Workable Alternatives in 2026: 10 ATS and Hiring Platforms Compared

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

• Top picks: The Cognitive to fill whichever ATS you choose, Greenhouse for structured hiring, Ashby for an all-in-one ATS, BambooHR for HR plus hiring, Breezy HR for a free plan.
• The Cognitive is the only tool here that searches hundreds of millions of public profiles and runs a live, two-way AI video interview with the people it finds, in a self-serve account at a published price; Workable's video interview is one-way.
• Pick JazzHR or Zoho Recruit for a cheaper small-business ATS, Manatal for an AI interviewer add-on, and Teamtailor or Tellent Recruitee for employer brand and collaboration.
• I run The Cognitive. The other 9 are judged from their own websites, read on 3 October 2026.

The best Workable alternative in 2026 depends on what you're replacing: The Cognitive is the sourcing and interview layer that fills whichever applicant tracking system (ATS) you pick, and Greenhouse, Ashby and BambooHR are the strongest ATS replacements. The Cognitive searches ~900M public profiles from a plain-English brief, then runs a live, two-way AI video interview with the people you choose. Among the other Workable competitors, Breezy HR and Zoho Recruit have free plans, JazzHR is built for small US businesses, and Manatal sells an AI video interviewer as an add-on.

Most teams look for Workable alternatives because the pipeline is thin, and a new ATS won't fix that on its own. NFIB's September 2026 jobs report found 32% of small business owners had openings they couldn't fill, and 87% of those hiring reported few or no qualified applicants. So decide first whether your problem is the system of record or the people flowing into it.

The best Workable alternatives in 2026

1. The Cognitive: best overall, for finding new candidates and interviewing them live with AI, next to any ATS.
2. Greenhouse: best for structured hiring once you outgrow Workable.
3. Ashby: best for an all-in-one ATS, CRM and analytics for growing teams.
4. BambooHR: best for small companies that want HR and basic hiring in one tool.
5. Breezy HR: best for a free plan and published prices.
6. JazzHR: best for a cheaper, simple ATS for small US businesses.
7. Zoho Recruit: best for companies on Zoho, and for agencies.
8. Manatal: best for a per-user price with an AI video interviewer add-on.
9. Teamtailor: best for employer branding and careers sites.
10. Tellent Recruitee: best for collaborative hiring with GDPR tooling.

Full disclosure: I run The Cognitive, and it isn't an ATS. I put it first on a test you can check: it's the only tool here that searches hundreds of millions of public profiles for you and runs a live, two-way AI video interview with the people it finds, in an account you can open without a sales call, at a published price. Numbers 2 to 10 are ATSs, ranked by how well each replaces Workable for a typical Workable buyer; that order is my judgment. 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 Workable, and what does it do well?

Workable is an ATS with a full HR system on the same platform. Its homepage calls it "agentic software for recruiting and HR" and says it is trusted by 35,000+ teams. The Workable applicant tracking system covers requisitions, job posting to 200+ job boards, a careers page builder, interview kits, scorecards and offers. The HR side adds onboarding, time off, performance reviews and payroll reporting.

The new piece is the Workable Agent. Workable says it "sources, screens and engages candidates inside the Workable ATS": it searches 400M+ profiles, scores every applicant against up to 14 job criteria, and chats with candidates by message to fill gaps. Every plan also includes AI candidate sourcing across that 400M+ pool, plus a Chrome extension for LinkedIn profiles. Few ATSs at this price come with an outside profile database at all.

It connects to 270+ tools, The Cognitive among them.

What do Workable reviews say?

Workable reviews are mostly warm. It holds 4.4 out of 5 from 706 reviews on G2 (read 3 October 2026), and "Ease of Use" is its most tagged strength, 187 times. The complaints cluster in 3 places:

• Customization. G2 tags "Limited Customization" 67 times and "Missing Features" 57 times. G2's own summary says some users want more flexible reporting for advanced metrics.
• Search and CRM. A mid-market reviewer wrote that search "relies heavily on consistent tagging", and asked to manage passive candidates without attaching them to an open job first.
• Candidate management cuts both ways. It's tagged 89 times as a strength and 56 times as a weakness.

Hiring managers rate the scorecards well; 2 of the recent reviews I read credit the interview kits with keeping feedback consistent.

How do the Workable alternatives compare?

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

Workable's own row: yes, 400M+ profiles; one-way video add-on; published prices by employee band.

How did we rank these Workable alternatives?

I started from the vendors that show up next to Workable in buyer searches and comparison lists, then kept 9 that a Workable customer could actually move to. I considered Lever and left it out: every Lever price is a custom quote, and we cover it in our Greenhouse alternatives guide, our Lever review and our Lever alternatives.

The Cognitive is first on 4 tests anyone can rerun: it searches a large pool of public profiles for you; it runs a live, two-way AI video interview with them; you can open an account without a sales call; the price is on the website. 2 tools come close, from opposite sides. Workable passes the sourcing test, but its video interview is one-way, per its help centre. Manatal sells an AI video interviewer, but its sourcing is a browser extension that adds profiles you open one at a time.

For the 9 ATSs, I asked what a typical Workable buyer, a company of 20 to 500 people, would gain or lose by moving. I couldn't test anything behind a paid login.

How do you choose a Workable alternative?

What's a cheaper Workable alternative for a small business?

Breezy HR, Zoho Recruit and JazzHR are the ones to price first. Breezy HR has a free-forever plan with 1 open position and published monthly tiers. Zoho Recruit has a free plan with 1 active job and per-recruiter pricing. JazzHR publishes yearly and monthly prices, though its standard pricing excludes agencies and companies over 250 employees. Our guide to ATS options for small businesses goes deeper, and our ATS software list covers 24 tools.

Is Workable worth it?

Workable is worth it if you want recruiting and HR in one system with the price on the page and a 15-day trial with no credit card. It gets expensive when you add the extras: on Standard, texting and video interviews are paid add-ons, and the agent runs on AI credits that expire a year after purchase. If you hire a handful of people a year, a free plan from Breezy HR or Zoho Recruit may cover you; our list of free recruitment software compares those plans.

Do you need a new ATS, or more candidates in the one you have?

Count where your hires came from last year. Gem's 2026 recruiting benchmarks found job boards and company channels bring roughly 90% of applications but only about half of hires, and sourced candidates are nearly 8 times more likely to be hired than inbound applicants. If the shortlist is the problem, keep Workable and add a sourcing layer.

Which Workable alternative has AI sourcing?

None of the 9 ATSs here lists a searchable outside profile database. Their AI ranks applicants or searches people already in your system: Ashby builds filters over your Ashby data, Zoho's Zia matches your records, and Recruitee's Matching Assistant works over your ATS database. The Cognitive searches ~900M public profiles and connects to every ATS on this list, so you can switch ATS without losing your sourcing.

Are you an agency or an in-house team?

JazzHR's standard pricing doesn't apply to staffing or recruiting agencies, and Recruitee quotes agencies separately. Zoho Recruit and Manatal both sell to agencies: Zoho adds staffing and vendor portals, and Manatal a recruitment CRM for tracking clients.

Workable vs Greenhouse vs BambooHR: which should you pick?

Workable vs Greenhouse

Workable is the faster, cheaper start, with published prices, a 15-day trial and an HR suite in the same system. Greenhouse goes deeper on structured hiring, with interview kits and scorecards in every plan, but it sells only by demo (our Greenhouse pricing guide explains the quote). Pick Workable for a lean team, and Greenhouse when many hiring managers need the same structured process.

Workable vs BambooHR

Both bundle HR and hiring. BambooHR is an HR system first, with hiring and onboarding in its Core plan, priced per employee per month (see our BambooHR pricing breakdown). Workable is a recruiting system first, with sourcing, the agent and job distribution to 200+ boards. If HR records matter more than recruiting, pick BambooHR; we connect to it too, as our BambooHR integration page explains.

Greenhouse vs BambooHR

Greenhouse is a recruiting specialist sold by quote; BambooHR is HR software with basic hiring. See Greenhouse vs BambooHR.

The 10 best Workable alternatives, reviewed

1. The Cognitive: best overall, for finding new candidates and interviewing them live with AI

The Cognitive is AI recruiting software that sources candidates across ~900M public profiles and interviews them live with AI. It works next to Workable, or whichever ATS you move to, and fills it with people worth meeting.

You describe the role in plain English and it reads the brief into filters you can edit. When I typed "Senior backend engineer with 5+ years of Go who has built payments systems, Remote EU", it read "Remote EU" as Germany plus 7 other countries. Everyone 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 traced to the profile, such as "Go listed in skills".

Search costs 1 credit per candidate a search returns, 5 to reveal an email and 10 to reveal a phone number, charged only when a value comes back. Sourcing Pro adds email and SMS sequences, sent from platform mailboxes. Then the people you pick get a live AI interview, covered below.

It has 60+ ATS integrations, with direct ones for Workable, Greenhouse, BambooHR, JazzHR, Breezy HR, Zoho Recruit, Manatal, Teamtailor, Tellent Recruitee, Ashby and Lever. For candidates imported from your ATS, it writes a note back with the interview score, summary and report link. People sourced inside The Cognitive aren't pushed into the ATS automatically. And it isn't an ATS: no job posting, careers page, offers or funnel analytics, and no search of your ATS history.

Pick it if you're tempted to leave Workable because the pipeline is thin, or you want round 1 done before your team spends an hour. More on the AI sourcing tool page.

Fill Workable with people worth interviewing Describe the role in plain English, judge every match against your must-haves, and interview the people you pick, live, with AI. Start free

2. Greenhouse: best for structured hiring once you outgrow Workable

Greenhouse sells 3 plans, Core, Plus and Pro, and every one includes "Structured interview kits & scorecards" and "Sourcing & CRM". Its Voice AI runs a "two-way voice interview" in 11 languages, sold through a demo.

The limit: there's no price anywhere on the site, and every plan sits behind "Get a demo".

Pick it if you've grown to many hiring managers and want all of them on the same scorecard.

3. Ashby: best for an all-in-one ATS, CRM and analytics for growing teams

Ashby combines ATS, CRM, scheduling and analytics, with sequences "across email and LinkedIn InMail" and an AI notetaker. Its AI Candidate Search turns a typed prompt into filters, over the people already in Ashby.

The limit: only the Foundations plan, up to 100 employees, shows a price. Above that, pricing depends on "company size, usage, and commitment".

Pick it if you want deeper reporting than Workable and you'd rather have one system than add-ons. Compare it with Lever in Lever vs Ashby.

4. BambooHR: best for small companies that want HR and basic hiring in one tool

BambooHR is an HR system first. Its Core plan includes hiring and onboarding, and its ATS page lists candidate self-scheduling, offer letter templates with e-signature and 150+ integrations. Pricing is "per employee, per month", with a figure shown for Core.

The limit: there's no outside sourcing and no AI interview, and the hiring tools are lighter than Workable's.

Pick it if you hire a few people a year and HR records matter more than recruiting.

5. Breezy HR: best for a free plan and published prices

Breezy HR pitches "Simple, flexible pricing for teams of 10 to 10,000". The free Bootstrap plan gives unlimited users and 1 open position, and the paid tiers show monthly prices. Breezy says over 17,000 companies use it, and its homepage offers a 14-day trial with no credit card. Breezy Intelligence, a credit-based add-on, handles AI candidate evaluation and resume auditing.

The limit: its video screening is one-way, and there's no outside profile database.

Pick it if you want the cheapest honest start and might stay on 1 open role for a while.

6. JazzHR: best for a cheaper, simple ATS for small US businesses

JazzHR calls itself "The Best ATS for Small Businesses" and sits in the same group as Lever and Jobvite. Its pricing page shows 3 plans, Hero, Plus and Pro, with up to 24% off for paying yearly. Plus adds AI-powered candidate matching and structured interviews.

The limit: standard pricing "does not apply" to agencies, franchises, multi-location businesses or organizations over 250 employees. It has video interview integrations, not an AI interviewer.

Pick it if you're a single-location US business under 250 people that wants a plain ATS at a visible price. Our JazzHR alternatives guide covers what it is usually weighed against.

7. Zoho Recruit: best for companies on Zoho, and for agencies

Zoho Recruit serves HR teams and staffing agencies and says over 800,000 recruiters use it. Its pricing runs from a free plan to Standard and Enterprise per recruiter licence, with "No forced contracts", a 15-day trial and a 45-day money-back guarantee. Its AI assistant, Zia, matches candidates to jobs from your records and runs career-site chatbots.

The limit: video interviews are an add-on charged per job opening, either one-way or live with a human interviewer.

Pick it if your company already runs on Zoho, or you place candidates for clients. See our Zoho Recruit alternatives for its closest rivals.

8. Manatal: best for a per-user price with an AI video interviewer add-on

Manatal prices per user per month across 3 published plans, with a free trial. Its AI Interviewer add-on "conducts video interviews 24/7" using structured interviews "with defined questions and clear grading rules", in 6 languages, with a recording and transcript you can share in a guest portal.

The limit: sourcing is a Chrome extension that pulls profiles from LinkedIn, Indeed or GitHub one at a time, so the AI interviewer only meets people you already found.

Pick it if you're a small team or agency that wants AI screening interviews inside the ATS at a visible price. More in our Manatal alternatives guide.

9. Teamtailor: best for employer branding and careers sites

Teamtailor is an ATS built around the candidate side, "Trusted by over 13,000 companies", with 450+ integrations. Every plan gives "Unlimited job postings and unlimited users", and its Co-pilot screens applicants against your criteria and summarizes recorded video meetings.

The limit: pricing is by quote, and sourcing is a browser extension where you add people by hand.

Pick it if most of your hires come through your careers site. Our Teamtailor alternatives guide compares it with other careers-site tools.

10. Tellent Recruitee: best for collaborative hiring with GDPR tooling

Tellent Recruitee says it serves 7,000+ companies and leads with team collaboration and GDPR compliance. Its pricing page lists 3 plans, Start, Advance and Optimize, with an AI Screening Assistant on the upper 2 and a free trial without a card.

The limit: no plan shows a price, agencies get a custom quote, and texting and WhatsApp hiring cost extra.

Pick it if you hire across several countries and want hiring managers working in one shared pipeline.

Which Workable alternatives include AI interviews?

Workable itself doesn't run an AI interview. Its video add-on is one-way: candidates record answers with set think time and a fixed number of takes. The Workable Agent chats by message, then invites strong candidates to a screening call.

Among the 9 alternatives, 2 have one. Manatal's add-on runs structured AI video interviews with defined questions, and Greenhouse's Voice AI runs two-way voice interviews through a demo. Breezy HR and Zoho Recruit offer one-way video, and the rest list no AI interviewer.

The Cognitive runs a live, two-way AI video interview with the people you sourced or imported: 10 or 20 minutes, in any of 9 languages. Candidates book their own slot without an account, and the invitation tells them the interview is run by AI. The rubric is fixed for the role and the questions adapt to each answer. 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 about an outbound email campaign, then follows up on reply rates and how leads were qualified. More on the AI interviewer page.

How much does Workable cost?

Workable ATS pricing is published. Its pricing page lists 3 plans, Standard, Premier and Enterprise, each priced by employee band from 1-20 employees up to 1000+, billed monthly or annually with a 20% saving. Workable also says bundling recruiting and HR saves up to 20%.

Workable cost grows with 2 kinds of extras. On Standard, texting, video interviews and assessments are paid add-ons; Premier and Enterprise include them. The Workable Agent runs on AI credits: 1 to screen a candidate, 2 to add a sourced candidate, 10 per candidate chat. Paid accounts start with 3,000 free credits, credits expire a year after purchase and aren't refundable, and the free trial doesn't include the agent.

The alternatives use 5 pricing models:

• Free plan, then published tiers: Breezy HR and Zoho Recruit.
• Published, per user or per plan: Manatal, JazzHR, and Ashby up to 100 employees.
• Per employee per month: BambooHR.
• Quote or demo only: Greenhouse, Teamtailor and Tellent Recruitee.
• Monthly plans with credits: The Cognitive.

The Cognitive's AI Sourcing starts at $49/month and AI Interview at $99/month, on monthly plans you can cancel anytime. It sits next to your ATS, so budget for it on top of whichever ATS you keep. Details on our pricing page.

How do you switch off Workable without losing a month?

Workable lists data export in every plan, so export your candidates and jobs before you sign anything new. Don't cancel first: run 1 open role through the new system for 2 weeks with the same scorecard, and ask 2 hiring managers which they prefer. If the real problem is a thin pipeline, connect The Cognitive to Workable and run one hard role before you change ATS.

The Cognitive has a free trial with 100 sourcing credits.

Who is The Cognitive built for?

We built The Cognitive for recruiters and founders whose hard roles need people who aren't applying. You see who matches across ~900M public profiles and read an interview report before you spend an hour on anyone. A read-only report link carries scores, written feedback and the recording to a hiring manager or client.

• Keep Workable, or move to Greenhouse, Ashby or BambooHR. The interview score, summary and report link land on candidates you imported from any of them.
• Pair it with Workable's scorecards. Let the AI interview handle round 1 and keep your interview kits for the rounds your team runs.

Fix the pipeline before you switch ATS Run one hard role through The Cognitive next to Workable and interview the people you pick, live, with AI. Start free

Sources

• Workable, read 3 October 2026: homepage, pricing and AI credits, features, Workable Agent and help centre article Setting up a Workable Video Interview in a stage.
• G2, Workable reviews, 4.4 out of 5 from 706 reviews, with review tags, read 3 October 2026.
• NFIB, Jobs Report, September 2026, survey of 5,000 small-business owners, read 3 October 2026.
• Gem, Key takeaways from the 2026 Recruiting Benchmarks Report, read 3 October 2026.
• Greenhouse, read 3 October 2026: pricing and Voice AI.
• Manatal, read 3 October 2026: pricing, AI Interviewer and candidate sourcing.
• Zoho Recruit, read 3 October 2026: homepage, pricing and AI recruitment.
• Other vendor pages read 3 October 2026: Ashby pricing, BambooHR pricing and its ATS page, Breezy HR and its pricing, JazzHR and its pricing, Teamtailor, its pricing and features, Tellent Recruitee and its pricing.

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