Bullhorn vs SmartRecruiters

A detailed comparison of Bullhorn and SmartRecruiters. See how they stack up on features, pricing, and user ratings.

At a Glance

Bullhorn SmartRecruiters
Rating 4.0/5 4.3/5
Starting Price $99/mo N/A
Free Trial No No
Free Plan No Yes
Features 16 16
Best For Enterprise Enterprise

Bullhorn

Industry-leading ATS and CRM for staffing agencies. Manages the full recruitment lifecycle with VMS integration and back-office tools.

Rating 4.0/5
Best for Enterprise
Free trial No
Free plan No
Visit Bullhorn →

SmartRecruiters

Enterprise hiring platform with marketplace of integrated recruiting tools. Offers a free plan (SmartStart) for small teams.

Rating 4.3/5
Best for Enterprise
Free trial No
Free plan Yes
Visit SmartRecruiters →

Feature Comparison

Feature Bullhorn SmartRecruiters
Workflow Automation
Reporting Dashboard
Time-to-Hire Tracking
Interview Feedback
Team Scorecards
Email Templates
GDPR Compliance
Candidate Pipeline
Career Page Builder
Job Posting
Offer Management
Resume Parsing
API Access
Multi-Job Board Posting
Calendar Sync
Self-Scheduling

Pricing Comparison

Bullhorn

Team $99/mo
Corporate $199/mo
Enterprise Custom

SmartRecruiters

SmartStart Free
SmartRecruit Custom
SmartRecruit Enterprise Custom

Integrations

Both tools integrate with

DocuSign Gmail Google Calendar Google Workspace HubSpot Indeed LinkedIn Microsoft 365 Okta Outlook

Only Bullhorn

CareerBuilder Monster

Only SmartRecruiters

ADP Azure AD BambooHR Checkr Codility Glassdoor HackerRank Microsoft Teams OneLogin SAP SuccessFactors

Pros & Cons

Bullhorn

Pros

  • +Industry standard for staffing and recruiting agencies
  • +End-to-end ATS + CRM for agency workflows
  • +Strong VMS integration and back-office tools
  • +Large partner ecosystem

Cons

  • -Expensive — enterprise pricing
  • -Interface feels dated and complex
  • -Not suited for corporate in-house teams
  • -Steep learning curve for new users

SmartRecruiters

Pros

  • +Free SmartStart plan for small companies
  • +Large marketplace of recruitment tool integrations
  • +Global hiring capabilities and compliance
  • +AI-powered candidate matching

Cons

  • -Enterprise pricing is opaque
  • -Free plan is very limited
  • -Can be slow with large candidate databases
  • -Some features require marketplace add-ons

Which Should You Choose?

Choose Bullhorn if:

  • • Your company is Enterprise size
  • • Industry standard for staffing and recruiting agencies
Visit Bullhorn

Choose SmartRecruiters if:

  • • Your company is Enterprise size
  • • You want to start with a free plan
  • • Higher user ratings matter to you (4.3 vs 4.0)
  • • Free SmartStart plan for small companies
Visit SmartRecruiters

How we evaluate tools

Our ratings combine verified user reviews from G2 and Capterra with hands-on feature analysis. Pricing is checked against official sources. We may earn a commission through affiliate links, but this never influences our rankings or recommendations. Read our full methodology.