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| Starting price | Free for 1 recruiter; Standard $25 per recruiter/month billed annually ($30 monthly) |
|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes. 1 active job, 5,000 records, 256 MB storage, no expiry |
| Upper tiers | Staffing edition: Professional $50 · Enterprise $75 per recruiter/month, annual ($60 / $90 monthly) |
| Trial | 15 days with Enterprise features, then the account drops to Free; 45-day money-back guarantee |
| Best for | Solo recruiters, small staffing agencies and teams already on Zoho |
| Not ideal for | Teams that want the most modern interface with little setup |
| Standout feature | A usable free plan, plus a Staffing edition with clients, contacts and client submissions |
| Biggest drawback | Faster support costs 20% or more of your licence fee |
We assess Zoho Recruit from its published pricing, plan comparison tables and support pages, not hands-on testing. Prices checked on zoho.com/recruit in November 2026.
Zoho Recruit Review: Our Take
Zoho Recruit's case is price. One recruiter can run a real pipeline for free, with no trial clock pushing an upgrade. When you grow, the Staffing edition starts at $25 per recruiter on annual billing and gives an agency candidates, clients, contacts and job openings in one database. That is a fraction of what enterprise staffing platforms charge, and the feature list keeps growing as you move up: resume parsing, workflow rules, a candidate portal, client and vendor portals, and Blueprint processes.
What you give up is polish and included support. The interface is functional rather than modern, and the automation and reporting take time to set up well. Support on paid plans is free but slow by default, with a 12-hour maximum response; faster support costs 20% to 30% of your licence fee. Many useful limits, such as active jobs, parsed resumes per day and workflow rules, are tied to the tier, so the cheapest plan is not always the right one.
Bottom line: for a solo recruiter or a small agency watching costs, Zoho Recruit is one of the best-value applicant tracking systems available. If ease of use matters more than price, compare it with the other picks in our best recruitment CRM guide first.
What Is Zoho Recruit?
Zoho Recruit is a cloud applicant tracking system (ATS) with recruiting CRM features, made by Zoho, the company behind Zoho CRM. It is sold in two editions for two kinds of buyer:
- Corporate HR edition: for companies hiring their own staff. Plans are Free, Standard and Enterprise. Job openings, candidates, departments, interviews, career site, employee referrals and assessments.
- Staffing edition: for recruiting and staffing agencies. Plans are Free, Standard, Professional and Enterprise. Everything a recruiter needs for candidates, plus clients and contacts modules, submissions to clients and formatted resumes that hide personal details.
Both editions share the core: candidate records, resume parsing, job board posting, a branded career site, email templates and Zia, Zoho's AI assistant. Zoho says it can post jobs to more than 75 job boards. Because Zoho Recruit is part of the Zoho family, it connects to Zoho CRM, Zoho Mail, Zoho People and other Zoho apps.
Who Zoho Recruit Is a Good Fit for
A Good Fit If...
- Are a solo recruiter or a startup making its first hires and want a free plan that does not expire
- Run a small or mid-sized staffing agency that needs candidates and clients tracked in one system
- Want to grow from one recruiter to dozens without changing platforms
- Already use Zoho CRM, Zoho Mail or Zoho People
- Will spend a few days on setup in return for a much lower monthly bill
Consider Another Option If...
- Want the quickest tool to learn, with AI features on the entry tier (see Manatal in our recruitment CRM guide)
- Run a large, high-volume staffing firm that needs enterprise depth and a big partner ecosystem (see Bullhorn)
- Want fast phone support included in the price
- Need a general sales CRM rather than an applicant tracking system (see Zoho CRM or HubSpot)
Pricing and Plans: Free vs Standard vs Professional vs Enterprise
Zoho Recruit prices per recruiter per month. Annual billing saves up to 16%. There are no forced contracts, a 15-day trial with Enterprise features, and a 45-day money-back guarantee. Zoho's pricing page shows prices in local currency based on your location; the USD figures below come from Zoho's own published price file and match its US list prices. Checked in November 2026.
Staffing Edition (Agencies)
| Plan | Annual | Monthly | Active jobs | Records | Resume parsing | Workflow rules | Storage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | 1 | 5,000 | No | None | 256 MB |
| Standard | $25 | $30 | 100 | 100,000 | 250 a day | 5 per module | 1 GB |
| Professional | $50 | $60 | 250 | 500,000 | 500 a day | 25 per module | 2 GB |
| Enterprise | $75 | $90 | 750 | Unlimited | Unlimited | 50 per module | 3 GB |
Prices per recruiter per month. Active job limits are per account; storage is per organisation. Professional adds two-way email sync, custom reports and dashboards, webhooks, a candidate portal and integrations such as WhatsApp, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet. Enterprise adds Blueprint, client and vendor portals with 10 free portal licences, and auto-responders.
Corporate HR Edition (In-House Teams)
| Plan | Annual | Monthly | Active jobs | Records | Notable features |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | 1 | 5,000 | Candidate management, email, interview scheduling |
| Standard | $25 | $30 | 10 per recruiter licence | 100,000 | Sourcing, resume management, premium job boards, career site, referrals, assessments |
| Enterprise | $50 | $60 | 20 per recruiter licence | Unlimited | AI candidate matching, portals, Blueprint, automation, advanced analytics |
Add-Ons and Support Fees
Add-ons are not available on the free plan. On paid plans, Zoho's price file lists 10 extra active job openings at $15 a month, video interviews at $12 per job slot, extra portal licences at $6 per portal user a month, and additional data backups at $11.50 per request. Support is the bigger line item:
| Support plan | Cost | Who can buy it | Max response time | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | Free | Free edition | 24 hours | Email, forums, knowledge base |
| Classic | Free | All paid editions | 12 hours | Phone 8 hours × 5 days |
| Premium | 20% of licence fee | Paid, annual | 3 hours | 24 × 5, plus 45 days of onboarding |
| Enterprise | 25%–30% of licence fee | Paid, annual, 15+ users | 1 hour | 24 × 7, technical account manager |
What 2 and 5 Recruiters Pay on the Staffing Edition
- 2 recruiters on Standard: 2 × $25 = $50 a month, or $600 a year. Monthly billing: $60 a month.
- 2 recruiters on Professional: 2 × $50 = $100 a month, or $1,200 a year.
- 5 recruiters on Standard: 5 × $25 = $125 a month, or $1,500 a year.
- 5 recruiters on Professional: 5 × $50 = $250 a month, or $3,000 a year. Add Premium support at 20% and the year costs $3,600.
- 5 recruiters on Enterprise: 5 × $75 = $375 a month, or $4,500 a year.
For comparison, Manatal's Professional plan is $15 per user and Enterprise $35, so five users cost $75 or $175 a month. Bullhorn's published entry plans are $99 and $165 per user, or $495 and $825 a month for five. Zoho Recruit sits between the two on price and above both on its free starting point.
Which Plan Should You Actually Buy?
Free is for testing or for a solo recruiter with one role open at a time. Standard suits a small agency that needs resume parsing, mass email and up to 100 open jobs. Professional is the sweet spot for most agencies: 250 jobs, custom reports, webhooks, two-way email sync and a candidate portal. Enterprise is for agencies that want clients and vendors working in their own portals, Blueprint processes and unlimited records.
Watch out for: the edition you are pricing. Corporate HR Enterprise is $50; Staffing Enterprise is $75. And if response time matters, add 20% for Premium support before you compare totals. For a wider view of software costs, see our CRM cost breakdown.
What the Free Plan Really Includes
The free plan is a working ATS, not a demo, but its limits are tight. Here is what one recruiter gets on the Staffing edition's free plan:
- 1 active job opening at a time
- 5,000 records across all modules, and 1,000 per module
- Candidates, clients, contacts, interviews and notes
- A career site page and one web form for applications
- 5 email templates and one-way email sync
- Paid job board posting and a Zapier connection
- 256 MB of storage and Basic support with a 24-hour response time
What it leaves out matters just as much: no resume parsing, no mass email, no workflow rules, no reports or dashboards, no free job postings or social posting, and no add-ons. In practice, the free plan suits someone filling one role at a time who is happy to type candidate details by hand. As soon as you open a second job or receive a pile of resumes, Standard pays for itself in time saved.
Key Features and How They Work
Candidate Pipeline and Resume Parsing
Candidates move through a hiring pipeline you define. Paid plans parse resumes into structured records: 250 a day on Standard, 500 on Professional and unlimited on Enterprise. A resume inbox converts emailed attachments into candidate records automatically, and Outlook parsing pulls resumes from your mailbox.
Job Boards and Career Site
Jobs can be posted to free and paid job boards and shared on social media from Standard up. The career site is customizable and can be localised, with more pages on higher plans: 3 on Standard, 5 on Professional and 10 on Enterprise.
Clients, Contacts and Submissions
This is what makes the Staffing edition an ATS and CRM in one. Clients and contacts live next to candidates and jobs, linked to each other. You submit candidates to a client from the record, and formatted, branded resumes let you share a profile without the candidate's personal contact details.
Search and AI
Boolean search and search inside attachments arrive on Standard. Semantic search starts on Professional. Zia, Zoho's AI assistant, helps write job descriptions and emails, summarise profiles and score candidate matches, and can generate screening assessments. AI candidate matching is listed on the higher tiers, so check which Zia features your plan includes during the trial.
Workflow Automation and Blueprint
Workflow rules send alerts, create tasks and, from Professional, update fields and run time-based actions. Limits rise from 5 rules per module on Standard to 50 on Enterprise. Blueprint, on Enterprise, enforces a step-by-step process so every recruiter follows the same stages.
Portals
Professional adds a candidate portal where applicants track their own status. Enterprise adds client and vendor portals, so clients can review submissions and outside recruiters can work jobs, with 10 portal licences included.
Reporting
Standard reports and dashboards come with Standard. Custom reports, custom dashboards and scheduled reports start on Professional, along with forecasts and the Zoho Analytics integration.
One System for Candidates and Clients: An Agency Example
Here is how a five-recruiter agency on the Professional plan would run a placement, based on Zoho's documentation:
- Win the job order. A new client is added as a client record with its hiring manager as a contact. The job opening is created and linked to both.
- Source. The job is posted to job boards and the career site. Incoming resumes are parsed into candidate records, and semantic search finds past candidates who fit.
- Screen. Workflow rules send each new applicant an acknowledgement and create a screening task for the owning recruiter.
- Submit. The recruiter submits a shortlist to the client with formatted resumes that hide personal details.
- Interview and place. Interviews are scheduled and synced with Google or Outlook calendars, and the candidate is moved to placed. A custom report shows placements by recruiter and by client.
With a separate ATS and sales CRM, steps one and four would live in different tools. Here they share one database.
Ease of Use and Setup
Zoho Recruit scores 3.8 here. Daily tasks such as reviewing candidates, moving them between stages and posting a job are straightforward. The interface feels older than newer recruiting tools, and getting workflows, layouts and reports right takes real setup time. Zoho offers paid Jumpstart help and a separate data migration service if you want an expert to do it. If you are moving from spreadsheets or another ATS, our CRM data migration checklist applies here too.
Integrations and API
Zoho Recruit connects to Zoho CRM, Zoho Mail, Zoho People, Zoho Campaigns and other Zoho apps, plus Microsoft Outlook, Google Workspace calendars and Zapier. Its marketplace lists more than 200 apps; you can install up to 3 extensions on Standard, 10 on Professional and 25 on Enterprise. Professional adds WhatsApp, an SMS gateway, phone bridge, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams. API access scales with the plan, from 5,000 credits a day on Free to 1,000,000 a day at most on Enterprise.
Support and Customer Service
Support is the weakest part of the package, which is why it scores 3.6. Free accounts get Basic support with a 24-hour maximum response time. Paid accounts get Classic support for free: phone support 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, with a 12-hour maximum response time. Faster help is sold as a percentage of your licence fee, 20% for Premium and 25% to 30% for Enterprise support. Test support during your 15-day trial before you rely on it.
Pros and Cons
What We Like
- Free plan for one recruiter that never expires
- Paid plans from $25 per recruiter, well below most agency tools
- Staffing edition puts candidates, clients and contacts in one system
- 15-day Enterprise trial and a 45-day money-back guarantee
- Native links to Zoho CRM, Mail and People
- Scales to 750 active jobs and unlimited records
What Could Be Better
- Free plan has no resume parsing, mass email or workflows
- Interface feels dated next to newer recruiting tools
- Default support response can take up to 12 hours
- Faster support costs 20% to 30% of the licence fee
- Two editions with different prices are easy to confuse
- Client and vendor portals only on Enterprise
How Zoho Recruit Compares with Other Options
| Tool | Starting price | Free plan / trial | Choose it over Zoho Recruit when… |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manatal | $15/user/mo | 14-day trial | You want the quickest tool to learn and a low per-user price |
| Bullhorn | $99/user/mo | No free plan | You run a large staffing firm that needs enterprise depth |
| Zoho CRM | Free; $14/user/mo | Free for 3 users | You need a sales CRM, not an applicant tracking system |
Zoho Recruit vs Manatal comes down to price versus polish. Zoho Recruit has a free plan and links into the Zoho suite. Manatal's paid plans are cheaper per user, and it is generally seen as quicker to learn. If you need to start at $0, choose Zoho Recruit; if your recruiters want the easiest day-to-day tool, trial Manatal too. Recruit CRM is another agency option to compare; it showed only local-currency prices in our check, so confirm its USD price with the vendor.
For the full ranked shortlist, see our best recruitment CRM guide. If you want a free general CRM instead of an ATS, see our best free CRM guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does Zoho Recruit cost?
Zoho Recruit's Staffing edition is $25 per recruiter per month on Standard, $50 on Professional and $75 on Enterprise, billed annually, as of November 2026. Monthly billing is $30, $60 and $90. The Corporate HR edition is $25 on Standard and $50 on Enterprise. Both editions have a free plan.
Is Zoho Recruit really free?
Yes. The free plan covers one recruiter with one active job, 5,000 records, 256 MB of storage, five email templates and one career site page. It never expires. Resume parsing, mass email, workflow rules and add-ons need a paid plan.
Is there a free trial of the paid plans?
Yes. The 15-day free trial gives you all Enterprise features. When it ends, the account moves to the free plan and your data stays. Paid plans also come with a 45-day money-back guarantee.
What is the difference between the Corporate HR and Staffing editions?
Corporate HR is for in-house hiring teams and has Free, Standard and Enterprise plans. The Staffing edition is for agencies. It adds clients, contacts and submissions to clients, plus a Professional tier, and allows far more active jobs per plan.
How much does Zoho Recruit support cost?
Basic support is free on the free plan and Classic support is free on paid plans, with a 12-hour maximum response time. Premium support costs 20% of your licence fee and Enterprise support 25% to 30%, with faster response times and onboarding.
Zoho Recruit vs Manatal: which is better?
Zoho Recruit is cheaper to start, with a free plan and Standard at $25 per recruiter, and it connects to other Zoho apps. Manatal starts at $15 per user on Professional with a 14-day trial and is generally seen as quicker to learn. Choose on budget versus simplicity.
Our Final Take
Zoho Recruit earns its 4.1 the way most Zoho products do: more features per dollar than almost anything in its category. A free plan that never expires, a $25 entry point and a Staffing edition that tracks candidates and clients together make it an easy recommendation for solo recruiters and small agencies. Budget for Professional if you run an agency, and for Premium support if you need fast answers. If ease of use matters more than price, trial Manatal alongside it.