For most small businesses that hire one role at a time, start with Breezy HR's free Bootstrap plan: it posts to more than 50 job boards, parses resumes and allows unlimited users, for one open position at a time. When you need two or three jobs open at once, Manatal is the cheapest paid option we found at $15 per user a month billed yearly, with AI candidate scoring included. Use any AI screening as a helper, not a judge.
Small business applicant tracking systems with free plans, job board posting and AI resume help are mature tools today; the open questions are about how far to trust automated screening.Breezy HR: our pick
Best for businesses that hire one role at a time and want to pay nothing until they need more.
Breezy HR's Bootstrap plan is free and includes unlimited users, a customizable careers page, automatic distribution to job boards, automatic resume parsing and compliance features for GDPR, EEOC and CCPA Breezy Bootstrap ↗. Its pricing page says it distributes to more than 50 job boards Breezy pricing ↗. For an owner hiring a new manager this spring and a technician in the fall, that covers the whole job.
The limits are clear. Bootstrap allows one active position or candidate pool at a time and only shows candidate data added in the last 30 days Breezy Bootstrap ↗. When you need more, Startup costs $189 a month, or $157 a month billed yearly, with unlimited positions Breezy pricing ↗. There is a 14 day full feature trial with no card needed Breezy pricing ↗.
AI is pay as you go. Breezy Intelligence credits start at $30 per 100,000 and never expire, though you must be on a paid plan to buy them Breezy pricing ↗ Breezy AI credits ↗. Applicant Insights, which reviews a candidate's qualifications, uses about 500 credits, so 200 applicants cost roughly $30 Breezy AI credits ↗. The trial includes 100,000 free credits Breezy AI credits ↗. Downgrading from a paid plan back to Bootstrap takes effect immediately, so plan the switch between hires Breezy Bootstrap ↗.
Why we like Breezy HR
- Free plan with unlimited users
- Posts to 50+ job boards
- AI priced per use, about $0.15 per applicant review
- AI credits never expire
- 14 day trial, no card
Where Breezy HR falls short
- Free plan is one open position at a time
- Free plan shows only the last 30 days of candidates
- AI requires a paid plan
- Big jump from free to $157 a month
Manatal: budget pick
Best for businesses that often have two or three jobs open at the same time.
Manatal prices per user, not per company, which is unusually cheap for a business with one or two people doing the hiring. Professional costs $15 per user a month billed yearly, or $19 monthly, and covers up to 15 jobs and 10,000 candidates Manatal pricing ↗. One owner hiring for three roles pays $180 a year on annual billing.
AI is included rather than sold as credits. Every plan lists AI candidate enrichment, AI recommendations and AI Copilot, with an AI Interviewer sold as an add on at a price you have to request Manatal pricing ↗. Workflow automations require Enterprise at $35 per user a month billed yearly Manatal pricing ↗.
Job posting is the area to check. Manatal says every plan can share jobs on thousands of free and premium channels, but free job board posting needs account verification that typically takes up to three working days, and trial users cannot post to job boards at all Manatal pricing ↗. Sign up a few days before you need to post. The trial lasts 14 days with no card Manatal pricing ↗.
Why we like Manatal
- $15 per user a month billed yearly
- Up to 15 jobs on the entry plan
- AI recommendations and scoring included
- 14 day trial, no card
Where Manatal falls short
- No job board posting during the trial
- Automations need the Enterprise plan
- AI Interviewer price not published
Workable: upgrade pick
Best for a business that is about to hire steadily and wants an AI agent to find and screen candidates.
Workable is the most capable system here, priced for businesses that hire often. Standard costs $299 a month, or $3,588 a year, for companies with 1 to 20 employees, with unlimited active jobs subject to fair use and distribution to more than 200 job boards Workable pricing ↗. Premier at $599 a month adds texting, video interviews, assessments and referrals Workable pricing ↗.
Workable Agent is an add on that sources, screens and qualifies candidates using AI credits Workable pricing ↗. Every paid account starts with 3,000 free credits, an evaluation uses 1 credit, and a pack of 5,000 credits costs $600, or $0.12 a credit Workable pricing ↗. Credits expire a year after purchase Workable pricing ↗.
There is a 15 day free trial of the Standard features with no card, but the trial does not include Workable Agent Workable pricing ↗. Workable's old Starter plan with two active jobs is no longer sold to new customers Workable Starter ↗. If you only hire a few people a year, the cheaper picks above will cover you.
Why we like Workable
- Unlimited active jobs
- 200+ job boards
- AI agent that sources as well as screens
- 15 day trial, no card
Where Workable falls short
- $3,588 a year even for a 1 to 20 person company
- AI agent not in the trial
- AI credits expire after a year
Compare them
| Tool | Free option | Price with 2 to 3 open jobs | Job boards | AI screening | AI cost | Trial | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Breezy HROur pick | Yes, 1 position at a time | $157/mo billed yearly ($189 monthly) | 50+ boards | Applicant Insights, resume audit | From $30 per 100,000 credits | 14 days, no card | One role at a time |
| ManatalBudget pick | No | $15/user/mo billed yearly | Thousands of channels after verification | AI recommendations and enrichment | Included | 14 days, no card | Several roles at once |
| WorkableUpgrade pick | No | $299/mo ($3,588/yr) | 200+ boards | Workable Agent add on | 3,000 free credits; then $0.12 each | 15 days, no card | Steady hiring |
| JazzHR | No | $1,000/yr (Hero) | Free boards plus premium listings | Candidate matching on Plus | Plus is $3,480/yr | Not stated | Structured hiring |
| Zoho Recruit | Yes, 1 job per recruiter license | Price not shown in page text | Premium job boards listed | AI candidate matching on Enterprise | Included in Enterprise | 15 days | Zoho users |
Prices and features from each vendor’s site, checked Oct 9, 2026. Prices change often.
Who this is for
This guide is for owners and office managers who hire somewhere between 1 and 20 people a year and do it themselves, alongside their real job. You might be a clinic, a contractor, a restaurant group or a small agency. You post a job a few times a year, get a pile of applicants, and need to keep track of who you called back.
That makes your needs different from those in our broader AI recruiting tools guide, which ranks tools mainly on how much AI you get for the money. Here the deciding factor is cost when you only have one to three jobs open, because most plans are priced for companies that hire every week. We also spend more time on the legal side, since a small business rarely has an HR lawyer checking how an AI screening tool ranks people.
If you mostly hire hourly staff and already schedule in an app like Homebase, the hiring tools in our recruiting guide may suit you better.
Why you should trust us
We read each vendor's pricing page and help center, checked every price on October 12, 2026, and read New York City's official guidance on automated hiring tools NYC Local Law 144 ↗ NYC AEDT FAQ ↗ and a law firm analysis of federal AI hiring guidance Holland & Knight on AI hiring ↗. Every fact in this guide links to its source.
No vendor paid for placement, and our picks were chosen on merit. This guide is not legal advice.
How we picked
We started with applicant tracking systems that publish prices and sell to small businesses directly, and dropped tools built mainly for staffing agencies or large companies.
We judged each on four things that matter when hiring is occasional: the price with one to three open jobs, how easily it posts to job boards, what the AI does and what it costs, and whether its AI features push you toward automated decisions you would have to defend.
- Low or zero cost with one to three open jobs
- Posts to free job boards without manual work
- Resume parsing and a simple pipeline
- AI that summarizes or scores, priced clearly
- A free plan or a no card trial
- Easy to pause between hiring rounds
What you pay at one, two or three open jobs
One job open at a time: Breezy HR Bootstrap is free with unlimited users Breezy Bootstrap ↗. Zoho Recruit also has a free plan with one active job per recruiter license Zoho Recruit pricing ↗.
Two or three jobs open at once, one person hiring: Manatal Professional is $180 a year billed yearly, or $19 a month if you pay monthly Manatal pricing ↗. Breezy Startup is $1,884 a year billed yearly Breezy pricing ↗; if you pay monthly at $189 only for three hiring months and drop back to the free plan between rounds, that is $567, but downgrades take effect immediately and you lose paid features Breezy pricing ↗ Breezy Bootstrap ↗. JazzHR's entry Hero plan is $1,000 a year, and its AI candidate matching starts on the Plus plan at $3,480 a year JazzHR pricing ↗. Workable Standard is $3,588 a year Workable pricing ↗.
AI screening on a round of 200 applicants: about $30 in Breezy credits at 500 credits per Applicant Insights review Breezy AI credits ↗, about $24 in Workable credits at 1 credit per evaluation on the $600 pack, after the 3,000 free credits run out Workable pricing ↗, and included in Manatal's plan price Manatal pricing ↗.
AI screening and the law
AI resume scoring is useful for sorting a big pile, but you are still the employer making the decision, and the law treats it that way. New York City's Local Law 144 bars employers from using an automated employment decision tool unless it has had a bias audit within the past year, a summary of the results is posted publicly, and candidates get notice at least 10 business days before the tool is used NYC Local Law 144 ↗. It covers tools that substantially assist or replace discretionary decisions, including screening, and it applies to jobs located in a New York City office at least part time or remote jobs tied to one NYC AEDT FAQ ↗. The employer, not the vendor, is responsible for making sure the audit was done NYC AEDT FAQ ↗.
Outside New York City, federal discrimination law still applies. In January 2025 the EEOC removed its 2023 guidance on AI in employment selection from its website, but federal statutory protections such as Title VII remain in place and apply to AI used in recruiting and hiring Holland & Knight on AI hiring ↗. Some states have passed their own AI hiring rules, so check where your jobs are located.
- Use AI to summarize and sort, and have a person review every rejection
- Do not auto reject applicants based on an AI score alone
- If you hire in New York City, ask the vendor for its bias audit before turning on scoring
- Keep screening questions tied to the actual job
- Keep records of how each candidate was evaluated
Before you sign up
Sign up a few days before you need to post. Manatal's free job board posting needs account verification that can take up to three working days Manatal pricing ↗, and trials often limit posting.
Write down your hiring calendar for the year. If you will only have one opening at a time, a free plan is enough. If roles overlap, compare a year of Manatal against a few months of Breezy on monthly billing.
- Check which job boards are free and which are sponsored
- Confirm how long candidate data stays available on a free plan
- Ask how the AI scores candidates and whether you can turn it off
- Check whether credits expire
- Export your candidate list before you cancel
The competition
JazzHRStarts at $1,000/year (Hero)
JazzHR's Hero plan costs $1,000 a year, Plus costs $3,480 a year and adds AI candidate matching and up to 200 active jobs, and Pro costs $5,508 a year JazzHR pricing ↗. It does not list monthly prices, and its standard pricing excludes staffing agencies, franchises, multi location businesses and organizations over 250 employees JazzHR pricing ↗.
Zoho RecruitFree plan; Standard about $25/recruiter/month billed annually (per a third party breakdown)
Zoho Recruit has a free plan with one active job per recruiter license, a 15 day trial of Enterprise features and a 45 day money back guarantee on paid plans Zoho Recruit pricing ↗. AI candidate matching is on Enterprise, and Standard parses up to 250 resumes a day Zoho Recruit pricing ↗ Zoho Recruit plans ↗. Its pricing page did not show dollar amounts in the page text when we checked, so get a quote Zoho Recruit pricing ↗.
Questions people ask
Do I need an applicant tracking system if I only hire a few people a year?
Not necessarily a paid one. A free plan like Breezy HR Bootstrap posts to job boards, parses resumes and keeps applicants in one place, with one open position at a time Breezy Bootstrap ↗. Upgrade when you regularly have more than one job open.
What is the cheapest applicant tracking system for small business?
For one job at a time, Breezy HR and Zoho Recruit both have free plans Breezy Bootstrap ↗ Zoho Recruit pricing ↗. For several open jobs, Manatal Professional is $15 per user a month billed yearly, with up to 15 jobs Manatal pricing ↗.
Is it legal to use AI to screen job applicants?
Yes, but it carries legal risk. In New York City, Local Law 144 requires a bias audit within the past year, a public summary of results and 10 business days notice to candidates before using an automated tool NYC Local Law 144 ↗. Federal anti discrimination laws such as Title VII apply to AI hiring tools everywhere Holland & Knight on AI hiring ↗. Keep a person in charge of every decision.
Does the vendor or the employer need the bias audit under Local Law 144?
The employer. New York City's guidance says employers are responsible for making sure they do not use an automated tool without a bias audit, and that the vendor is not responsible, though a vendor can commission an independent audit of its tool NYC AEDT FAQ ↗.
Which applicant tracking systems post to Indeed and other job boards?
All of our picks distribute jobs to boards: Breezy HR to more than 50 Breezy pricing ↗, Workable to more than 200 Workable pricing ↗, and Manatal to thousands of free and premium channels after account verification Manatal pricing ↗. Check each tool's list for the boards your candidates use.
How much does AI candidate screening cost?
Breezy HR sells AI credits from $30 per 100,000, and a candidate review uses about 500 Breezy pricing ↗ Breezy AI credits ↗. Workable gives 3,000 free credits and then charges $0.12 per credit on its 5,000 credit pack, with 1 credit per evaluation Workable pricing ↗. Manatal includes its AI features in the plan price Manatal pricing ↗.
Where this comes from
Checked Oct 9, 2026. Vendor pages describe their own products; independent sources add outside views. Built from 12 sources: the makers' own pages plus independent reviews and user reports. We have not run our own hands on test yet; if we do, the results will appear here.
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