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CATS Applicant Tracking System vs. SmartRecruiters, now part of SAP SuccessFactors

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    CATS ATS

    Score3.2 out of 10
    N/ACATS is a web-based recruiting software. Users can manage the entire recruiting process including custom job applications, posting jobs, resume parsing, custom recruitment workflows, and generating customized reports. Pricing is tiered per user, per month.

    $69

    per month

    SmartRecruiters, now part of SAP SuccessFactors

    Score8.4 out of 10
    N/ASmartRecruiters was acquired by SAP in late 2025, and its functionality will be integrated into SAP SuccessFactors HCM. Check out the Sap SuccessFactors HCM listing for the latest updates.N/A
    Pricing
    CATS ATSSmartRecruiters, now part of SAP SuccessFactors
    Editions & Modules
    Annual Pro Plan
    $69
    per user, per month
    Monthly Pro Plan
    $99
    per user, per month
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    CATS ATSSmartRecruiters, now part of SAP SuccessFactors
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsPlease visit the CATS pricing page to compare plans and featuresThe software subscription is determined by the number of a company's full time employees. There is a one time cost to set up software, including customizations, integrations, data migration and training.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    CATS ATSSmartRecruiters, now part of SAP SuccessFactors
    Considered Both Products
    CATS Software
    No answer on this topic
    SAP
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    96%
    Would buy again
    27 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    22 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    28 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    16 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    94%
    Implementation went as expected
    16 Answers
    Features
    CATS ATSSmartRecruiters, now part of SAP SuccessFactors
    Recruiting / ATS
    Comparison of Recruiting / ATS features of CATS Applicant Tracking System and SmartRecruiters, now part of SAP SuccessFactors
    Feature
    CATS Applicant Tracking System
    8.2
    19 Ratings
    3% above category average
    SmartRecruiters, now part of SAP SuccessFactors
    8.6
    127 Ratings
    8% above category average
    Job Requisition Management9.517 Ratings9.8109 Ratings
    Company Website Posting9.517 Ratings9.9114 Ratings
    Publish to Social Media8.617 Ratings7.5112 Ratings
    Job Search Site Posting10.017 Ratings8.0116 Ratings
    Customized Application Form9.518 Ratings9.7104 Ratings
    Resume Management8.119 Ratings5.6119 Ratings
    Duplicate Candidate Prevention4.618 Ratings9.6114 Ratings
    Candidate Search6.219 Ratings8.1122 Ratings
    Applicant Tracking7.619 Ratings9.9126 Ratings
    Collaboration8.612 Ratings9.6117 Ratings
    Task Creation and Delegation8.615 Ratings9.997 Ratings
    Email Templates9.519 Ratings9.7114 Ratings
    User Permissions8.517 Ratings9.7109 Ratings
    Notifications and Alerts9.517 Ratings9.9119 Ratings
    Reporting4.718 Ratings1.7105 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    CATS ATSSmartRecruiters, now part of SAP SuccessFactors
    Small Businesses
    Crelate
    Score9.1 out of 10
    Crelate
    Score9.1 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    CareerSiteBuilder
    Score10 out of 10
    CareerSiteBuilder
    Score10 out of 10
    Enterprises
    JobDiva
    Score8 out of 10
    JobDiva
    Score8 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    CATS ATSSmartRecruiters, now part of SAP SuccessFactors
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.1
    (28 ratings)
    7.9
    (129 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    8.4
    (10 ratings)
    6.0
    (15 ratings)
    Usability
    2.7
    (1 ratings)
    9.1
    (12 ratings)
    Availability
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    5.9
    (2 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    4.5
    (1 ratings)
    9.0
    (10 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.1
    (12 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    CATS ATSSmartRecruiters, now part of SAP SuccessFactors
    Likelihood to Recommend
    CATS Software
    It has a great parsing feature and the extension is very helpful. Many ATS systems do not support parsing within LinkedIn...this one does. I was sad to see this option go when we finally transitioned. I would almost keep CATS just for the LinkedIn parsing if I knew I could easily get the information OUT of the system once it was there. A good API/webhook would be great, but sadly the API connections don't work well. Our firm also works with companies with multiple sites all across the US. There was never a way to "nest" a location with a parent company. Because of this, being able to research or report on a true client relationship was not possible. It was a very manual process.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SAP
    SmartRecruiters has allowed us to enable our hiring managers to self-service their requirements for recruitment, simplifying our internal processes. We have visibility of recruitment requirements and significantly improved our approvals process using the software. We have been able to configure our hiring processes relevant to different areas of the business. Collaboration for our hiring teams (managers and business partners) is simple and effective. Candidate experience is enhanced and engaging. The platform has brought many benefits to our Resourcing business partners and hiring managers. We have visibility and insightful data which has integrity, allowing us to make informed business decisions. Our offer process has seen significant improvements and provides an engaging candidate experience, previously this was a labour-intensive process that is now streamlined and automated. The recently launched Community for collaboration amongst customers is very helpful and insigtful for how other people are using the software and exploring ideas with each other
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    CATS Software
    • Simple to implement, SaaS based tool that needs no in-house IT support or resources
    • Customizable reports, labels, fields, applications
    • Affordable
    • No long term contract, month-to-month with ability to cancel anytime
    • Data backups are simple
    • Email directly from the candidate record with response coming into Outlook is easy to configure and creates record and updates status automatically
    Read full review
    SAP
    • Job Referrals - can easily refer others to a job posting and view the status
    • Job Postings - can easily search for job openings and read job description and criteria
    • Application online - Can easily apply for the job directly and see who the hiring manager and hiring recruiter is
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    CATS Software
    • I would like to see either an integration with a robust reporting tool that would allow me to design my own custom reports with a data export or more built-in reporting options.
    • Mobile app is currently mostly just a look-up tool. I would like it to have the ability to do more - add tasks, update pipelines, etc.
    Read full review
    SAP
    • Settings page can be difficult to navigate & find what you're looking for
    • Job approval chains would be better with additional qualifying fields so that we can segregate different areas of the business better
    • The ability to edit an existing offer template in-system would improve the experience, rather than having to edit offline and upload a whole new version.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    CATS Software
    Our company has been using it and enjoying the benefits for a few years now. Its a perfect system for our end goal of finding the best candidate effectively and being able to track and write reports on our progress.
    Read full review
    SAP
    I thoroughly enjoy using SmartRecruiters and have shared this feedback with those responsible, however I am not a decision maker in the process. I understand that at the moment there are lots of factors affecting the economy and business outcomes, so I cannot comment with certainty on the renewal of SmartRecruiters at this time, not involved in the confirmation of renewal.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    CATS Software
    not recruiter friendly. workflow is not good
    Read full review
    SAP
    I would give this rating as overall it a great combo of all your problems. With just one click you can get away with all your problems such as recruitment, candidate update, Interview scheduling, updating candidates, reports of a job perspective, and recruiters perspective. Usability is worth of SmartRecruiters. The dashboard is also very attractive and once you open you will love working on this platform again and again. I would say it is the best platform to use once for smooth work in your organization.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    CATS Software
    No answers on this topic
    SAP
    Rarely is there an issue and if the product is down, it typically is restored quickly.
    Read full review
    Performance
    CATS Software
    No answers on this topic
    SAP
    I have no complaints about performance. The system works virtually flawless.
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    CATS Software
    I've had mixed results with asking for support. Sometimes they gave a quick answer and sometimes my emails were never responded to. Some responses were a single word.
    Read full review
    SAP
    Response is normally very fast. There are times, however, when the response is not useful. It is difficult to work with the reporting and the offer letter templates, and the front line support agents usually are not very knowledgeable. Second, if there are any issues with integrations, the regular support agents will not be able to help you. You'll have to create that ticket and ask them to escalate it to an integration specialist.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    In-Person Training
    CATS Software
    No answers on this topic
    SAP
    Quick and easy to learn.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    CATS Software
    This is an incredibly easy system to implement. There is no hardware or software required, it's entirely SaaS based. Compared to other systems I've implemented, it's breathtaking. Customization can all be done directly in the tool, there is no need for any involvement of consultants and most of the information you cannot figure out intuitively is covered in the knowledge base
    Read full review
    SAP
    It really was a painless and easy process to switch to SmartRecruiters.
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    CATS Software
    We used to use Sendouts (prior to it being acquired by Bullhorn) - and it wasn't browser based like CATS so instead of being able to access it from a home computer, laptop, mobile phone, etc. you could only use it on the computer with the software uploaded - which is a hindrance. It also wasn't as customizable as CATS. We picked CATS because it the price was right, it was browser-based, had email-integration, and integrates with social media and job posting services to share your jobs
    with the public.
    Read full review
    SAP
    I've really enjoyed using SmartRecruiters, but these other ATSs that we've checked out offer better reporting features and price points. Over time, we may be transitioning off of SmartRecruiters to one of these ATSs because the price is a set price where SmartRecruiters has employee-based pricing model. Also, these other software products offer better reporting features that would eliminate some of our manual tracking process that we're currently doing.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    CATS Software
    No answers on this topic
    SAP
    No explanation really, just a great product.
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    CATS Software
    • We went from Excel spreadsheets to using CATS so honestly anything would be an improvement. But CATS has saved tremendous time on an on-going basis in terms of managing the career portal automatically.
    • Being able to log email conversations with the click of a button from Outlook right into CATS has been a time-saver and also has helped numerous times in providing better follow-through to candidates and providing better tracking of candidate interactions and what they have previously said (or not).
    Read full review
    SAP
    • In terms of ROI, SR helped our business greatly in returning precious time to my productivity in business management, as well as my team's, so that we could get back to the main work we were hired for. The SR process did most of the heavy lifting.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    CATS ATS Screenshots

    Screenshot of Easily view candidates, without leaving the job order, using the candidate preview. Even quickly communicate with candidate via SMS without leaving your current screen.Screenshot of Candidate ProfileScreenshot of Add filters to quickly search and narrow down your candidate database.Product screenshot