Alternatives
Best Workable Alternatives in 2026
Quick answer: AvaHR at $99/mo and Breezy HR at $157/mo are the best Workable alternatives on price, both costing a fraction of Workable's $299/mo floor. BambooHR is the better swap if what you valued was the bundled HR side rather than the ATS, and Greenhouse is the move if you outgrew Workable's recruiting depth.
Workable is a strong, complete platform. The reason people look for alternatives is almost always the same: $299/mo is the floor, that figure is for the 1–20 employee band and rises with headcount, and the features you assumed were included frequently are not. Texting is +$89/mo, video interviews +$109/mo, assessments +$59/mo on the Standard plan. Its AI agent bills separately by credit at $0.095–$0.12 each.
A small company can easily reach $550/mo for what looked like a $299 product.
What it costs, side by side
| Platform | Typical monthly cost | Billed as |
|---|---|---|
| Workable | $299–$719/mo | Flat per plan, banded by headcount |
| AvaHR | $99–$457/mo | Flat per plan |
| Breezy HR | $0–$439/mo | Flat per plan |
| JazzHR | ~$83–$459/mo | Flat per plan |
| Zoho Recruit | €0–€50/recruiter/mo | Per recruiter seat |
| BambooHR | $10–$25/employee/mo | Per employee on payroll |
| Greenhouse | Not published | Custom quote |
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.
AvaHR — a third of the price
AvaHR at $99–$165/mo. For a small business doing straightforward hiring, this covers the same core job — job distribution to 100+ boards, a single applicant pipeline, questionnaires, careers page — for roughly a third of Workable's entry cost, with no headcount scaling.
What you give up honestly: Workable's HRIS, onboarding, time-off management and its much deeper reporting. If you were only using the ATS half of Workable, that loss is theoretical. If you were using the HR half, this is not a like-for-like swap.
Breezy HR — closest like-for-like on hiring
Breezy HR Startup at $157/mo with unlimited positions and unlimited users is the nearest match to Workable's recruiting side at roughly half the price. Growth at $273/mo adds scorecards, interview guides, e-signatures and referrals — still below Workable's floor. SMS remains an add-on, as it is on Workable.
BambooHR — if you wanted the HR part
BambooHR at $10–$25 per employee per month is worth modelling if what you valued in Workable was the bundled HRIS. At 20 staff, Core is $200/mo — below Workable. At 60 staff it is $600/mo — above. The crossover depends entirely on headcount, which is exactly the calculation Workable's own headcount banding makes you do anyway.
Zoho Recruit and JazzHR — cheaper, narrower
Zoho Recruit at €25/recruiter/month is the cheapest per-seat option; job caps are per licence. JazzHR Hero at ~$83/mo is cheap but thin, with Plus at ~$290/mo roughly matching Workable's entry price without the HR side.
Moving up
Greenhouse is the answer if you outgrew Workable's recruiting depth rather than its price — structured hiring and reporting built for teams with recruiters. Quote-only. Manatal from $15/user/mo if you are an agency.
Before switching
- Separate the ATS from the HRIS in your usage. If you use both, most cheaper alternatives replace only half.
- Total your add-ons. The gap between Workable and the alternatives is usually larger than the headline suggests.
- Check your headcount band. Workable's price rises with company size; your renewal quote may differ from what you pay now.
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. |
| 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. |
| BambooHR | Core $10 · Pro $17 · Elite $25 | Per employee per month — you pay for everyone on staff, not just the people doing the hiring, so the applicant tracking is effectively bundled into an HR suite. Payroll, benefits administration and time tracking are separate add-ons. Quoted rather than self-serve; volume and non-profit discounts apply. |
| Zoho Recruit | Free €0 · Standard €25 · Enterprise €50 | Per recruiter per month, billed annually (EUR pricing shown; check your region). Active jobs are capped per licence: 1 on Free, 10 on Standard, 20 on Enterprise. 15-day trial and a 45-day money-back guarantee. |
| 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. |
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.
Frequently asked questions
What is an applicant tracking system?
An applicant tracking system (ATS) is software that collects job applications in one place, moves candidates through hiring stages, and handles the job postings, screening, and communication around that — instead of tracking applicants in an email inbox or a spreadsheet.
What is the best option for this use case?
AvaHR is our top pick for this use case, based on setup time, pricing, and how well it fits the way these teams actually hire — though the right choice depends on headcount and budget, which the sections above cover.
Do I need a paid ATS, or is a free plan enough?
A free plan or a job board alone is usually enough if you hire once or twice a year. Once you're running multiple open roles at a time, or more than one person is reviewing applicants, a paid ATS starts paying for itself in time saved.