Applicant tracking · September 20, 2026
Best applicant tracking software for small teams (2026)
One open role does not need a $299 recruiting suite. A pipeline matters when the inbox is the system and you are about to miss a candidate.
By Gregory GreensteinUpdated September 20, 2026Affiliate disclosure
Applicant tracking fails in two directions. A founder hires the first employee from a spreadsheet and loses the resume. Or a twelve-person shop buys a recruiting suite with an AI agent before anyone owns the interview. The job is: a careers page, a pipeline, and a record of who was interviewed. Payroll and the I-9 folder are the HR ranking. We do not rank AI sourcers as the product. Credits that screen humans are a line item, and generative hiring tools are Aiacent’s catalog, not this one.
Breezy HR ranks first because one active job is free and the next plan is a published company price, not a per-seat fog. Workable is the bundle when you want sourcing plus an HRIS and you have read $299 for a 1–20 person company. BambooHR is the people system you already might buy, with hiring attached, and a $250 floor we last read in September. Gusto is last on purpose: it is not an ATS, and for the first hire it is often the correct thing to buy instead.
Prices as of September 22, 2026. Posting a job is not employment advice. Classification, offers, and what you may ask are for counsel.
The short list
Public list prices as of September 20, 2026. Promos change. Confirm on the vendor page before you buy.
| # | Product | Best for | Public starting price | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Breezy HR | A small team that will hire more than one role and wants a published flat bill | Bootstrap is free: one active position or candidate pool, unlimited users, candidates from the last 30 days on that plan’s wording. The next card is $157/month on the annual view and $189/month monthly, and the following card says “Startup features, plus,” so the $157/$189 plan is Startup: unlimited positions. Growth is $273/month annual or $329 monthly. Business is $439 annual or $529 monthly. Pro is custom. Annual pricing is described as two months free. Breezy Intelligence credits start at $30 per 100,000. Onboard starts at $49/month. Confirm breezy.hr/pricing. | 8.5 |
| 2 | Workable | Companies that will pay for a recruiting suite and an HR bundle in one login | For the 1–20 employee band on the annual view we loaded: Standard $299/month ($3,588/year), Premier $599/month ($7,188/year), Enterprise $719/month ($8,628/year). Those year totals equal the monthly sticker times 12. The page says annual billing saves up to 20%, and the month-to-month sticker did not render as a separate number. Higher headcount bands exist and were not priced on this pass. Standard add-ons: texting $89/month, video interviews $109, assessments $59. Premier includes texting, video, assessments, and referrals. The AI agent uses credits from $0.12 each at the 5,000 pack ($600). A 15-day Standard trial is advertised. Confirm workable.com/pricing. | 7.6 |
| 3 | BambooHR | Teams that need an employee record first and a light hiring pipeline second | Core $10, Pro $17, Elite $25 per employee per month above 25 people. At 25 employees or fewer, a monthly flat starting at $250 on the card we reviewed September 20, 2026. Payroll and time are add-ons. We did not reload bamboohr.com/pricing on September 22. Confirm it. | 7.3 |
| 4 | Gusto | The first hire, when the job is onboarding and payday rather than a pipeline of strangers | Simple $49/month + $6 per person. Plus $80 + $12. Premium $180 + $22. Contractor Only $35 + $6. Simple is single-state. Pricing page was bot-gated on our September 22 payroll pass; these figures are the public card last read September 21, 2026. Confirm gusto.com/product/pricing. | 7.0 |
01
Breezy HR
A small team that will hire more than one role and wants a published flat bill
Public pricing: Bootstrap is free: one active position or candidate pool, unlimited users, candidates from the last 30 days on that plan’s wording. The next card is $157/month on the annual view and $189/month monthly, and the following card says “Startup features, plus,” so the $157/$189 plan is Startup: unlimited positions. Growth is $273/month annual or $329 monthly. Business is $439 annual or $529 monthly. Pro is custom. Annual pricing is described as two months free. Breezy Intelligence credits start at $30 per 100,000. Onboard starts at $49/month. Confirm breezy.hr/pricing.
Breezy HR official pricing, reviewed September 22, 2026.
Skip if
You have one opening this year. Stay on Bootstrap at $0 until the second role is real. Or you want a full HRIS with time off and payroll prep. That is Workable’s bundle or the HR ranking, not Startup.
Why it ranks
- Unlimited users on the paid plans. A founder, a manager, and a coordinator do not each add a seat fee.
- Bootstrap is honestly one job. You are not tricked into a trial that deletes the pipeline.
- Startup adds questionnaires, calendar sync, self-scheduling, and Slack. That is the week hiring becomes a process.
- Growth’s scorecards and reference checks are optional. Most teams under 20 do not need Business.
Watch-outs
- Free candidates are described as the last 30 days. Do not treat Bootstrap as an archive.
- The AI credit pack is how the bill grows without a headcount change. Do not buy Intelligence because the homepage mentions it.
- SMS is an add-on on the page. We will not print a price the layout did not clearly attach.
- E-sign on Growth is for candidate documents. It does not replace payroll. Gusto still runs payday.
02
Workable
Companies that will pay for a recruiting suite and an HR bundle in one login
Public pricing: For the 1–20 employee band on the annual view we loaded: Standard $299/month ($3,588/year), Premier $599/month ($7,188/year), Enterprise $719/month ($8,628/year). Those year totals equal the monthly sticker times 12. The page says annual billing saves up to 20%, and the month-to-month sticker did not render as a separate number. Higher headcount bands exist and were not priced on this pass. Standard add-ons: texting $89/month, video interviews $109, assessments $59. Premier includes texting, video, assessments, and referrals. The AI agent uses credits from $0.12 each at the 5,000 pack ($600). A 15-day Standard trial is advertised. Confirm workable.com/pricing.
Workable official pricing, reviewed September 22, 2026. 1–20 employee band only.
Skip if
You are filling one role. Standard at $299 is a bad trade against Breezy at $0 or $157. Or you already have Gusto and only need a pipeline. Do not buy a second HRIS by accident.
Why it ranks
- Job distribution, a careers page, and an ATS are the recruiting half. HR records, onboarding, and time off are the other half, if you want them.
- The 1–20 price is public. You can compare $299 to Breezy Startup at $157 without a demo.
- Premier is how texting and video stop being add-ons. It is also $7,188 a year. Most small teams should not start there.
- A 15-day trial does not require a card, on the page we loaded. Use it on a real role or do not use it.
Watch-outs
- The AI agent is a credit meter: 1 to evaluate, 2 to source, 10 to chat, on the page. That is not included strategy. Leave it off unless a human reviews what it does.
- We did not load the 21–50 sticker. If you are near the band, the $299 figure is the wrong quote.
- Bundled HR next to Gusto is two people systems. Appoint one.
- Enterprise at $719 for a company under 20 people is a sourcing department. Skip it.
03
BambooHR
Teams that need an employee record first and a light hiring pipeline second
Public pricing: Core $10, Pro $17, Elite $25 per employee per month above 25 people. At 25 employees or fewer, a monthly flat starting at $250 on the card we reviewed September 20, 2026. Payroll and time are add-ons. We did not reload bamboohr.com/pricing on September 22. Confirm it.
BambooHR official pricing, last reviewed September 20, 2026.
Skip if
You do not have employees yet. A $250 floor for an ATS is the wrong first invoice. Post the role on Breezy’s free plan. Or payroll is the only pain. That is Gusto, and the HR ranking already said so.
Why it ranks
- Hiring, the offer, and the employee record can be the same system when you already need an HRIS.
- The $250 floor is painful and printed. You will not confuse it with Breezy’s free job.
- A common split is BambooHR for people and Gusto for payday. Do that on purpose.
- Pro’s performance tools matter when you have managers. They do not matter for applicant number one.
Watch-outs
- The September 20 card may have moved. Reload it before you compare $250 to Workable’s $299.
- Implementation is a project. A single job post does not need it.
- Elite is compensation benchmarks. Overbuy.
- This is not a sourcing engine. If the leak is candidates, Workable’s distribution is the argument, at a price.
04
Gusto
The first hire, when the job is onboarding and payday rather than a pipeline of strangers
Public pricing: Simple $49/month + $6 per person. Plus $80 + $12. Premium $180 + $22. Contractor Only $35 + $6. Simple is single-state. Pricing page was bot-gated on our September 22 payroll pass; these figures are the public card last read September 21, 2026. Confirm gusto.com/product/pricing.
Gusto public pricing, last read September 21, 2026.
Skip if
You are running three open roles and resumes live in Gmail. Gusto will not be the ATS. Buy Breezy. Or you need multi-state filings and a bigger HR desk. Read the payroll and HR rankings before you treat Gusto as the people system.
Why it ranks
- The first employee needs a new-hire packet, tax setup, and a payday. That is Gusto’s job, and an ATS is a second login you will not update.
- Simple at one employee is $55 on that card. Breezy can stay at $0 beside it.
- You can add a real ATS the month the second req opens. You cannot add payroll the night before payday.
- Benefits on Plus are the reason to leave Simple. They are not a reason to skip an ATS forever.
Watch-outs
- Gusto is not a careers page with stages, scorecards, and a shared rejection note. Pretending it is will lose candidates.
- Per-person fees apply in months you pay people. Model headcount.
- Premium is not how you get an ATS.
- We are not your employment counsel. An offer letter template is not a reviewed offer.
How we picked
The job is hiring for a US company under ~50: a role is posted, candidates move through stages a second human can see, and the price is a company bill rather than a surprise per recruiter. We scored the free-or-cheap path for one role, then the cost of a second system next to payroll. AI agents are noted and not scored. Rank is not for sale.
September 22 napkin: one role, Breezy Bootstrap $0, and Gusto Simple at $49 + $6 if that person becomes an employee. Three open roles, Breezy Startup $157 a month on the annual view or $189 month-to-month. The page says annual includes two months free, so confirm the checkout before you multiply. A 12-person company that wants ATS plus HR records: Workable Standard $299 a month on the 1–20 annual view ($3,588 a year, which matches that sticker times 12) versus BambooHR’s $250 floor from September 20, which is an HRIS first. Add Workable’s texting only if you will use the $89.
Who should skip this page
- A staffing agency whose product is candidates and jobs. The recruiter CRM ranking is that desk.
- A company of one with no plans to hire. You do not need an ATS.
- Enterprise HCM. This list stops at teams that can still finish setup without an integrator.
- Anyone who wants software to decide who is a contractor. That is counsel, then payroll.