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Recruitment · head to head

Occupop vs SmartRecruiters

Occupop logo

Occupop

Recruitment

Applicant tracking built for small and mid-sized European employers that hire without a dedicated recruiter

From
On request
Rated
-
SmartRecruiters logo

SmartRecruiters

Recruitment

Talent acquisition suite for hiring success

From
$14995/year
Rated
-

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Occupop there is no outbound sourcing or passive candidate search, so any role that will not fill from applications has to be worked in LinkedIn Recruiter or an agency and tracked back manually.; SmartRecruiters no native video interviewing tool; requires third-party solution
  • They diverge on capability: Occupop covers Multi-board posting, SmartRecruiters covers Applicant Tracking.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Occupop and SmartRecruiters actually diverge.

Attributes where Occupop and SmartRecruiters differ
AttributeOccupopSmartRecruiters
Starting priceOn request$14995/year
Pricing modelquotesubscription
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 Occupop

  • Multi-board posting
  • Branded careers page
  • Candidate scoring
  • Interview scheduling
  • Talent pools
  • Hiring manager collaboration
  • Offer management
  • 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.

Occupop

  • An Irish employer that needs applications tracked in one place and posted to Irish boards without manual re-keyingnot SmartRecruiters
  • A hospitality or care group hiring the same roles repeatedly across multiple sitesnot SmartRecruiters
  • A public sector or charity buyer that requires candidate data to stay inside the European Unionnot SmartRecruiters
  • A company where line managers do the hiring and will abandon anything that needs trainingnot SmartRecruiters

SmartRecruiters

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

Where each one falls short

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

Occupop

  • There is no outbound sourcing or passive candidate search, so any role that will not fill from applications has to be worked in LinkedIn Recruiter or an agency and tracked back manually.
  • Integration coverage is thin outside the Irish and UK ecosystem, so a company running a US payroll or a major HRIS will usually be exporting CSV files rather than syncing new hires.
  • Reporting answers time to hire and source questions but does not support the cohort or funnel analysis a talent team needs once it runs dozens of requisitions at once.
  • The vendor is small, which means the roadmap moves slowly and there is no realistic pressure a mid-market customer can apply to get a feature built.
  • Pricing is quoted rather than published and is structured around plan tiers and hiring volume, so seasonal employers can find the annual cost jumps in the year they run a peak recruitment campaign.

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

Occupop

On request
  • Occupop$undefined/year
    • Unlimited users on most plans
    • Multi-board job posting
    • Branded careers page

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 Occupop if

  • You need multi-board posting.
  • You also want branded careers page.

Choose SmartRecruiters if

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

Questions people ask

Is Occupop or SmartRecruiters better?
Neither clearly leads. Occupop 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, Occupop or SmartRecruiters?
Occupop starts at On request and SmartRecruiters at $14995/year.
Does Occupop or SmartRecruiters run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
What is Occupop best used for?
Occupop is most often used for an irish employer that needs applications tracked in one place and posted to irish boards without manual re-keying, a hospitality or care group hiring the same roles repeatedly across multiple sites, a public sector or charity buyer that requires candidate data to stay inside the european union, a company where line managers do the hiring and will abandon anything that needs training. Of those, an irish employer that needs applications tracked in one place and posted to irish boards without manual re-keying and a hospitality or care group hiring the same roles repeatedly across multiple sites are not what SmartRecruiters is typically brought in for.
What can Occupop do that SmartRecruiters cannot?
Occupop covers Multi-board posting, Branded careers page, Candidate scoring, Interview scheduling. SmartRecruiters covers Applicant Tracking, CRM, Recruiting Marketing, AI Matching.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Occupop: Where is candidate data stored?

Inside the European Union, which is the reason many Irish public sector and healthcare buyers shortlist it over larger non-EU vendors.

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
Occupop: Does it do candidate sourcing?

No. It manages inbound applications and talent pools. Sourcing passive candidates happens elsewhere.

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
Occupop: Is it priced per recruiter?

No. Plans are sold on tier and hiring volume with unlimited users on most tiers, which suits companies where many managers need access.

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
Occupop: Will it scale past a few hundred employees?

It handles the hiring volume, but companies with a dedicated talent function usually move to a system with sourcing, CRM and deeper analytics.

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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