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Your Top 20 ATS Providers By Market Share - With My Color Commentary...

Ran into this list by way of Ongig, who surveyed 3700+ companies to determine the top 99 applicant tracking systems by market share as of April 30, 2017.  Go to the original post to view the top 99 providers and view the methodology.  My top 5 observations about this list appear at the bottom of this post.  Here's your top 20 ATS providers by market share (enable pictures or click through if you can't see the chart):

Top 20 ATS

Interesting stuff, right?  Here's my top 5 observations about this list:

1. No one ever got fired for buying Taleo.  They used to say this about IBM back in the day, and it's not really a compliment.  It means that people make a safe choice when they choose Taleo, often times without really digging into their needs.  It's a default for many people in the market, the same folks who are probably still using Internet Explorer.  If you're still using IE, I'm talking about other people, not you.  :)

2. There's a lot of people with some broken ****.  The methodology used by Ongig was the 3700 most active companies in the recruiting space, so there are some high volume recruiting shops using "homegrown" solutions.  Some of those are probably good, most are really bad, and homegrown automatically feels like an ATS with Cheech and Chong as its spokespeople.

3.  Jobvite has done a nice job gaining prominence over the last decade.  The rise of Greenhouse is also impressive.  Shout out to Newton Software for coming in at #20 - a cool solution like Jobvite/Greenhouse.

4.  Bolt-on afterthoughts come in many different flavors - Whatever ADP is calling their many ATS solutions, those are bolt-on's to a larger HRMS play.  Same thing for Workday, people - because I hear that's still not a ready for prime time solution, regardless of the brand.

5. Undervalued - CareerBuilder, who has a nice suite of solutions including an ATS.  

That's my commentary - what do you see?  Hit me in the comments!

Comments

Beth

I couldn't have said it better myself! Data like this is great, but you have to take it with a grain of salt. There are extraneous factors that will sway the results. The top ATS according to market share isn't the same thing as the best ATS for any given company. However, seeing people share this list as just that only perpetuates the top contender.

It's also important to note that data of any significance has to be collected after the fact. The ATS that seem up-and-coming may be great choices, but if you limit your team to picking from them, you will be decades behind everyone else. It's best to go off of other lists and keep an eye on the market in a different way. Look for the best reviewed ATS and the newest upgrades from "underdogs". These are the ones that early adopters are getting into, but they may have not been reported on. My ultimate suggestion to any employer/recruiter reading this is to judge your ATS choice not on visibility, but on user-friendliness in your specific situation. Here's more on what makes or breaks a good product: http://recruit.ee/bl-ats-solutions-eb-bh

Thanks so much for sharing this!

Chris L

With all due respect, going off of these lists are a poor example of the best out there. Many of the systems on that list are outdated and overrated. There are more than a few systems out there that should be on that list that actually enable companies to hire better, not just faster.

Jay H

Ascendify's ATS is used by Panasonic, Hearst, GE, Deloitte, Blackboard and many others. It's been a key data-driven ATS for many Fortune 1000 firms since it debuted in 2012, and is part of a larger integrated AI-driven platform that includes Talent Management. Strangely absent from this list...!

Stef

In regards to #1 - yes! When I read the original article and saw Taleo so high up I did a double take. Then of course I realized this is less to do with performance and more to do with "well everyone else is using it, so it must be good". There are some amazing systems out there, it just takes time to find the right one based on the needs of your organization today and projected growth. Getting a beast of a system for a nimble company that's barely broken the "M" in the SMB space is going to be nothing but a headache.

Finding a great ATS that eases workflowpainpoints and allows for dynamic reporting is a top priority. Pair that with a great CRM and you're gold. Unfortunately a lot of organizations have successful recruiting organizations despite the systems they are working with.

Missy

iCims at #4, that's a joke right?

Bernardo Buchsbaum

Don't believe the hype on Taleo

Ivan Stojanovic

Taleo reminds me of NOKIA. Only a few years ago they had 50% of the market. Today no one is migrating to Taleo. It's all the other way around. :)

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