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IBM Kenexa vs iCIMS Recruit comparison

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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

IBM Kenexa
Ranking in Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software
6th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.3
Number of Reviews
30
Ranking in other categories
Benefits Administration (13th), Talent Management (15th)
iCIMS Recruit
Ranking in Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software
1st
Average Rating
7.6
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software category, the mindshare of IBM Kenexa is 2.4%, up from 2.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of iCIMS Recruit is 1.6%, down from 2.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
iCIMS Recruit1.6%
IBM Kenexa2.4%
Other96.0%
Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software
 

Featured Reviews

Karan Grover - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Manager at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Suitable for larger-scale companies aiming to streamline and automate their processes digitally
The deployment of the solution took between six to eight months. When we introduced BrassRing at my company, we encountered several challenges. First, moving data from our old system to BrassRing was tough because it needed reformatting. Second, connecting BrassRing with our HR data was tricky due to manual processes for roles and departments. Third, setting up the workflow in BrassRing was complex. Fourth, configuring user access and approval levels was a detailed task. We also had to manage the change process, including running both old and new systems in parallel, communicating changes, and training users. Lastly, monitoring and reporting were needed to ensure data accuracy and proper system usage once everything was in place. We had a team of six to eight people managing the project from our side during the BrassRing deployment. I'm not sure about the size of the BrassRing team, and we also had our own technical team, which had three to four members. The solution required maintenance, particularly from my side as the administrator. Maintenance responsibilities were divided into two parts: some tasks we, as end-users, could control, while others were the responsibility of the BrassRing team. Payment-related tasks were a regular part of our responsibilities. I wasn't the only person maintaining the solution. There were three power users from Infosys, each responsible for a specific geography. My counterpart managed it in the US, and I, along with my colleague in India, managed it for other geographies.
ManishGupta9 - PeerSpot reviewer
Managing Director & CEO at Talenton Global
Centralized hiring workflows have cut time to fill and now need better automation and AI features
Implementation can be a bit lengthy and complicated, which is an area where iCIMS Recruit needs improvement. Customer support and automation are areas where iCIMS Recruit is less impressive, and they need to improve more on automation processes. Configurability could be a bit higher because some competitors might have an edge in terms of UX, recruiting workflow, modern recruiter experiences, and sourcing or CRM-oriented experiences. A native HCM is important because many times I have to integrate with different HCMs like Workday or SAP. Pricing is not very transparent, as sometimes I have to keep adding things and they keep adding more prices in terms of lower cost and faster implementation. Some user functionality can require too many steps. Customer support can be inconsistent sometimes, and I have seen some delays. The iCIMS Recruit support team does not always provide very proactive support. Implementations are usually very lengthy and they really need to improve their implementation strategy to cut down a substantial amount of time.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable features are that we can upload documents and download them on demand."
"It allowed for truly global listing for all open positions."
"We felt like Kenexa was robust enough and dynamic enough that it met our needs, so it didn't make sense for us to disrupt 700 locations and reteach them something."
"We like IBM; IBM has been great partners for us, they're really invested in our success, and they see us as a valuable client."
"IBM Kenexa is fairly stable, and we don't have any downtime."
"The streamlined, simplicity approach of Kenexa makes it simple for me to navigate."
"Overall, from a recruiter's perspective, it is an excellent product and is probably one of the best recruitment products out there in terms of usability, ease of understanding, and management of large applicant pools."
"Of all the current talent analytics offerings on the market today, IBM Kenexa Talent Insights is the most comprehensive end-to-end, data-agnostic analytics tool."
"iCIMS Recruit has positively impacted my organization because we can see all communications in one database versus multiple ones."
"iCIMS Recruit has impacted my organization positively because it is easier to use and more user-friendly than alternatives, helps us maintain better data governance without many issues, and processes are faster, which saves us time."
"After we brought them into iCIMS Recruit, their application completion rate rose to almost 100%, so it's between 92% to 100% for them now."
"Within a very short period, we had many job opportunities to fill with a distributed HR team, switching from emails and a fixed job board to iCIMS Recruit, which was a vastly improved and user-friendly experience."
"The best features of iCIMS Recruit in my use case were being able to monitor interviewer feedback form submissions and send reminders."
"I would advise others looking into using iCIMS Recruit that it is dependable software, reliable, and does the job perfectly."
"I could finally place all the positions successfully using iCIMS Recruit."
"iCIMS Recruit's best features include the dashboard, the metrics, the graphs, and the link to our career portal and job postings."
 

Cons

"We have about 50 requests for enhancements in the system right now."
"My rating is not higher because of the support, honestly; the global service center model."
"Maybe there's some room for improvement in the functionality around the actual tools that we build with."
"We're really looking forward to some of their enhancements to their onboarding portal, specifically for recruiters and hiring managers."
"In the past year, there has been a significant increase in the amount of internal errors that are displayed."
"If you happen to be an early adopter of enhancements, it can be a frustrating process, as it is hard to decipher together with their support whether an issue is a bug or working as intended (a change in the way something works)."
"It was a little rocky, as they always are, but we went live on time and that's all that matters."
"I would like to have a better and more user-friendly interface."
"In today's market, comparable to other competitors such as Ashby and Greenhouse, I would say Ashby is a 10, and if I were to compare that to iCIMS Recruit, I would say iCIMS Recruit is probably a one."
"There are several areas where iCIMS Recruit required improvements, including the learning curve for new users."
"Eventually, the company moved away from iCIMS Recruit simply because it did not provide all the options to filter, keyword search, or navigate applicants."
"Recruiters have to spend too much time updating some of the information there."
"The customer support for iCIMS Recruit is terrible. I chose a rating of six because the customer service has been terrible, and we have gone through numerous account managers."
"The customer support for iCIMS Recruit, specifically the technical customer support, leaves a little bit to desire, as with any other SaaS company."
"iCIMS Recruit can be improved from its user interface."
"ICIMS Recruit could be improved with better functionality, the visualization of the data functionality, the data program, the ability to see additional insights, and the interface of the data configurations could be more updated."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Kenexa was fairly priced. However, in 2019, before I left my previous organization, they significantly increased their pricing. It can be affordable, but their pricing is going up. It is not just licensing; it is how many applicants you have in your system on the database side."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
15%
Outsourcing Company
14%
Construction Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Outsourcing Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
12%
University
11%
Government
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise28
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise17
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for iCIMS Recruit?
iCIMS is very expensive. As a smaller company, we are a small fish in a big pond to them, and all of our inquiries seem to be ignored.
What needs improvement with iCIMS Recruit?
iCIMS Recruit can be improved by adding more features in the UI. The UI is going to be very important, such as more large toggle switches. The main thing would be navigation, the UI, and how to nav...
What is your primary use case for iCIMS Recruit?
My main use case for iCIMS Recruit includes conducting background checks and eligibility checks. I do not have anything else to add about my main use case with iCIMS Recruit; it is basically just f...
 

Also Known As

IBM Smarter Workforce, Outstart
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Sweet Spot International (SSI), Leo Burnett Worldwide (LBW), Sika AG, Legacy Health, Apollo Group Inc., Regeneron, Transurban Group, National Health Service, New Zealand Police, Overland Footwear, Yealands, Johnson Controls, Allscripts, Kerry Foods, Masterpet, AMD, Balfour Beatty
NorthStar Anesthesia, Southeastern Grocers, AmTrust Financial, RPM Pizza, Hackensack Meridian Health, Esurance, Peet’s Coffee, Regis Corporation, Cedar Fair
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Kenexa vs. iCIMS Recruit and other solutions. Updated: November 2026.
920,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.