Manatal vs Recruit CRM pricing and cost per seat for recruitment agencies

Both vendors publish a head-to-head page, and both are among the first results a buyer sees. On 30 September 2026 Manatal's Recruit CRM comparison said Recruit CRM pricing starts at $49 a user a month and put Recruit CRM Business at $79. Recruit CRM's US card, shipped in its own pricing page data, is $95 for Pro and $135 for Business on annual billing. The $49 figure matches the euro Pro price Recruit CRM shows visitors in Europe; neither figure is what a US buyer pays.

Recruit CRM's page against Manatal says its no-code automation builder is available on all plans. Its own pricing page includes workflow automation only on Enterprise, with 1,000 tasks a user a month, and sells it on Pro and Business as an add-on billed across every user on the account. Both statements can be true in a narrow sense: the builder exists on every plan, but you pay extra to run it below Enterprise.

So neither comparison page gives you the real gap. On current US prices, like for like, it is Manatal Enterprise at $35 against Recruit CRM Business at $135, about four to one. The Recruit CRM figures here follow our Recruit CRM pricing breakdown, which covers the regional cards and every add-on in detail.

Yes, on every published tier. Manatal's most expensive published plan, Enterprise Plus at $55 a user a month, costs $40 less than Recruit CRM's cheapest, Pro at $95. Paid monthly, Manatal Enterprise is $39 against Recruit CRM Business at $159.

The annual discount is also uneven, and the headline percentages hide it. Manatal's annual price saves 21% on Professional but only 10% on Enterprise and 7% on Enterprise Plus. Recruit CRM's saves about 13% on Pro, 15% on Business and 17% on Enterprise. If you plan to pay monthly, Manatal's gap widens slightly; if you pay annually for the top tier, Recruit CRM closes a little of it.

Cheaper does not mean the same product at a lower price. Manatal is built to be a low-cost AI ATS that also works for in-house HR teams. Recruit CRM is built for staffing agencies first: dual candidate and client pipelines, deal tracking, commission and revenue reporting, and a separate timesheets and invoicing module for contract desks.

Manatal puts its screening AI on every plan. AI recommendations of candidates for a job, automatic scoring, customizable weighting of criteria, match summaries and the AI Copilot, which compares and ranks candidates, are all on Professional at $15. The one AI product sold separately is the AI Interviewer.

Recruit CRM spreads its AI differently. The AI resume parser, GPT integration and natural-language AI sourcing are on Pro, but candidate matching is rationed: 2 matches on Pro, 50 on Business. Its AI agents lean toward agency admin work, formatting resumes, building candidate submissions and drafting pitch emails to clients. It also ships an MCP server, as does Manatal on Enterprise Plus.

In practice, Manatal's AI is stronger at the screening step for the money, and Recruit CRM's is stronger at the client-facing paperwork an agency repeats all day. If you want a closer look at how the screening layer compares across agency tools, see our guide to AI candidate screening software for staffing agencies.

For a one to three recruiter permanent placement agency that mostly screens applicants and sources on LinkedIn, Manatal Enterprise is the better value. Unlimited jobs, workflow automation and AI scoring for $35 a seat, monthly billing if you want it, and 30+ free job boards once the account is verified.

For an agency that lives on outbound and client management, Recruit CRM Business earns its premium. Unlimited sequences, bulk texting, 50 AI matches, SSO and the executive search report generator are all on the $135 seat, and Recruit CRM advertises 24/7 live chat support against Manatal's 24/5. Contract staffing desks should lean further toward Recruit CRM, because Manatal lists no timesheets, pay or billing features at all.

If neither fits because you need a sourcing database built in, the next step up is Loxo. Our Manatal vs Loxo and Loxo vs Recruit CRM comparisons price that jump on both sides.

Agencies usually look for a Recruit CRM alternative for one of two reasons: the Business seat at $135 feels heavy for a small team, or the add-ons billed on total users made the invoice grow faster than the headcount. Manatal is the cheapest credible answer to the first problem. It does not solve the second in the same way, because Manatal's extras (the AI Interviewer, branded guest portal, own job board contracts) are unpriced add-ons of their own.

Before switching, check three things against your current Recruit CRM setup: how many active email sequences you run, whether anyone relies on the client and deal pipeline, and whether contract placements need timesheets. If the answers are few, no and no, Manatal will cost about a quarter as much for similar day-to-day use.

One, from Recruit CRM, the per-user price of each add-on you need and confirmation that it is billed on all users, since that is what moves the invoice. Two, whether the US card you are quoted matches $95, $135 and $215, since the page is priced by region. Three, the cost of extra enrichment credits outside Enterprise.

Four, from Manatal, the price of the AI Interviewer if you plan to use it. Five, how many candidate contact reveals your plan includes, since the pricing page lists the feature but not the allowance.

Both products are systems a recruiter drives. Whichever you choose, someone still writes the search, reads each profile against the brief, decides who is worth contacting and chases the follow-up. On a desk carrying ten or more open reqs, that time is what limits placements, not the ATS.

That is the gap HireAgent covers. It sources, screens and ranks candidates against the brief, drafts personalized outreach and books interviews, and returns a shortlist with the evidence behind every score. It connects to the ATS you keep, so it can sit next to Manatal or Recruit CRM rather than replace either one. Plans start at $299 a month, or $1,794 a year billed annually, and scale with seats, open roles and sourcing volume.