Six applicant tracking systems let a small company post a role, collect candidates into a pipeline and run interviews without paying — three hosted free-forever plans and three open-source applications. Free ATS tiers are almost always capped by open jobs rather than by users, so the table shows that cap first. Prices are USD and were checked on 21 October 2026. How we score · All Kurums Free lists
TL;DR — the free ATS plan that fits
- Hiring several roles at once: Dover Free ATS — unlimited jobs, users and candidates, no card; feature-limited, not count-limited.
- One role at a time, want free job-board distribution: Breezy HR Bootstrap — branded careers page and posting to 50+ boards; candidates visible for 30 days.
- Already in Zoho, one role at a time: Zoho Recruit Free — candidate and email management with interview scheduling; one active job per license.
- IT team, want recruiting inside a free HRIS: OrangeHRM Starter (GPL) — ATS module beside leave and time tracking on your own server.
Which applicant tracking systems tools have a free plan in 2026?
Every system on this page lets you run a hiring pipeline indefinitely without paying. Three are hosted free-forever plans (Dover, Breezy HR, Zoho Recruit) and three are open source (OrangeHRM Starter, OpenCATS, Sentrifugo). We excluded the many ATS vendors that offer only a trial — Workable (15 days, then $299 a month), Manatal (14 days), Homerun (15 days), Recruit CRM (30 days), Recruitee, JazzHR and Teamtailor — and Indeed, whose free job posting is a job board, not a tracking system.
Free ATS plans are capped in one of two ways: by active jobs (Breezy and Zoho Recruit allow one at a time) or by features while leaving jobs unlimited (Dover). The open-source tools have no caps and no support. Which model suits you depends on whether you hire one role a quarter or several at once.
The table shows the one limit most likely to push you to a paid plan, whether a card is needed to start, and the Free Score. The rows below open into the full Scorecard with every limit, the upgrade trigger, the cheapest paid step and the page we checked.
| Company | Free as | Key limit | Card | Free Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D |
Free forever | Unlimited jobs · feature-limited | No | 90 | Scorecard ↓ |
| B |
Free forever | 1 active job · 30-day candidate window | No | 82 | Scorecard ↓ |
| Z |
Free forever | 1 active job per license | No | 80 | Scorecard ↓ |
| O |
Open source | Self-hosted · basic ATS | No | 79 | Scorecard ↓ |
| O |
Open source | Self-hosted · dated UI | No | 70 | Scorecard ↓ |
| S |
Open source | Self-hosted · dormant | No | 52 | Scorecard ↓ |
Free tiers verified 21 October 2026 on each vendor’s pricing page (third-party sources named in the Scorecard where the vendor page was silent). Order is by Free Score only; sponsorship never changes it.
What do the free ATS plan plans actually include?
Open any row for the eight-field Scorecard. The “Why it ranks here” note under each row explains the score in plain terms.
1D
DoverUS · a 100% free ATS with unlimited jobs, users and candidates; the paid tier adds AI scoring and a custom careers pageFree foreverUnlimited jobs · feature-limitedNo card90⌄
- What’s free
- Free ATS: unlimited jobs, users and candidates, basic careers page, limited candidate history, tags, email templates, referrals, interview feedback forms, analytics history, a monthly MCP allowance
- Hard limits
- Unlimited jobs, users and candidates · feature-limited (candidate history, analytics history, templates)
- Time limit
- Unlimited (no end stated)
- Card required
- No. The FAQ states no credit card is required.
- Upgrade trigger
- AI resume scoring, the AI notetaker, a custom careers page, or premium support
- Cheapest paid step
- Premium ATS $199/month
- Best free for
- A venture-backed startup hiring several roles at once that wants an unlimited-job free ATS
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · dover.com/pricing (page states last updated 9 Oct 2026)
2B
Breezy HRUS · branded careers site and posting to 50+ job boards, free for one open position at a timeFree forever1 active job · 30-day candidate windowNo card82⌄
- What’s free
- Bootstrap: branded career site, distribution to 50+ job boards, GDPR tools, multi-language, resume parsing in 20+ languages, unlimited users and candidates
- Hard limits
- 1 active position or pool at a time · candidates visible only if added in the last 30 days
- Time limit
- Free forever
- Card required
- Not stated for Bootstrap; the 14-day trial needs no card.
- Upgrade trigger
- A second open position, candidate history older than 30 days, SMS or assessments
- Cheapest paid step
- Startup $157/month billed annually ($189 monthly)
- Best free for
- A startup filling one role at a time that wants free multiposting and a careers page
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · breezy.hr/pricing
Why it ranks here. Breezy gives away the expensive part — job-board distribution and a careers site — and holds back volume. The 30-day candidate window is the limit people miss: older applicants effectively disappear, which keeps capacity low. The paid step is the steepest on this list.
3Z
Zoho RecruitIndia · candidate and email management with interview scheduling, free for one active job per recruiterFree forever1 active job per licenseNo card80⌄
- What’s free
- Free Plan: candidate management, email management, interview scheduling, 8/5 support
- Hard limits
- 1 active job per recruiter license
- Time limit
- Unlimited; the 15-day Enterprise trial reverts to Free with data intact
- Card required
- Not stated.
- Upgrade trigger
- A second concurrent job, job-board posting, or customisation
- Cheapest paid step
- Standard about $25/user/month billed annually, 10 active jobs per license (third-party figure; vendor page hides prices)
- Best free for
- A small company hiring one role at a time that already uses Zoho
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · zoho.com/recruit/pricing · peoplemanagingpeople.com (price)
Why it ranks here. A tidy pipeline with scheduling and support included, held to one job at a time. Zoho’s page hides the paid price behind a login, so the Standard figure comes from a third party and is flagged. The trial-then-downgrade keeps your data, which is friendlier than most.
4O
OrangeHRM StarterUS/Sri Lanka · open-source HRIS whose Starter edition includes a recruitment module beside leave and timeOpen sourceSelf-hosted · basic ATSNo card79⌄
- What’s free
- Recruitment (ATS) module inside the GPL Starter edition: vacancies, candidates, pipeline stages, alongside employee management, leave and time tracking
- Hard limits
- No caps stated · basic ATS compared with dedicated tools · forum support
- Time limit
- Unlimited (open-source license)
- Card required
- No. Download after registration.
- Upgrade trigger
- The Advanced edition (quote only) or vendor support
- Cheapest paid step
- Advanced: per employee per month, quote only
- Best free for
- A company that wants recruiting inside a free HRIS rather than a standalone ATS
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · orangehrm.com/orangehrm-starter-open-source-software
Why it ranks here. Unlimited and free, but the recruitment module is a basic pipeline, not a sourcing tool: no job-board distribution, no careers site. Scored for what it is — the right choice when the ATS is one tab of the HR system you already run.
5O
OpenCATSOpen source · a self-hosted recruiting CRM for agencies: candidates, resumes, jobs, companies, contacts, submissionsOpen sourceSelf-hosted · dated UINo card70⌄
- What’s free
- OpenCATS 0.11.1: candidate records, resumes, notes, status history, jobs, companies, contacts, submissions
- Hard limits
- None (self-hosted) · community support · no release date shown
- Time limit
- Unlimited (open-source license)
- Card required
- No. Free download; no paid offering.
- Upgrade trigger
- None official
- Cheapest paid step
- None listed
- Best free for
- A small staffing agency with a sysadmin that wants a free recruiting CRM with company and contact records
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · opencats.org · github.com/opencats
Why it ranks here. Built for agencies rather than employers, with the company and contact objects that implies. The interface is dated and the project shows no release date, so friction is scored near zero; capacity is high because nothing is capped.
6S
SentrifugoSapplica · open-source HRMS with a recruitment module; the project appears dormantOpen sourceSelf-hosted · dormantNo card52⌄
- What’s free
- Recruitment and applicant tracking inside the GPL-3.0 HRMS, with onboarding, leave and appraisals
- Hard limits
- None · version 3.1.1 · no releases or recent activity visible
- Time limit
- Unlimited
- Card required
- No. Free download.
- Upgrade trigger
- None
- Cheapest paid step
- None listed
- Best free for
- Only a company already self-hosting Sentrifugo for HR
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · github.com/Sentrifugo/sentrifugo (vendor site blocks fetching)
Why it ranks here. Listed for completeness and ranked last: the repository appears dormant and the vendor site blocks reading. Do not adopt it for recruiting alone.
Which free ATS plan has no credit-card requirement?
Dover states that no card is required; OrangeHRM, OpenCATS and Sentrifugo are downloads. Breezy and Zoho Recruit state ‘no card’ only for their trials and nothing about the free plan, which we record as “not stated”. No free plan here converts to a paid one automatically; Zoho’s trial reverts to Free with data intact.
The practical difference is the job cap. Dover and the open-source tools allow unlimited open roles; Breezy and Zoho Recruit allow one at a time. If you hire one role a quarter the cap is irrelevant and Breezy’s free distribution to 50+ boards is the better deal; if you hire several at once, Dover is the only hosted free option that does not force an upgrade on the second posting.
When does the free plan stop being enough?
Kurums Match: which free ATS plan fits your situation?
Startup hiring three roles this quarter
Dover Free ATS. Unlimited jobs and users, no card; ignore the recruiter upsell.
One role, want it on every job board
Breezy Bootstrap. Free multiposting and a careers page; export candidates every 30 days.
Zoho shop hiring one role at a time
Zoho Recruit Free. Scheduling and support included.
Recruiting inside the HR system you self-host
OrangeHRM Starter.
Small staffing agency with a sysadmin
OpenCATS.
How we score free tiers
Duration (30): free forever scores 30, a 30-day-plus trial 15, a trial of 14 days or less 8, credit-based tiers 12. Capacity (30): whether the limits carry a team of three for twelve months. Core job (25): whether the free tier does the category’s main work — here, posting a job, collecting applicants into a pipeline and moving them through interview stages. Friction (15): no card 15; card but no auto-charge 8; auto-charge 0; self-hosting deducts for setup and maintenance.
Each free tier was checked on the vendor’s pricing page on 21 October 2026; where the vendor page was silent, the Scorecard names the third-party source used. Free tiers change, so this list is re-verified every quarter and a discontinued free plan stays listed for one month with a notice. Order is by Free Score only. Kurums Free sells no placement; sponsorship, affiliate links and vendor requests never change a score, a rank or a label. Vendors can submit corrections through the Update your free tier form.
How did we verify these free tiers?
For each product we opened the pricing page and recorded the free tier’s stated limits, the cheapest paid plan and its billing basis, and the card requirement if stated. Zoho Recruit’s page hides prices, so the Standard figure comes from a named third-party guide and is flagged. Sentrifugo’s site blocks automated reading; its row is built from GitHub. Dover’s page states its own last-updated date, which we record.
Prices are USD. We did not run a hiring process through any of these tools; the score measures the published free tier, not the product’s quality. The seven trial-only vendors named above were checked and excluded.
Frequently asked questions
Which free ATS allows unlimited job postings?
Dover’s free ATS, plus the self-hosted open-source tools (OrangeHRM Starter, OpenCATS, Sentrifugo). Breezy HR Bootstrap and Zoho Recruit Free allow one active job at a time.
Which free ATS posts to job boards?
Breezy HR Bootstrap distributes to 50+ boards free. Dover includes a basic careers page; Zoho Recruit’s job-board posting is paid; the open-source tools post nowhere.
Does Breezy’s free plan really hide candidates after 30 days?
Yes. On Bootstrap, candidate access is limited to those added in the last 30 days, which is why we recommend a monthly export.
Is Workable free?
No. Workable offers a 15-day trial; the Standard plan is $299 a month or $3,588 a year for companies with up to 20 employees.
Is Indeed a free ATS?
No. Indeed’s free job posting is a job board. Several ATS tools on this list, including Breezy, post to Indeed.
How is this different from the Best ATS comparison?
This list answers ‘where can I track applicants without paying’. The Best comparison answers ‘which one should I buy’. Both use the same no-sponsorship rule.
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