Softwr

Recruitment · head to head

Bullhorn vs Lever

Bullhorn logo

Bullhorn

Recruitment

Applicant tracking and CRM for staffing and recruitment agencies, including contract placement, timesheets and pay-bill

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Lever logo

Lever

Recruitment

Talent acquisition suite built for collaboration

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Bullhorn pricing is per user on annual contracts with minimum seat counts, so agencies with seasonal consultants pay for licences that sit idle for months.; Lever customized pricing requires sales contact, no public pricing
  • They diverge on capability: Bullhorn covers Recruitment CRM, Lever covers Applicant Tracking.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Bullhorn and Lever actually diverge.

Attributes where Bullhorn and Lever differ
AttributeBullhornLever
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidWeb
FoundedUnknown2012

Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), free tier (No), 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 Bullhorn

  • Recruitment CRM
  • Applicant tracking
  • Pay and bill
  • Bullhorn Automation
  • Onboarding
  • Executive search
  • Salesforce edition

Only in Lever

  • Applicant Tracking
  • Candidate CRM
  • Sourcing
  • Interview Management
  • Offer Management
  • LinkedIn
  • Indeed
  • Slack

Both cover

  • Analytics

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Bullhorn

  • A contract staffing agency that needs worked hours to become both a worker payment and a client invoice against one placement recordnot Lever
  • A recruitment firm where consultants sell to clients and manage candidates in the same working daynot Lever
  • An agency consolidating several acquired offices onto one system of recordnot Lever
  • An executive search practice needing assignment-based workflow rather than requisition-based trackingnot Lever

Lever

  • Applicant tracking from sourcing through offernot Bullhorn
  • Building and nurturing talent pipelines of passive candidatesnot Bullhorn
  • Automating interview scheduling, follow-ups and offer lettersnot Bullhorn
  • Reporting on hiring performance across sourcesnot Bullhorn
  • Screening at volume with AI ranking and recommendationsnot Bullhorn

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Bullhorn

  • Pricing is per user on annual contracts with minimum seat counts, so agencies with seasonal consultants pay for licences that sit idle for months.
  • The product estate has been assembled through a decade of acquisitions, which leaves overlapping modules, inconsistent interfaces and more than one supported way to do the same task.
  • Implementation and data migration are multi-month projects requiring paid services, and agencies moving from another system routinely underestimate the effort of cleaning candidate and client records first.
  • The interface is dated relative to newer recruitment tools, and consultants coming from consumer-grade software need real training rather than picking it up unaided.
  • It is built for agency economics and is a poor fit for corporate in-house hiring, where the client and margin concepts are meaningless and the licence cost buys capability that will never be used.

Lever

  • Customized pricing requires sales contact, no public pricing
  • Premium features like advanced CRM functionality require additional fees
  • Implementation requires some technical configuration

Pricing, plan by plan

Bullhorn

On request
  • Bullhorn ATS and CRM$undefined/year
    • Priced per user per month on an annual contract
    • Minimum user counts apply
    • Implementation and data migration quoted separately

Lever

On request
  • LeverTRM$undefined/month
    • ATS
    • CRM
    • Sourcing
  • LeverTRM for Enterprise$undefined/month
    • All LeverTRM features
    • Advanced Security
    • Dedicated Support

Which should you pick?

Choose Bullhorn if

  • You need recruitment crm.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want applicant tracking.
Bullhorn review

Choose Lever if

  • You need applicant tracking.
  • You also want candidate crm.
Lever review

Questions people ask

Is Bullhorn or Lever better?
Neither clearly leads. Bullhorn starts at On request and Lever at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Bullhorn or Lever?
Bullhorn starts at On request and Lever at On request.
Does Bullhorn or Lever run on more platforms?
Bullhorn runs on Web, iOS, Android. Lever runs on Web.
What is Bullhorn best used for?
Bullhorn is most often used for a contract staffing agency that needs worked hours to become both a worker payment and a client invoice against one placement record, a recruitment firm where consultants sell to clients and manage candidates in the same working day, an agency consolidating several acquired offices onto one system of record, an executive search practice needing assignment-based workflow rather than requisition-based tracking. Of those, a contract staffing agency that needs worked hours to become both a worker payment and a client invoice against one placement record and a recruitment firm where consultants sell to clients and manage candidates in the same working day are not what Lever is typically brought in for.
What can Bullhorn do that Lever cannot?
Bullhorn covers Recruitment CRM, Applicant tracking, Pay and bill, Bullhorn Automation. Lever covers Applicant Tracking, Candidate CRM, Sourcing, Interview Management. Both handle Analytics.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Bullhorn: Is Bullhorn suitable for in-house corporate recruiting?

No. It is built around client relationships, margins and placements. Corporate teams should buy a requisition-based ATS instead.

Lever: What is Lever used for?

Lever is modern recruiting software that centralizes recruiting into a single system for sourcing candidates, managing applications, scheduling interviews, collaborating with hiring managers, automating workflows, and measuring hiring performance.

Source
Bullhorn: Who owns Bullhorn?

Insight Partners has held a majority stake since 2012, and the company has grown substantially through acquisition since then.

Lever: Does Lever include both ATS and CRM?

Yes. Lever integrates comprehensive Applicant Tracking System (ATS) and Candidate Relationship Management (CRM) functionalities within a single offering called LeverTRM, with features like AI-powered screening and interview transcripts.

Source
Bullhorn: Does it handle temporary worker payroll?

It captures time, calculates pay and bill rates and produces payroll and invoicing outputs. Actual payroll processing is done by a payroll provider it exports to.

Lever: What integrations does Lever support?

Lever integrates with 300+ tools including Slack for notifications, Zoom for interviews, calendar applications for scheduling, background check services, job boards, and leading HRIS platforms for talent management workflows.

Source
Bullhorn: What does implementation involve?

Data migration, workflow configuration and training, typically several months for an established agency, with services charged on top of the licence.

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