Recruitment tools for startups
Hire your first 50 people without buying enterprise software. The goal is one system of record, fast outbound for the roles that matter, and nothing you will rip out at Series B.
Budget: Roughly $400–$1,500 per month all-in before job-ad spend.
Ashby — or Workable
Ashby bundles ATS, scheduling, CRM, and analytics so you avoid three more purchases; Workable if you want published pricing and heavy job-board distribution.
All-in-one ATS, scheduling, CRM, and analytics built for data-driven teams. Pricing: Published starting prices for small teams (Ashby Foundations) with per-employee pricing; mid-market and enterprise plans quote-based.
Noon — or Juicebox (PeopleGPT)
Founders and first recruiters have no time to source. An agent that finds, verifies, and emails candidates for approval beats a database seat you will not use.
Autonomous AI sourcing agent that finds candidates and runs personalized email and SMS outreach. Pricing: One plan with unlimited sourcing, enrichment, contacts, agents, and seats, quoted per team; free to start with no credit card. Typically well below a LinkedIn Recruiter seat.
Cal.com — or Prelude by Calendly
Free self-scheduling is enough until loops have more than three interviewers.
Open-source scheduling with free individual plans and round-robin teams. Pricing: Free individual plan; Teams from about $15 per user per month; self-host option.
TestGorilla — or Codility
Cheap, broad, and fast; use short work samples rather than long tests.
Library of 400+ skills, personality, and cognitive tests for all roles. Pricing: Free plan with limited tests; paid plans from roughly $75 per month.
Metaview — or BrightHire
An AI note-taker gives you structured feedback for free and keeps interviewers honest.
AI note-taker purpose-built for recruiter screens and interviews. Pricing: Free tier for individuals; team plans from roughly $50 per user per month.
LinkedIn Jobs — or Indeed
One free LinkedIn post per role plus your network goes a long way for professional roles.
Professional-network job posts with strong reach for knowledge-worker roles. Pricing: One free post at a time; promoted posts on a daily budget; Job Slots on contract.
What to avoid
- Enterprise ATS contracts with multi-year terms
- LinkedIn Recruiter seats before you have a full-time recruiter
- Standalone analytics tools; Ashby's reports are enough