Skills over degrees – that’s the way forward for recruitment in 2026 and beyond. In fact, according to a 2026 survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, 70% of employers now use skills-based hiring, reflecting a growing shift away from relying solely on degrees.
To keep up with this hiring trend, organizations must expand their ability to hire top talent using solutions like Ashby and Lever. These human resources (HR) software help recruiters assess candidates' skills effectively and streamline processes.
Ashby is an advanced applicant tracking system (ATS) for data-driven hiring, offering robust analytics, automation, and customizable workflows. Lever, on the other hand, combines ATS and customer relationship management (CRM) features, enabling seamless collaboration and proactive talent sourcing.
This Ashby vs Lever guide will help you choose the right software by comparing its essential features, pros and cons, and functionalities in detail.
Ashby Vs Lever: At A Glance
Features
Ashby
Lever
Sourcing
Integrated sourcing CRM with unified pipeline
Multi-channel proactive sourcing and engagement tools
Pre-built dashboards for simplified hiring insights
Scheduling
Customizable interview scheduling with workflow automation
Simplified self-serve interview scheduling via availability links
Integrations
API-first extensible integrations with deep workflow automation
ATS-centric marketplace with standardized recruiting integrations
AI Capabilities
End-to-end embedded AI across unified recruiting data
Workflow-specific AI assistants for interviewing and screening
Pricing
Starting from $300/month for 1-10 employees
Ranges between $5,000 to $1,40,000/year
Disclaimer: Pricing references are based on publicly available third-party information and industry benchmarks. Actual costs may vary.
What Is Ashby?
Ashby is an all-in-one recruiting solution that helps organizations streamline and improve hiring processes. It offers tools for scheduling, candidate relationship management, automation, and analytics, allowing employers to easily source and hire top talent. With customers like Notion and Shopify, the platform is ideal for small to large-sized companies due to its scalability. Furthermore, Ashby’s new AI-powered report interpretations show a commitment to continuous improvement. The feature turns complex data into clear, easy-to-understand insights, helping teams make faster, smarter decisions.
Ashby also follows strong, industry-standard security practices. It is SOC 2 Type II compliant with annual audits and aligns with global frameworks like the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, while also using encryption, strict access controls, and regular third-party testing to protect data.
Standout Features Of Ashby
Sourcing Forms: Allows recruiters to gather candidate data using detailed forms and submit leads directly into the system
Interviewer Feedback Form: Enables interviewers to fill out a feedback form as soon as they have conducted an interview, ensuring they record an accurate candidate assessment
Interviewer Swapping: Automatically swaps an interviewer if they are unable to show up due to any reason, ensuring all interviews are conducted as planned
Advanced Approval Workflows: Sets up customizable approval flows for jobs with conditional logic and flexible dynamic or static approvers based on defined fields
Custom Interview Plans: Helps pre-configure interview stages and structure to standardize the hiring process. This helps teams save time and ensures a more consistent experience for every candidate
Pros And Cons Of Ashby
Pros
Structured interviews help provide a positive, consistent candidate experience
Its powerful analytics tools help visualize data and generate reports, assisting in making better hiring decisions
Allows managers to set custom alerts, ensuring everyone is updated on the ongoing recruitment process
Cons
The platform can be overwhelming for new users due to the extensive range of features it offers
Although its reporting tools are flexible, some reports have limited options for customizability
What Is Lever?
Lever ATS, a product of Employ Inc. is a modern talent acquisition platform built to simplify hiring from start to finish. Trusted by over 5,000+ companies globally, it brings applicant tracking and candidate relationship management together in one system. From sourcing to engagement and hiring, teams can manage the entire candidate lifecycle within a single workflow. It also supports structured hiring with tools for collaboration, interview coordination, and automated processes that reduce manual effort.
It also transforms hiring data into actionable insights. Its reporting and analytics capabilities help teams understand bottlenecks, measure pipeline health, and refine hiring decisions over time.
All in all, with these functionalities, Lever helps organizations build stronger talent pipelines and create a more efficient hiring experience.
Standout Features Of Lever
LinkedIn - Apply Connect: Allows recruiters to publish and sync jobs to LinkedIn while enabling applicants to easily apply for jobs
Applicant Screening: Empowers employers to screen potential candidates based on their background
DEI Tracking and Insights: Enables equitable hiring by collecting, tracking, and analyzing diversity data across the recruitment funnel to continuously improve inclusion and reduce bias
TCPA-Compliant Communication Controls: Helps organizations stay compliant with consumer communication laws by enabling scheduled messaging and opt-out options tailored to candidate engagement preferences
Recruitment Marketing: Attracts and engages talent early in the hiring journey by strengthening the employer brand and delivering personalized campaigns across channels
Pros And Cons Of Lever
Pros
Tracking recruitment metrics is easy thanks to its intuitive tracking tools
Managers can upload an unlimited number of resumes and documents into the system
The LinkedIn integration is extremely helpful as it helps import candidates easily to the platform
Cons
The software takes a while to load and lags sometimes
It opens different tabs for different operations, which could be confusing for some users
Ashby Vs Lever – Key Features Comparison
Sourcing
Ashby’s sourcing and CRM capabilities help teams build and manage talent pipelines directly within the recruiting workflow. It allows recruiters to source candidates using a Chrome extension and add them instantly to the database. Outreach can then be managed through personalized sequences from the same platform. This keeps communication consistent and reduces the need to switch between tools.
Multi-channel engagement and structured talent pools help teams maintain long-term relationships with candidates.
Lever’s sourcing capabilities are built around enabling recruiters to identify and engage talent through multiple proactive channels, rather than relying only on inbound applications.
The platform supports automated sourcing from external networks, talent pools, and integrated outreach tools, like JobTarget and LinkedIn Apply Connect, allowing teams to discover candidates beyond traditional job postings. It also helps organize and centralize candidate pipelines for easier tracking and follow-up. With built-in communication features, recruiters can directly engage prospects, personalize outreach, and nurture relationships efficiently throughout the hiring process.
Winner: Ashby stands out with a more integrated, workflow-driven sourcing approach that clearly connects candidate discovery, database management, and outreach in one seamless system.
Reporting And Analytics
Ashby’s recruiting analytics provides real-time visibility across the entire hiring funnel with highly flexible reporting. It includes a self-serve report builder that allows teams to explore ATS data without external tools. Applying filters users can create custom dashboards and drill into granular hiring data for deeper insights.
Calculated fields and configurable dashboards help track performance trends across roles, teams, and stages. It also enables alerts and DEI-focused tracking insights capabilities.
Lever’s recruitment analytics delivers centralized dashboards that provide end-to-end pipeline visibility across hiring stages. It helps teams monitor core metrics like conversion rates and pipeline progression using structured reporting views.
The platform emphasizes ease of use, offering pre-built reports that make performance tracking straightforward for recruiters. It prioritizes usability over deep configuration, enabling faster interpretation of results, though with less advanced customization than more flexible analytics platforms like Ashby.
Winner: Ashby wins for its more real-time and highly customizable analytics compared to Lever’s simpler, pre-built reporting dashboards.
Scheduling
Ashby’s scheduling capabilities emphasize highly configurable scheduling workflows for complex hiring needs. It supports structured interview plans with flexible rules for coordinating multiple interviewers and stages. The system is designed to automate scheduling logic while allowing teams to tailor setups for different roles.
It also enables tracking and building interviewer pools through structured stages like shadows and reverse shadows. Additionally, native calendar holds allow recruiters to reserve time on busy calendars during scheduling, ensuring smoother coordination and fewer scheduling conflicts.
Lever’s scheduling capabilities focus on simplifying interview coordination directly within the ATS. It allows recruiters to create and share interview availability with candidates using scheduling links, removing the need for back-and-forth emails.
Candidates can self-select time slots based on synced interviewer calendars. Once booked, interviews are automatically confirmed and reflected in the system. This keeps scheduling closely tied to candidate records and ensures updates flow through the hiring pipeline efficiently and consistently.
Winner: Lever wins for its simpler, faster, and more seamless candidate self-scheduling experience that reduces coordination effort and keeps the workflow tightly integrated within the ATS.
Integrations
Ashby offers 200+ out-of-the-box integrations across sourcing, interviewing, analytics, and post-hire tools. It also enables deeper extensibility through its open API, allowing custom workflows and multi-system automation. Some of the platforms it integrates with are:
Slack software
Zapier software
Google Workspace
Lever’s integration ecosystem is designed around a tightly structured ATS-centric marketplace. It provides categorized integrations spanning job boards, HRIS platforms, scheduling, assessments, and sourcing tools, all managed through a centralized integration framework in its Help Center. This structure emphasizes standardized workflows and broad compatibility across common recruiting systems. Some of the integrations are as follows:
LinkedIn
Indeed
UKG
Winner: It's a tie, as both Ashby and Lever offer reliable integrations for streamlining workflows and enhancing recruiting efforts.
AI Capabilities
Ashby’s AI capabilities focus on embedding intelligence across the entire recruiting lifecycle, rather than isolated point solutions. Its AI helps teams generate candidate insights, summarize feedback, and build reports using natural language, all grounded in unified ATS data.
It also emphasizes assistive workflows like AI-generated filters, content creation, and structured interview support. A key differentiator is its tightly integrated data layer, which allows AI to operate across sourcing, scheduling, and analytics without fragmented systems.
Lever’s AI suite is modular and focused on specific recruiting workflows, particularly interviewing and screening. The ‘AI Interview Companion’ automates interview transcription and generates structured summaries, helping standardize feedback collection and improve consistency in hiring decisions.
The ‘AI Screening Companion’ adds early-funnel intelligence by surfacing candidate fit insights, identifying at-risk candidates through loss risk signals, and helping recruiters prioritize talent more effectively. Together, these tools act as workflow-specific AI assistants within Lever’s broader recruiting platform, enhancing key stages of hiring rather than functioning as a single end-to-end autonomous system.
Winner: Ashby stands out for its truly end-to-end, unified AI across sourcing, scheduling, and analytics.
Ashby Vs Lever: Pricing Comparison
Ashby Pricing
Ashby offers a starting price of $300/month (for 1-10 employees, with support for up to 100 employees) for its All-In-One Foundations Plan. Other custom-priced plans are:
All-In-One Plus Plan (Supports 101-1,000 employees)
All-In-One Enterprise Plan (Supports 1,000+ employees)
Ashby Analytics For your existing ATS (Supports 100+ employees)
Add-on features, including AI Notetaker and Advanced Scheduling, are also available.
Disclaimer: The pricing is subject to change.
Lever Pricing
Lever’s pricing generally ranges between $5,000 to $1,40,000/year. The final cost of the core plan depends on the features selected and number of users. Add-ons, including Onboarding, AI interview companion and Advanced Automation, are also offered.
Disclaimer: Pricing references are based on publicly available third-party information and industry benchmarks. Actual costs may vary.
Final Verdict – Which HR Software Is Better?
By comparing Ashby vs Lever side by side, we can see that both are great software for supporting an organization's recruitment efforts. However, subtle differences should be considered while selecting the right one, and we highly recommend you consult an expert for that.
As a general guide, Ashby could be better for companies looking for their first large-scale ATS, as it offers a free trial. On the other hand, Lever is a good option for businesses that want detailed reporting and analytics capabilities, thanks to its features like ‘Data Explorer’ and custom dashboards.
Stay Ahead of the Curve
Get expert insights delivered to your inbox
Stay Ahead of the Curve
Get expert insights delivered to your inbox
Need Help Deciding?
Our team of experts will give you a list of software that fits your budget and business needs.
