Best CRM for staffing agencies
Staffing software bundles an ATS for candidates with a CRM for the client relationships that generate roles. Compared on price and how real the sales-pipeline side actually is.
Loxo wins for a staffing agency that wants a genuinely named Sales CRM and Account-Based Prospecting feature at a published price, without Bullhorn's larger, more complex tier structure. Bullhorn wins instead for an agency that wants the widest marketplace of integrations and is already used to its ecosystem.
The short answer
- Bullhorn's Starter tier is $99/user/month with ATS features and a career portal; its Recruitment CRM (a named sales pipeline) is included from the Core tier up, which is quote-only, per bullhorn.com/pricing and bullhorn.com/products/crm.
- Loxo's Core tier is $149/user/month (annual) with a Sales CRM and Account-Based Prospecting included, plus unlimited jobs, candidates and companies; its Professional tier at $199/user/month adds API access and an 850M-profile talent graph, per loxo.co/pricing.
- JobAdder publishes no dollar figures at all, only named tiers by user-count band (Lite 1-5, Essential 6-20, Pro 21+, Business custom), with its Recruitment CRM, Opportunity Pipeline and Lead Feed named on its features page, per jobadder.com/pricing and jobadder.com/features.
Staffing and recruiting CRM options compared
| Tool | Starting price | Seats model | Cold outbound allowed? | Own database? | Sales CRM/pipeline? | Best for | Not for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bullhorn | $99/user/mo (Starter) | Per user | Not addressed specifically in pricing terms | No, hosted multi-tenant SaaS | Recruitment CRM named, included from Core tier (quote-only) up | An agency wanting the widest marketplace (300+ partners) and an established ecosystem | An agency wanting the CRM features at the entry Starter price |
| Loxo | $149/user/mo (Core, annual) | Per user, annual billing | Not addressed specifically in pricing terms | No, hosted multi-tenant SaaS | Sales CRM and Account-Based Prospecting, named and included from Core | An agency wanting a genuinely named sales pipeline at a published price from the entry tier | An agency wanting month-to-month billing instead of an annual commitment |
| JobAdder | Pricing on request | Tiered by user-count band, custom quote | Not addressed specifically in pricing terms | No, hosted multi-tenant SaaS | Recruitment CRM, Opportunity Pipeline and Lead Feed for business development, all named | An agency that wants to compare named features before a sales call, even without a price | An agency wanting a published dollar figure before talking to sales |
Figures checked on bullhorn.com/pricing, loxo.co/pricing and jobadder.com/pricing, September 2026.
How each one fits a staffing agency
Bullhorn
The most established ecosystem of the three, with a 300+ partner marketplace and a Recruitment CRM described as a sales pipeline feature. Entry-tier Starter at $99/user/month covers ATS basics, but the CRM and AI search and outreach features live at Core and above, both quote-only. Not for: an agency wanting sales-pipeline features at the published entry price.
Loxo
Names its sales CRM and Account-Based Prospecting directly, included from its Core tier at $149/user/month with unlimited jobs, candidates and companies. Its Professional tier adds a large talent graph and API access, with pooled AI credits per user. Not for: an agency that doesn't want to commit to annual billing to get the quoted price.
JobAdder
Names an Opportunity Pipeline and a Lead Feed for business development on its features page, and organizes tiers clearly by team size from 1-5 users up to custom Business plans. Every tier requires a custom quote, so there's no published number to compare against Bullhorn or Loxo. Not for: an agency that wants to see a price before a sales conversation.
When none of these is the answer
A one- or two-person recruiting operation placing a handful of candidates a month doesn't need a full ATS-plus-CRM platform yet. A spreadsheet for candidates and a lighter CRM for client relationships covers that stage, and any of these tools add per-user cost and setup time that only pays off once req volume or team size makes manual tracking slow.
Disclosure: SalesCrew is our product. It has no ATS, no resume parsing and no candidate pipeline, so it doesn't replace any tool in this list for the recruiting side of a staffing agency. Where it could fit is the business-development side: outbound to prospective client companies and a pipeline for landing new job orders, sitting beside a tool from this list rather than instead of it. It isn't ranked above because it has none of the candidate-side features every tool here is built around.
Questions
- What's the difference between an ATS and a CRM in staffing software?
- The ATS side tracks candidates through a hiring process for a specific job. The CRM side tracks the business-development relationship with client companies who might have future roles. Bullhorn, Loxo and JobAdder all bundle both, with Bullhorn and Loxo naming their business-development feature a 'Recruitment CRM' and JobAdder calling it an 'Opportunity Pipeline' with a Lead Feed.
- Is Bullhorn worth the per-user cost for a small staffing agency?
- It depends on scale. Bullhorn's Starter tier is $99/user/month with resume parsing, client management and a career portal, but its Recruitment CRM and AI features live at Core and Pro tiers, which are quote-only. A small agency should weigh whether it needs Bullhorn's marketplace of 300+ integrations against Loxo's simpler two-tier structure.
- Does Loxo really include a full sales CRM, not only an ATS?
- Yes. Loxo's own pricing page lists 'Sales CRM: build sales pipelines and track growth' and 'Account-Based Prospecting' as named features from its Core tier at $149/user/month (annual), alongside unlimited jobs, candidates and companies.
- Can I see JobAdder's price before talking to sales?
- No. JobAdder names its tiers publicly (Lite for 1-5 users, Essential for 6-20, Pro for 21+, Business custom) but doesn't publish a dollar figure for any of them, per jobadder.com/pricing. Bullhorn and Loxo both publish entry-tier prices, which makes them easier to compare before a sales call.