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IBM Kenexa vs Jobvite 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

IBM Kenexa
Ranking in Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software
11th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.3
Number of Reviews
30
Ranking in other categories
Benefits Administration (18th), Talent Management (18th)
Jobvite
Ranking in Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software
9th
Average Rating
6.0
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
Video Interviewing Software (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software category, the mindshare of IBM Kenexa is 2.2%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Jobvite is 2.7%, down from 3.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Jobvite2.7%
IBM Kenexa2.2%
Other95.1%
Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software
 

Featured Reviews

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.
PF
Principal with 11-50 employees
Allows us to manage a large amount of candidates at a large amount of sites and still be very site specific
In terms of what could be improved, sometimes it seems, for whatever reason, that not all of the messaging goes through. I don't know if that's an internal email issue or that's an email issue with them. So I will externally follow up a lot of my communication through Microsoft Outlook as my own redundancy to make sure that my messages get out. So there's a little bit of a concern on consistency of the messaging getting through in terms of scheduling or in terms of sending a resume to a particular hiring manager, especially if you have multiple hiring managers. It does not have an ability to CC hiring managers on the resumes that are sent through. It only goes through to the hiring manager and sometimes you want other members of the team to see the resumes. So, it doesn't necessarily work that way. Those are a couple of different things that they could work on. Otherwise, there is nothing else that I can really think of. If you know the system you know how to work your way around certain things. Once you get hands-on in the system, you understand how the system works and you understand how to work within its environment.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"This tool is very powerful and the ability to tweak it in order to meet desired processes and controls is valuable."
"The most important features are that the instrument can be customized, that we can get important and relevant data about our employees, and the responsiveness of our client team from IBM has been phenomenal."
"The streamlined, simplicity approach of Kenexa makes it simple for me to navigate."
"I would definitely and highly recommend the applicant tracking system."
"We acquired a pharmacy retailer three years ago, and Kenexa enabled us to actually standardize our employee engagement across both of those organizations, helping us understand at an enterprise level what was going on and, most importantly, how people were starting to feel about being acquired and joining the broader company space."
"Scalability is great, as we use the system for everything from a very low-volume, high-touch corporate recruiting model to our tax office, high-volume approach, which is 80-100,000 people each season."
"We like IBM; IBM has been great partners for us, they're really invested in our success, and they see us as a valuable client."
"It has a really nice scheduling feature, which is very valuable for scheduling interviews. It is an automated feature and one of my favorite things about Jobvite. The other thing that I like about Jobvite is customer service. Their customer service is amazing, and they're constantly improving it and making it better. Jobvite also integrates with LinkedIn."
"The other thing that I like about Jobvite is customer service, their customer service is amazing, and they're constantly improving it and making it better."
"The ability to manage and track candidates in one place, and also when you are scheduling is a plus."
"The feature that I have found most valuable is the interview schedule piece. This allows me to see what interviews are going on. It allows me to put them on my calendar and to track that piece so that I can follow up both with my candidate and with my hiring manager."
"Having an applicant tracking system like Jobvite helps companies get organized."
"Having an applicant tracking system like Jobvite helps companies get organized."
"One of the benefits we've had from Jobvite, as we are a high volume recruiting organization in the manufacturing field with around 60 different locations, is that it allows us to manage a very large amount of candidates at a large amount of sites and to still be very site specific."
"The ability to manage and track candidates in one place, and also when you are scheduling is a plus."
 

Cons

"The downside of Kenexa is that they're constantly reinventing, so they have constant releases with new features and upgrades. The downside of that is that they do experience fairly regular issues with stability that they're not always as quick to respond to as we'd like them to."
"The downside is it's a system that was created many, many years ago and so it just evolves."
"I would like to have a better and more user-friendly interface."
"I'm just taking over the account, so I'm still pretty new to the whole system."
"Improved integrations: There are all kinds of issues with integrations, hires failing."
"I would not recommend IBM Kenexa to others."
"Technical support was not always great. They tend to push you towards workbench admins or paid support."
"I get a real sense of frustration when you see the kind of customer insight teams and what they can do and then you look at the colleague insights teams, which I'm leading on as well, and seeing there's a gap and we need to close that gap."
"Sometimes it seems, for whatever reason, that not all of the messaging goes through."
"Sometimes it seems, for whatever reason, that not all of the messaging goes through. I don't know if that's an internal email issue or that's an email issue with them. So I will externally follow up a lot of my communication through Microsoft Outlook as my own redundancy to make sure that my messages get out."
"Its reporting feature can be improved. Reporting is currently not user friendly, and it is just complicated. If you want specific reports that aren't available within the system, then you have to pay extra. We don't use Jobvite for onboarding or payroll. They have the option, but we don't use them for onboarding or payroll. We strictly use it just for the recruiting cycle. If we did have a more comprehensive package with them, the reporting might not be so bad. One thing that kind of bothers me is the fact that you can have somebody apply to several different requisitions, and the notes don't merge together because it is requisition-focused. In other words, it is not strictly candidate-focused, which is kind of a pain sometimes. You have to go back and forth with the notes if somebody applies, or you could miss some important information."
"The user experience can be improved."
"I'm not a big fan, and I don't find it especially valuable."
"It has very inefficient, integration capabilities with the HRS systems"
"The fact that you can't create a recruiting journey, the fact that you can't have confidentiality, the fact that it doesn't integrate with an HRS system, is really problematic as a company grows."
"Its reporting feature can be improved. Reporting is currently not user friendly, and it is just complicated."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"Jobvite is a cheap solution."
"Its price is competitive. It is not like they've increased their price in five years, so I'm happy about that. For a specific or customized report, you have to pay a little bit extra."
report
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
11%
Marketing Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Healthcare Company
7%
No data available
 

Company Size

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

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

IBM Smarter Workforce, Outstart
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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
Allegheny Health Network, American Wedding Group, App Annie, Coupons.com, CalTech, Elance-oDesk, EverQuote Inc., GREE International, Jive Software, Infinera, Lithium, RedFrog Events, ShoreTel, WaterSmart, Zoosk
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Kenexa vs. Jobvite and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
885,311 professionals have used our research since 2012.