Hunting down the perfect candidate is no walk in the park, especially when you’re a small business juggling a million tasks with limited resources. In this recruiting chaos, one bad hire can make your wallet cry like a Shakespearean tragedy. Luckily, there’s a solution that won’t break the bank: free recruitment software.
Compare Top Recruiting Software Leaders
If your primary goal is unearthing top talent while being mindful of your budget, you’re in the right place. This list includes our top five picks for the best free solutions and what you can expect from them. Let’s dive in!
Article Roadmap
- Free Recruitment Software Comparison
- Best Free Recruitment Software
- Key Considerations
- When To Use Free Solutions
- FAQs
- Next Steps
Free Recruitment Software Comparison
| App | Applicant Tracking | Pre-Screening | Hiring Workflows | Branded Career Site | Interview Management | Email Management | Mobile Recruiting | Customer Support |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zoho Recruit | ||||||||
| Breezy HR | ||||||||
| SmartStart | ||||||||
| Freshteam | ||||||||
| Recooty |
Best Free Recruitment Software
Recruitment software is a significant investment. Free solutions are a solid choice if your company isn’t quite ready to invest but needs a solution.
Our research team identified the best free solutions available in the market. But before we delve into the specifics, let’s highlight some commonalities across these vendors:
Our research team did the legwork and identified the top five solutions in the market. But before we reveal our picks, let’s talk about what they all have in common:
- All platforms offer cloud-based solutions.
- They all have basic features and easy-to-use interfaces.
- If you need more advanced features, expect to pay a fee.
- They also offer premium plans with extra features, which can be handy as your company grows.
With these points in mind, here are our analyst-certified top picks:
Compare Top Recruiting Software Leaders
Zoho Recruit
Zoho Recruit is a cloud-based recruiting system. It does everything from putting up job ads to screening candidates to onboarding new hires. Plus, it works in 24 languages, like English, Portuguese, and Chinese, so people all over the world can use it.
The paid plans include features like recruitment CRM, making this system a popular choice for many recruiters and staffing agencies. The free plan is a great temporary solution until you’re ready to invest more.
Free Plan Inclusions: The free plan allows for one active job posting at a time and offers 256MB of storage.
Full-Feature Trial: The system offers a 15-day free trial and a 45-day money-back guarantee.
What We Love: Zoho Recruit’s AI-powered candidate matching feature stands out by automatically suggesting the best-fit candidates.
Creating a job opening with Zoho Recruit. Source
Top Benefits
- Automate Tasks: Set auto-response rules for various hiring stages and candidate touchpoints. Let the system handle routine candidate communication, freeing up your team for more important tasks.
- Make Informed Hiring Decisions: Keep hiring managers and clients in the loop by sharing candidate profiles for review. Get feedback from everyone involved to make smarter hiring choices.
- Enhance Communication: Send interview invites and follow-up emails quickly. Save up to five email templates instead of creating emails from scratch each time.
- Improve System Extensibility: Show off your company’s brand by connecting the platform with career website pages. Integrate the platform with automation tools like Zapier to streamline workflows.
- Hire From Anywhere: Access and share candidate profiles, interview schedules, job openings and resources on your preferred mobile device with the native mobile app.
Primary Features
- Branded Career Sites: Display job openings on customizable career pages. Optimize career pages to convey company values and open roles so potential hires scan and apply for the available positions.
- Web Forms: Make it easy for candidates to submit their info by creating web forms. Use JavaScript and iFrame to add links that lead straight to these forms. Assign specific users to handle the forms and set auto-responses for a smooth hiring process.
- Job Boards: Connect with popular job boards like ZipRecruiter, Glassdoor and Jooble. Keep your job postings current by syncing them across platforms.
- Colored Tags: Organize candidate details and documents using customizable colored tags. Use these labels to filter databases and find specific information quickly. The free plan offers 50 customizable tags.
- Search Bar: Leverage an integrated search bar to locate specific candidates, clients, job openings and associated records.
Free Version Limitations
- Doesn’t include candidate sourcing tools.
- Resume extraction from emails isn’t included.
- Reporting and customization capabilities are not available.
- Doesn’t support Boolean keyword and semantic searches.
Platform:
Company Size Suitability: S M L
Breezy HR
Breezy HR, another big name in recruiting software, offers a free version of their system, ideal for small and medium businesses across industries. Popular functions in the free plan, Bootstrap, include resume parsing, sourcing extension, self-scheduling interviews, branded career sites, GDPR compliance and automation.
Free Plan Inclusions: With the free plan, you can handle one open position with one active candidate pool. It gives unlimited user access to candidates added in the last 30 days.
Full-Feature Trial: Breezy HR offers a 14-day free trial for all their paid subscription plans, with no credit card required. Plus, with annual subscriptions, you get the first two months free.
What We Love: Breezy HR’s user-friendly interface and customizable hiring pipelines support teams of any size looking for a personalized recruitment experience.
Breezy HR’s candidate pipeline.
Top Benefits
- Streamline Job Postings: Say goodbye to tedious admin work by letting the system automatically post approved open jobs across free job boards like CareerJet and Glassdoor.
- Gain Unlimited Access: Tap into databases as often as you want with unlimited and free access to resources. Upgrade to a paid version for candidate records older than 30 days.
- Improve Hiring: Keep track of your thoughts on candidates throughout the hiring journey with the notes feature. Discover what sets candidates apart and use that information to make smart hiring decisions.
- Implement Bias-Free Practices: Ensure that candidate disqualifications are always fair based on present custom rejection reasons. Automatically assign rejection reasons when candidates don’t make the cut.
- Adhere to Global Compliance: Follow GDPR rules for handling sensitive data. Keep candidate information safe by getting consent and managing access rights. Rely on the system to automatically delete data when consent expires and send privacy notices.
Primary Features
- Branded Career Sites: Let interested talent check opportunities on branded career pages. Place company values at the heart of job listings, incorporate referral links, and use JavaScript and CSS to style pages.
- Candidate Pools: Keep track of applicants by sorting them into talent pools. Create shortlists for one job at a time and quickly access candidate details and documents.
- Applicant List: Easily review and manage active candidates in one place. Track active applicants in a collapsible list view and move them through the stages with set permissions.
- Resume Parsing Tool: Save time by automatically transferring vital candidate details from resumes into the system. Parse resumes in over 20 languages and uses keywords to reduce search time.
- Candidate Profiles: Create standardized profiles every time a candidate enters the pipeline. Organize information into three main sections: candidate details, expertise and hiring team actions.
Free Version Limitations
- Background screening integrations aren’t available.
- Doesn’t include candidate questionnaires.
- No support for email and calendar integration.
- Doesn’t offer configurable automation for candidate pipeline stages.
Platform:
Company Size Suitability: S M L
SmartStart
SmartStart, the free version of SmartRecruiters, offers cloud-based recruiting solutions for small and growing organizations. Its mobile-responsive forms improve candidate experiences and incorporate social distribution into talent sourcing.
Other key features in the free plan include a one-click application button, a user-friendly recruiter dashboard and an at-a-glance analytics platform.
Free Plan Inclusions: The free plan allows unlimited users and adds unlimited candidates for up to ten active jobs at a time.
Full-Feature Trial: A free trial is available. Contact this vendor’s sales team for more information.
What We Love: SmartStart’s extensive job board network includes a free job posting platform, letting you reach top talent without breaking the bank.
Interview management feature in SmartRecruiters.
Top Benefits
- Enhance Talent Sourcing: Encourage employees to tap into their networks and recommend people they know for open roles. Create employee referral programs and provide relevant rewards for successful hires.
- Expand Your Reach: Level up your recruitment strategy by seamlessly integrating with Facebook. Share job openings across social media platforms, reaching candidates who actively follow your company’s career updates online.
- Make Fair Comparisons: Find the best fit using confident evaluations and preset grading criteria. Use auto-generated comparison cards to compare candidates easily.
- Expedite Communication: Keep candidates engaged with quick email replies and customizable auto-responses. Answer common queries, clear up doubts and share vital updates at every stage.
- Hire on the Go: Connect with your team and candidates from anywhere. Use the mobile app on your preferred device to track the hiring process, access shared resources, review applicants and approve shortlists.
Primary Features
- Career Website Management: Create branded career pages embedded with company videos and employee testimonials. Convey your brand, company culture and values to attract suitable candidates.
- Job Post Campaigns: Develop and publish job ad campaigns for ten active roles across 200 job boards. Access popular career sites and post job opportunities in bulk.
- Applicant Tracking: Monitor candidates through various hiring stages and set auto-responses to share updates at vital touchpoints. View all candidate pipelines in a single place with a collapsible view.
- Collaboration Tools: Keep everyone on the same page with the note-taking and feedback-sharing feature. Guide interviews with access to saved notes, records and scorecards. Share results with teammates for collaborative hiring.
- Interview Management: Schedule interviews, assign hiring managers and send invites to candidates. Avoid scheduling conflicts by adding time slots on a shared calendar.
Free Version Limitations
- Lacks calendar integration.
- Doesn’t provide built-in job or offer templates.
- Limited analytics and data visualization tools compared to the paid tiers.
Platform:
Company Size Suitability: S M L
Freshteam
Freshteam by Freshworks is a cloud-based recruiting platform. The system’s free Sprout plan offers basic career sites, automatic email deployment settings and employee referrals. Along with free recruitment tools, access freemium features like employee directories, time-off management tools and organizational charts.
All Freshteam plans include 24/7 email and phone support throughout the week.
Free Plan Inclusions: The free plan supports up to 50 users and lets you post three jobs at a time.
Full-Feature Trial: Access a 21-day free trial of their premium plans with no credit card information required.
What We Love: Freshteam’s simple interface makes it an excellent choice for those looking for an easy-to-adopt system.
Freshteam’s interview scheduling feature lets you send email invites and reminders to candidates. Source
Top Benefits
- Use Interview Scorecards: Make confident hiring decisions with standardized scorecards. Assess each candidate’s key aspects, strengths and weaknesses.
- Optimize Communications: Use automatic emails to answer common queries and doubts. Set action triggers to roll out emails with the right information, freeing your recruiting team to handle pressing tasks.
- Manage Leaves Effectively: Manage time-off with access to two time-off types. Set a single work week and save employee accruals with the time-off dashboard. Allow employees to view accrued leaves via the web and mobile app.
- Stay Connected: Stay in the loop wherever you are. Track candidate pipelines, receive alerts on upcoming interviews and view pending tasks in the mobile app. Facilitate employee collaboration, leave requests and updates on mobile devices.
- Improve Productivity: Simplify workflows with the My Dashboard feature, letting team members review responsibilities and pending tasks. Track recruiting pipelines, time-off requests and interview schedules all in one place.
Primary Features
- Career Site: Let potential hires search and apply for open roles. Display up to three active jobs with minimum customizations.
- Employee Referrals Management: Encourage existing talent to tap into social circles to recommend candidates. Let employees broadcast job openings on social channels and forward collected resumes by email to fast-track referred applicants.
- Configurable Workflows: Streamline candidate journeys by setting default stages, substages, interview rounds, and skill requirements for different roles and seniority levels. Preview and edit stages before saving customized paths.
- Team Inbox: Leverage a central communications hub to share resources, collaborate with teammates and view past conversations. Automatically sync changes, chats and messages into the applicant tracking system (ATS) and record email exchanges.
- Email Scheduling: Send timely responses and updates to candidates and clients by pre-scheduling emails.
Free Version Limitations
- Doesn’t support multi-channel job management.
- Free tier doesn’t provide employee self-service.
- Lacks job board integration options.
- Resume parsing is not available.
Platform:
Company Size Suitability: S M L
Recooty
Recooty is a standalone cloud-based recruiting platform offering job widget integration, a branded career page and applicant tracking tools. Even if you choose not to upgrade to a paid system, they automatically downgrade you to their basic, free plan. Recooty also includes social distribution channels in talent sourcing capabilities.
Free Plan Inclusions: The system allows one user to manage one vacant role simultaneously.
Full-Feature Trial: Recooty offers a no-obligation 14-day free trial of all paid subscription plans.
What We Love: Recooty’s robust reporting and analytics capabilities offer data-driven insights even in its free version, empowering you to make intelligent recruitment decisions effortlessly.
Recooty’s job posting feature lets you add and edit key details in job listings. Source
Top Benefits
- Improve Efficiency: Reduce the hassle of switching between apps to pull information, view open roles and track candidates. Get all the right information with integrated job widgets that automatically display job listings.
- Boost Job Visibility: Reach candidates where they hang out most — on social media. Share jobs directly across 40 social platforms to give your jobs the spotlight they deserve.
- Accept Unlimited Applications: Process unlimited candidates for each role to create rich talent pools and find the perfect match.
- Enable Collaborative Hiring: Kick subjective bias to the curb. Foster team collaboration and collective hiring decisions. Let your hiring teams and managers work together to ensure the best picks.
- Improve Internal Communication: Integrate with Slack so your employees and hiring managers can share notes and messages on familiar channels. Stay in the loop with auto-alerts and notifications to track changes in the hiring pipeline.
Primary Features
- Customizable Career Pages: Use extensive no-code development options to create branded SEO-friendly career pages. Add your company logo, select UI styles, and choose from various fonts and colors that best reflect your employer brand.
- Interview Management: Decide interview times, dates, and logistics and discuss interview scores with teammates. Allow candidates to approve interview time slots from the online portal.
- Job Boards Management: Broadcast job openings across various job boards through third-party integrations. Track applications and identify high-traffic candidate sources.
- Email Management: Auto-send suitable emails at different hiring stages. Leverage pre-built email templates for different communication purposes and integrate with email services like Outlook, Yahoo and Gmail to streamline candidate engagement.
- Talent Pools: Organize and store past and present applications into directories and access databases when required. Locate specific candidates based on referrals, open positions and talent source filters.
Free Version Limitations
- Can’t import candidate data in bulk.
- Lacks resume parsing and interview scheduling features.
- Managing multiple job locations isn’t available.
- Doesn’t include API support.
Platform:
Company Size Suitability: S M L
Key Considerations
Opting for a free recruitment plan is a sensible choice that won’t strain your budget. Still, it’s crucial to carefully evaluate if a system aligns with your unique HR requirements and to have a contingency plan in case a free solution falls short.
Keep these considerations in mind when selecting a free solution:
- Scalability: Prioritize vendors that evolve with your company’s growth. Find software that quickly adapts as your recruitment needs change, preventing roadblocks as your company expands.
- Vendor Support: Even with free software, reliable customer support is a must. Although certain vendors reserve 24/7 support for paid users, ensure the chosen system offers adequate support, even for free users.
- Hidden Costs: While the software itself may be free, there can be additional expenses related to data storage, integrations, or advanced features. Carefully examine the pricing and terms to identify any additional expenses.
- Integrations: Check whether the free recruitment system competes with your existing HR software and tools. Choose a system that works well with other software like applicant tracking systems (ATS), recruitment CRM and communication tools to keep your recruitment process running smoothly.
- User Experience: Usually, most vendors offer a basic version of their platform. Make sure this stripped-down version is user-friendly and easy to navigate. Your team should be able to jump right in and make the most of the software.
- Data Ownership: Clear data ownership policies are a big deal when implementing software. Ensure that your organization retains control over your recruitment data and that the vendor can’t claim ownership over your confidential information.
When To Use Free Solutions
While free software has its limitations, there are scenarios where it’s a safe choice:
- You don’t anticipate high-volume usage or heavy system reliance.
- You’re a small/growing business with limited resources.
- You need a short-term solution or a quick pivot to online recruiting platforms.
- Your recruitment needs are relatively straightforward.
- You want to test software effectiveness before investing in advanced features or a paid plan.
Gathering your requirements is the best way to determine what you need in a recruitment system. Understanding your company-specific needs will help you determine if free recruiting tools fit.
Consider using our free software requirements template to determine your software requirements. Once you have that information, begin shortlisting and comparing vendors to ultimately find the ideal solution.
FAQs
Here are answers to some common questions about free recruiting software to help you decide if it’s the right choice for your business:
1. What are the limitations of free recruitment systems?
Free solutions are usually temporary. Vendors that offer free trials and versions do so to give you a sneak peek of what’s available. Expect barebone versions of functions in free versions.
Expect restrictions on the following:
- Number of users
- Active job posts and campaigns
- Candidate pool depth
- Storage space
- Database access beyond a certain period
- Third-party integration options
Safe to say, free tiers are less suitable for larger organizations with complex talent requirements.
2. How do free plans compare to paid plans?
The main difference between free and paid plans, apart from the depth of features, is the customization options offered. While feature sets vary from vendor to vendor, free plans provide the same basic functions for all businesses. In contrast, paid plans provide essential functions and more.
Premium plans include extensive integration options, advanced analytics, interactive data visualizations and AI-based candidate matching tools adjusted to workforce sizes and industry-specific needs.
3. Can free recruiting systems integrate with other HR tools?
Integration options depend on the provider. Some free recruitment systems can connect with existing HR systems and related tools like payroll systems and time management tools. Certain third-party integrations may require a paid upgrade.
4. How secure is employee and candidate data in free recruitment software?
User and database security varies based on vendors’ built-in data protection practices. Certain systems adhere to global compliance standards, while others don’t offer robust data management tools.
Choosing a reputable vendor that takes data security seriously is essential. When selecting a provider, ask them about the state of data encryptions, data backups, permission settings and access controls. Prioritize solutions that follow GDPR and CCPA guidelines.
5. What customer support services are available in free tiers?
Customer support, ticket systems and query resolution are typically minimal or slow compared to paid services. Some systems provide support options via live chat or email. However, common options include self-help resources like documentation, FAQs, training articles and videos.
Next Steps
Now that you have our list of the top free tools, it’s time to put it to work in your software selection journey. Your specific software needs are your North Star guiding you to free recruiting software that matches your organization.
Consider using our free comparison report to see how different options stack against your company’s requirements and make an informed decision.
Did we miss any systems that belong on this list? Do you use a free system that you think is extraordinary? Let us know by leaving a comment below!
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