The Bullhorn alternatives staffing firms compare most often are Recruit CRM, Crelate, JobAdder, Loxo, Manatal and Zoho Recruit. All six sell an ATS with a recruiting CRM, and each fits a smaller book of business than Bullhorn's front-to-back platform. Bullhorn publishes Starter at $99 per user per month and Core at $165, which sets the benchmark for every alternative.
Why firms look past Bullhorn
Bullhorn built its position on scale: 10,000+ customer firms, and 80% of the world's largest staffing firms run on it, according to its product pages. The same pages say 4,500+ customers have fewer than 10 users, so small agencies buy it.
Complaints in recruiter forums repeat. One r/recruiting user said changing layouts and adding fields "reminded me of software from the 90s". Another recruiter wrote that Bullhorn "continuously increase licensing costs without providing any added value".
Others defend it. A recruiter running Bullhorn said it has "the most open data model for backend stuff compared to its main competitors", with the catch that you need IT capability to use it. The split is size: "Systems like Bullhorn tend to be for larger agencies," one commenter wrote, pointing smaller firms to JobAdder or Loxo.
Six alternatives, at a glance
| Platform | Suits | Price published by the vendor |
|---|---|---|
| Recruit CRM | Agencies wanting sourcing, outreach and billing together | $95 per user/month (Pro) |
| Crelate | Executive search, direct hire and smaller staffing desks | $85 entry plan, $119 (Business) |
| JobAdder | Contingent and temp desks with high-volume roles | Not published; quote only |
| Loxo | Firms wanting AI sourcing and outreach in one system | From $149 per user/month (Core) |
| Manatal | Small teams and new agencies on a tight budget | From $15 per user/month (Professional, annual) |
| Zoho Recruit | Teams on Zoho, or anyone wanting a free tier | Free edition; paid plans by active jobs per recruiter |
Recruit CRM runs 2,000+ agencies in 100+ countries and gives every plan AI resume parsing, unlimited jobs and candidates, and a 30-day trial. Crelate reports a 4.6 average across G2, Capterra and Trustpilot.
JobAdder serves 4,000+ agencies and connects 130+ job boards. Loxo includes AI search on every plan. Manatal caps its Professional plan at 15 jobs per account and runs a 14-day trial without a card.
Zoho Recruit's free edition covers one active job per recruiter licence, and the vendor advertises no forced contracts and a 15-day trial. If Zoho is what you run today, this comparison of Zoho Recruit alternatives for SMBs and agencies covers the same shortlist from the other direction.
What a switch actually costs
Migration decides whether the saving is real. One recruiter warned about "having to migrate 20k resumes, notes, clients, companies, documents, etc to another ATS". Vendors handle it differently: JobAdder sells express migration from major platforms, and Recruit CRM lists assisted migration as a paid service. The same arithmetic decides larger moves, which is why firms comparing big suites start with affordable alternatives to Workday Recruiting.
For employers and in-house hiring teams
If you hire for your own company, the agency shortlist is wrong. Agency software tracks clients and placements; an in-house team needs scoring, scheduling and candidate communication. An AI talent CRM covers that ground, and if your team already runs an enterprise talent CRM, the best Beamery alternatives for talent CRM and skills mapping shows what replaces it.