7 Essential Applicant Tracking System Features for 2025

In today’s competitive talent market, especially for remote-first roles, a generic applicant tracking system just doesn’t cut it. The right combination of applicant tracking system features can transform your hiring process from a chaotic administrative burden into a streamlined, data-driven engine for growth. It’s the difference between finding a good candidate and attracting the perfect one.

This guide moves beyond the basics, diving deep into the essential features that modern recruiting teams need to source, engage, and hire top talent efficiently. We’ll explore not just what these features do but how to leverage them strategically to build a world-class remote team, ensuring you make an investment that delivers a powerful return.

You will gain a clear understanding of the core functionalities that separate an average ATS from a great one. We will analyze the specific feature sets of leading platforms like Workable, Breezy HR, and Greenhouse, providing screenshots and direct links for each. This breakdown is designed to help you confidently evaluate your options and select the system with the precise applicant tracking system features needed to solve your unique hiring challenges and scale your recruitment efforts effectively. Let’s get started.

1. Workable

Workable stands out as a comprehensive, all-in-one recruiting platform, particularly well-suited for small to mid-market companies aiming to streamline their hiring process. Its core strength lies in combining a powerful applicant tracking system with a full suite of HR tools, offering a scalable solution that grows with your team. The platform automates many of the most time-consuming recruiting tasks, from posting jobs to scheduling interviews.

Unlike many competitors that gate their pricing, Workable provides complete transparency with plans clearly detailed on its website. It even offers a 15-day free trial without requiring a credit card, allowing teams to fully explore its applicant tracking system features before committing. This user-friendly approach extends to its interface, which is known for being intuitive and easy to navigate.

Key Features and Benefits

Workable’s platform is designed for efficiency and collaboration. Its AI-powered screening assistant helps you quickly identify top candidates, while customizable interview kits and scorecards ensure a fair and consistent evaluation process for every applicant.

• Broad Job Distribution: Paid plans include unlimited active jobs and automatically post them to over 200 premium and free job boards, maximizing your reach.
• Streamlined Scheduling: The two-way calendar sync and self-scheduling links eliminate the back-and-forth of coordinating interviews, saving significant time for recruiters and candidates.
• End-to-End Hiring: Manage the entire process from offer letter templates and internal approvals to native e-signatures and integrated background checks.
• Compliance and Reporting: Robust analytics and built-in compliance tools for EEO, OFCCP, CCPA, and GDPR help you make data-driven decisions while mitigating risk. To see a detailed breakdown of how it compares to other platforms, you can learn more about this recruitment software comparison.

Pricing and Scalability

Workable’s pricing is based on your company’s employee count, starting at $149 per month for up to 50 employees on the “Starter” plan. While this model is straightforward, costs can increase as your company grows. Premium features like texting, assessments, and video interviews are available as modular add-ons, allowing you to customize your toolkit without paying for features you don’t need. Single Sign-On (SSO) support is also available, making it a secure and scalable option for growing businesses.

Website: https://www.workable.com

2. Breezy HR

Breezy HR is designed for small to medium-sized businesses that need a user-friendly and visually driven recruiting platform. It simplifies the hiring process with a drag-and-drop pipeline interface, making it easy to track candidates through every stage. Its core appeal lies in its quick setup and a generous “Free Forever” plan, which allows companies to manage one active position without any cost, making it an excellent entry point into modern recruiting.

Unlike platforms that hide their pricing, Breezy HR offers complete transparency with multiple tiers clearly outlined on its site, catering to different business needs. The platform also provides a 14-day free trial of its full feature set, allowing teams to explore its capabilities thoroughly. This focus on accessibility and clear, straightforward functionality makes its applicant tracking system features particularly attractive to teams that need to get up and running quickly.

Key Features and Benefits

Breezy HR excels at automating communication and streamlining collaboration. Its candidate automation features can handle everything from sending questionnaires to scheduling interviews, freeing up valuable time for hiring managers to focus on finding the right talent.

• Branded Career Sites: Quickly create and customize a professional career site to attract top talent and automatically distribute your openings to over 50 free job boards.
• Candidate Automation: Use stage actions, questionnaires, and self-scheduling links to automate repetitive tasks and keep candidates engaged throughout the hiring process.
• Seamless Integrations: Native integrations with Gmail and Office 365, alongside mobile apps for iOS and Android, allow your team to manage hiring from anywhere.
• Compliance and Screening: Built-in EEOC/OFCCP reporting helps maintain compliance, while integrations with background check and assessment providers streamline candidate vetting.

Pricing and Scalability

Breezy HR’s pricing structure is one of its strongest selling points, starting with a “Bootstrap” plan that is free forever for one active position. Paid plans begin at $171 per month for the “Startup” tier, with all plans supporting unlimited users and candidates. This model is ideal for collaborative teams. For more advanced needs, optional add-ons like AI-powered candidate matching, SMS messaging, and employee onboarding tools are available, allowing you to build a custom solution. However, advanced reporting and some administrative controls are reserved for higher-tier plans.

Website: https://breezy.hr

3. JazzHR

JazzHR is a powerful, user-friendly recruiting solution designed specifically for the hiring needs of small and growing businesses in the US. It focuses on making the hiring process more efficient and collaborative, offering an intuitive platform that helps teams find and hire the right talent faster. The system is known for its transparent pricing and flexible month-to-month options, making it accessible for companies that need a scalable solution without a long-term commitment.

Unlike platforms that lock essential tools behind enterprise-level plans, JazzHR provides core applicant tracking system features across all its tiers, with the ability to add active jobs a la carte on its entry-level plan. This flexibility allows businesses to pay for exactly what they need as their hiring demands fluctuate. The platform emphasizes ease of use, ensuring that even teams without dedicated recruiters can manage their pipeline effectively.

Key Features and Benefits

JazzHR’s feature set is built to streamline every stage of the recruitment lifecycle, from creating compelling job ads to sending out offer letters. Its configurable workflows allow you to customize hiring stages to match your unique process, while higher-tier plans introduce AI to help surface the most qualified candidates automatically.

• Job Syndication and Posting: Post jobs to a wide network of free and premium job boards with a single click, maximizing visibility. For guidance on creating effective listings, you can learn more about how to write job descriptions that attract top talent.
• Collaborative Hiring Tools: Involve your entire team with customizable interview guides, real-time feedback, and discussion threads within the candidate’s profile.
• Offer Management: Streamline the final steps with customizable offer letter templates, internal approval workflows, and integrated e-signatures to secure your new hire quickly.
• Visual Reporting and Analytics: Higher-tier plans provide insightful, visual reports on key metrics like time-to-hire, source effectiveness, and pipeline health to inform your recruiting strategy.

Pricing and Scalability

JazzHR offers three clear pricing tiers, starting with the “Hero” plan at $49 per month, which includes three open jobs. Businesses can add more job slots as needed. The “Plus” and “Pro” plans, priced at $239 and $359 per month respectively, unlock unlimited jobs and more advanced features like AI-powered candidate matching and enhanced reporting. While some add-ons like texting are usage-based, the platform includes data migration assistance on select plans, making it a strong choice for businesses looking to upgrade their hiring tech stack.

Website: https://www.jazzhr.com

4. Greenhouse

Greenhouse is a premier recruiting platform designed for scaling organizations, from mid-market to enterprise levels. It excels by promoting a structured and fair hiring process, empowering companies to build a repeatable system for finding and hiring top talent. The platform is celebrated for its deep analytics and an extensive ecosystem of third-party integrations, making it a central hub for all hiring activities.

Unlike platforms with fixed pricing tiers, Greenhouse takes a consultative approach, with pricing available upon request through a demo. This model ensures that large and complex organizations get a tailored solution that fits their specific needs. While the initial setup can be more involved due to its advanced configurations, the result is a highly customized system that aligns perfectly with a company’s unique hiring culture and workflow.

Key Features and Benefits

Greenhouse’s applicant tracking system features are built to support data-driven talent acquisition and collaborative decision-making. Its focus on structured hiring helps reduce unconscious bias and improves the quality of hires by ensuring every candidate is evaluated against the same criteria.

• Structured Hiring & Scorecards: Create consistent interview plans and scorecards for each role, ensuring every candidate is assessed fairly and objectively across the hiring team.
• Powerful Integrations: Boasts one of the largest partner marketplaces, with seamless integrations for everything from background checks and assessments to sourcing tools and HRIS platforms.
• Candidate Source Tracking: Generate unique tracking links for different channels to precisely measure the ROI of your sourcing efforts and optimize your strategy.
• In-depth Analytics: Access a comprehensive suite of reports to track key metrics like time-to-hire, offer acceptance rates, and pipeline health, which are crucial for effective talent acquisition best practices.

Pricing and Scalability

Greenhouse does not publish its pricing online; instead, it provides custom quotes based on a company’s size, needs, and the specific product package required. While this lack of transparency can be a hurdle for smaller businesses, it allows for a highly scalable and customized solution for larger companies. The platform is proven to handle high-volume recruiting and complex hiring workflows, making it a top choice for organizations anticipating significant growth.

Website: https://www.greenhouse.io

5. iCIMS

iCIMS positions itself as an enterprise-grade solution within its comprehensive iCIMS Talent Cloud, holding its place as a leader by market share. It is designed for large, global organizations, particularly those in regulated industries that require robust security, scalability, and deep integration capabilities. The platform provides a powerful foundation for managing complex, high-volume hiring needs from sourcing to onboarding.

Unlike platforms that offer transparent, tiered pricing, iCIMS operates on a quote-based model tailored to the specific needs of an enterprise. This approach reflects its focus on custom, large-scale deployments that often involve significant implementation and integration with existing HCM systems like Workday and SAP. The platform is built to handle the entire talent lifecycle, not just tracking applicants.

Key Features and Benefits

iCIMS is engineered to consolidate talent data and streamline enterprise-level recruiting workflows. Its dynamic candidate profiles unify information from various sources, using AI to provide recruiters with actionable insights for better decision-making.

• Enterprise-Scale Integrations: With a marketplace of over 300 partners, iCIMS seamlessly connects with essential HR tech, from background check services to major HCM platforms.
• High-Volume Hiring Tools: Features like native text recruiting, automated interview scheduling, and AI-powered screening are built to manage thousands of applicants efficiently. These applicant tracking system features are critical for optimizing the candidate journey, and you can learn more about how to improve the candidate experience.
• Advanced Analytics and Reporting: Comprehensive dashboards provide deep insights into every stage of the hiring funnel, enabling data-driven strategy and ensuring compliance.
• Security and Reliability: The platform is designed for complex and regulated environments, promising a strong security posture and 99.9% subscription availability.

Pricing and Scalability

Pricing for iCIMS is available only by requesting a custom quote, as it is tailored to the size, complexity, and specific needs of each organization. This model is typical for enterprise software and means there is a required sales process. While this complexity and cost may be beyond the scope of smaller teams, it provides the scalability and custom configuration required by large, multinational corporations with intricate hiring processes.

Website: https://www.icims.com

6. Ashby

Ashby positions itself as a modern, all-in-one recruiting platform designed to consolidate workflows and boost productivity for lean, ambitious teams. It uniquely combines an applicant tracking system, CRM, scheduling automation, and powerful analytics into a single interface. This focus on tool consolidation aims to reduce software sprawl and streamline the entire talent acquisition lifecycle, from sourcing to hiring.

Unlike many mid-market competitors that hide pricing behind sales calls, Ashby provides transparent starting prices for its “Foundations” plan, making it accessible for startups and smaller companies. This approach underscores its commitment to providing a powerful yet scalable solution. The platform is engineered for efficiency, emphasizing automation and data-driven insights to help recruiting teams make smarter, faster decisions.

Key Features and Benefits

Ashby’s suite of applicant tracking system features is built around enhancing recruiter productivity and providing deep visibility into hiring metrics. It excels at automating repetitive tasks and unifying data that is often siloed in separate tools.

• All-in-One Platform: Integrates ATS, CRM, scheduling, and advanced analytics, eliminating the need for multiple subscriptions and creating a single source of truth.
• Sourcing and Outreach Automation: Includes built-in tools for sourcing candidates, automating email sequences, and tracking outreach effectiveness directly within the platform.
• Advanced Analytics and Reporting: Offers robust, customizable dashboards that provide deep insights into every stage of the hiring funnel, from pipeline health to diversity metrics. You can learn more about how analytics support fair hiring practices.
• Efficient Scheduling: Features powerful scheduling automation with one-click booking links, multi-person panel interview coordination, and calendar integrations to eliminate back-and-forth communication.

Pricing and Scalability

Ashby offers a tiered pricing model tailored to company size. The “Foundations” plan starts at a transparent price for companies with up to 100 employees, an uncommon practice that appeals to growing businesses. Larger organizations require a custom quote for the “Growth” or “Enterprise” plans, which offer more advanced features and support. Annual discounts are available, and the platform can be purchased as an all-in-one suite or as a standalone analytics tool, providing flexibility as your company scales.

Website: https://www.ashbyhq.com

7. G2

While not an ATS itself, G2 is an essential resource in the selection process, functioning as a vast software marketplace with a dedicated and highly detailed category for Applicant Tracking Systems. It serves as a crucial starting point for any team looking to compare vendors, validate claims, and understand the real-world performance of different platforms. The site provides a comprehensive overview of the ATS landscape, helping you move from a long list of potential systems to a targeted shortlist.

Unlike vendor websites that only highlight their best attributes, G2 provides a more balanced view through verified user reviews and its proprietary Grid reports, which plot platforms based on user satisfaction and market presence. This allows you to quickly identify industry Leaders, High Performers, and Niche players. Its value lies in offering independent social proof, helping you cut through marketing language to see how various applicant tracking system features actually function for real users.

Key Features and Benefits

G2’s platform is designed to empower buyers with data and peer insights, enabling more confident and informed software decisions. You can filter solutions based on your company size, specific feature requirements, and integration needs, making it a powerful research tool.

• Verified User Reviews: Access thousands of in-depth reviews from verified users that cover pros, cons, and specific use cases, offering authentic feedback on usability, support, and overall satisfaction.
• Comparative Grids: G2’s iconic Grid Reports for ATS visually map out the competitive landscape, helping you quickly identify market leaders and systems with high customer satisfaction ratings.
• Side-by-Side Comparisons: Use the comparison tool to directly stack up to four different ATS platforms against each other, evaluating them on features, ratings, and pricing information.
• Detailed Filtering: Narrow your search by company size (SMB, Mid-Market, Enterprise), industry, and must-have features to find the systems that are most relevant to your unique hiring needs.

Pricing and Scalability

G2 is free to use for software buyers. While it often includes pricing information submitted by vendors or users, it’s important to note that this data can be approximate or incomplete, especially for platforms that only offer custom quotes. The main drawback is that sponsored placements can influence the order in which vendors appear on category pages. However, the wealth of independent reviews and robust filtering capabilities helps mitigate this, ensuring you can effectively validate any ATS and its reputation before engaging with a sales team.

Website: https://www.g2.com/categories/applicant-tracking-systems-ats

Applicant Tracking Systems Feature Comparison

Item	Implementation Complexity 🔄	Resource Requirements ⚡	Expected Outcomes 📊	Ideal Use Cases 💡	Key Advantages ⭐
Workable	Moderate; modular add-ons increase setup	Moderate; add-ons may increase cost	Scalable recruiting with AI support	SMB to mid-market scaling recruiting	Transparent pricing, AI screening, robust reporting
Breezy HR	Low; fast setup and user-friendly	Low; free tier available for 1 role	Efficient SMB hiring with automation	Small teams and startups	Free forever tier, strong integrations
JazzHR	Moderate; configurable workflows	Moderate; flexible add-ons	Flexible growth with AI matching	Small growing US businesses	Clear pricing, data migration support
Greenhouse	High; advanced configuration	High; enterprise-level	Structured hiring, deep analytics	Mid-market to enterprise organizations	Strong integrations, proven scalability
iCIMS	High; complex enterprise deployment	High; designed for large-scale use	Secure, compliant, global hiring	Large, regulated, global companies	Extensive integrations, market leader status
Ashby	Moderate; focused on workflow efficiency	Moderate; startup-friendly tiers	Improved productivity and consolidated tools	Lean mid-market teams seeking simplicity	Transparent pricing, integrated analytics
G2	Low; platform for ATS comparison	None; research and decision-making	Informed ATS selection	Buyers evaluating multiple ATS options	Comprehensive reviews, comparative data

Choosing the Right Features for Your Remote Hiring Strategy

The journey through the world of applicant tracking systems reveals a clear truth: the ‘best’ ATS is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Instead, it’s the platform whose features most closely align with your organization’s unique recruitment workflow, scale, and strategic goals. We’ve explored a wide array of powerful applicant tracking system features, from Workable’s streamlined sourcing to Ashby’s deep analytics and Greenhouse’s structured hiring kits. The key is to move beyond the brand names and focus on the specific functionalities that will solve your most pressing hiring challenges.

For a remote-first company, this means prioritizing features that bridge geographical divides. A system that simply digitizes an in-office process is insufficient. You need tools that foster asynchronous collaboration, automate complex interview scheduling across multiple time zones, and provide robust reporting to track the effectiveness of your global sourcing channels. The right ATS acts as the central nervous system for your remote hiring engine, ensuring a seamless and equitable experience for every candidate, regardless of their location.

Actionable Next Steps: From Evaluation to Implementation

Evaluating the vast landscape of applicant tracking system features can feel overwhelming. To move forward with clarity and confidence, follow this structured approach:

1. Audit Your Current Process: Before looking at new tools, map out your existing hiring workflow. Identify the bottlenecks, manual tasks, and communication gaps. Where do candidates drop off? Where do recruiters spend the most time on administrative work? This audit creates a scorecard for evaluating potential solutions.
2. Prioritize Your Feature Wishlist: Based on your audit, create a tiered list of required features.
   • Must-Haves: These are non-negotiable features that solve your biggest pain points (e.g., automated interview scheduling, collaborative scorecards).
   • Nice-to-Haves: These features would improve efficiency but aren’t critical (e.g., advanced DEI analytics, custom onboarding workflows).
   • Future Needs: Consider features you might need as you scale in the next 1-2 years (e.g., multi-department reporting, API integrations).
3. Conduct Targeted Demos: Armed with your prioritized list, approach vendors like Breezy HR, JazzHR, or iCIMS. Don’t just watch a generic presentation. Ask them to demonstrate how their platform specifically solves the problems you identified in your audit. Use your real-world scenarios to test the system’s capabilities.

Remember, implementation is just as crucial as selection. Plan for a phased rollout, provide comprehensive training for your hiring teams, and establish clear guidelines for using the new system. A powerful ATS is only as effective as the people using it. By investing in the right features and proper adoption, you transform your recruitment process from a series of disjointed tasks into a strategic, data-driven function that consistently attracts and hires top remote talent.

---

Now that you’ve identified the ideal applicant tracking system features to streamline your hiring, the next step is to fill your pipeline with high-quality remote candidates. Post your open roles on Remote First Jobs to connect with a global community of skilled professionals actively seeking remote opportunities. Complement your powerful new ATS with a targeted talent source by listing your job on Remote First Jobs today.