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Cornerstone Recruiting vs IBM Kenexa 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

Cornerstone Recruiting
Ranking in Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software
29th
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
IBM Kenexa
Ranking in Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software
9th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.3
Number of Reviews
30
Ranking in other categories
Benefits Administration (16th), Talent Management (17th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software category, the mindshare of Cornerstone Recruiting is 1.1%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Kenexa is 2.3%, up from 1.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IBM Kenexa2.3%
Cornerstone Recruiting1.1%
Other96.6%
Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software
 

Featured Reviews

Vladimir Vasilev - PeerSpot reviewer
Digital Lead at Baker Tilly
Easy to use with great support and good reliability
We use the solution for recruiting personnel.  The application of new employees is very helpful. We're able to get all the data is easy. We can manage the whole process of recruiting very easily. The ease of use is great. Its usability is excellent.  The solution can scale well. It is stable and…
Karan Grover - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Manager at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Suitable for larger-scale companies aiming to streamline and automate their processes digitally
The deployment of the solution took between six to eight months. When we introduced BrassRing at my company, we encountered several challenges. First, moving data from our old system to BrassRing was tough because it needed reformatting. Second, connecting BrassRing with our HR data was tricky due to manual processes for roles and departments. Third, setting up the workflow in BrassRing was complex. Fourth, configuring user access and approval levels was a detailed task. We also had to manage the change process, including running both old and new systems in parallel, communicating changes, and training users. Lastly, monitoring and reporting were needed to ensure data accuracy and proper system usage once everything was in place. We had a team of six to eight people managing the project from our side during the BrassRing deployment. I'm not sure about the size of the BrassRing team, and we also had our own technical team, which had three to four members. The solution required maintenance, particularly from my side as the administrator. Maintenance responsibilities were divided into two parts: some tasks we, as end-users, could control, while others were the responsibility of the BrassRing team. Payment-related tasks were a regular part of our responsibilities. I wasn't the only person maintaining the solution. There were three power users from Infosys, each responsible for a specific geography. My counterpart managed it in the US, and I, along with my colleague in India, managed it for other geographies.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Technical support has been good overall."
"The configuration is flexible and offers a lot of options."
"The technical support is perfect and they're very responsive."
"For us in particular, I love how configurable the system is; I can use the same technology for different parts of my business."
"I would say the support that we get from the CSMs is the most valuable for me right now, because I'm still leaning on them pretty heavily to understand everything that I'm doing within the system."
"From everything I’ve seen and heard, I would think Kenxea is probably one of the top three, if not the best, in the business that they do and the things that we use them for."
"I would definitely and highly recommend the applicant tracking system."
"BrassRing, the applicant tracking system, has brought a high level of automation, specifically for our mass-volume hourly processes."
"Kenexa’s scalability has been great, as we can grow and expand our use no matter what and seamlessly incorporate our business process for new launches."
"As I said, IBM are doing a great job with us at the moment, but we're always looking and speaking and open to having conversations with other people because the market's changing and IBM are aware of that."
"Without this solution, we would have more administrative functions and would need to hire more HR employees."
 

Cons

"The UI is not overly user-friendly."
"For recruiting managers and administrators using the platform, the UI is not very user-friendly."
"The interface and design could be improved."
"We're really looking forward to some of their enhancements to their onboarding portal, specifically for recruiters and hiring managers."
"There were functions we couldn't customize and needed to."
"I would like to have a better and more user-friendly interface."
"It was a little rocky, as they always are, but we went live on time and that's all that matters."
"The price can always be better. Right now, we can only do part of that, but not as much as I want to."
"I think there is some administrative things that could be easier in terms of Workbench and streamlining that process; configuration of different things."
"Being in a silo of my own world, my wish would be that everything that's available in their legacy views would be moved into their new Talent Suite products, so we could move over to that."
"I would not recommend IBM Kenexa to others."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"Kenexa was fairly priced. However, in 2019, before I left my previous organization, they significantly increased their pricing. It can be affordable, but their pricing is going up. It is not just licensing; it is how many applicants you have in your system on the database side."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Construction Company
16%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Outsourcing Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise28
 

Also Known As

Cornerstone Recruiting Suite
IBM Smarter Workforce, Outstart
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

New Belgium Brewing, Grote, PGL, RSM, Lookers
Sweet Spot International (SSI), Leo Burnett Worldwide (LBW), Sika AG, Legacy Health, Apollo Group Inc., Regeneron, Transurban Group, National Health Service, New Zealand Police, Overland Footwear, Yealands, Johnson Controls, Allscripts, Kerry Foods, Masterpet, AMD, Balfour Beatty
Find out what your peers are saying about Cornerstone Recruiting vs. IBM Kenexa and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
902,894 professionals have used our research since 2012.