You may be a stellar project manager with a fantastic team, but neither means much if you can’t manage your time. Poor time management skills impact everything from resource allocation to stakeholder satisfaction.

It can lead you to that dark place where you start saying undignified things like, “We’re going to need to push back this timeline.” We hear you — it’s not always easy to make accurate time estimations.

Complex projects, changing scope, and optimism bias are all common obstacles. But by not building this muscle, you’re leaving mountains of cash on the table.

This guide teaches you how to estimate and plan your time like a whizz. We’ll give you some killer techniques, a step-by-step guide, and even some tool recommendations to support you.

TL;DR — Key Takeaways

• Time estimation is a key part of project planning and management. It involves predicting how long every task in a project plan will take.
• There are many different ways to make these time estimates, such as the bottom-up, PERT, or Critical Path methods. Each has its own pros and cons and is best suited to a particular kind of project.
• Tracking your projects over time is a great way to estimate more accurately over time. It builds a bank of historical data to lean on when scoping out future projects, which leads to a professional and streamlined client experience.
• Toggl Track and Toggl Plan are a dynamic duo designed to get the most out of your project planning, time estimates, and accurate resource allocation — in a simple and light way.

What is time estimation in project management (and why is it so important)?

Time estimation predicts how long a certain task will take to complete. While that sounds simple enough, in project management, time estimation is critical for setting realistic timelines, managing resources, and avoiding project delays.

Inaccurate task time estimates are a huge cause of project failures. Bad estimates can lead to cost overruns, stakeholder dissatisfaction, and team frustration, making them a pretty important skill for project managers.

The most common time estimation techniques

Here are five popular time estimation techniques you need if you want to effectively plan and organize your tasks.

Bottom-up and top-down estimating

The bottom-up estimation method breaks projects down into smaller tasks that are easier to estimate and then adds them up to get an overall estimate. It’s a great technique for well-defined projects with clear deliverables and the need for detailed, accurate planning (e.g., software development and construction projects).

Critical path

The critical path method helps you identify which tasks, if delayed, will delay your entire project. It’s a great fit for projects with complex dependencies, many tasks, and where timelines are crucial.

Say you’re launching a marketing campaign for a new product. You need to:

• Create the product landing page (4 days)
• Write social media content (3 days)
• Write and send the email blast (2 days, depending on the landing page)
• Schedule social media posts (1 day, depending on writing social media content)
• Launch the product campaign (1 day, depending on everything else)

In this example, the two chains of dependent tasks are:

• Path 1: Create product landing page > email blast > launch campaign (7 days)
• Path 2: Write social media content > schedule it > launch campaign (4 days)

The critical path is Path 1, as it takes longer to complete than Path 2. This means a delay in any task in Path 1 will delay the whole project. The Critical Path estimation process prioritizes tasks, sticks to the project schedule, and allocates resources for successful project completion.

PERT

The US Navy originally developed the Program Evaluation and Review Technique (or PERT) to plan and execute complex projects.

It allows you to order tasks logically in a sequence, estimate how long each task will take, and quickly find the critical path. It’s best for projects with a high degree of uncertainty where multiple outcomes are possible and the need for probabilistic estimates exists (e.g., R&D projects, highly innovative endeavors.)

The PERT method calculates the average of three different time estimates:

1) Optimistic (O) = best-case scenario

2) Pessimistic (P) = worst-case scenario

3) Realistic (R) = most likely scenario

To find the time estimate, use the three-point estimation formula:

Expected Time (TE) = (O+4R+P​)/6

Historical data analysis

Historical data analysis tells you how much time a similar task will take based on past projects.

This is a pretty straightforward yet data-driven approach to project estimation. It helps set realistic milestones, approach a new project confidently, and reduce uncertainty.

For example, timing repetitive tasks with a time tracking tool can help team members estimate their time more accurately in the future.

Subject matter expert estimation

Another “low-tech” way to estimate project scope and time is to consult with those with similar project experience. It’s a great option when your project requires specialist knowledge or when previous data is limited. Expert insights can uncover nuances and potential pitfalls you might not see, which would cost extra time to resolve yourself.

You might be surprised how much their time frame differs from your initial estimates.

How to estimate time for a project accurately

Now, let’s get into the nitty gritty of accurate project estimation. Here’s how to accurately estimate hours for your projects and their subsequent tasks, in six steps:

Step	Description
Establish the work that needs to be done	List every task the project contains to better account for them
Apply the right estimate technique	Review available estimation techniques and choose one that suits your project
Don’t forget the revision hours	Add in extra time for review and revision
Plan for everything going wrong	Round your time up to add contingency padding
Bring all the time estimates together	Add up all your tasks, revision, and contingency to get your first estimation
Review, revise, and finalize the estimate	Review your estimate with tools and teammates to ensure it’s realistic

1. Establish the work you need to do

A recipe doesn’t just say, “Make stew, you’re done.” It lists out all the steps to create your meal. And so should you.

You’ll need to list every task required to complete your project. Also known as the project discovery phase, this is where you scope out the project and gather all the info you need to understand every painstaking detail you need to complete.

Once you’ve fully scoped out your project, you can move on to creating a work breakdown structure (WBS). This foundation will set clear expectations with the project team, avoid overlooking activities, and understand how the different tasks break down into project phases.

You can supplement this by getting expert input or a time tracking software like Toggl Track — it keeps all your historical data in the ‘reports’ tab, so you can lean on past projects and get an overview of:

• What tasks were involved
• How long each task took

A complete log of past project tasks at your fingertips!

2. Apply the right estimate technique

Earlier, we shared five different estimate techniques. Obviously, you can’t use all five of them (I mean, you could, but you really don’t need to).

So, how do you choose the best one for your project? That depends on the project’s complexity and how accurate your estimate needs to be.

It’s worth mentioning that combining time estimation methods can help build an even more comprehensive total estimate.

That said, aiming for 100% accuracy is not worth the time you’ll waste trying to “be accurate.” Getting a general number for your tasks and projects is a far better approach. 80/20, you know?

That’s because there are several factors that can lead to your project getting drawn out, including:

• Scope creep due to unforeseen requests or shifting priorities from leadership.
• Unclear project goals causing confusion and inefficiencies amongst teams.
• Ineffective resource allocation, whether human, financial, or technological, can delay phases of the project.

3. Don’t forget the revision hours

Once you’ve done the bulk of the work, it’s easy to overlook the time spent “proofreading.”

Revising tasks takes a considerable amount of time, especially when multiple stakeholders are involved. But the length of this phase varies greatly from industry to industry, tending to especially laborsome in:

• Software development
• Website bug testing
• Graphic design
• Tech development

Clients tend to get miraculously more thoughtful and decisive when it’s going to cost them extra.

So, how do you know how many revision hours to add?

There’s no easy answer to this — experience definitely helps, so lean on previous projects and external advice. Even if this project phase isn’t as accurately scoped out as the rest, it pays to include it in your estimates anyway, as revisions are inevitable.

This will help you manage contingencies better and maintain your project timelines.

4. Plan for everything going wrong

Speaking of contingencies….things go wrong. It’s part of life. Adding contingency hours is a good idea, no matter what industry you’re in or what kind of estimation method you chose in step 2.

Contingency planning cushions potential delays, sick days, or an extra last-minute feature. It’s your best bet against potential risks because it minimizes disruptions. And if nothing actually goes wrong, and you finish early… well, that’s the dream!

As with revision estimates, the number of required contingency hours is hard to predict when starting out. It will mainly come down to your own expert judgment and experience. But that’s where a tool like Toggl Track can build up your expertise much faster.

Just track your current project (you can even label “contingency time,” so you know what percent of time was spent off-piste), and use it as a basis for future estimates — easy peasy!

5. Bring all the time estimates together

y now, you should have a pretty accurate timeline of what needs to happen to deliver the project on time. It’s time to put the pieces together into our first (but not last!) estimate.

You should have something like this — a table of all individual tasks and their time estimates:

Phase	Tasks	Hours to complete
Design	– Create wireframes (4hrs) – Create mockups (4hrs) – Create brand guidelines (8hrs)	16hrs
Development	– Build a WordPress theme (10 hours) – Build a desktop and mobile version of all pages (20 hours)	30hrs
Testing	– Test functionality of the website (8hours) – Update/test plugins (2 hours)	10hrs

Next, you’ll need to identify dependencies between tasks and make sure they’re accounted for in your timeline. This step can drastically shorten your estimate.

For example, if designing your website and writing your copy will take 10 hours, that doesn’t mean your website will take 20 hours to build. If they run in parallel — with the right resource allocation (i.e., two workers) — you can get it done in half the time because they’re not dependent on each other.

Once you understand the dependencies, you know how to allocate resources and team members without overworking them. You can also anticipate when you need them and how best to place them for optimum success and cost efficiency.

For example, you might need five developers working simultaneously, but only for three out of the 12 weeks of the project. This resource allocation knowledge is vital when calculating project costs and providing accurate estimates.

6. Review, revise, and finalize the estimate

As with any goal, you want to keep your estimate realistic, accurate, and achievable.

Use your best judgment, but don’t forget other valuable inputs:

1. Ask your team their opinion
2. Seek confirmation from experts
3. Review similar past projects if you have them

How does your estimate hold up? Again, you’ll never get it 100% accurate, so don’t worry too much about small discrepancies. But if it deviates substantially, you’ll want to go back to the drawing board and identify the culprit.

Once you start the process, it’s crucial to be agile and adjust as you go. No matter how detailed and well-researched your plan, it’s unlikely everything will work out exactly as planned.

Speak to your team as the project progresses. Ask them how they’re coping with their workloads, how they feel about the estimates, and if they have any observations to improve the process. The practice of asking for this qualitative feedback builds trust and resilience among the team, which is key to efficient teamwork and project execution.

Compare your current estimate to the overall time of past projects inside of Toggl Track (and pin the most important ones so you can come back to them more easily).

Ultimately, what’s important here is keeping your finger on the pulse of your team’s sentiments. This will help you better represent their needs to stakeholders while maintaining alignment with project goals and leadership expectations.

Tips for better project time estimation

We have two final tips to share so you can start planning your projects with precision.

Don’t fall for the planning fallacy

The planning fallacy describes the human tendency to underestimate how long a task will take. We tend to ignore certain costs and risks, even if we’ve encountered them before (and we’re supposed to be logical creatures?)

This fallacy generally comes from:

1. Having optimism in our abilities, budget, luck, and energy
2. Getting set in our initial idea of how long something will take, regardless of new information
3. Ignoring and dismissing negativity
4. Facing pressure to finish tasks/projects quickly

Let’s say you work as a web developer for a digital marketing agency. You’ve probably built quite a few websites over the years. When a client requests a new landing page, you figure it’ll only take a week to build — and that’s all the time you give yourself to do it.

But then (predictably!), things go wrong. The client takes two extra days to approve the color scheme. The internet goes down for five hours. Your dog gets sick on Thursday.

And suddenly, meeting the deadline seems impossible. You’re scrambling to negotiate a new deadline — unsure of how the client will react.

Track time (accurately)

Time tracking tools like Toggl Track are game-changers for time estimates. By tracking time with precision, you’ll have a bulletproof data-backed overview of how your time was actually spent on a project. Line it up to your estimate and dissect it.

• You’ll see where you over- and under-estimated time
• You’ll see whether you baked in enough contingency or revision time
• You’ll have historical data to lean on when the next project comes around
• You’ll have actual data to base future time estimates on
• You’ll get a clearer picture of how you used certain resources and where you could’ve optimized further

It’s really a no-brainer if you ask us…

Achieve better project planning with Toggl Track

Toggl Track exists to make your work life lighter and simpler. Our timer is so much more than a little stopwatch — it’s a powerful ally in project time estimation. It boasts several features that make project planning a breeze, like:

• Time tracking for historical data analysis
• Advanced reporting for resource allocation insights and identifying trends
• Integrations with popular project management tools

Start making data-driven decisions and take your time estimation efforts to the next level. Get started with a free Toggl Track account (which you can even integrate with Toggl Plan, our very own project management software!)

Team of 20 or more? Book a demo and see what Toggl Track can do for you.

Timesheets — love ‘em or hate ‘em, they keep businesses running and paychecks flowing. But creating manual timesheets? Well, that’s as much fun as watching paint dry. And it’s not just that it’s boring — it’s inefficient. When humans are involved in logging details about their work hours, you can expect inaccurate data and less time spent on high-impact work.

The solution is timesheet automation, which streamlines the process of capturing this critical data — all in real time with no (or at least very little) effort required on your part. Seamless time tracking happens in the background, recording your time on different tasks.

The result? More accurate timesheets, higher productivity, cost savings, and extra time to spend on the work that matters. Sound good? Read on to learn more about automated timesheets and how to implement them in your business.

TL;DR — Key Takeaways

• Automated timesheets run in the background, recording, managing, and categorizing your time working on different tasks.
• Compared to manual timesheets, automation improves data quality, uncovers crucial project insights, streamlines customer billing, and generates greater efficiency, productivity, and profitability.
• Onboarding to a new automatic timesheet tool is simple if you follow the right steps. You’ll identify your requirements, analyze the key features, trial different tools, select the best platform, and then onboard.
• Toggl Track’s clean UI, simple time tracking, custom integrations, and budget-friendly pricing make it the obvious choice for automatic timesheets.

How do automated timesheets work?

Automated timesheets run in the background to record and manage the time you spend on different types of work. As a common part of any quality time tracking software, automated timesheets use a mix of smart timers, integrations, and AI monitoring to capture accurate time entries and automatically link them to tasks, projects, or clients.

Here are two real-life examples of how automated timesheets slot into the time tracking process:

• Example 1: A solicitor sits down to re-write a client case file. Before getting stuck in, she starts a browser-based smart timer that tracks her admin time automatically. Once she stops it, the time entry is seamlessly posted against the client’s project record.
• Example 2: A designer works on a new website design project. He has a background time tracking app installed on his computer, which monitors his time in different applications. Based on the app’s configuration, it knows which activities are chargeable or non-chargeable and updates the timesheets automatically.

7 benefits of automated timesheets vs. manual timesheets

Manual timesheets are slow, frustrating, and riddled with data errors. On the other hand, automatic timesheets boost productivity, profitability, and employee engagement.

Still don’t believe us? Here are some of the pitfalls of manual timesheet solutions. They:

• Need manual time entries, which are time-intensive and inefficient
• Are prone to human error, bias, and laziness
• Generate inaccurate data that skews reporting and budgeting
• Produce incorrect invoices that damage profitability and client trust
• Disengage employees with boring admin work

Automation provides the perfect alternative. Let’s break down some benefits of automated timesheet software.

1. Better data quality

For most management software, the less manual entry required, the greater the data quality. That’s true of an automated timesheet system, too, with automation driving fewer errors, greater reliability, and data standardization that levels up your management information.

2. Accurate billing

For many companies, time tracking data directly feeds into billable hours, invoicing, and getting paid. With manual entries, you risk miscalculations, missing time off periods, and referencing inaccurate pricing tables — all leading to poor outcomes.

But digital timesheets boost data accuracy, enabling you to reduce client disputes, avoid unnecessary revenue loss, and maximize profitability.

3. Reliable project insights

Alongside getting paid, time management information also monitors team performance. This is especially true for projects where teams must manage task progress, resource allocation, and timelines.

Automated timesheets provide the best foundation for managing projects effectively, providing the insights you need to reallocate resources, keep deliveries on track, and identify risks before they become issues.

4. Easier compliance

Keeping an eye on employee work hours is also essential for compliance. Whether it’s conforming to labor laws, eliminating timesheet fraud, or evidencing your approval process, automated timesheets generate data you can trust.

Better yet, there are no clunky Excel timesheet templates, manual reports, or paper timesheets, as most time tracking tools generate audit-ready reports in a couple of clicks.

5. Increased focus & productivity

Every minute an employee spends filling in timesheets is a minute they aren’t doing their actual job. Automated timesheets save employees from unnecessary admin, enabling them to focus on more valuable workflows.

Reducing interruptions and unnecessary admin boosts team productivity. Your team members will have more time to plunge into value-adding work.

6. Profitability management

Better insights, accurate billing, and improved productivity come together to boost your return on investment and profitability. Accurate timesheet data is the foundation of profit and productivity tracking, which is why automated timesheets simply make sense.

This data also helps you identify additional efficiency opportunities for the future, such as reducing wasteful tasks, reducing unnecessary overtime, and drawing out patterns of wasted employee time.

7. Better user experience

Last but not least, automated timesheets provide a better employee experience. No one wants to fill out timesheets, so by making the process as user-friendly as possible, it’s easier for your team to record their time.

Whether it’s a mobile app, AI functionality, or background tracking, automated timesheets feel less of a chore and become a natural part of the day-to-day workflow (and that’s not just coming from us; our customers tell us this, too).

How to implement automated time tracking in your team

So, you’re ready to take on automatic time tracking, but where do you start? Follow the steps below to select the right tool for your needs:

1. Document your requirements

Start by clearly understanding why you need automatic timesheets, the problem you’re trying to solve, and your current challenges. Knowing your requirements gives you a solid foundation to make the best choice of tool.

2. Identify key features

Next, consider the key functionality required in a time tracking tool. This could include a whole host of things, such as multiple clients, project management, payroll processing, clock in/clock out, mobile apps, billable hours, or even approval flows.

3. Look around at suppliers

There are a whole host of timesheet apps out there, so don’t be afraid to look around at different suppliers. At this point, also consider your budget, required onboarding support, and any tool integrations (e.g., project management tools).

4. Take tools for a spin

Most providers offer a free trial to get a taste of their tool. We’d strongly recommend this to get a real feel for how the tool works and whether it will meet your needs. Try each tool with two or three team members and listen to their valuable feedback.

5. Make your choice and onboard

Once you’ve taken some tools for a spin, pick the one that works best for you and onboard your team. Remember, onboarding is critical, so invest time to communicate, train, and re-train team members on the new tool.’

Setting up automated time tracking in Toggl Track

Now, about that best choice of tool part….here’s how easy it is to set up automated time tracking with Toggl Track:

1. Sign up for Toggl Track (for free! 👀)

Unlike our competitors, you can sign up to Toggl Track for free for up to five users. Simply head to our website, create a Toggl Track Free account, and invite your team to join. Once in, you can start creating your automatic timesheets.

2. Start tracking time on every task

Our Timer Mode lets you start tracking time automatically in the background for every task you complete. You can launch a timer from within the desktop or mobile app or even with our handy browser or Jira integration. Select a client or project, set it as billable or non-billable, and away you go!

3. Configure timesheet approvals

Need to keep track of your team’s hours? The timesheet approval function is perfect for you. Simply enable timesheet approvals, assign the right approvers, and configure helpful reminders for your team.

Once set up, it’s easy for the team to submit their automatically populated timesheets and even easier for managers to approve them.

4. Generate and share timesheet reports

Toggl Track reports give you powerful data at your fingertips. Weekly timesheet reports are common for our users, with the ability to filter by team, client, project, or task to give you the exact insights you need.

If you need to get your time data out of Toggl Track, you can save custom reports as PDFs (with charts), Excel, or CSV files, ready to share with your clients.

5. Use data to plan projects, improve efficiency, and maximize productivity

Timesheet data is great, but the real value is transforming it into detailed business insights. Toggl Track’s Insights function deepens your team’s productivity, efficiency, and profitability, giving you everything you need to bill clients, make decisions, and drive your business forward.

5 timesheet software implementation challenges (and how to overcome them)

It’s clear that automated timesheets are the best way to capture employee time — but implementing any new software can send a few curveballs our way. Here’s how to overcome each of them:

1. Employee resistance

• The challenge: Not everyone likes change. It can be unsettling to learn a new tool, with a fear of the unknown, not wanting to get it wrong, and the increased effort alongside your day job.
• The solution: You have to support employees through the change curve with clear communication about the benefits and how it will help them in the long run. Offer training and support to learn new processes and allow enough time for the team to adjust.

2. Technological complexity

• The challenge: Some tools try to do too many things, making them complex, confusing, and difficult to adopt.
• The solution: When choosing a tool, look for one that’s simple, intuitive, and has a clean user interface. Alongside that, prioritize providers with strong customer support and tutorials to ensure a smooth onboarding process.

3. Integration challenges

• The challenge: If your new tool doesn’t fit into your ecosystem, it quickly becomes tiresome, with a lack of employee engagement leading to incomplete data.
• The solution: Select a system with a broad range of integration capabilities and align with your IT teams to ensure compatibility. Whether it’s a native API, middleware like Zapier, or an ability to export/import data, make sure you have a way to connect crucial workflows.

4. Adoption barriers

• The challenge: Some employees may not fully utilize their new system, leading to incomplete data, poor insights, and inaccurate billing.
• The solution: Give employees a say in how the system works and the benefits it offers. After that, it’s about clearly setting expectations and finding ways to identify and overcome any day-to-day challenges.

5. Data security concerns

• The challenge: If it’s not done right, time tracking can quickly invade privacy, with it feeling like Big Brother is watching over your shoulder.
• The solution: Look for a tool with strong privacy policies and clear communication on how to use time tracking data. Demonstrate this to your team to boost transparency and provide the opportunity to ask questions.

Automate time entries easily with Toggl Track

Manual time tracking is full of waste, inefficiency, and frustration. But, automatic timesheets take the pain away from time tracking, working automatically to simplify workflows, reduce admin errors, and create actionable insights that improve efficiency.

There are a lot of automatic timesheet tools out there, but Toggl Track offers:

• A clean and simple user interface that makes it easy for teams to track their time.
• Integrations with your favorite tools, such as Asana, Jira, QuickBooks, Salesforce, and Slack.
• Powerful timesheet reporting and detailed insights that help you improve efficiency, productivity, and profitability.
• A cost that doesn’t blow your budget — free for up to five users, then as little as $9 per user/mo.

If that sounds good, it’s easy to sign up for Toggl Track for free — just two clicks and no credit card required. Better yet, if you’re a team of over 20, book a free demo to understand how Toggl Track can slot seamlessly into your business workflows!

A job isn’t just technical or physical effort; it’s also emotional labor…and many workers feel worn out. 

Half of global workers (roughly 1.8 billion people) struggle with burnout. Women, members of the LGBTQ+ community, people with disabilities, and remote workers are even more likely to board the burnout express train repeatedly. 

Feeling depleted after a long work marathon is normal, but continuously pushing yourself (or others) to perform at their limits is unsustainable. As a manager, you risk losing your best people, undermining team morale, and jeopardizing organizational success…while also boarding the same burnout express. 🚄

The good news? We’ve got plenty of tips and tricks to help you recognize, avoid, and overcome burnout in your organizations. 

TL;DR — Key Takeaways

• Employee burnout manifests as reduced productivity, constant exhaustion, and emotional detachment from work. It can also include more severe physical symptoms, signaling overexertion. 

• The scale of workplace burnout is growing every year as companies push for greater productivity, higher profitability, and faster results amid fast technology changes and financial uncertainty. 

• Employee well-being often goes on the back burner, especially when businesses want to cut costs. But investments in your people pay manifold — in higher worker productivity, stronger talent retention, and better financial performance. 

• To prevent employee burnout, managers need to be more intentional about managing workloads, assigning priorities, and monitoring performance. They can also work on modeling better lifestyle behaviors themselves. 

• Pushing your people harder or resorting to workplace surveillance technologies is never the answer to higher people productivity. It’s another recipe for accelerating burnout and talent attrition. 

• Responsible time-tracking tools like Toggl Track can diagnose the early signs of burnout, improve capacity management, and coach your people to build healthier productivity habits. 

What does employee burnout look like?

Burnout is our bodies’ ‘shut-down’ reaction to unmanaged chronic workplace stress. It initially manifests as behavioral, psychological, and physiological cues:

• Decreased productivity due to mental fog, procrastination, and lack of motivation
• Growing self-doubt, personal insecurities, or hopelessness toward your job
• Increased irritability, cynicism, and emotional detachment from your work or distrust toward the employer
• Absenteeism and avoiding responsibilities, aka doing the bare minimum or quiet quitting 
• Constant cognitive fatigue, lost concentration, and difficulties in rational decision-making
• Diminished self-worth and accomplishments when no work feels ‘good enough’
• Troubled sleeping, changed appetite, weight loss, and more frequent mild illnesses like colds
• Chronic fatigue, muscle tension, headaches, and other signs of deteriorating physical wellbeing

The first signs of job burnout are often subtle. “It’s tough to spot burnout because many people hide it, as they don’t want to seem unreliable or risk falling behind, especially in a hustle culture like the one in America,” says Anand Mehta, Executive Director of AMFM Healthcare. 

Burnout can also be confused with regular workplace stress, which is often temporary and doesn’t result in overwhelming depletion. Because of this confusion, managers often fail to notice the early warning signs or write these off as character flaws like poor time management or a lack of work ethic.

How common is employee burnout?

Workplace burnout is pervasive.

At the start of 2025, over two-thirds (66%) of American employees and nine in ten (91%) Brits experienced high stress, emotional exhaustion, and severe lack of motivation.

Almost every role is affected — from healthcare workers recovering from the pandemic to deskless tech employees pressured to deliver faster, better work. Recent layoffs increased job insecurity and raised expectations for remaining employees. Meanwhile, remote workers struggle to disconnect and focus as employers adopt more invasive performance management software.

Combined with information overload, rapid technological change, skyrocketing living costs, poor management, and rising job demands — quite the melting pot — all these factors create fertile ground for burnout.

Sadly, burnout rates are growing at 15% year on year because companies expect employees to ‘work through their issues’ instead of changing their workplace cultures.

The most common causes of employee burnout

In 2019, the World Health Organization classified burnout as an “occupational phenomenon,” aka something induced by the nature of a person’s job, not their personal life circumstances. 

“Burnout isn’t an employee issue; it’s a leadership failure. It doesn’t happen overnight, either. It’s a slow decline caused by overwork, lack of support, and unclear career growth,” says Luke Beerman, CEO of Freedom Fence FL. 

Many workplaces suffer from systemic problems related to the work environment, management practices, and culture, increasing the risk of burnout.

Unsustainable workload

Occasional ‘busy’ periods are normal for every job, but your people can’t always be maxed out. No one can be on their A-game for eight hours, five (or more) days a week. The human brain simply isn’t designed for more than four hours of daily deep work. 

Yet, there’s an alarming disconnect between managers’ and individual contributors’ perceptions of performance management. In terms of goal management, skill development, and capacity management, managers think they’re doing enough. Workers disagree. 

Lack of progress visibility, poor team time management, and haphazard performance correction leave people with not enough time to handle unrealistic expectations. This accumulative pressure and overwork eventually lead to burned-out employees. 

Toxic workplace practices 

“We discourage sick days unless absolutely necessary”…..“Vacations longer than five consecutive work days won’t get approved”…..“We pit people against each other to determine top performers.” Sadly, all of these statements are still true and reflective of many companies’ cultures.

Three-quarters of US workers have faced a toxic workplace culture, with poor management as the main cause. Micromanagement, favoritism, unhealthy competition, harassment, bias, and disregard for employees’ mental or physical health all lead to burnout.

Sadly, people in customer and patient roles are at an even higher risk of emotional strain. If management pushes for a “the customer is always right” policy, your employees may be pressured to tolerate verbal abuse or physical violence. Ask anyone in an entry-level customer service job.

One in five workers experienced mental health problems at work, and 22% reported harassment in the last 12 months.

American Psychological Association

Lack of role clarity 

In smaller companies, startups, and scale-ups, one person is often expected to ‘wear many hats.’ A Product Marketing manager can juggle their core tasks with occasional design, social media marketing, or sales chores. This strategy might work in the short term, but even high-performers can crumble under excessive workload and constant overwhelm over the longer term. 

Confusion, urgency, and constant context-switching tax our brains, which weren’t designed to multitask. Only 2.7% of people can effectively do several things at once without losing performance. Yet, many workplaces ask their staff to juggle flaming torches while riding a unicycle (not literally, though). 

Inadequate recognition or support

An alarming number of employees feel their efforts are taken for granted. Busy managers often fail to provide timely feedback, while more ambitious co-workers tend to take credit for team effort, which is highly demoralizing.

Only 1 in 3 workers recently received recognition for their good work. Worse, employees who don’t feel adequately recognized are twice as likely to quit in the next year.

Many managers think recognition equals a cash bonus. But what employees crave (and what works best) is “honest, authentic and individualized verbal recognition of their contributions,” according to Gallup.

It pays to invest in employee wellbeing

Content people are more engaged, productive, and creative. It’s a simple (but often overlooked) fact backed by research:

• Improving employee wellbeing in the UK can create extra economic value of £130-370 billion annually, or  6-17% of the country’s GDP. (McKinsey Health Institute)

• Companies with higher employee well-being financially outperform stock indexes like S&P 500, Russell 3000, and Nasdaq Composite. (Indeed) 

• Employees at companies that prioritize their well-being are 71% less likely to report burnout and five times more likely to advocate for their company as an employer. (Gallup) 

• 89% of employees will only consider companies that emphasize employee wellbeing when looking for their next role. (WellHub) 

By making employee experience (EX) a higher-ranking priority, you can attract better talent and minimize the impacts of skills shortages. Plus, this strategy reduces employee attrition by ensuring greater job satisfaction and engagement. 

Engaged people are less likely to show signs of absenteeism, resistance to change, or declining work quality. In fact, when employees are engaged, their productivity jumps by 21%, achieving business profitability leaps of 18%. 

So, what’s the secret to preventing or eradicating workplace burnout?

Getting out of a burned-out state is much harder than preventing it. Workplace burnout recovery can take anywhere from three months to four years (in the most severe cases).

It’s worth remembering that burnout happens when work demands become too much, too often. So, the best thing you can do as a leader is to ‘turn down the heat’ through better communication, improved workplace incentives, and data-driven management decisions. 

Dial down the urgency 

“The expectation of constant availability results in burnout among employees. If employees can’t disconnect, burnout is bound to happen,” says Christian Hed, CMO of Dstny.  

As the speed of business has accelerated, many companies have developed a culture of ‘fake urgency’ — unrealistic deadlines, fast email response times, clogged calendars, and overflowing to-do lists.

Most work tasks aren’t that urgent. They don’t require a ‘one-second response’ or an ‘immediate 10-person meeting.’ Companies like GitLab, Buffer, Automattic, and Toggl all succeed by relying on async communication.

Likewise, many ‘ultra urgent’ tasks can be automated instead of handled by humans — and that’s what Christian Hed advocates:

“Use tools to automate low-value admin work, freeing teams to focus on strategic decisions. For example, we helped Svanströms streamline emergency callouts with our software. This reduced their dropped calls by 60% and doubled customer conversions — without overloading staff.”

Don’t reward overwork 

Many traditional workplace incentives, like bonuses or promotions, based solely on visible outputs, create a workaholic culture. The media doesn’t help, either. We’ve seen countless stories about top-class attorneys or smart doctors working ultra-long hours. But fewer about those leaving work at 4 pm to work on their veggie garden.  

“The fix to burnout starts with stopping the reward system for overwork”, added Beerman. “Make PTO sacred so employees don’t feel guilty for taking breaks. Ditch the always-on mentality by setting real work-life boundaries.” These behaviors should start with managers because they can drain an entire team.

Do you personally have a good work-life balance? Or are you the one messaging your team at odd hours or on Sunday afternoons with random questions? Perhaps you should adjust your expectations and take greater care of your health, too. 

Human Resources professionals can also provide support by creating and reinforcing systems to promote self-care without sacrificing organizational performance. These can include:

• Adopting results and accountability first (RAFT) policies, where employers recognize their people by output and impact rather than input like clocked hours

• Granting employees the autonomy to set their own schedule for roles that allows this 

• Offering paid personal time off and encouraging people to use it without any guilt  

• Enforcing a no-contact policy outside of working hours, protecting the right to disconnect 

• Signposting various wellness programs to help people better cope with stress or mental health issues

Because when your people can disconnect (properly, without FOMO,) they return more productive and engaged than ever. 

Use data to inform your strategy  

Employee burnout comes from prolonged exposure to stressors. To prevent this condition from taking hold, learn when exposure reaches a tipping point — and work on preventing these build-ups. 

“One of the most obvious symptoms of burnout is a change in the employee’s level of engagement, whether it be a decrease in enthusiasm over projects that were once loved, an increase in absenteeism, or even changes in personality, such as irritability or withdrawal,” says Lucas Botzen, HR Expert and CEO of Rivermate. Diagnosing and addressing these root causes is the key step to breaking up the burnout cycle, according to Botzen. 

Managers often notice burnout symptoms first but aren’t always equipped to diagnose the cause. Productivity tools like Toggl Track can provide deeper insights. Our analytics dashboards can help identify when your people are focusing on the wrong priorities and risking project delays (or if they simply feel too overwhelmed due to insufficient capacities).

Time data also helps you understand what undermines productivity and drives exhaustion. Perhaps your engineers are stuck in too many meetings. Or your procurement team is held back by your legacy, slow ERP systems.

“We regularly review our people’s performance and adjust workflows to keep things manageable. These small but intentional changes have made a big difference in helping the team feel supported and valued,” agrees Mehta. 

Aim to build a high-trust culture

All of the above efforts improve workers’ physiological safety, allowing them to raise issues in time without fear or judgment. “I really insist on open communication and regular one-on-one check-ins with managers as a means of catching the signs before they escalate,” says Botzen.

Candid and empathetic conversations with managers, especially for remote teams, are critical for building trust, a key pillar of employee retention. It’s also important to normalize discussions about not just ‘big wins,’ but also mishaps, personal struggles, and ways to overcome them.

Burnout is (usually) about the workplace, not the people

Burnout susceptibility isn’t about skills, work experience, or emotional resilience. Entry-level customer support agents, world-class neurosurgeons, recent accounting graduates, and even CEOs can experience burnout. 

Usually, it’s due to poor leadership decisions, reinforced by the glorification of entrepreneurs (Elon-ahem-Musk), who “work 120-hour weeks and didn’t take more than a week off for 17 years.” Wow, doesn’t that sound fun? 

Leaders’ personal disregard for employees’ well-being taints the entire company culture. People are asked to achieve unachievable targets for company growth, clock in excessive overtime, and work to the point of depletion.

Corporate work cultures have even been blamed for the death of some employees, such as in the heartbreaking story of one 26-year-old E&Y worker who died within four months of joining the consulting firm. 

As managers, we can switch from blaming to helping employees better cope with stress.

This starts with intentionally allocating workloads and using tools to measure your team’s capacity and capability. Team restructuring to accommodate mounting work is another solution, along with business process optimization to eliminate redundancies. If you lack hands on deck, petition stakeholders for extra hiring budgets and push back on unrealistic expectations from higher-ups.

As an executive leader, it’s your job to listen to your people and act on their feedback. If productivity or profitability declines, it’s not always because your teams aren’t doing enough. Often, they may be stretched too thin and lack the resources to meet their targets.

Finally, cultural initiatives like training in new leadership styles, emotional intelligence workshops, and sustainable productivity goals can make a difference. Speaking of which…

Surveillance is definitely not the key to employee engagement

The flip side of burnout is low employee engagement and productivity — something that’s been bothering leaders a lot. 

But instead of defining adequate productivity criteria for different roles, an alarming 75% of respondents to our Toggl Productivity Index survey believe they should have the right to track every employee’s activity to ensure they are delivering results.

The adoption of employee surveillance software is on the rise, with companies logging remote employees’ keystrokes, browser activity, and number of blinks per second via a webcam. 

Chief Surveillance Officers, as we like to call them, often achieve the opposite of what they’re hoping for. Their people engage in ‘productivity theater’ — a flurry of meaningless output activity with little impact. They become less autonomous, demotivated, and eventually quit, leading to painful impacts on your business’s bottom line. 

TLDR: Surveillance and micromanagement only aggravate employee burnout, but never fix it.  

To increase your team’s productivity, you need to consider more strategic changes to your project management, workload allocation, and personal accountability. This starts with gaining better visibility into your workloads.

Toggl Track advocates for time data collection to support, not stifle, your people. Our automatic time tracker allows users to stay in control of all logged time data. We have a fierce anti-surveillance policy. 

Instead, our mission is to give everyone visibility into how work happens, using actionable data for optimizing:

• Workload distribution and task allocation, based on capacity availability 
• Project duration and profitability by eliminating time-wasting steps 
• People’s time management habits and focus on doing deep work 

Get your team back on track

Workplace burnout has an all-around negative impact on businesses: You lose efficiencies, revenue, and top talent. But it’s also really hard to spot, especially in larger teams, unless you can really zoom in on your people’s work habits. 

Toggl Track transforms your team members’ time entries into multi-dimensional data for tracking project performance, forecasting delays, and identifying unsustainable workloads. Optimize your people’s productivity and well-being by helping them build better time management habits designed for a healthy work-life balance and consistently high personal impacts.

Try out Toggl Track analytics features for free!

“My people are always very productive,” said no team leader ever. 

Let’s be real: We all believe our teams could do better, but we often struggle to understand what that better means. More billable hours? Faster task completion? Just putting in more effort? 

Team productivity differs from individual productivity because it doesn’t get better using simple hacks like “Eat the Frog” or “Airplane Mode.” It requires more in-depth (and ongoing) collaboration, communication, and performance management improvements rather than just setting stricter KPIs. 

Learn how to improve team productivity and achieve greater alignment on shared goals with 13 proven tactics. 

TL;DR — Key Takeaways

• High team productivity emerges from strong team synergy — aligned, joint efforts in groups with high psychological safety, a strong sense of purpose, and high dependability.

• Some productivity outputs like ‘total hours worked’ or ‘daily desktop activity’ indicate busy work, not good business outcomes. Your team may be “eating” too much productivity junk food without you realizing it.

• Building a culture of sustainable team productivity that brings you closer to your goals requires targeted interventions and ongoing efforts. Start with how you hire people and where you place them. 

• Productivity tools and workplace technologies are a conduit of change, not a self-contained solution. Use technology to identify and fix the causes of low productivity – think fragmented workflows, missing skill sets, or fragmented knowledge management. 

• Work on how you communicate. Coach your people to use async tools, be clear in written updates, and give constructive feedback.

• Build greater trust and improve team dynamics with practices like retrospectives, anonymous well-being surveys, and 1-on-1 feedback sessions. 

• Track a combination of hard and soft productivity metrics to ensure you’re not just optimizing for speed or volume, but also for employee engagement and motivation. 

Team productivity is different from individual productivity

Individual productivity focuses on personal output, while team productivity emphasizes collective success. You may have the most independently productive people in one room, but as a team, they’ll constantly play tug-of-war without proper steering.

Research reveals that individual cognitive ability and personality can impact employee productivity, but they don’t necessarily predict team synergy — a far more important quality. 

Most of you know what it’s like to be part of a great team. You feel understood, appreciated, and supported. This high degree of psychological safety, which Google researchers believe is the cornerstone of high team effectiveness, promotes stronger bonds, better communication, and higher innovation.

People feel safe to try new things, ask questions, and make mistakes. They also know others have “got their back” and are open to helping someone if they’re falling behind.

Productivity is about more than output and revenue

Many managers realize they need to be conductors, steering people in the right direction rather than telling them how to play their act. But it’s easy for doubts to creep in, especially when the C-suite wants hard evidence of a team’s productivity.

Toggl’s 2025 Productivity Index found most companies measure productivity in (sometimes marginal) outputs like ‘task completion rates’, ‘total hours worked’, or ‘daily stand-up meetings’. 

With employee surveillance software flooding the market, there are many things you can (not should) measure — employee screen time, keyboard activity, or eye blink rate.

None of these outputs necessarily equal hard work.  

Asana’s Anatomy of Work Global Index says employees spend 58% of their day on “work about work” — answering Slack messages, doing status check-ins, or sitting in pointless meetings.

This creates a sense and look of “busy” but doesn’t actually move the needle. Effectively, many teams are nourished by productivity junk food, which is as bad as the real stuff. And workplace tools can reinforce this habit.

To boost team productivity, you need to start optimizing inputs. Instead of tracking daily tickets handled by your customer support team or case resolution speed, examine your current processes.

Are there any roadblocks to faster response times, such as a confusing ticketing platform or ineffective handoff workflow between divisions? Do longer issue resolution times always lead to lower customer satisfaction? If your agents excel in providing complex and tailored support, they’re doing an amazing job. 

Because team productivity isn’t one-dimensional, it can’t be measured through blanket metrics like ‘numbers of completed tasks’ and ‘employee utilization rate’, or financial KPIs. 

By reverse-engineering how your people deliver their best work, you can remove blockers, eliminate redundancies, and set better team goals for more precise efforts.

How to improve team productivity

There’s no ‘quick fix’ to improve team productivity. Like other people management activities, productivity coaching requires targeted interventions and ongoing commitment. However, the sooner you start applying the following strategies, the faster you’ll see change. 

1. Hire the right team members

People can’t perform at their best in the wrong role. Sadly, bad hires happen often because only 33% of hiring managers have objective behavioral and cognitive data on candidates.

That third of managers usually rely on skills-based hiring — a strategy that evaluates applicants’ real-world abilities to determine their job fit. This includes hard and soft skills assessments, job knowledge tests, home-based assignments, or in-person case study interviews. 

By getting a good scoop on the person’s skills and personality during hiring, you’ll get team members who onboard faster, perform better, and stay with the company longer.

2. Create a healthy work environment

Few people can do quality work when they’re burnt out, rushed, or otherwise squeezed to work long and hard.

Our brain can only handle 4-5 hours of high cognitive load daily. That capacity shrinks when we are stressed, sleep-deprived, or mentally exhausted from constant stimuli (like endless pings in a work chat). 

Conversely, people in good physical, mental, and emotional health are more likely to be top performers at work. An Oxford University study recently confirmed that a one-point increase in self-reported happiness levels brings a 12% productivity increase among call center workers.

There are several important elements of positive work environments:

• Good employee work-life balance 
• Mutual respect and inclusion 
• High physiological and physical safety 
• Fair, transparent compensation 
• Open communication 
• Regular recognition and appreciation 
• Access to growth opportunities 

….and strong leadership advocacy for all of the above. 

To assess your team’s well-being, run an anonymous survey to detect emerging issues in motivation, workload allocation, and interpersonal dynamics.

3. Play to your team’s strengths

Teams perform better by compounding individual strengths.

Your marketing team may have a talented copywriter whose creativity thrives with guidance from an analytical content strategist. To discover individual strengths in your team, try:

• Skills mapping to understand which extra (under-used) competencies your people have or, on the contrary, need to do better work. 

• Personality testing to evaluate the team’s soft skills and unique quirks that make them click together and shine individually. 

• Team-building activities to shape better group dynamics, build trust, and provide bonding opportunities in a low-pressure setting. 

By understanding and using each member’s unique capabilities, you can improve task allocation, remove collaboration blockers, reduce conflicts, and boost engagement rates. 

4. Set a North Star (and follow it)

Productivity comes from focused attention. A North Star identifies the direction for the team’s brain power and energy. It communicates your company’s vision and mission as one overarching objective, supplying teams with a shared purpose.

A North Star Metric (NSM) can be revenue-based (e.g., annual recurring revenue), growth-efficiency driven (e.g., lifetime value), or customer-focused (e.g., paid subscribers).

For example, B2B software companies focus on converting free individual users to paid team plans. DTC brands obsess about maximizing profit margins for price competitiveness and faster growth. Your NSM can also evolve over time as priorities change.

The North Star metric trickles down as individual goals for different teams.

Lenny Rachitsky, former Product Lead at Airbnb, shared that the company chose a broad NSM of “nights booked”, which seemed too broad. So, he broke this down into input metrics that feed into the bigger goals.

One team was tasked with adding more homes to the platform, another with increasing website traffic, and yet another with optimizing guest conversion rates. All actions aimed to book more nights. This approach aligned teams on the big goal and focused on solving their piece of the puzzle. 

5. Establish a single source of truth

Almost half of digital workers struggle to find the information needed to do their jobs despite (or because of) having a myriad of communication and collaboration tools.

Digital knowledge falls through the cracks and isn’t stored, breeding productivity killers like:

• Limited visibility (Imani has no idea about her team’s capacity) 
• Information asymmetry (Kayla missed an important product update). 
• Institutional knowledge loss (No one knows how to debug code Amir wrote) 
• Lopsided decision-making (Slava made a sales forecast based on outdated data) 

A team knowledge base reduces confusion, improves decision-making, and streamlines collaboration. You can easily build all sorts of wikis, databases, and document logs with Notion, Slite, or Confluence to make knowledge more accessible.

Reinforce the writing habit by encouraging people to block time for creating documentation, templates, and other knowledge assets. 

6. Communicate clearly

Time and again, research into team behaviors and workplace policies proves that effective communication improves team cohesiveness, performance, and satisfaction.

But not all communication is good per se. Helicopter-style check-ins every hour? Nope, won’t move the needle. Vague “Can I ask you something?” Slack messages? Distracting.

Try the BLUF method to improve your written communication. Short for ‘bottom line up front’, this model aims to give the recipient the context to fully address your need or understand the situation without exchanging multiple messages.

Similarly, avoid ambiguous language when describing tasks. Start with an action verb, e.g., Review, Buy, Follow-up, in the title. List extra details in the description, such as what needs to be done, why, and how. Include specific sub-steps if needed and add a deadline.

Team leaders must always communicate clear goals, whether leading a planning meeting or distributing tasks: We need to do X because it’s important for Y, and the best way forward is through Z. 

7. Understand where (and how) to leverage AI

AI productivity tools have been touted by the media as “the next biggest productivity revolution”. 

Buuut…the jury is still out on whether GPTs impact productivity. Among Google survey participants, 45% reported productivity gains. Yet, a survey from Upwork says that 80% of workers believe their workload has increased with Gen AI tools. Not good. 

The truth is somewhere in the middle.

AI-powered automation can generate measurable efficiencies in customer support, marketing, operations, and recruitment processes, among others. However, redundant processes will remain redundant with or without AI. And your decision-making is skewed if teams don’t have a strong data culture.

8. Use workforce optimization tools

There’s no shortage of productivity, time tracking, and time management apps on the market. Each software offers a slightly different take on optimizing workforce performance.

Some apps focus on task scheduling and management. Others help with capacity estimation or workload forecasting. Choose a tool that provides missing insights for your team. 

Consider a to-do list app if your people have trouble prioritizing tasks and planning their days. Struggling with workload visibility or project timelines? Try an app with robust time data analytics features like Toggl Track. 

Toggl Track combines time and task data into a single analytics dashboard, allowing you to easily track team performance across tasks, revenue sources, client profitability, available capacities, and more. 

Learn what’s driving productivity gains (and losses) among your team with real data instead of guestimation. 

9. Give employees the freedom to excel

A productive team isn’t just one that jointly crosses off assigned tasks. It enables each member to take ownership of their work and be autonomous as they solve complex problems. 

A healthy team dynamic means you have regular’ group time’ for brainstorming and collaboration but also offers ample opportunities for deep work — that blissful state of high focus where the best work happens. 

But carving out uninterrupted stretches of work can be hard when there are too many team meetings or the pressure to respond to Slack messages within 10 minutes. 

Follow Shopify’s lead and give your people more room to excel independently. The e-commerce platform canceled almost all of its meetings and switched to async communication. The result? In about half a year the company reclaimed over 322,000 employee hours and said it’s on track to deliver about 25% more projects. 

Another fully remote company, Gumroad, has grown from $4M in annual revenue in 2019 to $22M in revenue in 2024 with a “no meetings” and “no deadlines” policy. Gumroad’s CEO Sahil Lavingia shared several components of his success with fully async work:

1. Everyone writes well and writes a lot. (See our tip 5) 

2. Single North Star metric of maximizing how much money creators earn (See our tip 4) 

3. Strong accountability — “People can work on what’s fun or rely on their intuition because as long as we remain profitable and keep shipping, we tend to get to the important stuff eventually.” 

Don’t be afraid to loosen your hold of the reins. Great work will happen when competent people can communicate clearly, have precise goals, and feel accountable. 

10. Provide feedback regularly

A high degree of team autonomy and individual freedom is important, but so is regular feedback. Employees are 3.6 times more likely to strongly agree they are motivated to do outstanding work when their manager provides daily (vs. annual) feedback.

Regular feedback allows on-the-fly course correction, reducing time and resource waste. It’s also essential for trust and rapport-building. People want to feel acknowledged for their contributions and celebrated for their efforts. Even more so in remote work companies, where loads of actions may seem ‘invisible’. 

Practice two things: 

1. Periodic one-on-one feedback sessions to recognize the person’s successes and provide personalized tips for performance calibration. 

2. Host all-hands meetings where everyone can engage in two-way constructive feedback on the processes, recent irks, or anything else on their mind.  

11. Celebrate wins (and failures)

Borrow a practice from Agile teams — host a retrospective meeting after each major project. 

Retrospectives provide a ‘safe space’ for discussing what went well (aka recognizing everyone’s contribution and successes), what went wrong (without finger-pointing), and brainstorming what can be done better next time. 

Example: You can ask everyone to share what made them feel mad, sad, or glad during the project. Then, drill down to the causes of ‘sadness’ with a 5 Whys analysis and jointly come up with a solution.  

The blameless nature of retrospectives encourages people to speak openly. This reduces mild tensions, promotes bonding, and builds trust. Your team can continuously learn from each other’s experiences and improve their behaviors to deliver even better results. 

12. Upskill and reskill your employees

Productivity dips when people don’t know how to do things differently. They become stuck in routines, using the same tools and techniques for decades. Some upskilling may be in order. 

Create a team skills matrix to analyze which competencies your people already have, which ones they need for their current roles, and how interested they are in improving a specific skill or learning a new one. 

Example: Your business analyst might already dabble into Python coding on the side and would love to get further trained in data science — a skill you’re struggling to hire for. Or you might realize your facility managers need more training on the new digital system — the one you’ve paid a lot for but haven’t yet seen any results. 

By investing in targeted employee development initiatives, you get a greater quality of work today and lower exposure to the skills shortages of tomorrow.  

13. Track the right productivity metrics

To understand what actions drive productivity improvements, gain visibility into how all of these elements affect team productivity. You can quantify the team’s productivity using the following: 

• Project metrics like team velocity, task burndown rate, scope creep, or recourse utilization rate. 

• Quality of work metrics like bug rate, customer satisfaction scores, issue resolution rates, or error rates. 

• Time-based metrics like time to completion, on-time delivery, total billable hours, or utilization rate. 

• Financial metrics like revenue per project, profit per employee, cost per output unit, or billable hours percentages. 

How to measure team productivity

Team productivity is multi-dimensional. You need the right organizational structure, clear communication practices, skill alignment, strong synergy, and the right technology in place. 

This makes productivity measurements more challenging than blanket labeling desktop activity as either “productive” or “unproductive”. To get a clear picture, use a combination of quantitative and qualitative measurement methods. 

• Use time tracking tools to identify organizational inefficiencies, such as meeting madness, broken workflows, or overly ambitious budget allocations.  

• Collect 360-degree feedback from peers, managers, and other stakeholders about the team’s performance levels. 

• Try skills assessment tools to detect mismatches between roles and determine employees’ training needs in your most important business areas. 

• Run an employee engagement survey to assess motivation, job satisfaction, and overall morale.

Your goal is to gain a view into what drives different productivity outputs, like the number of tasks completed per month or revenue generated. Some dips may be explained by skills mismatches, not the perceived employee laziness. Others may be caused by broken workflows, poor cross-team collaboration, or your employees just not feeling jazzed about their work. 

Understand your team’s strengths with Toggl Track insights

With Toggl Track, you can build single-click reports from your team’s time data to decode their productivity trends. You’ll: 

• Learn where efforts get wasted due to inefficiencies 
• Gain more accurate project estimates to manage timelines 
• Monitor and predict task and project duration for better workload allocation 
• Avoid project delivery delays and budget overruns  
• Analyze what your top performers do and share the insights with others 

With Toggl Track, you can learn about your people’s strengths without creeping into their privacy. That’s because we’re strictly anti-surveillance!

With our platform, you’ll quickly optimize team efficiencies by removing actual blockers and instilling greater clarity on your priorities. Book a free team demo to test-drive our data analytics features today.

39% of modern-day tech skills will be irrelevant by 2030. The tech industry is moving at break-neck speed, posing a challenge to hiring managers and growing companies who need to upskill their employees or change their candidate screening processes.

AI and automation are replacing jobs in some areas and creating opportunities in others. And the competition has never been stiffer — a global talent pool fuelled by remote work means thousands of applications per position is the new normal.

Whether you’re a job seeker navigating the seemingly never-ending job search, or an employer looking for the secret to cutting-edge hiring strategies, you’ll want to read on.

We dive deep into the latest reports, and present expert insights from hiring managers in tech to explore 2025’s job market in more detail.

TL;DR — Key Takeaways

• Hiring rebounds, but layoffs continue. 58% of tech leaders plan to hire, yet 45% of companies still anticipate layoffs in 2025.
• AI & cybersecurity dominate the market. Roles in AI, cybersecurity, green tech, and cloud computing are surging as automation reshapes industries and opportunities.
• Tension is growing between candidate expectations and employer offerings. Only 18% of new tech jobs will be fully remote, while nearly half of workers say they’d quit if forced back to the office.
• Analytical thinking tops the chart as the most in-demand soft skill of 2025. Adaptability, creativity, and problem-solving are now equally, if not more crucial, than technical expertise.
• Employers increasingly rely on skills assessments like Toggl Hire over traditional resumes to find top talent.

The current state of the tech job market

To understand what’s happening today, we have to rewind and look at the context of the last few years.

In 2021, the pandemic drove a huge surge in demand for tech professionals. 16 of 19 industries reported job openings were at an all-time high, creating a candidate-driven market with higher salaries and better benefits for tech workers.

But this didn’t last long. By 2022, mass layoffs made headlines as a staggering 263,000 people lost their jobs. Even big tech giants like Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, and Twitter let thousands of people go, spurned by rising inflation, and the advent of AI and automation.

This trend continued into 2024, with an estimated 95,000 tech layoffs. While companies slammed the breaks on recruitment, they took the time to formulate AI strategies and shift from a high-volume to a high-quality hiring approach. For example, the average technical interview score required to get an offer at a major enterprise or tech company rose 12% last year.

In 2025, the labor market is set to pick up again. According to the latest Robert Half data, 58% of tech leaders plan to hire for new full-time roles, though only 18% will be fully remote. This is in direct conflict with candidates’ interests. 46% of hybrid and remote workers would be unlikely to stay in their jobs if their position suddenly required them to return to the office full-time.

Outside of the remote vs. hybrid vs. in-person debate, 2025 will see the resurgence of certain sectors, such as:

• Artificial intelligence & automation
• Cybersecurity
• Green technology
• Environmental engineers
• AI governance
• Cloud projects

Most of these areas are driven by advancements in tech, AI, robotics, and automation, which are set to transform the industry landscape. Edie Goldberg, President at E. L. Goldberg & Associates and future of work expert, shared her thoughts with us:

“These technologies will be responsible for significant shifts in terms of job loss in fields like insurance, healthcare, and professional services, while also driving growth in new roles in technology, healthcare, and advanced manufacturing. Climate change drives demand for roles in renewable energy and environmental engineering,” she says.

Can we expect any major tech layoffs in 2025?

Unfortunately, we’re not out of the woods yet. The tech sector has already announced layoffs in early 2025 — Meta has recently culled its workforce by 5%, or about 3,600 employees. Stripe will also let go of 300 employees, despite planning to grow its overall headcount by 17%.

One report found that 3 in 10 US companies are currently on a hiring freeze and that 45% will likely lay off employees in 2025.

On the flip side, the Robert Half report we mentioned earlier predicts over half of companies will hire in 2025.

So, what could be behind the seeming contradiction? It seems AI & automation is a double-edged sword — it leads to workforce reductions in some roles while creating opportunities in others.

Namely, AI and automation will replace low performers and routine, repetitive jobs. Roles like administrative assistants, executive secretaries, data entry clerks, and even some low-level programming jobs are under the biggest threat of lay-offs.

Demand is also growing for tech and AI specialists, especially in AI, cybersecurity, and data science, to implement and optimize these newer systems. This will fuel the growth of roles like:

• Big data specialists
• Fintech engineers
• AI and machine learning specialists
• Software and application developers
• Autonomous and electric vehicle specialists
• Environmental engineers
• Renewable energy engineers

The hottest tech roles companies are hiring for in 2025

“Data scientists, ML engineers, and AI architects — all of these roles will be super hot in the next few years,” says Pavlo Tkhir, CTO at Euristiq. “On top of that, with AI comes responsibility connected to data privacy. AI uses a lot of data and is prone to security threats. Therefore, cybersecurity professionals will also be in high demand.”

Let’s look at what some of these roles entail, how much they’re paid, and their predicted job growth over the next few years.

AI engineers

AI engineers develop and implement AI models and algorithms to solve complex problems, enhancing system capabilities across various industries.

Required skills: Proficiency in programming languages such as Python and R, strong understanding of machine learning frameworks, data analysis, and problem-solving abilities.

Salary expectations: $101,752 per year (on average).

Predicted demand growth: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts 26% growth from 2023 to 2033.

Cybersecurity experts

Cybersecurity engineers design and implement security measures to protect systems and data from cyber threats and remain compliant with international security standards.

Required skills: Knowledge of network security, encryption, cryptography, risk assessment, familiarity with security frameworks, and proficiency in certain programming languages and security tools.

Salary expectations: $122,890 per year (on average)

Predicted demand growth: +33% from 2023 to 2033.

Data scientist

Data scientists analyze large datasets to extract insights, develop predictive models, and inform strategic decision-making within organizations.

Required skills: Expertise in statistical analysis, proficiency in programming languages like Python or R, experience with data visualization tools, and strong analytical thinking.

Salary expectations: $122,738 per year (on average)

Predicted demand growth: +36% from 2023-2033.

Green tech developers

Green tech developers design and implement software that promotes environmental and energetic sustainability.

Required skills: Programming languages such as Python, Java, or C++, knowledge of sustainable design principles like life cycle assessment and circular economy, and awareness of environmental laws and standards.

Salary expectations: $129,348 per year (average for a standard programmer)

Predicted demand growth: 18.7% (CAGR) from 2024 to 2029

What are tech companies prioritizing when hiring?

As the tech job market evolves, companies are rethinking their hiring strategies to find and retain top talent. From prioritizing soft skills to embracing AI literacy, here’s what’s shaping tech recruitment in 2025.

Soft skills are increasingly important for tech talent

Too often brushed aside in favor of glitzy hard skills and tech-speak, soft skills are no longer a nice-to-have. They’re essential for navigating complex tech projects that rely on teamwork and cross-functional operations.

“Analytical thinking remains the most in-demand skill, with 7 out of 10 companies considering it essential,” says Goldberg. CEO of PhoneBurner, Chris Sorensen, confirms this:

“The demand for soft skills like adaptability and problem-solving has seen increased emphasis from employers like us. As tech evolves, hiring managers are prioritizing candidates who can learn and adapt quickly rather than solely relying on current expertise.”

Other increasingly important skills include creativity, resilience, flexibility, and agency — as highlighted by Dovilė Gelčinskaitė, Senior Talent Manager at Omnisend:

“Companies are starting to expect, not just appreciate, high agency in candidates. Hiring managers may prefer proactive people who figure things out without waiting for step-by-step instructions. For example, engineers who are comfortable with unfamiliar tech and pick it up quickly over those who would go for rigid frameworks.”

Skills tests will become more prominent in tech hiring processes

According to Goldberg, 62% of the eligible US workforce does not have a college degree. “We simply can’t leave out people who cannot afford college,” she says. Instead, she advocates a skills-first talent strategy focusing on certified skills in one step.

That’s exactly why we created Toggl Hire — to help busy hiring managers screen candidates in record time and shortlist the cream of the crop in just a few taps. It also ensures fairer hiring based on actual performance rather than a good-looking resume.

“We incorporate a skills test as a first step for all of our roles,” shares Marie Pilz, a member of the PeopleOps team at Toggl. “It is extremely helpful as a hiring manager, as it reduces the time it takes to screen candidates by at least half, and candidates enjoy the experience much more.”

“Users tell us this is beneficial when hiring for tech roles,” Pilz adds, “especially in smaller companies where the CEO or hiring manager might not have years of experience in the role. The skills tests provide them with a great starting base for assessing candidates’ on-the-job skills.”

Everybody should know the basics of AI by now

“People in both tech and non-tech roles are now expected to work with AI tools to enhance overall efficiency,” emphasized Gelčinskaitė.

As industries across the board increasingly rely on AI skills, the need for literacy on deeper issues like machine learning bias and the ethics of AI will only grow. Employees should upskill and adapt to ensure responsible, bias-free AI implementation.

Industries like healthcare, finance, and insurance are most susceptible to privacy and sensitive data leaks when handling data like medical records or bank details. We will only be as unbiased as our weakest algorithm — it’s our duty to uphold the most objective development possible.

Tech companies are prioritizing upskilling and re-skilling

The World Economic Forum declared that 39% of workers’ existing skill sets will be transformed or become outdated between 2025 and 2030. While that might seem like a lot, it’s actually down from 57% in 2020 and 44% in 2023.

Rapid advancements in AI, cloud computing, and cybersecurity are the driving forces behind this. Even though the gap appears to be closing, it still poses a real challenge for businesses.

75% of companies globally are struggling because of skills gaps in their workforce, highlighted Goldberg.

“Companies [can’t] keep up with the rapidly changing skill demands, which means they need to invest in upskilling and reskilling their existing employees and adopt new strategies to gain access to talent,“ she continued.

Beyond just hard skills, there’s a need for what Gelčinskaitė calls T-shaped talent.

“Deep expertise in one area is no longer enough for professionals,” she says. “It’s equally as important to have broader, cross-disciplinary knowledge to bridge gaps between technical execution and client needs. For example, developers who also understand UX and maybe even product strategy.”

Tech hiring managers need to move fast to snag top talent

“Hiring itself will be largely automized,” says Tkhir, CTO at Euristiq. “AI can take over the initial stage of hiring by going through applications and filtering them, leaving only those candidates who fit the criteria. And it can do it really fast.”

Speed is critical when you consider that top candidates are juggling multiple offers and could be off the market within days. Here’s the outline of the hiring process that allowed us to hire 200+ people from 40+ countries over the last 10 years here at Toggl:

• Use an automated skill-testing tool like Toggl Hire to shortlist your qualified candidates.
• Create standardized evaluations using our Homework feature
• Invite stand-out performers to a structured culture interview with the team
• Invite your last 2-5 candidates to a paid test week to get to know the team and decide if your organization is a good fit for them.

Publishing job listings globally will attract even better candidates

Expanding your talent searches beyond conventional waters can build a better, more diverse, and more resilient team. With the rise of remote work, you have access to specific skill sets your organization might need.

Chris Sorensen, CEO of PhoneBurner, has a unique approach to this: “We bring on employees who are open to project-based and contract work. For us, it has allowed our team to bring in specialized talent for extremely niche initiatives without the longer-term commitments.”

While this approach makes the global talent more approachable (contractors generally carry less bureaucratic red tape), this tactic isn’t without its growing pains. “It demands a more deliberate effort to integrate these individuals into our workflows,” he admits.

Sometimes, you don’t have to search stranger’s shores for a missing skill set. It might be hidden in under-utilized talent pools.

“HR professionals and leaders need to understand the value of employing people with disabilities, military veterans, people who have been previously incarcerated, and older workers. We have to leave no stone unturned to find talent that will work hard and continuously learn as the world around us rapidly changes,” Goldberg reminds us.

Hire better tech talent faster with Toggl Hire

The tech job market in 2025 is set to be less turbulent than in previous years. With the demand for AI, automation, and cybersecurity still going strong, these skills remain super relevant. But entry-level software engineer jobs easily replaceable by AI, and roles in other areas, remain at risk of lay-offs.

Both tech candidates and hiring managers must undergo significant upskilling over the next five years to remain relevant, mainly assimilating AI into their workflows. Both will benefit from checking out Toggl Hire.

Toggl Hire helps companies build efficient hiring processes in a competitive tech job market. Case in point: Proxify used our platform to hire over 100 software developers 150% faster, with 93% predictive accuracy before they even got on a pre-screen call.

Toggl Hire also offers job seekers the chance to highlight their skills, making them more attractive to potential employers.

Ready to elevate your hiring process and remain relevant in 2025? Sign up for free today, or book a demo to get a personalized introduction to how Toggl Hire can help you hire the tech talent you need to scale your business.

Workable describe themselves as a comprehensive platform designed to help you “find, hire, onboard, and manage the right person for every job.” And reading that tagline, you might automatically think, “Hey, I really do need help with all of that…sign me up!”

However, while Workable offers some great features, there are alternative options that might better support your hiring strategy. Based on your team’s needs, other hiring platforms might be simpler, cheaper, or more efficient.

Just because Workable is well-known, it doesn’t mean it’s the best for your hiring team. We know because we’ve compared ten Workable alternatives and their unique features, benefits, and pricing—all so you can make the best choice for your recruitment needs.

First things first: understand your recruitment needs

To pick the best solution, you need to understand the problems you’re solving. First, uncover exactly what your hiring needs are by asking your team open-ended questions like:

• What are you currently struggling with?

• What’s taking up too much of your time in the hiring process?

• How could the recruiting process be improved?

Once you have a clear picture, probe deeper:

• Do you need help managing a large number of hires quickly? If so, high-volume recruiting software might be for you.

• Do you need a better way to shortlist candidates? An assessment tool might be the answer.

• Do you need help with a particular stage of the recruitment process, or do you need a robust full-cycle hiring tool? These days, most companies are turning towards all-in-one solutions to save time and compile all hiring data into one place.

Beyond functionality, however, things like a friendly interface, ease of use, and great customer support shouldn’t be overlooked. Especially for smaller teams, a tool without a steep learning curve will save you weeks or months of onboarding, which you can spend on other things—like making great hires!

Key features to look for in a Workable alternative

According to several reviews across Capterra and G2, Workable users regularly complain about the complexity of the user interface, the very limited customization options, and subpar candidate management.

One user expressed their frustration by saying, “…You can’t even customize variables. Workable currently doesn’t allow you to create customized fields for candidates.”

If these features are important to you and your workflow, it’s important you find an alternative that offers them. As we’ll see, there are a few other key features of great ATS systems to look out for to get the most out of your hiring software, whichever you end up going with.

A user-friendly interface

A hiring tool is only as good as its weakest user. It needs to be intuitive to reach its full potential for your team. Many Workable users report difficulty working with the platform, unlike Toggl Hire, which you can get up and running immediately.

Customizable pipelines and workflows

No two companies recruit in the same way. So why should you apply a one-size-fits-all platform to a highly variable situation? Customizing everything, from your pipeline and workflow to your email communications and internal labels, is key to building the best process for you and your team.

Robust candidate screening tools

Advanced candidate screening tools, such as automated resume parsing, AI-driven assessments, and pre-employment testing, help you quickly identify candidates with the most potential. However, some users feel Workable’s screening capabilities could be enhanced, as it offers only five basic cognitive assessment tests.

Advanced analytics and reporting

You can only improve what you measure. Intuitive, comprehensive reporting and analytic features are key to optimizing your recruitment process over time. Unfortunately, some Workable users have expressed that they found the platform’s analytics lacking. If you run a very data-driven, iterative team, you might want to look for an alternative that prioritizes this functionality.

Hiring collaboration features

Hiring usually involves multiple people—HR professionals, recruiters, hiring managers, and sometimes others. Clear internal communication between these parties is paramount to a streamlined recruitment process and a smooth candidate experience.

Top 10 Workable alternatives for hiring teams in 2025

What are your options if you find Workable lacking in the kinds of candidate assessments you need or too difficult for your team to learn? You find an alternative!

After researching each platform’s customer reviews, features, pricing, and more, we’ve compiled a list of the ten best Workable alternatives for improving your hiring and recruitment processes in 2025. These are listed in no particular order, but we think they’ll help you find the right hiring tool for your team.

1. BambooHR

BambooHR offers most of the features that HR teams need under one roof. Manage everything in one place, from employee management to payroll, time off, and benefit information.

👍 Best for…

Teams looking for an all-in-one HR and employee management platform.

🧲 Key Features

• Payroll, benefits, and time off management

• Salary structures

• Compliance

• Expense management

• Automatic tax payments

💰 Pricing

Available upon request, but they have a Core and a Pro plan.

💬 Why Customers Love It

“BambooHR is the most useful HRIS I have found so far, especially for a small HR team. There are so many automations of processes I used to spend hours on each week, saving me time and saving my sanity.” —Katie S., Human Resources Generalist

“BambooHR has been extremely helpful in streamlining and standardizing our onboarding process and ensuring all employee information is received and documented. We find a new way to utilize Bamboo almost every day – especially with new features being constantly added.” —Hannah C., Full Charge Bookkeeper

2. Greenhouse

Greenhouse was built to help scaling companies build and optimize their hiring systems. In addition to being an ATS, it emphasizes diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) tools, helping you make better and fairer hiring decisions.

👍 Best for…

Scale-ups with a DEI focus who want sleeker and more objective hiring processes.

🧲 Key Features

• Industry-leading DEI tools

• Securely handle employee data

• Holistic hiring experience

• Extensive third-party integration options

• Communication templates for every stage

💰 Pricing

Pricing is available only upon requesting a demo.

💬 Why Customers Love It

“Ease of templates, moving through stages, reach outs to candidates based on email type, tracking of activity.” —Mika N., Talent Acquisition, Business Sourcer II (Strategy & Operations)

“I’ve been using it for years and find it is the easiest platform to manage the candidate process from initial application to onboarding. The reporting tools are top notch and it’s helped our workflows as a team significantly.” —Hailey G., Corporate Recruiter

3. Lever

Lever is a mighty two-in-one hiring tool. Part ATS, part CRM, Lever uses automation and AI to help free up your time while delivering an excellent candidate experience to your prospects.

👍 Best for…

Teams who want to boost their employer brand and candidate experience.

🧲 Key Features

• Applicant tracking system

• Candidate evaluations

• User-friendly interface

• Extensive third-party integrations

• Employer branding management tools

💰 Pricing

Pricing is only available upon request.

💬 Why Customers Love It

“Our team has particularly found immense value in Lever’s seamless integrations, especially during the sourcing phase. These integrations have empowered us to connect and access various platforms and resources, significantly enhancing our sourcing capabilities.” —Brittany B., VP of People Operations

“I like that Lever has an intuitive interface that requires very little training for hiring managers and interviewers to use.” —Tom B., Director of Talent Acquisition

4. Toggl Hire

Toggl Hire is full-cycle hiring software that allows you to deliver an exceptional candidate experience while boosting your recruitment efficiency and enhancing hiring quality. With a skills-first approach to candidate assessment, you get access to thousands of hand-crafted skills questions curated by experts to help you quickly see who your top candidates are.

👍 Best for…

High-volume hiring, remote teams, and teams looking to make objective hiring decisions while boosting the candidate experience.

🧲 Key Features

• Expert-created skills tests with AI-powered auto-grading

• Fully customizable talent pipeline

• Candidate tracking

• Asynch video interviews

• Candidate recommendations

💰 Pricing

Toggl Hire’s free plan lets you manage one active job with one customizable skills test. Upgrade to the Starter plan at $199/month for unlimited users, skills tests, and candidates, plus advanced features like custom tests, async interviews, and AI automation for up to 3 active jobs. For $349/month, the Premium plan offers everything in Starter plus unlimited job openings, expert-created assessments, and integrations to streamline your hiring process.

💬 Why Customers Love It

“It is great to use Toggl Hire to create assessments and evaluate the candidates, it is also amazing how you can link it with other tools like Workable.” —Victoria B., Technical Recruiter

“I like how easy it is to navigate and generate tests. Additionally, the ability to easily shortlist, review candidates, and provide instant feedback is amazing. Their pricing is simple and has no hidden fees. The best part is that you are not capped at how many candidates you can receive. No extra cost per cluster of candidates.” —anon, Management Consultant

5. Jobvite

Jobvite helps companies discover, nurture, and hire top talent. It even provides employee onboarding tools. Plus, its clients experience a 50% improvement in candidate response and a 20% increase in applicants.

👍 Best for…

Enterprise companies looking to improve their candidate management and experience with a user-friendly applicant tracking system.

🧲 Key Features

• Candidate management

• Pipeline management

• Applicant tracking

• Interview scheduling

• Posting to major job boards

💰 Pricing

Available upon request, dependent on company size, volume, and complexity.

💬 Why Customers Love It

“Best compact ATS you would need to save time and deliver effective results” —Chandan C., Associate Director – Talent Acquisition(EMEA)

“The interface and platform is easy to use. Electronic onboarding had saved our company time and resources. We have been able to onboard more.” —Geovani R., Senior Manager, HR Programs & Features

6. Breezy HR

BreezyHR is a simple end-to-end recruitment tool that streamlines the hiring process. It helps you save time by automating manual tasks such as job posting, scheduling interviews, and following up with candidates.

👍 Best for…

Busy HR teams who want to do more in less time.

🧲 Key Features

• Drag-and-drop pipeline

• Automated resume parsing

• Candidate Match Score to find best-fit candidates

• Interview guides for objective hiring

• Automated posting on major job boards

💰 Pricing

BreezyHR’s free plan allows you to publish one job opening. Paid plans start at $157 per month for unlimited job openings

💬 Why Customers Love It

“The set up was so simple and intuitive it made the transition to an ATS very very easy and digestible to co-workers who had never used it before.” —Max S., Corporate Recruiter

“I love that it is incredible easy to create templates, which makes it very easy for us to communicate directly with applicants.” —Natalia G., Talent Acquisition Manager

7. SmartRecruiters

SmartRecruiters aims to make hiring as easy as possible by connecting businesses to the people they need at scale. It is committed to “hiring without boundaries” and offers extensive customization and third-party integration options.

👍 Best for…

Lean, growing teams looking for simple, modern talent acquisition software.

🧲 Key Features

• Candidate sourcing metrics

• Applicant data management

• Hiring process tracking

• Candidate sourcing and identification

• Interview scheduling

💰 Pricing

SmartRecruiters offers a free trial with a custom pricing plan upon request.

💬 Why Customers Love It

“With all the tools essential to enhance the recruitment procedure, SmartRecruiters is highly candidate-driven.” —Rohit R., IT and Services

“One of the easiest applications to find the best talent in no time and especially their seamless integration with third parties makes it much easier & fun to find the candidates.” —Aditya K.

8. Recruitee

Recruitee is a collaborative hiring tool that helps you build teams faster and more efficiently. It’s designed for companies that already have an internal HR team to help streamline the operations between them and department hiring managers.

👍 Best for…

Hiring teams looking to attract talent and streamline their internal hiring efforts.

🧲 Key Features

• One-way video interviews

• Applicant tracking software

• Job posting

• Career page configuration

• Custom recruitment workflow building

💰 Pricing

You can sign up for an 18-day free trial. Paid plans start at $199 per month.

💬 Why Customers Love It

“We love the one-way video feature in Recruitee and ATS pipeline flow. It makes sharing candidates amongst the team and clients easy, and the videos provide valuable insights for our clients.” —Nathan W.

“Excellent ATS that covers all our needs and is easy for hiring teams.” —Rory K.

9. JazzHR

JazzHR takes care of the busy work so you can focus on growing your company. It’s made with small businesses in mind and designed to handle manual, repetitive tasks so you don’t have to.

👍 Best for…

Small businesses where leaders wear many hats and need to outsource hiring to a budget-friendly solution.

🧲 Key Features

• ATS dashboards and customization

• Great customer service

• Personalized communication with candidates

• Candidate relationship management

• User-friendly interface

💰 Pricing

Pricing starts at $79 per month for three job descriptions and openings.

💬 Why Customers Love It

“The customizable workflow feature allows me to tailor the recruitment process to our specific needs, making it easy to add personalization at every stage. The candidate tracking system is intuitive and straightforward, helping me keep all applicant information well-organized and accessible, which has significantly streamlined our hiring process.” —Natalie C., Senior Talent Acquisition Manager

“Very user-friendly design, intuitive, love the variety of integrations and the Customer Support team is wonderful, responsive and helpful at all times.” —Barb F.

10. iCIMS

iCIMS Talent Cloud is a talent acquisition tool made for enterprise-level businesses. It’s an AI-powered hiring platform designed to boost efficiency, reduce costs, and build excellent experiences for candidates and recruiters.

👍 Best for…

Enterprise businesses with evolving and large-scale hiring needs.

🧲 Key Features

• Dashboards and reporting on metrics like time-to-productivity

• Offer letter templates

• Employer branding tools

• Applicant tracking system

• Background checks

💰 Pricing

Custom pricing is available upon request.

💬 Why Customers Love It

“The best thing about iCIMS is how holistic the data is stored and accessed within the system. Also, the new upgrades like the Offer Center and Interview Scheduler are helpful with our feast/famine system of hiring.” —Scott G., Recruiting Manager

“Very configurable software with the ability to integrate to the rest of your TA and HR tech stack” —Kim H., ATS Consultant

What makes Toggl Hire the best Workable alternative

Overall, Workable and Toggl Hire serve two different types of businesses.

Workable is best suited to large companies with complex hiring needs, while Toggl Hire is designed for leaner teams and those that might not yet have their own recruitment department.

Still, there are quite a few elements that make Toggl Hire stand out, like our extensive library of expert-crafted skills tests, user-friendly interface, and emphasis on reducing bias.

Keen to give it a try? Create a free Toggl Hire account today to see it in action.

San Francisco-based Lever is a leading talent acquisition suite you’ve probably heard of before, but just because it’s well-known doesn’t mean it’s right for you and your team.

Lever specializes in streamlined applicant tracking and candidate relationship management, which helps convert qualified candidates into exceptional hires.

But like any tool, it has its downsides, too. For instance, its full-cycle recruiting functions are far from comprehensive, making it tough for talent teams to filter skills and optimize the candidate experience.

These limitations mean that Lever might fit your hiring goals, but it’s still worth shopping around before you settle on software. Luckily for you, we’ve done all the heavy lifting by comparing the ten best Lever alternatives, comparing each’s features, pricing, and pros and cons.

Before you get started…understand your recruitment needs

Before we get into the shortlist, here’s some advice: Finding the perfect fit is much easier when you start your search by understanding your recruiting needs.

Use this quick checklist to help your hiring team find the right software partner:

• Do you need a full-cycle recruiting suite or just assessment tools? A comprehensive ATS costs more but ensures a unified hiring process. Assessment tools help if you struggle to identify talented hires.

• Decide what features matter the most. Some companies lean heavily on analytics or generative AI. Others foreground optimizing the candidate experience. Determine your priorities and choose accordingly.

• Consider user experience. It doesn’t make sense for small, inexperienced teams to buy complex applicant tracking systems. Choose software that you can implement quickly without extensive upskilling.

Key features to look for in a Lever alternative

Some talent teams are happy with Lever’s service, but many report challenges. Common pain points for Lever users include:

• Interface bugs and poor customer support

• Lack of detailed reporting functions via Lever analytics tools

• Poor customization options

• High prices to unlock higher-level features, costly at scale

• Not enough training materials to get busy talent teams up and running

• Complex data migration from other ATS tools

Lever likely isn’t ideal if you need to tailor talent pipelines, analyze performance, or have a small recruiting budget.

The good news is that Lever alternatives exist (almost too many, in fact). Here are some critical features you should expect to see in an elite recruitment platform.

User-friendly interface

The best software isn’t just powerful—it’s easy to use. Hiring teams should be able to easily navigate different pipeline stages to manage every candidate efficiently. The learning curve should be minimal to ensure your talent team can work productively.

Lever’s interface is a common problem. Some features are easy to master, but users often report excessive complexity.

Cleaner and leaner Lever alternatives like Toggl Hire may be better options. Simple solutions onboard hiring teams and kick-start talent pipelines in hours (if not mere minutes).

Advanced analytics and reporting

Analytics is another frequent pain point for Lever users, which might initially sound like no biggie. However, when you’re working to use hiring data to inform strategic decisions, having easy access to numbers and results is a huge help.

Advanced analytics in hiring mobilize every piece of evidence when comparing candidates. Customized reports deliver insights into the hiring process, enabling efficiency gains. Unfortunately, Lever makes it tough to export and analyze data.

Detailed reporting is important, too, but depending on your processes and hiring frequency, you might be able to do without it. At the very least, the platform you choose should deliver key metrics and allow for customized data visualizations.

Integration with other tools

Full-cycle hiring tools should ideally integrate with payroll, staff training, collaboration tools, and HRIS systems. However, the integration options Lever supports are a bit weak. Because of this, applying a Lever integration can be more complicated than it should be.

Good platforms seamlessly integrate talent pipelines and business strategies. Integration ensures hiring managers are able to easily meet business goals by filling skill gaps. Robust integrations also enable strategic decisions instead of stakeholders working independently.

Strong candidate relationship management features

Candidate relationship management streamlines the candidate experience.

CRM also functions outside recruitment windows, helping you maintain a healthy talent pool. It’s necessary to engage the best applicants and attract talent to apply.

Lever provides some CRM features but is not a global leader. Alternatives go further, making it much easier to nurture long-lasting relationships.

Customizable workflows and automation

Finally, recruiting platforms need strong customization options. Users should be in control of how they design the hiring process, collect data, and assess candidates.

Lever offers some customization but has a reputation for being inflexible and limited. Automation is relatively weak, and it seems many hiring managers struggle to personalize the process.

A good solution reduces your workload, enables customization, and helps you communicate with candidates.

Top 10 Lever alternatives

With these pain points in mind, let’s start exploring some of our favorite Lever alternatives. The list below features Lever’s closest competitors, and many offer better functionality in certain areas. It’s not a league table, though. Instead, use the list to compare features, pricing, and feedback.

1. Greenhouse

Greenhouse offers “all-together” hiring, from sourcing candidates to onboarding. Features include AI-powered CV cleaning, keyword-based talent filtering, and customized recruitment dashboards. The system ensures fair, data-driven hiring—ideal for meeting DEI targets and reducing bias.

👍 Best for…

Companies interested in prioritizing diversity and ensuring objective hiring decisions.

🧲 Key Features

• Customized dashboards to monitor hiring processes and KPIs

• Over 450 in-built APIs

• Post ads to over 1,000 job boards

• Automated candidate feedback and user-friendly forms

• AI-driven CV screening

• Skill-based competency scorecards. No algorithm-based scoring.

• Keyword-based applicant searches

💰 Pricing

Greenhouse offers three price tiers that vary according to company size:

• Essential: Limited number of recruitment campaigns and customized reports.

• Advanced: Includes x10 more campaign events, report customization, and many add-ons.

• Expert: Unlimited campaigns/events. Includes take-home skills tests and interview tools.

💬 Why Customers Love It

“Greenhouse is…exceptionally designed to make it easy for recruiters to do their day-to-day job and make the most of the effort.” [Associate Director Of Human Resource]

“Greenhouse is our end-to-end applicant tracking system, [helping] us hire and onboard employees and manage employee hiring records effectively.” [Source]

2. Workable

Workable is an applicant tracking system built around AI and automation. The platform streamlines and speeds up hiring, providing wide coverage of popular job boards. Workable’s ATS also integrates with the brand’s HR tools, providing a full-cycle recruiting solution.

👍 Best for…

Hiring quickly and efficiently integrating new employees into existing HR processes.

🧲 Key Features

• Advertise to over 200 job boards

• People Search analyzes over 400 million profiles to target passive candidates

• Code-free careers pages

• AI-driven candidate screening and recommendations

• Mobile application tools improve the candidate experience

💰 Pricing

• Starter: $189/month. Limited to two active roles. No video interviews or assessments. Just core recruitment tools.

• Standard: $313/month. Unlimited roles. Tools like video interviews are available at extra cost. Limited to English language.

• Premier: $628/month. It supports five native languages, includes video interviews, texting, and assessments, and integrates with payroll processes.

💬 Why Customers Love It

“Workable…[helps] us organize and streamline the hiring process. It ensures we don’t lose any candidates in the pipeline and helps us respond appropriately to all.” [Source]

“Workable’s got the muscle for recruiting, giving you all the sourcing and teamwork options without a hassle.” [Source]

3. Toggl Hire

Toggl Hire is a full-cycle hiring platform built with tools to help you create a smooth candidate experience. Its skills-first approach helps hiring teams match skills and roles in their talent acquisition strategy.

👍 Best for…

Companies that need rapid hiring improvements without complex roll-outs or confusing pricing.

🧲 Key Features

• Thousands of skills tests developed by industry experts

• Video interviews and homework assignments to filter candidates

• Customized talent pipelines via a simple but powerful ATS

• Insightful skills test feedback for all candidates

• Talent pool management featuring pre-qualified candidates

• Analytics to guide testing and sourcing

💰 Pricing

• Free account: Access a fully customizable candidate pipeline and hire for one active job at a time. Skills testing is limited to just one assessment on the free plan.

• Starter: $199/month for unlimited users, skills tests, and candidates. Hire for up to 3 active job openings at a time while accessing other full-cycle hiring features like fully custom tests, async interviews, employer branding features, and AI-powered automation.

• Premium: $349/month for everything on the Start plan plus unlimited job openings, expert-created homework assessments, integrations, and more.

💬 Why Customers Love It

“[Toggl Hire] helps us filter candidates and reduce the amount of CVs that we read. It is the first stage in our pipeline and with the reporting feature we could tune our questions to be very effective.” [Source]

“Very user-friendly! You can use your own pictures to customize the tests, and there are a lot of premade questions to choose from. Great team members help you out whenever needed!” [Source]

4. BambooHR

BambooHR is an ATS that uses automation to help hiring managers zero in on top talent. As part of a broader HR solution, the ATS integrates with payroll, training, and benefit management tools. It can help you ensure seamless candidate experiences from application to onboarding.

👍 Best for…

Adding a lightweight ATS to existing HR functionality without causing disruption.

🧲 Key Features

• Collaboration tools to bring every stakeholder into the hiring team

• E-signatures and letter templates to simplify job offers

• The Bamboo Mobile App to post jobs on the move

• Analytics tracking KPIs like time-to-hire

• Post job ads across all relevant channels with a couple of clicks

💰 Pricing

• Free trial: Customers can try BambooHR for seven days without paying a cent.

• Core: Billed on a per-employee and per-month basis, it includes HR features and full access to the BambooHR ATS. It covers 5 job openings at once.

• Pro: Access extras, like employee community management and performance management. Covers 25 job openings.

💬 Why Customers Love It

“BambooHR has been extremely helpful in streamlining and standardizing our onboarding process and ensuring all employee information is received and documented.” [Source]

“The best part about BambooHR is the ease of use as a new HR professional in a solo HR department. Everything is in one place, works together, and makes it super-easy for employees and myself to use.” [Source]

5. Jobvite

Jobvite stands out with robust CRM capabilities and an easy-to-use interface. Promising to “streamline talent across the entire cycle,” Jobvite can help hiring teams save time with smart automation and efficiency-boosting analytics.

👍 Best for…

Hiring managers with CRM needs, especially in niche sectors where talent is scarce.

🧲 Key Features

• Evolve Talent Acquisition Suite, which includes several automation options

• Source & CRM tool to find and engage candidates, leveraging AI to understand every job seeker

• Real-time talent acquisition analytics

• Tools to manage the employee referral process

• Job Broadcast to reach boards, media, and partner organizations

💰 Pricing

Jobvite unfortunately doesn’t advertise its prices online, but a free demo is available on request.

💬 Why Customers Love It

“The interface and platform are easy to use. Electronic onboarding has saved our company time and resources. We have been able to onboard more.” [Source]

“[Jobvite] has integrated multiple features for multiple roles to provide a complete lifecycle from job posting to onboarding with email notifications and updates at every step. [Source]

6. Breezy HR

Targeted at entry-level users, Breezy HR is a simple ATS with an intuitive drag-and-drop interface. While touted for its simplicity, it does come with advanced features, including automated job posts and communication, resume parsing, and candidate matching.

👍 Best for…

Combining recruitment tasks under a simple applicant tracking system.

🧲 Key Features

• Candidate Match to score applicants

• Automated job posting, interview scheduling, and candidate feedback

• Drag and drop talent pipelines with individual candidate profiles

• Integrations with collaboration tools

• Analytics and reporting tailored to GDPR compliance

💰 Pricing

• Bootstrap: Free of charge with basic features

• Startup: $157/month

• Growth: $273/month

• Business: $439/month

💬 Why Customers Love It

“The setup was so simple it made the transition to an ATS easy and digestible to co-workers who had never used it before. I was able to get the system almost in complete working order within a matter of days.” [Source]

“I love having the team scorecard options to easily rate applicants as a group and help remove the bias from hiring practices.” [Source]

7. SmartRecruiters

SmartRecruiters is an easy-to-understand ATS that delivers “hiring without boundaries.” The complete ATS has many customization options, can help you identify the best job boards for each role, and uses Smart CRM to build employer brands.

👍 Best for…

Creating buzz among passive candidates and getting your message out there. Best-suited to rapid, high-volume recruiting.

🧲 Key Features

• Applicant tracking, including standardized interview procedures

• SmartJobs to locate ads efficiently

• SmartDistribute to analyze job ad performance

• Career sites

• Automated CRM to nurture talent pools

💰 Pricing

Prices rise with the number of employees but are not listed on the website. SmartRecruit includes basic SmartRecruiters functionality. Customers must add other apps like SmartDistribute or SmartCRM to access more advanced features.

💬 Why Customers Love It

“The program has an attractive and seamless layout. It is easy for teams to access and manage recruitment duties because of its user-friendly design.” [Source]

“From creating job postings to managing applications, every step feels effortless and effective. Users can easily customize their recruitment workflow to suit their specific needs.” [Source]

8. Recruitee

This cloud-based Dutch ATS seamlessly integrates sourcing, candidate management, and analytics. Customizable templates add flexibility, while its candidate profiles make comparing applicants easier.

👍 Best for…

Streamlining recruitment with templates and automation.

🧲 Key Features

• Employer career sites

• AI-powered referral platform to mobilize employee networks

• Smart interview scheduler

• Customized recruitment reports

• Over 120 app integrations

• Fair Evaluations to cut bias

• E-signatures ensure compliant job offers

💰 Pricing

• Demo: Introduces basic features for a short period of time

• Start: $199/month basic package

• Grow: $249/month enhances analytics, scheduling, and automation

• Optimize: Prices vary for the premium package, but this plan adds AP support, SSO, and tools to help reduce bias

💬 Why Customers Love It

“With Recruitee we have been able to manage data, analytics, and provide reports. Since the moment we started using this system, things got better.” [Source]

“The product covered all the basic features that we needed to manage our processes and it came at a price that was very easy to justify to management.” [Source]

9. JazzHR

JazzHR streamlines recruitment for small businesses. Users can automate manual tasks like posting ads or scheduling interviews, freeing time to spend on finding the ideal candidate.

👍 Best for…

Small and medium-sized enterprises with outdated recruitment systems.

🧲 Key Features

• Single-click job posting to multiple channels

• Candidate profiles to assess capabilities

• Automated candidate engagement tools

• Collaboration to bring together the entire hiring team

• Structured interview guides

• Analytics for efficiency and compliance

💰 Pricing

• Hero: $75/month (with annual package)

• Plus: $269/month

• Pro: $420/month

💬 Why Customers Love It

“A really great tool for keeping you organized if you’re a company that has a lot of applicants coming in. Easy to automate your entire recruiting process.” [Source]

“I love that JazzHR is scalable depending on a client’s needs. A small, tiny company can have an entry-level ATS and 3 aggregated job postings for a low monthly rate.” [Source]

10. Zoho Recruit

Zoho’s “one-stop recruitment solution” blends CRM and ATS functions to boost engagement and improve the candidate experience. The platform reduces the need for multiple recruitment tools by combining sourcing, tracking, and hiring.

👍 Best for…

Recruiting globally and sourcing temporary employees.

🧲 Key Features

• Supports many languages, from Bulgarian to Vietnamese

• Client portal and resume processing

• Post once, publish ads anywhere

• Clean pipeline interface for every role

• Combines screening, skills, and interview assessments

• AI behavioral assessment tools and candidate matching

💰 Pricing

• Forever Free: Full functionality for 15 days. After that, a one-job limit applies

• Standard: $25/month for 100 active jobs

• Professional: $50/month for 250 active jobs

• Enterprise: $75/month for 750 active jobs.

💬 Why Customers Love It

“Almost everything can be customized from the beginning, which makes the tool really flexible.” [Source]

“Zoho Recruit was invaluable for managing a large number of applicants, streamlining the hiring process, and automating email communications.” [Source]

What makes Toggl Hire the best Lever alternative

The talent acquisition leaders above rival Lever hire in some key areas. Any of them could meet your hiring goals, but Toggl Hire offers features Lever and other competitors lack. Standout features include:

• Access to thousands of expertly crafted skills tests. Toggl’s tests dig deep to help hiring teams identify elite talent. Create custom assessments for each talent pipeline and enjoy the peace of mind that comes with knowing hires have the skills to succeed.

• Seamless candidate experience from sourcing to starting work. Create an application processes that engage candidates at every stage. When assigning skills tests to candidates, for example, they’ll receive automatic feedback from us about how they did (of course, you can go in later and tweak the results according to your internal grading standards).

• Screen candidates without seeing a resume. Toggl Hire’s skills tests give you essential background on pre-qualified candidates. Discover their real abilities and save time by going beyond paper credentials.

Add in top-tier ATS and CRM features and customer service that always gets to the heart of queries, and the result is a recruitment platform that refines what makes Lever great—but offers talent leaders so much more.

Discover what Toggl Hire brings to the table. Sign up for a free account and put our recruitment software to the test.

HackerRank paved the way for recruiting coding talent with its innovative testing, but several other players have entered the technical skills testing market in recent years, meaning they’re not your only choice.

Today’s hiring managers are looking for more specialized testing with diverse assessment types and capabilities. They’re also shifting towards all-in-one hiring systems, consolidating tests, interviews, and even candidate sourcing under a single software.

The reason for the shift? Simply administering high-quality coding tests isn’t enough when recruiting tech talent these days. Recruiters want to assess technical skills alongside soft skills. If that’s what you’re after, too, HackerRank might not be the best option for you.

So, let’s explore the best HackerRank alternatives to help you debug your tech hiring process.

TL;DR — Key Takeaways

• New competitors, including Toggl Hire, CodeSignal, Mettl, Test Gorilla, and Codility, are eroding HackerRank’s dominance. This guide compares leading providers to find the best solution for your specific needs.

• Key features of coding assessment platforms include diverse question libraries, real-world tasks, seamless integrations, customization, and useful metrics for analysis.

• Some platforms specialize in high-end technical testing, while others are suited to remote hiring and video interviews. Users must consider their needs when choosing a testing partner.

• Toggl Hire’s coding tests are created by industry experts, simulate workplace challenges, and cover all major languages and apps. Plus, users love the candidate experience.

What features to look for when comparing HackerRank alternatives

When it first entered the market, HackerRank broke new ground by simulating real-world coding challenges. Companies could set assignments based on actual projects, gaining insights into how candidates perform at work.

While that’s great, the platform currently doesn’t have great reviews for users needing to assess other skills like software development, system-building, management, or communication. So, what should you look for in next-generation candidate testing tools?

Diverse question library

The best testing systems feature diverse question libraries because, with more questions available, you can build specific tests for each position.

Ideally, hiring teams can build coding tests for all major programming languages, frameworks, and difficulty levels. And look for regularly updated questions set by industry experts. This ensures tests are relevant to cutting-edge industry needs.

Customizable assessments

Candidates’ skills requirements will be very different. For example, some engineering roles are almost exclusively technical, demanding a narrow critical skill base. Other hybrid roles mix coding, system architecture, and personnel management.

Customizable tests make it easy to tailor tests and assess every skill the role requires. You can match candidates with specific job requirements or focus on specific languages or software packages.

Especially with so many different programming skills and languages to test for, customizable assessments are also essential for providing a more accurate measure of a candidate’s abilities and fit for the role.

Real-world problem solving

Applied testing is also vital. Older systems tend to focus on examination-style assessments, but these tell you little about how candidates will perform in the workplace. High-level testing platforms solve this problem by using real-world scenarios to assess problem-solving and communication skills.

Detailed analytics and reporting

Testing analytics provide invaluable feedback about candidate performance and general hiring. With relevant data structures, you can make informed hiring decisions and refine how you assess future candidates.

Advanced testing systems include automated scoring and candidate feedback, as well as long-term performance tracking. Hiring managers can use them to identify trends or weak spots and take action to improve their sourcing systems.

Integration capabilities

Finally, leading testing platforms integrate seamlessly with application tracking systems, HR databases, and general workflows to help you streamline the hiring process.

Hiring teams should be able to automatically schedule custom tests for those candidates who progress after the screening phase. They should also be able to communicate about promising candidates and provide selection panels with high-quality data to inform hiring decisions.

What are the best HackerRank alternatives?

Most HackerRank competitors fill specific niches in the recruitment landscape. It’s worth taking the time to evaluate them properly, as the right choice for one company may not suit another. Luckily for you, we’ve done the heavy lifting and have reviewed the 11 best alternatives and what they offer.

1. Toggl Hire

We don’t want to sound biased, but Toggl Hire is a great starting point, especially if you’re looking for a coding test platform with ease of use and speed at the forefront. 

Toggl’s ATS features include candidate filtering, video intros, communication capabilities, and more. Recruiters can create smooth pipelines for every candidate, ensuring a consistent experience. The process is quick and seamless for candidates and companies alike.

We also combine coding tests with all-around assessments, like personality or cognitive ability tests, for more hybrid roles. For instance, companies can assess technical abilities as well as soft skills like managing teams or solving problems.

Who is it for? Companies that need to assess every aspect of a candidate’s skills and personality are looking for a more robust full-cycle hiring software than just a skills testing tool. Toggl Hire’s versatility helps you choose skilled hires who fit your business culture. That’s hard to achieve with other solutions.

Pros

• Test coding skills, personal qualities, and other professional abilities to obtain holistic candidate assessments

• Integrate programming tests with interviews, assignments, and candidate screening

• Provide simple digital tests or use home assignments to obtain deeper insights

• Agile and remote first. Ideal for companies with distributed hiring teams

• Try before purchasing with our free account or benefit from low-cost paid packages

Cons

• Our coding tests do not feature gamification or live coding (which may make them less suitable for high-end engineering positions)

Pricing

Toggl’s offers transparent and affordable prices. The free account lets you test Toggl Hire with one skills test for one active job opening, while the Starter plan costs $199 per month and opens you up to unlimited skills tests and unlimited candidate data for up to three active job openings at a time. Premium costs $349 monthly but includes access to everything, including advanced homework assignments, API access, integrations, and more.

2. Codility

Codility has been around since 2009, making it one of the most experienced providers on this list. The testing platform has three core aims: enabling remote assessments, reducing hiring bias, and improving hiring speed.

Tests are pitched at relatively advanced levels, featuring live coding tasks. You can set up interviews via CodeLive, and test results also feed directly into ATS systems via the Codility API.

Who is it for? Codility is useful for high-end hiring in specialized roles, especially senior engineers.

Pros

• The easy-to-use library of live coding tests covers over 40 common programming languages

• Testing integrates neatly with popular ATS tools, generating data to inform hiring

• The remote-first solution makes it easy to test candidates wherever they are

• Anti-cheating systems help ensure unbiased decisions

Cons

• Tests focus narrowly on technical tasks, meaning users have limited scope to test soft skills or other role requirements

• Tasks are not always relevant to real-world situations

• There are no ATS-like features or hiring pipelines to help you organize your hiring efforts

Pricing

The Starter package costs $1,200 annually and includes 120 candidate invites. Above that, Scale costs $5,000 annually (or $500 monthly) and includes full access to the assessment library.

3. CodeSignal

Created “by developers for developers,” CodeSignal offers professionally designed tests across over 70 programming languages. Recruiters and candidates benefit from the intuitive UI and the accurate plagiarism checker.

CodeSignal shines with its simulations of working environments, making it easier for companies to upskill existing employees with tests replicating actual projects. They can also screen initial applicants or integrate coding tests into interview assessments.

Users, however, have reported technical issues, including unexplained outages and a faulty code editor. Perhaps more importantly, CodeSignal’s customer service is often criticized, along with the poor quality of feedback after a candidate finishes their test.

Who is it for? CodeSignal is ideal for recruiting developers with clearly defined work tasks.

Pros

• Crisp, easy-to-use UI enabling pre-screening, interview assessments, and in-work tests

• Good at simulating real-world tasks

• More than 70 programming languages

Cons

• Poor feedback functions leave candidates and companies confused

• Technically unreliable, leading to a poor UX

• Mainly focused on building skills. Relatively shallow integration with hiring tools

Pricing

The CodeSignal website does not include prices for the Enterprise subscription. Individual packages start at $24 per month, but costs for hiring teams are much higher.

4. TestGorilla

TestGorilla helps companies identify tech talent via diverse tests, ranked shortlists, ATS integration, and other bias-reducing features. You can also test cultural fit and skills like communication, generating a rounded view of each applicant.

However, TestGorilla’s performance doesn’t always match its advertised capabilities. The live coding system is buggy and unreliable, and customer service support has been criticized for slow responses. The pricing model is rigid, and it’s easy to buy more features than you need.

Proctoring tools provide extra assurance, but they are also slightly invasive, resembling candidate surveillance. On the plus side, video interviews work well. TestGorilla also makes it easy to review results and make selections.

Who is it for? Great for companies that need to fill DevOps teams with coding skills and ensure a decent cultural fit.

Pros

• Test core development skills and soft skills to gain full knowledge about candidates

• Simple UI and proctoring functions to eliminate cheating

• Video interviews supplement coding tests to make better decisions

Cons

• Customer service support is often unhelpful

• Unclear pricing model leading to excessive costs

• Technical issues can make assessments frustrating

• Building job-specific assessments can be time-consuming

• No hiring pipeline or advanced ATS-like features

Pricing

The free account lets you create five tests and invite unlimited candidates. Beyond that, Starter packages cost $75 monthly. Pro costs $115 monthly and includes ATS integration. It should be the best option for larger businesses.

5. HR Avatar

HR Avatar offers a unique approach to pre-employment assessments. Its tests feature animated avatars who lead candidates through scenarios or role-related tests, creating an immersive and fun user experience.

HR Avatar’s focus isn’t entirely on coding, though, and doesn’t let you focus on specific languages or DevOps systems. Instead, Tests focus on pre-defined roles, covering software development, operating systems architecture, and many related fields.

On the positive side, the combination of technical and personality tests helps to discover more about how candidates might perform. Video interviews, remote proctoring, and automated reference checks also create a smooth hiring pipeline.

Who is it for? Companies that focus on competencies over coding skills. 

Pros

• Enjoyable user experience

• Whole-person assessments generate a rounded view of candidates

• Video interviews and proctoring make the process easier

Cons

• Tests are based on pre-defined roles and won’t always suit employer needs

• Limited customization

• Very expensive when used at scale

Pricing

HR Avatar is not cheap. Single candidate packages cost $50, packs of 50 cost $1,430 while screening 500 applicants costs $12,300.

6. WeCP

WeCreateProblems is an assessment platform with problem-solving at its heart. WeCP sets work scenarios based on real-life challenges, including hundreds of programming tasks.

The interface assesses how candidates solve problems and approach coding challenges (not just their outputs). AI-powered proctoring identifies cheating. Personalized communications add a human touch to what can be a stressful experience.

Using WeCP, hiring professionals can automate assessment delivery, allowing testing at scale. Efficient testing frees up time for interviews or other screening measures. Plus, the testing library is also huge, with questions for every role or hiring process.

Who is it for? Businesses that prefer testing problem-solving skills above pure technical skills. 

Pros

• Many scenarios and questions, with good coverage of coding themes

• Intuitive live coding environment that makes testing the quality of work and candidate techniques easy

• Personalized communications to improve the user experience

Cons

• Uploading your questions or content is not easy, and customization can be a pain

• Not the best platform for grading soft skills or personalities

• Can become expensive at scale

Pricing

500 credits cost $2,388 per year. One credit represents a single candidate process, including tests, proctoring, ATS integration, and video interviews.

7. HackerEarth Assessments

HackerEarth emerged from the hackathon scene, aiming to boost hacking skills and general coding expertise. The site remains a hub for hackathons and industry meet-ups, with a global community of over 7.6 million members.

Its assessment module has also become a popular way to assess candidates and identify elite developers. While users can ask over 17,000 questions and test 900+ skills, creating testing templates for individual roles is tricky.

If you have a specialist developer role in mind, the interface works great. Plug in languages or critical skills, and you’re good to go.

Who is it for? Businesses focused purely on coding and nothing else. Testing soft skills is not a HackerEarth specialty. Think of it as a technical testing tool, not a fully-rounded hiring ally.

Pros

• Slick UI and ATS integration with a console that is easy to navigate and technically reliable

• Useful for testing a developer’s skills with lots of targeted questions

• Thriving user community to tap into and guide recruitment

Cons

• Ineffective for testing all-round job skills and culture fit

• Narrow focus outside of developer jobs

• Expensive compared to alternatives

Pricing

The 14-day free trial gives a taste of what HackerEarth offers. After that, prices increase quite a bit. Enterprises can expect to spend $419 per month.

8. iMocha

iMocha claims to maintain the biggest tech skills testing library, covering over 3,000 skills. Not only that, but iMocha also offers functional skills testing. For instance, you can test Salesforce development or supply chain management.

Functional testing complements aptitude and personality tests, communication assessments, and customization. Overall, this up-and-comer does everything HackerRank does and a bit more.

However, there are some issues. Analyzing test results is complex, and the UI is generally cluttered. Personalizing test invites and communications could be simpler. Users also can’t fully customize test scoring or timing. You have to accept iMocha’s templates in most cases.

Who is it for? Companies testing large numbers of candidates with relatively low user experience expectations.

Pros

• Wide range of programming tests, including functional tests based on popular applications

• Neat integration of technical and soft skills

• Good English language assessments (which can be handy for hiring worldwide)

Cons

• Customizing tests is difficult

• Poor data analysis, which makes it hard to track hiring metrics

• A lack of personalization options may alienate candidates

• Unclear pricing policy

Pricing

iMocha offers a free trial, which is good. However, the website does not include transparent pricing information.

9. Codeaid

Codeaid offers more in-depth coding tests that typically last five times longer than HackerRank’s. Extended tests deliver deep insights into candidate skills. However, they make Codeaid slightly unwieldy for fast and efficient hiring.

The best aspect of Codeaid is its ability to mimic workflows. Tests immerse candidates in realistic environments, challenging them to engage with on-the-job tasks.

Assignments assess problem-solving, programming language levels, design pattern usage, and more. Proctoring systems guard against the use of ChatGPT and AI tools. Candidate outputs also translate instantly into data visualizations, letting you decide the best hire.

Who is it for? High-end hiring tasks for senior engineers and demanding situations.

Pros

• Deep assessment capabilities, exploring real-life situations

• Robust data visualizations and analytics to identify the best talent

• Dependable anti-cheating mechanisms

• Good free trial with plenty of features

Cons

• Complex to use and suited to specific recruitment challenges

• Not suitable for entry-level hiring

• Quite expensive for large-scale hiring

Pricing

The free trial lets you assess five candidates monthly. The Team package costs $99 monthly and increases your quota to 20 invites. Enterprise costs $399 monthly and allows unlimited invites.

10. HireVue

HireVue is all about “unlocking human potential” through the power of AI. Users can administer virtual tryouts by video, send skills tests to candidates, or use gamified assessments.

AI aside, structured technical interviews are a standout feature of HireVue. Recruiters can video questions and tailor interviews for every candidate. This aids remote hiring, cuts bias, and saves time vetting candidates.

HireVue is not famous for its coding assessments. You can assess skills via coding challenge tools. However, the testing library is comparatively limited.

Who is it for? General hiring processes that mix technical proficiency with other assessments. A good option for recruiting entry-level coders.

Pros

• Excellent video interview features

• AI analysis may improve candidate assessment and deliver insights about the best fit for each role

• Integrations with Workday and ATS systems like SmartRecruiters

Cons

• Not a coding specialist platform

• Do not expect in-depth assessments of domains, many languages, or DevOps tools

• Expensive

Pricing

Users can sample HireVue via a free demo, but the hiring platform is costly. The Essential package starts at $35k per year, while enterprise starts at $75k. Not suitable for small or new businesses.

11. Mettl

Mettl was founded in India in 2010 and has earned a global reputation for its comprehensive talent assessment capabilities. Mettl has a lot of features, allowing users to test over 600 skills and choose from over 100,000 questions.

Automatic grading and report generation keep recruiters informed, and the Mettl live interview platform dovetails neatly with tests. Bilingual testing helps when screening a global talent pool. You can also run simulations to find the right candidates for each position.

However, Mettl struggles with integrations, making it hard to slot coding tests into your hiring pipeline. And the cost can be excessive at volume, so it’s far from a flawless product.

Who is it for? Companies that test internal coding expertise and mid-level recruitment challenges.

Pros

• Many questions and scope to customize coding tests

• Video interviews, automated grading, plagiarism checks, and work simulations contribute to an impressive feature set

• Bilingual assessments suit global workforces

Cons

• Expensive for some implementations

• Poor integration capabilities.

Pricing

Mettl offers a stripped-back free trial. The website does not detail paid package costs. However, tailored packages cost thousands of dollars per year.

Quick tips for testing programming skills

Before we finish, it’s important to remember that testing platforms only work when used correctly. Hiring technical talent entails using the correct assessments at the right time. Let’s quickly explain how this works.

Incorporate non-coding skills tests

First, don’t focus solely on coding. Obviously, you need robust assurance of coding skills. However, successful hires also have the social and intellectual skills needed to fit your corporate culture.

Test for problem-solving and critical thinking abilities. Assess logical reasoning, communication skills, teamwork — anything that meets your ideal candidate profile.

Customize tests to fit the role

Users should also customize tests to reflect real-world job tasks. This entails blending technical skills with problem-solving. Aim to mirror situations teams face as they meet deadlines and deliver critical services.

Remember: testing should filter candidates who can fill your specific role. Finding skilled or capable candidates is just the first step. A good testing platform lets you go deeper.

Assign (paid) take-home projects

We recommend mixing digital tests with homework assignments. Home projects shed light on how developers organize time and deploy their skills. A promising developer on paper may struggle to meet deadlines. Homework identifies these problems before they occur in the workplace.

Try Toggl Hire coding tests for free

Skills testing is a crowded market, especially when finding your next tech superstar. As we’ve seen, testing platforms vary greatly in their core features, pros and cons, support, and pricing, making it crucial to pick the one that meets your unique business needs.

We think Toggl Hire ticks critical hiring boxes for most companies. 

Our tests cover critical coding challenges, easy to administer, fun to take, and slot seamlessly into hiring pipelines. Recruiters can build custom assessments blending tech tasks and soft skills to find qualified talent.

Find out more by creating a free account today.

Greenhouse calls itself a “complete hiring platform that helps you hire fairly and purposefully.” According to numerous reviews, it does the job pretty well, but…it falls short in some areas.

If you’re looking for a full-cycle hiring tool like Greenhouse but without the mysterious pricing, complex user interface, and questionable candidate management features, you’ve come to the right place.

Below, we review ten of the top Greenhouse alternatives to consider in 2025, each with information about the software’s standout features, pricing, and pros and cons (straight from the mouth of real users).

Before you get started…understand your recruitment needs

Before you start considering different applicant tracking systems, it’s important to assess your hiring needs by asking questions like:

• Do you need a platform for the full hiring cycle or just assessments?

• How many people do you plan to hire this year?

• How big is your HR team, and are they well-versed in HR tools?

• Do you need something that is easy to use or requires some training?

• Importantly, what’s your budget?

If you run a smaller business without a proper HR team, looking at advanced, more expensive options such as Greenhouse software may not be ideal.

Key features to look for in a Greenhouse alternative

There are many reasons to look at Greenhouse competitors. Some of the most common complaints that organizations have about Greenhouse include:

• Limited customization options for hiring pipelines

• Lack of transparent pricing

• Poor candidate management features

• A steep learning curve with features that are not easy to navigate for beginners

• A constant stream of app updates that leaves users confused

• Lack of proper customer support: you can only reach out to the team through live chat

While many Greenhouse reviews are positive, here’s an example of a more critical customer:

If you’re exploring a Greenhouse alternative, here are some more features to consider when choosing the best software for your needs.

Ease of use

The best hiring or HR software for your team is one that they will actually use. Greenhouse can give you a significant advantage thanks to its wide range of advanced features. At the same time, learning how to use those features can take a while for newer users.

Greenhouse’s applicant tracking system has many complaints about its steep learning curve. Instead, choose a tool that is easy to set up and navigate and requires minimal training. For example, Toggl Hire lets you get started minutes after signing up.

Customizable hiring pipelines

No two businesses are the same, and your ATS should adapt to the needs of your company and job seekers applying for your jobs.

Greenhouse users frequently complain that when hiring with this tool, they face rigid workflows they can’t change. When looking at other recruiting tools, prioritize those that let you create unique pipelines based on your needs and recruitment process.

Comprehensive candidate management

Greenhouse customers often complain that this applicant tracking system could have better candidate management features. For example, tagging, filtering, and segmentation, among others.

The more applicants you have, the more important it is to have advanced candidate management features. It should be just as easy to do bulk actions as manually handling candidates one by one.

Candidate experience tools

Greenhouse is not the best at providing a user-friendly experience to job applicants. The alternative applicant tracking system you choose should do it all. It needs to be easy to use for your HR team and provide an exceptional candidate experience to those who apply for your jobs.

Transparent and scalable pricing

One of the most common complaints about Greenhouse is the pricing. This applicant tracking system does not have publicly available prices.

Instead, you have to book a call with the sales team to get a quote based on your team size and the features you need to attract talent to your company.

When looking into top alternatives for Greenhouse, consider their pricing model. The pricing should be transparent and scalable, allowing you to unlock more features as your hiring needs grow.

Top 10 Greenhouse alternatives

This list is in no particular order and highlights some of the top Greenhouse alternatives in today’s market. We’ve reviewed each tool’s reviews, performance, features, and pricing to find the best alternatives to Greenhouse.

1. Lever

Lever is an applicant tracking system with candidate relationship management features. It focuses on providing exceptional ease of use by automating tedious and repetitive tasks in the hiring process.

👍 Best for…

Growing businesses, mid-to-large companies, and organizations that need collaborative hiring tools.

🧲 Key Features

• ATS + CRM

• Candidate-nurturing features

• Visual insights with Lever dashboards

• Measuring and tracking DEI efforts to reduce hiring bias and improve diversity

• Automates a variety of tasks through triggers and workflows

💰 Pricing

Not available publicly. Much like Greenhouse, you must get in touch for a personalized quote tailored to your business. Online research shows that Lever plans start at $3,500/year and up.

💬 Why Customers Love It

Easy to use, efficient, and complete with the needed tools for high-volume hiring. Good to use with different colleagues and easy to implement. Using it every single day to keep track of candidates, and it also integrates quite well into Google Calendar for easy time management. – Bernardo

The Lever team has created great software that makes the applicant tracking system very user-friendly and efficient. Lever has an implementation plan in place that they share with you and can modify per your organization’s needs. – Irma

2. Workable

Workable is a hiring tool that covers the entire recruitment process. It lets businesses find, hire, onboard, and manage people, making it ideal for companies that need one HR tool for every process in their organization.

👍 Best for…

Companies that want to cover all of their hiring needs in a single app. Established HR teams with many openings that want to streamline their hiring operations.

🧲 Key Features

• One-click job posting to 200+ websites, AI-powered sourcing, employee referrals

• Collaborate with your team in the cloud and evaluate candidates together

• Automated actions such as scheduling interviews and candidate approvals

• Custom onboarding experiences, e-signatures for new hires, employee documentation storage

• Time-off tracking and employee management

💰 Pricing

Starts at $189 per month, which is good for up to 20 employees. A free trial is available for 15 days.

💬 Why Customers Love It

Workable’s got the muscle for recruiting, giving you all the sourcing and teamwork options without a hassle. It does hit the wallet hard and might box you in a bit, but it’s a solid pick if you want everything HR in one spot. – Akshay

Organized candidates, kept track of communications to candidates, easy to pull reports! – Roxy

3. Toggl Hire

Toggl Hire started as a top-tier talent assessment platform before branching out into a full-cycle hiring tool. From sourcing and testing candidates to automating candidate communications, Toggl Hire lets you find the best people for the job based on their performance, not resumes or LinkedIn profiles.

👍 Best for…

Companies that need an easy-to-use tool that anyone can master quickly, businesses that require flexible, transparent pricing, and any business looking to provide an exceptional candidate experience.

🧲 Key Features

• Applicant tracking system

• Skills tests with a library of pre-vetted tests for a variety of roles

• Job landing page builder

• Talent pool management

• Real-time communication and collaboration for more informed hiring decisions

💰 Pricing

There is a free plan available for up to 3 candidates and two paid plans to choose from:

• Starter: $199/month for unlimited users, skills tests, and candidates; up to 3 active job openings, plus other great features like fully custom tests, async interviews, employer branding features, and more.

• Premium: $349/month for everything on the Start plan plus unlimited job openings, expert-created homework assessments, integrations, and more.

💬 Why Customers Love It

“I like how easy it is to navigate and generate tests. Additionally, the ability to easily shortlist candidates and provide instant feedback is amazing. Their pricing is simple and has no hidden fees. The best part is that you are not capped at how many candidates you can receive. No extra cost per cluster of candidates. My previous platform made it difficult to customize tests, and I had to pay for add-ons all the time. I’m happy that I switched over to Toggl Hire.” [G2 review]

“We tried several alternatives in the market, and Toggl Hire was the best one. It is the most affordable. As a growing and remote hiring company, we are opening a variety of roles. This tool helped us assess, shortlist candidates, and conduct video interviews for different positions. So far, we are very happy with the results.” [G2 review]

4. BambooHR

BambooHR is a comprehensive HR solution for all things HR: hiring, onboarding, employee database and reporting, payroll, employee time management, benefits, and more.

👍 Best for…

Companies that want to tackle all of their HR operations with one platform.

🧲 Key Features

• Employee database and management

• Full-scale ATS for hiring

• Onboarding and offboarding features

• Employee performance management, employee surveys

• PTO tracking, time tracking, and benefits

💰 Pricing

Not available publicly. The only information that BambooHR provides is that for teams with 25+ people, you are charged per employee per month. For teams below 25 people, you are charged a flat monthly rate.

💬 Why Customers Love It

We have been using BambooHR for some time now, and it has significantly improved our HR processes, making them more efficient and user-friendly. We highly recommend BambooHR to organizations looking to enhance their HR operations with a robust and user-friendly system. The customer support is very approachable, fast, and helpful. – Julia

BambooHR is the most useful HRIS I have found so far, especially for a small HR team. There are so many automations of processes I used to spend hours on each week, saving me time and saving my sanity. The available training and support make it easy to use and ensures that I’m taking advantage of all the great features. We have integrated a few other systems and data transfers seamlessly. As a daily user, I love BambooHR. – Katie

5. Jobvite

Jobvite is an end-to-end talent acquisition platform built for modern teams of all sizes. It helps companies streamline HR operations, hire better candidates faster, and focus on the candidate experience.

👍 Best for…

Companies with established HR teams looking to improve their existing operations or businesses looking to focus on employer branding to attract talent.

🧲 Key Features

• Applicant tracking system with onboarding features

• Customizable workflows and dashboards for recruiting teams

• Branded career site builder

• Automated candidate sourcing and nurturing, candidate CRM

• Detailed analytics and reporting

💰 Pricing

It is not available publicly on their website. Research shows that the most affordable plans start at $4,500 per year for up to 50 employees.

💬 Why Customers Love It

I like the ease of use, the library of learning modules, and the ability to have multiple users interact with the application and assign roles according to their jobs and needs. – Millie

The fact that it helps with visibility! I can easily see what my colleagues are going through when having a candidate in the recruitment process. We use it every single day. I think it’s way easier now, we don’t need as many excels anymore, we have a “data base” because of Jobvite now which can be accessed anytime. – Diana

6. Breezy HR

BreezyHR is a fast, modern, intuitive HR platform that lets businesses hire new employees more quickly while guided by data.

👍 Best for…

Companies of all sizes that are looking to optimize and automate their existing HR processes. Businesses that need an HR tool with flexible, transparent pricing.

🧲 Key Features

• Career sites

• Post new jobs to 50+ platforms with one click

• Automated pre-screening, candidate communications, scheduling interviews and collecting feedback

• Integrations with HRIS, HR, and other business tools

• Employee referrals

💰 Pricing

Starts at $157 per month. There is a free plan called Bootstrap that has unlimited users.

💬 Why Customers Love It

I love that you can easily create customizable applicant pipelines and automatically move applicants through the stages of recruitment. I love having the team scorecard options to easily rate applicants as a group and help remove the bias from hiring practices. – Michelle

I will recommend BreezyHR to anyone who needs an efficient, cost-effective way to reach applicants. The staff is responsive and helpful. I’m a fan! I have used other, much more expensive software, and BreezyHR is better. It is easy to format and post ads, track applicants and share with team members. – Evona

7. SmartRecruiters

SmartRecruiters is a talent acquisition tool that lets you go from job openings to filled positions. This platform covers the entire hiring process, from job ads to job distribution, career sites, applicant CRM, and more.

👍 Best for…

Larger businesses with an extensive budget. Companies with established HR teams that don’t require training to use Smartrecruiters.

🧲 Key Features

• Collaborative hiring

• Customizable hiring workflows

• Integrations with a large number of platforms, such as LinkedIn, Zoom, DocuSign and many others

• Chatbot, AI, and text recruiting

• Career site creation

💰 Pricing

Not available publicly. Online research shows that plans start at around $10,000 per year.

💬 Why Customers Love It

One of the easiest applications to find the best talent in no time and especially their integration with third parties makes it much easier & fun to find the candidates. I frequently use this. It has great customer support and it can easily be implemented in any company. – Aditya

Very user-friendly recruiting platform. Super easy to post jobs and manage the job posting throughout the entire application process. Saves a lot of time from emailing back and forth with candidates and internally. Also great analytical reports that you can easily generate. – Michael

8. Recruitee

Recruitee is collaborative hiring software built for companies that want to streamline their existing operations. From identifying great hires to sourcing, reporting, and compliance, Recruitee has a tool for everything.

👍 Best for…

Larger businesses that want to simplify their existing processes with automated HR tools.

🧲 Key Features

• Smart hiring pipeline creator

• Careers page builder

• Multi-posting and smart campaigns

• Talent pool

• Assessment, communication, and interviewing modules

💰 Pricing

It starts at $199 monthly for teams of 1–20 and has an 18-day free trial.

💬 Why Customers Love It

The best thing about Recruitee is the price-to-quality ratio. The product covered all the basic features that we needed to manage our processes, and it came at a price that was very easy to justify to management. – Rory

It is very user-friendly. The tech support is very responsive. They are very kind and professional. They almost always find a solution. There are always new features that we can utilize. I use it on a daily basis, and I am very satisfied with it. It can be also connected with Linkedin. The career site feature is also very useful. – Attila

9. JazzHR

JazzHR is the recruiting software of choice for small businesses. With startup-friendly pricing and a range of automation features, it’s built for smaller companies and startups.

👍 Best for…

Smaller businesses and companies that don’t necessarily have an HR team.

🧲 Key Features

• Customizable career pages

• Posting job openings to multiple boards with one click

• Centralized dashboard with applicant details, allowing for collaborative hiring

• Capable offer management tools

• Customizable interview guides

💰 Pricing

It starts at $75 per month, but you have to pay annually. There is no free trial; you have to request a demo.

💬 Why Customers Love It

Very user-friendly design, intuitive, love the variety of integrations and the Customer Support team is wonderful-responsive and helpful at all times. Our last system lacked support and when we got support it was weeks after I submitted a request/ticket. – Barb

User interface is easy to use. The dashboard and modules are laid out nicely. A really great tool for keeping you organized if you’re a company that has a lot of applicants coming in. Easy to automate your entire recruiting process. The Jazz team is very friendly, helpful, and is always quick to respond! – Marissa

10. Zoho Recruit

As part of the Zoho system, Recruit is the all-in-one ATS and CRM that is built for HR and recruiting teams that need to make great hiring decisions quickly.

👍 Best for…

Staffing agencies, recruiting teams, and established internal HR teams.

🧲 Key Features

• Post on 75+ job boards with one click

• Candidate pipeline tracking and candidate engagement

• Customizable workflows for hiring and onboarding

• Seamless integration with 50+ hiring and business tools

• Branded careers site builder

💰 Pricing

Starts at 25 euros per month for 100 active jobs. There is a forever-free plan with one active job.

💬 Why Customers Love It

Zoho is a very user-friendly and intuitive application that manages all aspects of recruiting. As someone who has been in recruiting for over 30 years and used a number of different recruiting tools, I find ZOHO to be incredibly effective and very easy to navigate. – Dann

Easy to navigate, effective tool for client and candidate management. Have worked in the Contingency Recruiting world for 25+ years and used many different products and this one is by far one of the best. – Linda

What makes Toggl Hire the best Greenhouse alternative

If you’re looking for a Greenhouse alternative that is easy to use, covers every hiring stage, has exceptional candidate assessment features, and is transparent about pricing, then Toggl Hire could be the best choice for you.

Toggl Hire offers features that Greenhouse and other competitors lack:

• A library of skills tests to pick from to filter your applicants in no time

• Add custom questions and deliver instant feedback using automated pass thresholds

• Easily add, update, or remove candidates as needed, simplifying your candidate tracking

• Save time coordinating schedules with async interviews

• And so much more!

But don’t just take our word for it. Try it out for yourself by creating a free account today.

Mountains of Excel spreadsheets used to be part of the recruitment experience as hirers juggled interview dates, assignment results, and job offer responses.

While some hirers still use these outdated methods, they can result in bad hires, wasted time, and endless headaches. Thankfully, an applicant tracking system (ATS) can address these issues—or at least it should.

The trouble is that not all ATS tools are equal. What works for one organization might not suit another. With this in mind, it’s time to explore the 11 best ATS options in 2025 and find the perfect fit for your organization:

11 best applicant tracking systems at-a-glance

• Workable: Best for automating low-volume recruitment
• Breezy HR: Best for small companies with tight budgets
• Toggl Hire: Best for assessing talent and proving a great candidate experience
• Greenhouse: Best for beautiful data visualizations
• Zoho Recruit: Best for controlling costs and harnessing automation
• JazzHR: Best for replacing spreadsheets quickly and affordably
• Lever: Best for leveraging your talent pool
• Manatal: Best for harnessing the power of AI searches
• monday.com: Best for integrating hiring with other HR processes
• GoHire: Best for simplifying SMB staffing
• SmartRecruiters: Best for larger enterprises

Best applicant tracking systems pricing overview

• Workable: $189, $313, or $628/mo
• Breezy HR: $157, $273, or $439/mo
• Toggl Hire: Free plan available, $199, or $349/mo
• Greenhouse: Pricing unavailable
• Zoho Recruit: $25, $50, or $75/mo
• JazzHR: $75, $269, or $420/mo
• Lever: Pricing unavailable
• Manatal: $15, $35, or $55 per user/mo
• monday.com: $10, $14, or $23 per user/mo
• GoHire: $99, $199, or $299/mo
• SmartRecruiters: Pricing unavailable

What to look for when comparing applicant tracking systems

Applicant tracking systems are pretty diverse, so what works for one company won’t satisfy others. Your needs are unique, so take some time before choosing an ATS. As you decide, use these key factors to guide the process.

Ease of use

An ATS is no good if you can’t get to grips with the interface. Systems requiring lengthy adoption periods waste valuable time. Good solutions are both powerful and simple—and not all ATS providers strike that balance.

The best ATS systems have intuitive interfaces and great support. Navigation systems let you create multiple campaigns and manage candidates smoothly. There’s no loose ends or confusion—just clearly laid-out tools.

Candidate tracking

It should be obvious, but ATS tools must track individual candidates from sourcing to hiring. The best solutions let you analyze each candidate, including tests, resume information, and interview feedback.

Talent pool management is a bonus, making it easier to reach passive candidates and convert their interest with the right role on offer.

Candidate skills assessments

A good ATS lets you discover what every candidate offers beyond their past work experience or academic qualifications. Look for extensive skills test libraries, home assignments, video interviews, and flexible data analytics to understand each metric.

Candidate relationship management

Your ATS should make each candidate feel valued and well-informed. Candidate relationship management (CRM) tools keep applicants informed about tests and interview scheduling. They also nurture strong connections outside the recruitment process, keeping your talent pool vibrant.

Automation tools

A high-quality ATS automates many traditional recruitment tasks, such as candidate scoring, resume checking, test feedback, and interview management. This is time efficient and limits human error, making recruitment more consistent.

11 of the best applicant tracking systems of 2025

We’d obviously love you to choose Toggl Hire, but it’s always worth assessing your options to make a smart decision.

The list below includes 2024’s best applicant tracking solutions. We’ve investigated every option, picking out leaders for ease of use, candidate experience, and automation—the stuff that matters.

Workable

Workable is a simple and adaptable full-cycle ATS designed to cut recruiting times for small businesses. For instance, one-click automation features let you generate job descriptions and structure interviews quickly.

Candidate tracking is a Workable specialty. Advanced search functionality makes it easier to sift talent pool members, while candidate information tags identify high-potential hires through the recruitment pipeline.

On the downside, Workable is limited unless you choose the expensive Premier package. You can buy extra features to beef up its capabilities, but it’s easier to source an ATS that’s already pre-equipped with the features you need.

🌟 Standout features

• Talent pool management via the People Search tool
• Simple CRM for smaller campaigns
• AI-powered automation features
• Integrations with HR workflows

⚖️ Pros & Cons

Pros	Cons
Automation tools save time for smaller companies	CRM can become confusing with larger applicant volumes
Talent pools are easily created from your existing resources	Automated job descriptions may dilute quality
Part of Workable HR solutions, allowing simple integration	Add-ons come with extra costs

💰 Pricing

• Starter: From $189/mo for two active roles. Enables all of Workable’s core applicant tracking system features. Add-ons like video interviews are available for a supplementary fee.

• Standard: From $313/mo or $3,756/year for unlimited active roles. Extra fees are applicable for add-ons.
• Premier: From $628/mo or $7,536/year, includes native language options and hiring plans. Video interviews and assessments are free of charge.

💬 Why users love Workable

“I like being able to manage multiple jobs and seeing them on one dashboard. I also like how easy it is to move candidates through the stages of the hiring pipeline, efficiently, and also customizing pipelines according to specific hiring needs. Email templates are also also a great tool, and I’m able to organize them according to departments.” —Charlotte D., a mid-market user

“Workable has a seamless design making it really easy to use and navigate. I like how it is consistently being updated too with tools such as AI generators—all of these, alongside the more traditional features, makes recruiting and improving candidate experience super forward-thinking. Blind hiring is also a great feature but you are not able to set it at certain stages which almost makes the feature a little redundant as shortlisting can be done at more than one stage.” —A mid-market user in marketing and advertising

Breezy HR

Breezy HR impresses with its “bootstrap” free plan, which delivers a fully functional ATS for zero charge. Users can manage candidates and create a landing page for single job openings.

Paid packages expand capacity, adding more appealing features. Tutorials introduce the drag-and-drop interface, helping novices get up to speed. Users can automate job descriptions and postings, instantly zapping adverts to job boards.

There’s also an intelligent Candidate Match feature. This grades job applications according to role requirements and credentials. Easy-to-read scorecards and reports provide at-a-glance information about candidate strengths.

On the other hand, Breezy HR lacks in-depth skills testing and full CRM functions. It’s a simplified ATS that bridges the gap between old-style spreadsheets and in-depth applicant tracking.

🌟 Standout features

• Powerful free package
• Candidate Match to parse resumes and filter applicants
• Automated job posting and descriptions

⚖️ Pros & Cons

Pros	Cons
Simple to learn, especially with help from tutorial wizards	Basic CRM functionality
Automation saves time	Limited skills testing features
Streamlined candidate assessment tools	Confusing at high volumes
Affordable (or free!) at low volumes	Prices rise steeply for larger companies

💰 Pricing

• Bootstrap: The free trial package includes basic ATS features, but users are limited to a single job.
• Startup: From $157/mo for unlimited user numbers and candidates. Basic automation features are available.
• Growth: From $273/mo for extra features like automated CV checking, customizable scorecards, and e-signatures.
• Business: From $439/mo for more ATS integrations and talent pool management functions. Enhanced user support is also included.
• Extras: Add SMS messaging for $41/mo and AI candidate matching for $137/mo. Anti-bias Incognito Apply tools also cost $137/mo.

💬 Why users love Breezy

“The set up was so simple and intuitive it made the transition to an ATS very very easy and digestible to co-workers who had never used it before. I was able to get the system almost in complete working order within a matter of days.” —Max S, Corporate Recruiter for a mid-market company

“I was looking for help with hiring an assistant, and BreezyHR was awesome! The platform is very intuitive, with lots of time-saving features that made the process smooth. Some features are only available with higher-tier subscription plans, which are beyond our company’s budget. It would be beneficial if there were options to access certain features for a smaller additional fee.” —Anja D, small business Managing Director

Toggl Hire

Toggl Hire is a full-cycle ATS that achieves two holy grails of modern recruiting: delivering exceptional experiences for every candidate and testing skills to choose the perfect hire.

To achieve this, users can customize tests using our library packed full of 19,000 expertly-curated questions across hundreds of skills. Templates radically speed this process up. To get to know your candidates inside out, video interviews and homework tasks add even more screening features.

Toggl Hire’s ATS also streamlines your recruitment pipeline. Instead of relying on standard resumes, you can assess candidates using single tests and then deliver personalized feedback, which adds value to the candidate experience. And if you want to save any high-potential candidates for a future role, Toggl Hire makes it easy to add pre-qualified candidates to your talent pool.

The intuitive candidate pipeline makes it easy to access your candidate management workflows at any time. If you need to integrate with the rest of your tech stack, recruiters can add numerous integrations, including BambooHR, Slack, and others.

🌟 Standout features

• 180 skills test templates and 19,000 questions from experts
• Automated test feedback
• Interview scoring
• AI-based resume parsing
• Deep metrics to extract testing insights
• Integrations with HR platforms and collaboration tools
• Asynchronous video interviews
• Homework assignments
• Clear ATS dashboard

⚖️ Pros & Cons

Pros	Cons
Users report an 86% reduced time to hire, 10x more qualified candidates, and 93% predictive hiring confidence	We are still building features to support more robust candidate sourcing needs
The only ATS on the market that combines skills test and full-cycle hiring features	Expert-created homework assignments are only available on paid plans
Detailed feedback delights candidates and keeps them engaged	Limited integrations with onboarding/employee management software (because we’re building our own 🤫)
Simple interface that’s easy to learn and customize
Free account includes all core features

💰 Pricing

• Free: Our free plan offers basic ATS and assessment features ideal for small businesses; an unlimited # of users can have 1 active job opening at any time and use 1 skills test for that role; access candidate data for up to 30 days
• Starter: From $199/mo (billed annually) for 3 active job openings; skills testing capacities expand drastically, allowing you to test unlimited candidates with unlimited skills tests (plus access advanced assessments like async interviews and more!)
• Premium: From $349/mo (billed annually) for everything on the Starter plan plus unlimited job openings, homework assessments, integrations, and more

💬 Why users love Toggl Hire

“I simply love Toggl Hire! The interface is beautiful and the user experience is super! Its also very agile and I can make out its because Toggl is known for their remote monitoring expertise way before Covid! Because its a skills first talent acquisition platform, that takes off a lot of pressure from my recruiters.” —Anupama K., a mid-market user

“I like how easy it is to navigate and generate tests. Additioanally, the ability to easily shortlist candidates and provide instant feedback is amazing. Their pricing is simple and has no hidden fees. The best part is that you are not capped at how many candidates you can receive. No extra cost per cluster of candidates. My previous platform made it difficult to customize tests and I needed to pay for add-ons all the time. I’m happy that I switched over to Toggl Hire. It has everything that I was looking for in such a platform and has most of the skills that I need. For the skills that they don’t have, I was able to easily generate my own custom questions.” —A small business user in the management consulting field

Greenhouse

Greenhouse seeks to enable data-driven and bias-free hiring decisions. That’s a big claim, but the ATS delivers on data collection, analysis, and reporting.

Greenhouse users can harness over 40 reporting templates, including metrics on candidate quality, time to hire, and more. There are many visualization options, making it easy to understand and act upon hiring data,

Greenhouse also features over 500 integration options. You should be able to blend the ATS and other human resources tools alongside social media channels and departmental workflows. The ATS features plenty of CRM options, too, including automated email look-ups and personalized communications.

🌟 Standout features

• Reporting metrics and visualizations
• Talent pool management
• Over 500 integrations and customization options

⚖️ Pros & Cons

Pros	Cons
Integrates well with other HR systems	Greenhouse’s pricing is not transparent
Great for data analysis	The ATS may be challenging for new users
Good for analyzing hiring at low volumes

💰 Pricing

Greenhouse does not publish a fixed roster of prices. Instead, prices are “tailored” to different company sizes. You can choose between three tiers:

• Essential: Covers core Greenhouse ATS features for a single event
• Advanced: Covers 10 events. Adds more customization options including bulk candidate management and custom reports.
• Expert: Unlimited events. Includes candidate prospecting, take-home tests, and in-depth reports

💬 Why users love Greenhouse

“Greenhouse was a comprehensive ATS that had everything we needed from job postings and job boards, tracking applicants through the hiring process, scheduling interviews, gathering feedback and sending offers.” —Alina, a recruiting supervisor

“Greenhouse is an essential part of the recruiting process. From keeping our pipelines healthy, dispositioning candidates in a timely fashion, and all other important functions, Greenhouse helps us grow!” —Rebecca A, Event Marketer for a large software company

Zoho Recruit

Zoho Recruit is a great option for startups with big ambitions but limited budgets. The ATS works on a per-recruiter model, and customers add extra users as required. This makes it easy to optimize costs and needs as you scale. The Forever Free option means you can try Zoho thoroughly before committing.

The ATS itself is simple but effective. The AI assistant provides candidate recommendations, and you can automate rejections or add failed candidates to email lists. There’s also a career site builder and tools to customize job listings. Overall, Zoho’s features offer good value for companies with modest needs.

Beware though. Zoho Recruit is built to integrate with other Zoho products (like the CRM app). It works well as part of a Zoho implementation but is less useful as a standalone ATS.

🌟 Standout features

• Zero code career site builder
• Source Boosters AI-powered candidate search
• Social sourcing and one-click multiple job board posting
• Predictive data analytics
• 48-hour background checks

⚖️ Pros & Cons:

Pros	Cons
Affordable and flexible pricing	Requires other Zoho products to work effectively
Time-saving AI tools	Poor integrations with popular collaboration tools
ATS essentials included	No skills testing or in-depth assessments

💰 Pricing

• Free: The ATS free forever plan covers one active job and includes core Zoho features
• Standard: From $25/mo for up to 100 active roles. The package includes core features like interview feedback and candidate sourcing
• Professional: From $50/mo, including AI-assisted recruiting for 250 active roles. Features candidate portals and deeper analytics
• Enterprise: From $75/mo for up to 750 roles, including more customization functionality and integrations with Google Meet and Microsoft Teams

💬 Why users love Zoho Recruit

“Overall experience with Zoho Recruit is excellent. I would highly recommend it to anyone who is serious about building a team and tracking all the candidates passing through their system.” —Jaideep, Head of Product for a financical services company

“The tool is so easy to learn and use. It is cost-effective as compared to its return on investment. I have been able to integrate it with other tools hence making work easier.” —Cybele, Human Resources Manager for a medium-sized US company

JazzHR

Known for its easy-to-use interface, JazzHR is a sleek ATS that lets you post job ads, track candidates, and integrate recruiting with other HR tasks. It’s also affordable—but cheaper packages have far fewer features to work with.

The cheapest JazzHR tier lets you automate job posts to 18 popular boards but limits users to three active roles. It also lacks full-cycle ATS features like interview scheduling and screening assessments. There’s no skill testing either, making it tough to assess candidate abilities.

As you pay more, JazzHR becomes more powerful. Pro packages include detailed reporting functions, more automation features, and unlimited active roles. But the price rises sharply from Hero upwards, excluding many small businesses.

🌟 Standout features

• Easy-to-use interface
• Automated candidate tracking and job posting to 18 boards
• Knockout questions to screen applicants
• Multi-task management for bulk actions
• Data visualizations (Plus and Pro tier)

⚖️ Pros & Cons

Pros	Cons
Free and Hero packages provide a good foundation	Cheaper packages are not full-scale ATS tools
Easy to use and learn	Expensive as you add functionality
Good reputation for customer support	Some reviewers mention buggy integrations

💰 Pricing

• Free trial: A 14-day access to Pro tier ATS functions
• Hero: From $75/mo for basic job posting and management tools. Includes 3 active roles, then charges $9/job every month.
• Plus: From $269/mo for unlimited active roles, assessment features, and bulk management tools
• Pro: From $420/mo for bundles in e-signatures, visual reporting, enhanced support, and more integrations
• Extras: Users can add ATS features like Zoom Integration for $29/mo or SMS for $39/mo

💬 Why users love JazzHR

“I’ve been using Jazz HR for our hiring needs, and I couldn’t be more pleased with the results. The customizable workflow feature allows me to tailor the recruitment process to our specific needs, making it easy to add personalization at every stage.” —Natalie C, Senior Talent Acquisition Manager at a small business

“JazzHR is easy to use. I find the ability to sort applicants with star ratings or by their status in the hiring process really useful when trying to higlight appicants for review by other team members. Its ability to integrate with other tools is also very useful. I have had a couple instances when JazzHR has kicked my personal account out of the businesses wider team. This meant I have had issues logging in and accessing applications. I did go to the customer support who were helpful and rectified the issue but it did cause some lost time during the hiring process.” —Ethan W, Operations Manager at a mid-market US company

Lever

Branded as a “talent acquisition suite”, the Lever ATS is great at attracting hard-to-find passive qualified candidates, but you may prefer a different solution for general recruiting, candidate experience, and talent assessment.

Lever offers user-friendly candidate sourcing and tracking. Users can integrate the ATS with Google Chrome via a well-designed talent dashboard, and users find it easy to learn the system without much outside help. Automation tools save time, and users report good experiences hiring at volume.

On the negative side, critical users mention a lack of reporting functions. Also, Lever’s software solutions do not include a high-quality mobile app, and many users mention performance issues.

🌟 Standout features

• Integrated tracking and CRM
• Smooth interview scheduling
• Over 300 app integrations
• DEI and compliance dashboards
• E-signatures for secure onboarding

⚖️ Pros & Cons

Pros	Cons
Good customer support	Not transparent about pricing
Works well when hiring at volume	Some users report slow performance
Strong reputation for scheduling and collaboration	Setup can be complex

💰 Pricing

Lever does not provide transparent prices on its website. You’ll need to contact the company for a quote. Users can pick from two packages:

• Lever: Core features, including DEI solutions, analytics, single sign-on, and some API integrations.
• Lever for Enterprise: Enhanced ATS functions include offer management and requisition management. Features integrations with Slack and more automation options.

💬 Why users love Lever

“Lever allows for a great amount of customization, which is why we chose it over other out of the box solutions. We are over a year into our contract, and it gets better with each new release. You do need to have a good idea of what you want to accomplish with it in order to use it to it’s maximum potential.” —Geoff P, Talent Acquisition Director for a medium-sized company

“I like that there are more report insights than our previous ATS where reports were very manual and often times not detailed. I also like that we were able to create automation workflows for our process to save us a step in the process. It seems to be organized well and user friendly.” —Kelsey M, Senior Recruiter for a mid-sized company

Manatal

Manatal’s per-user pricing is transparent and cost-effective for smaller organizations. With AI assistance, time-poor HR teams can create job descriptions, while automated candidate matching saves time.

Another standout area is managing your candidate database. Manatal enables AI-enhanced Boolean searches to pinpoint potential hires. Customizing searches for open positions is easy and intuitive.

Despite these strengths, there are some things Manatal cannot do. For instance, assessment systems are a little simplistic. You can’t use Manatal to deep-dive into Python skills, but you can use it for basic hiring on a budget. That could suit many smaller businesses.

🌟 Standout features

• In-depth candidate searches
• Candidate matching
• User-based pricing model
• Automated job description tools

⚖️ Pros & Cons

Pros	Cons
Transparent and affordable prices	Poor candidate assessment tools
Uses AI well to save time and find candidates	Basic CRM features
Smart candidate profiling gets more from your talent pool

💰 Pricing

• Professional: From $15/user/mo. Limited to 15 users and up to 10,000 applicants.
• Enterprise: From $35/user/mo. There are no job limits. Adds workflow automation.
• Enterprise Plus: From $55/user/mo. Includes user groups, report building, SSO, and priority support.
• Custom Plan: Provides a dedicated account manager and additional ATS customization options.

*Customers can access a free trial for professional, enterprise, or enterprise plus packages.

💬 Why users love Manatal

“At the end of each month, it used to take us hours to find out things like the best time to hire or how well each channel did. We can now make those reports with just a few clicks. Overall, the platform is easy to use, and the team picked it up very quickly.” —Osbert N, Recruitment Consultant at a mid-market firm

“Setup is easy, and you can start using it right away. Excellent support is offered both through live chat and through an unlimited number of training sessions. Some of our suggestions, such as introducing a certain job board, have been implemented, showing that they are listening to our suggestions.” —Yanik S, Head of HR for a small business

monday.com

monday.com is a flexible work management platform you can customize to function as an ATS. For example, you can use the monday.com boards to house your candidate data, automate emails and notifications, or communicate with your in-house hiring teams.

If you prefer not to set up your own ATS from scratch, you can also use JobFlows, a dedicated recruiting software built on top of the monday.com Work OS.

Note that JobFlows doesn’t work as a standalone product which could complicate matters for some buyers, as you’ll need to sign up for both monday.com and JobFlows plans. Of course, if you already use monday.com in your tech stack, this won’t be an issue.

JobFlows integrates with talent pool resources like LinkedIn and includes a “no code” career site builder to capture attention. Automation tools include resume parsing from emails, which reduces screening time. Customizable dashboards profile every candidate, staying on top of the recruitment process.

The main downside to using JobFlows or monday.com is the lack of skills testing—you’ll need to integrate with another third-party software to assess top talent before progressing them through your hiring funnel.

🌟 Standout features

• No code career site-building
• Seamless integration with other key tools like Zoom and Google
• Automated screening
• Hundreds of email and job description templates
• Customizable dashboards

⚖️ Pros & Cons

Pros	Cons
JobFlows slots into existing monday.com implementations	Limited skills assessments
Either JobFlows or the monday.com Work OS store candidate info	Neither offers a full-cycle applicant tracking system unless you’re willing to build it yourself
Both tools offer tons of customization options	Integrating with third-party tools to gain the functionality you need may be too complex

💰 Pricing

• A free monday.com plan covers up to two users and three boards, while premium plans start from $9 per seat/mo
• An Unlimited JobFlows plan costs $125/mo paid annually

💬 Why users love JobFlows on monday.com

“My favorite use for monday.com has been to create our applicant-tracking system during a hiring process.” —Stephen J, Director of Growth at a US small business

“Jobflows helps me to manage a very fast communication flow, avoiding bounces between mailing lists and much more, allowing me to speed up my recruiting work.” —Bruno, CEO in Italy

GoHire

GoHire is a less well-known ATS but well worth a look. Its mission is to save SMBs time (and money) by simplifying complex hiring processes. The ATS software combines job sourcing, job descriptions, branded landing pages, applicant tracking, and job offers. Users can master the full recruitment cycle from end to end.

Every GoHire package includes a streamlined careers page to list openings. Starter users can search candidate data. Automated emails also enable personalized candidate communication. Scheduling interviews is also a breeze.

So what’s the catch? Simplicity has its problems. GoHire isn’t great for understanding candidate personalities and skills. Reporting is fairly basic, and HR teams rely on CVs or questionnaires to filter applications.

🌟 Standout features

• Careers page for every user
• Applicant tracking from start to finish
• AI-assisted sourcing and assessment
• Searchable candidate databases

⚖️ Pros & Cons

Pros	Cons
Simplicity ensures a strong user experience	GoHire has speed issues
Affordable ATS for unlimited roles	Simplistic candidate assessments
	Users report customer service issues

💰 Pricing

• Starter: From $99/mo for all standard ATS features but limited to three active roles
• Growth: From $199/mo covering 10 active roles, with screening questions, activity feeds, pipeline customization, and enhanced collaboration.
• Pro: From $299/mo for unlimited roles. Adds video questionnaires, scorecards, reporting functionality, and advanced automation.

💬 Why users love GoHire

“This job board is easy to manage & the features are so simple to learn. It took me less than a day to get all our features set up & jobs posted. I really appreciated that they offered a free trial period.” —Denise, Company Director from New Zealand

“Great! We used a much bigger (more expensive) platform previously and down scaled for a number of reasons—this provider has delivered exactly what we needed.” —Victoria, Head of People for a UK company

SmartRecruiters

So far, most of the applicant tracking software listed has been pitched at smaller or medium-sized companies. That’s not the case with SmartRecruiters, which appeals to larger enterprises and more experienced HR teams.

Why? SmartRecruiters has plenty of functionality but a steep learning curve. It’s not for businesses that are shifting spreadsheets to talent pipelines or have lower-volume hiring needs.

The main platform includes core ATS functions like reporting, job board integration, candidate assessment, managing job offers, and scheduling interviews. You can instantly post to social media channels or even create internal recruitment pipelines for targeted staffing and employee referrals.

SmartRecruiters excels in talent pool management. Branded career pages and tailored ad campaigns help you reach potential candidates (and wider applicant pools). The system is dynamic, too, adapting to customer suggestions—always good vendor practice.

On the negative side, expect costs to be high, even though they’re not transparent on the vendor website.

🌟 Standout features

• Full-cycle ATS features
• Post to 200 job boards
• Social media integration
• Branded career pages
• Intuitive dashboard

⚖️ Pros & Cons

Pros	Cons
Streamlined ATS guides recruitment from start to finish	Expensive solution
Instant job posting and targeted ads	Not simple to configure
Good customer support	Relatively small skills test library

💰 Pricing

Companies must contact SmartRecruiters for a quote, and the company does not advertise fixed prices. The pricing model features a Core package. Users can add extras according to their needs.

• Core: Functionality includes the ATS, reporting dashboards, and integration with over 200 job boards.
• Extras: Users pay for each add-on separately. Modules include CRM functions, conversational AI bots, SmartJobs to advertise roles, and SmartAssistant’s AI-powered candidate scoring.

💬 Why users love SmartRecruiters

“Very robust and inclusive software. It has a wide coverage and deeper functionalities, which makes it unique.” —Georgina, Talent Acquisition Leader in Australia

“As a new manager, I find SmartRecruiters an easy system to use to research and contact applicants. I like that applicants can post multiple resources to their profile and I can easily access them (there’s no need for me to save their resume on my computer).” —Sarah, Director of Lower School Literacy, Grades 3-4 in the US.

Our methodology for selecting the best recruitment software

Transparency about features and pricing is important when sourcing an ATS. In the spirit of full disclosure, we thought we’d finish with a quick explainer about how we rate applicant tracking software.

Our rankings are based on extensive research and testing. Here’s what we consider when selecting the best ATS systems in the market:

• Core recruiting features for SMBs—Elite tracking systems must include core features small businesses need. Job posting to many platforms, CRM databases, interview scheduling, candidate scoring, and career site development are essentials.
• Simplifying the recruiting process—A great ATS makes life easier by removing clutter and streamlining hiring. We look for workflow automation, plenty of integrations, and mobile apps.
• Ease of use—If we can’t understand how to use an ATS, we relegate it to the also-rans. Interfaces must be easy to use and fully functional. Users need a clear dashboard and talent pipeline customizations. We’d expect intuitive access controls as well.
• Customer support—We know that users may need access to reliable support during setup and beyond. Good vendors offer phone, email, and even in-person help. They provide clear tutorials on critical subjects and respond quickly to every query.
• Price—We consider quality more important than value, but price matters. We assess free trials, differences between subscription tiers, and transparency. There should also be ways to scale implementations without any nasty financial surprises.
• Customer reviews—Active users are best placed to grade ATS performance. We look for consistently high ratings on reputable sites, along with trending complaints or strong points.

Try Toggl Hire as your ATS

Phew! We’ve covered a lot of ground and hopefully highlighted a few additions to your ATS shortlist.

Every business has different needs, but we’d love Toggl Hire to be part of the mix. Our free account offers a fully featured taste of our full-cycle recruiting platform, and users love what they find.

Take it from Riotly Social, which skyrocketed candidate numbers 10x once it switched to Toggl Hire. The social media agency identified 37 highly qualified potential hires in just three weeks.

Ready to achieve similar results? Create a free Toggl Hire account and give our ATS a try today.

Over 50 years old (and perhaps more relevant than ever), the job characteristics model (or JCM for short) promises to motivate employees, boost their satisfaction at work, and improve performance, all in one simple and easy-to-implement framework.

Why is it more relevant than ever? We’re in a crisis of workplace engagement, and millennials, who make up the majority of the current workforce, are leading it. A mere 29% of workers in this demographic report being emotionally or behaviourally invested in their jobs.

When employee engagement tanks, so do retention and morale. How can the JCM help? We’re about to show you.

TL;DR — Key Takeaways

• The JCM is a classic framework for evaluating a job’s potential to keep employees motivated and fulfilled over long periods of time. It can be a great way to build a specific job description.

• It focuses on five traits — skill variety, task significance and identity, autonomy, and feedback — which are said to give rise to certain psychological states that lead to performance outcomes.

• Various methods, such as the job diagnostic survey or the motivating potential score, can help you gather quantitative and qualitative data on an employee’s engagement in a role.

• Keeping JCM in mind when designing jobs or identifying skills gaps can be incredibly useful for motivating and re-engaging employees.

What is the job characteristics model?

The more experience you have in a job, the more skilled and efficient you become, right?

In the 1970s, organizational psychologists J. Richard Hackman and Greg R. Oldham assumed this, too. However, while studying factory workers, they discovered that rather than becoming more productive over time, experienced employees actually lost interest and got bored. As a result, their performance dropped.

Were all employees doomed to cycles of spikes and lulls as their perception of work goes from novelty to monotony?

To answer this question, Hackman and Oldham scrambled to find a way to keep employees engaged with their work over the long term. Finding their answer in the job characteristics model.

The core premise of Hackman and Oldham’s framework states that the nature of one’s job significantly impacts one’s motivation, satisfaction, and overall quality of life.

They argued that by balancing five key traits, you could keep employees happy and productive over longer stretches of time. The five traits of meaningful, satisfying work are skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback. Each trait is something for employers to add to the mix as a solution to dwindling effort.

Benefits of using Hackman and Oldham’s job characteristics

One of the main reasons HR leaders use the JCM is because it provides management teams with a template for designing rewarding jobs for all industries, skills, and seniority levels. More than a trusted framework, it’s a blueprint for creating more engaging and fulfilling work environments.

1. Creating job design strategies

The JCM provides a systematic approach to job design, encouraging the incorporation of diverse skills, clear responsibilities, and impact into roles. This leads to well-defined roles that are also enriching for employees, fostering a deeper sense of purpose and belonging within the organization.

2. Improved job satisfaction and engagement

In theory, matching job characteristics with employee preferences will boost job satisfaction. When employees are more aligned with their roles on a personal level, this leads to better integration and internal motivation.

Ever since Hackman and Oldman’s original study, there have been multiple subsequent studies showing a strong correlation between job characteristics and satisfaction. Focusing on autonomy and feedback also empowers employees, helping them feel more valued and resulting in higher engagement levels.

3. Better task delegation and autonomy

Autonomy not only liberates employees to put effort into new ideas—it may be intrinsic to our brain’s motivation system.

In 1985, psychologists Richard Ryan and Edward Deci developed their self-determination theory, asserting that one’s autonomous motivation for personal and psychological growth is the bedrock of personal success and satisfaction. If employees get more autonomy, the theory goes, they’ll feel more satisfied and connected to their work, as any positive results will likely be seen as the result of their own inherent abilities.

The JCM emphasizes a clearer understanding of activities and expected results, which enables management to delegate more effectively. With autonomy as a core characteristic, employees are entrusted with responsibilities, leading to a culture of trust and accountability.

4. Enhanced performance and productivity

Like an algorithm, people get better with feedback. Communicating areas of strength and areas of improvement helps your workforce perform better and become more productive over time, like a fine-tuned algorithm that gets better with every iteration.

The JCM puts a strong focus on feedback, which contributes to higher performance levels. Employees who see the impact of their work also become more motivated to maintain high standards. Planning regular feedback sessions keeps individual goals and growth aligned with employer goals, enhancing overall productivity.

5. Reduced turnover and absenteeism

The JCM model also predicts reduced turnover and absenteeism. When employees find their work meaningful and are satisfied with their roles, they are less likely to seek employment elsewhere. They’re also more likely to give their job their all and show up as their best selves every day. This stability is crucial for maintaining a skilled and experienced workforce.

5 core job characteristics

The five job characteristics themselves are listed in no particular order — all carrying equal importance. They lean on each other to create the framework, complete with psychological states and overall results, which can be alluded to in job descriptions.

1. Skill variety

The degree to which a job requires a variety of skills to complete the necessary activities associated with the position. For example, a business development manager may require less skill variety (they create outreach lists and speak with prospects all day) than, say, a revenue officer. This role will require a much higher variety of skills, juggling growth projections, reviewing sales projects, approving budgets, and overseeing the activity of different departments and teams.

2. Task identity

Do the tasks have a clear beginning and end? Is there a point where you can tell you’ve moved from one task to another, or do they all bleed together? Roles with multiple moving parts, a clear start and end, and a visible outcome are considered to have high levels of task identity. Some roles that come to mind are project manager, architect, and marketing manager.

3. Task significance

This trait has to do with the degree to which a job has a meaningful impact on the lives or work of others. The broader the reach of your actions and decisions, the higher the significance of the task. For example, a restaurant owner’s task significance is much higher than that of a line cook because their decisions affect everything from the inventory, menu, and pricing to the clientele, decor, and marketing of the establishment.

4. Autonomy

To what extent does the employee have the freedom to decide how and when to do their work? Are they being micromanaged or empowered to take their ideas seriously? Injecting autonomy into your organization’s values provides the company with a culture of ownership and responsibility. The more independence and discretion in decision-making, the more productive and successful employees are in their roles.

5. Feedback

Feedback is a measure of validation, effectiveness, and impact. This can either be internal, like a hotel maid seeing the impact of her turndown service after completing it, or external, like an IT security team who can only understand their recent build is rock-solid after penetration testing. Either way, employees need direct and clear information about their effectiveness in their positions to feel satisfied.

A real example of a job characteristics model

Now, let’s put these (admittedly) abstract concepts into practice. Think of a backend developer.

Skill variety: High

Backend developers work with many different programming languages, databases, and frameworks. They also use a range of tools for designing, developing, and maintaining the backend of web applications. Sometimes, they may need to collaborate with other stakeholders, such as frontend developers or designers.

Task identity: Varies based on the project

This one can vary for backend developers depending on the project and team structure. In some cases, backend developers may work on specific components of a larger system, which means they get to see the impact of their work on the overall outcome. If they change management, they might be working on smaller, isolated tasks without a clear view of how their work contributes to the final product.

Task significance: High

Backend developers play a key role in making sure technologies and web applications are fully functional, performing well, and staying secure from cyber threats. Their engineering work may not always be visible to end-users, but it directly impacts their experience.

Autonomy: High

Backend developers usually enjoy high autonomy in their roles. They can choose what they deem to be the most suitable technologies, tools, and approaches for solving problems. That autonomy bleeds into their work schedules, especially in agile or flexible work environments, where they can usually arrange their week as they wish, within reason.

Feedback: Medium

Backend developers get direct (but sometimes unclear) feedback from the code they work with. Something might malfunction, indicating a problem, but the source of the problem is not always obvious. They may also receive feedback from code reviews and user reports. However, the quality and frequency of feedback can depend on company culture and the nature of the product they’re building.

How to measure job characteristics

Understanding how the model works is half the game. Now comes learning how to measure it. There are a few different ways to do this, each with its own benefits and limitations. The best measurement technique will depend on your organizational needs, team size, and type of roles.

Objective vs. perceptual measurement techniques

Let’s begin with the basics. Objective and perceptual measurements are the two primary approaches to measuring job characteristics.

• Objective measurements involve quantifiable data, such as the number of different tasks performed or the frequency of feedback provided.

• Perceptual measurements, on the other hand, rely on employees’ perceptions and evaluations of their job characteristics.

Both are valuable as they show two sides of the same coin. Objective measurements provide quantitative data, while perceptual measures paint a qualitative picture of an employee’s inner world and how they’re currently experiencing their work life.

Job diagnostic survey

Hackman and Oldham developed a job diagnostic survey to complement their JCM. It was purpose-built to measure the core dimensions of the JCM.

Following the same idea as the perceptual measurement technique, this survey assesses employees’ perceptions of their jobs. It depends on them self-reporting their experience, which makes it valuable to an organization by helping identify ways to improve employees’ motivation and satisfaction.

Job characteristics inventory

The job characteristics inventory (JCI) is a framework developed soon after the JCM that also aims to measure employee’s perceptions of their jobs. The JCI comprises 30 items grouped into six subscales corresponding to the JCM’s core characteristics. This inventory allows for a detailed analysis of a job’s variety, autonomy, feedback, interaction with others, and more.

This tool can help organizations identify specific areas for job design improvement by providing granularity on which specific characteristics are underrepresented in an employee’s experience.

Critical psychological states

Job characteristics are abstract proxies for the real thing we’re after—employees’ psychological states. The JCM outlines five key job characteristics and says they feed into creating three critical psychological states: experienced meaningfulness of the work, experienced responsibility for outcomes, and knowledge of the actual results of the work activities.

• Experienced Meaningfulness of the Work is the presence of skill variety, task identity, and task significance in a job. When employees perceive their work as varied, whole, and significant, they are more likely to find it meaningful.

• Experienced Responsibility for Outcomes emerges from the autonomy characteristic. When employees have control over their work and its results, they feel a greater sense of responsibility for the results.

• Knowledge of the Actual Results of the Work Activities is facilitated by feedback. Direct and clear feedback allows employees to understand the effectiveness of their efforts, closing the loop between action and awareness of results.

Mapping characteristics to employee’s psychological and emotional states is invaluable for organizations. It allows you to “translate” what an employee reports into actionable steps for your human resources team.

It’s unlikely an employee will tell you, “I need higher skill variety,” but they might well say they feel bored and think their work lacks meaning. A clear signal that an increase in skill variety might be in order.

Motivating Potential Score (MPS)

The Motivating Potential Score (MPS) is a numerical value assigned to a job based on how it scores across the five JCM traits.

It can be calculated like so:

MPS = [(Skill Variety + Task Identity + Task Significance) / 3] x Autonomy x Feedback

The higher the MPs, the more likely a job is to foster intrinsic motivation among employees, leading to higher job success and satisfaction.

It is interesting to note that while all elements of the JCM play a role in shaping employee motivation, Autonomy and Feedback are assigned a multiplicative effect on a role’s overall motivating potential.

How to apply the job characteristics model

So we know what the JCM is and how to measure it—now it’s time to apply it. Below, we’ve gathered some top tips for successful implementation and future improvement.

Understand your team’s current job design

The first port of call is to analyze your current team’s job roles and responsibilities to see how much they align with the five core job characteristics. The ultimate goal here is to ensure you know the current state of job design within your organization. This will provide a solid foundation for applying the model effectively in later steps.

Identify opportunities for improvement

Based on this initial analysis, pinpoint areas where job roles can better align with the JCM. For example:

• Increase skill variety by introducing different tasks.

• Enhance task significance by clarifying the impact of employees’ work on others.

• Boost autonomy by empowering employees to delegate decision-making.

Involve employees in the redesign process

Be transparent about what you’re doing and engage employees from the jump. Their insights and suggestions could prove invaluable and offer perspective on something you might’ve missed.

Involvement in job design not only empowers workers but also ensures that changes will be positively received and more closely aligned with their needs and preferences.

Implement incremental changes

Redesign jobs the same way you would eat an elephant…one bite at a time (although please don’t actually go eatin’ any elephants!).

Focus on no more than a handful of aspects at a time. This will allow you to monitor the impact of these new changes on employee motivation, satisfaction, and performance and make adjustments as necessary.

Incremental changes also help in managing the transition more smoothly, minimizing disruption to daily operations and helping you avoid overwhelm in what can be a long and intense process!

Enhance job design with Toggl Hire

Effectively implementing the JCM model requires having the right tools, and Toggl Hire is one of ’em.

Using our recruitment software, you can accurately assess candidates’ skills and fit for specific job characteristics from the outset. By incorporating skill tests tailored to the core job dimensions, you can hire with confidence, knowing that new hires are well-suited to positions designed for maximum motivation and satisfaction.

Furthermore, Toggl Hire’s data-driven insights and other full-cycle hiring features can aid in the ongoing evaluation and redesign of roles within your organization. By understanding your team’s skill sets and preferences, you can make informed decisions about how to enhance job characteristics, leading to improved employee engagement and success.

By leveraging the power of Toggl Hire alongside the JCM, organizations can create a dynamic and satisfying work environment that not only attracts but also retains top talent. Create a free account to see for yourself, or book a demo to learn more about how Toggl Hire can best be used to help you hire top talent!

Any money spent on your hiring process is an investment rather than a cost. But with so many tools promising to make better hires, it can be overwhelming to make the right choice.

TestGorilla is a popular pre-employment testing platform that simplifies the recruitment process through skills assessments. It has generally favorable reviews, but many users complain about their pricing plans.

So, today, we settle the question: how much does TestGorilla cost (and is it worth your money)?

TestGorilla pricing

TestGorilla has a free plan and two paid plans, depending on the features you need from this assessment platform.

The free plan

You can use TestGorilla completely free with five free tests and five custom questions. This level also opens access to qualifying questions for unlimited candidates. Additionally, you can post remote jobs on the TestGorilla job board.

This is just enough to test the waters. While it doesn’t allow you to test candidates’ skills extensively, it does give you a chance to check out the basic features of this assessment software.

The Starter plan starts at $83 per month

If you’re seriously considering the skills assessment platform, it’s really important to understand TestGorilla’s approach to pricing.

Instead of charging you per job opening, TestGorilla charges you based on company size. In other words, if one company has 10 employees and another has 100, the bigger one has to pay more for TestGorilla despite having the same number of job openings.

Second, committing to an annual TestGorilla plan saves you considerable money (and it’s the same with Toggl Hire.) So, the cheapest TestGorilla plan is $83 per month when paid annually and $111 per month when paid monthly. This is if your company has 15 employees. TestGorilla’s price increases based on larger headcounts.

For example, if you have 101+ employees, you’ll pay a minimum of $770 per month, even if you’re hiring for just one job role. In this plan, you get access to every core functionality, such as:

• 400+ tests in their test library
• Unlimited active assessments
• Unlimited candidate invitations
• Creating custom questions: multiple-choice, essay, and file-upload questions

In short, the more people in your company, the more you pay. Ironically, if TestGorilla works for you and you hire more team members, the tool becomes more expensive.

The Pro plan starts at $127 per month

Companies with up to 15 employees will pay $127 per month for TestGorilla’s Pro plan when paying annually. The monthly price is $169.

Let’s say you have 101-200 employees. This means TestGorilla now costs $1,100 per month annually, or $1,380 per month, paid monthly.

This plan provides extra features such as:

• API access and integrations with applicant tracking systems
• Custom tests and coding challenges from templates
• Custom branded assessments
• Video questions

In short, you get all the best features in the Pro plan, which can be cost-prohibitive, especially for startups and small businesses.

What do users think of TestGorilla pricing?

At the time of this writing, TestGorilla has 1,300+ reviews on G2. While some users mention problems with customer support, test difficulty, and other challenges, many comments focus on TestGorilla’s pricing.

One operations manager complains TestGorilla’s pricing is not suitable for small businesses:

“TestGorilla’s predefined test library may not cover niche skills, and creating custom tests can be challenging. The pricing could be high for small businesses, and integration with certain ATS platforms could be improved for a smoother experience.”

Another user makes a valid complaint that TestGorilla is overly expensive if your business only needs to hire occasionally:

“The price is quite expensive for companies wanting to use this on a very irregular basis.”

One founder said, “The cost per month is high for non-HR companies,” which essentially means TestGorilla caters to companies with strong internal HR teams and recruitment agencies.

In fact, another user said that for just a bit more money, they could have replaced TestGorilla with an actual HR company: “The pricing of the software was more on the higher side with what features we really needed to assist our work at a much faster rate, which cost us a bit higher than outsourcing the service from an HR firm.”

How does TestGorilla pricing compare to competitors?

Tool	Plan Names	Prices (USD)	Details
TestGorilla	• Free • Starter • Pro	• $0/month • $83/month (billed annually) • $127/month (billed annually)	• 5 free tests and 5 custom questions; invite unlimited candidates • Access to all 400+ tests; unlimited active assessments; invite unlimited candidates • Includes all Starter features plus ATS integration, custom tests, and more
Toggl Hire	• Free • Starter • Premium	• $0/month • $199/month (billed annually) $349/month (billed annually)	• 1 active job opening; 1 active skills test (access to most tests and templates); access candidate data for 30 days • 3 active job openings; unlimited skills tests; unlimited candidates • Unlimited job openings, unlimited skills tests, unlimited candidates
Testlify	• Starter • Basic • Business	• $49/month (billed annually) • $149/month (billed annually) • $299/month (billed annually)	• 300 candidate credits per year; 3 users; unlimited assessments • 1,000 candidate credits per year; 5 users; unlimited assessments • 2,500 candidate credits per year; 10 users; unlimited assessments
Xobin	Contact for pricing	N/A	Pricing details are not publicly available
Equip	Pay-as-you-go	$1/candidate	No minimums; pay only for the candidates you assess; no recurring subscriptions
iMocha	• Basic • Enterprise	• $400/month (billed annually) • Contact for pricing	• 600 candidate assessments per year; assess various skills; basic proctoring; standard ATS integration • Unlimited candidate assessments, advanced features, custom integrations
Vervoe	• Free Trial • Pay & Go • Growth	• $0/month • $19/month (billed annually) $250/month (billed annually)	• 1 assessment credit; 5 candidate credits; unlimited team seats • 1 assessment credit; 100 candidate credits; additional credits available for purchase • 10 assessment credits; 1,000 candidate credits; advanced features

TestGorilla may appear cheaper or more expensive than your favorite tool, depending on the number of job openings you have, the size of your team, your desired integrations, and more.

We strongly suggest determining your needs first, trying out each tool’s free plan (if applicable), and comparing the paid plans against your requirements.

How does Toggl Hire compare to TestGorilla?

Let’s pit TestGorilla and Toggl Hire head to head with some fast facts.

TestGorilla charges based on company size, Toggl Hire charges for openings

Take a look at our pricing page, and you’ll see that Toggl charges per open job role. So, if you’re hiring for two roles at a time, you’ll pay $199 monthly for Toggl Hire.

On the other hand, if you have two openings and want to streamline hiring with TestGorilla, it will cost you $132 per month if you have 16-30 employees. If you have 201-300 employees, you’ll pay $1,238 monthly.

Toggl Hire anti-cheating measures are less invasive

When you invite candidates for a skills test, some might consider cheating, but Toggl Hire prevents that in real-time.

We provide randomized tests that give different candidates different question sets to test their essential skills. We also detect copy-and-paste, so you know the answers are the product of the candidate’s mind.

TestGorilla is much more invasive. This platform uses IP-based location tracking, randomized screenshots, full-screen tracking, and mouse-in-window detection. These may help you spot cheaters but significantly damage your candidate experience.

Toggl Hire is a full-cycle hiring tool, while TestGorilla is assessment-based

With TestGorilla, you can find the best candidates by testing for specific skills. After that, you need to connect the test results to the rest of your hiring workflow by integrating with an ATS or a similar tool. By doing so, you’ll pay extra, as ATS integrations are only available in the Pro plan.

With Toggl Hire, you can build fully customizable candidate pipelines with different stages and filters. Drag and drop candidates across the funnel, from sourcing to testing, making an offer, and onboarding in one platform.

Toggl Hire offers AI question evaluation

Ease of use is the name of the game here. For example, if you’re building a custom test on product management and don’t know anything about it, you can use our AI assistant.

With artificial intelligence, you’ll get an evaluation of the question to find out how relevant it is for the job role. This feature is not present in TestGorilla.

Toggl Hire tests are fully customizable

In TestGorilla, you can get five custom questions per assessment in the Free and Starter plan. With Toggl Hire, you can change the test from start to finish and add as many custom questions as needed to find the best person for the job.

Asynchronous video interviews come in our Starter plan

While neither tool offers video interviews for free, you can get them in the Starter plan with Toggl Hire ($199/month), while you must purchase the Pro plan in TestGorilla to get this feature.

Toggl Hire integrates with Toggl Track

Toggl Hire lets you click back and forth to connect with Toggl Track from one single dashboard. This makes your hiring time tracking more efficient, and you can easily track recruiter time.

Toggl Hire offers instant scores and candidate feedback

Improve the candidate experience by sending them their test results immediately after completion. When a candidate completes a test in Toggl Hire, they get a breakdown of their score in their email inbox, fostering transparency and making the candidate experience stellar.

Try Toggl Hire for free

To compare Toggl Hire with TestGorilla, you have to consider your hiring needs and the size of your company. For organizations with a constant stream of job openings, TestGorilla may be the better, more affordable choice. For everyone else, Toggl Hire offers better value for money.

But you don’t even have to look at the pricing details first. Simply try our free plan to see why our customers and candidates love Toggl Hire (or book a demo to get a personalized walkthrough of our software to learn how it can adapt to your hiring needs).