A free applicant tracking system (ATS) is a human resources software application that acts as a database for job applicants, streamlining the hiring process by automating tasks, managing communication, and staying compliant, all at no cost to you. ATS platforms are used by companies of all sizes to organize, search for, and communicate with large groups of applicants.
Many of the best applicant tracking systems are geared toward large corporations that juggle hundreds of applicants, however, small businesses on a budget need fully featured, affordable ATS software as well. Below, I reviewed the top free ATS software so you can find the right one for your needs.
Top Free ATS comparison
| Name | Our rating (out of 5) | Starting price for paid plans | Candidate scoring | Resume parsing | Mobile app |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| monday work management | 4.58 | $9 per seat per month | Yes | No | Yes |
| Zoho Recruit | 4.30 | $25 per user per month | Yes | Yes* | Yes |
| Breezy HR | 3.80 | $157 per month | Yes** | Yes | Yes |
| Jobsoid | 3.48 | $49 per month | Yes | Yes* | Yes |
| Loxo | 3.30 | $119 per user per month | Yes | Yes* | Yes |
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*Zoho Recruit: Resume parsing only available in paid tiers; Jobsoid: Resume parsing available with Standard and Pro paid plans only; Loxo: Resume parsing only available with paid plans |
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monday work management: Best overall
Our rating: 4.58 out of 5
monday work management is a project management tool that helps improve cross-functional collaboration within one workspace. While it is not a traditional ATS, it can be set up to function exactly like an applicant tracking tool, allowing you to create workflows and hiring pipeline tracking.
By using the applicant tracking template, you can set up your board to track inbound applications through a form. This allows candidates to provide self-identifying information, upload their resumes, add skills, and choose the role they are applying for. From there, HR can rate each candidate and move them through the interviewing and hiring process.
Pricing
monday work management offers a forever free plan available for up to two seats, which is perfect for individuals that need to keep track of their work. Although its paid tiers are priced per seat, it has one of the lowest monthly pricing than any other on our list.
- Free: Free forever.
- Basic: $9 per seat per month.
- Standard: $12 per seat per month.
- Pro: $19 per seat per month.
monday work management pros and cons
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Why I chose monday work management
monday work management is best overall due to the large array of templates available for managing candidates and moving them through the hiring pipeline. I especially like how easy it is to see where each candidate is in the hiring process and update them accordingly.
In addition, monday work management is affordable, even with its paid plans. Plus, as you migrate candidates from interviewing to hired, you can use its boards to tailor onboarding, track time, and manage projects. This makes it ideal for overall work management beyond just hiring.
Zoho Recruit: Best for customization
Our rating: 4.30 out of 5
Zoho Recruit is an online applicant tracking system that helps you manage every aspect of your recruitment process. It allows you to create job requisitions, post jobs on multiple channels, parse resumes, track candidates, schedule interviews, send emails, and generate reports.
This platform is also highly customizable, allowing you to categorize and track various aspects of your recruitment process. Zoho Recruit offers more than ten predefined modules that come with a set of default fields and layouts. Plus, you can publish job openings on your career site directly through Zoho Recruit.
Pricing
Zoho Recruit offers a free forever plan. However, it only comes with one seat and limited candidate management. To get the full applicant tracking experience, you are required to upgrade to one of its paid tiers, which are pricier than most on our list. Zoho Recruit does offer a 14-day free trial to test out its product and a 45-day money-back guarantee.
- Free: Free forever.
- Standard: $25 per user per month (annual billing).
- Professional: $50 per user per month (annual billing).
- Enterprise: $75 per user per month (annual billing).
Zoho Recruit pros and cons
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Why I chose Zoho Recruit
Zoho Recruit is customizable across its entire platform, allowing users to tailor workflows and create templates. It scored well in my assessment for its ability to sort and filter candidates and candidate scoring within its free plan.
Another thing I like best about Zoho Recruit is the availability of a career site within its dashboard. This allows you to post open positions through your company website and populate candidates directly into your Zoho Recruit dashboard. However, this service is not available in the free version, so you will have to upgrade to a paid plan in order to access this feature.
Breezy HR: Best for automated workflows
Our rating: 3.80 out of 5
Breezy HR is a modern hiring and applicant tracking system that helps you attract, interview, and hire talent. It has a free Bootstrap plan that supports up to one active job and one user. The free plan also includes unlimited candidates, multiple languages, customer support, a drag-and-drop interface, a video interviewing feature, and a Chrome extension.
With Breezy’s Stage Actions, you can automate everything from questionnaires, messages, and assessments to scheduling interviews and logging team feedback. Plus, Breezy can automatically advance or disqualify candidates based on prescreening questions.
Pricing
Breezy’s Bootstrap plan is free forever and allows unlimited users, unlike the others in our list, which are limited to one or two seats with their free plans. Its paid plans also include unlimited users and a discounted price when paid annually. Plus, you can try any paid plan for free for 14 days.
- Bootstrap: Free forever.
- Startup: $157 per month (annual billing).
- Growth: $273 per month (annual billing).
- Business: $439 per month (annual billing).
Breezy HR pros and cons
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Why I chose Breezy HR
What I particularly like about Breezy HR is how easy it is to integrate with HR software systems, including BambooHR, ADP Workforce Now, and Paylocity, so you can easily move new hires into your HR system of choice. Breezy HR’s free plan is free forever, as long as you don’t exceed the limits of one active job and one user, similar to Loxo and Jobsoid.
Breezy HR made this list because it integrates well with popular communication tools, like LinkedIn and Slack, and its automated workflows save your recruiting team valuable time when reviewing candidates.
Learn more: Breezy HR overview.
Jobsoid: Best for candidate management
Our rating: 3.48 out of 5
Jobsoid is an applicant tracking solution that lets you source, engage, and recruit the best people. It gives you an overview of your recruiting performance using dashboards and intelligent reports. In addition, you can engage candidates with personalized emails and text and improve candidate experience with timely updates.
Jobsoid’s candidate management allows you to communicate with candidates on a centralized platform, track applicant progress through a custom recruitment platform, collaborate with candidates and assign tasks, and send automated messages. Plus, you can shortlist best-fit candidates with Jobsoid’s Smart Filter.
Pricing
Jobsoid has a free forever plan, however, it is limited to one job posting and one user. This may be all that is needed for startups, but for small or growing companies, an upgrade to a paid plan will allow more job postings and unlimited users. You can upgrade or downgrade your plan as your needs change at any time. Plus, Jobsoid offers a free 14-day trial on all its paid plans.
- Beginner: Free forever.
- Lite: $49 per month (annual billing).
- Standard: $99 per month (annual billing).
- Pro: $249 per month (annual billing).
Jobsoid pros and cons
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Why I chose Jobsoid
I chose Jobsoid for this list because, although it is limited to only one job post and one user, its free plan gives you access to everything you need to move candidates through your hiring pipeline. Plus, upgrading to a paid plan is affordable and provides additional benefits, like resume parsing and reporting.
I particularly like that a Chrome plug-in can help you source leads from LinkedIn and import them into your database for easy candidate management. This feature is available with Jobsoid’s free plan, unlike Breezy HR, where you must upgrade to its paid plans to source candidates.
Loxo: Best for ATS features
Our rating: 3.30 out of 5
Loxo is an easy-to-use ATS, where you can create new candidates or import existing ones from a CSV file. Once candidates are added you have the option to review, shortlist your top choices, send emails, schedule, interview, and provide an offer. You can also move candidates to rejected or hired folders for future review.
Pricing
Loxo’s free forever plan is one of the best on our list in terms of features available, offering an applicant tracking system, recruiting CRM, Loxo Boost feature, up to 5 seats, unlimited jobs/projects, and a client portal. For even more features, including an onboarding specialist, resume parsing, and priority support, you can upgrade to one of its paid plans. Plus, it offers a free 7-day trial.
- Free: Free forever.
- Starter: $119 per user per month (basic plan); $169 per user per month (essentials plan)
- Professional: Contact sales.
- Enterprise: Contact sales.
Loxo pros and cons
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Why I chose Loxo
Although a fairly simple ATS, I added Loxo to this shortlist because of how inclusive the free plan is. You can handle all aspects of the recruiting and hiring process directly through the app, all for free. However, if you want Loxo to provide a list of potential candidates, you’ll need to upgrade to its paid plan.
Plus, its simplicity is good for first-time recruiters because it is easy to navigate. When you’re ready, you can also upgrade to Loxo’s Talent Intelligence Platform, where you will have access to its full candidate relationship management tools.
Free ATS FAQs
Is there a free applicant tracking system?
Yes, there are plenty of free applicant tracking systems. Some, like Recruit CRM, have fully functional free plans that support up to 50 candidates. Others, like Ceipal ATS, offer fully featured free trials that let prospective customers test their software before committing to a paid plan.
What is a free ATS?
Free applicant tracking systems allow small and midsize businesses to post jobs, track resumes, search for new hires, and reach out to potential candidates at no cost. Sometimes, however, its capabilities and features are limited, so be sure when choosing a free ATS that it offers everything your business needs.
Should I use a free or paid ATS?
That depends on the features needed. A free ATS is perfect for a small budget. However, what you can accomplish is generally limited. A paid ATS, on the other hand, will come with a higher price tag but offers full access to all features and may allow for more or unlimited users.
Methodology
To determine the best applicant tracking software for this list, I looked at ATS software that was completely free to use and then evaluated each based on scores from third-party users, pricing on their paid tiers, support available, interface, and candidate sourcing and management features. I then rated each based on my expert experience and opinion of the software and its alignment with small businesses.
I evaluated seven of the top applicant tracking software systems and narrowed it down to the best five using the following criteria:
- User scores: To achieve scoring in this category, I looked at what users said about the product. I reviewed sites like G2, Capterra, and TrustRadius to compile a holistic view of the software. Those with more than 100 reviews and a score greater than 4 out of 5 (8 out of 10 on TrustRadius) received the highest marks.
- Pricing: First and foremost, I looked for software that was free to use. Beyond that, I evaluated and scored each based on its starting price and the availability of features in each pricing tier.
- Support: When you are having technical issues or need questions answered about software, having fast, reliable support is important. For this category, those that offered phone support, in addition to live chat and email support, received the highest scores.
- Platform and Interface: I evaluated each platform for how easy each was to navigate, if they offered top-rated security and compliance, and if they allowed access to third-party integrations.
- Candidate sourcing and management: Most free ATS will lack the kind of automation, hiring pipelines, and collaboration elements that are typical of paid ATS. I evaluated and scored each software based on whether they have a simple, centralized place to source, collect, and track candidate applications.
