Best ATS Software for Small Business of 2025

Written by
Best ATS Software for Small Business of 2025 Sandra Robins
Updated

October 15, 2025

An applicant tracking system (ATS) allows employers to automate and streamline the complex hiring process by managing candidates in one centralized database. The software extracts candidate information from a resume into standardized, searchable fields. As resume information is sorted, screened, and evaluated, the ATS identifies top candidates.

ATS software has many features, including automatic job postings, interview scheduling, branded career pages, employee referral programs, sourcing active and passive candidates, communication and collaboration tools, customizable workflows and pipeline triggers, and reporting. Applicant tracking systems are a subcategory of recruiting software.

Here are our picks for the best ATS software to help human resources professionals manage candidates.

Best for Small Business AvaHR

Cobanker review
4.8
CoBanker choice
Overview

AvaHR, formerly VIVAHR, is simple-to-use hiring software specifically built for small businesses. The ATS software allows you to post to 100+ job boards, manage applicants, get parsed resumes, create pipeline triggers, and automate follow-ups by email and text. Hiring teams create customizable questionnaires, candidate scorecards, and comprehensive candidate profiles with assigned tags for easy searching. AvaHR facilitates team collaboration, manages employee referral programs, and provides real-time analytics.

Users like the intuitive interface, comprehensive features, and customization options. Users report duplicate candidate profiles, a low volume of applicants, a poor response rate for messages, and extra clicks to navigate to desired candidate information. A Premier plan is needed to access certain advanced features, including e-signatures, employee referral tracking, and texts.

Best for Small Business
Price Middle
Pros
Intuitive interface that is easy to use
Comprehensive features with good customization options and seamless integrations
Shared inbox for easy team collaboration
Pipeline triggers for automation
Unlimited candidates with all plans
Cons
Users report a complex job posting process, low volume of applicants, poor response rate for messages, and extra clicks to navigate to desired candidate information
Lacks capabilities for Boolean search limits and asynchronous video interviews
Some advanced features are only available in the Premier plan
A new profile is created every time a candidate applies for a role, which results in duplicate candidate profiles
  • Post to 100+ job boards in one click
  • Create custom questionnaires for each job with several question types, including multiple-choice, essay, and rating scales
  • Branded career pages, employee referral programs, and interview scheduling
  • Evaluate candidates using scorecards with your chosen metrics: skills, experience, or cultural fit
  • Easily share candidates with teammates outside your hiring team with a secure link

There is a seven-day free trial. The Standard plan is $83 per month for five active job postings, one location, and one user. For unlimited job postings, locations, and users, the Growth plan is $125 per month. For advanced features, the Premier plan is $299 per month.

Best for New Business 100Hires

Cobanker review
4.8
CoBanker choice
Overview

100Hires is ATS software designed for small and medium-sized businesses. AI power is used for job descriptions, application forms, resume parsing, interview questions, and scoring candidates. The platform has many customization options, advanced email features, automated job postings and interview scheduling, bulk import options, a Kanban board, and a Chrome extension. Candidates are quickly removed with knockout questions and duplicate detection. Scheduling is simplified with automation and integrations with Google Calendar, Outlook Calendar, and email.

Users praise the ease of use, AI features, automation, search filters, integrations, and customization. The software is efficient for candidate management, providing an effective overview and helpful AI scores in relevant categories. The Starter plan is cost-effective for new businesses with limited hiring needs. Users dislike the color scheme, lack of brightness, and cluttered interface. The vast features and options, combined with a text-heavy interface, make the platform feel overwhelming and require an initial learning curve.

Best for New Business
Price Middle
Pros
Easy to use
Users praise the AI features, automation, and search filters
The Starter plan is cost-effective for new businesses with limited hiring needs
Extensive integrations, features, and customizations
Efficient for candidate management with a good overview and helpful AI scores in relevant categories
Cons
Initial learning curve
Users dislike the color scheme and cluttered interface
Users want the platform to be brighter with a better mobile version
With so many options and features, the platform can be overwhelming
Limited reporting
  • AI resume scoring, parsing, and job descriptions
  • Knockout questions and duplicate detection
  • Automated interview scheduling
  • Bulk import options, Kanban board, and Chrome extension
  • Automatic job postings on popular sites and many job templates
  • Many customization options and advanced email features

There is a 14-day free trial. With an annual subscription, the monthly pricing listed here will be discounted by 20% to 50% depending on the plan. The Start plan for companies that are not actively hiring costs $99 per month. It includes basic features, up to 3 jobs, 100 candidates, one user, and 100 monthly AI credits.

Best for Budget Manatal

Cobanker review
4.8
CoBanker choice
Overview

Manatal is an all-in-one recruitment software with a comprehensive cloud-based ATS that seamlessly manages candidates. The AI Engine simplifies the entire hiring process with powerful resume parsing, enrichment of profiles with search data, and automated recommendations of candidates and jobs. Employers benefit from the drag-and-drop interface, AI-generated job descriptions, automatic AI-based candidate scorecards, unlimited custom job pipelines, and screening and knockout questions. Easily find candidates with quick searches, advanced searches, and Boolean searches.

Manatal is an affordable option for small businesses that is easy to use. Reviewers like the advanced, versatile features that are powered by AI. Users dislike that the platform is missing some key functionality, especially with reporting and the lack of automation in candidate communication. Users report email functionality issues and some problems with AI for complex roles. Manatal may not scale well for large organizations with complex HR needs.

Best for Budget
Price Low
Pros
Easy to use
Affordable for small businesses
Users like the advanced, versatile, and customizable features that are powered by AI
A duplicate management system allows for the auto-merging of duplicate candidates coming from specific channels
The Chrome extension helps to find and add new candidates
Cons
Some features, including the advanced report builder and single sign-on, are only available with the Enterprise plan
Users report email functionality issues and some problems with AI for complex roles
Missing some key functionality, especially with reporting, and a lack of automation in candidate communication
May not scale well for large organizations with complex HR needs
  • Powerful resume parsing, enrichment of profiles with online search data, automated recommendations of candidates, quick screening, and candidate scorecards
  • Unlimited custom job pipelines
  • Job posts on 2,500+ free and premium job boards
  • Advanced features, including a duplicate management system and a recruitment CRM
  • Branded career pages

There is a 14-day free trial. The Professional plan for individuals and small teams is $15 per user per month for up to 15 jobs, 10,000 candidates, and unlimited hiring managers. The Enterprise plan for growing teams is $35 per user per month for unlimited candidates and jobs. The Enterprise plan is $55 per user per month.

Best for Scalability Greenhouse

Cobanker review
4.5
CoBanker choice
Overview

Greenhouse was named the best ATS by G2 in the summer of 2025. The all-in-one software allows you to streamline every step of the hiring process, from sourcing to onboarding. It has embedded AI tools, advanced data configurations, and customizable interview kits, scorecards, and surveys. Engage with candidates using an embedded texting solution powered by Grayscale with automation and bulk messages.

Find candidates faster with talent rediscovery and filtering tools, plus detection of duplicate applications and spam. Mitigate bias and increase equity with the built-in inclusivity tools, interview scorecards, native DEI reports, anonymous resumes, candidates recording the correct pronunciation of their name, and the selection of personal pronouns.

In fall 2025, new features were introduced to prevent fake applicants and to offer enhanced data customization for better reporting. Users report that the software is beneficial for tracking all hiring and onboarding information in one place and mitigating hiring bias. They find that the templates, automation features, and integrations are helpful. Users dislike the steep learning curve and cumbersome navigation. They want more advanced options for searches, editing, and customization.

Best for Scalability
Price High
Pros
User-friendly interface
Real Talent to prevent fake applicants and more data customization for better reporting
Efficient to track all hiring and onboarding information in one place
Beneficial for mitigating hiring bias
Helpful templates, automation features, and integrations
Cons
Not a stand-alone platform
Steep learning curve
Confusing and cumbersome navigation with too many clicks to reach the desired information
The mobile app is limited compared to the desktop features
Users want more advanced options for searches, editing, and customization
  • Full workflow solution, from sourcing to onboarding
  • 1,000+ job boards, 20+ AI tools, and 500+ integrations
  • Branded career sites, employee referral program, and internal job board
  • Interview self-scheduling, interview kits, scorecards, and inclusivity features
  • Resume parsing and anonymization
  • Automated interview transcription, analysis, and summaries

The website does not list prices. It says the pricing is accessible for all companies and is based on company size. There are three plans: Essential, Advanced, and Expert. The annual price is estimated to be $6K – $10K for small businesses.

Best for Candidate Experience Teamtailor

Cobanker review
4.6
CoBanker choice
Overview

Teamtailor is an all-in-one recruiting software that combines an ATS with its standout candidate experience, employer branding tools, and DEI features. The platform has unique features, including transparent recruitment where candidates can follow their application status, the ability to add a short video to job ads, and shareable, personal pages to celebrate new hires. Generative AI is used in job ads and descriptions, candidate screening, interview questions, resume summaries, video meeting summaries, and draft communications.

Candidate communication includes message templates, bulk emails, WhatsApp, video meeting tools, and chat features. Find passive candidates with the Connect talent pool and browser extension. Additional features include customizable hiring flows, advanced reporting with custom reports, employee referral program management, internal job postings, and job offers.

Users like the AI Co-Pilot and the intuitive interface that is easy to use without training. It is a standout for employer branding tools and DEI features. Users report data migration problems, missing features, and difficulties with the analytics. Teamtailor is a European company, and the U.S. market is newer. As a result, there are some issues with displaying information correctly in U.S. formats.

Best for Candidate Experience
Price Middle
Pros
Intuitive interface that is easy to use without training
Standout for employer branding tools and DEI features
Comprehensive ATS with AI Co-Pilot
Excellent candidate engagement tools
Cons
Analytics are difficult to use
Limited customization and missing features
Users report data migration problems
Some issues with displaying information correctly in U.S. formats, since it is a European company
  • 250+ features and 450+ integrations
  • Automatic job postings on 120 sites
  • Easily create engaging, mobile-friendly career sites to showcase employer branding with customized pages and blog posts
  • Unlimited job postings and users
  • Candidate scorecards, ratings, side-by-side comparisons, and anonymity to avoid bias
  • Automatic interview scheduling, where candidates are sent options

There is a 14-day free trial. Teamtailor does not list pricing information on its website.  The pricing is believed to be based on company size and features. Capterra reports that the basic price starts at $1,250 per year.

Best for Collaboration Tellent Recruitee

Cobanker review
4.5
CoBanker choice
Overview

Tellent Recruitee is a powerful and flexible ATS that makes team collaboration easy. Your team can screen, track, and evaluate candidates while reducing bias with the Fair Evaluations feature. Communicate and collaborate about candidates and jobs with notes, tags, and mentions. Customize workflows and pipelines with a Kanban-like feel. Utilize automation and many AI tools to streamline the hiring process.

Tallent is a European product that is used by many U.S. companies and needs to add more U.S.-specific laws and formatting. Users like the intuitive interface that is simple to use with a Kanban-like feel and standout collaboration tools. The ability to add notes to candidates’ profiles and see cover letters and resumes on the same page is especially helpful during interviews. The platform could be improved by adding more customization and reporting options. Users describe the software as an expensive option for small businesses.

Best for Collaboration
Price High
Pros
Intuitive interface that is easy to use
Standout collaboration tools for unlimited team members
Simple to move candidates with drag-and-drop tools and overdue reminders
The automation features enhance the recruitment process and candidate quality
The ability to add notes to candidates' profiles and see cover letters and resumes on the same page is especially helpful during interviews
Cons
Needs to add more U.S.-specific laws and formatting
Limited reporting and customization
Some advanced features are only available with high-end plans, making them expensive for small businesses
Users report integration problems
Missing features
  • 200+ integrations and automatic job posting on many sites
  • Automation, templates, and AI tools, including AI writer and interview summaries
  • Easily create branded career sites
  • Pre-screen and knockout questions
  • Referral hub, interview scheduling, emails, and offer letters
  • Fair Evaluations tools and candidate scorecards to reduce bias

There is an 18-day free trial. Tellent is a European product that is used by many U.S. companies. The website pricing is listed in Euros, and we converted it to U.S. dollars. There is a 20% discount with annual billing, and an annual contract is required. The Start plan for five active job posts costs approximately $317 per month. The Advance plan for unlimited job posts costs approximately $400 per month. The Optimize plan costs approximately $1,600 per month.

Best for Ease of Use Workable

Cobanker review
4.5
CoBanker choice
Overview

Workable Recruiting combines a candidate sourcing suite and robust ATS with many add-ons and bundles available for those looking for a complete HRIS for employee management. The recruiting platform is available as a stand-alone option. Users can customize the hiring processes at every level, including customizable candidate profiles and reporting. Easily track the data you need in one place, including budget and hiring plans. Job postings garner maximum visibility since Workable is an Indeed Platinum and LinkedIn Preferred Partner.

The recruiting platform includes AI matches, candidate scorecards, one-click personalized response emails, one-way video interviews, personality and cognitive assessments, and collaboration tools. Create a great candidate experience with self-service interview scheduling, calendar, and email syncing, built-in texting, candidate surveys, professional offer letters with e-signatures, and background checks. Workable has built-in fair hiring practices, diversity analytics, security, and compliance.

Users report that the easy-to-use platform simplifies the entire hiring process and saves them valuable time. They like the efficient AI features, helpful collaboration tools, interview scheduling, and seamless integrations. Users report some integration problems and slow loading speeds. They would like to be able to better customize sorting options, knockout questions, and preferred vs. required skills. Workable is expensive with costly add-ons.

Best for Ease of Use
Price High
Pros
The platform is easy to use, intuitive, and clean
Customizable and scalable software
Efficient AI features, helpful collaboration tools, and seamless integrations
Integrated interview scheduling that syncs with calendars and supports mult-part interviews
Users report that it simplifies the entire hiring process and saves valuable time
Cons
Expensive plans with costly add-ons
Limited reporting and customization
Limited reporting and customization
Users would like to be able to better customize sorting options, knockout questions, and preferred vs. required skills
Duplicate profiles that can’t be merged when exporting from LinkedIn
  • AI screening assistant, automated resume parsing, anonymized screening, and custom candidate profiles
  • Database of 400M+ passive candidates, automatic job postings on 200+ sites, 270+ integrations, and unlimited active jobs
  • Mobile-friendly careers page builder, employee referral portal, and Chrome extension to add candidates directly from LinkedIn
  • Self-scheduling interviews with multi-part interviews, customizable candidate scorecards, and standardized evaluation tools

There is a 15-day free trial for the complete features of the Standard plan. Pricing is based on the number of employees, with discounts available for bundling and annual payments. The Standard plan for recruiting is $299 per month for 20 or fewer employees and $669 per month for 51-100 employees. The Premier plan costs $599 per month for 20 or fewer employees and $1,229 per month for 51-100 employees.

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What Is an ATS and Resume Parsing?

An applicant tracking software (ATS) screens, tracks, and manages applicants in one centralized database while streamlining the hiring process. An ATS automates many recruiting tasks, including job postings, resume parsing, interview scheduling, and candidate communication. It is a subcategory of recruiting software and can be stand-alone software or part of all-in-one HR software.

Resume parsing is the process used by an ATS to automatically extract, organize, and evaluate information from a resume into a standardized database format with distinct fields. This enables hiring teams to easily search, sort, and filter with keywords to find candidates that meet their criteria.

What Are the Benefits of Using ATS Software?

An ATS increases efficiency in the hiring process by automating many repetitive tasks, thus saving valuable time and labor. This also helps to reduce errors and mitigate bias to enhance diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). AI power evaluates resumes and identifies top talent, often providing candidate scorecards.

Job description templates and automatic job postings on many job boards attract active candidates quickly and easily. Databases and Chrome extensions make it simpler to find passive candidates and to engage in long-term candidate relationship management (CRM). Recruiting managers benefit from search features to find candidates in their ATS. The custom workflows and pipelines, communication tools, collaboration tools, and self-service interview scheduling with calendar integrations enable a quicker hiring process and improved candidate experience.

What Are the Features of ATS Software?

There are many features available with the best ATS software, providing candidate management, task automation, and AI power. Higher-tiered plans typically have these features, but may vary in how they are implemented:

  • Candidate profiles and resume parsing: The primary feature of an ATS is to create a centralized place to manage candidates sourced from all locations. Resume parsing is used to automatically extract, organize, and evaluate information from a resume into a standardized database format with distinct fields. Candidates can be added and searched internally or from active and passive sources to build long-term candidate relationship management. Detecting and removing duplicate profiles is an advanced feature.
  • Pre-screening and knockout questions: Instantly disqualify candidates depending on the answers to knockout questions.
  • Automatic job postings: Once job descriptions are crafted from a template, they can be automatically posted on a plethora of job boards, instantly attracting candidates.
  • Passive candidate sourcing: Some vendors allow you to access a database with millions of passive candidates and use a Chrome extension to easily find and add candidates from LinkedIn.
  • Branded career sites: HR professionals can easily create custom career sites to showcase their employer brand without any coding. These career sites are mobile-friendly and may have the option to add additional features, such as videos and blog posts.
  • Employee referral program: An ATS system allows you to track applicants that come from employee referrals and provide employee incentives for the referrals.
  • Custom workflows and pipelines: Employers can customize the steps in the hiring process and set up pipeline triggers for what happens as candidates move through each stage.
  • Templates: Create job descriptions, emails, and interview questions by customizing provided templates.
  • Interview scheduling: Candidates benefit from a seamless process to schedule interviews. Most ATS software offers interview self-scheduling and calendar integrations where candidates can choose a slot from your calendar without the hassle of back-and-forth emails.
  • Candidate evaluation: AI power may create candidate scorecards, standardized interview questions, interview summaries and transcripts, and provide tools to help reduce bias.
  • Communication tools: Automated emails and text messages for communicating with candidates are features in some platforms.
  • Collaboration tools: Hiring teams benefit from collaboration tools, such as the ability to add notes to candidates’ profiles, see all candidate activity, and share secure links to profiles.
  • Integrations: Stand-alone ATS software will often integrate with your HRIS, calendars, meeting tools, and more.  
  • Analytics and reporting: Access your hiring data in real-time and create custom reports to share.

How To Choose the Best ATS Software

Choosing the best ATS software for your needs, budget, and integrations can feel overwhelming. Here’s a step-by-step process that will simplify the process when weighing your options:

  1. Identify current recruiting challenges: What are your current challenges with recruiting that you would like to improve with an ATS? Consider the most important challenges as well as optional ones that could be helpful to address.
  2. Anticipate future challenges as you grow: What hiring challenges do you anticipate as your company grows? Consider the scalability of an ATS and how it can handle your future needs.
  3. Set a budget and timeframe: How much are you looking to spend each month on an ATS? Will you need to use an ATS continually or just for a short period? Using an ATS for only a short time risks data loss and migration issues, so consider the long-term costs.
  4. Identify integration needs: Consider how an ATS will integrate with your other systems and whether or not you are looking for a stand-alone platform or an all-in-one solution.
  5. Determine which features are a must-have: Once you determine which features are essential or optional, you will be able to narrow down the choices significantly. ATS platforms have different strengths and weaknesses and vary in how specific features are implemented. For example, do you need to manage employee referral programs, assess candidates, get interview transcripts, source passive candidates, or improve team collaboration and candidate communication?

FAQs

Recruiting software is a broad category that includes many subcategories of software with different functions. An applicant tracking system (ATS) is one subcategory of recruiting software. An ATS screens, tracks, and manages applicants in one centralized database while automating many recruiting tasks, including job postings, resume parsing, interview scheduling, and candidate communication. It can be stand-alone software or part of an all-in-one HR software.

The most important benefit of using an ATS is making the process more efficient for the hiring team by automating repetitive tasks, thus saving valuable time and labor. Additional benefits include reducing bias, identifying top talent with AI power, improving the candidate experience, and shortening the hiring process.

Most ATS software uses a tiered pricing system with monthly pricing that is either a flat rate or based on the company’s size and/or hiring needs. Some vendors require an annual contract and offer discounts for annual billing. The basic tier typically does not include unlimited jobs or the advanced features that are common in higher tiers.