Free Applicant Tracking Systems for UK Employers

Last reviewed: 24 October 2026. Every free plan below was checked on the vendor's own pricing page on that date (see Sources). Free plans change often, so check the page again before you commit.

The short answer: a handful of applicant tracking systems have a free plan with no time limit: Zoho Recruit, Breezy HR, Jobsoid, Giig Hire, Dover and Marxel, plus OpenCATS if you can host it yourself and Impact Jobs if you're a UK charity. Each one limits something different. Zoho Recruit, Breezy HR and Jobsoid allow one active job; Giig Hire, Jobsoid and Marxel allow one user; Breezy HR and Dover limit how far back you can see candidates. Pick the free plan whose limit you won't hit: one job at a time for a whole team, or one recruiter running many jobs.

This guide is for employers hiring their own staff. If you searched "free ATS" to check your CV, you want an ATS CV checker, not this.

Free ATS Plans at a Glance

ATS	Free plan limit	Users	Active jobs	The catch	Cheapest paid plan (as published)
Zoho Recruit	1 active job per recruiter licence	Not stated	1 per recruiter	No add-ons; sourcing, resume management and the hiring pipeline are on paid plans	Standard; price shown by calculator only
Breezy HR	1 active job or candidate pool at a time	Unlimited	1	You can only fully access candidates added in the last 30 days	Startup $157/month (annual) or $189
Jobsoid	1 job posting, 1 user	1	1	Some add-ons are paid only	Lite $49/month (annual) or $59
Giig Hire	1 user	1	Unlimited	Careers page shows 3 jobs	Starter from €14.60 per user/month
Dover	Recent candidate and analytics history only	Unlimited	Unlimited	Capped tags, templates and feedback forms; basic careers page	Premium $199/month
Marxel	200 CV screens a month	1	Unlimited	One team member; no multiposting beyond one job board feed	Standard £50/month
OpenCATS	None: open source	No cap	No cap	You install, host, secure and update it yourself	Free
Impact Jobs	Free for UK charities and not-for-profits	Not stated	Not stated	Charities only; paid job adverts sold separately	Paid job advert packages

Prices are as each vendor shows them. Most are in US dollars or euros, so a UK team's cost moves with the exchange rate. None of these pricing pages names a UK or EU hosting region for the free plan.

What "Free" Usually Limits

Free ATS plans make money by being too small for a growing team. The limit falls in one of four places, and the right plan is the one whose limit you won't hit:

Active jobs. Zoho Recruit, Breezy HR and Jobsoid let you run one job at a time. Fine if you hire one role a quarter; useless if you have three open roles.
Users. Giig Hire, Jobsoid and Marxel give one user. Fine for a founder or a solo recruiter; awkward when a hiring manager wants to see the candidates.
History. Breezy HR and Dover limit how far back you can see candidates. You lose easy access to last month's silver medallists.
Who can use it. Impact Jobs is only for charities. OpenCATS has no limits, but costs you the time and skills to host it.

Write down how many roles you'll have open at once, and who needs to log in, before you sign up anywhere.

Each Free ATS in Detail

Zoho Recruit — best if you already use Zoho

Free plan: "Forever Free", one active job per recruiter licence, with candidate management, email management, interview scheduling and 8/5 support. Add-ons are not supported on Free. Candidate sourcing, resume management, premium job boards, the hiring pipeline and 50+ integrations are listed as Standard features.

Choose it if your business already runs on Zoho apps and you hire one role at a time. Zoho's pricing page doesn't print a per-plan price for Standard; it shows a calculator instead.

Breezy HR — best free plan for a team hiring one role at a time

Free plan: "Bootstrap", described as "a free-forever way to get started". Unlimited users, one active job opening or candidate pool at a time, posting to 50+ job boards, and unlimited access only to candidates added in the last 30 days.

Choose it if several people need to review candidates for one role. Unlimited users is rare on a free plan. Watch for the 30-day window: plan to export or move on before you need older candidates.

Jobsoid — best for one person, one role

Free plan: "Beginner", with one job posting, one user account, unlimited candidates and the mobile apps. Jobsoid's FAQ says the free plan includes "the entire software except for some add-ons that are available on paid plans."

Choose it if you're a founder filling one role and want a full feature set to try. Lite is $49/month billed annually.

Giig Hire — best free plan for one recruiter with many roles

Free plan: "Free Forever" for one user, with unlimited jobs, candidates and CVs. The custom careers page shows three jobs.

Choose it if one person runs several open roles. The paid plan is priced per user in euros, so check the cost of adding a hiring manager before you commit.

Dover — unlimited users and jobs, limited history

Free plan: "Free ATS", $0, with unlimited users, jobs and candidates, a basic careers page, sourcing and CRM, and Gmail and Outlook integrations. Free shows recent candidate and analytics history (Premium shows the full history), and caps tags, email templates, referrers and interview feedback forms.

Choose it if you want no caps on users or jobs and can live with recent history. Premium is $199/month, priced in US dollars.

Marxel — best when the problem is too many applications

Free plan: unlimited active jobs and 200 CV screens a month across your organisation, one team member, no credit card. You can publish jobs, take applications, and screen every CV against criteria built from your job description. Each candidate gets a Best match band (Strong, Good, Partial or Low) with the must-haves they meet and the CV evidence behind it, and you can export to CSV.

Choose it if your roles attract more CVs than you can read properly, and you want a reason for every shortlist decision. Marxel is our product, so here's where it's weaker: Free has one team member, while Breezy HR and Dover allow unlimited users. Screening stops at 200 CVs a month until you upgrade (Standard is £50/month for 1,000). Marxel publishes one job board feed that Indeed, Adzuna, Talent.com and Jooble can read, but it doesn't multipost to other boards, where Breezy HR posts to 50+.

OpenCATS — free and open source, if you can host it

Free plan: the whole product. OpenCATS describes itself as a "free, community-maintained applicant tracking system and recruiting CRM" that you host yourself; its site doesn't offer a hosted version. The latest release on its homepage is v0.11.1.

Choose it if you have someone who can run a PHP and MariaDB server, keep it patched and back it up. You become responsible for securing your candidates' personal data on that server.

Impact Jobs — free for UK charities

Free plan: Impact Jobs offers its applicant tracking system free to "all charities and not for profit companies across the UK", with CVs viewed on a secure employer dashboard and no downloads or training needed. Its paid packages are for job adverts.

Choose it if you're a UK charity that also advertises on Impact Jobs. The page doesn't set out limits, so ask what's included before you rely on it.

Free Trials That Get Listed as Free

Many "free ATS" lists include tools that only offer a trial. On 24 October 2026 these had no free plan on their own pricing pages: Workable (15-day trial, Standard $299/month), Manatal (14-day trial), Recooty (15-day trial), Homerun (15-day trial), Talentlyft (14-day trial), BambooHR, Bullhorn and Recruiterflow. Teamtailor, Recruitee, Pinpoint and JobAdder don't publish prices. Freshteam appears in older lists with a free plan, but its pricing page no longer loads, so we've left it out.

Before You Put Candidate Data in a Free ATS

A free plan doesn't change your obligations under UK GDPR. You're still the controller of your candidates' data, and the ATS vendor is your processor, so you need a written processing agreement with them (Article 28). Before you sign up, check four things:

Data processing agreement. Can you get one on the free plan, or only on paid plans?
Hosting region. None of the pricing pages above names one. Ask where candidate data is stored, and how it's transferred if it leaves the UK.
Export. Can you download your candidates and notes as CSV? You'll need them when you outgrow the free plan.
Retention. Can you delete candidates after your retention period?

Our GDPR-compliant CV screening guide covers retention, privacy notices and automated decisions in more detail.

Which Free ATS Should You Pick?

A team hiring one role at a time: Breezy HR (unlimited users, one active job).
One person hiring for several roles: Giig Hire or Dover.
One person hiring for one role: Jobsoid or Zoho Recruit.
More applications than you can read: Marxel. Two hundred CV screens a month on Free, each with the evidence behind it.
A UK charity: Impact Jobs.
You have technical staff and want no vendor at all: OpenCATS.

When you outgrow a free plan, compare the first-year cost of the paid options, not just the monthly price. Our ATS pricing guide shows how.

FAQ

Is there a completely free applicant tracking system?

Yes, with limits. Zoho Recruit, Breezy HR, Jobsoid, Giig Hire, Dover and Marxel all have free plans with no time limit, and OpenCATS is free open-source software you host yourself. Each free plan limits users, active jobs, history or screening volume.

What's the best free ATS for a small UK business?

It depends on which limit you'd hit first. If several people review candidates for one role, Breezy HR allows unlimited users on its free plan. If one person runs several roles, Giig Hire and Dover allow unlimited jobs. If the problem is the number of applications, Marxel's Free plan screens 200 CVs a month with evidence for each.

Do free applicant tracking systems comply with UK GDPR?

The software can't make you compliant on its own. You're the data controller, so you need a data processing agreement with the vendor, to know where the data is hosted, and a way to delete candidates when your retention period ends. Check these before you add any real candidates.

Is a free trial the same as a free plan?

No. A trial, such as Workable's 15 days or Manatal's 14, ends and then you pay or lose access. A free plan has no end date but has permanent limits.

Does Marxel have a free plan?

Yes. Marxel's Free plan includes unlimited active jobs and 200 CV screens a month across your organisation for one team member, with no credit card. Standard is £50/month for 1,000 CV screens; Plus is £120/month for 3,000 and up to five team members. See Marxel pricing.

Sources

All accessed 24 October 2026.