TL;DR: Workable publishes the lowest entry price in this group and bundles recruiting with light HR, which suits small companies that want a listed monthly number. Ashby publishes a Foundations figure for companies under 100 employees and then goes quote-only. Greenhouse is the structured-hiring ATS that does not list a dollar price. Paradox (Olivia) fits high-volume hourly hiring over SMS rather than knowledge-worker pipelines. HireVue fits employers buying video interviews and assessments at enterprise contract size. Public packaging is below.
An AI recruiting platform is the software that takes an application from job post to screen, schedule or assessment, then writes a score or summary a recruiter can act on. Buying one is confusing because some vendors sell an ATS with AI features attached, some sell only the conversational front door, and most of the category still quotes privately.
This guide compares five platforms businesses actually licence for that job. Every entry is assessed on the same fields: published pricing, how AI is sold, primary hiring motion and the buyer it realistically fits. The order below is not a quality ranking. Products with a public starting price appear first, cheapest published entry first; quote-only vendors follow in alphabetical order.
AI recruiting software compared at a glance
| Provider | Published pricing | How AI is sold | Best for | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Workable | Standard from $299/mo; Premier from $599/mo; Enterprise from $719/mo at the 1–20 employee band. Larger bands cost more. | AI features inside the recruiting/HR suite; some extras are add-ons on Standard | Small teams that need a listed monthly price | Visit → |
| Ashby | Foundations commonly cited at $400/mo for the smallest company-size band; Plus and Enterprise are quote-only | AI sourcing and automation inside an all-in-one ATS | Growth-stage teams under 100 employees that can live with Foundations limits | Visit → |
| Greenhouse | None; Core, Plus and Pro are demo-quoted | AI sourcing and analytics as plan or add-on capabilities on a structured ATS | Companies that want structured interviews more than a public price | Visit → |
| HireVue | None on the vendor site; packages described as Essential to Premium | Video interview and assessment platform; AI scoring is not assumed on the entry package | Employers running high volumes of recorded interviews | Visit → |
| Paradox (Olivia) | None; /pricing redirects. Sold as Paradox and as the Workday Paradox Candidate Experience Agent | Conversational hiring assistant over SMS and chat | High-volume hourly and frontline hiring | Visit → |
Pricing and packaging were read from each provider’s own website or help materials on 12 September 2026. Where a vendor publishes no dollar figure, this guide says so. Third-party contract ranges are labelled as third-party and are not treated as list prices.
Two of the five publish an entry price. The other three require a sales conversation before you know the invoice.
What AI recruiting actually costs in 2026
The category spans a few hundred dollars a month and six-figure annual contracts. The gap is not “more AI.” It is hiring volume, whether you need an ATS of record, whether candidates apply on a phone over SMS, and whether legal will allow automated scoring in your jurisdiction.
EU AI Act rules for certain HR uses are already a procurement issue. Treat screening and scoring features as high-risk process design, not a checkbox on a pricing grid. This page is not legal advice.
The five providers in detail
1. Workable
LOWEST PUBLISHED ENTRY PRICE
Best for: companies of roughly 1–20 employees that want recruiting plus a light HR suite at a number they can read before a demo.
| Published pricing | Standard from $299/mo ($3,588/yr); Premier from $599/mo; Enterprise from $719/mo at the 1–20 employee band on workable.com/pricing |
| How AI is sold | Inside the suite. Texting, video interviews and assessments are add-ons on Standard and included from Premier in third-party readings of the same page |
| Hiring motion | SMB and mid-market knowledge-worker plus HR admin |
| Free plan / trial | 15-day trial of Standard, no card required, per the pricing page |
| Main limitation | Headline prices are the smallest employee band. Larger headcount bands cost more. The old pay-per-job SKU is no longer listed |
- Workable is one of the few ATS vendors that still prints dollars on a public page.
- Budget the employee band you will actually occupy in 12 months, not the 1–20 starter row.
- If you need SMS and video on day one, price Premier rather than stacking Standard add-ons.
2. Ashby
Best for: growth-stage companies under 100 employees that want ATS, CRM and scheduling in one product and can accept Foundations usage caps.
| Published pricing | ashbyhq.com/pricing shows Foundations / Plus / Enterprise by company size. Independent readings of the on-page calculator in 2026 put the smallest Foundations band at $400/mo. Plus and Enterprise say “Get in Touch” |
| How AI is sold | Sourcing sequences, automation and analytics inside the all-in-one ATS |
| Hiring motion | Tech and growth-stage professional hiring |
| Free plan / trial | Not a public self-serve free tier; sales-led above Foundations |
| Main limitation | Crossing 100 employees leaves the published Foundations story. Outbound sourcing messages and lookup credits are metered |
- Ashby is more transparent on plan shape than on mid-market dollars.
- Ask for the message and credit allotment in the quote, not only the seat or headcount fee.
- Emerging-market pricing is mentioned on the pricing page; ask if you hire mainly outside North America and Western Europe.
3. Greenhouse
Best for: organisations that want structured interviews, scorecards and a hiring OS, and will accept a custom quote.
| Published pricing | None. greenhouse.com/pricing lists Core, Plus and Pro and routes to “Get a demo.” FAQ: pricing is customized |
| How AI is sold | Sourcing, CRM and analytics capabilities that deepen by plan; treat AI features as scoped in the quote |
| Hiring motion | Structured professional hiring at scale |
| Free plan / trial | Not a public self-serve trial on the pricing page |
| Main limitation | You cannot self-qualify on price. Third-party buyer databases publish ranges; those are not Greenhouse list prices |
- Bring headcount, annual hires and whether you need CRM/sourcing into the first call or the quote will not be comparable.
- Core is structure; Plus is operations; Pro is governance. Match the plan name to that ladder, not to marketing adjectives.
- Do not paste a Vendr median into a budget line as if it were official.
4. HireVue
Best for: employers that need one-way or live video interviews and assessments as a standalone layer on top of an existing ATS.
| Published pricing | None. The vendor describes Essential to Premium packages and asks for a demo. This guide does not treat third-party “from $35,000/year” figures as list prices |
| How AI is sold | Interview and assessment platform. Confirm whether AI scoring sits on the package you are quoted; several secondary sources say it does not sit on the entry package |
| Hiring motion | Volume screening via recorded video and tests |
| Free plan / trial | Free for candidates; employer pricing is sales-led |
| Main limitation | Not an ATS of record. Implementation and legal review of automated scoring add time and cost beyond the licence |
- Ask which package includes scoring, and whether scoring is on by default.
- Map the tool to your ATS before you compare quotes.
- Candidate-facing video tools attract more scrutiny than calendar scheduling; involve legal early in the EU and in US jurisdictions with AEDT rules.
5. Paradox (Olivia)
Best for: retailers, restaurants, health systems and other employers hiring hourly workers at volume over SMS.
| Published pricing | None. There is no public rate card. Workday completed its acquisition of Paradox in 2025; the product is also sold as the Workday Paradox Candidate Experience Agent |
| How AI is sold | Conversational assistant for apply, screen and schedule — not a full ATS replacement for most professional-hiring teams |
| Hiring motion | High-volume frontline, 24/7 SMS and chat |
| Free plan / trial | Not a public self-serve trial |
| Main limitation | Wrong tool if you hire 20 engineers a year and need scorecards, not text-message apply flows |
- Price and scope follow hiring volume and channels, not recruiter headcount.
- If you are already on Workday, ask whether the agent is sold through that contract or separately.
- Olivia does not replace Greenhouse-style structured interviewing for professional roles.
Kurums Match: which one fits your situation
Pick the line that describes your hiring and open it.
We are under 30 people and need a number this week
Workable Standard at the 1–20 band is the only fully listed monthly price here. Ashby Foundations is the next published rung if the calculator still shows $400 at your size. Do not wait on Greenhouse or HireVue for a starter invoice.
We hire software and operations roles, not hourly crews
Ashby or Greenhouse. Ashby if you want ATS plus CRM in one product and are still under 100 employees. Greenhouse if structured interviews and scorecards are the point and you can run a sales cycle.
We hire hundreds of hourly people a month
Paradox is the specialist in this set. Workable and Ashby are the wrong centre of gravity. HireVue can sit on top for video, but SMS apply-and-schedule is Paradox’s job.
We already have an ATS and only need screening
HireVue for recorded interviews and assessments. Paradox for SMS screening and scheduling. Do not buy a second ATS.
We hire in the EU and need a paper trail
Ask every vendor what is automated, what a human still decides, and where applicant data sits. Feature matrices are not an AI Act file. Read Kurums’ EU AI Act HR pieces before you switch scoring on.
Buying tip: write one sentence for the quote request: annual hires, role mix (hourly vs professional), whether you already have an ATS, and whether automated scoring is allowed. Vendors quote faster, and you can compare five replies on the same scope.
How this comparison was put together
Plan names and public prices were read from vendor pricing pages on 12 September 2026. Where a vendor publishes no price, this guide records the absence. Third-party contract ranges exist for Greenhouse, HireVue and Paradox; they are not reproduced here as if they were list prices. No vendor paid for its position. Kurums did not run a hiring-quality lab test — that judgement depends on your roles and labour law.
Products with a published starting price appear first. Quote-only products follow alphabetically. No badge on this page reflects a commercial relationship.
Frequently asked questions
Is AI recruiting legal to switch on by default?
Not as a casual setting. Screening and scoring can fall under employment and AI rules depending on country and use. Get counsel before you let a model rank people.
Do I need an ATS and an AI screener?
Often yes at volume. Workable, Ashby and Greenhouse can be the system of record. Paradox and HireVue usually sit in front of or beside that system.
Why did pay-per-job ATS pricing disappear?
Workable no longer lists the old per-job SKU on its public page. Most vendors now sell a platform fee by headcount, seats or volume.
Should every hiring manager get a paid seat?
Only if the vendor bills that way. Ashby Foundations is company-size based; other vendors meter seats or modules. Ask which identities are billable.
Did we test candidate experience?
No. Apply to your own job on mobile before you buy. That test is cheaper than a year of drop-off.
- EU AI Act HR deadline
- AI hiring rules beyond the EU
- Best Workplace AI Assistants in 2026
- AI Tools hub
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