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Bullhorn vs Salesforce Essentials 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 CRM
37th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software (8th)
Salesforce Essentials
Ranking in CRM
12th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the CRM category, the mindshare of Bullhorn is 0.5%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Salesforce Essentials is 0.6%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
CRM Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Salesforce Essentials0.6%
Bullhorn0.5%
Other98.9%
CRM
 

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.
AA
Head of Commercial Excellence at Sartorius AG
Has provided a reliable service with responsive support and offers valuable features, though pricing could be more affordable
We are a large organization with 14,000 people. As a user, Salesforce Essentials is extremely easy to use. The complete rollout from minimum viable product to final acceptable product took two years for our global deployment. The business operations for our 14,000 people are managed by approximately 10 people on the business side. These business admins are responsible for sales operations, troubleshooting, training, and driving features and requirements from the sales and marketing organizations. Additionally, we work with product owners on the IT side and a team of programmers. Daily operations require about five people for IT work, security programming, system connections, and development execution. For day-to-day user support, we need eight to ten people in the business. We operate on Microsoft Azure private cloud infrastructure. On a scale of 1 to 10, I rate Salesforce Essentials a 9 out of 10.

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 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."
"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."
"We use Salesforce Essentials for everything we do on the sales side."
"The most important feature is how Salesforce Essentials brings together information from multiple channels. The nature of our complex custom product data has been challenging due to our manufacturing nature. Salesforce also allowed business processes like finance, credit lines, customer complaints, and quality issues to integrate seamlessly. I haven’t used the mobile app functionality, because we haven't fully utilized because of our preferance of more personal interactions over using mobile apps."
"Their reporting and analytics features have a very significant impact on my company's operational efficiency."
"The solution helps to track the performance of salespersons before closing deals."
"I can download the data to Excel, create tables, and do whatever I want. I am very comfortable with the tool's mobile application. Its main benefit is transparency because I can share it with representatives."
"The CRM system has SAP Sales, SAP Service, and SAP Billing, with everything integrated into an on-premise SAP CRM system. Salesforce Essentials replaced this on-premise system, bringing all functionalities onto the cloud platform."
"Salesforce Essentials is a reliable and powerful application."
"In terms of features, the cloud-based solution and easy deployment are standout elements that have made a difference."
 

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."
"The cost of running Salesforce Essentials is significant. The licenses are expensive, and the operational costs are considerable, including the necessity to maintain a team of approximately 15 people to run the system."
"Salesforce Essentials operates in a table format where the entire user interface is based on tables, more specifically pivot tables. This is not very user-friendly for mobile."
"I have seen Salesforce evaluate a lot of AI and analytics into that. But as an end user, I don’t have that much input."
"Areas that could be improved or upgraded in the next release include analytics, automation capabilities, and stability."
"The primary area for improvement in Salesforce Essentials is its pricing. There are other competitors, like Zoho CRM, that offer similar features at a lower cost."
"The solution needs to be more user-friendly. It's difficult for a senior to track leads when a salesperson uploads leads. The solution should also improve its integration capabilities."
"Less integration would be better. It should work independently."
"The product's reporting area has certain shortcomings, making it an area where improvements are required."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"There is a need to make yearly payments towards the licensing costs attached to the solution."
"The pricing is on the higher side, especially with additional costs for professional services like consultants."
"The tool is moderately priced."
"We chose quarterly payments."
"I rate Salesforce Essentials' pricing an eight out of ten."
"Salesforce Essentials is quite expensive, almost 10 out of 10. I don't have the exact cost, but we found it to be very expensive based on our budget constraints."
"It's a perpetual license, and the subscription can be expensive."
"The pricing is a bit on the expensive side."
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Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise7
 

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 do you like most about Salesforce Essentials?
Salesforce provides the best they have with the current version. Most of the features we need are already there, and it's very easy to use.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Salesforce Essentials?
Salesforce Essentials is very expensive, but it delivers exceptional value. It is a good platform to have if you can afford it because it has numerous add-ons and modules. Anything that Salesforce ...
What needs improvement with Salesforce Essentials?
The mobile access can be improved in several ways. Salesforce Essentials operates in a table format where the entire user interface is based on tables, more specifically pivot tables. This is not v...
 

Comparisons

No data available
 

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
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Bullhorn vs. Salesforce Essentials and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,114 professionals have used our research since 2012.