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Bullhorn vs iCIMS Recruit comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Bullhorn
Ranking in Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software
4th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
CRM (32nd)
iCIMS Recruit
Ranking in Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software category, the mindshare of Bullhorn is 2.0%, down from 2.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of iCIMS Recruit is 1.4%, down from 2.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
iCIMS Recruit1.4%
Bullhorn2.0%
Other96.6%
Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software
 

Featured Reviews

Christiane Hauk - PeerSpot reviewer
COO at RM Group (Switzerland)
Have improved workflows through automation but faced challenges with feature limitations and unclear pricing
The impact of those automation features on our operational efficiency is huge; however, what I don't appreciate about it is that it's very limited; it's limited to Bullhorn and, even within Bullhorn, it's limited to the candidate, the placement, the job, and the contact entity. You cannot automate files, notes, or change requests, so it's very limited, and they also don't do any further development in this anymore since AI is on the market. When it comes to automation in Bullhorn, I would appreciate seeing that automation is possible for integrating files. For example, that you can say, show me all candidates who don't have a file or which have a file that is older than one year, or which have a file type of resume or contract. I would appreciate seeing the possibility to build automations based on change requests, where you can automate according to the status submitted or approved, which is currently not possible, or automation based on notes. When it comes to the missing features in Bullhorn, I have numerous suggestions. Recently they introduced the AI assistant, which is a chatbot within Bullhorn that can refer to candidate, contact, and job data, which is great. However, the output from your prompt can only be copied to a clipboard and not inserted into a Bullhorn field, meaning you always have to do three, four more clicks to get it over to an email or to the field that publishes the job ad. This functionality has to be developed further because there are other tools that can already do this. The prompting and formatting possibilities within the prompt are very limited as well. Regarding AI, there is no match top candidates functionality that provides results good enough to use. We are already using the Textkernel search, which is the future search Bullhorn will integrate. Additionally, we also work with Bullhorn Onboarding, which is a catastrophe; it's not further developed, and they have not provided a new solution for the German-speaking market in five years. We also use the Canvas reporting tool that lacks further development; there are limitations on what you can build reports on. I would appreciate seeing improvements there, and to close this circle, I would appreciate seeing a kind of avatar that can conduct a first interview with a candidate.
MG
Senior Talent Acquisition Consultant at a real estate/law firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Recruiting workflows have become organized and reporting now tracks candidate progress clearly
The ability to have a record of every touchpoint with a candidate makes my job easier in iCIMS Recruit. In recruiting, it can be easy to miss a step while moving through the workflow. iCIMS Recruit allows me to look within the candidate's record to see each step and where I am in the process, and it gives me the ability to identify when I haven't pushed a candidate to hiring manager review. This provides a good checkpoint to stop and take a pause. The best feature that iCIMS Recruit offers is the find candidates function. I use this feature by inputting the title of what I am looking for, the distance the person might live from the particular location, and how long they have been in the system, ranging from seven days up to ninety days. This function helps recruiters find passive candidates who have either been touched previously and are not recalled or have been touched by a previous team member but might still be interested in a new opportunity. Regarding finding better candidates, it is neutral; the candidate may be out of the job market. However, knowing which candidates in the system I have not explored and want to revisit is a great feature, making it useful overall. I appreciate that iCIMS Recruit has a robust training setup within the system, and I value how they update me with new trainings that might be coming up to give me a competitive edge on utilizing the system. iCIMS Recruit has impacted our organization positively through the reporting system. Beyond our leadership using the reporting system to track KPIs and metrics, I as a recruiter can also use the system to track my own KPIs and metrics to see where I stand regarding time to fill, average time to fill, how many hires I have had within a certain period of time, whether that is three months, six months, or a year. The ability to see these features and download these reports is very helpful.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"What I appreciate most about Bullhorn's core functionalities and ATS functionalities is that it is highly customizable, the UI is very user friendly, and it's very easy to train."
"What I appreciate best about Bullhorn is its user interface, which is really nice, and I enjoy the flexibility that you have with it and how you can customize it to meet your needs."
"The solution offers good customization and good dashboards."
"Over time, I've seen them build on their platform, make improvements, enhance the user experience, and continue to gather feedback for improvement from end users."
"iCIMS Recruit is a user-friendly applicant tracking system overall."
"iCIMS Recruit has impacted my organization positively because it is easier to use and more user-friendly than alternatives, helps us maintain better data governance without many issues, and processes are faster, which saves us time."
"iCIMS Recruit has positively impacted my experience as a job applicant by making it faster and less stressful."
 

Cons

"Bullhorn Onboarding, which is a catastrophe; it's not further developed, and they have not provided a new solution for the German-speaking market in five years."
"I think one thing that could be improved is that it's expensive."
"If reporting could be more robust, that would be phenomenal."
"iCIMS Recruit could be improved by adding a block to explain certain things."
"The only challenge is that it can be difficult to make managers aware that they need to follow positions in the platform and learn how to use it so we can work together."
"iCIMS Recruit can be improved by adding additional features related to looking for attrition rate and seeing how many people actually stay within roles, especially for those high-volume roles that have high turnover."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
23%
Comms Service Provider
14%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Outsourcing Company
8%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise5
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Bullhorn?
Bullhorn is expensive, and if you are looking to scale your operations, it really shines.
What needs improvement with Bullhorn?
The impact of those automation features on our operational efficiency is huge; however, what I don't appreciate about it is that it's very limited; it's limited to Bullhorn and, even within Bullhor...
What is your primary use case for Bullhorn?
We are an agency, a staffing agency, and we use Bullhorn mainly as an ATS, so we use it for reporting, onboarding, and to process our payrolling requests.
What needs improvement with iCIMS Recruit?
iCIMS Recruit can be improved by adding additional features related to looking for attrition rate and seeing how many people actually stay within roles, especially for those high-volume roles that ...
What is your primary use case for iCIMS Recruit?
My main use case for iCIMS Recruit is as an applicant tracking system where I review candidates, disposition candidates, and set up candidate screening, which may be virtual or in person. I create ...
What advice do you have for others considering iCIMS Recruit?
The advice that I would give to others using iCIMS Recruit is that it is an ATS system that works well for applicant tracking and workflow process in general. It is easy to navigate, and I think it...
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Tiro Partners, Skills Alliance, Think IT Recruitment, Mclaren Consultancy, REACH Employment Services, Aurec, FocusCore, Icon Partners, Curate Partners, Rowben Consulting, Richard Lloyd, Peoplefusion, Gemini People, Glotel
NorthStar Anesthesia, Southeastern Grocers, AmTrust Financial, RPM Pizza, Hackensack Meridian Health, Esurance, Peet’s Coffee, Regis Corporation, Cedar Fair
Find out what your peers are saying about Bullhorn vs. iCIMS Recruit and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,153 professionals have used our research since 2012.