Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Freshteam vs SmartRecruiters comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Freshteam
Ranking in Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software
23rd
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SmartRecruiters
Ranking in Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Talent Acquisition (7th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software category, the mindshare of Freshteam is 1.0%, down from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SmartRecruiters is 6.4%, down from 7.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software
 

Featured Reviews

JoseQuintero1 - PeerSpot reviewer
Comprehensive HR solution that centralises the management of all staff information
The solution could be improved if it included a payroll system, to be a completely 360 degrees HR solution. Besides payroll, everything else HR related is handled in Freshworks. It would also be great to centralize all the data for potential candidates who are in our talent tool and to be able to search this pool by specific criteria such as skills and experience. We evaluate our personnel in order to consider them for promotions and salary raises. However, this process is completely manual and requires us to dig into their entire history to consider when their last raise and promotion was, for example. It would be really valuable if this process could be made simpler using this solution, especially for large teams and to include reporting functionality related to this data.
SUMANTA  GHOSH - PeerSpot reviewer
A user-friendly tool that functions without any glitches
With SmartRecruiters, compatibility with other HRIS systems is an area with certain shortcomings that require improvement. SmartRecruiters is a tool that we use as an ATS platform in our company, but we manage the employee lifecycle with the help of SAP, and I don't see the integration of SmartRecruiters with SAP happening quite seamlessly, making it an area where improvements are required.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Our entire employee base is supported by Freshteam. We register all our employees and their candidates inside the system and use it to handle all interviews, feedback, personal information and budgets."
"There are a few reasons why I like Freshteam, including how easily you can get connected with candidates, and how easily candidates can get connected with you as the employer. One of the best features is its scheduling system, which gives both parties the opportunity to schedule different parts of the recruitment process. So if a candidate wants to know my schedule or when I will be available, that information is easy to find."
"It is a really user-friendly tool, and its implementation is quite wide. It is very easy to manage users and build your workflows. Overall, it works very well for the customization of the workflows for us. The recruitment team has generally found the whole platform useful. We were looking to kind of expand it by using the CRM functions that it has. However, with COVID and recruitment being on the freeze, we weren't really able to make the most of the tool. They are, however, finding it useful to actually build up their talent pools and client candidates to be able to contact them when we kind of have this freeze off."
"The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that amongst all the other ATS platforms that I have used, SmartRecruiters is the most user-friendly tool."
"I used the free version, which I found valuable."
"With just a click of a button, we can manage the process. Even generating offer letters and obtaining electronic signatures through DocSign are integrated into this application."
"The all-encompassing ability to manage the process cohesively out of the SmartRecruiter system was valuable."
"What I really like about it is that it feels minimal, but is also dynamic. There aren't a lot of ways to get lost, which is good."
"With this solution, I was able to add diversity to my recruiting. I was able to source from multiple locations, and I could show where applicants came from. The reporting tools that are on offer, allowed us to expand our reach. We were able to add meaningful diversity into recruiting."
"The most valuable feature is the way that they've set it up for collaboration."
 

Cons

"In the beginning, I was having a hard time learning the software because I was using it on a remote basis. Of course, I used some YouTube videos and other online resources to get by, but for me personally, I learn a bit more easily when the training is done in-person. I had to work double time just on the learning part of it, so I would say that Freshteam could do with better training resources."
"The solution could be improved if it included a payroll system, to be a completely 360 degrees HR solution."
"Some features are not as straightforward or user friendly to implement."
"Around 2015 and into '17, I worked at a federal contractor. I had to switch to a different applicant system as I didn't know if SmartRecruiters was OFCCP compliant, which is something that, as a US-based federal contractor, you have to ensure. They should work to appeal to the contractor industry and get the product OFCCP compliant."
"The filters are not accurate. The results are inaccurate when filtering multiple criteria, such as country and hiring manager."
"We require greater flexibility for customization with our employer branding. Currently, it is very much driven by the SmartRecruiters design. We are using a SaaS solution, so we are powered by what is in the core product itself. A disadvantage of being a SaaS solution is that there aren't many customization options because you are literally buying it out of the box. You use whatever is offered to you in a box as much as you can, and that might be a problem sometimes because customizations are not achievable. They should definitely improve and provide more flexibility for customizations. For a large organization like ours, they can provide more flexibility on the authorization side of things. They could create a much more flexible way of access and separate the IT or help desk access when they need to go into the system and do some fixes. Currently, it is set up in a way that that you have access for everything or nothing, which is not useful in terms of the separation of duty that we have. There are also other things like matrix, where we can have a better and deeper kind of analysis."
"There were limitations with the system that we would have liked, not in the time, but the company in Germany really dictated that. So we couldn't do everything in the system we would have liked to it."
"One thing that has been a bit of a struggle is getting tech support. It is a little more difficult to get support from SmartRecruiters. They want you to have your own in-house person to help you with any issues, whereas with both Lever and Greenhouse, you can just click a button at the bottom of the screen and chat with someone almost instantly."
"Sometimes, there is this language or communication barrier in terms of what the applicants mentioned. SmartRecruiters sometimes has trouble understanding certain types of keywords or has certain types of language, translation, or grammar issues."
"We ran into some serious issues related to language barriers."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Freshteam has a free tier as well as a 14 day free trial. The free tier is suitable for a small or home office. If this tier is not suitable, an organization could sign up for the 14 day trial for a higher tier to try all the features and decide if it suits their needs."
"For our training period, we were simply given a user ID and password by the company, with which we could log in and do our work on the platform. The licensing was someone else's responsibility."
"There were implementation costs in the first year to get everything set up and running, and then they have various modules on top, which are optional and available at an extra charge."
"I haven't been so involved with pricing, so I don't have all details, but I know that we are paying per head when it comes to different countries. There is an additional fee for new features that they release. If it is something that we would like to use, we need to pay some extra for it."
"Back in 2018, when I engaged with their sales, they wanted to charge around $10,000 for an annual subscription. Depending on your organization, that either could or couldn't be expensive. I personally think it's a fair price. However, I engaged them and negotiated a lower price with them. I think I got closer to $6,000. It came with a commitment of three years."
"They are pretty competitive. As the product matures, it has much more functionality and different pricing models. It can relatively cost a lot more if you want to use additional features, but, in general, it is competitive in the industry. We work on a yearly license agreement based on the company size. There are the support costs, which are a part of the additional cost based on the percentage of the licensing fee. So, it has a license plus support cost. Then, of course, there are other add-on options that we can purchase and procure whenever we want to based on certain negotiated arrangements."
"SmartRecruiters is an expensive solution."
"I wasn't involved in its acquisition, but I would assume that SmartRecruiters is pretty pricey."
"SmartRecruiters is much better than its competitors. Considering the type of features and services it provides, it is probably one of the best solutions in the market. Others may offer a similar price, but their services won't be that good or the user-friendliness won't be that great. The licensing works based on how many users are there in a company. If you are using other functionalities, like CRM and HRS, the price increases."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software solutions are best for your needs.
865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Comms Service Provider
13%
Healthcare Company
13%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
What do you like most about SmartRecruiters?
The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that amongst all the other ATS platforms that I have used, SmartRecruiters is the most user-friendly tool.
What needs improvement with SmartRecruiters?
With SmartRecruiters, compatibility with other HRIS systems is an area with certain shortcomings that require improvement. SmartRecruiters is a tool that we use as an ATS platform in our company, b...
 

Comparisons

No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

moneycorp, DSP, SAP, DAIMLER, ocado, Chargebee, ninjacart, TIGER ANALYTICS, NISSAN
Atlassian, Aol, IBM, Napa, Skechers
Find out what your peers are saying about Freshteam vs. SmartRecruiters and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.