Recruitment · head to head
Indeed vs Karat
Indeed
Recruitment
Job search app aggregating listings, owned by Recruit Holdings, the same parent as Glassdoor
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
Karat
Recruitment
Outsourced technical interviewing, engineers conduct your candidate interviews for you
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Only Indeed has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: Indeed search ranking is influenced by which employers pay for sponsored placement, so prominent listings are not purely a match to relevance or seeker preference.; 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: Indeed covers Aggregated job search, Karat covers Interview Engineers.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Indeed and Karat actually diverge.
Identical on both: 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 Indeed
- Aggregated job search
- One-click apply
- Job alerts
- Salary and company info
- Skills assessments
- Application tracking
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.
Indeed
- Searching and filtering job listings across many employers and other job boards in one placenot Karat
- Applying to multiple jobs quickly using a saved Indeed resume via one-click applynot Karat
- Setting alerts for new postings matching a specific role, location or salary rangenot Karat
- Checking aggregated salary estimates for a role before an interview or negotiationnot Karat
Karat
- A company scaling engineering headcount quickly and unable to free up enough internal engineer time for first-round technical interviewsnot Indeed
- A hiring team wanting a consistent bar across interviewers when growth has diluted interview qualitynot Indeed
- A seasonal hiring push, such as a new-grad or intern cohort, that needs a large volume of structured interviews in a short windownot Indeed
- A company that has measured interviewer no-shows or inconsistent scoring as a source of candidate drop-offnot Indeed
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Indeed
- Search ranking is influenced by which employers pay for sponsored placement, so prominent listings are not purely a match to relevance or seeker preference.
- It shares the same parent company, Recruit Holdings, as Glassdoor, so treating the two as fully independent sources of employer information overstates their independence from each other.
- Listing quality varies widely since postings are aggregated from many sources, and duplicate, expired or low-quality listings are a common complaint.
- One-click apply can encourage high volume, low-tailoring applications, which employers increasingly filter out with their own screening tools regardless of Indeed's reach.
- Resume and application data uploaded to Indeed is used across its own products and shared with employers a user applies to, which is the trade for the free service.
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
Indeed
Free- Job seeker accountFree
- Free search, application and alerts
Karat
On request- Karat$undefined/year
- Interview Engineer coverage
- Structured technical interviews
- Interview analytics and calibration
Which should you pick?
Choose Indeed if
- You need aggregated job search.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on iOS, Android, Web.
- You also want one-click apply.
Questions people ask
- Is Indeed or Karat better?
- Neither clearly leads. Indeed starts at Free and Karat at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Indeed or Karat?
- Indeed has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Indeed and On request for Karat.
- Does Indeed or Karat run on more platforms?
- Indeed runs on iOS, Android, Web. Karat runs on Web.
- Can I use Indeed for free?
- Yes. Indeed has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Karat starts at On request.
- What is Indeed best used for?
- Indeed is most often used for searching and filtering job listings across many employers and other job boards in one place, applying to multiple jobs quickly using a saved indeed resume via one-click apply, setting alerts for new postings matching a specific role, location or salary range, checking aggregated salary estimates for a role before an interview or negotiation. Of those, searching and filtering job listings across many employers and other job boards in one place and applying to multiple jobs quickly using a saved indeed resume via one-click apply are not what Karat is typically brought in for.
- What can Indeed do that Karat cannot?
- Indeed covers Aggregated job search, One-click apply, Job alerts, Salary and company info. Karat covers Interview Engineers, Structured scoring, High-volume screening, Interview intelligence.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Indeed: Is Indeed free for job seekers?
Yes, searching, applying and setting alerts are all free; only employers pay, for sponsored placement.
Karat: 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.
Indeed: Are Indeed and Glassdoor connected?
Yes, both are owned by Recruit Holdings, the Japanese company that also owns Recruit staffing businesses in Japan.
Karat: 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.
Indeed: Does paying for a sponsored listing guarantee more qualified applicants?
No, sponsorship affects visibility and volume of applications, not their quality.
Karat: 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.
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