ATS pricing is crucial to explore before choosing an Applicant Tracking System for any business. ATS helps businesses streamline the hiring process and automates mundane and time-consuming recruitment tasks like job posting, resume screening, interview scheduling, etc.
As with any business tool, it is important to know and understand ATS software pricing. This article will explore different pricing models and discuss the factors and additional costs that could impact your monthly or annual payment.
We’ll also discuss calculating the ROI of an ATS so you’re better equipped to do a cost-benefit analysis for financial stakeholders.
How Much Does an Applicant Tracking System Cost?
When determining the price of an Applicant Tracking System (ATS), it’s important to understand the pricing structures and the various factors that influence the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). To get started, here’s a breakdown of pricing ranges for businesses of different sizes.
Micro Business (Up to 9 employees)
In a business with less than 10 employees, every person is already responsible for dozens of tasks. So, while it may seem overkill, investing in an ATS is worth the time and productivity savings alone.
You probably won’t need many features, though, so an ATS with a limited free forever plan may be perfect. Otherwise, an ATS with a pay-per-user or pay-per-job pricing model would be most cost-effective.
💵 Expect to pay: Approx. $230 to $1,200 per year
Small Business (10 to 49 employees)
Small businesses or startups with fewer job openings won’t need as many options or premium add-on features as larger companies. However, the limits of a free plan are usually too restrictive to suit your needs.
So you should look for more affordable, basic plans with essential features. But you won’t stay small forever, so prioritize flexibility. This way, your ATS can scale as you grow — without becoming exorbitantly expensive in time.
💵 Expect to pay: Approx. $400 to $6,000 per year
Medium-Sized Business (50-250 employees)
At this stage of your business growth, you’re going to start needing more user seats and additional functionality from your ATS solution. Along with being able to handle the candidate pool, you may also want to start using analytics to optimize your recruitment strategy.
In this case, a per-user pricing model only makes sense if a limited number of recruiters or stakeholders need access to the tool. An ATS with a flat rate based on your company size (per employee) would probably be best, though.
💵 Expect to pay: Approx. $850 to $15,000 per year
Large Business/Enterprise (251+ employees)
Once you reach a certain business size, you’ll have a well-established recruitment strategy with hiring processes perfectly tailored to your needs. So, that means you should look at the plans with the most customizations possible. And that’s usually Enterprise or Custom plans with unlimited users and job postings.
Keep in mind that while these plans offer many built-in features, you may still need to pay extra for certain value-added services that rely on third-party integrations.
💵 Expect to pay: Approx. $3,000 to $50,000 per year
Comparison of Pricing for the Top ATS Software
Here’s a quick comparison of the pricing options for the top ATS software available.
| ATS Software | Micro Business | Small Business | Medium-Sized Business | Large Business/Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Recruit CRM | Unlimited Free Trial | Pro: $100/user/month | Business: $150/user/month | Enterprise: $165/user/month(pay annually) |
| Zoho Recruit | Forever Free | Standard: €30/user/month | Professional: €60/user/month | Enterprise: €90/user/month |
| Manatal | Professional: $19/user/month | Professional: $19/user/month | Enterprise: $39/user/month | Enterprise Plus: $59/user/month (Custom pricing plan available) |
| Ashby | Foundations: $300/month | Foundations: $400-$500/month | Plus OR Enterprise: Get in touch | Plus OR Enterprise: Get in touch |
| Workable | Starter: $149/month | Standard: $490/month | Premier: $1,169 – $1,529/month (pay annually) | Premier Starting at $2,099/month |
| Greenhouse | Only available on request (Company size) | Only available on request(Company size) | Only available on request(Company size) | Only available on request(Company size) |
| BambooHR | Only available on request (Per employee/ month) | Only available on request (Per employee/ month) | Only available on request (Per employee/ month) | Only available on request (Per employee/ month) |
| JazzHR | Hero: $99/month | Plus: $325/month | Plus: $325/month | Pro: $499/month |
Common ATS Pricing Models: Why Do They Vary So Much?
ATS pricing can vary a lot because companies come in all shapes and sizes, each with different needs. And just like your business has an ideal customer, so does an ATS vendor.
Some might focus on basic features for small businesses with just a few recruiters, while others focus on huge companies with teams of people hiring constantly. So, they choose a pricing structure that the type of company they’re aimed at would find attractive.
1. Per User
- How it works: Sometimes called per recruiter pricing, you pay for each person who has access to the backend of the ATS.
- Best for: Smaller organizations with a limited number of recruiters and a relatively low hiring volume.
2. Per Vacancy
- How it works: Also known as per job pricing, you pay for every job you are actively recruiting for using the ATS.
- Best for: Organizations with fluctuating hiring needs or those that only require the ATS for specific recruitment campaigns.
3. Flat Rate
- How it works: You pay a fixed monthly or annual fee for access to the ATS platform, regardless of how many users or jobs you post. The exact cost may vary depending on your company’s size, so it is also called per-employee pricing.
- Best for: Larger organizations with consistent hiring needs and anyone whose budgeting relies on having predictable costs.
4. Hybrid Model
- How it works: It combines the above models, also called per-module pricing. It usually involves a base subscription fee for core features, with additional charges for value-added services or usage levels.
- Best for: Organizations with complex hiring needs or those who want the freedom to add features only when needed.
5. Enterprise or Custom
- How it works: Similar to a hybrid model but tailored to enterprise-level hiring volumes. These generally include additional premium features and potentially higher discounts.
- Best for: Large corporations with complex and well-established HR operations.
Factors Affecting ATS Pricing
As we said, ATS pricing can vary greatly because different companies have different needs. While the pricing model has an impact, other factors could affect what your ATS costs.
Subscription Model (Monthly vs. Annual)
Many (but not all) ATS vendors will offer both month-to-month and annual subscription plans. And annual plans often come with a discount as a reward for committing to a longer-term relationship.
However, monthly plans can be more flexible, especially for companies with fluctuating hiring needs. Business owners who don’t want to be locked into a contract might also prefer monthly payments, even though they’re more expensive.
Number of Users
Depending on the pricing model a vendor uses, the number of users or seats can impact the cost of your subscription. This is because more users means more people accessing and drawing on the platform’s resources, which can increase the strain on the system.
It might also involve more support and training for your team. However, there are ATS platforms that offer unlimited users. This is ideal for companies with fluctuating staffing needs but still want to manage costs.
Features and Customization
The level of features and customization you need from your ATS will significantly impact your costs. Core features that you can get from any ATS tend to be included in the more affordable basic plans. These would assist with essential tasks like resume screening, job posting, and candidate communication.
More advanced features like applicant scoring, video interviewing, and onboarding tend to be included in higher-tier plans. These key features might be essential to your hiring process, but you could do without them. Or get the same functionality from a third-party tool.
A high level of customization needs, such as tailored workflows, custom integrations, or branding, can also increase costs due to the additional development and support involved.
Company Size and Recruitment Volume
Your company size and recruitment volume can impact pricing. The larger your business is, the more positions you’ll need to fill every year. Which means you’re using more of the platform’s resources.
Smaller companies will want to control extra costs based on their specific hiring needs and choose vendors with affordable per-user or per-job pricing models. However, larger enterprises would benefit from flat rates or custom enterprise plans that offer advanced features and volume discounts.
Integration with Other Systems
Integrating an ATS with your existing HRIS, CRIM, and other business tools can incur additional costs. These costs will vary depending on the specific tools you’re integrating, their number, the complexity of the integration, and whether the vendor offers pre-built connectors for each tool.
What Additional Costs to Consider?
While knowing the core subscription fees is essential to planning your budget, it’s crucial to factor in these additional costs. This helps you accurately calculate your TCO and get a complete picture of the overall investment.
Implementation and Setup Fees
Many ATS vendors charge an upfront fee to set up and implement your ATS. These fees usually depend on your organization’s size, the complexity of the configuration, and the customization needed to set it up according to your processes.
Training Costs
Getting the most out of your ATS depends on your team’s ability to use it effectively. That’s why some vendors offer an online knowledge base, tutorial videos, and/or basic training with your subscription. Some might charge extra for more advanced training, though.
To accurately calculate your training costs, you’ll need to consider the number of users who need training and the level of expertise required. You should also consider the time and costs of creating an internal training and knowledge centre.
Data Migration
You may have been managing your recruitment process manually or using another ATS or HRIS system. This means you’ll need to import all your existing candidate data, job postings, and other relevant information into your new system.
This can involve extracting and cleaning your current data and mapping the old data structures to the new ones. The complexity of this migration and whether the vendor lets you handle it yourself can influence its cost.
Custom Reports and Analytics
Most ATS systems offer standard reporting features, which are perfect for most users. However, you might want to implement custom analytics to track specific metrics important to your company. And you may want custom reports to get deeper insights into your recruitment process.
While some of these might already be available for an additional fee, they may need to be developed by the vendor or a third-party consultant.
Support
The days of 24/7 support being a standard feature with any software are long gone. If you want premium support or a dedicated account manager, you’ll need to pay for the top plans or budget for it as a value-added service. Most vendors still offer basic chat or email support during their working hours, though.
Security and Compliance
Considering they’re dealing with potentially Sensitive Personally Identifiable Information (SPII), most ATS systems will have some degree of data protection in place.
However, if your company or industry has specific regulations (e.g. GDPR, HIPAA, CCPA), you might need to invest in additional certifications or popular tools to meet your security and compliance requirements.
How to Calculate the ROI of an ATS
Because an ATS offers both quantitative (measurable) and qualitative (intangible) benefits, it can be difficult to decide how to calculate its potential return on investment (ROI) for your company.
While you might need to rely on estimates and averages at this stage, the vendors you are considering may be able to assist with data you can use to present a value proposition to financial stakeholders.
1. Define Key Metrics
You already know that implementing an ATS in your hiring process has many benefits, but not all of them are necessarily relevant to your business. So, before you start calculating the ROI of your ATS, you need to determine your primary goals.
Once you know what you’re hoping to achieve, you can identify the key metrics that are important to your company. Some examples include time-to-hire, cost-per-hire, quality of hire, recruiter productivity, and employee turnover.
2. Measure Cost Savings from Automation
One of the primary features of an ATS is that it automates most of the mundane and time-consuming tasks associated with the hiring process. For example, traditionally, you would spend hours screening the resumes of the 100+ candidates who applied for a single role.
An ATS will automatically parse those resumes and identify the most qualified candidates based on the conditions you set in minutes. This, along with the dozens of other tasks that an ATS handles without human intervention, saves you hours, reduces potentially costly mistakes, and improves recruiter productivity.
For smaller companies, it might also mean not relying on third-party recruiters to fill your vacant positions.
3. Evaluate Time and Efficiency Gains
An ATS has various built-in communication and workflow tools, serving as a central location for the entire recruitment process. This leads to a smoother and more efficient recruitment process, which translates into a faster time to hire and a better candidate experience.
This is important because studies have shown that 76%[1] of candidates accepted a job offer because of a positive experience. The time that recruiters save also allows them to focus on identifying the best candidate for a role, thereby improving the quality of their hires.
4. Quantify Better Data and Analytics
As with any digital business tool today, your ATS is a source of incredible data and analytics. All of which can be used to measure and improve the effectiveness of your hiring process. The typical metrics you can track include candidate sources, time to hire, cost per hire, and more.
The insights you get from this information can help you make data-driven decisions to optimize your hiring strategy, such as:
- Identifying and addressing bottlenecks in your hiring process
- Identifying your best candidate sources so you can focus your efforts on them
- Analyze recruitment marketing efforts to maximize their impact
5. Analyze the Impact on Candidate Experience
Research shows that 92% of candidates don’t complete their applications. Reasons for this vary, but your ATS can help you reduce drop-off rates by improving the candidate experience. Candidates being more likely to accept a job offer improves your cost per hire and time to hire.
Satisfied candidates are also more likely to refer their friends and family to your company, reducing recruitment costs and improving your employer brand. A strong employer brand is valuable because it helps attract top talent, driving your cost per hire and time to hire down even more.
6. Calculate Savings from Reduced Turnover
One of the most significant yet often overlooked benefits of an ATS is its potential to reduce employee turnover. Because ATS systems allow recruiters to focus on identifying the best possible candidates for each role, you enjoy higher quality hires. And that reduces your employee turnover, which can be incredibly expensive.
This is especially true for roles that require specialized skills or extensive training. Some costs related to replacing employees include:
- Recruitment and onboarding costs: Advertising, screening, interviewing, and training new hires.
- Lost productivity: The time it takes to find a replacement and train them.
- Decreased morale: The negative impact on existing employees who may feel overworked or undervalued.
7. Weigh the Total Cost of Ownership Against Benefits
By this stage, you should have already calculated your projected total cost of ownership, which is a combination of the subscription fees and additional costs we spoke about before. You should also have followed the steps above to identify and calculate the potential financial gains that are most important to you.
Now, all you have to do is calculate your potential return on investment using the following formula:
ROI = (Net Gain / Total Costs) x 100
Where:
Net Gain = Measurable Benefits – Total Costs
8. Review and Optimize Regularly
While just implementing an ATS will improve your recruitment strategy’s ROI, it doesn’t stop there. You want to maximize your ROI, so you need to monitor your key performance indicators (KPIs) continuously. This way, you can keep optimizing your processes and make sure that you’re always getting the most out of what an ATS has to offer.
How to Budget for an Applicant Tracking Software
As you can see, choosing the right applicant tracking software (ATS) is a strategic investment that can significantly impact your hiring process and overall business success. While the actual costs are a crucial factor, it’s equally important to evaluate the intangible value an ATS can bring to your organization.
By carefully considering the factors and following the steps outlined in this guide, including estimating the total cost of ownership, calculating ROI, and balancing cost with the value offered by the ATS, you have everything you need to make an informed decision that aligns with your hiring goals and budget.
Remember that an effective ATS is not just an expense; it’s an investment in your company’s future. By optimizing your hiring process and attracting top talent, you can improve efficiency, reduce costs, and drive business growth.