What hiring with lemonly involves
lemonly is an AI talent-sourcing platform with human recruiters in the loop, based in Vancouver and serving teams across Canada and the US. For each role, lemonly’s AI sources and assesses 15,000–30,000 candidates against the written brief – including passive candidates who never see a job post – and lemonly recruiters personally interview the strongest before anyone reaches the hiring team. Only 31% of interviewed candidates clear the bar to be introduced. First candidates typically arrive within about two weeks. The fee is a flat $8,000 per hire, due only when you hire, with no retainer, no contract and no percentage of salary, backed by a 90-day refund-or-replacement guarantee. That is roughly 60–68% below a 15–25% agency fee, which runs $15,000–25,000 on a $100,000 hire. lemonly’s separate AI candidate screening product, for ranking applicants who already applied, is $150 per month per active role and is priced independently of the placement fee. Last updated August 7, 2026.
Fewer, better candidates.
lemonly assesses the whole market for your role, interviews the strongest, and introduces only the few worth your calendar.
Last updated August 7, 2026
The short answer
You write the brief. lemonly’s AI assesses 15,000–30,000 candidates against it, our recruiters interview the strongest, and you meet a short list of people already worth your time. You pay $8,000 flat, and only if you hire.
$8,000
flat fee per hire
On placement
the only time you pay
90 days
guarantee
Whatyouareactuallybuying
A finished shortlist, not a tool and not a pile of applications. lemonly is an AI talent-sourcing platform with human recruiters in the loop, built in Vancouver and serving teams across Canada and the US. The AI does the scale work – sourcing and scoring 15,000–30,000 candidates per role against your written brief, including the passive people who never see a job post. Our recruiters do the interviews.
What reaches you is a small set of candidates who have already had a real conversation with a recruiter, been briefed on the role, and confirmed they are interested – each with a fit briefing explaining why they made the list. In our own data, only 31% of the candidates we interview clear that bar.
The pricing is published: $8,000 flat per hire, due only when you hire, with a 90-day refund-or-replacement guarantee and no contract to sign. The full process is laid out on how lemonly works.
The three differences that matter
Most of what separates lemonly from an agency or a sourcing tool comes down to how the fee is shaped and who does the talking.
The fee never scales with salary
An agency charging 15–25% of first-year salary earns more when your hire is paid more. At $8,000 flat, we have no reason to talk your compensation up - so you can trust our advice on the band.
A person interviews every candidate
The AI does the scale work; our recruiters do the interviews. Nobody reaches your calendar on a score alone, and every introduction comes with a human judgement attached to it.
You see the passive market
Job posts only reach people who are actively applying. Most of the qualified market for any role is not looking - reaching them takes outreach, and that is most of what we do.
What a $100,000 hire costs
Percentage fees scale with the salary you pay. A flat fee does not.
On a $100,000 hire, a contingency agency charging 15–25% of first-year salary bills $15,000–25,000, and a retained firm charging 25–35% bills around $30,000 in installments whether or not the search succeeds. lemonly is $8,000 flat – roughly 60–68% less – and only if you hire.
How a lemonly search runs
- 01
Write the brief
You give us the role with its non-negotiables and nice-to-haves. That written brief is what everything downstream is measured against - there is no second, hidden set of criteria.
- 02
lemonly’s AI assesses the market
Our AI sources and scores 15,000–30,000 candidates per role, including the passive people who never see a job post, ranking every one against your brief.
- 03
Our recruiters interview the strongest
A lemonly recruiter runs a real screening interview with the top of that ranking - a conversation, not an automated screen. Only 31% of the people we interview clear this bar.
- 04
You get warm introductions
What reaches you is a short list of candidates already briefed on the role and confirmed interested, each with a fit briefing explaining why they are on it.
- 05
You pay only if you hire
The fee is $8,000 flat, due only when someone starts, backed by a 90-day refund-or-replacement guarantee. No retainer, no contract, no percentage of salary.
When lemonly is the wrong call
- –You are hiring an executive, or running a confidential search where one veteran recruiter’s network is the product.
- –You have an in-house recruiter with the hours to work a sourcing tool full-time across continuous hiring volume.
- –You need contractors or freelancers rather than a permanent employee.
- –You are hiring at high volume for frontline roles, where automated screening at scale matters more than a human first call.
When lemonly fits
- You are making 1–5 key hires and do not have a recruiter in-house.
- You want to know the cost before the search starts, not after the offer.
- You would rather meet four briefed candidates than sort a hundred applications.
- You want the compensation advice to come from someone with no stake in the number.
Keep reading
Before you decide
Pricing
The $8,000 flat fee, and what it does and does not cover
See pricingHow lemonly works
The full process, from brief to warm introduction
See the processCompare
lemonly against agencies, job boards and AI sourcing tools
CompareAlready have applicants to sort? lemonly’s AI candidate screening ranks them against your brief for $150/month per active role – a separate product from the placement fee.
Common questions
lemonly charges $8,000 flat per hire, due only when someone you hire actually starts. There is no retainer, no contract and no percentage of salary, so the fee is the same on an $80,000 hire and a $200,000 one. It is backed by a 90-day refund-or-replacement guarantee.
Between 15,000 and 30,000 per role, roughly 300 times the reach of a human recruiter working by hand. That includes passive candidates who never see a job post, which is where most of the qualified market for any role sits.
Yes. lemonly’s AI does the sourcing and assessment at scale, and our recruiters run the screening interviews personally. In our own data only 31% of interviewed candidates clear the bar to be introduced, so the interview is a real filter rather than a formality.
First candidates typically reach you in about two weeks from the brief being agreed. Sourcing and assessment run in the first few days; the time after that is the screening interviews.
The 90-day satisfaction guarantee covers it: a full refund or a replacement search, your choice. That window starts from the hire’s start date.
Yes, they are two products. Screening works on applicants who already applied to you, at $150 per month per active role. This page is about sourcing: going and finding candidates who have not applied, for the flat $8,000 fee due only when you hire.
Ready to meet the shortlist?
$8,000 per hire, only when you hire. 90-day satisfaction guarantee. No contract.
Book a Demo