# Applicant tracking systems: what AI models recommend, November 2026

Gane Index, November 2026 Edition. Asked as "applicant tracking system" and as "ATS", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/talent/applicant-tracking-systems

**Standing:** Greenhouse leads with 30% of first choices; verdict contested. 57 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Greenhouse](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/greenhouse/index.md) | 30% | 9% | 57 |
| 2 | [Workable](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/workable/index.md) | 16% | 5% | 42 |
| 3 | [Breezy HR](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/breezy-hr/index.md) | 14% | 0% | 30 |
| 4 | [Ashby](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/ashby/index.md) | 11% | 2% | 41 |
| 5 | [Zoho Recruit](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/zoho-recruit/index.md) | 9% | 0% | 26 |
| 6 | [Lever](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/lever/index.md) | 5% | 8% | 50 |
| 7 | [100Hires](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/100hires/index.md) | 4% | 0% | 17 |
| 8 | [Manatal](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/manatal/index.md) | 4% | 7% | 14 |
| 9 | [JazzHR](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/jazzhr/index.md) | 2% | 15% | 26 |
| 14 | [Pinpoint](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/pinpoint/index.md) | 0% | 0% | 16 |
| 15 | [BambooHR](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/bamboohr/index.md) | 0% | 17% | 24 |
| 17 | [Rippling](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/rippling/index.md) | 0% | 17% | 12 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 53 products named; products with the same share are tied, and the order among them carries no meaning. The table lists those with at least 10 labels.

## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt

- Claude Haiku 4.5: no first choice; alternatives BambooHR, Greenhouse, Jobvite, Lever
- GPT-5.4 mini: Greenhouse; alternatives Lever, Workable
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Ashby; alternatives Greenhouse, Lever, Pinpoint
- Perplexity Sonar: Greenhouse; alternatives Ashby, Lever, Pinpoint, Workable
- Grok 4.20: Greenhouse; alternatives Ashby, Workable
- Mistral Small: Workable; alternatives Ashby, Greenhouse, Lever, Zoho Recruit
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Ashby; alternatives Greenhouse, Lever
- Llama 4 Maverick: no first choice
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Ashby, Greenhouse; alternatives Lever, SmartRecruiters
- Kimi K2: Greenhouse; alternatives Ashby, Lever
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Breezy HR, Workable; alternatives Ashby, Crelate
- MiniMax M2.5: Breezy HR, Workable; alternatives Ashby, BambooHR, Greenhouse, JazzHR
- GPT-6 Luna: Ashby; alternatives Greenhouse, Lever
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Greenhouse, Lever, Workable; alternatives Ashby, BambooHR

## Sources the answers cite

74 of 84 answers came back with a source list, from 14 of 14 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- forbes.com: 31 answers, 32 citations
- leadchangegroup.com: 29 answers, 46 citations
- lever.co: 24 answers, 35 citations
- capterra.com: 20 answers, 37 citations
- zapier.com: 20 answers, 20 citations
- pinpointhq.com: 17 answers, 17 citations
- 100hires.com: 11 answers, 13 citations
- greenhouse.com: 10 answers, 11 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://forbes.com/advisor/business/best-applicant-tracking-systems (29 answers)
- https://zapier.com/blog/best-applicant-tracking-systems (20 answers)
- https://leadchangegroup.com/applicant-tracking-systems/mid-market (19 answers)
- https://pinpointhq.com/insights/best-applicant-tracking-system (15 answers)
- https://capterra.com/resources/best-applicant-tracking-system (12 answers)
- https://lever.co/blog/best-applicant-tracking-system (11 answers)
- https://leadchangegroup.com/applicant-tracking-systems/compare (10 answers)
- https://lifthcm.com/article/best-applicant-tracking-systems-ats (10 answers)
- https://geekflare.com/guides/best-applicant-tracking-system (9 answers)
- https://gem.com/blog/best-applicant-tracking-system (9 answers)

## Warned against

- Workday Recruiting: 12 of 25 labels negative. "Workday is the most frequently criticized ATS based on user feedback... Many recruiters and candidates describe it as one of the "worst" systems" (Grok 4.20, negative prompt)
- Oracle Taleo: 10 of 10 labels negative. "Frequently criticized for being clunky, unreliable, and frustrating for both recruiters and candidates" (Kimi K2, negative prompt)
- iCIMS: 8 of 22 labels negative. "notoriously complex to implement (often taking 6-12 months), expensive to maintain, with high licensing and professional services costs, and difficult to use" (Claude Haiku 4.5, negative prompt)
- SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting: 7 of 10 labels negative. "Avoid: Enterprise suites (Workday, SAP SuccessFactors, UKG Pro)" (Kimi K2, scale prompt)

## Movement since October 2026

Floor: 13 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: Greenhouse at 30%.

- Greenhouse: 40% to 30%, −10. Inside the floor by 3 points · rank 1 of 53, unchanged.
- Workable: 9% to 16%, +7. Inside the floor by 6 points · rank 4 → 2 of 53.
- Pinpoint: 3% to 0%, −3. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 7 → 14 of 53.
- Breezy HR: 12% to 14%, +2. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 2 → 3 of 53.
- Lever: 7% to 5%, −2. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 6 of 53, unchanged.
- 100Hires: 2% to 4%, +2. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 9 → 7 of 53.
- JazzHR: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 13 → 9 of 53.
- Ashby: 10% to 11%, +1. Inside the floor by 12 points · rank 3 → 4 of 53.
- Manatal: 3% to 4%, +1. Inside the floor by 12 points · rank 8 of 53, unchanged.
- Zoho Recruit: 9% to 9%, ±0. Inside the floor by 13 points · rank 5 of 53, unchanged.
- BambooHR: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 13 points · rank 14 → 15 of 53.
- Rippling: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 13 points · rank 15 → 17 of 53.

## Record

- Method: https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/methodology
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, November 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/hr.