Recruiting pricing transparency index 2026 – the numbers
In July 2026 lemonly checked whether 28 recruiting services publish pricing on their own websites. Only 3 publish complete pricing on their own site: lemonly ($8,000 flat per hire), Pin ($99–249 per user per month), and Ribbon ($499–1,999 per month plus per-interview overages). 8 publish partial pricing – a starting price with upper tiers quoted on request: Juicebox, hireEZ, SeekOut, Gem, Wellfound, Indeed, Dover, and Toptal. 17 publish no pricing on their own site (pricing on request): Findem, GoPerfect, Alex (formerly Apriora), LinkedIn Recruiter, LinkedIn Jobs, Paraform, Mercor, Dex, Hunt Club, Betts, Riviera Partners, Robert Half, Hays, Michael Page, Aplin, Kovasys, and Randstad. All 6 traditional agencies publish no fees on their own sites. LinkedIn lists no Recruiter or Jobs pricing on linkedin.com. Every service that publishes full pricing is a newer AI-era product. Each verdict is dated and sourced to the company's own website. Last updated July 21, 2026.
Original data · 2026
Who actually publishes their recruiting prices?
We checked 28 recruiting services in July 2026 – AI tools, platforms, marketplaces, and agencies. Only three put complete pricing on their own website.
28 services checked · Every verdict sourced · Last updated July 21, 2026
The short answer
Of 28 recruiting services, only 3 publish full pricing on their own site. All 6 traditional agencies publish none. LinkedIn lists no Recruiter or Jobs price on its own site. Transparency lives almost entirely in the newest, AI-era tools.
0
Services checked
0
Publish full pricing
0
Pricing on request
0 of 6
Agencies publish no fees
Thenewerthemodel,theclearertheprice
Every service that publishes full pricing is an AI-era product. The oldest model – traditional agencies – publishes no numbers at all. Each bar is that category's mix of full, partial, and on-request pricing.
AI recruiting software
n = 9
Hiring platforms
n = 4
Marketplaces & networks
n = 8
Traditional agencies
n = 6
Flat-fee (lemonly)
n = 1
"Contact us for pricing" is a price
When a fee only appears after a sales call, comparison stops being possible – you can't weigh what you can't see. Publishing the number is a decision to let buyers compare before they talk, and seventeen of the twenty-eight services here haven't made it. Custom pricing can be perfectly fair; it just can't be shopped.
The full index
All 28 services, with what each publishes on its own site and a link to the source we checked. Ordered by how much they disclose.
| Service | Category | On its site | What's public (July 2026) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| lemonly | Flat-fee search | Full | $8,000 flat per hire, due on placement | lemonly.ai |
| Pin | AI software | Full | Solo $99 · Pro $149 · Business $249 per user/mo | pin.com |
| Ribbon | AI software | Full | Growth $499 · Business $999 · Scale $1,999/mo; overages $2.50–4/interview | ribbon.ai |
| Juicebox | AI software | Partial | Free; Starter $139/mo; Growth $199/seat/mo; Agents $199/mo; Business custom | juicebox.ai |
| hireEZ | AI software | Partial | $494/mo solo; enterprise custom | hireez.com |
| SeekOut | AI software | Partial | Recruit Core $149/mo (annual); other tiers custom | seekout.com |
| Gem | AI software | Partial | Startup (1–10 FTE) $130/mo; main plans custom | gem.com |
| Findem | AI software | On request | No pricing published; demo only | findem.ai |
| GoPerfect | AI software | On request | No pricing published; demo only | goperfect.com |
| Alex (formerly Apriora) | AI software | On request | No pricing published; demo only | alex.com |
| LinkedIn Recruiter | Platform | On request | No price on site; revealed only in logged-in checkout / sales | linkedin.com |
| LinkedIn Jobs | Platform | On request | No rates; "pricing varies depending on your hiring needs" | linkedin.com |
| Wellfound | Platform | Partial | Free posts; Promoted from $200; Recruit Pro $499/mo; managed custom | wellfound.com |
| Indeed | Platform | Partial | Free posts; Sponsored from $5/day or $150/mo (per-click rates dynamic) | indeed.com |
| Dover | Marketplace | Partial | ATS free / $199/mo; recruiter rates set by recruiters, not published | dover.com |
| Toptal | Marketplace | Partial | $79/mo subscription published; hourly talent rates on request | toptal.com |
| Paraform | Marketplace | On request | Fee model stated ("% of first-year base, on hire"); no number | paraform.com |
| Mercor | Marketplace | On request | No employer pricing; quoted per engagement | mercor.com |
| Dex | Marketplace | On request | No rate card on site (20–30% of salary stated only in press) | meetdex.ai |
| Hunt Club | Marketplace | On request | No pricing on site; contact only | huntclub.com |
| Betts | Marketplace | On request | No marketed price; "subscription equal to one hire" | bettsrecruiting.com |
| Riviera Partners | Marketplace | On request | No pricing anywhere on site | rivierapartners.com |
| Robert Half | Agency | On request | No fees on recruiting site (% model only in SEC filings) | roberthalf.com |
| Hays | Agency | On request | No fee numbers; "connect with our expert team" | hays.com |
| Michael Page | Agency | On request | No fees on employer recruitment-services page | michaelpage.com |
| Aplin | Agency | On request | No employer fees published | aplin.com |
| Kovasys | Agency | On request | Fee model in words ("no pay unless you hire"); no figure | kovasys.com |
| Randstad | Agency | On request | Explains how staffing pricing works; no numbers ("flexible, tailored") | randstadusa.com |
Verdicts reflect only what each company publishes on its own website as of July 2026. "On request" means no pricing is published there; many firms provide it after a sales conversation. Figures reported on third-party review sites are not counted as published pricing. Where a fee is acknowledged only in a legal filing or subscription terms, it is not treated as published pricing.
Methodology
What we checked. For each of 28 recruiting services we visited the company's own website in July 2026 and recorded whether real pricing is published there, plus the exact page as the source.
How we scored it. Full = complete pricing on a public page. Partial = some real numbers public, with upper tiers quoted on request. On request = no pricing published on the company's own site. A service only counts as publishing a number when that number is on its own site.
What doesn't count. Prices reported on third-party review or comparison sites don't move a company's verdict, since they aren't what the company itself discloses. A fee mentioned only in an SEC filing or buried in subscription legal terms isn't published pricing a buyer would find.
Scope. This is a snapshot of what's public, not a judgement of value or fairness – custom pricing is a legitimate model. It measures one thing: whether you can see the price before you talk to sales. Services and prices change; the date above is when we last checked.
Common questions
Of 28 recruiting services checked in July 2026, only 3 – lemonly, Pin, and Ribbon – publish complete pricing on their own website. 8 publish partial pricing (a starting price, with upper tiers quoted on request), and 17 publish no pricing at all on their own site.
None of the six traditional agencies checked – Robert Half, Hays, Michael Page, Aplin, Kovasys, and Randstad – list any fee number on their own website as of July 2026. Pricing is provided on request. Robert Half acknowledges a percentage-of-salary model only in SEC filings, not on its recruiting site.
No. As of July 2026, neither LinkedIn Recruiter nor LinkedIn Jobs lists a price on linkedin.com. Recruiter Lite's price appears only inside the logged-in checkout, corporate Recruiter is quoted by sales, and Jobs states only that "pricing varies depending on your hiring needs."
Transparency concentrates in the newest tier. All three services that publish full pricing are AI-era products, and six of the nine AI recruiting-software tools publish at least a starting price. Traditional agencies – the oldest model – publish no numbers at all. Broadly, the newer the model, the more likely the price is on the page.
We checked each company's own website in July 2026 and recorded whether real pricing appears there, with the source URL for each. A service only counts as publishing pricing when the number is on its own site; figures from third-party review sites do not count. Every claim is dated and sourced.
Citing this index? Link this page – it carries the methodology and sources. For what recruiters actually charge, see the 2026 recruiter cost guide.
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