vs ApplicantStack
SortTheStack vs ApplicantStack
ApplicantStack is a low-cost applicant tracking system with job board posting, background checks and onboarding. SortTheStack only screens applications. How they differ on evaluation, cost and fit.
The short verdict. These are different kinds of product. ApplicantStack is an applicant tracking system from Swipeclock: job posting to job boards and social media, a branded careers page, knockout and prescreen questions, candidate scoring, texting, background checks through partners, and, on its Bundle plan, onboarding. SortTheStack does one part of hiring: it reads every application against your requirements and shows you the evidence, so you can decide who to interview.
- Choose ApplicantStack if you want an inexpensive system to run the whole pipeline, from posting a job to ordering a background check and onboarding the person you hire, and your screening needs are met by questions on the application form.
- Choose SortTheStack if your problem is reading the pile itself: you get more applications than you can read carefully, and you want each one checked against your requirements, with the evidence shown, before you decide.
Disclosure: this comparison is published by SortTheStack. We have tried to be fair, and we say below where ApplicantStack is the stronger or cheaper choice. We have not used ApplicantStack hands-on; everything said about it comes from ApplicantStack’s own website, linked at the end. SortTheStack is currently onboarding new customers from a waitlist.
Last verified: 27 October 2026. Prices and features change; check the sources below before deciding.
Two different philosophies
ApplicantStack is built around the hiring pipeline. Its pricing page lists a branded careers page, posting to “all major job boards”, recruiting via social media, candidate scoring, candidate management with stages, candidate questionnaires, optional paid texting, and integrations with HR apps for background screening, assessments and job sourcing. The Bundle plan adds onboarding: checklists, new hire forms (W-4, I-9), e-signatures and a new hire portal.
SortTheStack is built around a single question: who deserves your attention, and why? You describe the job, it drafts the requirements for you to edit, and it evaluates every application against them. It is deliberately not an applicant tracking system and does not try to become one. It has light pipeline features (stages, notes, candidate emails, a shortlist link for hiring managers, background verification checks), but no job board posting, interview scorecards or onboarding.
How each one screens applications
ApplicantStack screens mainly through the application form and your team. Its site describes knockout questions that “tag candidates that have answered your designated questions incorrectly”, with the option of “removing those candidates from your active pipeline”. Prescreen questions feed candidate scoring, your team can score and rank candidates, interview scorecards collect ratings after interviews, and its trial page says it can “automatically screen applications for keywords or qualifications”. We did not find AI that reads and evaluates resumes described on ApplicantStack’s public pages. Its own September 2026 article on the rise in AI-written applications recommends sharper screening questions, filtering by their answers and moving clearly unqualified applicants out in bulk.
SortTheStack reads the applications themselves. Each one gets an outcome: Recommended, Possible, Needs review, or Requirements not met. Each requirement is marked as met, not met, or unclear, with the text from the application that supports the call. “Unclear” is kept separate from “not met”: a resume that says nothing about a requirement is not treated as evidence the person lacks it. SortTheStack has knockout rules too, which you write yourself and which are applied exactly as set, with no AI involved. Applications are set aside automatically only by those rules or, if you switch it on for a job, when the AI finds a clear mismatch. Both are logged and you can override either. No rejection email is sent unless someone clicks Reject.
The practical difference: screening questions and keyword filters are fast and predictable, but they only see what the form asks and the words the resume uses. They can’t tell you whether someone who never used your job title has done the work. Reading each application against the requirements can, and it is what SortTheStack is for. If your roles are well served by a few hard yes-or-no facts, ApplicantStack’s approach may be all you need.
Background checks
ApplicantStack lets you “order, review and manage candidate background checks right from ApplicantStack” through partners. Its site lists Verified First (criminal records, drug testing, driving records, Form I-9 and E-Verify, employment, education and licence verifications), Amerisearch and Trak-1. These are separate screening services, priced by the provider; the pricing page lists them as integrations, not as part of the subscription.
SortTheStack also offers background verification checks on every plan. You request them from a candidate’s page after confirming the candidate has consented, and our team completes them; there is no third-party integration to set up. The checks available are Canadian criminal record checks (basic, enhanced, and Quebec), identity, employment, education and credential verification, and driving records. Each is billed per check at the provider’s cost plus 10%, added to the monthly invoice. Drug testing and Form I-9 / E-Verify are not offered, so for U.S. hourly hiring that relies on them, ApplicantStack’s partners cover more. Whichever you use, run checks after you’ve chosen your finalist; our offer letter guide covers the conditional offer and, in the United States, the background check notices.
Feature comparison
| Capability | ApplicantStack | SortTheStack |
|---|---|---|
| Reads and evaluates resumes | Not found in the sources we reviewed | Yes, against your requirements, with evidence |
| Knockout questions | Yes; can remove candidates from the pipeline | Yes; applied exactly as set, and you can override |
| How results are shown | Candidate scores and rankings | Outcome per candidate, evidence per requirement, no score |
| Job board posting | All major job boards, social media, Indeed | No. You share the job’s link wherever you advertise |
| Careers page | Branded careers page | One page per job, with your logo and colour if you want them |
| Background checks | Ordered through partner providers | Requested in-app, completed by our team; provider cost + 10% |
| Candidate texting | Yes, optional additional fee | No; email only |
| Interview scheduling | Scheduling emails and interviews | Emails the candidate your own scheduling link; no calendar sync |
| Interview scorecards | Yes | No |
| Shortlist for a hiring manager | Not verified | Shareable link on every plan; PDF on Practice and Group |
| Onboarding | Bundle plan | No |
| Team members | 1 admin and 5 hiring managers; more on Recruit plan | Unlimited on every plan |
| Integrations and API | Yes | None |
“Not verified” or “not found” means we did not find it in the ApplicantStack sources we reviewed. It does not mean ApplicantStack lacks it.
Pricing
Both are priced mainly by how many jobs you have open at once.
ApplicantStack, as listed on its pricing page:
| Plan | Listed price | Active jobs at once |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | $29.99 a month | 1 |
| Growth | $49.99 a month | 3 |
| Recruit | $109.99 a month | Unlimited |
| Bundle | $159.99 a month | Unlimited, plus onboarding |
Each plan includes 1 admin seat and 5 hiring manager seats; on Recruit and Bundle you can add more, at a price the page doesn’t show. ApplicantStack says there is no contract and no cancellation fee, and no required setup cost, though it sells optional assisted setup. The free trial is 14 days on the pricing page and 15 days on the trial page, and shows only the first 100 candidates. Texting and background checks cost extra.
SortTheStack: First Pile free (one job, up to 100 resumes, full analysis on the top three), a single job for $149 one time, or Solo $49 (2 open jobs), Practice $199 (5) and Group $399 (15) a month. Every plan includes screening with unlimited team members. Prices are the same number in USD or CAD. See pricing for limits.
What that looks like over a year, using the listed prices:
| Situation | ApplicantStack (listed) | SortTheStack |
|---|---|---|
| Three hires a year, one at a time | $359.88 a year (Starter) | $447 (three single postings) |
| Up to two jobs open at a time, all year | $599.88 a year (Growth) | $588 a year (Solo) |
| Up to five jobs open, steady hiring | $1,319.88 a year (Recruit) | $2,388 a year (Practice) |
ApplicantStack is cheaper as hiring grows, and because it has no contract, you could also pay only for the months you’re hiring. It is not a like-for-like comparison: the ApplicantStack figure buys an applicant tracking system, and the SortTheStack figure buys reading and evaluating every application.
Strengths and limitations
ApplicantStack’s strengths
- A complete, low-cost applicant tracking system, with unlimited jobs from $109.99 a month.
- Job board and social media posting, which SortTheStack does not do at all.
- Background checks, drug tests and I-9 / E-Verify ordered from the same system.
- Interview scorecards. Structured interviews are the strongest single predictor in the hiring research we have reviewed (see what predicts job performance), and ApplicantStack has a tool for rating them. SortTheStack does not.
- Onboarding on the Bundle plan, and no contract.
ApplicantStack’s limitations, for a team with a screening problem
- Screening rests on the questions you ask and the words resumes use. Someone still has to read the applications that pass to know who can do the job.
- Seats are limited: 1 admin and 5 hiring managers before you pay for more.
SortTheStack’s strengths
- Every application read against your requirements, with evidence for each one and uncertainty shown rather than hidden.
- Free to try on one real pile, and $149 for a single hire with no subscription.
- Unlimited team members on every plan.
- Little to set up: a job description, and screening questions if you want them. No recruiting system to adopt.
SortTheStack’s limitations
- Not self-serve yet: new customers join from a waitlist.
- No job board posting, texting, interview scorecards, onboarding or integrations.
- Background checks are Canada-focused, with no drug testing or I-9 / E-Verify.
- More expensive than ApplicantStack once you have several jobs open.
- If you already use ApplicantStack or another ATS, there is no integration. You would move applications in by uploading or forwarding them.
Which one fits your situation
A small business hiring hourly staff in volume. You need to post widely, text applicants, settle a few hard facts (availability, a licence, the right to work) and run background checks. ApplicantStack fits this well and costs little. SortTheStack adds less here, because the deciding facts are on the form rather than in the resume.
A 12-person firm hiring two or three professionals a year. You post the job yourself, and the problem is the 150 applications that follow, most of which pass any yes-or-no question you could write. SortTheStack fits this well: it reads each one against the requirements. Choose ApplicantStack instead if you’d rather have a full pipeline and read the applications yourself.
A team already using ApplicantStack but drowning in applications. SortTheStack can sit alongside it for the reading step, but without an integration, someone has to move applications in. Try tightening the knockout and prescreen questions first; if the pile is still too big, try SortTheStack’s free First Pile on one job.
A recruiter screening for several clients. SortTheStack’s Group plan covers 15 open jobs, with shortlist PDFs for clients. We did not verify ApplicantStack’s terms for agencies.
How we made this comparison
We compared the two products on what matters most to a small team choosing between them: how applications are screened, what each covers, cost, and the effort of adopting it.
- ApplicantStack information comes from its public website, including its pricing, product, background check and partner pages and its blog, accessed on 27 October 2026. We did not test ApplicantStack hands-on, and features we could not find in those sources are marked “not verified” or “not found”.
- SortTheStack information comes from our own product and its live plan settings. We make SortTheStack, so read our claims about it with that in mind.
- Prices are as listed on the date above, before tax and optional extras.
If anything here is wrong or out of date, tell us and we will correct it.
Sources
- ApplicantStack, Pricing, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ApplicantStack, Candidate management, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ApplicantStack, Recruiting and hiring, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ApplicantStack, Background checks for hiring, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ApplicantStack, Partners, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ApplicantStack, Start a free trial, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ApplicantStack (2026). All about the AI application flood: how small HR teams can keep up. 2 September 2026. Accessed 27 October 2026.
- SortTheStack, Pricing and Product.