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PeopleStrong vs SmartRecruiters comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 5, 2024

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

PeopleStrong
Ranking in Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software
4th
Ranking in Talent Acquisition
9th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
Talent Management (14th), Cloud HCM (13th)
SmartRecruiters
Ranking in Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software
2nd
Ranking in Talent Acquisition
7th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software category, the mindshare of PeopleStrong is 1.5%, down from 2.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SmartRecruiters is 6.4%, down from 7.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software
 

Featured Reviews

Vibha  Mishra - PeerSpot reviewer
Provide performance management and HR operations but lacks AI capabilities
Using PeopleStrong, uploading modules, and downloading reports was very easy. The process was hassle-free and user-friendly. We use PeopleStrong for performance management and HR operations, such as storing data and handling documentation when a new person joins the company. For learning and…
SUMANTA  GHOSH - PeerSpot reviewer
A user-friendly tool that functions without any glitches
With SmartRecruiters, compatibility with other HRIS systems is an area with certain shortcomings that require improvement. SmartRecruiters is a tool that we use as an ATS platform in our company, but we manage the employee lifecycle with the help of SAP, and I don't see the integration of SmartRecruiters with SAP happening quite seamlessly, making it an area where improvements are required.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The mobile responsiveness is strong."
"The product has valuable flexibility for customization, user interface, and search capabilities."
"The UI and UX are fantastic."
"Some of the most valuable features are the onboarding experience of new employees, the employee service portal, and the entire performance management system."
"PeopleStrong Alt is flexible because it allows customization and the user's experience is very good."
"The hiring process is good. It will create a process-oriented procedure in terms of hiring, promotion, the movement of people, and other related HR tasks."
"It has the capability of reporting. We, as a business team, found it good. In fact, we migrated to PeopleStrong essentially because of its reporting feature."
"It is priced low."
"The most valuable feature is the way that they've set it up for collaboration."
"What I really like about it is that it feels minimal, but is also dynamic. There aren't a lot of ways to get lost, which is good."
"SmartRecruiters is a candidate management system or ATS system that we use for recruitment purposes."
"It is a really user-friendly tool, and its implementation is quite wide. It is very easy to manage users and build your workflows. Overall, it works very well for the customization of the workflows for us. The recruitment team has generally found the whole platform useful. We were looking to kind of expand it by using the CRM functions that it has. However, with COVID and recruitment being on the freeze, we weren't really able to make the most of the tool. They are, however, finding it useful to actually build up their talent pools and client candidates to be able to contact them when we kind of have this freeze off."
"I found the core product quite useful. It is easy to use and quite user-friendly. They have also got other options, such as CRM and HRS. They have other versions such as smart distribute, which is an HRS type of system to analyze and get permissions needed from the applicants. In terms of pricing, SmartRecruiters is much better than its competitors."
"I used the free version, which I found valuable."
"With this solution, I was able to add diversity to my recruiting. I was able to source from multiple locations, and I could show where applicants came from. The reporting tools that are on offer, allowed us to expand our reach. We were able to add meaningful diversity into recruiting."
"Job publishing and application tracking are the most valuable features. You can keep the flow of a candidate's application into one system. The whole collaboration can also be done within the system, which means that you can schedule interviews and add your feedback and ratings there. You can also communicate with the candidates. The analytics part of it is also very valuable. It is a useful feature that we use quite a lot. We don't really use other features such as recruitment marketing or CRM candidate relationship management in SmartRecruiters."
 

Cons

"They could improve talent management capabilities."
"Sometimes, we feel that we should have an API-based integration aspect."
"The global scalability and support could improve."
"They had challenges getting the performance management system up and integrated with our systems."
"The solution's workflow can improve by adding more customization at the organizational level."
"It would be helpful if you could work offline because sometimes, we have problems with internet connectivity."
"They could include a sort of collaborative platform where employees are able to work together with a chat mechanism like WhatsApp and video chat."
"PeopleStrong could make it AI-friendly."
"One thing that has been a bit of a struggle is getting tech support. It is a little more difficult to get support from SmartRecruiters. They want you to have your own in-house person to help you with any issues, whereas with both Lever and Greenhouse, you can just click a button at the bottom of the screen and chat with someone almost instantly."
"We ran into some serious issues related to language barriers."
"One of the areas that we would like them to improve is the self-scheduling feature. They have a self-scheduling feature that can be made a little bit more automated when it comes to scheduling. We are trying to use it, but it doesn't feel very user-friendly. This is something that could be improved. They have launched WhatsApp connections in the system, where instead of sending emails, you can WhatsApp candidates directly from the system, but currently, it mainly works in a few countries. Spain, where I'm based, is not one of them. If we use the system, the phone number for the candidates would be from the UK, and we don't think that would be the best. This feature is good for some countries, but not for all at the moment. It was first launched in the USA and then in a couple of countries in Europe. It is not yet launched fully in Europe. Reporting is always something that can be improved. Even though it is working well for us, its reporting can be better. Currently, it is a little bit complicated when it comes to reporting. It has a few pre-made reports that are easy to access, but if you want more details, you need to build your own reports. In order to do that, it is a bit tricky to learn and understand how it works. Even though you have help agents and support for help, it takes some time to learn, but it is not impossible. We have very recently made some integrations with Tableau. We are building dashboards in Tableau where we can get daily updated reports, and they are definitely helpful. That's something we would recommend. SmartRecruiters has recently implemented an inbox. You can have an inbox where you can see all your conversations, but currently, it is not filtering between the recruiters, so you see everyone's emails in there. They have already announced that they are working on the filtering feature for a specific inbox to make it more personalized per recruiter. This way the recruiters can have an overview of their own work."
"Some features are not as straightforward or user friendly to implement."
"SmartRecruiters' on-click application process could be better."
"There were problems with integrations around other systems and each one had to be custom-built, which took a little while to get set up and running."
"The filters are not accurate. The results are inaccurate when filtering multiple criteria, such as country and hiring manager."
"I don't see the integration of SmartRecruiters with SAP happening quite seamlessly, making it an area where improvements are required."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is reasonable."
"It's very reasonably priced. It is paid per employee."
"The product has reasonable pricing."
"Back in 2018, when I engaged with their sales, they wanted to charge around $10,000 for an annual subscription. Depending on your organization, that either could or couldn't be expensive. I personally think it's a fair price. However, I engaged them and negotiated a lower price with them. I think I got closer to $6,000. It came with a commitment of three years."
"SmartRecruiters is an expensive solution."
"SmartRecruiters is much better than its competitors. Considering the type of features and services it provides, it is probably one of the best solutions in the market. Others may offer a similar price, but their services won't be that good or the user-friendliness won't be that great. The licensing works based on how many users are there in a company. If you are using other functionalities, like CRM and HRS, the price increases."
"They are pretty competitive. As the product matures, it has much more functionality and different pricing models. It can relatively cost a lot more if you want to use additional features, but, in general, it is competitive in the industry. We work on a yearly license agreement based on the company size. There are the support costs, which are a part of the additional cost based on the percentage of the licensing fee. So, it has a license plus support cost. Then, of course, there are other add-on options that we can purchase and procure whenever we want to based on certain negotiated arrangements."
"I wasn't involved in its acquisition, but I would assume that SmartRecruiters is pretty pricey."
"There were implementation costs in the first year to get everything set up and running, and then they have various modules on top, which are optional and available at an extra charge."
"I haven't been so involved with pricing, so I don't have all details, but I know that we are paying per head when it comes to different countries. There is an additional fee for new features that they release. If it is something that we would like to use, we need to pay some extra for it."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Educational Organization
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Comms Service Provider
13%
Healthcare Company
13%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about PeopleStrong Alt?
It has the capability of reporting. We, as a business team, found it good. In fact, we migrated to PeopleStrong essentially because of its reporting feature.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for PeopleStrong Alt?
It is priced low. I rate the product’s pricing a three out of ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive.
What is your primary use case for PeopleStrong Alt?
Using PeopleStrong, uploading modules, and downloading reports was very easy. The process was hassle-free and user-friendly. We use PeopleStrong for performance management and HR operations, such a...
What do you like most about SmartRecruiters?
The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that amongst all the other ATS platforms that I have used, SmartRecruiters is the most user-friendly tool.
What needs improvement with SmartRecruiters?
With SmartRecruiters, compatibility with other HRIS systems is an area with certain shortcomings that require improvement. SmartRecruiters is a tool that we use as an ATS platform in our company, b...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

PeopleStrong Alt
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Hyundai, Amara Raja, Air Asia, Tata Motors, Aviva, Schneider Electric, JLL Business Services, Schindler, Tata AIG, novo nordisk, Cipla
Atlassian, Aol, IBM, Napa, Skechers
Find out what your peers are saying about PeopleStrong vs. SmartRecruiters and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.