Zoho Recruit vs HireZapp: What the Free Plan Doesn't Tell You
Zoho's free plan is real. It's also built for exactly one job at a time. A factual breakdown of Zoho Recruit's pricing tiers, AI gating, and per-seat costs compared to HireZapp, for founders deciding what they actually need to start hiring.
Zoho Recruit shows up in almost every "best free ATS" list, and the free plan it's known for is genuinely real. No trial countdown, no credit card required, no time limit on it expiring.
It's also built around a number that's easy to miss until you're already relying on it: one. One active job. At a time.
What the Free Plan Actually Covers
The Forever Free plan supports candidate management, basic email handling, and interview scheduling, with one open role running at any given moment. If you're a solo founder filling a single position, it genuinely works. The moment you have two roles open at once, which is most startups past the first hire, you're either paying or working around the limit.
There's no resume parsing on the free plan either, and no AI of any kind. That part doesn't show up until further along.
Where AI Actually Shows Up
Zoho Recruit's AI features, candidate matching, AI-driven assessments, are gated behind the Professional tier, which runs $50 per user per month, billed annually. The Standard plan below it, at $25 per user per month, gives you more active jobs and basic sourcing tools, but still no AI screening. So the actual decision tree looks like this: free gets you one job and no AI, Standard gets you more jobs and still no AI, and AI only shows up once you're paying $50 a seat.
That per-seat detail matters more than it looks at first. Zoho prices by user, not by job or hiring volume, so a two-person founding team running Professional for AI access is already at $100 a month before any add-ons, and that number climbs with every person added, regardless of how much actual hiring is happening that month.
Free until it isn't. The free plan works right up until the second job opens.
HireZapp's Pricing Moves With Your Hiring, Not Your Headcount
HireZapp's free forever plan doesn't carry a one-job ceiling, and AI screening isn't reserved for a tier you have to grow into. Every application is analyzed across multiple professional data sources from the start, with a Job Match Score and a written breakdown of strengths and gaps included regardless of plan. Beyond the free plan, pricing runs on a platform fee plus credits tied to actual hiring activity, not a per-seat charge that multiplies every time someone joins the team.
| Zoho Recruit | HireZapp | |
| Free plan limit | 1 active job, no AI, no resume parsing | Free forever plan, AI included |
| AI screening access | Gated to Professional ($50/user/month) | Included on every plan |
| Pricing model | Per user/seat | Platform fee plus credits, scales with hiring activity |
| Entry to remove job cap | $25/user/month (Standard) | No job cap on free plan |
| Sourcing reach | Premium job boards, social recruiting at Standard+ | 100+ channels including 2M+ passive candidates, included |
Skip the Per-Seat Math
See AI screening with no job cap and no per-seat bill.
The Sourcing Gap Beyond Job Boards
Zoho Recruit's sourcing tools at Standard and above lean on premium job board postings and social recruiting, posting widely and waiting for applications. That's real and useful for active candidates already job hunting.
HireZapp's sourcing goes further by design, reaching across 100+ channels including a database of over 2 million passive candidates, college networks, and a Career Circle of professionals open to moving without actively applying anywhere, all included rather than added on as you climb tiers.
Where Zoho Recruit Is Genuinely a Reasonable Choice
If you're already inside the Zoho ecosystem, using Zoho Books, Zoho CRM, or Zoho People, the integration story is a real advantage, everything talks to everything else natively. And for a true solo recruiter filling exactly one role with no urgency around AI screening, the free plan does what it says.
Where HireZapp Is Built For
If you're hiring for more than one role at a time, which covers most growing teams within the first few months, or you want AI screening from day one instead of once you've upgraded twice, the math shifts. HireZapp's free plan was built without the single-job ceiling, and the AI doesn't sit behind a wall you have to pay your way through.
A free plan that runs out the moment you actually start hiring isn't really free. It's a trial with no expiration date.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1) Does Zoho Recruit's free plan support more than one job posting?
No. The Forever Free plan supports exactly one active job at a time, with no resume parsing or AI features included. HireZapp's free forever plan doesn't carry a single-job ceiling, so multiple roles can run simultaneously without upgrading.
Q2) When does AI screening become available on Zoho Recruit?
AI features, including candidate matching and AI-driven assessments, are gated behind Zoho's Professional tier at $50 per user per month. Below that, the free and Standard plans have no AI screening at all. HireZapp includes AI screening with a Job Match Score on every plan, including the free tier.
Q3) How does Zoho Recruit's per-seat pricing affect a growing team?
Zoho charges per user, so the bill grows with every team member added regardless of how much hiring is actually happening. A two-person team on the Professional tier for AI access is already at $100 a month before any add-ons. HireZapp's pricing scales with hiring activity through credits, not per seat.
Q4) Does Zoho Recruit source candidates beyond job boards?
Zoho's sourcing tools at Standard tier and above include premium job board postings and social recruiting, which work well for actively applying candidates. HireZapp sources across 100+ channels including a database of over 2 million passive candidates who aren't necessarily applying anywhere.
Q5) Why does Zoho Recruit have two different pricing structures for the same plan names?
Zoho Recruit ships as two separate editions, Corporate HR and Staffing Agency, with the same plan names and prices but very different job limits. Corporate HR's Standard plan caps at 5 active jobs for $25 per user per month, while Staffing Agency's Standard plan allows 100 active jobs at the same price point. Buyers who don't know which edition they're on can end up on a much more restrictive plan than they expected. HireZapp doesn't split pricing by business type, the same plan and job allowance applies to every account.
Q6) What's the core difference between Zoho Recruit and HireZapp for a growing team?
Zoho Recruit ties cost to user seats and gates AI behind a paid tier, while limiting its free plan to one job at a time. HireZapp's free forever plan supports active hiring without a job cap, with AI screening and multi-channel sourcing included from the start rather than added on as you upgrade.
