Tellent Review (2026)Every Tier Ends in 'Get a Demo'
By Daan Haket · Tested hands-on · written with an AI assistant · who does what
Tellent's modular shape is useful (you can buy just the ATS, or just the HRIS) but nothing is priced in public: every tier on tellent.com/pricing ends in 'Get a demo' (read in a browser on 9 September 2026), and recruitee.com/pricing carries no figures either. We set it against BambooHR in every section that follows.
- Best for European scale-ups hiring all year round
- Not for companies hiring a few roles a year
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Is Tellent right for you?
Your pain“We always have roles open, and candidates get lost between inboxes and a spreadsheet.”
Does Tellent solve it?YesPricing page, read 9 September 2026: the Advance tier has unlimited job posts, workflow automations and candidate self-scheduling.
Your planAdvance, no public price: get a quote on a demo call
Try Tellent →
Your pain“Before committing, I need proof that I can export every candidate record if we leave.”
Does Tellent solve it?PartlyOur test (31 Oct 2026): the CSV export downloaded at once with accents intact, but it marked candidates 'qualified' without us setting it and left out CVs.
Your planStart, no public price; free trial first
Try Tellent →
- Companies hiring a few roles a year. Pricing page, read 26 September 2026: every tier ends in 'Get a demo' and no price appears anywhere, so a quote means a call. Better fit: Breezy HR.
The “Try” buttons are affiliate links: we may earn a commission if you sign up, at no extra cost to you, and it never changes our verdict.
Exit test (measured 2026-10-31)
- Export route
- Candidates > menu > Export to CSV
- Formats
- Not tested
- Attachments included
- Not tested
- Re-import tested
- No
- Lost on export
- Uploaded CV absent from CSV.
Formats describe this export route; offered formats may not have been inspected. Full exit test and scope ↓
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Tested by our team on 31 October 2026 on the 18-day Recruitee trial: Daan created the account and our AI assistant ran the test in Daan's browser. We added two made-up candidates by hand, with tags, and exported the candidate list.
How we tested
- Added two made-up candidates by hand with tags
- Exported the candidate list as CSV
- Compared the file with what we entered
- Setup asks which apps to trial; we picked only the Recruitee ATS. The trial showed 18 days, with no card.
- Setup offers sample data or an empty account; we chose empty.
- Candidates can be added by CV upload, by hand, by CSV import or with a Chrome extension. The phone field defaulted to +31.
Pricing (2026)
✓ Pricing re-verified 26 Sep 2026
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Start | no published price | 5 active job posts and single-page CareersHub |
| Advance | no published price | Unlimited posts, branded careers site, ReferralsHub, AI screening credits, matching searches, automations |
| Optimize | no published price | SSO, API support, testing environment, approval workflows, unlimited fields, dedicated CSM, BI integrations |
| Manage | no published price | |
| Grow | no published price |
Summarised from the pricing notes below; the notes carry the conditions.
Tellent publishes no prices. Its pricing page (read in a live browser on 9 September 2026, and separately in the served HTML) lists three ATS tiers for Recruitee, Start, Advance and Optimize, and the two Tellent HR modules, Manage (HRIS) and Grow (performance), and every one of them ends in 'Get a demo' rather than a figure; agencies are told to ask for a custom quote.
Neither the rendered page nor the served HTML contains a single currency amount, and recruitee.com/pricing carries none either. What the page does state is scope: Start covers 5 active job posts and a single-page CareersHub; Advance adds unlimited posts, a multi-page branded careers site, ReferralsHub, 100 AI screening credits a month, 3 AI matching searches, workflow automations, candidate self-scheduling, offer-letter generation and up to 3 custom job fields; Optimize adds SSO, API support, a testing environment, requisition approval workflows, unlimited custom fields, 65 matching searches, onboarding support, a dedicated CSM and BI integrations.
SSO, Texting, Journeys, AgencyHub and WhatsApp Hiring are optional add-ons on the lower tiers. A free trial is offered on every tier and needs only a company account; the page states no trial length. Re-read 26 September 2026: still no currency amount anywhere on the page. The pricing FAQ now states three terms that bear on the quote: annual billing saves 20% against monthly, pricing increases with your employee count, and you can upgrade or downgrade at any time. Plans change, so check the live price on their site before you buy.
Category context: Operations & Workflow. Across the 53 tools in this category that we researched with a public US-dollar price, the median entry price is $25 a month (lowest paid plan as listed, per seat where the vendor prices per seat). Compare pricing conditions in the Software Cost Atlas →
The honest knock
Ask for Start, Advance and Optimize quoted together with their renewal prices, because you have no anchor to check a single number against. And as with every ATS, workflow fit (approval chains, careers-site needs, integrations with your assessment tools) matters more than the feature list; the free trial is enough to run one real vacancy through, so do that.
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What Tellent does
Modular people-management platform: applicant tracking (Recruitee), core HR and performance management with AI automation, for hiring and managing teams.
What buyers report about Tellent
Hands-on: tested 2026-10-31Reported by buyers: GetApp, Capterra and Software Advice, read August 2026
Themes from the buyer-review sites listed at the foot of this page, read in August 2026. We tested Tellent ourselves on 2026-10-31, but one test is a narrow sample, so here is what other buyers report. We summarise it here because the complaints are usually the part a vendor page leaves out.
- • Value for money is the recurring theme on GetApp and Capterra: reviewers keep coming back to the same point, a full recruiting feature set at a price their small business can carry.
- • The reviewers are predominantly small businesses rather than enterprise HR teams, so read the praise as coming from that audience.
- • Login and mobile view get messy once you are recruiting for many roles at once: reviewers ask for a simpler, better-fitting interface.
- • One reviewer objects strongly to the pricing changes. Tellent's position is that new pricing applies to new customers and existing ones keep their plan and features: worth confirming in writing if you are already a customer.
- • Cost is hard to judge before a sales call. Tellent publishes no figure on any tier, so the amounts reviewers quote are what they were personally quoted rather than a rate card.
No price is published, so scope is the only lever you have
Tellent publishes no prices. Read in a live browser on 9 September 2026, tellent.com/pricing lists three Recruitee ATS tiers (Start, Advance and Optimize) and two Tellent HR modules, Manage for HRIS and Grow for performance, and every one of them ends in 'Get a demo' rather than a figure. The served HTML contains no currency amount at all, and neither does recruitee.com/pricing. The euro figures this review used to quote were reviewers' recollections rather than anything Tellent publishes, and we have taken them out of the pricing section rather than treat a recollection as a rate card.
So the only lever you have before the call is scope, and the scope is stated plainly. Start is five active job posts and a single-page careers site. Advance adds unlimited posts, a multi-page branded careers site, employee referrals, 100 AI screening credits a month, workflow automations, candidate self-scheduling and offer-letter generation. Optimize adds SSO, API support, a testing environment, requisition approval workflows, unlimited custom fields and a dedicated CSM.
Read that list as a price map, because it is one. Nothing in Advance is a feature you grow into by accident, it is where a team that hires continuously ends up, and Optimize is bought by whoever needs single sign-on and an approval chain, which is a procurement requirement rather than a hiring one. Decide which of the three descriptions is actually you before anyone quotes you. What upgrading will not fix is the thing you are most likely to be sold on.
Moving up buys you unlimited job posts, more AI credits and more governance; it does not buy you a better fit between the tool and how your hiring managers already work. Approval chains, offer workflow and the integrations with your existing assessment tools are the parts that decide whether an ATS is used or worked around, and no tier upgrade changes them. Ask for all three tiers quoted side by side with their renewal prices, because with nothing published you have no anchor to check a single number against: three numbers at least give you the shape of the ladder.
What we found running Tellent ourselves
The first findings are at the top of this page. The rest:
- The CSV export downloads straight away. It uses semicolons, has a header row and kept the accented names, emails and both tags.
- Each candidate has Tellent's own numeric ID in the export; creation times are in UTC.
- Both candidates were exported with status 'qualified', which we never set. The CV is not in the export.
Claim vs. what we measured
We set a claim from Tellent's own pages next to what we saw in our test, on the plan named. The status says whether the two describe the same thing and match; it is not a verdict on the product. Confirmations are listed too.
| What the vendor says | What we measured | Status | What it means if you buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Try for free for 18 daysSource: tellent.com, read 31 Oct 2026 | Measured 2026-10-31: Setup offered an eighteen-day trial; app showed eighteen trial days remaining with only Recruitee selected.Our test, 31 Oct 2026; Recruitee Trial | ConfirmedTellent eighteen-day wording is compared with setup and the Recruitee trial banner, without extending the finding to HR. | This test covers Recruitee candidates only; HR was not activated. |
| No credit card requiredSource: tellent.com, read 31 Oct 2026 | Measured 2026-10-31: The recorded session proceeded without payment details; complete registration screens were not counted.Our test, 31 Oct 2026; Recruitee Trial | ConfirmedTellent card-free wording is compared with the recorded trial session without payment details; full registration screens were not counted. | The observed work required no card; paid features may have separate requirements. |
| Try for free for 18 daysSource: tellent.com, read 31 Oct 2026 | Measured 2026-10-31: tellent: pricing and checkout were not opened; currency, tax, term, minimum seats, renewal and final total remain unknown.Our test, 31 Oct 2026; Recruitee Trial | Not testabletellent price-page versus checkout comparison cannot be made because neither pricing nor billing was opened during this session. | No observed checkout or exact cost-rule match is available; do not infer a paid price. |
Exit test: can you take your data out?
Two manual Recruitee candidates; only Recruitee selected during the Tellent trial. Test date: 31 Oct 2026. We describe the friction rather than score it; this is one run with synthetic records, not a verdict on Tellent.
| What we checked | What we saw |
|---|---|
| Came along in the export |
|
| Lost in the export |
|
| Awkward but not lost | Empty account selected. No free_text entered, so note retention is not_tested. Candidate CSV uses numeric IDs, UTC created_at and qualified by default; that system timestamp is not the kit date. Two tags are serialized together using semicolons inside a quoted field. CV bytes were not downloaded or exported. The original download filename contains a user identifier and is withheld. |
| Export route | Candidates > menu > Export to CSV; direct download. |
| Export format | UTF-8 without BOM; semicolon delimiter; CRLF; header and two rows. |
| Re-importing the export | CSV import entry exists; no update reimport executed. |
| Cancelling | No cancellation, expiry or deletion action tested. |
What the exit test does not show:
- Complete signup screen count and human first-result setup speed.
- Actual cancellation, expiry, deletion and follow-up mail.
- Kit fields not entered and application record reimport.
Kit check counts
Kit crm-contacts 1.0.0; run tellent-2026-10-31; observed 2026-10-31.
- export / AIBM-001: Of 10 checks: 2 kept, 0 changed, 1 lost, 0 not offered, 7 not tested
- export / AIBM-002: Of 10 checks: 2 kept, 0 changed, 0 lost, 0 not offered, 8 not tested
- reimport / AIBM-001: Of 10 checks: 0 kept, 0 changed, 0 lost, 0 not offered, 10 not tested
- reimport / AIBM-002: Of 10 checks: 0 kept, 0 changed, 0 lost, 0 not offered, 10 not tested
Each record and phase uses this kit’s checks. Counts describe this run; they are not a score or a comparison between kits.
How this compares: across our exit tests of 102 tools, 57 gave us an export file. Tellent gave us a file, but some of our test data was missing or changed in it. Report 08: can you get your data out?
Mail in the first 14 days
Measurement running until 2026-11-13T23:00:00Z (last observed 2026-11-13T02:18:02.597303Z).
2 emails in the 14-day window so far; first email after signup: unknown (exact signup time not recorded); 0 with an explicit offer.
Retained inbox and junk only; removed or archived mail is outside this observation. Ambiguous supplier attribution is excluded. Day numbers use elapsed 24-hour periods since the recorded signup date at midnight Europe/Amsterdam; the signup hour is unknown. Offer flags quote literal subject/body text. Replies in our own correspondence (support tickets, our comment requests) are excluded; one-time codes, our own address, our account name and our name are replaced in brackets.
| Day | Time (UTC) | Sender | Literal subject | Folder | Offer evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day 0 | 2026-10-31 20:23:07 UTC | Tellent team / mail.tellent.com | Activeer je account en geef je talent een boost! | inbox | |
| Day 0 | 2026-10-31 20:34:09 UTC | Tellent team / mail.tellent.com | Nieuwe aanmelding gedetecteerd | inbox |
What this test does not show:
- Re-importing the export
- Jobs, careers site and emailing candidates
- Prices and paying for a plan
- Contacting support
Most of our reviews are researched rather than run. How we review explains which is which, and why we do not pretend otherwise.
How to actually use Tellent
There is no public price, so do the two things that stand in for one. First, decide which tier you are before the call: five job posts and a one-page careers site, or unlimited posts with referrals and screening credits, or the SSO-and-approval-chain tier, then ask for all three quoted side by side with renewal prices. Three numbers at least give you the shape of the ladder. Second, run one real vacancy through the free trial rather than a test one.
It is offered on every tier and needs only a company account; neither the pricing page nor the sign-up form states a length, so ask what yours is first. Post the job, let candidates apply, and watch what goes wrong: how the careers page looks on a phone, whether applications reach your hiring manager, how much manual work a rejection takes. Then ask for a walkthrough of what a trial cannot reach (approval chains, offer workflow, assessment-tool integrations) and check which of SSO, Texting, Journeys, AgencyHub and WhatsApp Hiring are billed separately on your tier.
Where this section comes from: our research notes (174 words)
tellent.com/pricing (which resolves to tellent.com/pricing-platforms) read in a live browser on 9 September 2026, the three Recruitee ATS cards, the two Tellent HR module cards, their add-on lists and the full feature-comparison table, none of which carries a figure, checked against the served HTML of the same page and of recruitee.com/pricing the same day, neither of which contains a single currency amount, and against auth.tellent.com/sign-up, which states no trial length.
Re-read 26 September 2026 by plain fetch of tellent.com/pricing (resolving to /pricing-platforms): the Start, Advance and Optimize cards (5 active job posts; 100 AI screening credits and 3 matching searches a month on Advance; 65 matching searches on Optimize) and the Manage and Grow cards are unchanged and carry no figure. The pricing FAQ on the same page is the source of the buyer questions: monthly or yearly billing with 20% off annually, modular purchase, plan changes at any time, pricing that rises with employee count, paid add-ons (SSO, Journeys, WhatsApp Hiring, AgencyHub), and live chat and local support on all plans.
The natural comparison is Greenhouse or Personio: Greenhouse is the ATS benchmark at higher cost; Personio bundles HR-first: Tellent sits between on price with EU roots. Weigh it against BambooHR on the job you actually need done.
Not a fit for you?
Tellent is not the pick for companies hiring a few roles a year. In that case, look at Breezy HR, built for small teams hiring for a few roles at once that want a visual, drag-and-drop pipeline without enterprise-ATS pricing.
Breezy HR price: Free Bootstrap plan (1 open position, unlimited users); Startup $157/mo billed annually ($189 monthly) (read 2026-09-27)
The Visit link is an affiliate link: we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. We picked this alternative for fit first; commission only decides between equal fits.
Frequently asked questions
Can you export your data from Tellent?
Exit check 2026-10-31; route excerpt: Candidates > menu > Export to CSV; came along (excerpts): Unicode names and emails preserved / Two tags survive in one CSV field; lost (excerpts): Uploaded CV absent from CSV; re-import: not tested.
How is Tellent priced if there are no prices on the page?
By headcount, on a quote. Every tier on tellent.com/pricing still ends in 'Get a demo' (read 26 September 2026), but the pricing FAQ says the price increases with your employee count. So bring your employee number to the demo, and ask for Start, Advance and Optimize quoted at that number side by side, with renewal prices, so you can see the shape of the ladder.
Can I pay for Tellent monthly?
Yes. The pricing FAQ (read 26 September 2026) says you can pay monthly or yearly and that annual billing saves 20%. With no published rate you cannot check that figure against a list price, so ask for both quotes on the same call; the FAQ also says you can upgrade or downgrade at any time, which makes starting monthly on the lower tier a reasonable test.
Do I have to buy the whole Tellent platform?
No. The FAQ (read 26 September 2026) calls it modular: you can buy the Recruitee ATS, the Manage HRIS or the Grow performance module on its own, and Tellent HR sells Manage and Grow singly or together. SSO, Journeys, WhatsApp Hiring and AgencyHub are paid add-ons; SSO is only included on the top ATS tier, Optimize.
Is this a hands-on review of Tellent?
Yes. We tested Tellent ourselves on 2026-10-31; the section above says what we tested, what we found and what we did not test, and where a figure comes from the vendor's own documentation instead. Most of our reviews are researched rather than run; we say which is which. We name what each tool is good and bad at, and we earn a commission only if you sign up, at no cost to you.
- Buyer reviews on GetApp, Capterra and Software Advice, read August 2026.
- Tellent’s own published pricing page.
- Our own hands-on session with Tellent (2026-10-31), written up in full further down this page.
Bottom line
Best for: European scale-ups hiring all year round.
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