Choosing the right ATS for your organization is critical in ensuring you have a software platform that is readily accessible and well-utilized in your business. Each ATS has unique features (outside of the generic ATS functions), and defining which features are most important to you is the key to determining which platform will best suit your needs.
I’ve seen these Workable and Greenhouse ATSs go head to head in multiple discussion points, and as someone who has worked on ATSs for a number of years, I’ve put together a quick comparison guide for anyone who is looking at these two.
When seeking the right platform to help you manage this process, it’s important to consider unique feature sets relevant to our business. Not all of these tools are the same (even if they look similar at face value). I’ll break down some key comparisons of these two tools and their unique selling points to help you decide the best fit for your organization.
TL;DR:
While both Greenhouse and Workable are excellent ATS options, my recommendation would be to consider your specific requirements before choosing between the two, as they cater to slightly different market segments. Ideally suited for larger organizations with complex hiring needs, Greenhouse excels in its advanced reporting analytics, structured, customizable hiring workflows, and strong focus on DE&I capabilities. Workable, on the other hand, is better suited for SMBs requiring a more well-rounded, easy-to-use ATS with advanced HRIS functionalities including candidate management, payroll, onboarding, native job board integrations, and more. Both tools offer all basic ATS features and include great mobile apps.
Quick comparison guide:
We’ll discuss more details further down; here’s a quick overview of the key feature comparison.
| Workable | Greenhouse | |
| Pricing & Plans |
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| CRM | Yes – Searchable candidate CRM | Yes |
| AI Features |
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| Customer Support |
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| Integrations |
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| Customization options | Yes – Multiple customisation options on various features. | Yes – Configurable for job and interviewing workflows. |
| Analytics |
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| Video Interviewing | Yes – integrations for virtual interviews are available with Zoom, Google Meet, and MS Teams | Yes – video interview capabilities available |
| Calendar integration | Yes – email and calendar functionality. Syncs with apps like Outlook, Gmail, and others. | Yes – Calendar and conferencing integration available. |
| Additional Features |
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More about Workable
Overall, Workable is hard to fault, and there are so many standout features that make it a really well-rounded tool that offers far more than just basic ATS capabilities.
The caveat here is that if you only need an ATS and don’t require more advanced capabilities, this may be slightly more than you require, especially if you’re a really small business or startup with limited requirements.
At first glance, it’s super easy to use, with a clean UI, and you can get a good grasp of their features and overall usability from the free trial, which I really liked.
Unique features
1. AI Features that enhance recruitment processes
AI-assisted candidate sourcing:
- The AI candidate sourcing tool will scan through your (and Workable’s) database of thousands of candidates and create suggested matches based on your job advert details. This means you can tackle passive candidates who haven’t applied for jobs by prompting them via the tool.
- The power of having a great database or talent pool of passive candidates can be invaluable if used correctly, and by automating suggestions, you can save a lot of time by reducing the administrative effort that generally comes from sourcing candidates manually.
AI-assisted candidate screening:
- Once you’ve created your job adverts, you can use Workable’s AI to help screen potential matches for candidates and create a match score for you, along with a candidate profile summary.
- This is a great way to save time, especially when you’re a lean team that doesn’t have time to handle significant recruitment needs.
- You can also make use of their anonymized screening, which helps achieve a fair and ethical shortlisting process.
2. Automation functionalities
Communication and interviews:
- Automating as much as you can within your recruitment process is not only a time saver but can lead to an overall ROI, as your resources can focus on tasks like interviewing and onboarding.
- I like Workable’s auto-generated and personalized communications that can be set up at various steps within their customizable workflows.
- With remote work being a larger focus in recent times, it’s critical to have video conferencing integrations with tools like Zoom, Google Meet, MS Teams, and more to ensure you can set up video interviews with ease.
Data entry:
- Workable has emphasized a positive candidate experience by including resume parsing for easy uploads. This removes the cumbersome process of entering resume details manually, which is a pain point for both recruiters and candidates alike. Removing hurdles like repetitive data entry also leads to a lower drop-off rate at the application step due to the ease of information input.
3. Additional standout features:
- Text messaging – although this is an add-on (but included in the premium tier), having the ability to generate SMS communications is a great way to keep candidates informed and updated. This can significantly add value to these candidates who are not able to receive emails, for example, those working in hospitality, fast food workers, graduates, construction or field workers, medical professionals, and more.
- Job board integrations – This is an essential factor with any ATS, and the wider your reach, the better! With over 200 job board integrations, you’ll be able to leverage the existing native integrations without needing to pay for additional job postings.
- Multi-language and multi-currency support – You can translate your job postings into six languages and multiple currencies within their payroll, which helps make this an excellent tool for global teams.
More about Greenhouse
Greenhouse can be a lot pricier considering other ATS tools out there; however, it’s popular for a reason. It’s user-friendly and one of the most recommended platforms by recruiters because it simplifies multiple manual tasks and is intuitive. It has powerful analytics and reporting, and as long as you’ve set it up correctly and carefully, it can be a game changer for your organization.
It’s also great for teams that need to create structured hiring processes that can scale up as the business grows: advanced pipelines, structured interviews, robust scorecards, and detailed feedback workflows.
Standout Features on Greenhouse:
1. Structured hiring processes
- This is one area where Greenhouse really shines. If you need to be able to create robust frameworks for hiring, you can make use of these features easily within Greenhouse.
- Greenhouse allows you to tailor your workflows to your requirements. This includes customizable permissions, which I like having to ensure that a uniform process can be created for all candidates.
- I love the automated reminders that help keep teams (and candidates) informed.
2. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) features:
- Competency-based scorecards help evaluate candidates quickly and easily and reduce any biases when creating a shortlist for hiring managers.
- Greenhouse has built in interview kits which create feedback templates to help make fair and transparent shortlisting processes consistently. This also saves time for recruiters or HR professionals who would typically need to create these manually.
- The platform even offers interview training so that you can ensure your hiring processes are streamlined according to your specific standards and guidelines.
3. Additional standout features:
- Multi-language support – You can tailor Greenhouse based on your requirements, which includes up to six languages. Helping reduce time to post to job boards and create interviews, as this can be managed within the app.
- Trends and forecasting – This can be a powerful tool for organizations needing to create forecast models for hiring plans that help organizations make smarter decisions.
For larger companies, Greenhouse supports forecasting models and hiring plan tracking, which helps align recruiting goals with broader business needs.
Still looking for an alternative?
While both Greenhouse and Workable are excellent ATSs, they come at quite a price and offer a lot of features that not all organizations need to make use of.
Here are some additional ATSs I’d recommend looking into:
- Ashby – Super intuitive, easy to set up, and customize. Offers great reporting features, too. Starts as low as $300/month
- BreezyHR – It’s simple and easy to use. Offers a free plan for single job active job posts. It’s more cost-effective than Greenhouse and scales as your business needs grow. (Free trial available)
- Ninja Gig – Excellent features included as a standard, at a super competitive pricing model. Unlimited job posts, users, and extensive free job board integration. Hard to beat the flat-rate pricing of $49/month. (Free trial available)
