Honest comparison · mid-market ATS
Penroll vs Workable
Workable is a solid, mature ATS — great if you have a recruiter on staff. Penroll is built for the company a step earlier: 1–10 hires a month, no dedicated recruiter, and you want AI to do the candidate triage for you.
Free plan · No credit card · EU-resident data
What Workable is
Mid-market ATS with strong sourcing, video interviews, and a marketplace of integrations. Pitched at recruiting teams of 2–10.
What Penroll is
AI hiring copilot for SMBs of 5–200. Job descriptions, screening questions, candidate ranking, and offer letters in one flow.
Pricing at a glance
Workable
$149/mo (Starter, 1 active job)
AI features sold as a separate add-on. Multi-job plans start at $299/mo. Annual contract for the cheapest rate.
Penroll
€17/mo (Starter, 3 jobs + 30 AI rankings)
AI ranking + screening + offer letters included on every paid plan. Monthly billing, no annual lock-in.
Feature-by-feature
We checked the public pricing pages and product docs. If you spot something out of date, email us and we'll fix the row.
| Feature | Workable | Penroll |
|---|---|---|
Hosted careers page | ||
AI-generated job descriptions Penroll includes it from the free tier; Workable charges extra. | Add-on | |
AI candidate ranking + scoring Workable charges for "AI Recruiter" on top of base plan. | Add-on | |
AI screening questions per applicant | ||
AI offer-letter generation | ||
Kanban pipeline view | ||
Google Jobs auto-index | ||
Job board distribution (Indeed, Glassdoor, LinkedIn) Penroll publishes an XML feed; submit it once per board. Workable pushes directly. | Partial | |
Self-serve free tier Workable has a 15-day trial; Penroll has a permanent free plan. | ||
EU data residency Workable hosts on AWS — region depends on plan; Penroll is EU-only. | Partial | |
Flat monthly price (no per-seat tax) |
When to choose which
Both tools work. The right one depends on your hiring volume, where your team is, and how much you want AI doing the triage.
Pick Workable if…
- You have a recruiter on staff who lives in the ATS all day.
- You need a deep video-interview product baked into the same tool.
- You hire 20+ roles a month with sourcing outreach campaigns.
- You want a marketplace of HRIS / background-check integrations.
Pick Penroll if…
- You hire 1–10 roles a month and a founder / HR partner runs the process.
- You want AI to rank applicants automatically — not as a paid add-on.
- You're EU-based and need GDPR done right (Penroll data is EU-resident).
- You're tired of per-job pricing — flat monthly fee with predictable credits.
Penroll is not for you if…
We'd rather be upfront than waste your trial. If any of these describe you, look elsewhere — we'd recommend Workable or one of the enterprise tools instead.
- You're hiring 50+ roles a month and need a dedicated recruiter workflow.
- You need a full HRIS (payroll, time-off, performance reviews) — Penroll is hiring-only.
- You require an on-premise install or a private cloud deployment.
See it on your real roles in 5 minutes.
Sign up free, post one job, drop a CV in, and let the AI rank it. If it doesn't save you an hour on your next hire, walk away.
Compare Penroll to other tools
Competitor pricing and feature data verified May 2026. Vendors change pricing without notice — check the competitor's site for the latest. Penroll has no relationship with any of the listed vendors. If a row is wrong, email us and we'll fix it.