• Last Updated: January 22,2026
• Pricing Verified:  January 22,2026
• Features Checked:  January,2026

About The Author

Reviewed by: Shivam Gupta, HR Specialist at Pitch N Hire

• Experience: 10+ years in HR and recruitment management
• Previous Role: HR Specialist, Gigde Global
• Current Position: HR Specialist, Pitch N Hire
• Expertise Focus: ATS platform evaluation, UK recruitment compliance, HR technology implementation
• Contact: shivam.gupta@gigde.com | LinkedIn: Pitch N Hire

About Pitch N Hire

• Founded: 2017
• What We Do: Pitch N Hire is a revolutionary applicant tracking software UK platform designed to streamline and simplify the hiring process for UK organizations. Our platform equips companies with all the essential tools needed to advertise jobs across multiple channels effectively, make data-driven hiring decisions, seamlessly sort and manage applications, design branded mobile-responsive career pages, track recruitment funnels from a single unified dashboard, and attract top talent to build exceptional teams.
• Team Size: 51-200 employees across the UK
• Website: https://pitchnhire.com/
• Key Contact: info@pitchnhire.com | https://pitchnhire.com/contact-us

Best Applicant Tracking System in the UK for Small Businesses (2026 Guide)

Disclaimer - This guide is written independently. No ATS provider has paid for placement.

As a UK small business owner, finding an applicant tracking system in the UK shouldn't add another headache to your hiring process. If you are overwhelmed with CVs, spreadsheets, and dealing with GDPR, you are not alone. I hear this almost every week.

The hiring climate of the UK has undergone drastic changes. Remote and hybrid roles dominate the job postings, while the average SME receives more than 75 applications per job. Screening applications manually takes around 23 hours and one mistake with GDPR can lead to thousands in penalties. Meanwhile, competitors are automating their hiring processes with recruitment ATS systems UK businesses trust.

I've spent the last 3 months researching 15+ ATS systems UK providers to provide you with an easy guide. GDPR ATS, GBP cost transparency, job sites with applicant tracking system integration in the UK, and support during GMT hours are a few of the criteria I focused on.

No matter if you are a 5person startup in Manchester or a 50person scaleup in London, you will gain the advice and guidance you need to make the best choice among applicant tracking systems UK vendors offer.

Not sure which ATS works best for your UK business? Get a free 15minute UK ATS consultation.

Why Choosing the Right ATS in the UK Is Harder in 2026

The recent statistics show a UK company recently reported 1.2m job vacancies in 2024 and SMEs also competing with enterprises. As such, application volumes have increased, especially for remote roles and other roles with a wider reach.

UK companies require an ATS by 2026 for the following reasons:

• Open positions in the UK receive much larger volumes of applications

• The General Data Protection Regulation demands a verified and structured way to deal with data

• The more manual the process, the greater the risk of noncompliance and data breaches

• The UK job market now demands remote and hybrid roles

• The speed of hiring processes access UK market talent

Bottlenecks Caused by Manual Hiring Process

I believe what will happen is HR teams who need to transfer candidate information from emails to spreadsheets will, in the absence of feedback from hiring managers, will post to job boards and lose an average of 15+ hours each week, on administrative hiring processes.

In Leeds, one hiring manager said to me she spent a whole Friday updating her Excel tracker. That is absurd.

The Necessity of GDPR Compliance

Data Protection laws in the UK are now in effect. Candidate consent, data protection, and the right of data erasure are imperative. Using Gmail or Excel to manage candidate data could create serious risks. In 2024 alone, the ICO imposed 42 million pounds in fines for data protection breaches.

Thinking you're too small to get caught is naive, we protect our clients and our reputation.

Better Tools for Hybrid Hiring

68% of UK knowledge workers are in hybrid roles. This means hiring managers are working cross location and cross time zone. An ATS connectors teams in different locations, and helps manage candidates with consistent evaluation criteria.

I've seen startups pay candidates to follow up with candidates for a lost opportunity. It's that valuable.

The Lack of Productivity in Your Competition

73% of UK companies with more than 10 employees have dedicated recruitment software. Candidates have professional experience, expectations, and a responsive structure. Having manual activities is against the new practice and will reduce the candidate experience before the interview.

How We Evaluated Applicant Tracking Software UK for UK Businesses

I compiled more than just marketing pitches. I spent three months using these systems, participating in demos with UK teams, and engaging with hiring managers in SMEs across the sectors tech startups and manufacturing, for example.

Our evaluation criteria included:

• Data protection and GDPR: I ensured that all platforms reviewed provided data processing agreements, the candidate consent mechanisms, the deletion requests, and the obligations to keep claims. If a platform could not show that they meet GDPR, they were removed from consideration

• Pricing transparency: I contacted the sales teams for a UK quote and tried to find all the costs for pricing and visibility for each company size. In this article, I explain the UK pricing, as it was in January 2026, for all the costs I have provided

• System simplicity: I evaluated system complexity, the time it took to share or post a job, and the time it takes for an office manager to do it without an IT intervention

• Native UK job board integrations: I verified true working integrations with Indeed UK, Reed, Totaljobs, CV Library and others where UK candidates actually apply. Generic tools focused on the US often miss these vital integrations

• UK business hours support: I verified if you can actually speak to someone during GMT business hours, I self-tested the response times, and I verified if there is onboarding support during your business hours

• Real user reviews: I analyzed feedback from UK businesses, segregating reviews from other geographies that would be less relevant here

Best Applicant Tracking Systems UK (2026 Comparison)

Pitch N Hire

A versatile solution, Pitch N Hire offers exceptional power in an easy to use framework. It has scaled to become the platform of choice for UK SMEs who want to avoid the enterprise complications of professional features.

Best for: UK businesses in growth phase (10100 employees) looking for a mature, dependable solution with a solid position in the UK applicant tracking systems market.

What seems to be the difference:

• Direct integrations with Reed, Totaljobs, Library and Indeed UK saves you from having to deal with third party connectors

• For the ICO to avoid the GDPR headache, protected data management includes automated retention and consent management

• You now have mobile-responsive career sites that actually fit your branding (instead of those generic templates that look like they were made with free software)

• The structured interview kits and scorecards promote consistency, especially when multiple interviewers are involved

• Integrating UK payroll and background checks prevents future problems

• Plus, video interviewing is built right in saving you the trouble of creating separate Zoom links and dealing with scheduling

Pricing in GBP:

• Starter plan (1 user, 1 active job) starts from £99/month

 • Standard plan at £189/month (unlimited users, 3 active jobs) 

• Premier plan from £349/month (unlimited jobs, advanced features)

GDPR compliance: Full DPA available, EU data centers, automated data retention policies, and candidate self-service data access.

What works well:

• The interface is honestly very intuitive, as I had it set up in around 20 minutes • The considerable UK customer base means the support team actually knows your situation • The candidate experience is professional without being stuffy • The reporting helps with tracking what is actually working

The downsides:

• During high-volume hiring periods, pricing per active job can become costly 

• Some of the advanced features are only available in the Premier plan • The mobile app still doesn't fully match the web experience

Customer Reviews:

From G2 (Verified Users)

• Excellent platform for easy recruiting; makes my recruiting work much easier.Director, Small Business (G2)

• Tracks interviews and candidate interactions; email templates and pipeline are very helpful. SDR (G2)

• Very easy to navigate even for nontechnical users. Clubhouse Moderator (G2)
  
   

• Automates our staffing and addresses recruitment challenges. Hiring Manager (G2)

• Needs added filters and sort tools. Transcriptionist (G2)

From Trustpilot

• Offers a refreshing approach… focuses on compatibility and culture fit. Reviewer on Trustpilot

• Extremely easy to use and helps communicate with candidates quickly. Aayud Jaiswal (Trustpilot)

• Great experience working on it. PH (Trustpilot) 

Recruitee

A recruiting software designed to be used for collaborative hiring. It's very clear to me that Recruitee greatly appreciates user mobility and spamless workflow automation.

Best for: Startups and scaleups in the UK (550 employees) with distributed hiring pods  one of the most affordable recruiting software choices for UK companies.

The killer features:

• Less manual work is needed when there is trigger automation in the customizable hiring pipelines

• The collaborative eval tools with @mentions and shared notes work. I have literally seen teams across three cities work in sync

• From one platform you can post to UK job portals and social media

• Without a developer there are good employer branding options with the career site builder

• You can create databases of candidates for future openings with talent pools and the email tool with templates will save you work hours

Pricing in GBP:

• Starts at £199/month (2 jobs posted at a time, unlimited users)

 • Growth plan is £299/month (5 jobs) 

• Scale plan starts at £499/month (15 jobs)

GDPR compliance: As an EU company, they have solid credentials for strong data protection, candidate consent management, and have a GDPR data processing agreement.

Why it works:

• Your whole team gets to collaborate without having to be concerned about the budget because of the unlimited user feature 

• The design of the software is pleasant and comes from a more modern era than the typical 2015 style we are accustomed to

 • Automation works well in lessening manual tasks

 • There is no complexity in the pricing structure

Be careful of:

• Customers of the older systems typically have more integrations to work with

 • Reporting is simplified on the less expensive options 

• Customizing the career site can be more work than it is worth

Customer Reviews

• Amazing products and services  solved the chaotic recruitment tracking that we had before.  Verified User (G2)

• Userfriendly interface; automation saves time and supports collaboration.  Talent Acquisition Partner (G2)

• Able to customize stages, manage roles cleanly and include hiring managers easily.  Verified Reviewer (G2)
  

From Capterra

• Easy and clean ATS that made hiring smoother.  Talent Acquisition Specialist (Capterra)
  
   
• Helpful but advanced reporting tools are initially tricky.  VP, IT Services (Capterra)
  
   
• Login and mobile view can be messy with many roles.  COOHospitality (Capterra)
  
   

From Trustpilot

• Great product but challenging cancellation policy; support response delays noted.  François Briod (Trustpilot)
  
   
• Love Recruitee  amazing ATS.  Angie Salazar (Trustpilot) 

Pinpoint

Designed for European hiring techniques, the UKborn ATS is also the only one that can say it was designed with UK compliance requirements in mind, rather than an afterthought. This UK talent acquisition platform stands out among top ATS providers UK businesses evaluate.

Best for: UK-based companies with 15 to 200 employees who need to be GDPR compliant and need an ATS that truly grasps UK hiring principles  particularly compliance-focused recruitment tools for UK employers.

What to expect:

• Your DEI tracking can be compliant with UK equality law, and there are GDPR advanced features that are slightly more than a checkbox including sophisticated consent management

• There are already built integrations with UK background check suppliers (DBS checks, etc.)

• As you scale, it becomes critical to customize workflows for particular roles and departments

• Management of employee referral programs is built in

• Anonymous CV screening helps mitigate bias

Prices in GBP:

• For smaller teams, pricing begins at £300/month

 • Midmarket pricing is between £600£900/month based on features and headcount

GDPR: UK data centers, built in compliance auditing, candidate data portability, and GDPR right to access.

Strengths:

• The UK-based support team gets the local context and is responsive 

• The compliance and GDPR features are the best I've seen

 • Very flexible with their processes (not forcing you into a specific way of doing things)

Tradeoffs:

• More expensive than competitors 

• A week or two to feel comfortable is the expectation with the advanced features 

• A smaller integration marketplace than UScentric competitors 

• If you are a very small team, it might be enough to have too many features

Customer Reviews:

From Trustpilot

Great ATS  simple to use, easy customisation, reduced admin time.  JamesGarnor (Trustpilot)

• Outstanding system that transformed hiring and improved candidate experience.  Charlotte Williams (Trustpilot)

• Some frustrating support & access issues reported by users. Substantial Group (Trustpilot)

• Outdated UI and not very user friendly TaraGB (Trustpilot)
  
   

From Capterra

• Great automation and interview scheduling  saves time.  Verified Reviewer (Capterra)
  
   
• Easy to navigate UI; some improvements needed in onboarding and mobile.  Senior HR Business Partner (Capterra) 

ATS Comparison Table

How to Actually Use This Table

Choose based on your priority:

• If budget is what you value the most: Pitch N Hire is your best bet at £99/month or check out Zoho Recruit's free tier for applicant tracking system UK free options

• If you are losing sleep over GDPR: Pinpoint is the best choice, as they have the most experience with UK regulations and serve as strong UK ATS partners

• If you need to collaborate on the hiring process: Recruitee's unlimited users model is a good option  particularly for recruitment software for startups UK

• If you are looking for a dedicated HR tool combined with an ATS: You should check out BambooHR

• If you want to improve your job branding: Teamtailor has the best career sites available

• If you are experiencing rapid growth: Check out Lever or Greenhouse, but be prepared to pay a premium as they're among the best ATS systems UK enterprises use

Ready to Overhaul Your Hiring Procedure?

UK businesses – hire a consultant to assist you in selecting the most appropriate ATS software UK so you can save over 23 hrs a hire in not having to manually screen candidates and shuffle spreadsheets.

We provide a no cost, no pressure consultation where we take into account your hiring needs, budget, and the legal frameworks we must comply with to provide you with 23 candidate platforms appropriate for your needs and objective evaluation. You will not receive followup solicitations, and we will not offer you any of our competing products.

Schedule a consultation for a maximum of 15 minutes to discuss your ATS for free.

What Small Companies Anticipate in Terms of ATS Pricing in the UK

Knowing what the costs associated with an applicant tracking system software UK are can assist in budgeting and will help you avoid being sidetracked by unnecessary costs during the implementation of the project.

Costs, depending on the size of the business over a one month duration:

• £0 to £300 for startups, basic versions, or free tiers

 • £200 to £600 for small businesses and medium solutions 

• £500 to £1,500 for growing SMEs and comprehensive platforms 

• £1,200 to £3,000 for midmarket enterprises with ATS such as enterprise

Understanding the Practicalities of Pricing Models

In the UK, it has been observed that most ATS providers UK offer one of three options, each of which has budgetary consequences.

Peruser pricing: Sets an additional fee for every recruiter or hiring manager, which can be as high as 15 to 50 pounds per month. This has an advantage when you have a small and focused hiring group.

Proactive job pricing: Charges depending on how many open roles you are recruiting for at a time, most likely £50£200/job/month. Best for companies that recruit in bursts, worst for those who are always hiring.

Flatrate pricing: You get unlimited users and jobs for a fixed monthly/annual rate which is usually in the £300800/month range for SMEs. This is preferred for budget predictability.

The Hidden Costs UK Businesses Most Often Overlook

Common hidden costs to watch for:

• Onboarding and implementation services: Can tack on £500£3,000 during your initial annual costs. Vendors waive these for smaller companies, but always confirm to avoid unwanted costs

• Data migration: The current system you have (even if it is Excel) may need at least basic technical support for data migration, budget £300£1,000 if your data is disorganized

• Integration costs: Add your job boards, email, and calendar integrations to the invoice, as these DoItYourself setups tend to come with mysterious extra charges

• Training costs: Beyond basic onboarding, there may be more costs if you require onsite training

• Job board credits: Always check if credits for premium job boards or featured listings are included

Annual Versus Monthly Billing (My Honest Take)

Most marketplaces provide 1020% discounts for annual commitments. For instance, a £400/month service turns into £4,000/year, therefore saving you £800.

But, annual billing means you are locked into a contract. If the service doesn't meet your expectations, you're lost. A lot of businesses I know abandoned ATS platforms after 4 months because they couldn't stand the software, yet they overpaid for an entire year.

I would recommend a monthly billing plan for your first ATS for the 6 months of the trial period. In the long run, you'll end up spending more because monthly plans are more expensive, but they provide the most flexibility. Once you're completely sure your team will use the service, switch to annual billing to get the discount.

My Budget Suggestion That Actually Works

Get ready for some magic. Put aside 13% of the total salary budget of the roles to hire this year. For example, let's say you hire £150,000 in salaries over 3 roles. An annual ATS cost of £2,000£4,500 (£165£375/month) is a reasonable cost where you reduce hiring time and improve hire quality.

One founder in Bristol once told me that his £300/month ATS saved him two weeks of work to complete a hire. That role was a £65,000 salary. The time savings alone paid for 3 years of the software.

GDPR and Hiring Compliance – What UK Employers Must Know in 2026

Getting this wrong costs money and damages your reputation. The UK specifically applies data protection laws to recruitment, and the ICO will pursue any violations. I've watched this happen. It's ugly.

Why GDPR is Important for Choosing ATS

With every CV you receive, you get data protected under UK GDPR. Each candidate's name, address, email, phone number, education and employment history are all protected under GDPR. You must learn, secure, and protect the data and the rights of the candidates.

If your ATS does not offer GDPR compliance, you are personally liable for any GDPR violations. And failing to protect candidate data will not excuse you if the ICO comes after you.

GDPR Compliance Features that Must Exist in Your ATS

Essential GDPR features to look for:

• Management of candidate data consent: Tracks the circumstances under which candidates consented to the processing of their data. Your ATS must record consent for different purposes, such as consent to the processing of data for this specific recruitment, consent to the data processing to join your talent pool, and consent to receive marketing communications. This is not just unnecessary red tape; this is the law

• Automated data retention policies: GDPR compliant to protect you (and your ATS) from any retention issues as candidate data is automatically deleted after the retention period you set (typically 6 to 12 months after recruitment). Set it, and forget it

• Deletion request capabilities: Candidates may request the deletion of their information, which you must complete in 30 days. If this is not incorporated into your ATS, every time someone exercises their rights, you will be forced to manually sift through databases

• Data processing agreements: With your ATS vendor detail the division of labor in the realm of data protection. Avoid signing agreements without it

Common Compliance Mistakes UK Businesses Make (So You Can Avoid Them)

Mistakes to avoid:

• Data retention principles violations: When candidate CVs are retained in email inboxes and shared drives indefinitely. I know a recruiter who kept 4,000 CVs in Gmail for 7 years. That's a time bomb

• Data exposure: When candidate information is shared with hiring managers through unencrypted email or Slack. It's easieris not a defense when your organization is liable to be fined

• Transparency requirement violations: When organizations do not inform candidates of the reason for data collection, the intended purpose for the data, and the anticipated retention period. The absence of processes for data access, data correction, and data deletion create a void of fundamental rights

Penalties for Getting It Wrong (The Scary Part)

The UK GDPR fines will vary from 17.5 million or 4% of the total revenue of the organization (whichever is higher) for collecting data without the required safeguards. The most recent corporate violations (data illegally collected by privy) include corporate data collection by British Airways.

However, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) still have fines ranging from 5,00050,000 GBP for simple violations including things like data breaches or not complying with deletion requests. For small businesses, that's a lot of money.

However, what is worse than fines is the damage to reputation. People talk. People talk a lot on LinkedIn and Glassdoor. Your reputation as an employer goes down and then good candidates don't want to work for you.

How to Select an Applicant Tracking System for Your UK Business

At any point in time, each stage of business needs different things. This is how to navigate your specific situation.

UK Startups (110 Employees)

You are probably planning on hiring between 15 people in the next year and will be looking to make hires in multiple roles. You need to be efficient with your budget and do not have the flexibility to have someone spend time managing an overly complicated system.

Recommendations for startups:

• Use options like the free and low-cost tiers of Zoho Recruit and the entry level plan for Recruitee

• Ease of use should be prioritized over features. You need a system that you can set up in an afternoon and use without a training guide exploring best job search apps UK 2026 can help candidates find your openings faster

• Choose a platform with a professional application on a custom made for you career site, so you don't have to use email to send Word attachments with old job descriptions

• You should be able to post jobs to UK job boards like Indeed UK

• Recognize that the likely lifespan of this system for your company will probably be around 1824 months. That's totally okay

• Just be sure to pick a system that has an easy candidate data export option to avoid issues with future migrations

• Avoid signing annual contracts until you've spent six months using the system successfully

For Growing SMEs (1050 Employees)

You're bringing on 1020 new hires per year now that you're expanding. Multiple hiring managers are involved, and recruitment quality can either make or break the business. Now it's time to spend some money on the best applicant tracking system UK reviews to guide your decision.

What to consider:

• Platforms such as Workable, Recruitee, or Teamtailor are midtier options, but a great balance of functionality and user experience

• These platforms also offer a lot of collaboration features, which is especially important now that hiring is no longer a oneperson show

• Pay attention to interview scorecards and guides that help keep things as consistent as possible for the group evaluation

• You're looking at around £300£600 per month with this mid-tier spend which is a lot to spend, I understand

• This has been a big pain for self-service, save time, and offer more automation

• It pays for itself if it reduces time-to-hire by a week or improves offer acceptance by 10%

• It's time to break even on the poor hires with good software

• At this budget, annual contracts make sense if you know the platform now works for your team. That 15% discount can make a real difference now

Universal Decision Factors (Whatever Your Size)

Key factors to evaluate:

• Integrations: The less friction there is with integrations the better. Your existing tools (email, calendar, Slack, HRIS) should reduce duplicated entry. Adoption is guaranteed to be low if team members spend time moving data around between systems

• UK specific job boards: Like Reed and Totaljobs are nonnegotiable for your Monster integration. You won't be able to reach candidates on Monster checking which job sites offer applicant tracking system integration in the UK is crucial

• Application process: This is how candidates experience your brand. Try to traverse the application on a few devices. If it feels clunky to you, it will be clunky to candidates

• Support availability: Make sure the support you rely on during your trials is available during UK business hours and check response times over the trial

Common Applicant Tracking System Mistakes UK Businesses Make

Companies make the same mistakes over and over. If mistakes are repeated, it is obvious the mistakes are costing time and money.

Choosing USFocused Tools Without Verifying UK Readiness

The majority of popular ATS systems are made for a US audience. If your ATS systems are plug and play for the UK, they will not have integrations with Reed, Totaljobs, or CVLibrary. GDPR features will be bolted on. The support will ignore UK employment law nuances, like DBS checks versus background checks.

What to do:

• Prior to engagement, confirm that the vendor has UK clientele. Contact those customers directly

• Determine if UK job boards are native integrations or if you have to use third party workarounds that break every other month

Ignoring Implementation and Onboarding Support

Unlike the other steps that require significant effort. Integration is as simple as filling out a credit card. This step is putting in place the technical parameters to fit your hiring methodology, transferring existing applicant information, educating your employees, and ensuring you have full utilization.

I've witnessed companies blow £500/month on ATS systems that they only use to advertise positions. That's a £500/month job board, not an ATS.

Best practices:

• Utilize the training that is part of your package

• Designate someone to lead the internal implementation. It shouldn't be a casual undertaking

• Make it a task that carries real weight

• Allocate time during the first month to properly set up your workflows, templates, and scorecards

Paying for Unutilized Features

Enterprise systems provide astonishing features including advanced sourcing, talent CRM, and complicated analytics. Greenhouse offers features that might amaze you. However, if you are hiring 8 employees each year and those 8 have the same set of qualifications, you shouldn't be paying for those features and you definitely do not need them.

Be honest with what you need. A startup recruiting for junior to medium senior positions requires a job posting tool, an applicant management tool, and a basic evaluation tool. Those are £200£400/month solutions, not £1,200/month enterprise solutions.

Spend less now and then improve when your complexity truly requires it. One scaleup in London began with Recruitee at £299/month, then expanded to 200 employees, and subsequently, upgraded to Greenhouse. Perfect trajectory.

Not Planning for Candidate Data Migration

You'll need to change systems at some point. Whether it's an upgrade to a more sophisticated solution or a switch in vendor because the first one just didn't hit the mark, you will need to take candidate data history along with you.

What to check:

• When choosing an ATS, check if it allows you to export data in standard formats (at least CSV and JSON)

• Look at the data fields included in the export. Do you get candidate communication details or only basic contact details?

• Some vendors hide their data extraction process to entrap you with more switching costs. That's a vendor you need to be careful with

However, Confused Pricing or GDPR Compliance?

Don't let uncertainty stop your hiring process from getting better. I assist UK companies in identifying and implementing ATS solutions that best fit their needs and budgets.

Talk to an expert in UK recruitment software. They will not try to sell you anything, so you will get guidance that is tailored to your requirements.

Schedule Your Free Consultation Now →

UK's Most Effective Applicant Tracking System (2026)  FAQs

Which UK company has the best ATS software?

The best ATS software is determined by the size and requirements of your company:

• Workable: Good fit for growing SMEs (10100 employees) and is known for its reliability and UK job board integrations

• Recruitee: Good fit for a startup or scaleup (550 employees) that needs a software with collaboration tools

• Pinpoint: Good fit for a compliance-centric company (15200 employees) that has a focus on GDPR

• Zoho Recruit: Good fit for very small teams as they offer a free plan

The best choice is the one that meets your hiring activity, available funds, and the complexity of the hiring process.

Do ATS have to be GDPR compliant in the UK?

Good quality ATS software does offer GDPR compliance features, but you must configure them correctly.

What to look for:

• Data processing agreement 

• Candidate consent management

 • Automated retention schedule 

• Rights to deletion

 • EU/UK data centers for housing candidate data 

• ISO 27001 security compliance

Using an ATS does not make you compliant. You must use its compliance features and the UK data protection principles.

How much does ATS software cost in the UK?

Price estimates in the UK by vendor and company size:

• Budget-friendly options: Zoho Recruit at £20 per user/month with a free tier

• Midtier (small and medium-sized companies): Workable, Recruitee, and Teamtailor range from £200 to £600/month

• Enterprise software: Lever and Greenhouse start at £500 to £800/month and increase based on company size

• Annual savings: If you pay for a full year up front, you'll save 1020% over month-to-month payment options

Can UK startups use free ATS tools?

Startups that are hiring for the first time can take advantage of ATS systems that won't cost them anything:

• Zoho Recruit: Has a free plan that is good for one user and includes some basic features

• Recruitee and Workable: Offer free trials which last between 14 and 18 days

Limitations of free tools:

• Limited number of active positions 

• May not have any customer support 

• If you hire more than 23 employees a year, a paid service becomes more cost effective by saving time and offering a better experience to applicants

Would I use an ATS if I only hire 5 people year?

Even small hiring volumes still get advantages from ATS software. If those 5 hires represent £200,000+ in salaries, increasing hiring quality and speed can be highly valuable.

Benefits for lowvolume hiring:

• Streamlines the hiring process and is fully GDPR compliant 

• Creates a better hire process which helps to attract better applicants 

• Saves 1015+ hours per hire due to automation

 • Manages records for future reference 

• An entry level ATS is £150250/month which is £18003000 annually, a small price worth paying for the salaries you're hiring for and the risk and inefficiency you're hiring for

What is the average time to implement an ATS?

Implementation timeline:

• Basic implementation: Most small businesses will do a basic implementation that lasts a couple of weeks

• What's involved: Setting up hiring workflows, making job templates, customizing your career site, integrations for job boards and your calendar, and training the staff

• Complex systems: Will require an extra couple of weeks

• Vendor support: The majority of vendors will assist you in this process, so be sure to manage your time properly

• Warning: If you are in a rush, you run the risk of losing your investment

What are the distinctions among ATS and recruitment CRM?

ATS (Applicant Tracking System):

• Focuses on managing active applicants and applicants for job vacancies

 • Handles job postings, applications, interview calendars, and hiring processes

Recruitment CRM (Candidate Relationship Management):

• Builds and maintains relationships with potential candidates 

• Manages passive talent pools for future vacancies

Combined solutions: Some providers, e.g. Lever and Greenhouse, do both

For most UK SMEs: A standard ATS suffices. Recruitment CRMs are essential when you need to actively create and develop a talent pool in a tough market

Should I consider industry-specific ATS?

Most of the time, general ATS systems are sufficient, but there are some unique requirements for some sectors:

Industry-specific needs:

• Healthcare recruitment: Need for DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) check integrations and compliance to care regulations

• Education sector: Features that comply with safer recruitment, and specific reference checking

• Hospitality and retail: High volume recruitment, often require mobile first applications and quick screening

• Professional services, tech, and general business: Standard systems like Recruitee or Workable are sufficient

Recommendation: Industry-specific options should only be considered if there are specific compliance or workflow issues

Conclusion

As noted before, the UK recruitment landscape calls for professional recruitment solutions. Since candidates prioritize timely communication, mobile-optimised applications, and the recruitment process's efficiency, manual hiring processes cannot compete. A slip in data protection also poses risks that small businesses cannot afford, and GDPR compliance is not optional.

An ATS can help streamline the burden of administrative tasks regarding recruitment, saving time and creating a competitive edge.

Key benefits of using an ATS:

• Increased mobility in the workplace provides greater flexibility 

• Improves the overall experience of candidates and the employer brand 

• Attracting higher quality candidates is a result of improved structured evaluation processes which reduce bias 

• More time can also be saved as automation breaks recruitment into assessed tasks as opposed to shuffled paperwork

Solution options by business stage:

• Small UK businesses and startups: Choose from reputable but simpler solutions at a lower price point, such as Recruitee, Zoho Recruit, and Workable

• Established and growing SMEs: More sophisticated albeit growing solutions such as Greenhouse, Teamtailor, or Pinpoint

To balance compliance risks and under (in)vestments, it is essential to match platform capabilities to your actual operational needs rather than overspending on unused or underused features.

Start With Trials

Testing process:

• Choose 23 platforms and use real tasks with your recruitment managers

• Assess what is more intuitive or frustrating in the process

• Ensure that UK integrations for job boards and GDPR compliance work as required

• During the specified UK working hours, support should be responsive and the answers should be helpful

The ATS market is constantly changing with new features and new pricing, but the right ATS will help you locate that hire quicker, assess them fairly, and create an experience that will make them want to be part of your company.

Right Applicant Tracking System for Your UK Business

Overwhelming recruitment software is unnecessary. From your 5person startup in Birmingham to your 100person scaleup in Edinburgh, recruitment software will streamline your process and transform hiring from a chaotic spreadsheet nightmare to an organized and efficient process.

We offer you tailored expert guidance:

• Evaluate hiring volume and budget

• UK experts address compliance concerns

• Tailored recommendations for 23 systems to evaluate

• Avoid costly errors and locate the ideal solution for your team

Schedule Your 15-Minute ATS ConsultationFree of Charge →

No vendors. No commissions. No aggressive sales approaches. Just guidance tailored to your situation.