Quick answer: Among the 967 seed to Series C startups whose public job boards we track, Ashby is the most common applicant tracking system (39%), followed by Greenhouse (13%). Gem, Workable, Dover, Lever and Rippling each sit between 4% and 8%. If you're choosing an ATS, the most widely used isn't automatically the right one. Pick on four things: structured interviews and scorecards, reporting you'll actually read, how it handles recruiting agencies, and cost at your current headcount.
> Hiring engineers at a seed to Series C startup? We work inside your Ashby, Greenhouse or other ATS from day one. Talk to us about your search →
We detect the ATS behind each startup's public careers page. Here is the split across the 967 seed to Series C companies where we could identify one:
| ATS | Startups | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Ashby | 374 | 39% |
| Greenhouse | 121 | 13% |
| Gem | 78 | 8% |
| Workable | 64 | 7% |
| Dover | 61 | 6% |
| Lever | 39 | 4% |
| Rippling | 37 | 4% |
| Others (SmartRecruiters, BambooHR, Breezy, Personio, custom and more) | 193 | 20% |
Source: Recruiting from Scratch company dataset, seed to Series C companies with a detected ATS, October 2026. It shows what startups post jobs through, not how happy they are with it.
| What to check | Why it matters at a startup |
|---|---|
| Structured interview plans and scorecards | With a small team, every interviewer's notes need to be comparable, or decisions come down to whoever spoke last. |
| Reporting you'll actually use | Pipeline by stage, source of hire and time in stage tell you where a search is stuck. |
| Agency access | If you'll ever use a recruiter, they need their own restricted access, not a shared login. |
| Required rejection reasons | Reasons are how you, and any recruiter, learn what the role really needs. |
| Cost at your headcount | Some tools are free or cheap for very small teams and get expensive as you grow. Get a quote for where you'll be in 12 months, not just today. |
| Integrations | Calendar, email, Slack, your HRIS and your sourcing tools. |
We only list what each vendor's own documentation confirms. Plans and features change, so check with the vendor before you buy.
Ashby. The most common choice among the startups we track, with ATS, scheduling and analytics in one product (Ashby). It supports agency users, who see only the candidates tied to their agency, and admins can widen or narrow that access (Ashby docs).
Greenhouse. The second most common. Agency recruiters are invited by an admin and can only submit to the jobs assigned to them. Their candidates are tagged to the agency as the source, and they can follow status from their own dashboard (Greenhouse: agency recruiters, inviting an agency recruiter).
Gem. Started as a sourcing and CRM tool and now offers its own ATS. Agency recruiters get a restricted role by default. They see only the jobs they're assigned and their own submissions, not candidates from your team or other agencies (Gem help).
Dover. Offers a free core ATS, with paid tiers and a separate recruiter marketplace (Dover), and has an agency portal (Dover help).
Lever. Admins connect agencies under settings. Agencies submit candidates through a custom job page, tagged with a default source (Lever help).
Workable and Rippling. Check agency access and reporting against the plan you'd buy before committing.
Less than the setup does. Whichever ATS you choose, the agency relationship works when:
We cover the setup step by step in how to work with a recruiting agency inside your ATS.
Common triggers:
Switching mid-search is painful, so do it between hiring pushes. Export your candidate history first, so earlier applicants stay searchable.
Among the 967 seed to Series C startups whose job boards we track, Ashby is the most common (39%), followed by Greenhouse (13%). Gem, Workable, Dover, Lever and Rippling each have 4–8%.
Both are widely used and both support structured interviews and recruiting agencies. Ashby is more common among the seed to Series C startups we track. Compare reporting, scheduling and price at your planned headcount, and ask each vendor for a trial.
Dover offers a free core ATS with paid upgrades. Other vendors have startup programs or small-team pricing, which change often, so ask each one directly.
Yes. Ashby, Greenhouse, Gem, Lever and Dover all let you give agency recruiters their own restricted access, so they submit candidates directly and you can track each one by source.
Not for one hire. Once you have more than one open role or more than a couple of interviewers, an ATS keeps feedback, candidates and decisions in one place, and the history stays with you.
We work with seed to Series C startups hiring software, AI/ML and forward deployed engineers, inside your ATS from day one. Talk to us about your search →
Tell us about your open roles and we'll start sourcing within 48 hours.
