What Claude (Anthropic) with web search answered for applicant tracking systems (small businesses) on 2026-10-16

Claude (Anthropic) with web search claude-opus-5 asked 2026-10-16

Coverage: Claude (Anthropic) with web search. Other engines not included.

The question asked, verbatim: best applicant tracking systems for small businesses

Brands named, in the order the engine gave

1. Breezy mentioned
   Breezy HR - My default pick for most small businesses.
2. Breezy HR mentioned
   Breezy HR - My default pick for most small businesses.
3. JazzHR mentioned
   JazzHR - The cheapest credible entry point, around $75-$99/month on the lowest tier.
4. Workable mentioned
   Workable - What I'd name if you hire continuously or across multiple countries.
5. Zoho mentioned
   Zoho Recruit - The obvious answer if you're already in the Zoho ecosystem, or if you want a genuinely usable free tier.
6. Zoho Recruit mentioned
   Zoho Recruit - The obvious answer if you're already in the Zoho ecosystem, or if you want a genuinely usable free tier.
7. Ashby mentioned
   Ashby - Worth a look specifically if you're a venture-backed startup rather than a general small business.
8. Homebase recommended
   Homebase - Narrow recommendation, but a strong one: if you're hourly/shift-based (restaurant, retail, salon, trades), hiring is tied to scheduling and onboarding, and Homebase bundles all three.

Sources the engine cited

The answer, as recorded

Here's what I'd actually recommend, roughly in the order I'd bring them up. One caveat up front: ATS pricing is quoted inconsistently across review sites and changes often, so treat the numbers as ballpark and confirm on the vendor's own pricing page. **1. Breezy HR** - My default pick for most small businesses. Flat monthly pricing with *unlimited users*, which matters a lot when you have 4-6 people interviewing: you're not paying per hiring manager. There's a free "Bootstrap" tier for a single open role, and paid plans run roughly $150-$530/month depending on tier and billing. Drag-and-drop pipeline, easy to set up without an HR ops person. **2. JazzHR** - The cheapest credible entry point, around $75-$99/month on the lowest tier. Deliberately narrow feature set focused on core recruiting (post, track, interview, offer), which is a feature not a bug if you hire a handful of people a year. Watch the active-job limits on the low tier - that's where people get upsold. **3. Workable** - What I'd name if you hire *continuously* or across multiple countries. Strongest sourcing/job-board distribution of this group and the most room to grow into. It's also the most expensive here (roughly $169-$600+/month) and charges per seat, so it gets pricey fast with a big interview panel. **4. Zoho Recruit** - The obvious answer if you're already in the Zoho ecosystem, or if you want a genuinely usable free tier. Free plan is one user / one active job with no resume parsing, so it's really a solo-recruiter tool; paid starts around $25-$30/user/month. Best value-per-dollar, slightly clunkier UX than Breezy or Workable. **5. Ashby** - Worth a look specifically if you're a venture-backed startup rather than a general small business. Free plan for very small teams, month-to-month contracts, and the analytics are far better than anything else at this price point. Growth plans around $300-$400/month. **6. Homebase** - Narrow recommendation, but a strong one: if you're hourly/shift-based (restaurant, retail, salon, trades), hiring is tied to scheduling and onboarding, and Homebase bundles all three. Don't buy a knowledge-worker ATS for an hourly workforce. **Who I'd skip:** Greenhouse. It's the structured-hiring gold standard, but it starts around $6,000-$10,000/year on mandatory annual contracts - wrong shape for a small business. If you want one sentence: **start with Breezy HR** unless you're hourly (Homebase), already on Zoho (Zoho Recruit), or hiring hard enough that Workable's sourcing pays for itself. Sources: - [Capterra - best applicant tracking systems](https://www.capterra.com/resources/best-applicant-tracking-system/) - [CostBench - BreezyHR vs Workable pricing](https://www.costbench.com/compare/breezy-hr-vs-workable/) - [CostBench - Workable vs JazzHR pricing](https://costbench.com/compare/jazzhr-vs-workable/) - [CostBench - BreezyHR vs JazzHR pricing](https://www.costbench.com/compare/breezy-hr-vs-jazzhr/) - [CostBench - best ATS for small business](https://costbench.com/best/best-ats-small-business) - [Zoho Recruit pricing breakdown](https://www.pin.com/blog/zoho-recruit-pricing/) - [Zoho Recruit hidden costs](https://costbench.com/software/ats/zoho-recruit/hidden-costs/) - [Ashby vs Greenhouse comparison](https://100hires.com/ashby-vs-greenhouse.html) - [Greenhouse vs Ashby pricing](https://costbench.com/compare/greenhouse-vs-ashby) - [Homebase - ATS for small business](https://www.joinhomebase.com/blog/applicant-tracking-system-for-small-business)

Near this answer

The same question, recorded on other dates: 2026-10-14, 2026-10-12, 2026-10-11, 2026-10-09, 2026-10-06, 2026-10-03, 2026-10-01, 2026-09-29, 2026-09-27, 2026-09-25, 2026-09-23.

applicant tracking systems, asked for other audiences: remote teams (asked 2026-10-16).

Other categories with a recorded answer: background check services, benefits administration software, contractor management platforms, employee engagement software.

Markdown edition · JSON record · the question page, with every recording · Answer Watch · AEO Watch

Answer Watch records what one AI answer engine said on one date, nothing more. Each page names the engine and the model, carries the date the question was asked, and lists the brands that appeared in the answer in the order the engine gave them, with the sources it cited. It is a measurement, not a ranking, not a recommendation and not a claim about the world. Brands that did not appear in an answer are not named on any public page. Coverage: Claude (Anthropic) with web search. Other engines not included.