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IBM Kenexa vs Recruitee comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM Kenexa
Ranking in Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software
17th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.3
Number of Reviews
30
Ranking in other categories
Benefits Administration (14th), Talent Management (23rd)
Recruitee
Ranking in Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software
14th
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software category, the mindshare of IBM Kenexa is 1.4%, down from 1.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Recruitee is 2.5%, down from 3.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software
 

Featured Reviews

Karan Grover - PeerSpot reviewer
Suitable for larger-scale companies aiming to streamline and automate their processes digitally
The deployment of the solution took between six to eight months. When we introduced BrassRing at my company, we encountered several challenges. First, moving data from our old system to BrassRing was tough because it needed reformatting. Second, connecting BrassRing with our HR data was tricky due to manual processes for roles and departments. Third, setting up the workflow in BrassRing was complex. Fourth, configuring user access and approval levels was a detailed task. We also had to manage the change process, including running both old and new systems in parallel, communicating changes, and training users. Lastly, monitoring and reporting were needed to ensure data accuracy and proper system usage once everything was in place. We had a team of six to eight people managing the project from our side during the BrassRing deployment. I'm not sure about the size of the BrassRing team, and we also had our own technical team, which had three to four members. The solution required maintenance, particularly from my side as the administrator. Maintenance responsibilities were divided into two parts: some tasks we, as end-users, could control, while others were the responsibility of the BrassRing team. Payment-related tasks were a regular part of our responsibilities. I wasn't the only person maintaining the solution. There were three power users from Infosys, each responsible for a specific geography. My counterpart managed it in the US, and I, along with my colleague in India, managed it for other geographies.
BD
A user-friendly solution that provides a good overview and the flexibility to alter the funnel and assign tasks
We found the evaluation of interviews offered in Recruitee too complicated, so we didn't use that. They offer a way to rate and evaluate interviews, but it was a little bit more complicated, so we didn't use that. It was also a little bit harder to find where this feature was located. What surprised me was that if you have one vacancy and you want to announce it, for example, in the Netherlands in Dutch and also in English, that wasn't possible. In such a case, you need to open two vacancies, but then, of course, your reporting is off. It would be really beneficial if they can offer the possibility of posting one position in multiple languages. In this particular organization, it was not really that much of an issue because it was a local organization. I understood from the person responsible for connecting Recruitee to career sites that there were some things that you struggled with, especially with regards to banners, pictures, photos, and things like that. I did not do it myself. On the backend, I personally didn't really have any issues. It could maybe have integration with Outlook so that you can plan interviews straight from the system, and they also show up in the Outlook calendars of the managers.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The most valuable features are that we can upload documents and download them on demand."
"The ease of scaling is one of BrassRing's biggest strengths, making it a trusted choice for large companies."
"It is extremely user friendly. It is very flexible in managing recruitment, especially when you have thousands of applicants as we did. We easily had over 20,000 applicants within a year for some of our positions, so it made it very easy to manage a large application pool. It was very easy to customize by recruiter preference. When you open up someone's profile to see their experience, education, or other things, you can customize that for yourself. It was flexible in that, and each recruiter could set up their preferences. It didn't have to be set up so that everyone had to have the same landing platform, which was very helpful. As someone who trained other HR people on how to use the system, it was very easy to pick up and learn."
"IBM Kenexa is fairly stable. We don't have any downtime."
"I really like the privacy within Recruitee. I can add multiple hiring managers and manage all different vacancies without them having or being able to see what's going on in other vacancies. It is quite easy to use. I can easily add another colleague. It is straightforward and intuitive. I don't even have to explain to hiring managers how it works for us because they are able to figure it out once they click on it."
"In general, the platform is very simple to customize. We have previously used different ERP/funneling platforms, such as Pipedrive. They were all great, but they were very complicated to set up and very confusing. Getting someone completely new to use them was a pretty big headache, but Recruitee is very easy to use. It is very easy to get someone completely new to learn everything and use the project in one day. It provides the ease of onboarding people and the ease of use. It is not trying to be more than it is. It is just about hiring, and it focuses just on the hiring process, communicating with people, and going to multiple hiring stages. Most ERP/hiring solutions have massive integrations and customizations. They try to provide a lot of things in the platform, but Recruitee is there just to recruit. It is very linear. It just does its job well and doesn't try to be what it is not."
"What really impressed me was the ease with which you could alter the funnel. You could add steps to the funnel or just leave steps out. It provided flexibility. You could also assign specific people in the organization per vacancy. It is user-friendly, and it has a very good overview. When you open the screen with all the vacancies, it is very easy to see your overview. You can also assign the tasks that you have to somebody, which is something that not every system has."
 

Cons

"The reporting tool is helpful, but it is not the easiest to train on or is not as understandable for other HR pros. Their Workbench site, which is the administrator site that you use to update your website, is not user-friendly. When updates are required, it is not that easy to manage because Workbench is not user friendly. It required more work from the admins. They have Workbench training, which actually was very unhelpful. It took eight hours to complete, and it was not very helpful. Their customer service when it comes specifically to their Workbench site is not helpful."
"It needs to update its reporting and analytics tools."
"I would like to have a better and more user-friendly interface."
"I would not recommend IBM Kenexa to others."
"The GDPR system needs some improvement. They say that you automatically have approval when you just add a CV. I might not have even asked for it. I would like to have a better GDPR system that asks or sends a request for saving data. It is not completely customizable. Sometimes, I can't do the things that I want to do. I would like to edit our career website, but I can only change the main page of our career website. I can't change the layout or pictures within our vacancies. They have it all automized to disable. We do everything that we can to make it as good as we can for Google for jobs, but I miss some of the checkpoints for Google for jobs, and I can't edit them myself."
"We found the evaluation of interviews offered in Recruitee too complicated, so we didn't use that. They offer a way to rate and evaluate interviews, but it was a little bit more complicated, so we didn't use that. It was also a little bit harder to find where this feature was located. What surprised me was that if you have one vacancy and you want to announce it, for example, in the Netherlands in Dutch and also in English, that wasn't possible. In such a case, you need to open two vacancies, but then, of course, your reporting is off. It would be really beneficial if they can offer the possibility of posting one position in multiple languages. In this particular organization, it was not really that much of an issue because it was a local organization. I understood from the person responsible for connecting Recruitee to career sites that there were some things that you struggled with, especially with regards to banners, pictures, photos, and things like that. I did not do it myself. On the backend, I personally didn't really have any issues. It could maybe have integration with Outlook so that you can plan interviews straight from the system, and they also show up in the Outlook calendars of the managers."
"One of the minor problems was that when we sent mass emails to every applicant at one stage, some people didn't receive the email. It would go into some kind of a spam box or something. It took us quite a while to figure this out. Of course, this is a general problem with emails, but some other platforms have better ways to find this, warn, or give you best practices. With Recruitee, it took us quite a while to figure out that the problem is happening and how to deal with it. That was one of the minor issues. Another issue was related to communication. They have a support team, but it takes quite a while to hear back on some of the issues. They don't work on weekends. It was a little unusual for a SaaS product."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Kenexa was fairly priced. However, in 2019, before I left my previous organization, they significantly increased their pricing. It can be affordable, but their pricing is going up. It is not just licensing; it is how many applicants you have in your system on the database side."
"Its pricing is quite reasonable. Recruitee was more favorable price-wise as compared to other solutions."
"When we bought it, it was good in terms of quality and cost. It was not very expensive, but I heard that quite soon after that, they changed their way of pricing, which meant that the price went up quite substantially. Earlier, you had to just pay for the number of vacancies or slots that you wanted to use in the organization. We bought 10 slots, and they changed that system. I don't know how it works now because I don't work there anymore. Licensing was on a yearly basis. You selected a number of slots and paid for that year. You could buy more, but you couldn't go for less. We had to pay a setup or implementation fee. Support was included in the license."
"It was amazing, but right now, they got more expensive due to the different plans that they offer. They offer basic, intermediate, and advanced plans. It used to be really easy. You could just have a number of slots as vacancies, and that's what you paid for. Now, you pay for the number of slots and the plan you have, and it got a lot more expensive. I think we had a 40% increase in price. Support is always included in the license."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
17%
Comms Service Provider
13%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM Kenexa?
The ease of scaling is one of BrassRing's biggest strengths, making it a trusted choice for large companies.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Kenexa?
As a large company, we first bought the complete BrassRing package, which had various features. Later on, we paid extra for specific features like customer test management. When we integrated with ...
What needs improvement with IBM Kenexa?
BrassRing needs improvement in a few areas. First, it should update how it tracks where candidates come from and avoid duplicate entries. Right now, it is not very flexible. Also, its way of making...
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Comparisons

 

Also Known As

IBM Smarter Workforce, Outstart
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Sweet Spot International (SSI), Leo Burnett Worldwide (LBW), Sika AG, Legacy Health, Apollo Group Inc., Regeneron, Transurban Group, National Health Service, New Zealand Police, Overland Footwear, Yealands, Johnson Controls, Allscripts, Kerry Foods, Masterpet, AMD, Balfour Beatty
We work with businesses of all sizes: SME's, corporates, independent recruiters, etc.
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Kenexa vs. Recruitee and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
845,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.