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Technology · head to head

Greenhouse vs Tilt

Greenhouse logo

Greenhouse

Technology

Hiring software for growing companies

From
On request
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite
Tilt logo

Tilt

Developer Tools

Local Kubernetes development loop that rebuilds and live-updates containers on save

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Tilt has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Greenhouse core plan lacks talent discovery and contact lookups; Tilt docker acquired Tilt in 2022 and the team now splits its time across Compose and Docker Desktop, so feature velocity is modest and the product's long-term priority inside Docker is not guaranteed; treat it as a stable utility, not a growing platform.
  • They diverge on capability: Greenhouse covers Applicant tracking, Tilt covers Live update.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Greenhouse and Tilt actually diverge.

Attributes where Greenhouse and Tilt differ
AttributeGreenhouseTilt
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquoteOpen source, no licence fee
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, Ios, Android, ApiLinux, macOS, Windows
CategoryTechnologyDeveloper Tools
Founded2012Unknown

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).

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 Greenhouse

  • Applicant tracking
  • Interview scheduling
  • Scorecard system
  • Job board posting
  • Candidate CRM
  • Reporting & analytics
  • Offer management
  • EEO compliance

Only in Tilt

  • Live update
  • Tiltfile as code
  • Unified web UI
  • Selective rebuilds
  • Local and remote clusters
  • Resource dependencies
  • Extensions registry
  • Custom buttons and triggers

What people use each for

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

Greenhouse

  • Enterprise hiring and recruiting automationnot Tilt
  • Multi-location and multi-team talent acquisitionnot Tilt
  • Structured interview process managementnot Tilt

Tilt

  • A team of ten or more engineers whose application is fifteen microservices on Kubernetes and who currently wait on CI to test a changenot Greenhouse
  • An organisation onboarding new developers who want a single command that stands up the whole stack from a committed Tiltfilenot Greenhouse
  • A platform team giving product engineers a consistent local environment against a shared remote development clusternot Greenhouse
  • A codebase where one repository contains several services and rebuilding all of them on every edit is the main source of lost timenot Greenhouse

Where each one falls short

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

Greenhouse

  • Core plan lacks talent discovery and contact lookups
  • Core plan lacks email automation and applicant texting
  • Plus plan lacks resume anonymisation and application limits
  • Plus plan lacks audit logging and developer tools
  • Pricing customised by hiring volume and company size, not published
  • Only Pro tier offers audit logs and developer sandbox

Tilt

  • Docker acquired Tilt in 2022 and the team now splits its time across Compose and Docker Desktop, so feature velocity is modest and the product's long-term priority inside Docker is not guaranteed; treat it as a stable utility, not a growing platform.
  • The Tiltfile is Starlark, a Python dialect, so non-trivial setups become real programs that need reviewing and maintaining, and the person who wrote yours becomes a single point of failure.
  • Live update only works when the running container can accept synced files and restart the process; compiled languages, distroless images and read-only filesystems often force you back to a full image rebuild, which removes the main benefit.
  • It assumes Kubernetes. If your development target is plain Docker Compose or serverless functions, Tilt adds a cluster you did not need and a layer of abstraction with no payoff.
  • There is no commercial support contract, no SLA and no paid tier, so when a Kubernetes version upgrade breaks something you are dependent on GitHub issues and a Slack channel rather than a vendor you can escalate to.

Pricing, plan by plan

Greenhouse

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the Greenhouse review.

Tilt

Free
  • TiltFree
    • Apache 2.0 licensed
    • All features, no paid tier
    • Community support via the Kubernetes Slack #tilt channel

Which should you pick?

Choose Greenhouse if

  • You need applicant tracking.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android, Api.
  • You also want interview scheduling.
Greenhouse review

Choose Tilt if

  • You need live update.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows.
  • You also want tiltfile as code.
Tilt review

Questions people ask

Is Greenhouse or Tilt better?
Neither clearly leads. Greenhouse starts at On request and Tilt at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Greenhouse or Tilt?
Tilt has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Greenhouse and Free for Tilt.
Does Greenhouse or Tilt run on more platforms?
Greenhouse runs on Web, Ios, Android, Api. Tilt runs on Linux, macOS, Windows.
Can I use Tilt for free?
Yes. Tilt has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Greenhouse starts at On request.
What is Greenhouse best used for?
Greenhouse is most often used for enterprise hiring and recruiting automation, multi-location and multi-team talent acquisition, structured interview process management. Of those, enterprise hiring and recruiting automation and multi-location and multi-team talent acquisition are not what Tilt is typically brought in for.
What can Greenhouse do that Tilt cannot?
Greenhouse covers Applicant tracking, Interview scheduling, Scorecard system, Job board posting. Tilt covers Live update, Tiltfile as code, Unified web UI, Selective rebuilds.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Greenhouse: How much does Greenhouse cost?

Greenhouse does not publish specific pricing. The company states that pricing is customized based on your hiring needs, hiring volume, organizational complexity, and required features.

Source
Tilt: Is Tilt free?

Yes, entirely. It is Apache 2.0 open source with no paid tier and no licence fee.

Greenhouse: What are the Greenhouse pricing tiers?

Greenhouse offers three plan levels: Core (basic hiring structure), Plus (multi-location optimization), and Pro (complex enterprise hiring). Exact pricing requires contacting Greenhouse for a custom quote.

Source
Tilt: Who owns Tilt now?

Docker, which acquired it in May 2022. It remains open source and the repository is still actively maintained.

Greenhouse: Do all Greenhouse tiers include the same features?

No. Core includes sourcing and scheduling, Plus adds automation and texting, and Pro adds enterprise data configuration and audit logs. All tiers can be customized.

Source
Tilt: Do I need a remote cluster?

No. It works against a local cluster such as kind, minikube or Docker Desktop, and also against a shared remote development cluster if your services are too heavy to run locally.

Tilt: How is it different from Skaffold?

Both automate the build-deploy loop. Tilt puts more weight on the live-update path and a multi-service dashboard; Skaffold is more configuration-driven and closer to Google's tooling.

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