Top 13 Free Recruitment Software Options for Hiring on a Budget

Whether you’re a small business owner looking to fill a few key roles or a bustling corporation on the hunt for fresh talent, recruitment software can be your secret weapon. These digital tools streamline the hiring process, making it easy to find, evaluate, and hire the right candidates. 

Recruiting can be pricey, and the fear of racking up costs often deters companies from using recruitment software, despite its significant benefits like reducing the time-to-hire and improving the overall quality of hires.

That’s where this guide comes in. We’ve sifted through the noise to bring you the 13 best free recruitment software options, ranging from open-source software to free plans of some major players, each with its own strengths and specialties. We’ve analyzed the ease of use, features, and whom each platform is best suited for. By the end of this article, you’ll have enough information to choose the right recruitment software for your needs, without breaking the bank. 

What To Look for in Free Recruitment Software

When exploring free recruiting software, it’s essential to understand that “free” may come with certain caveats and limitations. These could range from a lack of advanced or even basic features, like interview management and CRM capabilities, to restrictions on the number of job postings or users. 

Different types of recruitment software offer varying key features. For instance, Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) help you manage job postings and candidate data, and video interview platforms streamline the interview process.

In this overview, we will cross-compare the best available free recruitment tools based on the following criteria:

1. Features
2. Ease of use
3. Integrations
4. Customization
5. Customer support

Why Is Workello the Best Choice for Hiring on a Budget?

Workello stands out as the best choice for cost-effective recruitment, thanks to the comprehensive feature set available on the platform’s Free Forever plan. These features include customizable job description templates, unique application link generation for posting your job ad on online job boards, social networks, or elsewhere, and role-specific pre-hire assessments. This ensures that only qualified candidates are moved down the hiring funnel, thus saving resources and reducing hiring costs by 50% to 75%.

Workello’s built-in pre-hire assessments help you speed up hiring by reducing the time spent on screening unqualified candidates. Before you even interview a candidate, you already know they have the necessary skills and experience for the position. Unlimited assessments can be sent, but only 1 can be reviewed under the free plan.

Source: Workello

Workello’s unified dashboard consolidates all candidate information, regardless of the platform they applied through, simplifying candidate tracking. 

With a user-friendly interface and intuitive design, updating a candidate’s status in Workello is as simple as clicking a button, and by doing that, you can automatically:

1. Send assessments 
2. Reject candidates
3. Invite candidates to interviews
4. Extend job offers 

Workello provides dedicated customer support, including sourcing advisors who can guide you on the best places to post your ads.

Below is a summary table outlining the key characteristics of Workello:

Sign up for Workello to experience efficient, cost-effective recruitment at your fingertips.

1) OpenCATS

OpenCATS is a unique, free, open-source ATS that can be installed through a web-based browser, a local network, or directly on your local computer. These are the key features of OpenCATS:

1. Applicant storage and tracking tools, providing a comprehensive database
2. Skills-based tagging, enabling efficient sorting and searching through applicant profiles
3. A built-in calendar system for scheduling and tracking recruitment-related events
4. Reporting capabilities, including support for Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) reporting
5. Built-in email functions for direct communication with candidates
6. A notification system to keep you updated on all recruitment activities

Source: OpenCATS

Being open-source software, OpenCATS stands out for its high customizability, including custom integration with almost any software. However, this requires a certain level of technical skill. also implies a requirement for technical competency. Installation and integration take time and effort, but once it’s all set, the platform is easy to use thanks to its intuitive user interface.

OpenCATS does not provide customer service, and users needing assistance must rely on online communities and their own research. You won’t find much information about the platform outside of the OpenCATS forums. Despite this limitation, it is an excellent choice for tech-savvy businesses or those with strong IT support. 

2) SmartStart

SmartStart, the free version of SmartRecruiters, is a standout choice for businesses with a smaller recruitment volume but with growth in their sights. SmartRecruiters is known for its expertise in high-volume recruiting catered towards large and expanding organizations. In 2017, they launched a free version of their software called SmartStart, specifically designed for businesses with up to 250 employees. 

Its strongest suit is its ability to accommodate an unlimited number of users and candidates, enabling you to effortlessly track, manage, and email applicants. With automated multiposting, you can post jobs in one click to Google, Indeed, Linkedin, and over 200 job boards. Here are the rest of its key features:

1. Transparent progress tracking
2. Scheduling tools
3. Customizable interview scorecards
4. Collaborative response and review sharing
5. Mobile-optimized career site

Source: SmartRecruiters

Scalability is where SmartStart truly shines. As your company expands, you can seamlessly pay for an upgrade to access additional features, supporting your business’s growth over time. 

This platform is praised for its ease of use and excellent customer support, which is available via email on the free plan. Additionally, hiring teams get access to SmartRecruiters Hiring App for Android and iOS. 

An important limitation, however, is the cap on job listings at any one time, which is set at 10. Additionally, integrations with other apps are only available with a paid plan.   

3) Breezy

Breezy’s free Bootstrap plan is tailor-made for small and medium businesses (SMBs) with occasional hiring needs. Its simplicity, ease of setup, and user-friendly interface make it an efficient tool that allows you to focus more on hiring and less on navigating complex software.

Here is a list of Bootstrap’s key features:

1. Automated multiposting to over 50 job boards
2. GDPR compliance
3. Parsing resumes written in 20 languages; all parsed resumes are searchable
4. Mobile-friendly branded careers page

Source: Breezy

Breezy’s Bootstrap includes unlimited users, the possibility to configure the platform and your careers page in multiple languages, and customer support via email. Additionally, users have access to an online knowledge base, video tutorials, and weekly webinars. 

However, the free plan only services one active job opening and one candidate pool at a time. To manage multiple active positions, you’d need to close or archive an existing active listing. This might pose a limitation for businesses with more frequent or concurrent hiring needs. Additionally, users have complained about the lack of workflow customization in the free plan. You will need to upgrade to a paid plan to access information about candidates who applied more than 30 days ago.  candidates older than 30 days. Software integrations are only available with paid plans.

4) Recooty

Recooty’s Free plan offers an appealing user-friendly entry point for small businesses or individual recruiters looking to streamline their hiring process. This plan is distinct for not requiring credit card details, a benefit that must be taken into account when choosing free software. If you’re hesitant to provide credit card details for a free plan, whether due to unexpected charges or data security concerns, Recooty removes that barrier, offering users peace of mind. These are key features of Recooty’s Free plan:

1. Automated multiposting across 500 free and premium job boards such as Indeed, Careerjet, and ZipRecruiter with a single click
2. Social networks sharing
3. Unlimited applications 
4. Applicant tracking
5. Candidate database 
6. Customized careers page

Source: Recooty

The “pipeline” applicant tracking feature provides a visual representation of each candidate’s progress in the hiring process, with the ability to add notes on each applicant. This could prove invaluable for later shortlisting of potential great fits.

Recooty’s free plan offers a solid base for small businesses to manage their recruitment process effectively and economically, with access to both chat and email support for any issues or queries. However, it does have a few limitations. Firstly, it permits only one active user, making it unsuitable for larger companies. It’s also limited to one active job slot and one location, and it is not very customizable. Lastly, while it integrates with Slack and LinkedIn, the software’s sparse app integrations could be a hindrance for some.

5) myInterview

myInterview is a scalable and user-friendly platform for organizations that want to include video interviews in their recruitment process. It has plans suitable for both small businesses and larger firms looking for flexibility without a long-term contract. 

The Starter plan is free forever, and users can upgrade to a paid plan whenever they need more options or downgrade when their needs are more basic. Here are the key features of the Starter plan:

1. On-demand (asynchronous) video interviews (upgrade is needed for live interviews)
2. Accessibility and adjustable time limits for candidates
3. The option for question retakes and both open and hidden questions
4. Multilingual candidate experience
5. Kanban board, candidate sharing, rating, and comments for efficient applicant tracking
6. Comprehensive analytics
7. Full GDPR compliance to ensure data protection

Source: myInterview

The Starter plan allows only 1 active job post, 2 users, and 10 candidates per month, along with 100 SMS invites. Businesses with larger hiring needs may find this restrictive.

Additionally, integrations with other applications and customer support are only available with a paid plan, which may be a problem because users have reported occasional technical glitches.

6) Jobsoid

Jobsoid’s free Beginner plan is an efficient yet affordable choice for startups and small businesses stepping into the recruitment space. The plan, although limited to 1 user and 1 job posting, still packs a punch with a variety of features:

1. Access to iOS and Android mobile apps
2. Privacy and security features to protect your recruitment data
3. A branded careers portal to enhance your organization’s brand image
4. Automated multiposting 
5. A Chrome sourcing plugin
6. Custom fields and customizable workflow to tailor the software to your needs
7. Interview scheduling and task management features to organize your recruitment process
8. Automated tasks and actions on stages to eliminate manual work
9. Custom email and SMS templates for personalized communication

Source: Jobsoid

Jobsoid’s Beginner plan offers a user-friendly way to simplify the recruitment process without breaking the bank. However, the plan is not without its limitations. The absence of a resume parser may hinder the recruitment process. This feature is available only in paid versions, and so are HR software integrations. Additionally, the lack of customer support for free users could pose challenges in navigating the software and troubleshooting issues. 

7) Zoho Recruit 

Zoho Recruit’s free plan is a handy resource for anyone looking to hire, whether you’re a large company or a small business. This plan gives you plenty of useful features, such as:

1. Automated multiposting on free job boards
2. Basic candidate management tools
3. 5 customizable email templates for candidate communication
4. Support for 26 languages, catering to international companies
5. Resume tagging with up to 50 terms
6. Interview scheduling
7. A career page 

Source: Zoho Recruit

Once you get used to the abundance of features, this platform is actually pretty easy to use. Customer support is available by email, phone, or chat, but only 5 days a week, so there have been complaints about wait times to get a response. 

As with most free plans, there are some limitations to keep in mind. Zoho Recruit’s free plan only allows for one active job listing and one candidate/contact form. Furthermore, essential features such as resume parsing, mass email capabilities, analytics, and reporting are locked behind paid plans. Integration with Zapier is the only one included in the free plan. However, Zapier itself can connect with numerous other apps, potentially expanding the platform’s integration capabilities. 

8) MightyRecruiter

MightyRecruiter is a free ATS, originally a paid ATS, waived most of its fees in 2017. Despite the free entry point, Now this platform offers an array of features for free:

1. Customizable job description templates
2. Customizable workflow
3. Automated multiposting on 29 job boards, as well as Facebook and LinkedIn
4. A powerful resume database of over 20 million entries
5. Candidate matching
6. An option to build a careers website without coding

Source: MightyRecruiter

However, MightyRecruiter has a catch – it’s not entirely free as advertised. The full resume of a candidate from the resume database, including contact information, is hidden behind a paywall, which means you have to contact customer support (available by email, phone, and chat) to upgrade your plan. Additionally, the ATS covers basic needs but lacks depth in detail, and further integrations or functionalities come at an extra cost. 

In conclusion, MightyRecruiter’s free ATS is a decent starting point but be prepared to shell out for more advanced features and functionalities.

Additional 5 free recruiting tools

Here’s a quick glance at 5 more free online recruitment software options to enhance your hiring process.

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