Every product in this category holds candidates, so the candidate side is not where agency software differs. The difference shows up on the client side, and it is where an agency's money actually lives. A contingency desk making twelve placements a year at $18,000 is a $216,000 business in which $4,438 of fee sits inside a 90 day rebate window at any moment and $17,753 is waiting on 30 day payment terms. Software that tracks conversations but not fee percentages, rebate periods and payment terms cannot tell you which client is profitable or what your exposure is this month. This page sets out the four things agency software has to hold beyond the candidate record, and the questions that separate products that were built for agencies from products that were built for employers and sold to agencies. The free sheets on this site work the underlying money with no account.
The client record is the differentiator
A client needs its fee percentage, its rebate period and its payment terms held against it, and a placement needs to inherit them. Ask to see one client screen with all three on it; the answer separates the category quickly.
Placements have to carry money
A placement that does not carry its fee is a note in a system. What is invoiced, what is inside rebate and what is overdue are three questions an agency asks weekly, and they should be answerable without a spreadsheet alongside.
Employer products fitted to agencies
Many good ATS products were built for in-house teams and adapted. They are often excellent at the pipeline and weak at the client and fee side, which is fine if you know it going in and expensive if you find out later.
Questions people ask about best recruitment software for agencies
What is different about agency software?
The client and the fee. In-house teams have one employer and no fees; an agency has many clients, each with its own terms, and the terms are the business.
Do I need a separate CRM?
Sometimes. Products vary in how seriously they take the client side, and running a light CRM alongside an ATS is a legitimate answer for a small desk if the ATS is strong on pipeline.
What does agency software cost?
Per-seat products in this category commonly start around $19 per user per month on monthly billing (Manatal Professional, manatal.com/pricing, read 4 September 2026). Reqnix Pro is $189 a month flat for the whole desk.