Bullhorn vs Loxo
Two ATS and recruiting CRM platforms built for staffing agencies, priced and positioned differently. Bullhorn is the entrenched enterprise standard. Loxo is the newer AI-sourcing-first platform.
Choose Bullhorn when the firm needs the deepest VMS and marketplace integrations in staffing. Expect enterprise-style pricing and onboarding. Choose Loxo when a small or mid-size firm wants sourcing, outreach and ATS in one system. It has a published per-seat price.
The short answer
- Bullhorn's entry tiers start at $99/user/month (Starter) and $165/user/month (Core). Its Pro, Max, and Front Office tiers, the ones larger firms actually run, are custom-quoted, not published.
- Loxo publishes its full pricing ladder up to Enterprise. $149/user/month for Core and $199/user/month for Professional, both billed annually. The talent-graph sourcing database is only unlocked at Professional.
- Bullhorn's real advantage is ecosystem depth. A 300+ partner marketplace and 110+ VMS integrations, built up over more than a decade as the staffing industry's incumbent system.
- Loxo's pitch is consolidation. ATS, CRM and AI sourcing against an 850M-plus contact database live in one system. You don't stitch an ATS to a separate sourcing tool.
Bullhorn vs Loxo at a glance
| Dimension | Bullhorn | Loxo |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $99/user/month (Starter); $165/user/month (Core); Pro and Max are custom-quoted | $149/user/month (Core, billed annually) |
| Mid-tier price | Front Office and Recruitment Cloud tiers: custom quote only | $199/user/month (Professional, billed annually), adding the 850M+ talent database and API access |
| Seats model | Per user, per month | Per user, per month, billed annually; team-wide pooled AI credits on Professional |
| Sourcing / candidate database | Not built in; sourced via LinkedIn RSC, Apply Connect, and third-party integrations | Built in on Professional: 850M+ talent graph with natural-language AI search |
| VMS / marketplace integrations | 110+ VMS integrations; 300+ partner marketplace | Loxo Marketplace plus API access on Professional and above; smaller published integration count |
| AI features | Amplify Digital Workers: matching, screening, outreach, transcription, compliance auditing (named add-on) | AI agents built into Core and Professional: Longlist, Shortlist, Outreach, Data Agents, AI Notetaker, MCP support |
| Best for | Larger or established staffing firms needing the deepest VMS network and Salesforce-based back office | Small to mid-size agencies, executive search, and in-house recruiting teams wanting sourcing and ATS unified |
| Not for | Firms wanting a fully self-serve, published price for a mid-size deployment | Firms whose main need is deep VMS/marketplace reach built over years, not sourcing depth |
Figures checked on vendor pricing pages, September 2026. bullhorn.com/pricing: Starter and Core published; Pro, Max, Front Office and Recruitment Cloud are custom quotes. loxo.co/pricing: Core and Professional have published yearly per-user rates; Enterprise is a custom yearly deal.
What each platform does well
Bullhorn
- The largest published integration footprint in staffing: 300+ marketplace partners and 110+ VMS connections
- A long track record as the industry-standard ATS, so most staffing-adjacent tools build a Bullhorn integration first
- Only the two entry tiers publish a price; anything beyond Core requires a sales conversation before you know what it costs
- AI sourcing and outreach are a separate named add-on (Amplify Digital Workers) rather than built into the base product
Loxo
- Pricing is published up to Enterprise. A firm can price the whole thing without a sales call until it needs custom terms
- Sourcing, AI agents, and ATS live in one system rather than requiring a separate sourcing tool bolted on
- The 850M+ talent database and API access are gated to Professional ($199/user/month), not included at the $149 entry tier
- Smaller and newer than Bullhorn's marketplace, so it has fewer pre-built VMS and back-office integrations to point to
How to choose
Start with what the firm already has to integrate against. A staffing agency running VMS submissions into large enterprise clients is buying into an ecosystem that has been the default for years. So is one already built on Salesforce through Bullhorn's Recruitment Cloud line. Ripping that out for a newer platform is a bigger project than the monthly price suggests. A firm starting fresh has less to lose by consolidating into a single system. So does one whose current stack is a separate ATS plus a bolted-on sourcing tool.
Budget for the tier you will run, not the entry price on the homepage. Bullhorn's $99 Starter tier is basic applicant tracking. The sourcing and automation features most recruiters want live in Pro, Max, or Front Office, all custom quotes. Loxo's sourcing database is real but sits behind the $199 Professional tier, not the $149 entry price. The number a recruiter sees on the pricing page is rarely the number on the invoice for either platform.
Maybe the firm's main pain is finding candidates faster, not tracking them better. Then weigh Loxo's built-in sourcing and AI agents against paying for a separate sourcing tool on top of Bullhorn. Maybe the pain is a submission or compliance workflow that only one VMS integration solves. That tips toward Bullhorn's deeper marketplace, whatever the price.
Questions
- Can you use both Bullhorn and Loxo?
- Not in any way that makes sense for one desk. Both are systems of record for the same candidates, jobs, and client relationships. Running both means copying every submission and note by hand. The other option is building a sync between two ATS platforms that weren't made to talk. Firms that outgrow one generally migrate to the other rather than run both in parallel.
- How hard is it to switch from Bullhorn to Loxo, or the other way?
- Both vendors offer migration support. They will import candidate and client records, notes, and job history from the other platform or from a spreadsheet export. The real cost is retraining recruiters on a new workflow. You also rebuild custom fields, pipelines and integrations tied to the old system. Firms report the data migration itself taking days. The team fully adjusting to a new interface and shortcut set typically takes a few weeks.
- Why is Bullhorn pricing harder to compare than Loxo's?
- Bullhorn's entry tiers (Starter and Core) publish per-user monthly prices. Its Pro and Max tiers are custom quotes. So are Front Office and Recruitment Cloud, built for larger or Salesforce-based firms. Loxo publishes per-user annual pricing for its Core and Professional tiers and only moves to a custom quote at Enterprise. A small agency can price Loxo end to end from the website. Pricing a mid-size or enterprise Bullhorn deployment requires a sales call either way.
- Does either tool replace a CRM for sales-side pipeline, not only recruiting?
- Both are built around the recruiting workflow first: candidates, jobs, submissions, placements. Both have business development and client deal tracking. In each, it's a layer on the recruiting data, not a general sales pipeline. Some staffing firms run a separate sales motion outside placements, such as franchise sales or enterprise account growth. They usually still run a general CRM beside either one.