Crelate vs iSmartRecruit

100Hires

ZipRecruiter

CEIPAL ATS

100Hires is AI-first recruiting software (ATS) that understands your hiring data. An AI Recruiter answers questions about any candidate; an AI Copilot scores and ranks applicants, takes notes, and writes outreach. Native MCP support (Claude Code, Cursor, ChatGPT) plus a full REST API.

ZipRecruiter enables companies to post to multiple free job boards with a single submission and vet all applicants through simple-to-setup online interviews

AI-powered recruitment platform that sources, matches, and engages top talent across 200+ channels. Built for staffing firms and healthcare agencies to reduce time-to-fill and boost recruiter productivity.

Recruiting Director

I have used numerous ATS (JazzHR, Bullhorn, EZAcess, Taleo, etc) and Crelate is at the top of my list because of the technical support.  

Recruiting Manager

Crelate support is also the fastest and most helpful I have experienced as well, which helps eliminate any downtime.

Fast, smart and flexible recruiting software built specifically for recruiting agencies and staffing firms. ATS + Recruiting CRM.

Activity Dashboard

Activity Tracking

AI Copilot

Alerts/Notifications

Applicant Tracking

Application Management

Background Screening

Billing & Invoicing

Boolean Search

Built-in ATS

Calendar Management

Campaign Analytics

Campaign Management

Candidate Management

Candidate Profiles

Candidate Sourcing

Candidate Tracking

Careers Page

Client Portal

Collaboration Tools

Commenting/Notes

Communication Management

Compliance Management

Compliance Tracking

Configurable Workflow

Contact Database

Content Management

Customizable Branding

Customizable Forms

Customizable Reports

Customizable Templates

Dashboard

Data Import/Export

Electronic Signature

Email Management

Email Marketing

Email Templates

Employee Database

Employee Onboarding

For PEO/ASO

For Recruiting Agencies

For Small Businesses

For Staffing Agencies

Full Text Search

GDPR Compliance

Generative AI

HR Management

Internal Chat Integration

Internal HR

Interview Management

Interview Scheduling

Job Application Management

Job Board

Job Management

Job Posting

Job Requisition

Job Tracking

Lead Management

Marketing Automation

Matching Engine

Mobile Access

Multi-Channel Marketing

Onboarding

Pipeline Management

Pipeline Reports

Question Library

Real-Time Analytics

Real-Time Reporting

Recruiting Firms

Recruitment Management

Reference Checking

Reminders

Reporting/Analytics

Reporting & Statistics

Resume Database

Resume Parsing

Resume Search

Resume Storage

Scoring

Searchable Database

Search/Filter

Self Service Portal

Skills Assessment

SMS Messaging

Social Media Integration

Social Recruiting

Status Tracking

Tagging

Talent Acquisition

Task Management

Temporary Staffing

Third-Party Integration

Third-Party Integrations

Workflow Automation

Workflow Management

Workforce Management

By industry, Crelate reviewers are most commonly professionals in staffing and recruiting (54%). The most frequent use case for Crelate cited by reviewers is recruiting (72% of reviewers).

Users and use cases

Most users consider Crelate well priced for small firms and startups, and they appreciate flexible payments and a comprehensive feature set. Some reviewers find add-ons and extra seats can make pricing less reasonable for certain organizations.

Value for money

Crelate is an applicant tracking solution offering key features such as candidate tracking, job posting, and candidate management, among others.

Proprietary

Crelate

Web-based

iPhone

Android

iPad

Loxo

Top Echelon

Bullhorn ATS & CRM

Zoho Recruit

PCRecruiter

CATS

Lever

JobDiva

JazzHR

BambooHR

Recruit CRM

Paylocity

Workable

Essentials

Business

Business Plus 

Enterprise

Recurring bugs and glitches

Recruiter

One issue I have occasionally is the Crelate extension will stop working out of nowhere and the only way I've found to get it to work again is to uninstall and reinstall the extension.

The duplication detection often has errors

74% of reviewers feel negative about Crelate’s bugs and issues. Some users report frequent glitches, such as system crashes, unresponsive integrations, and problems with browser extensions that require reinstallation. Reviewers indicate that duplicate detection tools are unreliable, leading to data management frustrations. They mention that unresolved bugs and occasional crashes disrupt their workflow, sometimes resulting in lost work. Some reviewers say these technical issues are a persistent source of stress and can make learning or using the system more challenging than expected.

Highly customizable workflows

Head of Research and Project Management

I also really like how customizable Crelate is, interms of activities, workflow stages, fields, etc.

Additionally, it integrates well with different sourcing technologies to help streamline your work flow and improve efficiencies.  

97% of reviewers feel positive about Crelate’s workflow flexibility. Some users report that the ability to tailor workflows, activities, and pipeline stages to their unique recruiting processes is a major benefit. Reviewers appreciate how easy it is to customize the system to fit their organization’s needs, whether for recruiting or sales. They find that minimal clicks are needed to access information, and the logical process flow helps them stay organized. Some reviewers say the platform’s adaptability and integration with sourcing tools streamline their work, supporting both high-volume and specialized recruiting activities.

Intuitive and easy to learn

Director

Learning to get started in it in is fast  and intuitive.

VP - Business Development & Recruiting

I also experienced how easy it was to use and knew we had to make the switch.  

97% of reviewers feel positive about Crelate’s ease of use. Some users say the interface is intuitive and clean, making it simple to navigate and locate features quickly. Reviewers indicate that the system is easy to pick up, with many mentioning that new users can become proficient within a short time. They find training straightforward and appreciate that the platform’s layout and visual cues support efficient workflows. Some reviewers report that the software’s user-friendliness allows them to complete tasks faster and with less frustration compared to other systems.

President

The LinkedIn plug-in is a great, allowing for quick data transfer. Plus, the customizable dashboards provide excellent flexibility and help keep everything organized at a glance.

Product Analyst

The system is user-friendly, offers a wide range of features and integration options, is competitively priced, and backed by a responsive support team.

Overall my experience has been good but merging multiple records isn't always easy, limits on # of emails sent daily through campaigns is hindering and search options are confusion -leading to contacting same candidates over and over unintentionally.

Owner

They did not respond to several email asking about why I can't save Indeed or LinkedIn profiles.

The search features are robust, and tools like emailing and texting integrate seamlessly within the product.

Data Entry Specialist - Data Migration

Customizing depending on your needs like specific companies and job postings.

Head of Partnerships

We have multiple forms on our website, some of which ask for a narrative that captures potential leads.

Director of Research

I also use a lot of saved searches to maintain clean data in our system and they can be hard to find sometimes.

I really like being able to "drag and drop" resumes into the database and all the fields get magically populated.

We resolved the emailing problem with a workaround and Kyle Kroger was very involved till the end.   Once we were using Crelate daily, whenever there were issues, Crelate's response was under an hour.  

Database Manager

I greatly appreciate the screenshots and short videos the Support reps provide so I can fully understand the solution.

It also secures login sessions are one at a time.

IT/Admin

Its seamless resume database integration empowers me to swiftly save and organize resumes, streamlining the search process.

Talent acquisition manager

She left out that the hands on training would be one hour per week for 12 weeks and the trainer didn’t do the work they walked me through how to do it.

Talent Acquisition Specialist

Some functionality on the portal, how jobs are displayed (only filter is location)

Being able to create opportunities and pipelines within each opportunity w/ a bit of modifications is also really good to have.

Operations

The tier pricing structure for adding customizable features such as Activities, Activity Forms, Core Record Fields (Opportunities and Contacts), Document Labels, etc. make the pricing pretty unreasonable for our particular organization.

They did a lot of customization to make it right for us.

Executive Recruiter

It's a great tool and provides all the necessary options to run both a split desk or full desk but there are def.

owner

The onboarding was as bare bones as it gets, other companies do a 1000 times better with their onboarding and account management/customer support.  

Team Lead

There are some improvements that can be made to document upload and texting, but overall, it's far and away the best one I've used.

Some functionality took a while to learn and there are some parts of the system I don't use as I don't understand how to efficiently use them for my business.

We've spent countless hours and related expenses trying to figure out how to tag where leads are coming from within Crelate.

I like Crelate applicant tracking because I can manage tracking temporary staff as well as perm staff in comparison to other systems.

Manager of Search Operations

I dislike the lack of of tools available for duplicate detection within the system.

Crelate has made it easier for us to search up candidates that go back in our system.

took a while for our team to get set up.   But once we got going, our team is more streamlined with the use of crelate compared to other software that we used in the past.

Account Executive

Mobile application does not display as much information compared to the web portal.

I like that I can easily pull in resumes from places like indeed and LinkedIn.  

They were great at customization to make things work for us.

Their tech support team is incredibly responsive and provides quick updates tailored to our requests.

Almost all of our SOPs were built around our old ATS software, I think the firm is still adapting to Crelate.

The pops ups that cover the part of the screen that I am reading or typing into.

Crelate vs iSmartRecruit Comparison (2026)

Crelate

iSmartRecruit

Overview

Video & Screenshots

Pricing

User reviews

Key features

Integrations

Alternatives