Lever Review

Lever is the recruiting system a talent lead opens when applicants and people who are not applying yet have to share one database. The pricing page will not help you budget it, because every path there is a form. The FAQ says the rate is available upon request, scaled to team size and hiring needs, so the figure is specific to your team.

That is a different purchase from software you can approve this afternoon. JazzHR, sold by the same parent, prints three annual plans, the card to open when the job caps fit and you still want Employ. Workable prints a yearly figure for a company of 1 to 20 people, plus a trial, so a small team can use the product before a contract.

Ashby prints a monthly calculator through 100 employees, Greenhouse prints no dollar, and SmartRecruiters stops after one public floor.

Toolradar data: the September 2026 ATS ranking evaluated 30 tools. Six of the 10 tools on that list publish a paid price, and the median cheapest paid plan among them is $57 a month.

Lever's directory page is filed in that category, and you cannot price Lever from a public card, so the quote is the only Lever number.

Prices below were checked on each vendor's pricing page on September 24, 2026, and nobody paid for a place in this review.

How we compared: whether ATS and CRM sit in the published core, which AI pieces are extra quotes, and whether the dollar is visible before a call.

Lever is an applicant tracking system and a recruiting CRM sold together by Employ. Employ's about page says the company also sells JazzHR and Jobvite, and that more than 26,000 companies use its products. Lever's high-volume page says 5,000+ companies, so use that smaller figure for Lever and keep the larger number for the parent.

The pricing FAQ says every plan includes the core ATS, candidate relationship management, advanced reporting and analytics, and key integrations. The platform block adds AI screening, unlimited interview transcripts and summaries, and fraud signals, so a full loop does not add a per-interview meter inside the core.

Candidate Insights, AI Screening by VONQ, and Onboarding sit beside the block, and none of those three shows a price. Insights covers skills, fit, assessments, and references, VONQ screens high volume on the career site, and Onboarding handles new-hire paperwork, so each of those jobs can sit outside the core.

Jobvite's pricing page also prints no dollar, so two of the three Employ hiring products are quote-only, and JazzHR is the card you open when you need a number this week.

The same FAQ states SOC 2 Type II and says the AI uses watsonx.governance, backed by IBM. Hand that line to security, because it is a control you can paste into a questionnaire while the budget still waits on the quote.

You do not start Lever from a checkout: the pricing page asks for a quote, and the homepage offers a demo of ATS, CRM, automation, analytics, and integrations. Most customers are fully implemented within weeks, not months, so plan recruiter time for that window before the first req is live.

The homepage puts sourcing, applications, scheduling, hiring-manager collaboration, automation, and reporting in one system, so passive people and active applicants share a database. Talent Fit matches applicants to criteria you set, and the Screening Companion surfaces people and follow-ups.

Transcripts are marked unlimited inside the core, which is the interview cost to confirm on the quote.

The first quote can miss the year-one bill if VONQ, Candidate Insights, and Onboarding are missing from the same document as the core. Ask for all three in writing before you compare that total with a printed competitor.

The AI FAQ says recruiters keep the final say, the answer when legal asks whether a model can reject someone on its own.

If you are still choosing which system owns the req, read the Greenhouse review and the AI recruiting tools guide. Notes like this one run in the HRpresso brief.

Lever's pricing page is a quote form, and the FAQ says the rate is available upon request and tailored to organization size and hiring needs. No seat rate and no implementation fee are printed, so a spreadsheet has nothing honest to enter this week.

Candidate Insights, VONQ screening, and Onboarding stay extra lines until the quote includes them, which is how the year-one bill outgrows the core.

JazzHR is the priced product from the same parent. Plus is $3,480 a year and Pro is $5,508 a year, billed annually, so the step between them is public. Hero is the cheaper annual plan, with job posts starting at 3 a month, which rules it out if you hire more often than that.

Plus allows up to 200 active jobs and adds AI matching and structured interviews, and Pro adds offers and eSignatures. Posting can be limited by eligibility rules, and some add-ons are consumption-based with no rate printed, so the annual card can still grow, and those caps are on the JazzHR directory record.

Workable's yearly view for 1 to 20 employees shows Standard at $299 a month ($3,588 a year), the printed year a small company can set next to a Lever quote. Premier and Enterprise sit higher on that same view, and larger headcount bands were not copied here, so a bigger company needs its own row.

The annual toggle is labeled save 20%, and bundling recruiting and HR saves up to 20%, so confirm which discount is on the order.

On Standard, texting is $89 a month, video interviews are $109 a month, assessments are $59 a month, and performance and engagement is $39 a month. Those lines sit on top of the Standard year once the team texts candidates or runs video screens.

Premier includes texting, video, assessments, referrals, and performance, and unlimited jobs are subject to fair usage, so a hiring spike can still fall outside the plan.

The trial is 15 days of Standard, with no credit card, and it excludes the Agent. Paid plans include 3,000 AI credits, and more credits are $0.12, $0.10, or $0.095 each by bundle. Those credits expire after a year and are non-refundable, so leftovers are not next year's budget.

Ashby's monthly Foundations menu runs from $300 for 1 to 10 employees to $900 for 76 to 100, and the page opens on 11 to 25 at $400. A company under 100 people can hand finance a headcount row, which Lever's quote form does not offer.

Annual commitments are 10% off, the middle bands are in the table below, and emerging-market pricing is separate, so confirm the band if you are off the default card.

Plus (101 to 1,000 employees) and Enterprise (1,000 or more) publish no platform price, so the calculator stops once headcount crosses 100. Foundations SSO is $100 a month and extra texts are $90 per 1,000, while each plan includes 200 email lookups and the AI Notetaker has no printed price.

Read Ashby in the directory when you want that calculator beside the other hiring systems.

SmartRecruiters Essential starts at $14,995 with ATS, CRM, onboarding, SMS, job distribution, and scheduling, so onboarding is inside the entry floor. Professional, High Volume, and Complete are quotes for an AI hiring agent, candidate screening, or advanced analytics, and the page cites 4,000 companies.

Greenhouse Core, Plus, and Pro are customized to hiring needs and print no dollar, so kits, scorecards, and the higher-tier sandbox are another quote.

See Greenhouse, Workable, and SmartRecruiters in the directory.

Get one Lever quote that names the core, the three add-ons, and any implementation fee before you compare it with JazzHR or Workable.

Lever fits a talent team that wants ATS and CRM in one system, nurtures people between reqs, and will wait for a quote that itemizes the three add-ons. The 5,000+ line is the scale Lever claims for itself, so brief leadership with that figure and keep the parent count off the slide.

It is a weak fit when the number has to exist this week. Price JazzHR first if its job caps cover you, because it is the same parent with a printed year. Open Workable for a trial in the small-company band, and open Ashby's calculator when headcount is under 100 and finance will approve a monthly menu.

Skip Lever if you wanted a free ATS: that September 2026 ranking says 20% of the 30 tools it tracks have a free plan, and Lever's page is outside that group. Skip it too if onboarding, career-site screening, or scored assessments must be in the first number and the seller will not write them in.

Take the Greenhouse quote when kits and scorecards are the reason you are buying. The Greenhouse review is that buyer's page, and SmartRecruiters fits when onboarding has to be named in the entry tier.

For a first HR system, use the startup HR software guide and the HR software roundup.

AI screening and the law sit in the hiring-bias note, and the req still starts with how you write the job.