The Best Applicant Tracking Systems List
Here’s my shortlist of the best applicant tracking software I’ll cover in this article, with summaries of each tool below:
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PinpointBest applicant tracking system for in-house talent acquisition and people teams
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monday.comBest applicant tracking system for customized workflows
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ClearCompanyBest applicant tracking system for ease of use
- Trakstar
Best applicant tracking system for collaborative hiring tools
- Tracker
Best applicant tracking system for recruitment and staffing firms
- Recruit CRM
Best hybrid applicant tracking system + CRM solution
- PCRecruiter
Best applicant tracking system for detailed recruitment analytics
- Eddy
Best applicant tracking system for small, local businesses
- Manatal
Best ATS platform for social media recruitment & AI tools
- Zoho Recruit
Best applicant tracking system for staffing agencies
Applicant tracking systems are a necessity for anyone tasked with managing candidate information. This is true whether you're part of an in-house talent acquisition team or working for a recruiting agency.
Applicant tracking systems (ATS) help you organize all aspects of your recruiting process. They help you source candidates, compare their skill sets side-by-side, and advance them through the hiring process. The fact that 98.9% of Fortune 500 companies use an ATS is also a strong indication of just how important these software systems are.
As an HR professional, I've spent a lot of time comparing candidate details to job descriptions to determine a good fit. I've also scheduled countless interviews and completed my fair share of reference checks. These are all very time-consuming tasks. That's why I know firsthand how helpful an ATS can be when you're searching for the right candidate.
For this article, I've prepared a list of the best applicant tracking systems on the market today. My goal is to help you find the best ATS tool to maximize your recruiting process and save your team time.
Jump to Overviews of the 10 Best Applicant Tracking Systems below.
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How I Picked the Best Applicant Tracking Systems
Curious how I selected the best applicant tracking software for this list? To develop my shortlist, I evaluated and compared the details for many popular applicant tracking systems. I then used my selection criteria below to see how each platform stood up to the next one.
To further hone my list, I also put myself back into my old recruiting shoes. This helped me recall all the key features I found useful back when I was dealing with large volumes of candidate applications myself.
If you have general questions about applicant tracking systems and how they work, pop down to my People Also Ask section below. Or, if you're ready to dive right in, you can skip directly to my detailed software summaries instead.
Selection Criteria
Here's a short summary of the main selection criteria I used to develop my list of the best applicant tracking systems:
A Solid UI and UX
When you're in a never-ending loop of hiring candidates, you don't have time to mess around with software that feels awkward to use. Instead, you need a system with a clear and easy-to-navigate user interface (UI) that organizes each step of the recruitment process for you. Helpful UI features include visual recruiting pipelines, colour-coding or visual status flags. These simple features make it easy to digest your information at a glance, without needing to open each record to see the status.
These types of features also go a long way to creating a good user experience (UX). You want your day-to-day interaction with the software to be positive, rather than facing endless frustration every time you use it. This is why the choices in my list below all have high scores for usability. They offer simple interfaces without endless clicking or scrolling to access the features you need.
Workflow Automation and Notifications
Many aspects of tracking and screening candidates are tedious. That's why workflow automations are so valuable when you're up to your eyeballs in applicants and struggling to keep up. Common automations include tools to send out interview reminders, or follow up on reference checks. The best systems also include tools to send out personalized thank you or rejection emails in batches, saving you a lot of time.
Mobile App Accessibility
This is an important feature to consider, especially if you're working in an industry where your candidates are deskless or often mobile. The best applicant tracking systems are fully accessible from mobile devices. They should also include the ability to communicate with candidates via text message right from within the platform. This helps to elicit faster candidate responses, while also allowing your recruiters to stay on top of updates in real-time from anywhere.
Direct Links to Job Posting Sites
This is another helpful feature that saves recruiters a lot of time. By integrating with these platforms, you can publish your vacant posting once, and distribute it across a network of job boards instantly.
Software Integrations
The best ATS software should also integrate with popular email providers and digital calendars. This helps to improve productivity and transparency for team-based hiring. Bonus points for any systems that integrate with human resources information systems (HRIS) too.
Price
I always prefer software with transparent pricing models. I want to clearly see which features I'll receive at each price level, and which I won't. Also, free trials are valuable, as they'll give you a first-hand look at how the software would work for your specific business context. I've selected the software below with this in mind.
Overviews of the 10 Best Applicant Tracking Systems
Here’s a brief description of each ATS tracking tool, including their noteworthy features, pros and cons, screenshots, and pricing details.
Pinpoint
Best applicant tracking system for in-house talent acquisition and people teams
Pinpoint's ATS software is designed for internal talent acquisition and people teams rather than recruitment agencies.
Why I picked Pinpoint: Pinpoint is extremely powerful yet easy-to-use with an intuitive design and user experience. Recruiters and hiring managers can be onboarded and get up and running quickly, and additional support from the customer success team is available.
Pinpoint has core ATS and talent CRM features such as job board multiposting and social media advertising, unlimited customizable workflows, automation, interview scheduling, and employee onboarding. Data protection and security features include single sign on, two factor authentication, and tools to help manage compliance with local regulations like the GDPR/CCPA.
Pinpoint Standout Features & Integrations:
Features include a custom careers website, blind screening to help reduce unconscious bias, candidate scorecards for gathering fast and objective hiring manager feedback, and a suite of reporting tools that includes a custom report builder.
Pinpoint integrates natively with hundreds of other platforms, as well as a Zapier integration that enables integration with over 3,000 other tools.
Pinpoint Plans & Pricing:
Plans start at $600 per month when paid annually. They offer personalized demos, as well as an on-demand demo video.
Pros
- Powerful automation and careful design for ease-of-use
- Focus on employer brand and candidate experience
- Exceptional customer success and support
Cons
- Some features only available in the Enterprise tier
- Not suitable for most recruitment agencies due to lack of client management features
monday.com
Best applicant tracking system for customized workflows
monday.com is a flexible work operating system that allows you to create visual dashboards that offer a birds-eye-view of any process or workflow you wish to track. While it's not a purpose-built applicant tracking system, it has all the features needed to be successfully used for tracking candidates as they move through your recruiting process.
Why I picked monday.com: On monday.com, HR managers can use the embedded forms to capture applicant information and centralize it on one high-level overview, so it’s easy to see where every candidate stands in the hiring process at any given time. It’s easy to build a customized form directly on monday.com. When someone submits the form, all of their answers are automatically logged and sorted on one platform.
monday.com Standout Features & Integrations:
Features include no-code automations that make it possible for hiring managers to simplify manual tasks. Whether it’s communicating with applicants, emailing team members about updates, or reminding everyone of upcoming deadlines, no-code automations make sure that information never falls through the cracks. When you have notes or comments on an applicant, simply write them on the in-app section of the platform. So, all relevant information is easily accessible. Other features include templates, timeline charts, and calendar views, plus data visualization and task management tools.
monday.com integrates natively with DocuSign, G-suite, LinkedIn, Microsoft Teams, PandaDoc, Slack, Zoom, and dozens of other tools through third-party integrations or by connecting a paid Zapier account.
monday.com Plans & Pricing:
monday.com is free to use for up to 2 users. Paid plans start at $11/user/month and come with a 14-day free trial. Keep in mind that the no-code automations kick in at their standard plan ($14/user/month) and above. This is one of their most popular plans, most likely for this reason. HR teams looking for full ATS functionality will want to start here (skip the freemium).
Pros
- Pre-made fully customizable templates
- Scalable workflows
- Enterprise-grade security, including HIPAA certification
Cons
- Too robust for companies under 10 people
- No built-in payroll
- Dedicated success manager only for enterprise package
ClearCompany
Best applicant tracking system for ease of use
ClearCompany is an easy-to-use applicant tracking system (ATS) that has empowered thousands of companies to attract, screen, and hire better talent. You'll also unlock tools to engage your team and use strategic insights to keep recruiting competitive.
Why I picked ClearCompany: I chose ClearCompany because their software offers more than just recruiting tools. They also offer additional modules for related processes like employee onboarding, as well as modules for Workforce Planning & Analytics, Performance Management, and Employee Engagement, making them a very well-rounded piece of HR software.
ClearCompany is best for companies based in the U.S. and Canada.
ClearCompany Standout Features & Integrations:
Features include candidate sourcing, automated screening, grading, text and video interview scheduling, EEO/OFCCP compliance reporting, and more.
Integrations are available natively with 100+ programs for assessment tests, background checks, calendars, job postings, payroll and benefits, and SSO.
ClearCompany Plans & Pricing:
Pricing details for ClearCompany are available upon request. You can also request a free demo.
Pros
- Automatic candidate screening and grading saves lots of time
- Recruiting tools link to other modules to support easy employee onboarding
- Lots of integrations to help with skill testing
Cons
- No free trial available
- Information on plan features and prices is not readily available
Trakstar
Best applicant tracking system for collaborative hiring tools
Trakstar Hire, formerly RecruiterBox, is one of the main products of Trakstar, which also includes Perform, Learn, and Trakstar Insights. It is a comprehensive HR hiring software with an applicant tracking system tailored to small and midsize businesses. Trakstar Hire is a best-of-breed solution that is purpose-built for streamlining timelines, improving candidate experiences, and identifying top talent.
Why I picked Trakstar: Their ATS solution allows HR teams to create and publish multiple job posts on different social media platforms, job boards, and talent recruitment services. They also have the option to sponsor their listings to maximize visibility and receive applicant CVs through customizable application forms. Their bulk upload feature gives the ATS more scalability, allowing users to import multiple résumés simultaneously. Once the résumés are imported, the platform’s résumé parser automatically extracts all the candidates’ vital information to create their profiles.
Trakstar Standout Features & Integrations:
Features include interview scheduling tools with a shared calendar, plus Outlook and Google calendar integrations, automated responses, email templates, and reminders to make team collaboration that much easier. Career site management tools are also available with Trakstar Hire, along with candidate sourcing, offer management, and the core recruiting ATS.
Trakstar Hire’s recruiting workflows can be easily customized to reflect the various stages of the organization’s hiring process from end-to-end. Recruiting specialists can use the software to view workflows and keep track of the status of the top job applicants as they progress through the recruitment process. Recruiters can also collaborate with other members of the team by sharing candidate profiles, interview schedules, and other tasks, all without ever leaving the platform.
Integrations include ADP Workforce Now, BambooHR, Checkr, Google Workspace, Intuit Quickbooks, Namely, Office265, PandaDoc, Slack, and Zoom.
Trakstar Plans & Pricing:
Pricing details are available only upon request. Contact the vendor directly for a price quote or a free demo.
Pros
- Integrates with other Trakstar modules for easy onboarding workflows
- Strong team collaboration features
- Résumé parser supports high volume recruiting
Cons
- Small list of pre-built integrations
- Pricing details and plan features are not transparent
Tracker
Best applicant tracking system for recruitment and staffing firms
Tracker is a recruitment and staffing software that acts as a combined ATS and CRM (candidate and/or client relationship management) system. The tool is designed to help staffing and recruiting firms manage and optimize their candidate, client, marketing, and operational processes.
Why I picked Tracker: I selected Tracker because of their unique features and their dual purpose as an ATS and CRM system. Their broad list of features makes them a great choice for any organizations with a heavy customer relations focus.
Tracker Standout Features & Integrations:
Features include tools for sourcing candidates, nurturing and matching applicants, and making placements. Tracker also offers tools like resume parsing to help eliminate manual data entry, 1-way and 2-way video interviewing, a built-in team TrackerChat app, and a full-feature mobile app, plus tools for marketing vacant positions, job board integrations, and back office support. Users can integrate Tracker with external job boards, as well as set up custom candidate portals, dashboards and reports, and workflows.
Tracker integrates with a variety of third-party tools through their RESTFul API, including Outlook, Gmail, Google Chrome, LinkedIn, Office 365, and QuickBooks. You can also connect Tracker to 30+ other software solutions using their Zapier API integration.
Tracker Plans & Pricing:
Tracker costs from $80/user/month. They also offer a free trial and a free demo.
Pros
- Highly regarded local support and success team
- Ability to customize views, fields, workflows, and more
- Intuitive, easy-to-use interface
Cons
- No built-in payroll, but integration with QuickBooks and others
- No background check integration
Recruit CRM
Best hybrid applicant tracking system + CRM solution
Recruitment CRM is an applicant tracking system and customer relationship management tool designed to manage and automate all your recruiting touchpoints.
Why I picked Recruit CRM: Recruit CRM is excellent for staffing agencies and talent recruitment services because they have built-in tools for stakeholder feedback on applicants as well as effort-to-revenue ratio report dashboards for each of your clients.
Recruit CRM Standout Features & Integrations:
Key features include the ability to source candidates directly from LinkedIn, excellent hiring pipeline visualization and organization tools, the ability for candidates to update their own user profiles, and email integration and management. They also have a Kanban board to manage the steps associated with sourcing and hiring, like interviewing and background checks, as well as an assignee tag so your team knows who is working on what.
Recruit CRM integrates with over 5,000 apps like Asana, Google Workspace, HubSpot, Slack, and Typeform by connecting a paid Zapier account to their system.
Recruit CRM Plans & Pricing:
Plans start at $69 per user, per month and include a 14-day free trial.
Pros
- Chrome extension available
- Accommodates 10,000+ candidates per user
- Huge list of third-party app integrations
- Comprehensive ATS + CRM in one
Cons
- Custom branding locked to highest plan
- No freemium plan
PCRecruiter
Best applicant tracking system for detailed recruitment analytics
PCRecruiter is an ATS software that helps recruiters and HR professionals manage the recruiting process from start to finish, including sourcing candidates, scheduling interviews, and extending job offers. PCRecruiter provides powerful tools for managing job openings, tracking progress, and measuring performance. It automates time-consuming tasks like candidate sourcing and communication, giving users more time to develop relationships with candidates.
Why I picked PCRecruiter: Their software lets users post new job openings on the company’s website and popular job boards. Candidates who apply for the job are then added to the database where they can be sorted and filtered according to different criteria, such as skills, experience levels, education levels, and location. The software makes it easy to track every interaction with a candidate, including emails, phone calls, and interviews. This information can then be used to make better decisions about which candidates to pursue and how best to communicate with them. Users can also create Boolean search strings to narrow their candidate searches further.
PCRecruiter Standout Features & Integrations:
Features include a browser extension that helps users seamlessly import and update contacts from popular social platforms with PCR Capture for Chrome and Microsoft Edge, and tools to organize information like contacts and companies with multi-function lists. PCRecruiter provides users with comprehensive reporting tools that can be used to measure the success of your recruiting efforts. These reports can identify areas where improvements can be made, demonstrate the ROI of your recruiting budget, and can be exported in various formats, including PDF and Excel.
Integrations are available natively with Gmail, Microsoft Office, and Office 365. Additional integrations are available through their public API, or by connecting a paid Zapier account. They also offer a mobile app for Android and iOS devices too.
PCRecruiter Plans & Pricing:
Plans start at $85/user/month. A free demo can also be requested through their website too.
Pros
- Automatic resume parsing from Outlook attachments
- Mobile app supports recruitment on the go
- Automated sequencing campaigns save teams time
Cons
- API access is priced separately based on data usage
- No free trial available
Eddy
Best applicant tracking system for small, local businesses
Eddy offers a base HR package with onboarding, document storage and electronic signatures, employee directory and employee profiles, training tracking, PTO tracking, and time tracking. Their ATS package is offered as an add-on, as is payroll and HR advising. This makes them flexible and scalable, as you only pay for the services you need.
Why I picked Eddy: Eddy is great for small businesses because they offer a jack-of-all-trades tool at an affordable price. They also prioritize an ease-of-use UI so that anyone can get up to speed on the platform with minimal training. A lot of their major processes have been distilled into drag-and-drop or point-and-click, so no technical expertise is required.
Eddy Standout Features & Integrations:
Eddy's applicant tracking system empowers you to post jobs to popular job boards in a single click as well as to your own customizable company careers page. Eddy offers visibility into every stage of the hiring process with an easy-to-use, drag-and-drop pipeline to manage and automate communication with applicants. Click into candidate profiles to view important details and collaborate with team members by rating, commenting, tagging, and even adding emoji reactions to each applicant.
Eddy integrates directly with popular job boards such as Glassdoor, Indeed, LinkedIn, Monster, Talent.com and ZipRecruiter, allowing you to post vacation positions rapidly across multiple job sites.
Eddy Plans & Pricing:
Eddy costs from $99/month for their HR processes + ATS module and then an additional $8/employee/month on top of that. A free demo is also available.
Pros
- Training tracking tools are great for onboarding new hires
- Friendly, helpful customer support team
- Excellent document management system
- Super easy to use & intuitive
Cons
- ATS module costs extra
- No free trial or freemium plan
Manatal
Best ATS platform for social media recruitment & AI tools
Manatal is a leading applicant tracking and recruitment software solution that uses artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and other unique and innovative features. The software helps in streamlining all recruitment operations from sourcing to onboarding, and is currently used by organizations in over 90 countries worldwide.
Why I picked Manatal: Their interface is both practical and intuitive, and as a result, little to no training is required and teams can quickly start leveraging its tools. Manatal also includes a complete CRM (customer relationship management) system and an easy-to-use, customizable career page builder so users can start showcasing openings.
Manatal Standout Features & Integrations:
The platform includes all the standard ATS features such as daily recruitment processing, drag and drop pipelines, compliance tools (i.e., GDPR, CCPA, & PDPA), a full analytics suite, skill bank, candidate and job history, activities management, collaboration tools, a placement management system, and all main functions that relate to applicant and employee information and records.
More innovative features include things like powerful search functions, AI-based recommendations, candidate scoring, and social media recruitment (LinkedIn, Facebook, GitHub, and more). These features have proven extremely valuable in streamlining activities like candidate sourcing and screening, as well as in helping leverage large existing candidate databases.
Integrations are available through Manatal's open API and include platforms like LinkedIn, Gmail, Outlook, Mailchimp, and more.
Manatal Plans & Pricing:
Plans start at $15 per user, per month (billed annually) and include a 14-day free trial.
Pros
- Built-in CRM tools
- AI-based recommendation of candidates and social media recruitment
- Intuitive user interface
Cons
- No payroll management system
- No free plan available
Zoho Recruit
Best applicant tracking system for staffing agencies
Zoho Recruit is an applicant tracking system designed for recruiters and corporate hiring teams. The tool helps teams hire a workforce that is in sync with the changing talent demand, as well as hire more qualified candidates.
Why I picked Zoho Recruit: Zoho Recruit’s applicant tracking system caters to multiple hurdles faced by recruiters. The tool offers solutions for both in-house recruiters and staffing agencies, and helps users source, track, and hire the best candidates, without any juggling required across different media.
Zoho Recruit Standout Features & Integrations:
Features include the ability to post jobs to multiple job boards, and tools to automate and manage candidates, clients, & contacts so your team can spend less time on mundane processes. Users can also make use of customizations and automations for tasks like sending emails, updating interview status, and more. Zoho Recruit also provides reports and analytics for hiring strategies, plus 24/5 customer support.
Zoho Recruit integrates natively with other Zoho products such as Zoho Analytics, Zoho CRM and Zoho People. They also have native integrations with 30+ other tools, including Adobe Sign, Evernote, Checkr, Clickatell, DocuSign, HireRight, Mailchimp, Screen Magic, Slack, Sparkhire, and Verified First.
Zoho Recruit Plans & Pricing:
Plans start at $30 per user, per month for up to 100 active job postings. They also offer a 15-day free trial, a free demo, and a free forever plan for 1 active job posting.
Pros
- Enhances job opening visibility through candidate sourcing features
- Offers intelligent recruitment automation capabilities
- Reduces drop-off rates through continuous candidate engagement
Cons
- Client and vendor portal access only available in the enterprise edition
- Mobile app does not allow users to manage hiring process on mobile
- Various features can be overwhelming
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Best Applicant Tracking Systems Comparison Chart
Here’s a comparison chart summarizing basic details about the tools described in this article. View pricing details, as well as the availability of free trials or demos, to make a quick side-by-side comparison and find the best tool that works for your budget.
| Tool | Free Option | Price | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pinpoint Best applicant tracking system for in-house talent acquisition and people teams | Free demo available | From $600/month (paid annually) | Visit Website |
| 2 | monday.com Best applicant tracking system for customized workflows | 14-day free trial + freemium plan available | From $8/user/month (billed annually, min 3 seats) | Visit Website |
| 3 | ClearCompany Best applicant tracking system for ease of use | Free demo available | Pricing upon request | Visit Website |
| 4 | Trakstar Best applicant tracking system for collaborative hiring tools | Free demo available | Pricing upon request | Visit Website |
| 5 |  Tracker Best applicant tracking system for recruitment and staffing firms | Free demo available | Pricing upon request | Visit Website |
| 6 |  Recruit CRM Best hybrid applicant tracking system + CRM solution | 14-day free trial | From $50/user/month | Visit Website |
| 7 | PCRecruiter Best applicant tracking system for detailed recruitment analytics | Free demo available | From $85/user/month | Visit Website |
| 8 | Eddy Best applicant tracking system for small, local businesses | Free demo available | From $8/employee/month + a $49 base fee/month | Visit Website |
| 9 | Manatal Best ATS platform for social media recruitment & AI tools | 14-day free trial | From $15/user/month | Visit Website |
| 10 | Zoho Recruit Best applicant tracking system for staffing agencies | 15-day free trial | From $30/user/month (100 active job postings) | Visit Website |
Other Applicant Tracking Software
Here are a few more recruitment ATS tools that didn’t make the top applicant tracking systems list:
- Freshteam
Best applicant tracking system for growing businesses
- Breezy HR
Best applicant tracking system for diversity & inclusion recruitment
- SmartRecruiters
Best applicant tracking system for enterprise-level talent acquisition
- Lever
Best for streamlined recruitment CRM and ATS capabilities
- Recooty
Best ATS software for ease of use
- Workday
Best for integrations
- Bullhorn
Best for time-saving automations and integrations
- SAP SuccessFactors
Best for data analytics and reporting
- GoHire
Best for industry-specific customizations to help businesses scale
- Oracle Taleo
Best for large enterprises
People Also Ask
Here are some answers to frequently asked questions you may have about applicant tracking software and how it works:
What is applicant tracking software?
How do applicant tracking systems work?
Are there different types of recruitment ATS software I should consider?
What main features are included within the best ATS systems?
What benefits can I expect to gain by using an ATS?
Other Resources
As you can see, there are a lot of options to consider when it comes to ATS systems and sourcing the best candidates for your open positions.
However, your journey doesn't have to stop here. To help you dive deeper into this topic, here's a selection of our top articles written by industry experts:
- What is an ATS? Features, Benefits and Best Practices
- How to Approach Hiring & Recruitment When You Don't Have HR, a podcast with Joel Peterson, from Arbutus Search Group
- Recruitment Budgeting: Everything You Need to Know + Example
- Recruitment Marketing: What it is and 10 Effective Tactics
- 10 Key Recruiting Metrics to Focus On (and 12 Advanced)
- The Key to Focused, Engaging Interviews (+ Template)
- Candidate Sourcing Tips To Help You Find The Best Talent
Before you go, make sure to subscribe to our People Managing People newsletter too. You'll stay up-to-date on all our latest articles, podcasts, tool recommendations, and best practices related to talent acquisition and management.