How we research.

Buying your first ATS shouldn’t mean reading every vendor’s pricing page and a stack of help-centre articles. We do that legwork, so you can start with a shortlist and good questions. This edition covers BambooHR, Breezy HR, Factorial, Greenhouse, HiBob, Homerun, Jobylon, Lever, Personio, Pinpoint, SmartRecruiters, TalentLyft, Teamtailor, Tellent Recruitee, Workable, and Zoho Recruit.

Where the facts come from

We start with each vendor’s own website and help centre. When a vendor doesn’t say something publicly, we look at other reliable places it’s written down, such as software directories, integration marketplaces, and partner documentation. Tap the small info icon next to any fact to see where we found it and when we last checked.

If we haven’t found something yet, we say so, and it’s usually worth asking in your demo. We haven’t used every product ourselves, so these are researched profiles rather than hands-on reviews.

Spotted something out of date?

Products change quickly. If you work at a vendor, or you’ve just been through a demo and something here doesn’t match, email contact@best-ats.com. A link to the current page helps us update it fast.

No scores, just reasons

We don’t rank tools or hand out stars. The right ATS depends on how you hire, so we explain who each product suits, what to weigh up, and what to ask.

European requirements, one at a time

Hosting location, career-site languages, data retention, and integrations are separate questions, so we keep them separate. Where a vendor hosts your data is a useful input to your data-protection review, but it isn’t the whole review.

How the directory filters work

The “What your team needs” filters (EU hosting, unlimited users, unlimited jobs, a multilingual career site, and a free plan or public price) read the fact behind each topic. A vendor without the mark may still offer it; we just haven’t found it written down yet.

The other three filters have their sources quoted on each profile under “Fit for your team”. Career-site languages are the languages candidates see on the careers page and job posts, not the recruiter app. Where no list is published, we also count a language when the platform’s own buttons and form labels appear in it on a live career page. Company size follows who each vendor says it serves. HR-system integrations come from the ATS vendor’s site or the HR suite’s marketplace, and an HR suite always works with its own recruiting module.

What users often mention

Some profiles sum up what people say in public reviews on sites such as Capterra, G2, Trustpilot, and OMR Reviews. A theme only makes the list when several reviewers raise it on at least two independent review sites, and we write it in our own words. We leave out AI-generated review summaries, vendor replies, and job-seeker complaints. We don’t verify individual reviewers, and reviews are personal experiences, so read the themes as things to check in your demo rather than verdicts.

How we pick alternatives

Each alternatives page starts with the products most like the one you know: the same kind of product (standalone recruiting software or an HR suite), aimed at the same company sizes, with the same plan features, such as a free plan or public price, unlimited users or jobs, and a multilingual career site. For recruiting software, connecting to the same HR systems counts too. We show what each match has in common, so you can judge the fit yourself. It’s an order by likeness, not a quality ranking, and every other product we cover is listed below the closest matches.

Commercial transparency

If we ever add affiliate links or sponsored placements, they’ll be clearly labelled, and they won’t change what we recommend. Product names and logos belong to their owners; we show them so you can recognise each product at a glance.