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Recruitment · head to head

Manatal vs SmartRecruiters

Manatal logo

Manatal

Recruitment

Low-cost applicant tracking and recruitment CRM with candidate enrichment, sold to both in-house teams and agencies

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
SmartRecruiters logo

SmartRecruiters

Recruitment

Talent acquisition suite for hiring success

From
$14995/year
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Manatal pricing is per recruiter seat, so putting every hiring manager into the system to review candidates multiplies the licence count and erases the price advantage.; SmartRecruiters no native video interviewing tool; requires third-party solution
  • They diverge on capability: Manatal covers Candidate enrichment, SmartRecruiters covers Applicant Tracking.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Manatal and SmartRecruiters actually diverge.

Attributes where Manatal and SmartRecruiters differ
AttributeManatalSmartRecruiters
Starting priceOn request$14995/year
Pricing modelPer user per monthsubscription
FoundedUnknown2010

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 Manatal

  • Candidate enrichment
  • AI candidate scoring
  • Recruitment CRM
  • Multi-board posting
  • CV parsing
  • Careers page builder
  • Custom pipelines
  • Reporting

Only in SmartRecruiters

  • Applicant Tracking
  • CRM
  • Recruiting Marketing
  • AI Matching
  • Onboarding
  • Analytics
  • Marketplace
  • LinkedIn

What people use each for

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

Manatal

  • A small recruitment agency that needs client, candidate and placement tracking without an enterprise contractnot SmartRecruiters
  • An in-house team in Asia Pacific that wants candidate enrichment without paying enterprise ATS pricesnot SmartRecruiters
  • A company processing high applicant volume that needs automated ranking to triage a shortlistnot SmartRecruiters
  • A recruiter running both contingent search and internal hiring from one databasenot SmartRecruiters

SmartRecruiters

  • Reducing time-to-hire from 23 days to 9 daysnot Manatal
  • Scaling high-volume hiring with 50% increase in velocitynot Manatal
  • Engaging candidates with conversational AI chatbotsnot Manatal
  • Automating interview scheduling reducing administrative work by 97%not Manatal
  • Screening candidates with AI talent matching enginenot Manatal

Where each one falls short

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

Manatal

  • Pricing is per recruiter seat, so putting every hiring manager into the system to review candidates multiplies the licence count and erases the price advantage.
  • Candidate enrichment depends on public profile data, so accuracy drops sharply in markets where professional networking sites have low penetration and the scores become misleading rather than useful.
  • Integrations with major HRIS and payroll systems are limited compared with Western competitors, so new hire handover is frequently a CSV export rather than a sync.
  • Support operates on Indochina business hours, which leaves European afternoons and all of North American working hours outside the responsive window.
  • Reporting covers recruiter activity and source data but lacks the cohort and quality-of-hire analysis a mature talent function expects, and custom analysis means exporting to a spreadsheet.

SmartRecruiters

  • No native video interviewing tool; requires third-party solution
  • Reporting tools lack advanced customization; creating custom reports is difficult
  • Mobile app functionality is limited compared to desktop version
  • Integration with external HR systems can be unreliable with synchronization problems
  • Limited customization options to capture position-specific information
  • Subscription fees locked during contract term even if company headcount decreases

Pricing, plan by plan

Manatal

On request
  • Professional$undefined/month
    • Per recruiter seat
    • Unlimited jobs and candidates
    • Candidate enrichment and AI scoring
  • Enterprise$undefined/month
    • Per recruiter seat at a higher rate
    • Custom fields and advanced permissions
    • Recruitment CRM for agency use
  • Custom$undefined/year
    • Negotiated terms for larger teams
    • Single sign-on and security review
    • Dedicated account management

SmartRecruiters

$14995/year
  • Essential$14995/year
    • ATS functionality
    • CRM features
    • Onboarding
  • Professional$null/year
    • All Essential features
    • AI-powered Hiring Agent
    • AI Talent Matching Engine
  • High Volume$null/year
    • All Professional features
    • AI-powered Candidate Screening
    • Conversational AI Chat
  • Complete$null/year
    • Full suite with Advanced Analytics
    • Advanced Sandbox
    • Custom in-app guidance

Which should you pick?

Choose Manatal if

  • You need candidate enrichment.
  • You also want ai candidate scoring.
Manatal review

Choose SmartRecruiters if

  • You need applicant tracking.
  • You also want crm.
SmartRecruiters review

Questions people ask

Is Manatal or SmartRecruiters better?
Neither clearly leads. Manatal starts at On request and SmartRecruiters at $14995/year, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Manatal or SmartRecruiters?
Manatal starts at On request and SmartRecruiters at $14995/year.
Does Manatal or SmartRecruiters run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
What is Manatal best used for?
Manatal is most often used for a small recruitment agency that needs client, candidate and placement tracking without an enterprise contract, an in-house team in asia pacific that wants candidate enrichment without paying enterprise ats prices, a company processing high applicant volume that needs automated ranking to triage a shortlist, a recruiter running both contingent search and internal hiring from one database. Of those, a small recruitment agency that needs client, candidate and placement tracking without an enterprise contract and an in-house team in asia pacific that wants candidate enrichment without paying enterprise ats prices are not what SmartRecruiters is typically brought in for.
What can Manatal do that SmartRecruiters cannot?
Manatal covers Candidate enrichment, AI candidate scoring, Recruitment CRM, Multi-board posting. SmartRecruiters covers Applicant Tracking, CRM, Recruiting Marketing, AI Matching.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Manatal: Is it for agencies or in-house teams?

Both. The agency mode adds client and placement management; the corporate mode is a conventional ATS. Buying the wrong mode means paying for modules you never open.

SmartRecruiters: Does SmartRecruiters have a free tier?

No. As of 2026, SmartRecruiters discontinued the free SmartStart tier. The platform requires a demo and evaluation call; entry-level Essential tier pricing starts around $15,000 per year.

Source
Manatal: How is it priced compared with other ATS products?

Per recruiter seat per month. That is not comparable with vendors that charge per active job slot or per employee, so model your real user count before comparing headline numbers.

SmartRecruiters: How does SmartRecruiters billing work?

SmartRecruiters charges by total company headcount, not by recruiter seats. Subscription fees cannot decrease during a contract term even if headcount shrinks mid-contract.

Source
Manatal: Where is candidate data hosted?

On cloud infrastructure with GDPR commitments, but region-specific residency guarantees are weaker than EU-native vendors offer, which matters for regulated European buyers.

SmartRecruiters: What integrations does SmartRecruiters support?

SmartRecruiters integrates with Slack, Microsoft Teams, and offers a Slack marketplace integration for sending interview notifications and scheduling updates directly to channels.

Source
Manatal: Does the AI scoring actually work?

It ranks reliably against structured requirements such as skills and experience length. It is far less reliable where enrichment data is sparse.

SmartRecruiters: What are SmartRecruiters' core features?

SmartRecruiters offers end-to-end recruiting including Winston AI talent matching, job distribution, career site builder, applicant tracking, interview scheduling, analytics, and onboarding tools.

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