What ATS should a freelance recruiter starting out use?

A freelance recruiter starting out should pick an ATS with a single affordable seat, unlimited jobs, built-in job posting and GDPR tooling, priced under roughly EUR 100 per month. Recruitifly’s Freelancer tier (EUR 70 per month, or EUR 58 billed annually) is built for exactly this. Below roughly five active roles, a spreadsheet can still work.

What does an ATS for freelance recruiters need to do?

Working alone changes what the software is for. There is no coordinator chasing updates and no sourcer feeding your pipeline, so the system has to cover everything that happens between calls. A first ATS earns its fee with five things:

1. A pipeline per role you can drag candidates through in seconds, so status is always true.
2. CV parsing, so every application becomes a searchable profile without retyping.
3. Multiposting, so one job reaches the boards you use from one screen instead of six tabs.
4. GDPR basics: consent tracking, retention rules, and the ability to honour a deletion request without an afternoon of archaeology.
5. Contact history on the candidate record, not buried in your inbox.

Everything beyond that, approval chains, custom permission roles, client portals, HRIS hand-offs, exists for teams. You are not a team yet. Buying it now is how solo recruiters end up paying for software they resent. For the full solo workflow picture, see our deep dive on the best ATS for a one-person recruiting desk.

What should solo recruiter software cost?

Far less than one placement fee per year. That is the only benchmark that matters: the tool exists to protect and accelerate fees, so its annual cost should be a small fraction of a single one.

Concretely, Recruitifly prices the solo desk at EUR 70 per month, or EUR 58 per month billed annually. That includes one seat, unlimited jobs, open-market candidate sourcing, posting to hundreds of boards, and 150 Actions of automated work each month. An Action covers things like parsing a CV, scoring a match, or letting the Fly assistant draft outreach for your approval. Busy month? Action packs start at EUR 30 for 250 and never expire, so a quiet August does not waste a hectic September’s budget. Full numbers are on the pricing page.

Two honest caveats. First, if you are running fewer than about five active roles, you may not need any of this yet; we wrote do I need an ATS as an independent recruiter for exactly that question. Second, beware of plans that look cheap per month but charge separately for job posting, parsing volume or support. The sticker is not the bill.

Which features matter on day one, and which can wait?

The left column is about speed and about not dropping things. The right column becomes relevant when clients want logins, when you hire a second recruiter, or when a placement has to flow into a client’s payroll system. A good vendor lets you switch those on later instead of charging you for them on day one.

How do you choose your first ATS?

1. Write down your real workflow for one role, from sourcing to placement, including the messy parts: WhatsApp threads, chasing interview feedback, the candidate who reapplies. The tool has to fit this, not a demo script.
2. Shortlist only vendors with published pricing. If you need a sales call to learn the price, the price was not designed for a one-person desk.
3. Trial with one live role, not sample data. Post it, parse real CVs, move real candidates through stages. You will know within a week.
4. Check the exit before you enter. Can you export candidates, notes and documents in a usable format? You want a door, not a trap.
5. Decide within two weeks. Tool shopping is procrastination with better branding.

The long version of this process, with every question to ask a vendor, is in how to choose an ATS: the checklist.

Where does Recruitifly fit for a freelance recruiter?

Recruitifly was built in Amsterdam with the one-person desk as a first-class customer rather than the cheapest row on an enterprise pricing grid. The Freelancer tier carries unlimited jobs, one-click posting to hundreds of boards, sourcing across the open market, and the Fly assistant, which drafts and proposes every change for your confirmation, in the app or straight from Slack, Telegram or WhatsApp. Candidate data stays on EU infrastructure with GDPR tooling built in, which matters the day a client asks where their applicants’ data lives.

The honest footnote: Recruitifly is currently in private beta. If you are starting your desk this year, talk to us to join the beta. Bring one live role and see whether the workflow fits before you commit to anything.