Agency recruiting is a strange job to buy software for. You have two sets of customers, the candidates you place and the clients who pay you. On top of that, if you do contract work, the hire isn’t the end of anything. You still have to collect timesheets, run payroll, and send the client an invoice every week.
A regular applicant tracking system handles none of that well. It assumes one employer, one hiring team, and a handoff to HR when the offer is signed. Staffing agencies need job orders, client contacts, submittals, placements, and a back office, all tied together.
What Makes an Agency ATS Different
Three things:
- First, a built-in CRM for clients.
- Second, the ability to send candidates to a client, track their feedback, and record a placement.
- Third, for contract agencies, some form of back office, from simple timesheets all the way to payroll and billing.
The tools below vary a lot on that third point, so it’s the first thing I’d check against how your agency actually makes money. Our guide to the types of ATS explains how agency systems differ from in-house ones in more detail.
Staffing Agency ATS Comparison
| ATS | Type | Best for | Starting price | Free trial or plan | Back office | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 Bullhorn | Enterprise staffing platform | Mid-size and large contract and temp agencies | $99/user/month | No, demo only | Add-on (Middle Office) | Visit |
| 02 Avionté | Temp staffing platform | US high-volume temp and light industrial staffing | Quote-based | No, demo only | Yes, native payroll and billing | Visit |
| 03 Ceipal | IT and contract staffing suite | IT and contract agencies working with vendor networks | Quote only | Not published | Timesheets and invoicing | Visit |
| 04 JobDiva | IT and healthcare staffing suite | IT, healthcare, and general staffing with a built-in back office | Not published | Not published | Yes, DivaFinancials | Visit |
| 05 Tracker | Mid-market staffing ATS | Small and mid-size agencies doing perm, contract, and temp | $79/user/month | No, demo only | Yes, on Enterprise | Visit |
| 06 JobAdder | Agency ATS and CRM | Small and mid-size perm and temp agencies, especially in ANZ and the UK | Quote-based | No, demo only | Through partners | Visit |
| 07 Recruit CRM | Agency ATS and CRM | Small and mid-size perm, contract, and search agencies | $95/user/month | Free trial | Timesheets and invoicing | Visit |
| 08 Zoho Recruit | Budget staffing ATS | Budget-conscious agencies, especially those already on Zoho | $25/user/month | Free plan and 15-day trial | No, timesheets only | Visit |
| 09 Loxo | Sourcing-first agency platform | Executive search and direct-hire firms | $149/user/month | 7-day free trial | No | Visit |
| 10 Crelate | Configurable agency CRM | Executive search, direct hire, and lighter staffing | $85/user/month | Free trial | Through integrations | Visit |
| 11 Manatal | Budget AI ATS | Small agencies and boutique recruiters on a budget | $15/user/month | 14-day free trial | No | Visit |
Best ATS for Staffing Agencies
01. Bullhorn
Enterprise staffing platformMid-size and large contract and temp agencies
Bullhorn is in business for more than 25 years, and it’s still the platform most others get compared to. It covers the full cycle from job order to invoice, ATS and CRM up front, onboarding with a candidate self-service portal, and a Middle Office that handles timesheets, pay, and billing.
Bullhorn launched Amplify with skills for sourcing, matching, screening, submitting, and outreach. Amplify Digital Workers can prospect for new clients, verify candidate details, audit records, and transcribe calls.
Bullhorn says early adopters made 39% more placements per recruiter.
The ecosystem is large, more than 300 partners connect to Bullhorn, and its VMS automation works with over 110 vendor management systems, which saves contract agencies a lot of portal-hopping. Bullhorn also bought TargetRecruit, so agencies that prefer Salesforce now have a Salesforce-native option.
It isn’t cheap, and it isn’t simple. You’ll likely want someone on the team who owns the system.
Pros & Cons
PROS
CONS
Pricing
Starter costs $99 per user per month and Core $165. Pro which adds Amplify AI, Max, and Bullhorn One for front and back office together are quoted on request.
02. Avionté
Temp staffing platformUS high-volume temp and light industrial staffing
Avionté is built for agencies that run payroll every week for hundreds or thousands of temps. Its AviontéBOLD platform covers recruiting and CRM, but the part that sets it apart is payroll and billing. Avionté says it processes 4.6 million W-2s and about $15 billion in payroll a year.
Avionté bought SimpleVMS, so it now owns a vendor management system, and it picked up AkkenCloud. The mobile app lets workers see shifts, timecards, pay, and tax documents themselves, which cuts down the calls to your office.
On the AI side, its PIXEL assistant, rebuilt on Anthropic’s Claude helps with screening and scoring. AI job description generator is free for BOLD users.
TIP
If you just need to generate job descriptions, you can also use Sparkian which gives you access to top models from Anthropic Claude, OpenAI, Gemini, Qwen and more.
Pros & Cons
PROS
CONS
Pricing
Avionté doesn’t publish pricing. You’ll need a demo and a quote.
03. Ceipal
IT and contract staffing suiteIT and contract agencies working with vendor networks
Ceipal is popular in IT staffing. Beyond the ATS, it handles vendor and subcontractor management, which helps if you place contractors. Its Procurewise VMS and workforce management tools sit on the same data, so a job, the vendor who supplied the candidate, and the timesheet all connect.
Ceipal now calls itself an agentic staffing platform, and it has multiple agents for voice, job optimiser, search, etc. The timesheet agent is the one I’d want to see in a demo, since chasing timesheets is a real time consuming for contract agencies.
It posts to more than 200 job boards, including Dice, Monster, Indeed, and LinkedIn, and Ceipal says it serves over 2,500 clients.
Pros & Cons
PROS
CONS
04. JobDiva
IT and healthcare staffing suiteIT, healthcare, and general staffing with a built-in back office
JobDiva is popular in IT and healthcare staffing, and it claims more than 40,000 recruiters.
Recruiting runs on its own matching engine, DivaMatch, with DivaChat for candidate conversations. After the placement, digital onboarding, the MyTime timesheet app, and DivaFinancials take over the back office, and VMS sync pulls job orders in from client portals automatically.
It has over 100 integrations.
Pros & Cons
PROS
CONS
05. Tracker
Mid-market staffing ATSSmall and mid-size agencies doing perm, contract, and temp
Tracker has been around for nearly two decades, and its appeal is that you can start small and grow into the full stack without switching vendors. The entry plans cover ATS and CRM with posting to more than 1,000 job boards. Higher plans add a client portal, candidate portal, timesheets, onboarding, and a full back office with payroll and shift management.
TrackerAI and an AI content suite come with the Core plan, and there’s a VMS module plus Outlook and Gmail add-ins for recruiters.
Tracker shows a 4.8 out of 5 rating on G2.
Pros & Cons
PROS
CONS
Pricing
Launch costs $79 per user per month for up to five recruiters, and Core $99 per user per month.
06. JobAdder
Agency ATS and CRMSmall and mid-size perm and temp agencies, especially in ANZ and the UK
JobAdder is ATS & recruitment CRM and temp and contractor tracking comes with every plan. It’s owned by SEEK and popular in Australia, New Zealand, and the UK.
Its AI, called Adder Intelligence, focuses on saving time. Smart Summary condenses candidate profiles, Smart Skills pulls skills out of resumes, and it can draft job descriptions.
JobAdder runs AI on Amazon Bedrock with zero data retention, which is worth knowing if clients ask how candidate data is handled.
It posts to more than 200 job boards and connects to more than 200 partner tools, including payroll systems for temp agencies.
Pros & Cons
PROS
CONS
07. Recruit CRM
Agency ATS and CRMSmall and mid-size perm, contract, and search agencies
Recruit CRM was built for agency recruiters from the start. It combines ATS and client CRM with a Chrome extension for sourcing from LinkedIn and Gmail, drag-and-drop pipelines, and resume parsing that handles multiple languages.
Its AI agents are practical to formats resumes, prepares candidate submissions, writes candidate pitches for clients, and fills custom fields from documents.
For contract agencies, the Timesheets and Bill and Pay module adds contractor and client portals, a rules engine, invoices, and exports to QuickBooks or Xero. It doesn’t run payroll.
Pros & Cons
PROS
CONS
Pricing
Pro costs $95 per user per month billed annually, Business $135, and Enterprise $215.
08. Zoho Recruit
Budget staffing ATSBudget-conscious agencies, especially those already on Zoho
Zoho Recruit is the most affordable staffing ATS I found. Zoho sells two separate editions, and the staffing one adds client and vendor features, timesheet management, and higher job limits.
Zia, Zoho’s AI, parses resumes, summarizes profiles, matches candidates, and drafts job descriptions. Jobs go out to more than 75 job boards. If you already use Zoho CRM, Zoho People, or Zoho Books, everything connects without much effort.
The trade-off is setup. Zoho can be customized to almost any process, but you got to do those configurations.
Pros & Cons
PROS
CONS
Pricing
The Staffing edition has a free plan for one active job.
Standard costs $25 per user per month billed annually, Professional $50, and Enterprise $75.
You can also get 15-day free trial.
09. Loxo
Sourcing-first agency platformExecutive search and direct-hire firms
Loxo is built by former recruiters, and it approaches the problem from sourcing than tracking. Alongside the ATS and CRM, it gives you its own talent database of more than 850 million people with contact details, plus outreach tools and a sales CRM for business development.
Recently, Loxo rebuilt itself around AI agents. There are agents for job intake, writing the job description and skill profile, building a longlist of up to 10,000 candidates, scoring a shortlist, finding contact details, and taking notes.
Even in its fully agentic mode, a person approves before anyone is contacted, which I think is the right call.
It’s not for temp or contract staffing. There’s no timesheet or back-office side.
Pros & Cons
PROS
CONS
Pricing
Loxo Core costs $149 per user per month and Professional $199, which adds Loxo’s sourcing tools, agents, and 2,500 AI credits a month.
10. Crelate
Configurable agency CRMExecutive search, direct hire, and lighter staffing
Crelate sits between a search firm CRM and a staffing ATS, and it’s configurable, which suits agencies with their own way of working.
Its AI includes a Discovery Agent, an Insights Agent, and a Co-Pilot assistant. Crelate Hire handles onboarding, including I-9s, and data sync connects to your back-office tools. Client portals come with the Business plan.
Pros & Cons
PROS
CONS
Pricing
Essentials costs $85 per user per month billed annually, for up to two users. Business is $119 per user per month, and Business Plus and Platform are quoted. A free trial is available.
11. Manatal
Budget AI ATSSmall agencies and boutique recruiters on a budget
Manatal is where I’d start if I have budget constraint. It costs lower and includes AI that bigger vendors charge extra for.
Its AI Interviewer screens candidates in several languages, an AI notetaker records calls, and AI scoring ranks candidates against each job. It posts to more than 2,500 job boards, and the Chrome extension pulls profiles from LinkedIn and other sites.
Clients can review candidates through a portal, and an MCP server lets you work with Manatal data from ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini.
It’s used by more than 10,000 recruiting teams in over 135 countries. What it doesn’t do is contract staffing.
Pros & Cons
PROS
CONS
Pricing
Professional costs $15 per user per month, Enterprise $35, and Enterprise Plus $55.
There’s a 14-day free trial with no credit card.
Honorable Mentions
A payroll-first alternative to Avionté for US temp and light industrial agencies, with mobile clock-in using facial recognition, geofencing, and QR codes.
A front-to-back platform from The Access Group with Pay and Bill and timesheet chasing built in, popular in the UK and APAC.
An AI-native ATS and CRM for search firms, with agents for notes, matching, job change alerts, and submissions. The Platform plan costs $149 per user per month.
An enterprise staffing platform built on Microsoft Dynamics 365 with Copilot, covering timesheets, billing, and invoicing. A good fit for agencies already on Microsoft.
Built for solo recruiters and split placements, pairing an ATS with access to a recruiter network. TE Recruit starts at $79 a month billed annually.
How to Choose
Start with how your agency makes money, because that rules out half the list right away.
If you place temps or contractors and run weekly payroll, look first at tools with a real back office like Avionté or TempWorks for high-volume temp in the US, JobDiva or Ceipal for IT and healthcare contracting, and Bullhorn or Tracker if you want to grow into it.
If you do perm or executive search, you probably don’t need payroll at all. What you need is sourcing and a strong client CRM, which points to Loxo, Crelate, or Recruit CRM. Our guide to ATS vs CRM explains why the CRM side matters so much for search work.
If you’re small and price matters most, Manatal, JobAdder and Zoho Recruit will help.
Then check a few practical things during the demo. Ask how the system connects to the VMS portals your clients use, AI costs, migration plan for your candidate database.
If you’re hiring for your own company rather than for clients, this isn’t the right list. See our picks for the best applicant tracking systems or our recruitment software guide for sourcing and screening tools that sit on top of an ATS.
FAQ
What is the best ATS for staffing agencies?
Bullhorn is the most widely used for mid-size and large contract and temp agencies. Avionté suits high-volume US temp staffing, Loxo suits executive search, and Manatal or Zoho Recruit are the best budget options.
What’s the difference between a staffing agency ATS and a regular ATS?
A staffing agency ATS adds a client CRM, job orders, candidate submittals to clients, and placement tracking. Many also include timesheets, payroll, and billing for temp and contract workers.
Do staffing agencies need back-office software?
Temp and contract agencies usually do, since they run payroll and invoice clients for their workers. Perm and search firms usually don’t.
How much does a staffing agency ATS cost?
Prices range from about $15 per user per month for budget tools to $99 to $215 per user per month for full agency platforms.
