Best ATS for staffing agencies
Candidate pipelines against open job orders is a different data model than a sales CRM's deal stages. This is the trade tool built for that.
Loxo wins for an agency that wants published, predictable per-user pricing without a sales negotiation to find out what it costs.
The short answer
- Loxo publishes its pricing directly. Core at $149/user/mo and Professional at $199/user/mo, both billed annually. Enterprise requires a custom quote.
- Bullhorn, one of the best-known names in staffing ATS, does not publish pricing. Expect a sales conversation and negotiated seat pricing based on agency size.
- Loxo serves multiple recruiting models, not staffing agencies exclusively. Its feature set is broader than staffing-specific workflow alone. Confirm it covers your agency's specific placement and billing process before committing.
- An ATS and a general CRM solve different problems even when both track people through a pipeline. A staffing agency typically needs the ATS for candidates and job orders. It may still want a CRM for the client-development side of the business.
- Demo-gated pricing is the norm across most of this category, not the exception. Loxo is the clear outlier in publishing a direct number. That matters if evaluating multiple vendors quickly is a priority.
How we compared these
We compared tools on whether pricing is published directly versus gated behind a sales conversation. We also checked whether the platform is staffing-specific or serves recruiting more broadly. Facts checked on vendor pricing pages, September 2026.
Staffing-specific ATS platforms typically bundle onboarding and data migration into the sales process. That is the main reason most of this category does not publish a flat number the way a simpler SaaS tool would. It is a real cost of evaluating this category properly. Budget time for a sales conversation with more than one vendor before deciding.
ATS comparison
| Tool | Starting price | Pricing published? | Staffing-specific? | Best for | Not for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loxo | $149/user/mo Core (annual) | Yes, directly on the vendor's own site | No, serves multiple recruiting models including staffing | An agency that wants to see and evaluate pricing without a sales call first | An agency that specifically wants software built only for staffing, not broader recruiting |
| Bullhorn | Not published; contact-sales only | No | Yes, widely used specifically in staffing and recruiting | A larger staffing agency ready for a negotiated enterprise contract | An agency that wants to compare price before a sales conversation |
| Crelate | $85/user/mo Essentials (annual, up to 2 users); Business $119/user/mo; Business Plus custom | Yes, directly on the vendor's own site for Essentials and Business | Yes, built specifically for staffing and recruiting firms | An agency already shortlisting Crelate for its staffing-specific workflow and published pricing | An agency larger than 2 users that wants to stay on the cheapest published tier |
| JobDiva | Not published; contact-sales only, per the vendor's own site | No | Yes, an established name in staffing-specific ATS and VMS | A larger staffing agency that also needs VMS (vendor management system) integration | An agency that wants to compare price without a sales call |
| JobAdder | Custom pricing by agency size; Lite (1-5 users) through Pro (21+ users) named without dollar figures | No, tiers named but not priced on the vendor's own site | Yes, built for recruitment agencies specifically | An agency that wants tiers scoped by team size, even without a published number | An agency that wants a confirmed price before a first conversation |
Figures checked on vendor pricing pages, September 2026, including crelate.com/pricing and jobadder.com/pricing.
The field, ranked
1. Loxo
Published, predictable per-user pricing across two clear tiers, serving a range of recruiting models. Not for an agency that wants software purpose-built only for staffing workflow specifically.
2. Crelate
Built specifically for staffing and recruiting workflow, with published pricing for its lower two tiers. Not for an agency larger than 2 users that wants to stay on the cheapest published tier.
3. Bullhorn
A well-known name specifically in staffing, but with no published price. Expect a sales-led evaluation process. Not for an agency that wants to compare cost before engaging sales.
4. JobDiva
An established staffing-specific ATS with VMS integration, sold through a sales-led process. Not for an agency that wants to compare price without engaging sales first.
5. JobAdder
Tiers scoped clearly by agency size, from boutique to established, even without published dollar figures. Not for an agency that wants a confirmed price before a first conversation.
When none of these is the answer
A very small agency placing only a handful of candidates a month can often track that volume in a spreadsheet or a general CRM. It does not need the cost or complexity of a dedicated ATS. This category earns its place once candidate volume against multiple open job orders makes manual tracking error-prone.
It is also the wrong category for a firm doing only direct-hire, one-off executive search with a handful of open roles a year. The candidate-pipeline machinery this software is built around solves a volume problem. A low-volume search practice does not have that problem yet.
Questions
- What does an ATS do that a general CRM does not?
- An applicant tracking system is built around candidate pipelines, resume parsing, job-order matching and placement tracking, the recruiting-specific workflow. A general CRM tracks deals and contacts. It does not natively model a candidate moving through interview stages against multiple open job orders.
- Is Loxo built specifically for staffing agencies?
- Loxo serves a range of recruitment models. Direct hire firms, executive search, in-house recruiting teams, staffing agencies and RPO firms. It is not for staffing agencies exclusively. It is broad recruiting software rather than a staffing-only product.
- Why does Bullhorn not publish pricing?
- It is a common pattern for enterprise-oriented software sold with implementation services and negotiated seat counts. Bullhorn's pricing model requires a sales conversation rather than a fixed published number.
- Does SalesCrew work as an ATS?
- No. Disclosure: SalesCrew is our product. It is a CRM for tracking companies, contacts and deals. It does have a dedicated Upwork module for freelance-marketplace sourcing. It does not model a candidate pipeline against job orders the way a purpose-built ATS does.
- Why do most staffing-focused ATS vendors gate pricing behind a demo?
- Staffing ATS platforms are usually sold with onboarding, data migration and configuration services bundled in, priced by agency size and seat count. That makes a single published number less useful to the vendor than a scoped conversation. Demo-gated pricing is the norm rather than the exception in this specific category.