Top 9 Software With The Best Free Applicant Tracking System For Employers

Applicant tracking systems are essential for managing hiring workflows. In fact, 86% of recruiters report that using an ATS has helped them hire faster. However, cost often becomes a barrier—especially for smaller teams or early-stage businesses.

Fortunately, several free ATS solutions are available in 2025 that offer solid recruiting features without adding to your software expenses.

This guide covers nine of the best free applicant tracking systems for employers. For each, you'll find a breakdown of standout features, ideal use cases, pricing details (including any paid upgrades), pros and cons, and examples of real businesses that use them. Let's get started!

Zoho Recruit is a cloud-based ATS that combines core recruitment features with built-in CRM capabilities. It supports 27 languages, including Arabic, making it a strong fit for international hiring teams.

One of its standout features is the ability to conduct live video interviews directly within the platform, allowing recruiters to screen candidates faster without relying on third-party tools. Another thing that sets it apart is its free version, which supports one active job and includes essential features like candidate management, email scheduling, and interview invitations.

Over 8,000 organizations worldwide use Zoho Recruit, including CareerUp, Xceptional, and Teaching Nomad.

Best For: It is ideal for small businesses, startups, or staffing agencies already using Zoho products and looking for a basic ATS with CRM integration.

Pricing

Zoho Recruit offers separate pricing tiers for Corporate HR teams and Staffing Agencies, which come with a 15-day free trial.

Corporate HR Plans:

• Free – $0 (limited to 1 active job)
• Standard – $30/recruiter/month
• Enterprise – $60/recruiter/month

Staffing Agency Plans:

• Forever Free – $0 (basic functionality)
• Standard – $30/user/month
• Professional – $60/user/month
• Enterprise – $90/user/month

Disclaimer: The pricing is subject to change.

SmartRecruiters is an enterprise-grade ATS known for its robust features – and it offers a free version called SmartStart for smaller teams. This plan is free for companies under 250 employees. Despite offering a free plan, it includes powerful recruiting tools: a branded career site builder, one-click posting to 200+ job boards, candidate assessments, and a mobile-friendly application process.

It's a trusted platform for over 4,000 companies worldwide, including big names like Starbucks, LinkedIn, McDonald's, and Visa.

Best For: This system is ideal for growing companies and tech startups that want enterprise-grade ATS features without the upfront cost.

Pricing

SmartRecruiters pricing starts at $39/user/month, and the pro price is around $100/user/month.

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

Breezy HR is a popular modern ATS known for its user-friendly interface and solid feature set tailored to small and mid-sized businesses. What sets it apart is its 'Incognito Apply' feature, which removes gender, age, and ethnicity from applicant profiles to promote unbiased hiring.

It offers a ‘Bootstrap’ free plan for 1 active position (1 open job and one talent pool). Notably, Breezy’s free tier includes useful perks like posting to 50+ job boards with one click and built-in resume parsing to quickly populate candidate profiles.

In total, nearly 10,000 companies—including Docebo (an e-learning platform), Dollar Flight Club (a travel deals company), and Elevation Church—rely on Breezy to hire better and faster.

Best For: This one is best for small businesses, startups, and recruiting agencies that want a slick, easy ATS for a low volume of jobs.

Pricing

It offers two separate products: one for applicant tracking (ATS) and another for performance management. The plans listed below apply to the ATS platform, which helps teams manage the hiring process. All plans include a 14-day free trial.

• Bootstrap – Free (basic features for one active position)
• Startup – $189/month
• Growth – $329/month
• Business – $529/month

Disclaimer: The pricing is subject to change.

Loxo is a next-generation recruiting platform that combines a powerful ATS with a built-in Recruiting CRM and AI sourcing engine. Impressively, Loxo now offers a ‘Free’ plan that gives a single user access to its core ATS/CRM tools. One of its standout features includes an AI talent database of over 1.2 billion professional profiles worldwide (with verified contact info) and automation tools for multi-channel outreach.

It supports more than 13,200 recruitment teams globally, including well-known names like ON Partners, Endevis, and Amazon.

Best For: This is perfect for independent recruiters, boutique staffing agencies, or agile in-house recruiters who want cutting-edge AI sourcing and CRM capabilities without a hefty price tag.

Pricing

Loxo offers multiple pricing tiers for its applicant tracking system (ATS) with a 7-day free trial.

• Free – $0
• Basic – $169/user/month
• Professional – Custom pricing
• Enterprise – Custom pricing

Disclaimer: The pricing is subject to change. 

MightyRecruiter is an end-to-end recruiting platform that is completely free, with no paid version at all. It stands out by offering unlimited job postings, candidates, and users on its free ATS, making it attractive for small businesses that want no caps. Key features include one-click posting to 29 job boards, a resume database of 22+ million resumes for sourcing candidates, and even EEOC/OFCCP compliance tracking for U.S. employers.

The software, being free, has attracted thousands of users across industries, including companies like DocuSign, OpExpert, and GTM Pros.

Best For: It is well-suited for companies with limited budgets and freelance recruiters looking for a full-featured ATS at no cost.

Pricing

MightyRecruiter has no paid plans at all; every feature is included for every user at no cost.

Jobsoid offers a simple but functional free plan—1 active job post and 1 user—which works well for solo recruiters or small teams just getting started. Despite being free, it still gives you access to unlimited candidate profiles, a mobile recruiting app, and a branded careers page, which is more than many free ATS tools offer.

What makes Jobsoid stand out is its ease of use. You can post up to 20+ job boards with one click and collect feedback using built-in scorecards and team collaboration tools. Plus, the 700+ free job description templates save time—you can tweak them or post as-is.

Over 4,000 recruiters use the platform today, including teams from T-Mobile, iWay, and Samyojak Consultancy Services.

Best For: It’s a solid pick for small and mid-sized businesses, recruitment agencies, and companies that want to manage the hiring process digitally with minimal manual effort.

Pricing

It offers multiple pricing tiers for its applicant tracking system (ATS). You can try the Standard Plan free for 14 days, with no obligations — this includes up to 10 job postings.

• Beginner (Free) – $0
• Lite – $59/month
• Standard – $119/month
• Pro – $299/month

Disclaimer: The pricing is subject to change.

Dover is a unique offering – a free, all-in-one ATS built specifically for startups and small teams. It provides unlimited users, jobs, and candidates for free, which is quite extraordinary.

What makes Dover different is how much it leans into automation. The built-in AI automatically sorts and ranks applicants, which saves time when you’re screening a high volume of candidates. Another practical advantage is its ability to post jobs to 70+ top job boards directly from the platform.

This free ATS is already trusted by 600+ companies like Culture Biosciences, Forge, and Panther.

Best For: This one is for you if you have a startup or small business (under a few hundred people) and want a no-cost, modern ATS that saves you time by automating sourcing and screening.

Pricing

Dover provides the ATS functionality free for unlimited use. You can have as many jobs, candidates, and users as needed with no fees.

iKrut stands out as one of the few ATS platforms that offers unlimited job postings, users, and candidates in its free version. The free version covers the basics like tracking applicants, storing resumes, and adding a simple careers page. But if you need extra features—like setting up interviews, onboarding new hires, or creating a branded careers site—you’ll need one of their paid plans. The Premium plan allows up to 50 job posts per year, while Premium+ gives you unlimited posts and access to all advanced features.

Best For: The platform focuses on doing the basics very well, which makes it a favorite among smaller companies that want results without complexity.

Pricing

iKrut gives you full access to all features for 28 days, with no credit card needed. Once the trial ends, you simply choose the plan that fits your needs. The plans are:

• Free – £0
• Premium – £300/month
• Premium+ – £400/month

Disclaimer: The pricing is subject to change.

JOIN works well for teams that want hiring visibility without investing in complex tools. You can post up to two active roles for free, and those listings go live on 15+ popular job boards automatically. That alone covers a lot of ground for small teams hiring occasionally.

The platform handles the basics well: you can write job ads, publish them to multiple sites at once, and set up a branded careers page. There’s no setup fee, no trial period—it’s just free to use at a basic level. But where JOIN really adds value is in its paid options. Once you need more visibility, it offers access to over 250 additional job boards, including niche platforms.

More than 100,000 companies rely on this system to manage hiring, from startups to global brands like ZARA and Domino’s Pizza.

Best For: Given its reach and simplicity, it's a smart pick for growing businesses that want to test which job boards perform best before committing to paid campaigns.

Pricing

JOIN offers flexible per-job pricing that includes generous core features. The plans are as follows:

• Standard – 20€/job/month
• Advanced – 30€/job/month
• Enterprise – Custom quote

Disclaimer: The pricing is subject to change.

Most free ATS platforms sound impressive, but only a few deliver features that are genuinely useful for real hiring teams. Tools like Dover, MightyRecruiter, and Jobsoid stand out because they offer core functionality—like job board posting, candidate tracking, and resume management—without forcing upgrades early on.

Others, such as Loxo or Zoho Recruit, are better suited for teams that already plan to scale and need a system that can grow with them. What matters is this: if an ATS slows down your hiring or adds unnecessary steps, it’s not worth using — even if it’s free.

Use the free tier to see how it performs, and if you're still unsure, visit our resource center for more comparisons and software guides.