Comparisons
Greenhouse vs Workable: Which Should You Choose?
Quick answer: Workable is the better choice for companies that want transparent self-serve pricing from $299/mo and an HRIS bundled alongside the ATS, while Greenhouse is the better choice for companies with a dedicated recruiting team that need structured hiring and reporting depth — but Greenhouse publishes no pricing and quotes through sales.
These two turn up together on nearly every mid-market ATS shortlist. They are both good. They are built on different assumptions about who is doing the hiring.
The fundamental difference
Greenhouse assumes you have recruiters. It is built around structured hiring — consistent interview kits, scorecards, calibrated decisions, reporting that survives scrutiny. It assumes someone owns the system as part of their job.
Workable assumes you do not. It is built to be bought and run by a founder, office manager or HR generalist, with an HRIS, onboarding and time-off management alongside so one platform covers more ground.
What it costs, side by side
| Platform | Typical monthly cost | Billed as |
|---|---|---|
| Workable | $299–$719/mo | Flat per plan, banded by headcount |
| Greenhouse | Not published | Custom quote |
| AvaHR | $99–$457/mo | Flat per plan |
| Breezy HR | $0–$439/mo | Flat per plan |
Pricing above was taken from each provider's own pricing page in August 2026. Always confirm the current numbers before buying — hiring software pricing changes often, and the three billing models in this category (flat per plan, per recruiter seat, and per employee on your payroll) make headline prices hard to compare without doing the arithmetic for your own headcount and number of open roles.
Pricing
Workable publishes its prices: Standard $299/mo, Premier $599/mo, Enterprise $719/mo at the 1–20 employee band, rising with headcount. You can sign up without talking to anyone. Add-ons matter — texting +$89/mo, video interviews +$109/mo, assessments +$59/mo on Standard, and AI agent credits sold separately.
Greenhouse publishes nothing. Core, Plus and Pro are all quoted based on hiring volume and organisational complexity, and every tier goes through a demo. In practice it sits well above Workable.
That difference is itself a signal about who each is for. Self-serve pricing targets buyers who will not sit through a sales cycle.
Where Greenhouse is better
- Structured hiring. Interview kits and scorecards are the core of the product, not a feature.
- Reporting. Deeper, and built for defending decisions.
- Integrations. Broader ecosystem, which matters at scale.
- Governance. Pro adds audit logs and enterprise data controls.
Where Workable is better
- Breadth per dollar. ATS plus HRIS plus onboarding plus time off in one subscription.
- Transparent pricing and a 15-day trial with no sales call.
- Job board reach — 200+ boards, among the widest available.
- Time to value. Usable in a day rather than configured over weeks.
If both feel too big
Plenty of companies shortlist these two and should not. If you hire fewer than ten people a year and nobody's job title contains "recruiter", both are overbuilt. Breezy HR at $157/mo with unlimited users and positions, or AvaHR at $99/mo, cover the same core job for a fraction of the cost. See our ATS guide for that comparison.
Pricing
| Platform | Plans | What that actually gets you |
|---|---|---|
| Workable | Standard $299 · Premier $599 · Enterprise $719 | Per month at the 1–20 employee band, billed annually ($3,588/$7,188/$8,628 per year); the price rises with company headcount. Texting (+$89/mo), video interviews (+$109/mo) and assessments (+$59/mo) are add-ons on Standard. The AI agent runs on credits sold separately from $0.095–$0.12 each. 15-day trial. |
| Greenhouse | Core · Plus · Pro — quote only | Greenhouse publishes no prices. Plans are quoted based on hiring volume and organisational complexity, and every tier goes through a sales demo. In practice this puts it well above the self-serve tools on this page. |
| AvaHR | Lite $99 · Plus $165 · Premium $332 · Max $457+ | Per month, billed monthly; annual billing saves up to 17%. Unlimited candidates on every plan. Lite covers 3 live jobs and 1 user; Plus 50 jobs and 5 users; Premium unlimited jobs and 25 users. 7-day free trial. |
| Breezy HR | Bootstrap $0 · Startup $157 · Growth $273 · Business $439 | Per month; annual billing includes 2 months free. Unlimited users on every plan, including the free Bootstrap tier — but Bootstrap allows only 1 active position at a time. SMS and Breezy Intelligence are paid add-ons on all tiers. 14-day trial. |
Pricing above was taken from each provider's own pricing page in August 2026. Always confirm the current numbers before buying — hiring software pricing changes often, and the three billing models in this category (flat per plan, per recruiter seat, and per employee on your payroll) make headline prices hard to compare without doing the arithmetic for your own headcount and number of open roles.
The short version
Greenhouse if you have recruiters, hire at volume, and need structure and reporting you can defend. Workable if you want one transparent subscription covering hiring and basic HR without a sales process. If you hire under ten people a year, neither — look one tier down.
Frequently asked questions
Is Greenhouse or Workable better for a small business?
It depends on how you hire: Greenhouse and Workable both work for small teams, but they differ in setup time, pricing structure, and how much of the hiring workflow is built in — see the comparison table above for the specifics.
Can I switch from Greenhouse to Workable later?
Yes. Both Greenhouse and Workable support CSV import/export of candidate and job data, and most vendors will help with migration during onboarding. Expect to rebuild pipeline stages and email templates by hand.
Which one is cheaper?
Pricing changes often on both sides and several ATS vendors quote per job slot rather than per seat, so check each provider's current pricing page for exact numbers before deciding. This guide focuses on fit rather than fixed prices.