Free recruiting software

Cost per hire: $2,800; Computed on this page from the inputs below
Internal cost (the hours): $5,400; Computed on this page from the inputs below
External cost (ads and agency): $11,400; Computed on this page from the inputs below
Total cost of hiring in the period: $16,800; Computed on this page from the inputs below

Every figure on this page is computed from the inputs entered, by the method stated below it. Reqnix publishes no salary data, no benchmark time to hire, no conversion rate you should expect and no employment law: the days, the costs, the scores and the weights are yours, and the defaults are a worked example to replace with your own.

The figures above start from a worked example ($2,800). Change any input and the answer updates as you type.

Download the Free recruiting software worked example (CSV)

Free recruiting software usually means a trial with a clock on it. This sheet has neither: it works the figure every hiring budget is argued over, and it works it in the browser with no account. Enter your job board and advertising spend, the agency fees you paid, the recruiter and manager hours the hiring took and what an hour of that time costs, and the hires you made, and it returns the internal cost, the external cost, the total, the cost per hire, the external cost per hire and the share of the whole spend that went to agencies. On the worked example, $2,400 of advertising, $9,000 of fees and 120 hours at $45 is $16,800 over six hires: $2,800 per hire, $1,900 of it money that actually left the business, and 54% of the total going to agencies. Most desks know the invoice figure and have never counted the hours, which is why the number they quote is usually the smaller one.

The hours are the half nobody counts

120 hours at $45 is $5,400, a third of the total on the worked example. It is real money whether or not it appears on an invoice, and leaving it out makes every comparison with an agency fee flattering to the agency.

External and internal answer different questions

External cost per hire ($1,900) is what hiring costs the bank account. Total cost per hire ($2,800) is what it costs the business. Quote the first to a supplier and the second to a board, and know which one you are holding.

The agency share is the lever

54% of this desk's hiring spend is agency fees. That single percentage is what makes the agency fee sheet on this site worth ten minutes: it says whether the money is better spent on a recruiter.

What free recruitment software usually means

A free plan or a trial. Most free hiring software is the vendor's paid product with a limit on open jobs, users or candidates, or with a clock on it, so read the limits on the vendor's own pricing page before you put a live role into it. Of the 61 recruiting and ATS products we read for our ATS Pricing Index on 12 October 2026, 25 publish a paid price, and the 11 priced in US dollars run from $10 to $494 a month with a median of $79.

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Keeping what you make

The sheets are free forever. Pro turns them into the record: every req with its stage and its owner, every applicant against the req they applied to with a source and a date, every interview and offer with its outcome, your company's name and logo on what you print, no watermark, and an export when the board or the auditor asks.

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Free recruiting software: common questions

Is this really free?

Yes. It computes on the page, needs no account and no card, and there is no trial clock. Reqnix Pro is for keeping the reqs and applicants against the record, not for doing the arithmetic.

What hours should I count?

The hours actually spent on hiring by everyone involved: sifting, screening, interviewing and chasing. If the honest number is a guess, use the guess and mark it: an approximate figure that includes the hours beats a precise one that ignores them.

Should I include the new hire's onboarding?

No, and the sheet deliberately stops at the acceptance. Onboarding is a different process with a different owner, and mixing the two produces a number that cannot be compared with anything.

Is there a free recruitment CRM or free recruitment agency software?

Some vendors offer a free tier, and it is usually limited by users, open jobs or records. A recruitment CRM is the client side of an agency's work, so check the free plan keeps clients, contacts and fee terms, not only candidates. This sheet is free with no limit because it is arithmetic, not a record.

Is there free talent acquisition software, or are free recruitment tools enough?

For a handful of hires a year, free recruitment tools are often enough: a shared inbox, a spreadsheet with a source and a date against every applicant, and the free sheets on this site. Talent acquisition software earns its price when several people need one record, and the <a href="/datasets/ats-pricing-index/">ATS Pricing Index</a> lists what the paid products publish.

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