How to choose hiring software for a small business

Choose the kind of tool before you choose the product. Most bad software decisions in small-business hiring aren’t a weak product beaten by a better one. They’re the wrong kind of product: a full recruiting platform bought to solve a reading problem, or a spreadsheet kept long after five people need to see the same candidates.

This guide works through that choice, then the questions that separate products within a category, verified prices for nine products, and how to run a trial that actually tells you something.

Why there’s no ranked list here. A “best hiring software” ranking would need hands-on testing of every product on the same jobs. We haven’t done that, so we don’t rank. Where we describe a product, it’s from that product’s own pricing page on the date shown. We also make one of the products, SortTheStack, and say so wherever it appears.

Step 1: Pick the category

Category	What it does	Good fit when	Examples
Spreadsheet and email	You track applicants yourself	A few hires a year, small piles, one decision-maker	Excel, Google Sheets
Screening tool	Evaluates applications against your requirements and tells you who to look at first	Big piles, few people, no appetite for a platform	SortTheStack
Small-business ATS	Posts jobs, collects applications, runs the pipeline, emails, scheduling	Hiring most months, several jobs and reviewers	Breezy HR, JazzHR, Manatal, Zoho Recruit, Workable, Recruitee
Mid-market or enterprise ATS	All of the above, plus structured process, reporting, integrations, governance	Many teams, locations or brands; formal hiring process	Greenhouse, Lever

If you’re unsure between the first three, start with do you actually need an applicant tracking system? It has a decision table by situation.

Step 2: Ask the questions that separate products

Feature lists look alike within a category. These questions don’t.

1. How does it help you decide, not just track? Ask to see exactly what it shows about a candidate. A score? Reasons? The evidence from the application? See can AI help you identify the best applicants? for what to look for and a test to run.

2. What does it do without a person? Automatic rejections, disqualifications, stage moves and emails. What’s on by default, and can it be reversed?

3. What does the price scale with? Per user, per job, per company size or per AI credit. Model your own next year: how many jobs, how many people who need access, how many applications.

4. What’s included, and what’s metered? AI screening is frequently an add-on or runs on credits. So are texting, video interviews and assessments on some plans.

5. How do applications get in? Careers page, job boards, email forwarding, uploads. Match it to where your applicants actually come from.

6. Does it support a structured process? Interview kits, scorecards and rating anchors make the biggest evidence-based difference to decisions. See structured interviews.

7. Can you leave? Can you export candidates and their history? Is the contract monthly or annual?

What the products cost

From each vendor’s own pricing page on 9 October 2026, in US dollars. These change often, so check before deciding. “Not shown” means we couldn’t find it on the page, not that it doesn’t exist.

Product	Entry price shown	Priced by	AI screening (as described by the vendor)	Trial or free plan
Breezy HR	Free (one active job); Startup $157/mo annual, $189 monthly	Plan	“Breezy Intelligence” add-on, credit-based	Free plan; 14-day trial
JazzHR	Hero $1,000/yr, billed annually	Plan	“AI-Powered Candidate Matching” on Plus ($3,480/yr)	Not shown
Manatal	$15/user/mo annual, $19 monthly (up to 15 jobs)	Users	“Automatic AI based candidates scoring” on listed plans	14-day trial
Zoho Recruit	Free (one active job per recruiter licence); paid not shown	Recruiter licences	“AI Candidate Matching” on Enterprise	Free plan; 15-day trial
Workable	$299/mo, shown for 1–20 employees	Company size	Workable Agent, billed in AI credits	15-day trial (excludes the agent)
Recruitee	Quote only	Employees	Not checked	Free trial
Greenhouse	Quote only	Hiring needs	“Talent Matching” on all plans	Demo
Lever	Quote only	Size and needs	“AI-powered screening”	Demo
SortTheStack	Free first pile; $149 per job; from $49/mo	Open jobs	Included; evidence per requirement, no score	Free first pile; currently waitlist

A few notes the table can’t hold:

• JazzHR says its standard pricing doesn’t apply to staffing or recruiting agencies, franchises, multi-location businesses or organisations with more than 250 employees.
• Workable shows its prices for 1–20 employees by default; we couldn’t confirm whether $299 assumes annual billing. Its plans include an HR suite.
• Recruitee says contracts have a one-year minimum, payable monthly, and its entry plan allows five active job posts.
• Breezy’s AI credits don’t expire, according to its pricing page. Workable’s expire a year after purchase.

Step 3: Run a trial that tells you something

Free trials are short. Use one on a real problem, not a demo dataset.

1. Pick a recent, closed job where you know who you interviewed and hired. Check your privacy obligations before loading real applicants; use test resumes if in doubt.
2. Set it up the way you’d really use it, with the requirements you’d really write.
3. Have the person who’ll use it most do the trial, not just whoever signed up.
4. Compare its results with what you know. Did the people you interviewed surface? Can you see why each candidate was rated as they were?
5. Price your real next year with the vendor’s calculator or a quote, including add-ons and credits.
6. Test leaving. Export the trial data. If you can’t get it out in a trial, assume you can’t later.

Choosing by situation

You hire two or three people a year and the piles are big. A screening tool, or a spreadsheet with a clear method if you can protect the reading time. A full ATS is likely more than you need.

You hire most months, with several hiring managers. A small-business ATS. Compare on how each one helps you decide (question 1) and what the price scales with (question 3).

You’re a recruiter screening for clients. Look at per-user versus per-job pricing carefully, and check agency terms; some vendors price agencies differently.

You’re growing past 100 people with several teams. Look at the mid-market platforms, and budget for setup time as well as subscription cost.

Sources

Vendor pricing pages, all accessed 9 October 2026: Breezy HR, JazzHR, Manatal, Zoho Recruit, Workable, Recruitee, Greenhouse, Lever, and SortTheStack’s pricing. For how we research products, see our editorial standards.