self-service below that. Confirm the scope, rather than adding an invented setup charge to a comparison.
Renewals and seat changes
A monthly price describes a unit of cost. It does not establish a monthly contract. Vincere states a 12-month minimum and says customers remain committed to their annual spend even when reallocating it between licences and package usage.
Ask when a removed seat stops being billable, how additional seats are prorated and whether renewal pricing can change. Request the notice deadline in writing. Saving on the first invoice is less useful if your agency cannot reduce its commitment when headcount falls.
What would a five-person agency pay?
This example assumes five paid users for 12 months, unchanged headcount and no extras. It compares subscription arithmetic, not equal functionality or negotiated offers. Rates checked 24 September 2026.
| Plan and billing basis | Five users per month equivalent | 12-month subscription |
|---|---|---|
| Manatal Professional, annual | $75 | $900 |
| Zoho Recruit Standard, annual | $125 | $1,500 |
| Crumblelead, annual | $125 | $1,500 |
| Crumblelead, monthly | $150 | $1,800 |
| Bullhorn Starter, published rate | $495 | $5,940 |
| Crelate Business, published rate | $595 | $7,140 |
| Recruiterflow Platform, annual | $595 | $7,140 |
| Loxo Core, annual entry offer | $745 | $8,940 |
Bullhorn’s row annualises its published rate; it does not assume a cancellable monthly agreement. Recruit CRM is excluded from this calculation because its applicable USD rate needs confirmation. JobAdder and Vincere need USD proposals before a comparable total can be calculated.
Now test a hypothetical quote: five seats at $100 per month cost $6,000 a year. Add a $100 monthly agency module and a $1,000 setup charge, and year one becomes $8,200. Those are illustrative assumptions, not any vendor’s charges. They show why comparing $100 with another seat price can miss $2,200 of the decision.
For Crumblelead, five users cost $150 a month on monthly billing, or $1,500 for the year on annual billing. The annual saving is $300 across the team. Decide whether that saving is worth paying annually after you have tested the workflow.
Questions to ask before signing
Give every shortlisted vendor the same checklist and ask for written answers alongside the quote.
- Which plan covers the exact workflow demonstrated, and what is excluded?
- What is the total for five users, including implementation, migration and required modules?
- Which actions have allowances, and what are the overage rates and spending controls?
- What is the contract term, renewal notice deadline and rule for changing prices?
- When does removing a seat reduce the bill, and how are added seats prorated?
- What can we export, including files and history, and what would retrieval cost?
- What access remains after cancellation, and for how long?
The export question deserves an answer before you move in. Vincere says retrieval costs depend on the data requested and are discussed during cancellation. That makes a written scope and cost estimate useful before you commit.
Where Crumblelead fits
We built Crumblelead because recruitment is a people business. Our team has worked agency 360 desks, and we wanted one fast workspace linking candidates, clients, jobs and placements, with AI clearing admin while recruiters keep the judgement calls. It suits perm-focused independent and small-to-mid agencies; it is not built for large temp or contract firms needing timesheets, payroll or VMS integrations.
Our single plan is $30 per user per month, with no seat minimum, prorated seat changes and cancellation without a fee. Your $30 rate will not increase while you remain subscribed, and features included today will not be moved behind a paywall. Migration is free, and the 14-day trial includes the full desk without a card. After cancellation, your account remains readable for 30 days.
FAQ
What is the cheapest paid ATS in this comparison?
Manatal Professional has the lowest verified paid entry rate here: $15 per user per month billed annually, checked in September 2026. Its limits are 15 jobs per account and 10,000 candidates, so check capacity before choosing on price.
Does a per-month price mean I can cancel monthly?
No. Loxo Core presents a monthly equivalent with annual payment upfront, while Vincere specifies a minimum 12-month term. Ask separately about invoice frequency and contract duration.
Is annual billing better value?
It can lower the subscription cost if the product fits and your seat count stays stable. Compare the saving with the cash paid upfront and the terms for reducing seats or leaving.
How should we compare a custom quote with a published price?
Ask for the same seat count, required functions and 12-month scope from both vendors. Include setup, expected usage and exit costs, then test the work your recruiters will actually do.
Sources
All sources checked 24 September 2026. Vendor pages take priority; the Recruit CRM reviews are identified separately because a universal USD rate could not be confirmed.
Manatal. Pricing and Plans. checked 24 September 2026.
https://www.manatal.com/pricing
Zoho Recruit. Staffing Agency USD Plan Comparison. checked 24 September 2026.
Crelate. Pricing. checked 24 September 2026.
https://www.crelate.com/pricing
Recruit CRM. Pricing. checked 24 September 2026.
https://recruitcrm.io/pricing/
Ooligo. Recruit CRM review, September 2026. checked 24 September 2026.
https://www.ooligo.com/en/tools/recruit-crm/
RecruitCompare. Recruit CRM Review and Pricing 2026. checked 24 September 2026.
https://recruitcompare.io/tool/recruit-crm/
Bullhorn. Staffing Software Pricing for Small Agencies. checked 24 September 2026.
https://www.bullhorn.com/small-agency-software/pricing/
Recruiterflow. Pricing. checked 24 September 2026.
https://recruiterflow.com/pricing
Loxo. Pricing. checked 24 September 2026.
JobAdder. Pricing. checked 24 September 2026.
Vincere. Recruitment Software Prices. checked 24 September 2026.