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

HR AI Recommendation Index, September 2026 Edition. Asked as "applicant tracking system" and as "ATS", six framings each, to twelve models with search on, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. Page: https://hr-ai-index.com/talent/applicant-tracking-systems/

**Standing:** Greenhouse leads with 47% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 45 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| # | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greenhouse | 47% | 6% | 50 |
| 2 | Breezy HR | 18% | 5% | 19 |
| 3 | Zoho Recruit | 9% | 0% | 25 |
| 4 | Lever | 7% | 12% | 43 |
| 5 | Ashby | 7% | 0% | 26 |
| 6 | Workable | 4% | 0% | 36 |
| 7 | Pinpoint | 4% | 0% | 24 |
| 8 | Manatal | 2% | 0% | 10 |
| 9 | BambooHR | 0% | 0% | 21 |
| 10 | JazzHR | 0% | 8% | 26 |
| 11 | iCIMS | 0% | 47% | 15 |
| 12 | Workday Recruiting | 0% | 83% | 12 |

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

- Claude Haiku 4.5: no first choice
- GPT-5.4 mini: Greenhouse; alternatives Lever, SmartRecruiters, Workable
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Ashby; alternatives BambooHR, Greenhouse, Lever, Rippling
- Perplexity Sonar: Greenhouse; alternatives Ashby, Pinpoint, Workable
- Grok 4.1 Fast: Greenhouse; alternatives Lever, Workable
- Mistral Small: Greenhouse, Pinpoint; alternatives Lever, Workable
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Greenhouse, Workable; alternatives Ashby
- Llama 4 Maverick: Pinpoint; alternatives Greenhouse, JazzHR, Lever, Workable
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Greenhouse; alternatives Lever, Pinpoint, Workable
- Kimi K2: Greenhouse; alternatives Ashby, Pinpoint, Workable
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Greenhouse; alternatives Ashby, BambooHR, Lever, Workable
- MiniMax M2.5: Greenhouse, Lever; alternatives Pinpoint, Workable, Zoho Recruit

## Sources the answers cite

65 of 72 answers came back with a source list, from 12 of 12 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- selectsoftwarereviews.com: 35 answers, 40 citations
- peoplemanagingpeople.com: 25 answers, 25 citations
- zapier.com: 23 answers, 23 citations
- forbes.com: 20 answers, 27 citations
- pinpointhq.com: 20 answers, 21 citations
- 100hires.com: 19 answers, 24 citations
- pin.com: 19 answers, 20 citations
- capterra.com: 18 answers, 25 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://selectsoftwarereviews.com/buyer-guide/applicant-tracking-systems (33 answers)
- https://zapier.com/blog/best-applicant-tracking-systems (23 answers)
- https://pinpointhq.com/insights/best-applicant-tracking-system (20 answers)
- https://peoplemanagingpeople.com/tools/best-applicant-tracking-systems (19 answers)
- https://pin.com/blog/best-applicant-tracking-systems (16 answers)
- https://forbes.com/advisor/business/best-applicant-tracking-systems (15 answers)
- https://ventureharbour.com/applicant-tracking-systems (13 answers)
- https://100hires.com/best-ats-for-mid-market-companies.html (12 answers)
- https://capterra.com/resources/best-applicant-tracking-system (10 answers)
- https://forbes.com/advisor/ca/business/best-applicant-tracking-systems (9 answers)

## Warned against

- Oracle Taleo: 10 of 10 labels negative. "flagged as tools to avoid if you're an SMB because they come with enterprise pricing and complexity" (Perplexity Sonar, negative prompt)
- Workday Recruiting: 10 of 12 labels negative. "Workday lawsuit... alleging that when applying via their ATS, the algorithm resulted in his rejection by more than 100 jobs" (Claude Haiku 4.5, negative prompt)
- iCIMS: 7 of 15 labels negative. "Often grouped with Workday and Taleo as a legacy system that's increasingly seen as a blocker" (Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt)
- SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting: 6 of 6 labels negative. "Why avoid: Overly rigid processes; customization often requires expensive consulting support" (Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt)

## Record

- Method: https://hr-ai-index.com/methodology/
- Raw judge labels and full responses: https://hr-ai-index.com/data/
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as HR AI Recommendation Index, September 2026 Edition, hr-ai-index.com.