Recruitment · head to head
Ashby vs Karat
Karat
Recruitment
Outsourced technical interviewing, engineers conduct your candidate interviews for you
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Ashby no native iOS or Android mobile app; only mobile web access with limited functionality; Karat pricing is quote-only, so a buyer cannot model cost per hire against internal interviewer time without a sales conversation
- They diverge on capability: Ashby covers Applicant Tracking, Karat covers Interview Engineers.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Ashby and Karat actually diverge.
Identical on both: free tier (No), platforms (Web), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Recruitment).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in Ashby
- Applicant Tracking
- CRM
- Scheduling
- Analytics
- Sourcing
- Offer Management
- Reporting
Only in Karat
- Interview Engineers
- Structured scoring
- High-volume screening
- Interview intelligence
- Scheduling integration
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Ashby
- End to end applicant tracking for startups through to enterprisenot Karat
- Sourcing and candidate relationship managementnot Karat
- Interview scheduling and coordinationnot Karat
- Recruiting analytics, including as a standalone module alongside an existing ATSnot Karat
- Structured hiring and consistent candidate assessmentnot Karat
Karat
- A company scaling engineering headcount quickly and unable to free up enough internal engineer time for first-round technical interviewsnot Ashby
- A hiring team wanting a consistent bar across interviewers when growth has diluted interview qualitynot Ashby
- A seasonal hiring push, such as a new-grad or intern cohort, that needs a large volume of structured interviews in a short windownot Ashby
- A company that has measured interviewer no-shows or inconsistent scoring as a source of candidate drop-offnot Ashby
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Ashby
- No native iOS or Android mobile app; only mobile web access with limited functionality
- Email lookup quotas and limited bulk actions for high-volume sourcing workflows
- Advanced workflow branching and custom fields system are less flexible than competitors
Karat
- Pricing is quote-only, so a buyer cannot model cost per hire against internal interviewer time without a sales conversation
- Handing the interview itself to a contractor removes the one part of the process where candidates meet a real employee, which can weaken employer brand for roles where culture fit matters most
- It solves interviewer capacity for technical screens but does not replace hiring manager or team-fit rounds, so it only removes part of the funnel
- Quality depends on how well the client-provided rubric and questions are written; a poor rubric produces poor Karat interviews just as it would internally
- Contracted interview volume can create pressure to keep using the service even after an internal hiring slowdown, since commitments are typically annual
- Candidates sometimes react negatively on discovering the interviewer is not an employee of the company they applied to, which is a reputational risk not visible until candidates start talking about it publicly
Pricing, plan by plan
Ashby
$400/month- Foundations$400/month
- Core ATS
- Scheduling
- Basic reporting
Karat
On request- Karat$undefined/year
- Interview Engineer coverage
- Structured technical interviews
- Interview analytics and calibration
Which should you pick?
Questions people ask
- Is Ashby or Karat better?
- Neither clearly leads. Ashby starts at $400/month and Karat at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Ashby or Karat?
- Ashby starts at $400/month and Karat at On request.
- Does Ashby or Karat run on more platforms?
- Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
- What is Ashby best used for?
- Ashby is most often used for end to end applicant tracking for startups through to enterprise, sourcing and candidate relationship management, interview scheduling and coordination, recruiting analytics, including as a standalone module alongside an existing ats. Of those, end to end applicant tracking for startups through to enterprise and sourcing and candidate relationship management are not what Karat is typically brought in for.
- What can Ashby do that Karat cannot?
- Ashby covers Applicant Tracking, CRM, Scheduling, Analytics. Karat covers Interview Engineers, Structured scoring, High-volume screening, Interview intelligence.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Ashby: What integrations does Ashby support?
Ashby integrates with Slack for recruiting notifications, Zapier for automation with 9,000+ apps, and has an open API for custom workflows. It also supports 250+ marketplace integrations.
SourceKarat: Do candidates know they are being interviewed by a contractor rather than an employee?
Karat discloses that Interview Engineers are trained third-party interviewers rather than employees of the hiring company, though disclosure practices are set by the client.
Ashby: Does Ashby have a mobile app?
Ashby does not have native iOS or Android apps. The platform is cloud-based accessible via mobile web, but mobile functionality is limited compared to desktop.
SourceKarat: Can Karat interview for languages or stacks outside mainstream web and backend engineering?
Coverage depends on the pool of Interview Engineers Karat maintains for a given stack; niche or highly specialised roles may have less coverage than common web and backend roles.
Ashby: What is the minimum price for Ashby?
The Foundations plan starts at $400 per month for companies up to 100 employees. Plus and Enterprise plans are custom quoted based on company size.
SourceKarat: Is pricing per interview or per contracted block of volume?
Karat does not publish pricing; it is quoted per client based on expected interview volume and contract term.
Ashby: Can Ashby create and update jobs across multiple job boards?
Yes, Ashby integrates with job boards and allows you to manage candidate pipeline, scheduling, and analytics in one platform.
SourceRelated pages
Other head to heads
- Ashby vs Lever
- Ashby vs Jobvite
- Ashby vs Teamtailor
- Ashby vs SmartRecruiters
- Ashby vs JazzHR
- Ashby vs iCIMS
- Ashby vs Breezy HR
- Ashby vs Rippling
- Ashby vs Workable
- Ashby vs Deel
- Ashby vs Factorial
- Ashby vs Pilot
- Ashby vs HackerRank
- Ashby vs Indeed
- Ashby vs JobScore
- Ashby vs SAP SuccessFactors
- Ashby vs SeekOut
- Ashby vs Gem
- Ashby vs Codility
- Ashby vs Findem
- Ashby vs hireEZ
- Ashby vs Fetcher
- Ashby vs Glassdoor
- Ashby vs Checkr
- Ashby vs BrightHire
- Ashby vs Bullhorn
- Ashby vs Comeet
- Karat vs Lever
- Karat vs Jobvite
- Karat vs Teamtailor
- Karat vs SmartRecruiters
- Karat vs JazzHR
- Karat vs iCIMS
- Karat vs Breezy HR
- Karat vs Rippling
- Karat vs Workable
- Karat vs Deel
- Karat vs Factorial
- Karat vs Pilot
- Karat vs HackerRank
- Karat vs Indeed
- Karat vs JobScore
- Karat vs SAP SuccessFactors
- Karat vs SeekOut
- Karat vs Gem
- Karat vs Codility
- Karat vs Findem
- Karat vs hireEZ
- Karat vs Fetcher
- Karat vs Glassdoor
- Karat vs Checkr
- Karat vs BrightHire
- Karat vs Bullhorn
- Karat vs Comeet