Manatal Alternatives in 2026: 10 ATS and Sourcing Tools for Agencies and Small Teams

By Sparsh Goyal, Founder at The Cognitive. Published 2026-10-03 · Last updated 2026-10-05

• Top picks: The Cognitive to source and interview candidates next to Manatal or any ATS, Zoho Recruit as the cheaper like-for-like swap, Recruit CRM for small agencies, Recruiterflow for search firms, Workable for in-house teams.
• The Cognitive is the only tool here that finds people outside your database and runs a live, two-way AI video interview with them, self-serve, with both prices on its website; Manatal's AI interviews are asynchronous, use defined questions and are priced in the app.
• Pick Zoho Recruit or Breezy HR if a free plan matters most, and Crelate, Loxo, JobAdder or Bullhorn if you need a fuller agency system.
• I run The Cognitive. The other 9 are judged from their own websites, read on 3 October 2026.

The best Manatal alternative in 2026 is The Cognitive paired with the ATS you prefer, if you want new candidates found and interviewed live. The Cognitive searches ~900M public profiles from a plain-English brief and runs a live, two-way AI video interview with the people you pick. For the applicant tracking system itself, Zoho Recruit, Recruit CRM and Recruiterflow are the closest Manatal competitors.

Outside sourcing is where Manatal gets tight. Gem's 2026 Recruiting Benchmarks, drawn from 1.2 million hires, found that sourced candidates are nearly 8 times more likely to be hired than inbound applicants. Manatal does include outside sourcing, but on its two lower plans you get 10 searches a month. That limit, and how its AI interview works, are why most people end up comparing.

The best Manatal alternatives in 2026

1. The Cognitive: best for sourcing and live AI interviews next to Manatal or any ATS you choose.
2. Zoho Recruit: best cheaper like-for-like swap, with a free-forever plan and a staffing edition.
3. Recruit CRM: best for small agencies that want AI sourcing and the option to cancel anytime.
4. Recruiterflow: best for search firms that want an 850M+ profile search inside the CRM.
5. Workable: best for in-house teams that want an agent to source and screen by chat.
6. Breezy HR: best for small in-house teams that want a free plan and simple hiring.
7. Crelate: best for agencies that want a 1 billion profile Discovery Agent.
8. Loxo: best for agencies that want their vendor's own talent graph and can pay a year up front.
9. JobAdder: best for boutique agencies that run temp and contract work.
10. Bullhorn: best for larger staffing firms that want AI screening by voice or text.

Full disclosure: I run The Cognitive. I put it first on a test you can check: it's the only tool here that finds people outside your database and runs a live, two-way AI video interview whose questions adapt to each answer, in an account you can open without a sales call, with both prices on its website. It isn't an ATS, so I rank it as the layer you add to whichever ATS you pick, Manatal included. After #1, the order is my judgment of how well each tool replaces Manatal for a typical small team. I have not used the other 9 on a paid account. What I say about them comes from their own websites, read on 3 October 2026.

What is Manatal, and why do people look for alternatives?

Manatal is an AI recruitment software and applicant tracking system (ATS) "tailored for HR teams, recruitment agencies, and headhunters". It says 10,000 recruitment teams in 135+ countries use it. The Manatal ATS posts jobs to 2,500+ channels and adds a recruitment CRM, career pages and AI candidate scoring. On Capterra it holds 4.6 out of 5 from 142 Manatal reviews, and reviewers often praise how easy it is to use. For the wider field of applicant tracking system software, see our full list.

People still look elsewhere, and 4 reasons come up:

• Sourcing limits. Manatal's Sourcing Hub opens "over 700 million candidates beyond your existing network". Its help centre gives Professional and Enterprise 10 searches a month of up to 100 profiles each, charged "even if no profiles are returned". Enterprise Plus gets 300.
• The AI interview is recorded. Manatal describes its AI Interviewer as "automated, asynchronous video interviews" built on "defined questions".
• The interview price isn't public. The AI Interviewer is an add-on, bought inside the app, and the pricing page doesn't show what it costs.
• Job caps. The entry Professional plan allows up to 15 jobs per account.

One Capterra reviewer also reported Indeed resumes not importing, so test your job boards during the 14-day trial.

Is Manatal good for recruitment agencies?

Yes, for small and mid-sized agencies on a budget. Its recruitment CRM tracks "commercial activity, clients, placements, and revenue", a guest portal lets clients see the candidates you share, and pricing comes "without lock-in contract".

It gets thinner on volume sourcing. 10 searches a month covers about 1,000 profiles on the lower plans: fine for a few roles, tight for a busy desk. Outbound-heavy agencies pair Manatal with a sourcing tool or move to Recruit CRM, Recruiterflow or Crelate.

How do the top Manatal alternatives compare?

Here is how they stack up, with Manatal as the baseline. I filled in every cell from the vendor's own site on 3 October 2026:

How did we rank these Manatal competitors?

I started from what people buy Manatal for: a low-cost, easy ATS with some sourcing and an AI screen. A tool made the list if buyers weigh it against Manatal or if it does Manatal's sourcing and screening jobs on its own. Manatal itself publishes comparison pages against 5 of them: Zoho Recruit, Recruit CRM, Workable, Loxo and Bullhorn.

The Cognitive is #1 on the test in the disclosure, checked against all 9 others and against Manatal. Recruit CRM, Recruiterflow, Workable, Crelate and Loxo find people outside your database, but none runs a live AI video interview. Bullhorn's AI screener uses voice or text and is sold by quote. Manatal comes closest: it searches 700M+ profiles and sells an AI video interview, but its help centre calls the interviews asynchronous, the questions are set in advance (up to 10), and the add-on's price isn't on the pricing page. The ATSs below #1 are ranked on how much of Manatal they replace and how you pay.

How do you choose a Manatal alternative?

Is there a cheaper Manatal alternative?

Manatal is already one of the lower-cost ATSs, so "cheaper" usually means free. Zoho Recruit has a Forever Free plan with 1 active job, and Breezy HR has a Free Forever plan with 1 active position. Neither is enough to run an agency, and our guide to free recruitment software shows what other free tiers cap. If sourcing is what you're really paying for, keep an entry ATS and buy sourcing by use: The Cognitive charges 1 credit per candidate a search returns.

How accurate are Manatal's AI recommendations?

Manatal says its scoring agent "extracts the core skills and requirements from your job description, then scores every candidate in your database against them", with a breakdown per requirement and weights you can tune. Early Capterra reviewers called it a big time saver. Accuracy depends on how complete your profiles are, so test it on 3 roles you've already filled and see where your hires rank. The Cognitive shows no score: each result card opens with a "Why this match" line, 1 or 2 reasons taken from the profile.

Do you need a live AI interview or a recorded screen?

Recruiters handle 93% more applications than in 2021 and juggle 13.4 open roles at a time, per the same Gem report, so the first screen is where the hours go. A recorded screen, like Manatal's or Breezy's, suits high volume with fixed questions. A live interview helps when the second question depends on the first answer, which is how The Cognitive's 10 or 20 minute interview works.

Are you an agency or an in-house team?

Agencies need client records and placements, which Recruit CRM, Recruiterflow, Crelate, Loxo, JobAdder and Bullhorn are built around. In-house teams fit Workable and Breezy HR. Zoho Recruit sells both a Corporate and a Staffing edition.

Will the new ATS connect to your sourcing and interview tool?

The Cognitive connects directly to Manatal, Zoho Recruit, Recruiterflow, JobAdder, Breezy, Workable, Crelate and Bullhorn, among 60+ ATS integrations. For candidates you import from the ATS, it writes a note with the score, summary and report link back. Loxo and Recruit CRM aren't direct integrations today, so you'd upload a CSV and share the read-only report link instead.

The 10 best Manatal alternatives, reviewed

1. The Cognitive: best for sourcing and live AI interviews next to Manatal or any ATS you choose

The Cognitive is AI recruiting software that sources candidates across ~900M public profiles and interviews them live with AI. It does the 2 jobs Manatal limits: outside search as often as you need, and a first interview that's a real conversation.

You describe the role in plain English. I typed "Senior backend engineer with 5+ years of Go who has built payments systems, Remote EU", and it turned that into filters I could edit, with "Remote EU" read as Germany plus 7 other countries. Every person found is judged against your must-haves, and anyone who misses one drops below the people who meet them. Each result card opens with a "Why this match" line, such as their current role or a skill listed on the profile.

You reveal verified emails and phone numbers only for the people you want, enriched from 30+ sources. An email costs 5 credits and a phone number 10, charged only when a value comes back. On the Sourcing Pro plan you can send email and SMS sequences from platform mailboxes, and a reply or opt-out on either channel stops both.

Shortlisted people get an invitation that tells them the interview is run by AI. They book their own slot without an account and talk live on video, in any of 9 languages. The rubric is fixed for the role, and the questions adapt to what each person says. You get a 1 to 5 score per criterion, overall written feedback, a weighted score out of 100, a suggested verdict, the transcript and the recording. Nothing is rejected automatically, and integrity flags are logged, not scored.

The 5-minute recording above is a live AI interview for a go-to-market role. The AI asks the candidate about an outbound email campaign, then follows up on reply rates and on how leads were qualified. More on the AI interviewer page.

What you give up: it isn't an ATS. It has no job posting, careers page, offers or funnel analytics, and it doesn't search your ATS history. Candidates you import from Manatal get the interview note back on their Manatal record; people you source inside The Cognitive aren't written into Manatal automatically. Clients get a read-only link with the scores, feedback and recording.

Pick it if you want more outside searches than Manatal's plan allows and a live first interview. AI Sourcing starts at $49/month and AI Interview at $99/month. See our AI sourcing page for how the search works.

Source and interview your next role next to Manatal Describe the role in one sentence, reveal the contacts you need and interview the people you pick, live, with AI. Start free

2. Zoho Recruit: best cheaper like-for-like swap, with a free-forever plan and a staffing edition

Zoho Recruit is the closest match to Manatal's price-first pitch. It sells a Corporate edition for HR teams and a separate Staffing Agency edition for agencies. Its pricing page publishes per-user plans, monthly or yearly, with "No forced contracts", a 15-day free trial and a 45-day money-back guarantee. Zia, its AI assistant, matches candidates to jobs.

The limit: Zoho says its AI "does not scrape data externally", so there's no outside profile database. Its video interview add-on covers "one-way or live video interviews" that your own team runs.

Pick it if price is the reason you chose Manatal and you want more room to customise workflows. Our Zoho Recruit alternatives guide covers its weak spots, and the Zoho Recruit integration page shows how it connects to The Cognitive.

3. Recruit CRM: best for small agencies that want AI sourcing and the option to cancel anytime

Recruit CRM calls itself an "AI First ATS + CRM built for recruitment agencies". Its entry Pro plan includes a Chrome sourcing extension and AI sourcing that lets you "source from across the internet with natural language". It adds email, SMS and LinkedIn sequences and a 30-day free trial.

The pricing page offers monthly or annual billing, and its FAQ says you can cancel anytime. No price figure showed when I read it. Phone and email enrichment is an Enterprise feature, with 25 free credits on every plan. There's no AI interview.

Pick it if you run an agency, want sourcing built in and don't want a long contract. Read our Recruit CRM review or the Recruit CRM alternatives list before you sign.

4. Recruiterflow: best for search firms that want an 850M+ profile search inside the CRM

Recruiterflow is an ATS and CRM "trusted by 2,100+ search firms globally". AIRA Source lets you "source across 850M+ profiles without leaving Recruiterflow", and the AIRA agents take notes, flag job changes and draft submissions.

Its pricing page publishes a per-user Platform Plan with a monthly or annual toggle and says "No add-ons". The AIRA Plan is custom. You start with a demo, not a trial, and there's no AI interview.

Pick it if you run executive search and want deeper outbound than Manatal's monthly search allowance. See how it stacks up in our Recruiterflow competitors guide.

5. Workable: best for in-house teams that want an agent to source and screen by chat

Workable is an ATS and HR suite used by "35,000+ teams". Its agent "searches 400M+ profiles", messages strong fits, and evaluates inbound applicants against up to 14 job criteria before chatting with them to fill gaps.

The pricing page publishes plans, monthly or annual, and the agent runs on AI credits. Its video interview add-on is one-way, per Workable's help centre. It's built for companies hiring their own staff, not agencies with clients.

Pick it if you hire in-house and want sourcing and screening handled inside the ATS. More in our Workable alternatives guide.

6. Breezy HR: best for small in-house teams that want a free plan and simple hiring

Breezy HR pitches "simple, flexible pricing for teams of 10 to 10,000". Its Free Forever plan allows 1 active position with unlimited users. Breezy Intelligence, an add-on, handles "AI-powered candidate evaluation, interaction summaries, and resume auditing".

Prices are on the pricing page, annual or monthly, with a 14-day trial and no card. It offers one-way candidate video of up to 5 minutes. There's no outside profile database and no client CRM, so it suits employers more than agencies.

Pick it if you're a small company that wants the easiest possible ATS and a free start.

7. Crelate: best for agencies that want a 1 billion profile Discovery Agent

Crelate "unifies sourcing, Recruiting CRM, and applicant tracking with agentic AI". Its Discovery Agent lets you "look beyond your data" across "over 1 billion profiles", with phone and email lookups.

Its pricing is per user and published for Essentials (paid annually) and Business ("annual or monthly"), with a free trial. Native contact enrichment is an "additional fee", and there's no AI interview.

Pick it if you want an agency CRM with outside discovery built in and a monthly option.

8. Loxo: best for agencies that want their vendor's own talent graph and can pay a year up front

Loxo combines sourcing, CRM, ATS, outreach and AI agents in one system of record, built on what it calls an "850-million-person talent graph we built ourselves".

The catch is the contract. Loxo's pricing page says "Annual plans, paid up front", and Enterprise runs on "Custom annual agreements". There's a 7-day trial of the full Professional plan and no AI interview. More in our Loxo review and Loxo alternatives guide.

Pick it if sourcing depth matters more to you than Manatal's month-to-month flexibility.

9. JobAdder: best for boutique agencies that run temp and contract work

JobAdder sells Recruiter Lite "for new and boutique agencies" and Essential "for growing agencies". Even Lite includes temp and contract management, client management and a business development pipeline. Temp and contract tools are something Manatal's site doesn't advertise.

There's no price on its pricing page. JobAdder says it will "create a tailored proposal for you". It doesn't list an outside sourcing database or an AI interview.

Pick it if you place temps and contractors as well as perm and you're fine buying through a proposal.

10. Bullhorn: best for larger staffing firms that want AI screening by voice or text

Bullhorn is the incumbent for staffing, with editions from a small-agency Starter up to Bullhorn One with back office. Amplify, its AI layer, can "conduct, summarize, and score candidate interviews around the clock". Its help centre says that screen happens by voice or text, with dynamic, role-specific questions.

The pricing page shows per-user prices for Starter and Core only. Agentic screening sits on Bullhorn Max, which is "Talk to us". It doesn't advertise an outside profile database. See our Bullhorn alternatives.

Pick it if you've outgrown Manatal and run a staffing business at scale.

Manatal vs Zoho Recruit vs Recruit CRM: which is better for a small agency?

Manatal publishes its own comparison pages against both. Here's the short version from each vendor's site:

• Manatal vs Zoho Recruit: both are low-cost, per user, monthly or yearly. Manatal adds a 700M+ outside database and an AI video interview add-on. Zoho Recruit adds a free-forever plan, a staffing edition and deeper customisation.
• Manatal vs Recruit CRM: Recruit CRM is built only for agencies, with AI sourcing, multichannel sequences and a 30-day trial. Manatal serves agencies and employers, adds the AI interview and shows its prices.

Between Zoho Recruit and Recruit CRM, pick Zoho if cost and customisation lead, and Recruit CRM if your desk runs on outbound.

None of the 3 runs a live, two-way AI interview. For more agency options, see recruitment software for agencies.

Who is The Cognitive built for?

We built The Cognitive for the recruiter who needs new people on a role this week and wants to send a client candidates who've already been interviewed. It suits small agencies and lean in-house teams who source in waves and want to see the price first.

• Keep Manatal if it works for you. It's a direct integration, so Manatal stays your system of record.
• Or pair it with a new ATS. Zoho Recruit, Recruiterflow, Workable, Breezy, Crelate, JobAdder and Bullhorn connect directly too. For Recruit CRM or Loxo, upload a CSV and share the report link.

How is Manatal priced, and how do the alternatives charge?

Manatal publishes per-user prices for its Professional, Enterprise and Enterprise Plus plans, billed monthly or yearly, and a Custom plan on request. The AI Interviewer is an add-on bought in the app on credits, with monthly or annual options, and its price isn't on the pricing page. The alternatives charge in 3 ways:

• Credits on a monthly plan: The Cognitive.
• Published plan prices: Zoho Recruit, Breezy HR, Workable, Recruiterflow's Platform Plan, Crelate's first 2 tiers, Bullhorn Starter and Core, and Loxo, which is annual and paid up front.
• By quote or not shown: JobAdder, Bullhorn's upper editions, Recruiterflow's AIRA Plan and Recruit CRM.

The Cognitive charges 1 credit per candidate a search returns, 5 to reveal an email and 10 to reveal a phone number. AI Sourcing starts at $49/month and AI Interview at $99/month, on a monthly plan you can cancel anytime. There's also a free trial with 100 sourcing credits. Full details are on our pricing page.

How do you test a Manatal alternative before you switch?

Don't migrate first. Run 1 open role through Manatal and the alternative side by side for 2 weeks. Count the people each search finds that you'd contact, reveal 20 emails and count the bounces. For AI interviews, send 5 candidates through each and read the transcripts for useful follow-ups. Then decide if you're replacing Manatal or adding to it.

Put The Cognitive next to Manatal on 1 role Search ~900M public profiles, reveal the contacts you need and interview the people you pick, live, with AI. Start free

Sources

• Manatal, read 3 October 2026: homepage, pricing, AI Interviewer, AI Recommendations, AI Interviewer help article and Sourcing Hub help article.
• Capterra, Manatal reviews, read 3 October 2026.
• Gem, Key takeaways from the 2026 Recruiting Benchmarks Report, read 3 October 2026.
• Zoho Recruit, read 3 October 2026: homepage, pricing, staffing edition and AI recruitment.
• Recruit CRM, read 3 October 2026: homepage and pricing.
• Recruiterflow, read 3 October 2026: homepage and pricing.
• Workable, read 3 October 2026: homepage, pricing and Video Interviews overview.
• Breezy HR, read 3 October 2026: homepage and pricing.
• Crelate, read 3 October 2026: homepage and pricing.
• Loxo, read 3 October 2026: homepage and pricing.
• JobAdder, pricing, read 3 October 2026.
• Bullhorn, read 3 October 2026: pricing, Amplify and How Amplify Screen works.

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