Recruiting agencies work in an environment that is defined by volume, competition, and a continued demand for high-quality talent. Whether you're handling a roster full of clients or undertaking niche executive searches, an efficient applicant tracking system (ATS) supports your workflow.

These software solutions do more than just store resumes; they centralize talent sourcing, regulate communication, and offer statistics to help hiring managers make better decisions. According to Recruit CRM platform, 93% of recruitment professionals say that working with an ATS has improved their hiring processes since teams can now offload repetitive operations and minimize human errors.

For recruiting agencies, the benefits are more than just convenience. A quality ATS supports talent pipeline management between different industries, increases recruiter collaboration, and offers measurable visibility into every hiring stage. They lead to faster placements, improved candidate experiences, and better client relations.

This article covers the top nine ATS software tools created for recruitment agencies in mind. We will be reviewing each tool's feature depth, pricing info, and benefits and disadvantages, to assist you with selecting a system that is most compatible with your company’s size, objectives, and recruitment needs.

Nine Best ATS Software For Recruitment Agencies: At A Glance

Software 

Our Rating 

Main Features 

Pricing 

Bullhorn

3.7/5

  • Unified ATS/CRM Platform 
  • Streamlined Onboarding Processes 
  • Recruitment Automation Capabilities 
  • Advanced Reporting And Analytics Tools 

Starts from $99

iCIMS

4.3/5 

  • Enterprise Applicant Tracking System 
  • Integrated Candidate Relationship Management 
  • ICIMS Employer Branding And Career Site Solution 
  • Streamlined Onboarding Management 

Starts from $9,000/year

Greenhouse 

4.4/5

  • AI-powered Recruiting Tools 
  • Unified Onboarding Experience 
  • Advanced Reporting And Insights 
  • Scalable Recruitment Workflows 

Custom Pricing

SmartRecruiters

N/A

  • Integrated CRM 
  • AI-Powered Applicant Tracking System 
  • Dynamic Interview Scheduling 
  • Seamless New Hire Onboarding 

Starts from $14,995

Zoho Recruit 

4.8/5

  • Multi-Channel Candidate Sourcing 
  • Advanced Resume Parsing And Management 
  • Predictive Hiring Analytics 
  • AI-Powered Candidate Engagement 

Starts from $30/user/month

Ceipal 

4.7/5

  • AI-Powered Applicant Tracking 
  • Ceipal AI Copilot 
  • Workforce Management System 
  • AI-Enhanced Vendor Management System 

Custom Pricing

Breezy HR 

4.8/5

  • Multi-Channel Job Advertising 
  • Employee Referrals Management 
  • Visual Candidate Pipeline Management 
  • Automated New Hire Onboarding 

Starts from $99/month

Ashby 

N/A

  • Comprehensive Applicant Tracking System 
  • Dynamic Interview Scheduling 
  • Integrated Candidate Relationship Management 
  • Actionable Hiring Analytics 

Starts from $300/month (1-10 employees)

Workable ATS 

4.4/5

  • Multi-Channel Candidate Sourcing 
  • Customizable Career Page Builder 
  • Centralized Candidate Database Management 
  • Structured Employee Referrals Program  

Starts from $360/month

Disclaimer: The pricing is subject to change. 

1. Bullhorn

Best for:  Boosting recruiter performance for staffing agencies  

Our Ratings: 3.7/5 

Free Trial: 14-day free trial available 

Bullhorn CRM is a staffing and recruitment software with over 25 years of industry experience and a global customer base. It stands out as an all-in-one solution that combines modules for Customer Relationship Management (CRM), application tracking, and staff management.  

Customers appreciate its AI-powered insights that help recruiting teams make critical decisions during the hiring process. Additionally, its mobile functionality is incredibly intuitive, which helps speed up recruiter responsiveness. 

Salient Features

  • AI Recruitment Assistant: Allows users to automate candidate sourcing, screening, and communication processes with the help of targeted messages, profile summaries, and candidate ranking features.
  • Advanced Candidate Matching: Ranks candidates using factors like skill set, experience, and location. Recruiters can use these AI-assisted features to quickly identify the best candidates for any given post.
  • Candidate Sourcing And Engagement: Handles candidate outreach, tracks interactions, and maintains uninterrupted communication. This results in a better experience for recruiters and applicants.

Pricing

  • ATS / CRM:  Starting at $99/month 
  • Front Office Enterprise: Custom Pricing 
  • Bullhorn One: Custom Pricing 
  • Recruitment Cloud ATS: Custom Pricing 
  • Recruitment Cloud Front Office: Custom Pricing 
  • Recruitment Cloud Workforce Edition: Custom Pricing  
  • Recruitment Cloud 360: Custom Pricing 

Disclaimer: The pricing is subject to change. 

Pros And Cons

Pros

Cons

Connects recruiters with an extensive network of job boards

Monitors recruiter activity and candidate engagement across multiple pipelines

Allows customizable admin-level permissions for access management

Customer support involves multiple steps before receiving relevant assistance

Uploaded resumes frequently lose formatting and appear as a single block of text

2. iCIMS

Best For: Enterprise-grade AI recruiting and branding   

Ratings: 4.3/5  

Free Trial: Not available 

iCIMS is a comprehensive applicant tracking solution that goes beyond standard talent acquisition. This end-to-end solution allows recruiters to manage the entire new-hire lifecycle from job postings to employee onboarding. The process is facilitated using candidate relationship management, AI-powered sourcing, onboarding tools, and employer branding features. 

With customizable career sites, iCIMS software assists companies in showcasing their culture and attracting applicants who share the same values. Real-time analytics provide insights into challenges faced by the hiring teams. This helps recruitment managers handle hiring tasks and minimize time-to-hire.  

Salient Features

  • Text Recruiting Software: Helps recruiters engage with candidates via SMS, WhatsApp, and Messenger. The automatic communications, interview scheduling, and multilingual support make communication easier while keeping candidates interested and well-informed.
  • Career Sites: Encourages employers to develop branded, mobile-friendly career sites with AI job suggestions. The customizable templates and analytics help increase candidate engagement and smoothen out applications.
  • Recruitment Chatbots: Engages candidates via SMS, web chat, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger. It automates frequently asked questions, job matching, and interview scheduling to improve candidate experience and hiring productivity.

Pricing

iCIMS provides customizable pricing that is suitable for businesses of different sizes and hiring needs. Plans scale based on features and deployment options. This allows companies to select a package that meets their hiring goals. 

  • 1 - 100 employees: $9,000  
  • 101 - 250 employees: $11,500  
  • 251 - 500 employees: $15,000  
  • 501 - 1000 employees: $24,000  
  • 1000 - 2500 employees: $55,000  
  • 2500 - 5000 employees: $80,000 
  • 5000+ employees: $140,000 and Up 

Disclaimer: The pricing is sourced from third-party websites and is subject to change.  

Pros And Cons

Pros

Cons

Strong auditing and record-keeping capabilities to ensure compliance and traceability

Users appreciate the highly customizable reporting function

Efficient record-keeping throughout the hiring process

Sometimes the user experience declines while dealing with large data sets

The advertised customizations may not match the delivered features

3. Greenhouse

Best For: Structured mid-market and enterprise hiring  

Our Ratings: 4.4/5 

Free Trial: Not available 

Greenhouse software provides an organized system to staffing agencies for managing hiring activities, like candidate sourcing and interviewing. Its main strength lies in assisting teams in getting consistency and transparency via structured interview kits, detailed scorecards, and automatic scheduling that cuts down on potential communication delays. 

Its real-time analytics lets recruiters monitor employee performance and the efficacy of DE&I measures and use those insights to improve their hiring approach. Greenhouse, with 400+ integrations and open API, easily fits into all types of existing workflows. This leads to a faster and more open hiring process.  

Salient Features

  • Talent Sourcing: Helps businesses develop a strong talent pipeline by advertising job openings on over 1,000 job boards. It also helps teams collect accurate contact information and engage candidates through automatic outreach campaigns.
  • Candidate Experience: Provides applicants with a smooth, engaging journey, including easy applications, automated updates, self-scheduling interviews, and integrated assessments. This guarantees transparency and a positive hiring experience.
  • Interviewing And Decision Making: Makes hiring easier by standardizing interview processes. It offers structured feedback and encourages collaboration between hiring teams. It improves candidate assessment, lowers bias, and supports better decisions.

Pricing

Greenhouse has flexible pricing tiers to accommodate companies of all sizes. Its plans expand with your organization, offering personalized solutions to suit your changing hiring needs. 

  • Essentials: Custom Pricing 
  • Advanced: Custom Pricing 
  • Expert: Custom pricing 

Disclaimer: The pricing is subject to change.  

Pros And Cons

Pros

Cons

The intuitive interface makes navigating recruitment tasks much faster

Automated workflows reduce the need for recruiters to manually work across pipelines

Structured interview kits ensure consistency among hiring teams

The mobile app lacks many advanced desktop features

The candidate search and resume filtering capabilities can be limited

4. SmartRecruiters

Best For:   Increasing productivity and fostering team collaboration  

Our Ratings: N/A 

Free Trial: Not available 

SmartRecruiters is a collaborative platform that helps companies manage high-volume hiring. The platform unites AI-powered automation with built-in communication tools, to let recruiters screen, schedule, and evaluate candidates more quickly. Managers can use the Hiring Team Collaboration feature to share notes, rate candidates, and give feedback in real time, so that everyone is on the same page when making hiring decisions. 

The platform also supports branded career sites, multi-channel job posting, and analytics dashboards that track each stage of the hiring pipeline. This allows companies to maintain transparency and provide a smooth experience for recruiters and candidates. 

Salient Features

  • Job Ad Distribution: Lets you publish job opportunities to thousands of job boards at once. This helps increase reach and attract more candidates while saving time on manual posting tasks.
  • AI-Powered Candidate Screening/Winston Screen: Develops job-specific screening questions, evaluates candidate responses, and automatically ranks them in a shortlist. This approach eliminates up to 75% of manual screening.
  • Offer Management: Assists recruiters with developing, approving, and sending job offers, while keeping candidates engaged and speeding up approvals to provide a smooth hiring process for both hiring teams and applicants.

Pricing

SmartRecruiters provides many pricing plans that are suited to your company's hiring needs. Whether you're an upcoming startup or an established business, their packages have the capacity to grow with your company. 

  • Essential: From $14,995/year 
  • Professional: Custom Pricing  
  • High Volume: Custom Pricing  
  • Complete: Custom Pricing 

Disclaimer: The pricing is subject to change. 

Pros And Cons

Pros

Cons

A wide range of integrations between job boards and tools

The candidate management interface clearly organizes profiles, communication, and activities

A dynamic visual representation for each workflow steps and requisition for the offer process

The scorecard setup requires extensive manual configuration

Screen-question management lacks an intuitive bulk editing feature

5. Zoho Recruit

Best For: Staffing agencies and internal HR teams 

Our Ratings: 4.8/5 

Free Trial: 15-day free trial available 

Zoho Recruit facilitates hiring by combining solid candidate sourcing, resume parsing, and workflow automation under one platform. Zia, the AI assistant, examines job applicants and ranks them on the basis of job requirements. This allows recruiters to prioritize the most suitable candidates.  

The tool automatically collects profiles by using resources, like Resume Inbox, and turns them into an organized database for better candidate tracking. Hiring teams can post job openings on various platforms, arrange interviews, and track performance with visual dashboards. All of this gives them control over each stage of hiring.  

Salient Features

  • Social Recruiting: Allows you to post job openings on LinkedIn, Twitter, and other job boards. This helps expand your talent pool and organize applications with an integrated “Apply with LinkedIn” option.
  • Background Screening: Integrates with top suppliers like Checkr, HireRight, and Accurate Background to provide extensive checks (including identity verification and criminal background) within 48 hours for safer hiring.
  • Hiring Pipeline: Shows a visual display of each candidate's journey, from screening to hiring. It lets you customize stages, color-code candidates, and track their progress across different job vacancies.

Pricing

Zoho Recruit offers different price plans that suit organizations of all sizes and their recruitment needs. Each plan provides users with basic capabilities helping teams to speed up hiring and evolve with changing demands. 

  • Free: $0/month 
  • Standard: $30/user/month 
  • Professional: $60/user/month 
  • Enterprise: $90/user/month 

Disclaimer: The pricing is subject to change.  

Pros And Cons

Pros

Cons

Workflows are easy to customize and suit various hiring processes

Strong automated resume screening and automation features save recruiters a significant amount of time

Solid tracking features, including email and calendar synchronization options

Pipeline management platforms could be more visual

Reports and analytics are more limited in the standard edition

6. Ceipal

Best For: Global AI employee sourcing and shortlisting  

Our Ratings: 4.7/5 

Free Trial: Yes, available 

Ceipal manages the recruiting and labor management processes for staffing agencies and business organizations. It incorporates features, like resume parsing, AI-driven applicant matching, and passive candidate sourcing. The platform smoothly integrates with over 50 job boards and VMS portals to simplify the process of finding suitable candidates and publishing jobs. 

Ceipal Workforce also offers advanced tools for timesheet management, invoicing, and tracking compliance, to guarantee a smooth workflow from hiring to payroll.

Salient Features

  • AI-Enhanced Recruitment: Employs intelligent agents that automate processes, optimize job ads, and efficiently match candidates. It frees up recruiters to prioritize meaningful engagement and make faster, data-driven hiring decisions.
  • Intelligent Employee Management: Centralizes employee data, automates onboarding, timesheets, and compliance reminders, while streamlining communication. This allows HR teams to manage their staff more efficiently.
  • Workflow Optimization: Simplifies shift scheduling, cost sheet setups, and talent assessments to enhance compliance and improve efficiency throughout the hiring process.

Pricing

Ceipal does not provide detailed pricing information on their official site. Users can contact the support staff or request a demo to get custom pricing based on team size, feature requirements, and recruitment needs. This enables Ceipal to personalize solutions for diverse enterprises, ensuring that clients only pay for the features and services that are relevant to their hiring needs. 

Disclaimer: The pricing is subject to change. 

Pros And Cons

Pros

Cons

Integrated search retrieves candidate profiles from various job boards

Effective candidate tracking and pipeline management throughout the hiring process

Excellent reporting dashboards to displays metrics like sources and time-to-hire

Sometimes, the system slows down during operations involving large data sets

Integrations between job boards and LinkedIn do not always fully sync

7. Breezy HR

Best For: Efficient and user-friendly applicant tracking 

Ratings: 4.8/5 

Free Trial: 14-day free trial 

Breezy HR manages the entire recruitment process into a visually organized system. Its drag-and-drop pipeline helps recruiters to conveniently monitor every stage. The built-in automation tools manage regular activities, like interview scheduling and follow-ups. The team members can leave feedback on candidate profiles resulting in a clear and open hiring and leaves no chance of miscommunication. 

From job advertising to candidate outreach and onboarding, Breezy HR tries to help recruiters spend less time on manual processes and more time finding the right people for each open position. 

Salient Features

  • Breezy Intelligence: Uses AI to speed up the candidate screening process by scoring candidates based on job matches and their qualifications. It also flags fake or low-quality resumes, allowing you to focus only on qualified individuals.
  • Collaborative Hiring: Allows your team to talk openly about candidates in one place. You can compare feedback, assign responsibilities, and hold collaborative discussions within the tool to ensure everyone is on the same page.
  • Interview Tools: Simplifies scheduling, video interviews, and feedback collection in a single system. This allows teams to plan and maintain a consistent, efficient interview process for both candidates and recruiters.

Pricing

Breezy HR has a simple price system that can work for enterprises of all sizes. The plans are as follows. 

  • Bootstrap: Free  
  • Startup: $189/month  
  • Growth: $329/month  
  • Business: $529/month  

Disclaimer: The pricing is subject to change. 

Pros And Cons

Pros

Cons

Easy drag-and-drop candidate pipelines that make the hiring process more efficient

Built-in career site templates and job-board posting capabilities

Useful team scorecards help to standardize feedback across evaluators

Advanced reporting tools appear to be limited for complex insights

Job postings might need to be manually reviewed before they can be published

8. Ashby

Best For: Increasing hiring team’s productivity  

Our Ratings: N/A 

Free Trial: Not available 

Ashby is a modern recruitment platform that simplifies and speeds up the hiring process. It integrates applicant tracking, candidate relationship management, analytics, and scheduling into a single streamlined solution. 

With the software’s built-in data analytics and structured workflows, Ashby helps teams make decisions on the basis of measurable results, instead of their intuition. Recruiters can monitor each stage of hiring, coordinate feedback in real time, and have clear communication with candidates on the platform. 

Salient Features

  • Talent Pool Management: Empowers recruiters to organize, segment, and engage passive applicants for future job openings. It centralizes sourcing efforts, allowing teams to nurture qualified individuals while easily revisiting strong past applicants.
  • Interview Calibration: Helps hiring teams align assessment standards early in the process. It uses AI-assisted summaries of interviewer feedback and structured debriefs to ensure that everyone understands the candidate’s strengths, weak points, and discussion topics before making a final decision.
  • Headcount Planning: Allows talent acquisition teams to predict hiring needs and establish role quotas among departments. It combines recruiting goals and budgeted headcounts, helping teams connect hiring strategy with business growth in a single, viable plan.

Pricing

Ashby's price is designed to scale with your company's growth and hiring activity. It provides adaptable solutions for different team sizes, with advanced features available with higher tiers at custom pricing. 

  • Foundation: Starts from $300/month (1-10 employees)
  • Plus: Custom Pricing
  • Enterprise: Custom Pricing
  • Ashby Analytics: Custom Pricing

Disclaimer: The pricing is subject to change. 

Pros And Cons

Pros

Cons

AI-assisted application review speeds up high-volume hiring

Excellent customization of workflows, alerts, and data views

ATS, CRM, scheduling, and analytics combined in one platform

Data migration from legacy systems can be challenging

Multilingual support capabilities are currently not available

9. Workable ATS

Best for: Identifying and securing top talent efficiently

Our Ratings: 4.4/5

Free Trial: 15-day free trial available

Workable combines hiring and HR management into an organized system. It assists recruiters to post job openings on multiple job boards, track candidates through custom pipelines, and use built-in AI tools to quickly come upon strong matches.  

The software also provides onboarding and employee record management to make the process more organized from hiring to retention. For recruitment agencies, this integrated approach helps them prevent manual errors and makes sure that all stages of the talent cycle relate to the Workable ATS  system. 

Salient Features

  • Talent CRM Database: Lets you manage all candidates in a single searchable database, which allows for quick filtering and organizing of candidate information.
  • Candidate Profile Sharing: Allows you to share candidate profiles with team members to get feedback, encourages discussions, and helps you prepare for interviews together.
  • Candidate Self-Scheduling: Encourages candidates to book interview sessions directly. The automatic calendar syncing and time zone detection features help reduce back-and-forth emails.

Pricing

Workable provides customizable price plans tailored to varied employment needs and corporate sizes. Its subscription-based approach lets companies grow by increasing their recruitment activities. Pricing varies according to the chosen plan and billing cycle. This allows small teams and large enterprises to select a package that fits their recruiting volume and budget.

  • Standard: $360/month (billed monthly)
  • Premier: $599/month (billed annually)

Disclaimer: The pricing is subject to change.

Pros And Cons

Pros

Cons

Clean and intuitive interface that makes daily tasks easier for non-technical users

Centralized candidate tracking provides visibility into the entire hiring pipeline

Bulk processing features make it easier to deal with large data volumes

Candidate search filters can produce inconsistent results

The customization options for email templates are not very flexible

The Bottom Line

An effective applicant tracking system (ATS) is more than just a recruitment database. It is the operational backbone that defines how efficiently a company attracts, manages, and places qualified candidates. The nine best ATS for staffing agencies discussed in the above article show how modern software systems use automation, analytics, and communication tools to provide a smooth hiring experience for both clients and candidates.

From enterprise-grade solutions, like Bullhorn and iCIMS, to versatile options like Zoho Recruit and Breezy HR, each platform offers unique strengths that are tailored to different recruitment models. The right choice is eventually determined by your recruitment agency's structure, hiring volume, and collaboration needs.

By aligning your ATS capabilities with company objectives, recruiters can spend less time on mundane administrative tasks and more time on what matters the most, i.e., building lasting relationships, improving placements, and driving business growth. If you are not satisfied with our top nine ATS platforms for staffing agencies, you can also check out ApplicantStack, ClearCompany, and BambooHR and explore their capabilities to match your needs.