Quick verdict: Bullhorn publishes two seat prices and quotes everything else. Starter is $99 per user per month and Core is $165 per user per month, both aimed at small agencies and both including free implementation. Pro, Max, the three larger Front Office tiers and every Salesforce based Recruitment Cloud edition are quoted. If your agency wants the AI search, the recruitment CRM sales pipeline or the analytics, you are in quote territory, and the published numbers stop being useful.
Who it suits best: staffing and recruiting agencies that want the category standard system of record, live inside a marketplace of integrations, and have a desk big enough that a quoted contract is worth negotiating.
What to check before you buy: which features sit above your tier, whether you need the middle office modules for timesheets and invoicing, and what the quote looks like in year two when any first year concession expires.
How much does Bullhorn cost in 2026?
Bullhorn splits its pricing page into small agency plans, larger agency plans, AI and automation products, and a separate Salesforce based line. Only the first two small agency tiers carry a number.
| Plan | Published price | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Bullhorn Starter | $99 per user per month | Applicant tracking, resume parsing, client management, job posting with a career portal |
| Bullhorn Core | $165 per user per month | Adds the 300 plus partner marketplace, custom fields and workflows, LinkedIn integrations, email sidebar |
| Bullhorn Pro | Quoted | Adds the recruitment CRM sales pipeline, AI search and match, Amplify Chat, automation, analytics |
| Bullhorn Max | Quoted | Adds agentic screening, matching, enrichment and multi step AI outreach |
| Front Office Growth and Enterprise | Quoted | The larger agency platform, with omni channel engagement and configurable reporting at Enterprise |
| Bullhorn One | Quoted | Front office through back office, including timesheets, invoicing and pay and bill automation |
What do you get for $99 per user per month?
Starter is the core applicant tracking job. You get the pipeline, resume parsing, client records, job posting with a career portal and support, plus free implementation. What you do not get is the marketplace, custom fields, custom workflows or the LinkedIn integrations. For a two or three person desk placing permanent roles out of a tidy database, that is often enough for a first year.
What does Core add for the extra $66?
Core is where Bullhorn starts behaving like the platform people describe when they recommend it. The app marketplace with more than 300 partners, custom fields and workflows, LinkedIn Recruiter System Connect and Apply Connect, and the Bullhorn email sidebar all arrive at this tier. Most agencies that buy Bullhorn for its ecosystem need Core, not Starter, so treat $165 as the realistic entry price rather than $99.
Why are Pro and Max quoted rather than priced?
Because that is where the AI lives. Pro carries the recruitment CRM sales pipeline, AI search and match, the Amplify staffing model, AI data enrichment, process automation, resume formatting, call transcription, real time analytics and a dedicated account manager. Max adds Amplify Digital Workers that run screening, matching, enrichment and outreach on their own. Vendors rarely publish a price for a tier whose value varies this much by agency size, and Bullhorn is no exception.
What else lands on the invoice?
The seat price is one line. Bullhorn sells several products beside the plan, each quoted separately: Middle Office for timesheets, invoicing and pay and bill automation, Onboarding for document delivery and compliance workflows, Messaging for SMS, Analytics for recruiter performance reporting, Amplify Search and Match, Recruitment Automation, and VMS Automation that connects to more than 110 vendor management systems.
Two of these matter more than agencies expect. If you run contract or temp desks, middle office is not optional, and that changes the shape of the deal from a seat price into a platform contract. If your work comes through vendor management systems, the VMS automation module is the difference between a recruiter copying job records by hand and jobs landing in the ATS by themselves.
Does implementation cost extra?
Not on the two small agency tiers. Bullhorn lists free implementation on both Starter and Core. On the quoted tiers, implementation scope is part of the negotiation, and it is worth asking for the statement of work in writing before signing, because data migration from a previous ATS is the step that most often runs long.
How does Bullhorn compare on price to other agency platforms?
Bullhorn looks cheap at Starter and mid market at Core. The useful comparison is against the other agency ATS and CRM platforms that publish a seat price, because those vendors are competing for the same desk.
| Platform | Published entry price | Capterra score | Best suited to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bullhorn Starter | $99 per user per month | 4.0 | Agencies that want the category standard and its marketplace |
| Crelate | $85 per user per month, annual | 4.5 | Boutique desks that run on notes, hotlists and email sync |
| PCRecruiter | Around $115 per user per month | 4.3 | Long running databases and teams that want a documented MCP server |
| Loxo | $149 per user per month, annual | 4.6 | Desks that want sourcing and outreach inside the ATS |
| Recruiterflow | $149 per user per month | 4.7 | Search firms that live on sequences and automations |
| Manatal | $15 per user per month, annual | 4.6 | Small teams that want a low floor and AI ranking |
Read that table by what you get rather than what you pay. Loxo and Recruiterflow bundle sourcing, contact data or sequences into the seat, so their $149 covers work that Bullhorn puts behind a quoted tier or a separate tool. Crelate undercuts Starter on price but caps Essentials at two users. Bullhorn wins on ecosystem depth and on being the system your clients and your back office already recognise.
Quick answers
Does Bullhorn publish its full pricing?
No. Two of the small agency tiers carry a published seat price. Every other plan, module and Salesforce edition routes to a quote request.
Is there a free trial of Bullhorn?
Bullhorn does not advertise a free trial on its pricing page. Every plan, including Starter, is bought through a quote or a demo. If trialling before buying matters to you, the published alternatives above are easier to test.
What is the cheapest way into Bullhorn?
Starter at $99 per user per month with free implementation. Be honest about whether you can work without custom fields, custom workflows and the marketplace, because that is the wall most agencies hit within a few months.
Is Bullhorn priced per user or per company?
Per user. That is why the number to model is your seat count in eighteen months, not today, and why agencies with large support or back office headcounts should ask how non recruiting logins are licensed.
What does Bullhorn One include?
Everything in Front Office Enterprise plus timesheet management, time interpretation, invoicing and billing, and pay and bill automation. It is the front to back option for staffing firms that place contractors and bill hours.
Is Bullhorn worth it for a solo recruiter?
Rarely. A single desk pays the same per seat as a team but gets none of the ecosystem leverage that justifies the price. Compare a smaller agency platform before committing.
The bottom line
Bullhorn is priced like the incumbent it is. The $99 headline gets you in the door, the realistic number is $165 per user per month on Core, and the features that sell the platform in a demo sit above both on a quoted contract.
Buy it when the marketplace, the staffing shape and the back office modules are the reason you are shopping. Look harder at Loxo, Crelate or Recruiterflow when your whole requirement is a modern ATS and CRM for a small desk, because those vendors publish what they charge and include more inside the seat.
The practical next step is to price the tier you actually need rather than the one on the page, then ask for the year two renewal figure in the same conversation.
Sources: Bullhorn pricing, Loxo pricing, Crelate pricing, Recruiterflow pricing, PCRecruiter FAQ, Manatal pricing