MT| Starting price | $15 per user/month billed annually (Professional), $19 monthly |
|---|---|
| Free plan | No — 14-day free trial, no credit card required |
| Upper tiers | Enterprise $35/user/mo · Enterprise Plus $55/user/mo · Custom (on request) |
| Best for | Small recruitment agencies and in-house hiring teams that want an easy tool with AI built in |
| Not ideal for | Teams that want a free plan, or need an open API without paying for the top tier |
| Standout feature | Post one job to thousands of job boards and get AI-ranked, scored candidates back in one pipeline |
| Biggest drawback | Deeper reporting and the open API are locked behind Enterprise Plus, the most expensive self-serve tier |
The Short Verdict
Manatal's whole pitch is simple: give small recruiting teams the AI-powered tools that used to be reserved for expensive enterprise software, at a price a five-person agency can actually justify. At $15 a seat, you get a real applicant tracking system with a candidate pipeline, resume parsing, AI candidate scoring, and job posting across thousands of boards at once. For an agency, the free client-collaboration seats are the quiet win — you can invite a client to see candidate progress without paying for another license.
The trade-offs show up as you scale. Reporting stays fairly basic until you reach Enterprise Plus at $55 a seat, which is also where the open API and single sign-on live — so a growing team that wants to build custom integrations pays a real premium to get there. There's also no permanent free plan, only a 14-day trial, which puts Manatal slightly behind Zoho Recruit for a solo recruiter who wants to start at zero cost. Neither issue is a dealbreaker for the audience Manatal is built for: a small agency or in-house team that wants one easy tool, not a platform to configure for months.
Bottom line: if you want the simplest way to add AI screening and wide job board reach to a small recruiting operation, Manatal is one of the best-value picks available. If you specifically need a free plan or a lower-cost API, compare it against Zoho Recruit first.
What Is Manatal?
Manatal is a cloud-based recruitment CRM and applicant tracking system built for recruitment agencies and in-house hiring teams. At its core is a Kanban-style candidate pipeline: candidates move through stages you define, from applied to interview to offer, with every note, email and file attached to the record. What sets Manatal apart is how much AI is built into the everyday workflow rather than sold as an add-on — resumes are parsed automatically into structured candidate profiles, and an AI scoring layer ranks candidates against a job's requirements so recruiters can prioritise who to call first.
Alongside the ATS side, Manatal includes a lightweight CRM layer aimed specifically at agencies: you can invite clients or hiring managers into the platform to review candidates directly, at no extra seat cost, which removes a common friction point in agency recruiting — sending candidate shortlists back and forth by email. A career page builder and distribution to more than 2,500 job boards round out the lead-generation side of the product.
Who Manatal Is (and Isn't) For
A strong fit if you…
- Run a small-to-mid-size recruitment agency and want candidates and clients visible in one shared tool
- Are an in-house hiring team that wants AI-assisted screening without an enterprise HR platform
- Want to post one job to thousands of boards instead of posting to each one by hand
- Value an easy learning curve over deep customisation
- Are comfortable starting on a 14-day trial rather than a permanent free plan
Look elsewhere if you…
- Want a genuinely free plan to start on (see Zoho Recruit, free for one recruiter)
- Need an open API without paying for the top tier (Manatal gates this to Enterprise Plus)
- Run a larger staffing agency that needs deep, agency-specific reporting and fee tracking out of the box (see Recruit CRM)
- Operate at enterprise scale with high-volume, multi-office staffing operations (see Bullhorn)
Pricing: Professional vs Enterprise vs Enterprise Plus
Manatal prices per user per month, with a discount for paying annually instead of monthly. There are three self-serve plans plus a Custom option for larger teams. A 14-day free trial with no credit card required covers every plan, so you can test the real product before you decide. Prices below are from manatal.com in September 2026.
| Plan | Annual | Monthly | Jobs / Candidates | Key features |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Professional | $15/user | $19/user | Up to 15 jobs, 10,000 candidates | Candidate pipeline, AI parsing, career page, unlimited hiring managers |
| Enterprise | $35/user | $39/user | Unlimited | Everything in Professional, plus workflow automation |
| Enterprise Plus | $55/user | $59/user | Unlimited | Advanced report builder, Open API, SSO, candidate portal, priority support, LLM (ChatGPT/Claude) integration |
| Custom | On request | — | Unlimited | Dedicated account manager, phone support |
GDPR, CCPA and PDPA compliance tools are included on every plan, not gated to a higher tier — worth knowing if you hire across regions with different data-protection rules.
What a real bill looks like
- 2-person agency on Professional: 2 × $15 = $30 a month, or $360 a year, billed annually. Covers up to 15 open jobs and 10,000 candidates, plus unlimited free client logins.
- 8-person team on Enterprise: 8 × $35 = $280 a month, or $3,360 a year. Removes the job and candidate caps and adds workflow automation.
- 8-person team on Enterprise Plus: 8 × $55 = $440 a month, or $5,280 a year — the tier to budget for if you want the open API, SSO or deeper reporting.
The jump that matters most is Enterprise to Enterprise Plus, since that's where the API and advanced reporting live rather than being a gradual step up. If you know from day one that you'll want to connect Manatal to another system, it's worth budgeting for Enterprise Plus rather than starting lower and having to move everyone up later.
Watch out for: monthly billing costs roughly 27% more per seat than annual across every tier, and the open API is not available below Enterprise Plus. For a wider view of what recruiting software really costs, see our best recruitment CRM guide.
Features Walkthrough
Candidate pipeline
A Kanban-style board tracks candidates through stages you define, with resumes, notes, emails and interview feedback attached to each profile. It's built to be understood at a glance, which is a big part of why Manatal scores so well on ease of use.
AI resume parsing and candidate scoring
Resumes are parsed automatically into structured fields — skills, experience, education — instead of sitting as unreadable attachments. On top of that, Manatal's AI scores and ranks candidates against a job's requirements, so a recruiter working a pile of 200 applicants can start with the ones most likely to be a fit rather than reading every resume in order.
Job board distribution
One job posting can go out to more than 2,500 job boards, including major names like Indeed, LinkedIn, Monster and ZipRecruiter, plus regional boards such as SEEK, JobsDB, Naukri and CV-Library. This is one of the widest distribution lists we've seen at this price point.
Sourcing extension
A browser extension lets recruiters pull candidate profiles directly from LinkedIn, Indeed, GitHub, SEEK Talent Search and Xing into Manatal, which cuts out a lot of manual copy-pasting during sourcing.
Client collaboration (CRM layer)
Agencies can invite clients or hiring managers into Manatal to review shortlisted candidates directly, at no extra cost per login. This is the feature that turns Manatal from a pure ATS into something closer to a lightweight agency CRM.
Reporting
Standard reporting covers pipeline and hiring activity on every plan, but the advanced report builder — the tool for building custom, recruiter-level performance dashboards — is reserved for Enterprise Plus and above.
AI Interviewer and LLM integration
Enterprise Plus adds an AI Interviewer feature and integration with large language models such as ChatGPT and Claude, extending the AI layer from screening into the interview process itself.
Ease of Use and Setup
Manatal earns a 4.5 here, one of the stronger ease-of-use scores among the recruiting tools we've covered. Reviewers consistently point to how quickly a new user can post a job, review parsed candidates and start scoring them, without a lengthy onboarding process. The trade-off for that simplicity is depth: teams that want granular workflow customisation or complex reporting will eventually want Enterprise Plus, but the base experience is about as friction-free as recruiting software gets.
Integrations and API
Manatal's biggest integration strength is job board reach — more than 2,500 boards through its distribution network, plus direct LinkedIn job posting and a sourcing extension covering LinkedIn, Indeed, GitHub, SEEK Talent Search and Xing. Zapier connects Manatal to roughly 3,000 other apps, though this requires API access. That's the catch: Manatal's own Open API, needed for custom integrations and for unlocking full Zapier functionality, is available only on Enterprise Plus and Custom, not on the two lower-cost tiers.
Support
Support scales with plan: Professional and Enterprise get standard support channels, priority support is an Enterprise Plus feature, and phone support with a dedicated account manager is reserved for the Custom plan. For a small team on the entry tier, that means email-based support rather than a phone line — worth testing during your 14-day trial if responsive support matters to your buying decision.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- One of the easiest recruiting tools to learn and start using
- AI resume parsing and candidate scoring included from the entry tier
- Distribution to 2,500+ job boards from one posting
- Free client-collaboration logins for agencies
- GDPR/CCPA/PDPA compliance built into every plan
- Strong price-to-feature ratio at $15 a seat
Cons
- No permanent free plan — 14-day trial only
- Advanced reporting and the Open API are locked to Enterprise Plus
- Monthly billing runs about 27% higher per seat than annual
- Priority and phone support require the top two tiers
- No native Microsoft Teams integration
Manatal vs the Alternatives
| Tool | Starting price | Free plan | Choose it over Manatal when… |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zoho Recruit | Free; $25/recruiter | Yes (1 recruiter) | You want to start at zero cost instead of a 14-day trial |
| Recruit CRM | $85/user/mo | No | You run a staffing agency and need deep fee and placement tracking |
| Bullhorn | $99/user/mo | No | You're a large, high-volume staffing operation needing enterprise depth |
| HubSpot CRM | Free; $9/seat | Yes (2 seats) | You mainly need the client side, not resume parsing or job posting |
Manatal vs Zoho Recruit is the closest comparison on price. Zoho Recruit's free plan for one recruiter is hard to beat for someone testing the waters at zero cost, but most reviewers find Manatal's interface faster to learn, and its $15 entry tier still undercuts Zoho Recruit's cheapest paid plan. If free matters more than ease of use, start with Zoho Recruit; if you're ready to pay a little and want the simpler day-to-day tool, Manatal is the better bet.
For the full shortlist, see our best recruitment CRM ranking.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does Manatal cost?
Professional is $15 per user per month billed annually ($19 monthly). Enterprise is $35 annually ($39 monthly). Enterprise Plus is $55 annually ($59 monthly). A Custom plan is priced on request, as of September 2026.
Is there a free trial for Manatal?
Yes — a 14-day free trial with no credit card required, covering the full product.
Is Manatal good for a recruitment agency?
Yes. Its client-collaboration feature lets you invite clients or hiring managers to review candidates at no extra seat cost, which suits a small agency well.
What is Manatal used for?
Managing candidates through a hiring pipeline, posting jobs to thousands of boards at once, scoring candidates with AI, and sharing progress with clients or hiring managers — for recruitment agencies and in-house hiring teams alike.
Manatal vs Zoho Recruit: which is better?
Zoho Recruit has a free plan for one recruiter; Manatal is generally easier to use and its paid entry tier is cheaper. Pick Zoho Recruit to start free, Manatal for the simpler day-to-day experience.
Does Manatal have an API?
Open API access is included only on Enterprise Plus and Custom, not on Professional or Enterprise. Budget for the $55-a-seat tier or above if you need custom integrations.
Final Verdict
Manatal earns its 4.2 by doing something genuinely useful: putting AI screening, wide job board reach and an agency-friendly CRM layer within reach of a small team's budget. It's one of the easiest recruiting tools to learn, and the $15 entry price is hard to beat for what's included. The catches are minor but worth planning around — no permanent free plan, and the API and deeper reporting sitting behind the priciest self-serve tier. For a small agency or in-house team that wants one simple tool with real AI built in, Manatal belongs on the shortlist.
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