A fair amount of a small desk's hiring can be run on free online recruitment tools, and it is worth knowing where that stops rather than assuming it stops immediately. The arithmetic is entirely free: cost per hire, time to hire, pipeline conversion and the agency fee comparison are all sheets on this site that need no account and no card, and they are the figures that actually drive decisions. Scheduling can often be done with a free calendar booking link. Advertising has free channels. What is not free, in any real sense, is the shared durable record with history, because that is a service somebody has to run rather than a calculation. This page sets out what to run free, where the free approach starts to cost you in hours or in lost history, and how to tell you have reached that point rather than guessing at it.
What genuinely works free
The arithmetic, a booking link for interviews, and a well-kept spreadsheet as the record if one person owns it. For a desk hiring a few times a year that combination is honestly sufficient and a vendor telling you otherwise is selling something.
Where it starts to cost
Two people editing the record, or needing last quarter's stage dates. Both fail quietly in a spreadsheet: the first produces two versions and the second produces a shrug, and neither announces itself at the moment it happens.
How to tell you have reached the line
You will be asked a question about hiring that you cannot answer from the record, or two people will disagree about where a candidate is. Either one is the signal, and until one of them happens the free route is genuinely fine.
Questions people ask about online recruitment tools
Are free ATS products worth using?
Some are, and they are usually limited by open reqs or users. Read what happens to your data if you outgrow the free tier, because that is where the real cost of a free product tends to sit.
Can I do the reporting free?
Yes. Every figure this site reports is worked by a free sheet here from figures you already have, with no account.
When should I start paying?
When the record has to be shared or has to have history. Those are the two things a subscription buys that free tooling does not.