If you're shopping for an ATS, Workable and Lever are probably on your shortlist. They're both well-regarded, feature-rich platforms that cost actual money. But which one should you actually buy?

I'm not here to give you a "they're both great!" cop-out answer. Let's dig into the real differences so you can make a decision instead of sitting in demo hell for another month.

The Core Philosophy Difference

This is what most comparisons miss: these tools have fundamentally different approaches to recruiting.

Workable is an all-in-one platform that tries to cover every aspect of HR, from recruiting to onboarding to employee management. It's positioning itself as "the only HR software you need." The recruiting piece is comprehensive, but it's part of a broader HRIS strategy.

Lever is recruiting-obsessed. It combines ATS functionality with CRM (Candidate Relationship Management) features designed for proactive sourcing and long-term candidate relationship building. If you're doing heavy outbound recruiting and building talent pipelines, Lever is built for that.

That philosophical difference should drive your decision more than any specific feature.

Where Workable Wins

Ease of use. Workable is genuinely more intuitive than Lever. The interface is cleaner, the learning curve is gentler, and your hiring managers won't need a training manual to leave interview feedback. If you have non-technical people involved in hiring (which you probably do), this matters.

All-in-one platform. If you need both ATS and HRIS functionality, Workable offers that integration natively. You're not stitching together multiple tools or dealing with integration headaches. For smaller companies that want one system for everything, this is a huge advantage.

Faster implementation. Workable typically takes 1-2 weeks to get fully operational; Lever often takes 4-6 weeks. If you need to be up and running quickly, Workable delivers.

Better mobile app. Workable's mobile experience is superior. Reviewing candidates, leaving feedback, and managing your pipeline from your phone actually works well. Lever's mobile app exists, but it feels like an afterthought.

Pricing transparency. Workable publishes pricing on their website (starting around $249/month). Lever makes you go through sales. If you hate sales calls and want to know what you're getting into, Workable wins on transparency.

Where Lever Wins

CRM functionality. Lever's candidate relationship management features are substantially better. If you're building long-term talent pipelines, nurturing passive candidates, or doing proactive sourcing, Lever gives you tools specifically for that. Workable can track candidates, but it's not built around relationship development the way Lever is.

Advanced sourcing tools. Lever integrates more deeply with LinkedIn, has better Boolean search capabilities, and provides chrome extensions for one-click candidate capture. If sourcing is a major part of your workflow, Lever's tools are meaningfully better.

Analytics for recruiting ops nerds. Lever's reporting is more sophisticated and customizable. You can build custom dashboards, track obscure metrics, and really dig into what's working and what's not. Workable has good analytics; Lever's are better for data-driven recruiting teams.

Better for agency/RPO use cases. Lever supports multi-client management better than Workable. If you're a staffing agency or RPO provider managing recruiting for multiple companies, Lever's structure handles that more elegantly.

Collaborative hiring features. Interview scheduling, feedback collection, and team coordination are more robust in Lever. If you have complex hiring processes with many stakeholders, Lever manages that complexity better.

The Honest Breakdown By Company Type

Choose Workable if you:

• Are a small to mid-size company (under 200 employees) doing mostly reactive recruiting (posting jobs and reviewing applicants)
• Want one platform for both recruiting and HR management
• Need something your entire team can figure out without extensive training
• Want transparent pricing and fast implementation
• Don't have dedicated recruiting operations people

Choose Lever if you:

• Have dedicated recruiting teams doing proactive sourcing and pipeline building
• Prioritize candidate relationship management and long-term talent community development
• Need sophisticated analytics and reporting
• Are a staffing agency, RPO, or managing recruiting for multiple entities
• Have the resources for longer implementation and training
• Will actually use the CRM features (don't pay for functionality you won't use)

What About Integrations?

Both integrate with basically everything important: LinkedIn, Indeed, Slack, Zoom, background check providers, assessment tools. Lever has slightly more integrations total (500+ vs. Workable's 280+), but unless you need something extremely niche, both will connect to your existing tools.

The Price Reality

Workable starts around $249/month and scales based on active jobs and employees. For a 50-person company, you're probably looking at $400-600/month.

Lever doesn't publish pricing, but expect to pay significantly more—often 2-3x Workable's cost. The extra cost buys you CRM features and more sophisticated functionality, but only you can decide if that's worth it.

What Users Actually Complain About

Workable issues:

• Customer support can be slow to respond
• Customization options are more limited than enterprise platforms
• Career page templates could be more modern

Lever issues:

• Steep learning curve—teams report taking weeks to feel comfortable
• Can feel like overkill if you're not using the CRM features
• Pricing is expensive and not transparent
• Email deliverability issues reported by some users

The Bottom Line

Both are good ATSs—you're not making a wrong choice either way. But they're built for different recruiting philosophies.

Workable is the practical, intuitive, all-in-one solution for companies that want to hire efficiently without building a specialized recruiting operation.

Lever is the sophisticated, CRM-integrated platform for companies that treat recruiting as a strategic function and invest accordingly.

Don't buy based on features lists or sales pitches. Buy based on how your company actually recruits. If you're not sure, start with Workable—it's easier to outgrow a simple tool than to be paralyzed by a complex one you never fully implement.

And here's a final thought: the best ATS is the one your team will actually use consistently. A "more powerful" tool that sits unused because it's too complicated is worthless. Choose accordingly.