What Is the Best Greenhouse Alternative for Full Cycle Recruiting?
Greenhouse is one of the most popular applicant tracking and recruiting tools on the market. Ever since it was founded in 2012, the company has been building a solid reputation and offering a comprehensive set of features for hiring and onboarding employees.
Moreover, they’ve put a big emphasis on diversion and inclusion and introduced many features aimed to mitigate unconscious bias.
It even might sound like they’re just too good to be true. We all know that first impressions can be deceiving. And it seems like this is exactly the case. The company has accumulated hundreds of reviews on websites like G2 and Capterra, and not all of them are flattering. People express numerous concerns regarding the tool’s high prices, overwhelming UX, and terrible customer support:
the best candidates faster
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We feel that Greenhouse actually slowed our recruiting process down in that there are a lot of extra processes in place that are not relevant to smaller companies.
This is why the need for reliable Greenhouse alternatives is on the rise. There are tons of modern yet affordable tools on the market. Take 100Hire as an example. It’s not as costly as its famous competitor but has an identical set of features for recruiting. There’s even a pipeline view available. So, why struggle over something so complex as Greenhouse?
In this article, we’re analyzing all the most common issues that current and former users faced while using the tool. And more importantly, we’re going to talk about better and more affordable alternatives to Greenhouse. So, read on!
What are the main reasons to look for Greenhouse alternatives?
Poor UX
With enormous and versatile tools like Greenhouse, it’s crucial to provide users with an intuitive interface and effective onboarding. Otherwise, people won’t be able to find half of the important features.
Unfortunately, poor user experience is one of the most common issues that users take with the tool. Many people complain that it’s virtually impossible to find what they need unless they know exactly where to look.
Moreover, there’s no way to get a full picture of all assignments and tasks. It takes too many clicks and actions to perform some simple and routine tasks. People even mention that the tool’s buttons don’t look like buttons. It may sound ridiculous, but imagine having to work with something so unintuitive every day!
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Navigating this site is like trying to solve a rubik's cube. I'm shocked that they've gotten this far along as a company with an interface that *everyone* in our company I've talked to about Greenhouse says is confusing.
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The UX/UI can feel a bit clunky, especially compared to rivals. Functionality is all there but not always intuitive.
Complex workflows
It’s quite clear that a tool so large and complex will have issues with flexibility. Still, it’s borderline irritating to go through tricky workflows in order to perform simple tasks. This problem is even more evident when it comes to small businesses.
Users report that Greenhouse doesn’t really feel adaptable and agile if you don’t have a big structured HR department.
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And since we often hire people who don't quite fit into a posted role, we'd like to be able to create a new role or category for certain types of people, but Greenhouse takes you through a lengthy and detailed workflow to do that.
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Reviewing any specific information (names of active candidates, current statuses) means I'm forced through a particular workflow each time rather than just seeing the big picture.
Clumsy interview scheduling
According to Greenhouse, scheduling interviews with candidates in their software is pretty straightforward. You need to choose an applicant’s profile and schedule an interview with them by pressing the corresponding button. The reservation will appear on your personal calendar.
So, why do people complain about this feature, then? According to some users, the interview scheduler doesn’t work as wished.
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The scheduling, while there have been some changes to it, can still be clunky at times, especially if each invite needs to say something different or you want to change tokens
No pipeline view
This is probably one of the most surprising things about Greenhouse. The recruitment pipeline is a convenient way to visualize different steps of your hiring process and keep an eye on what’s going on at each of them. If you don’t have a way to organize your applicants in handy columns, your applicant tracking system is just a list of random disorganized names. One could use Google Spreadsheet with the same result.
So, it left me unpleasantly surprised when I learned that Greenhouse doesn’t offer the pipeline view feature. You can track applicants in the tool’s dashboard only in the order they’ve applied. Another way is to apply dozens of filters in order to visualize all the processes in a meaningful way.
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There is just no easy way to visualize your pipeline in their interface
Clunky reports
The Greenhouse team markets their tool as a perfect solution for enterprises. So, there should be no problems with their analytics, shouldn’t it? Wrong.
Numerous people mention their dissatisfaction with the reports available in Greenhouse. Some call them clunky and hard to pull. Others mention meaningless limitations. Basically, you often have to scan through tons of unnecessary information to find what you need.
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Reporting could be much better. I would suggest that the user is able to choose all fields they want to report on and to be able to eliminate any they don't. Some visuals to support the reports would be useful too
Inattentive customer support and lack of training
To be completely honest, this is a common problem for big companies like Greenhouse. Basically, the bigger your company is, the poorer customer support you provide. And I think this is just unfair. With all the available resources, Greenhouse should at least try to provide top-notch training to their clients.
As it turns out, the company doesn’t offer any proper training whatsoever. Newcomes have to learn every complicated feature of the tool through trial and error. I can only imagine how much time and effort it takes to get a grasp of something as complicated and feature-rich as Greenhouse.
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Anyone who has ever transitioned to a new ATS knows that it is imperative to have a good vendor rep to assist with the transition, implementation, and training process. Calls would go unreturned for a week at a time. At a fast-growing enterprise in a full-employment economy, that is unacceptable.
Many users also mention numerous problems with Greenhouse’s customer support. Sometimes, their representatives take too long to answer. Others write about semi-robotic replies that are rarely helpful. Basically, if you contact their customer support, you can expect to receive an email with tons of irrelevant knowledge base articles in response.
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It would be nice if they had a better training system to really show you how to use a lot of their functionality. There are things that we find out about that would have been helpful to know but are already implemented in the system.
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Support is terrible, not in our time zone, there's no way to actually speak to a person and explain the problem (not to mention in real time) every time I need somethingI get an email with a billion links to resources that seldom solve the problem.
High price
When it comes to prices, Greenhouse can easily be one of the most expensive solutions on the market. Don’t just take my word for it. Its users have said it long before me:
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Greenhouse is one of the more expensive ATS.
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Greenhouse is very expensive compared to some other ATS I've used for a similar functionality.
So, how much does it cost, then? Greenhouse doesn’t really care about smaller companies as their target audience is primarily huge enterprises. The entry-level prices range somewhere between $6,000 (for a couple of dozen employees) to $25,000 per year. However, it’s safe to assume that their usual clients can pay up to $100K per year for the tool.
Moreover, you have to be prepared to pay something extra for important features. There’s simply no place for SMB or even mid-sized businesses here.
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I also think that charging additional for features that ensure fair hiring practices is a bit questionable from an ethics standpoint.
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Greenhouse is expensive, and there are basic functions that cost extra. For example if you want to categorize candidates that you might not be able to hire today, but may have a role in the future that is relevant- you would have to pay extra for a "CRM" for the ability to keep these candidates in the "candidate pool".
Limited permissions and notifications
Apparently, there are also some issues with permissions in Greenhouse. Users report that there are no job permissions. Moreover, they find it painful to set up proper notifications with the tool. It’s hard to control who receives updates about candidates’ availability which can lead to too much confusion.
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That everything is run on the job-level not the candidate level... making permissions and candidate sharing with team members a nightmare
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Notifications are something that greenhouse could do better with - it would be nice to give users some control over how much they want to be notified about.
Not functional mobile version
On the plus side, Greenhouse has created a mobile version of their tool. Basically, you can manage your recruiting processes from wherever you want. On the minus side, everyone says that it’s too glitchy to work with. Well, at least they tried.
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A few times I've tried to use Greenhouse on my smartphone and it's a real pain - as their mobile version is completely non-functional.
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Usually when I need access Greenhouse from smartphone I use "Desktop Mode" in mobile browser - It's usable, but painful as whole big page rendered on small screen and I need somehow click required menu buttons.
Why 100Hires is the best Greenhouse alternative
It’s pretty obvious that a perfect Greenhouse alternative would have to be intuitive, affordable, and 100% flexible. Enterprises may enjoy their monstrous toolset, but small businesses will be better off with modern agile software.
One such solution is 100Hires. The tool offers a comprehensive package of recruiting and applicant tracking features for any business. Source, attract, and onboard the best employees on the market from a simple and intuitive dashboard. Pricing plans start from $0.
Affordable pricing
As we’ve already discussed above, Greenhouse can be quite expensive for small businesses that don’t have a well-structured HR department. 100Hires offers pricing plans for all tastes. Its Start plan costs only $129/mo while the ‘Pro’ package is available for $289/mo.
Moreover, 100Hire is available FOR FREE — no hidden charges.
Yes, you got it right. There’s a free version of the 100Hires recruiting solution that includes all the most essential features. Add as many users to your account as you need, source up to 100 candidates each month, and add your custom pipeline stages. There’s no limitation on the number of jobs either.
Convenient pipeline view
Speaking of the recruitment pipeline feature… It’s also available with 100Hires. HR professionals will enjoy the ability to customize it to their tastes and business needs by adding any custom columns.
Once someone’s applied for a job, you can clearly track their progress and move them from one stage to another. This is a proven way to streamline the entire hiring process and stay on top of things.
Modern UX/UI
100Hires may not be the oldest tool out there, but who says it’s a bad thing? By choosing a relatively new solution, you won’t see any old-fashioned design patterns or clunky sections. The team has put all the modern technologies and their vast experience to make it as intuitive and easy to navigate as possible.
And if for some reason, you still have trouble finding something important, their support team is available in chat. Leave your questions, and professional representatives will gladly assist you.
If you want to finally switch from Greenhouse, just give 100Hires a try. Sign up for a free trial or create a free account in a few clicks.
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