Recruitment software pricing in India follows four models: per recruiter seat per month, per open requisition, a flat platform fee by company size, or pay as you go on the hiring you run. Published Indian plans start near 999 rupees a month and reach 2,500 rupees per recruiter per month; global tools quote $15 to $165 per user; implementation, integrations, AI add-ons and 18 per cent GST sit on top.
Key takeaways:
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The headline price is rarely the bill. For a 20-recruiter team, the lines left out of the first quote can add more than half again.
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Per-seat pricing punishes growth. Per-requisition pricing punishes volume. Pay as you go follows what you hire.
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Most Indian vendors do not publish prices. The ones that do are listed below with dates and links.
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Free plans exist and work for one recruiter with one job. They stop working at the first agency or the first approval chain.
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A budget your CFO will sign has five lines and an ROI example from last quarter's time to fill.
Ask a vendor what recruitment software costs in India and you get a demo invitation. The pages that rank for this question are either a global cost guide with no rupee figure or an India tool list where cost is one FAQ at the bottom . This guide puts the published prices in one table with the date they were read, explains the four models, does the maths for a 5, 20 and 50 recruiter team, lists the costs that arrive after the first call, and gives you twelve questions to ask before the demo.
How recruitment software is priced in India: the four models
Per recruiter seat per month
The common model. Each recruiter is a licence, billed monthly or annually, with hiring managers and interviewers often free or cheaper. Examples with published prices: greytHR Recruit at 2,500 rupees per recruiter per month as an add-on to its HR suite ; Manatal from $15 per user per month on an annual plan; Bullhorn Starter at $99 and Core at $165 per user per month; Recruiterflow at $149 per user per month . Zoho Recruit's help documentation lists Standard at $30 and Enterprise at $60 per user per month ; its public pricing page now shows plans without numbers, and INR figures come from partners. Seat pricing suits a team whose headcount is stable and whose hiring is steady.
Per open requisition or job slot
The price follows the number of active jobs, not the number of people using the system. Keka Hire prices its plans by active job cap: Basic from 999 rupees a month for two active jobs, Pro from 1,999 for ten, Advanced at 2,999 for unlimited. Zoho Recruit also caps active jobs per licence: ten on Standard, twenty on Enterprise. Requisition pricing suits an agency with few open roles and many recruiters, and punishes an agency with the opposite.
Flat platform fee by company size
One monthly fee for the company, banded by employee count, with unlimited or generous users. Workable charges $299 a month on Standard, $599 on Premier and $719 on Enterprise, with the band set by headcount . Platform pricing suits a company with many occasional users such as hiring managers, and costs most for a small team that hires rarely.
Pay as you go
The price follows the hiring you run: requisitions processed, candidates screened, calls made. No seat minimum and no annual contract. Recruit360.AI uses this model. A month with twelve requirements costs less than a month with forty, and an agency that adds three recruiters in a busy quarter does not add three licences. The worked example later in this guide shows how it compares at three team sizes.
Start with the basics in our guide to what a recruitment management system is.
Recruitment software price list for India
All prices read on 15 October 2026 from the vendor's pricing page or the named listing, before GST. "Not published" means the vendor quotes on request. This table will go stale; the sources section carries every link so you can re-check.
| Tool | Model | Starting price | Free plan or trial | AI included or add-on | Source |
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| Recruit360.AI | Pay as you go | On usage; quote by volume | 15-day free trial, no card | Profile Recommendation Engine, AI Interview and Agent Calling included | recruit360.ai |
| Keka Hire | Per plan by active jobs | 999 rupees per month (Basic, 2 jobs); 1,999 (Pro, 10 jobs); 2,999 (Advanced, unlimited) | Free trial, length not published | JD generation on Pro; CV match score on Advanced | Keka support |
| greytHR Recruit | Per recruiter | 2,500 rupees per recruiter per month (add-on to greytHR) | Core HR 7-day trial | AI scoring and pre-screening bot described as part of Recruit | greythr.com |
| Zoho Recruit | Per user, jobs capped | $30 Standard, $60 Enterprise per user per month (help docs); INR via partners | Free plan (1 active job per licence); 15-day trial | AI on Standard; AI candidate matching on Enterprise | Zoho help |
| factoHR | Per recruiter add-on | $75 per recruiter per month on top of the HR plan | Free HR plan up to 20 employees | Chatbot add-on; recruitment AI not detailed | factohr.com |
| Manatal | Per user | $15 per user per month (annual); $19 monthly | 14-day trial, no card | AI recommendations included; AI Interviewer add-on | manatal.com |
| Workable | Platform by headcount | $299 per month Standard; $599 Premier; $719 Enterprise | 15-day trial, no card | Workable Agent is a credit-based add-on | workable.com |
| Recruiterflow | Per user | $149 per user per month (Platform plan) | Demo | AIRA agents on the AIRA plan only | recruiterflow.com |
| Bullhorn | Per user | $99 Starter; $165 Core per user per month | None | AI from Pro tier upward | bullhorn.com |
| Ceipal | Not published | Capterra lists $25 per user per month | On request | AI ranking listed; add-on status not stated | ceipal.com; Capterra |
| iSmartRecruit, Naukri RMS, Darwinbox, JobDiva, Greenhouse | Not published | Quote on request | Demo | Varies | Vendor pages |
One note on Freshteam, which older lists still include: Freshworks stopped renewals from 7 March 2026 and is winding the product down. Do not budget for it.
What drives the recruitment software cost up
Seat minimums and annual contracts
Many per-seat tools sell in blocks of five or ten seats and bill a year in advance. A team of seven pays for ten. A team that shrinks in month four keeps paying for twelve. Ask whether seats can go down at renewal and whether monthly billing exists at a premium.
Implementation, data migration and training fees
Setup is often a separate line: configuration of the requisition workflow, migration of the candidate database, and recruiter training. Bullhorn includes implementation on its small-agency plans; most enterprise suites quote it separately. Ask for the number in writing before the demo ends.
Integrations billed per connector (Naukri, LinkedIn, HRMS, WhatsApp)
Each connection can be its own charge: a premium job board subscription for Naukri, a LinkedIn Recruiter System Connect, an HRMS connector, a WhatsApp Business API provider. Zoho Recruit, for example, posts to Naukri through a Zwayam key with your own Naukri subscription on top . List every connector you need and ask for the price of each.
AI features sold as add-ons with usage limits
AI is increasingly metered. Workable's Agent runs on credits, 5,000 for $600 and 50,000 for $4,750. Manatal's AI Interviewer is an add-on. Zoho's AI candidate matching sits on the Enterprise plan. Ask what is included, what is metered, and what one month of your screening volume would cost.
GST and currency: what the invoice shows
Indian vendors add 18 per cent GST. Global vendors bill in dollars, and the rupee cost moves with the exchange rate and card charges. For a dollar-priced tool, budget the rupee figure at a rate above today's.
Per-seat vs per-requisition vs pay as you go: the maths for 5, 20 and 50 recruiters
The chart below is illustrative. It uses a 2,500 rupee seat price, a 2,000 rupee per active requisition price with 1.5 live requisitions per recruiter, platform tiers of 3, 6 and 12 lakh, and pay-as-you-go usage scaled to the same requisition count. Your numbers will differ; the shape will not.
At five recruiters, the platform fee is the expensive option and seats are cheap. At fifty, seats cost the most and the platform fee looks reasonable. Per-requisition pricing climbs fastest for a team with many live roles. Pay as you go tracks the requisition count without the seat count, which is why it suits agencies and companies whose hiring moves quarter to quarter. Run the same four lines with your own seat count and requisition count before you compare quotes.
Is free recruitment software enough?
Free plans are real. Zoho Recruit's Forever Free plan allows one active job per recruiter licence; factoHR's free tier covers companies up to twenty employees. For one recruiter running one or two roles, they work. They stop working at the first agency submission, the first requisition that needs two approvals, or the first report a hiring manager asks for. Most teams move off a free plan inside six months, and the migration costs more than the licence they saved.
How to build a recruitment software budget your CFO will sign
Five lines: licence or usage at your seat count for twelve months; implementation and migration; each integration, named; AI usage at your expected screening volume; training and support tier. Add GST. Then put one more number beside it.
The ROI example: 10 hires a month, 3 days off time to fill
SHRM's 2025 benchmarking puts the median time to fill at about 45 days. Suppose your team makes ten hires a month and the software removes three days of approval and feedback delay from each. That is 30 hiring days a month returned to the business, before counting recruiter hours saved on screening. Put a value on a vacant day for your roles, multiply, and compare it with the five-line budget. The recruitment metrics guide shows how to measure the three days once the system is live.
12 pricing questions to ask a vendor before the demo
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What is the total cost in year one at exactly our seat count, including everything on this list?
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What is the price in year two?
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Is there a seat minimum, and can seats go down at renewal?
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Is billing monthly or annual, and is there a monthly option?
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What does implementation and data migration cost, and who does it?
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What does each of these integrations cost: Naukri, LinkedIn, our HRMS, WhatsApp?
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Which AI features are included and which are metered? What would one month of our screening volume cost?
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Are hiring managers and interviewers free users?
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Is pricing in rupees or dollars, and does GST apply?
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What is the cost of a vendor portal for our agencies?
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What happens to our data and our price if we leave?
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Is there a free trial on live roles, and does it need a card?
The buyer's guide on how to choose recruitment software puts these on the scoring matrix beside the feature questions.
Why Recruit360.AI prices the way it does?
Recruit360.AI is priced pay as you go. There is no seat minimum, no annual contract and no charge for hiring managers, interviewers or agencies in the vendor portal. The Profile Recommendation Engine, AI Interview and Agent Calling are part of the product rather than metered add-ons. A quote is built from your requisition volume, and a quiet month costs less than a busy one. The 15-day free trial needs no card and runs on live roles, so the trial itself produces the time-to-fill number for the ROI line above. Ask for the quote at your volume on the call; we put every line in writing, including GST.
Frequently asked questions
How much does recruitment software cost in India?
Published Indian plans start around 999 rupees a month for a small plan with a job cap and run to about 2,500 rupees per recruiter per month. Global tools quote $15 to $165 per user per month. Many vendors publish nothing and quote on request. Add implementation, integrations, AI usage and 18 per cent GST.
What is the cheapest recruitment software in India?
Free plans from Zoho Recruit and factoHR cover one recruiter with a job or two. Among paid plans, Keka Hire's Basic at 999 rupees a month and Manatal at $15 per user per month are the lowest published entry prices as of October 2026.
How is ATS pricing in India structured?
Per recruiter seat, per active job, a flat platform fee by headcount, or pay as you go. Most vendors use seats; Keka Hire uses active jobs; Workable uses a platform fee; Recruit360.AI uses pay as you go.
What is pay-as-you-go recruitment software?
Pricing that follows the hiring you run, such as requisitions processed and candidates screened, with no seat minimum or annual contract. A busy month costs more than a quiet one, and adding a recruiter does not add a licence.
Are hiring managers charged as users?
It varies. Many per-seat tools make hiring managers and interviewers free or cheaper. Platform-fee and pay-as-you-go tools usually do not charge for them. Ask.
What hidden costs should I expect?
Implementation and data migration, each integration billed separately, AI features metered by usage, training, seat minimums, annual billing and GST. The receipt graphic above lists them.
Is Zoho Recruit priced in rupees?
Zoho's public pricing page shows plans without figures. Its help documentation lists $30 and $60 per user per month for Standard and Enterprise. Indian partners quote rupee prices. Confirm with Zoho or a partner on the day.
Does AI cost extra in recruitment software?
Often. Workable meters its AI agent by credits, Manatal sells its AI Interviewer as an add-on, and Zoho puts AI matching on its top plan. Recruit360.AI includes its AI features in the usage price.
Should I pay annually or monthly?
Annual plans are cheaper per month and lock the seat count for a year. Monthly plans cost more and let seats fall. For a team whose size changes, the monthly premium can be cheaper than paying for empty seats.
Is there free recruitment software in India?
Free tiers exist but cap candidates, users or features. Recruit360.AI starts free with credits, then pay-as-you-go in INR — so costtracks real hiring activity, not headcount.
How do I calculate the ROI of recruitment software?
Take last quarter's time to fill and hires per month. Estimate the days the software removes from approval, screening and feedback. Multiply the days saved by the cost of a vacant day for your roles, add recruiter hours saved, and compare with the five-line budget.