Best Recruiting Software for Small Business of 2025

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

October 1, 2025

The best recruiting software streamlines the recruiting process, stores applicant information in a centralized location, and replaces manual tasks with automated tasks. Features may include applicant tracking systems (ATS), pipeline triggers, custom workflows, job posting automation, resume parsing and in-depth scanning, AI tools, interview scheduling, communication tools, and comprehensive analytics. Recruiting software enables employers to decrease the time-to-hire, reduce hiring bias, and improve the candidate experience.

Here are our picks for the best recruiting software for human resources professionals filling in-house roles.

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 software allows you to design mobile-friendly applications and branded career pages while showing off your company culture with videos and photos. You can create customizable questionnaires and candidate scorecards, comprehensive candidate profiles, and automated candidate communication by email and text. AvaHR enhances team collaboration,  manages employee referral programs, and provides real-time data and reports.

Users like the user-friendly 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
User-friendly and intuitive interface
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, resume parsing, 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
  • Pipeline triggers to automate routine tasks
  • All candidate interactions are in one shared inbox for easy collaboration
  • Post to 100+ job boards in one click
  • Pull job posting performance reports and time-to-hire reports
  • Create custom questionnaires for each job opening with a variety of question types, including multiple-choice, essay, and rating scales
  • Evaluate candidates using scorecards

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 PyjamaHR

Cobanker review
4.4
CoBanker choice
Overview

PyjamaHR is an AI-powered candidate tracking software that helps you manage the entire hiring process. The AI recruiter interviews thousands of candidates, recommending the best candidates for the role. It uses an advanced large language model (LLM) to screen and assess candidates. There is an add-on for candidate tests to assess 480 skills, covering both technical and non-technical areas with three main test types: programming tests, multiple choice questions (MCQs), and case studies.

Reviewers like the user-friendly platform with accurate resume parsing and seamless integrations. The comprehensive features are scalable for different company sizes. Users dislike missing features, candidate management limitations, and glitches with assessments.

Best for New Business
Price Low
Pros
User-friendly and intuitive interface
Scalable for different company sizes
Seamless integrations
Comprehensive features
Accurate resume parsing
Cons
Missing features
Inadequate job posting features
Limitations in candidate management and which stages you can edit
Software glitches, especially with assessments
Slow performance when adding bulk resumes
  • The AI recruiter interviews thousands of candidates, recommending the best candidates for the role
  • Post to 20+ job boards
  • Employee referral management
  • Candidate tracking pipelines
  • Offers an add-on for candidate tests for 480 skills, covering both technical and non-technical areas
  • Advanced reporting and data security certifications

There is a seven-day free trial. The Premium plan costs $15 per month per user. Each user can post ten jobs. Candidate tests are an add-on that starts at $1 per candidate. Inquire about custom pricing for personalized solutions.

Best for Budget Manatal

Cobanker review
4.8
CoBanker choice
Overview

Manatal is an all-in-one recruitment software. 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 AI-generated job descriptions, automatic AI-based candidate scorecards, unlimited custom job pipelines, screening and knockout questions, and the ability to 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. It may not scale well for large organizations with complex HR needs.

Best for Budget
Price Low
Pros
Ease of use
Affordable option for small businesses
Users like the advanced, versatile features that are powered by AI
Fully customizable
Helpful Chrome extension for finding 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
  • Unlimited custom job pipelines
  • Job posts on 2,500+ free and premium job boards
  • Powerful resume parsing, enrichment of profiles with online search data, automated recommendations of candidates, and candidate scorecards
  • Advanced features, including an overview with a Kanban board, tracking onboarding events, advanced reporting, a duplicate management system, and a recruitment CRM
  • Branded career pages
  • Data security certification

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 AI Humanly

Cobanker review
4.8
CoBanker choice
Overview

You can automate every step of the hiring process with Humanly’s all-in-one AI recruiting platform and talent CRM. The custom pricing is designed for mid-size to enterprise companies with a high volume of applicants as a cheaper alternative to paying for a recruiting agency. Humanly combines four AI-powered recruiting solutions into one: source, attract, screen, and schedule. The AI Agents interview every applicant minutes after they apply, and then schedule real interviews on your team’s calendar for the best candidates.

Humanly is an AI-powered recruiting copilot that integrates with ATS platforms. It is not an Applicant Tracking System (ATS), and it does not automatically post jobs. Users like how it simplifies the recruiting process and enhances candidate engagement. They enjoy the efficiency of the instant candidate screening with conversational AI and automated interview scheduling on their calendars. Users dislike the limited and missing features.

Best for AI
Price High
Pros
Simplifies the recruiting process and enhances candidate engagement
24/7 Instant candidate screening with conversational AI
Automated interview scheduling on your calendar
Seamless integration with ATS
Cons
It is not an Applicant Tracking System (ATS)
It does not automatically post jobs
Limited and missing features
Not intended for small businesses
  • AI Agents conduct instant screening interviews over voice or video, and then schedule real interviews on your team’s calendar for the best candidates
  • Customizable questions to set knockout criteria
  • Chrome sourcing extension
  • Database of 600M pre-vetted candidates
  • Employee-referral management
  • Recruiting CRM

Contact Humanly for a custom quote. While the pricing info is not available on the website, it is believed that the pricing is higher than that of competitors. It is designed for mid-size to enterprise companies as a cost-effective alternative to paying for a recruiting agency.

Best for Diversity SeekOut Recruit



Cobanker review
4.5
CoBanker choice
Overview

SeekOut Recruit is a self-service AI recruiting software that optimizes candidate search and hiring. The company also offers SeekOut Spot, a recruiting service that combines agentic AI and expert recruiters to deliver qualified candidates in under two weeks. This review is based on SeekOut Recruit, which requires a minimum one-year contract.

The software unifies talent from all sources into one platform. It sources passive candidates with diversity filters, one-click contact info, and bulk exports. Use 30+ advanced search filters and a database of 800M+ profiles. Users like the efficiency, powerful advanced searches, and the versatile filtering options. When searching the database for candidates, users are frustrated by the many results without valid contact information.

Best for Diversity
Price Middle
Pros
Efficient and easy to use
Powerful advanced searches
One platform to see and search talent from all sources
Users like the versatile filtering options
Cons
Requires a minimum one-year contract
Users express frustration with the inaccurate, outdated, or missing contact info when sourcing passive candidates
It is not an Applicant Tracking System (ATS)
It does not schedule interviews
  • Find and engage talent from a database of 800M+ profiles
  • Over 30 advanced search filters, Boolean searches, and conversational, ChatGPT-style searches
  • Automated personalized outreach tools
  • Based on the job description, AI is used for generating search criteria, recommending matches, and personalizing each outreach step
  • Integrations with many ATS and CRM platforms

Inquire about a custom quote for SeekOut Recruit. The pricing is not listed on their website, but it does require a one-year contract. It is believed to be less expensive than competitor products for mid-size and enterprise companies, but more expensive for small businesses.

Best for Assessments The Predictive Index

Cobanker review
4.7
CoBanker choice
Overview

The Predictive Index (PI) applies behavioral data throughout the employee lifecycle to improve hiring, development, and retention. With PI Hire, you can better align your teams and increase the likelihood of retaining new hires with the software’s actionable, objective data integrated into the hiring process.

An unlimited number of candidates can take the scientifically validated behavioral assessment and/or the cognitive assessment. The behavioral assessment is an untimed, free-choice test that takes approximately six minutes and measures dominance, extraversion, patience, and formality. In the cognitive assessment, test takers are given 50 multiple-choice questions and 12 minutes to answer as many as they can. It allows you to better predict who will be the most successful in the job based on their natural behaviors and cognitive skills.

The Predictive Index is a talent assessment tool that integrates with ATS platforms. It does not have the features that are commonly included in other recruiting software. Users like that the assessments result in more informed hiring decisions. The software helps them build better interview questions. There is a learning curve for reading the results and linking candidates with jobs. Users report limited customization, poor reporting, and some integration issues.

Best for Assessments
Price High
Pros
Easy to use
Unlimited assessments for candidates
The assessments help employers to make more informed hiring decisions
The interview builder helps you create better interview questions
Cons
Does not contain the features found in other recruiting software
Learning curve for reading the results and linking candidates with jobs
Not a cost-effective option for small businesses
Limited customization and poor reporting
Some integration issues
  • Unlimited assessments for candidates
  • Get a ranked shortlist of candidates based on predicted job success
  • Collaborative job targeting by team members produces the behavioral traits needed in a candidate
  • Job ad optimizer
  • Use the interview builder to create targeted interview questions

There is a free trial. The Validated Hiring Plan for recruiting teams starts at $7,550 per year. The Talent Optimization plan for strategic HR starts at $9,950 per year. Add-ons are available for team development and employee engagement.

Best for Scalability Greenhouse

Cobanker review
4.5
CoBanker choice
Overview

Greenhouse allows you to streamline every step of the hiring process, from sourcing to onboarding. The all-in-one, industry-leading software has embedded AI tools, advanced data configurations, customizable interview kits, scorecards, and surveys, branded job boards, and mature security processes.

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.

Greenhouse was named the best ATS by G2 in the summer of 2025. 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
Useful for tracking all hiring and onboarding information in one place
Beneficial for mitigating hiring bias
User-friendly interface
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
Users want more advanced options for searches, editing, and customization
  • Full workflow solution, from sourcing to onboarding
  • 20+ AI tools and 500+ integrations
  • Advanced search features, data configurations, and report building
  • Scalable workflows
  • Resume anonymization and parsing
  • 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 Analytics Lever

Cobanker review
4.5
CoBanker choice
Overview

Lever by Employ is a scalable and adaptable AI-powered recruitment platform that combines sourcing, tracking, and relationship building. It is a robust applicant tracking system with advanced candidate relationship management tools. The dynamic dashboards provide real-time insights into daily talent acquisition activities. In one click, you can track diversity metrics,  visualize overall progress, and check on a candidate’s status.

The AI interview companion helps employers reduce bias, run a structured interview process, coach interviewers, and get automatic interview transcripts and summaries. The software can also perform resume parsing and customize workflows.

Users like the seamless integrations, advanced reporting features, and effective team collaboration. Users report syncing issues, scheduling issues, and slow loading times with resumes. There is a steep learning curve, missing features, and limited customization.

Best for Analytics
Price Middle
Pros
User-friendly interface that is intuitive
Seamless integrations, especially with Outlook and LinkedIn
Users like the time-saving automations
Advanced reporting features
Good for team collaboration
Cons
Steep learning curve
Users report inadequate candidate management and export options
Limited customization options and missing features
Users report syncing issues, scheduling issues, and slow loading times with resumes
  • AI interview companion with AI-generated interview transcripts and smart summaries
  • New features coming soon for AI screening and sourcing companions
  • In-depth recruiting and talent analytics
  • Automation to customize workflows and streamline internal processes
  • Scalable workflows

There is no free trial. Contact Lever for a custom quote. While pricing is not listed on the website, it is believed to be higher than that of competitors. The pricing scales based on your team’s size and hiring needs. Add-on options are advanced employee referrals, AI interview companion, and advanced automation.

Best for All-In-One JazzHR

Cobanker review
4.4
CoBanker choice
Overview

JazzHR by Employ streamlines hiring with its small business recruiting software that manages job postings, resumes, interviews, and candidates. The applicant tracking system is specifically designed for small and growing teams. AI-powered automation allows you to eliminate manual, repetitive tasks as well as manage multiple candidates and job listings.

JazzHR is an all-in-one platform, not a stand-alone platform. Users report that the software is efficient, helpful, and easy to use. They like that texting is available as an add-on and the good integration with Calendly. Users report that it lacks essential features in several areas, including advanced reporting, searching, sound notifications, auto-correct, and offer letters.

Best for All-In-One
Price Middle
Pros
Easy to use
Efficient software with workflows and automation
Helpful templates
Texting is available as an add-on
Good integration with Calendly
Cons
Advanced reporting options and offer letters are only available with the Pro plan
The basic plan (Hero) does not include reporting, AI-powered candidate matching, task automation, or workflow helpers
Limited integrations and customization options
Users report that it lacks essential features in several areas, including advanced reporting, searching, sound notifications, auto-correct, and offer letters
  • Applicant tracking system (ATS) and automated job postings
  • Scalable for your growing business
  • Customizable workflows, interview guides, and career pages
  • AI-powered automation and instant AI-matched talent

There is a 14-day free trial. The Hero plan with basic features costs $75 per month and includes three active jobs. Additional jobs can be added for $9 per month. The Plus plan costs $269 per month and includes 200 active jobs to start and AI-powered candidate matching, task automation, and reporting. For advanced features, including the custom reports builder, visual reporting, and the offer letter generator with eSignature integration, inquire about the custom pricing for the Pro plan. Texting is available as an add-on feature.

Best for Automation Recooty

Cobanker review
4.7
CoBanker choice
Overview

Recooty is an AI recruiting software that was built for growing teams. The smart hiring automation tools, powered by AI, streamline the hiring process, quickly identify and rank the top talent, and provide over 100 integrations. Recooty ATS posts jobs, tracks and manages applicants, schedules interviews, and provides advanced reporting.

Users like that the platform is easy to use, efficient, and helpful. Users report incomplete job postings, integration problems with communication tools, and export issues. There is no mobile app, and the platform is missing some other features.

Best for Automation
Price Middle
Pros
Easy to use
Efficient and user-friendly interface
Helpful ATS
Good templates
Cons
No mobile app
Users report incomplete job postings, integration problems with communication tools, and export issues
Missing features
  • Applicant tracking system (ATS) with smart resume parsing
  • AI-powered recruiting tools with knockout questions, top matches, summaries, and scorecards
  • Interview scheduler
  • Job posting automation on 250+ sites
  • Branded career pages
  • Detailed reporting

There is a 15-day free trial. The Starter plan for occasional hiring, up to 20 employees, and five active jobs is $79 per month. The Standard plan for growing teams ranges from $149 per month to $449 per month, depending on the number of employees.  It includes unlimited active jobs and multiple locations. The premier plan for enterprise companies requires a custom quote.

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What Are the Benefits of Recruiting Software?

Recruiting software enables you to streamline the hiring process with one centralized database. Many time-consuming and repetitive manual tasks are replaced by automation and AI-powered features. From automatically posting jobs to quickly finding top talent, the best recruiting software will help you manage the recruiting process with speed and ease.

“The average job posting receives about 250 applications, but a staggering 75% of those applicants are deemed unqualified for the role.” – SparkHire

Without recruitment software, too many unqualified applicants will overwhelm businesses of all sizes. Manually sorting through a high volume of applicants is a laborious task, which makes it challenging to identify the qualified ones.

At a small business, many human resources functions may be juggled by only one person or a small department without the necessary resources for managing recruitment. While your company takes longer to manually sort through applicants, top candidates may be lost to other companies that have the resources to quickly fill positions. Your team may also lack the tools for effective internal collaboration about hiring and external communication with applicants, which is another problem some recruiting software can solve.

Recruiting software uses AI to reduce human bias. This enables a diverse candidate selection and helps employers to focus on skills-based hiring. The software also has useful templates and may help you create standardized interview questions tailored to the position.

Key Features of Recruiting Software

Recruiting software is a broad category with many subcategories and related services, including applicant tracking systems (ATS), interview scheduling, onboarding, assessments, and background checks. Comprehensive features in recruiting software include AI-powered, job posting automation, applicant tracking systems (ATS), branded career pages, resume parsing, in-depth resume scanning tools, interview scheduling, custom workflows, pipeline triggers, and reporting.

Customizable pipeline triggers are automated actions in response to specific stages in the hiring process. When a specific event occurs, a predefined action occurs. For example, when top candidates are identified, they are automatically sent an email to schedule an interview slot.

Recruiting software may have candidate scorecards, knockout questions, Chrome extensions and databases for finding passive candidates, and tracking of employee referral programs and onboarding events. Add-ons may be available for texting, AI interviews, advanced automation, assessments, offer letters, and e-signatures.

Duplicate candidate profiles are a common problem when using recruiting software. Users desire ways to remove the duplicates and combine them into one candidate profile. A few standout software options can detect and remove duplicate profiles. Users also like to be able to perform searches with advanced filters, including Boolean searches, but only certain platforms have this feature.

How To Pick Recruiting Software

The best recruiting software supports the many stages of the hiring process. With so many varying features, it is essential to start by identifying which features are most important to you. Start by focusing on the areas of the hiring process that you are most interested in improving.

What are your primary hiring challenges? Are you feeling overwhelmed by posting jobs, reviewing resumes, managing candidates, and/or scheduling interviews? Are you finding it difficult to reduce bias and increase diversity hiring? Would you like to find a way to administer assessments?

It can be helpful to pick software that was specifically designed for your company’s size, especially for small businesses. Consider the scalability, your budget, number of active jobs, passive and active candidates, AI features, integrations, reporting, data storage and security, and search capabilities.

FAQs

Recruiting software streamlines the hiring process while helping you manage active candidates and find passive candidates. Many manual and repetitive tasks are replaced with automation, including posting jobs, reviewing resumes, replying to candidates, and scheduling interviews. For small businesses with limited staff and resources, hiring software makes the recruiting process more manageable and improves the candidate experience. The AI features help to reduce bias and quickly identify top candidates.

Recruiting software is a broad category with many subcategories, including applicant tracking systems (ATS), interview scheduling, onboarding, assessments, and background checks. This article focuses primarily on comprehensive options that perform many functions either as stand-alone or all-in-one software. These features include AI-powered, job posting automation, applicant tracking systems (ATS), resume parsing, in-depth resume scanning tools, interview scheduling, and communication tools. Some standouts in specific subcategories were also included.

Pricing varies depending on the company size, employees, active jobs, candidates, and length of contract. Certain vendors clearly list monthly prices on their website and offer free trials. Others do not list prices, and employers need to get a quote. Some are available as a month-to-month plan, while others require a yearly contract. For those planning to use recruiting software intermittently, it is important to inquire about what happens to the data when you pause or cancel.