An honest comparison
Kordis vs Bullhorn: which fits a 25 to 200 worker agency? (2026)
Last updated . Competitor facts checked against the sources at the bottom of this page.
Bullhorn is the market-leading applicant tracking system and CRM for mid-to-large staffing firms, priced from $99 US per user per month. Kordis runs shift operations for Canadian temp agencies with 25 to 200 workers, priced flat per agency.
If you run a placement firm with several recruiters, Bullhorn earns its price. If your operation lives on confirmations, credentials, and payroll evenings, that is the job Kordis was built for.
What is Bullhorn good at?
Bullhorn has been the reference ATS and CRM in staffing for two decades. It tracks candidates from application to placement, gives recruiters a shared CRM, integrates with a large ecosystem, and scales to thousands of seats. Mid-market and enterprise firms standardize on it for good reasons.
- Market-leading ATS with a deep integration ecosystem and Salesforce-grade customization
- Recruitment CRM and full-cycle ATS in one system for placement-driven desks
- AI-assisted candidate matching and resume parsing at volume
- Mobile tools for recruiting teams in the field
- Publishes real entry pricing, which most enterprise staffing platforms do not
How do Kordis and Bullhorn compare?
| What matters | Kordis | Bullhorn |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Canadian temp staffing agencies with 25 to 200 workers | Mid-to-large recruiting and staffing firms |
| Pricing | $249 a month founding rate for the first 3 months, then $499 a month flat, all-in, up to 200 active workers | Two published tiers: $99 US per user per month (Starter) and $165 (Core). Pro and Max are listed above them with no price, plus add-ons and implementation quoted |
| Shift filling | ShiftFill and Call-Out Cover: confirmation texts and calls go out on their own; fills and backfills are staged for your OK | ATS workflows; shift confirmation is not the core job |
| Screening | Smart Screen: applicant screening calls with transcripts and scores | Resume parsing and AI matching at recruiter scale |
| Credential tracking | AutoFile and Renewal Clock: worker evidence, site authorizations, actual expiry dates, and dispatch gating kept in their proper scope | Configurable fields; no published Canadian assignment-readiness gating |
| Canadian rules | Ontario, BC, and Alberta rules built in: province of work, site scope, and readiness gates | US-centric defaults; no published provincial ESA or WSIB features |
| Setup | Done-with-you setup on your own data | Implementation projects reported from $2,000 to $50,000+ |
Bullhorn's Starter ($99 per user per month) and Core ($165) tiers are published on bullhorn.com/pricing, checked 2026-08-03, and both figures are unchanged from July. What changed is the shape of the page: Bullhorn now also lists Pro and Max above Core with no price and a talk-to-us button, so the published range is no longer the whole ladder. Note the page shows bare dollar figures with no currency label; Bullhorn is US-based and these read as US dollars, which is worth confirming at quote if you are budgeting in Canadian ones. Add-on module and implementation figures are third-party reported ranges, not published prices.
Pick Bullhorn if
- You run a permanent-placement or high-volume recruiting desk with dedicated recruiters
- You have 100+ internal users and an admin who can own the configuration
- You need a deep CRM for client development, not just shift operations
Pick Kordis if
- Your day is filling shifts, confirming crews, and covering drop-outs, not managing a placement pipeline
- Per-user pricing scales against you: you want one flat price for the agency
- You need Ontario, BC, or Alberta rules (cards, gating) built in rather than configured
- You want the phone work done for you: confirmations and screening calls staged for your OK
Common questions
Is Kordis a Bullhorn replacement?
No. Bullhorn is an ATS and CRM for placement pipelines; Kordis runs the work around shifts: confirmations, screening calls, credential gating, and hours to payroll. Some agencies keep an ATS they love and run Kordis beside it.
What does Bullhorn cost a 10-person agency per year?
At the published $99 US per user per month Starter tier, ten users run $11,880 US per year before add-ons or implementation. Reported implementation ranges start around $2,000 and rise steeply with customization.
Does Bullhorn handle Canadian compliance?
Bullhorn publishes no provincial ESA, WSIB, or Canadian credential-card features (checked August 2026), and the regions its own site names do not include Canada separately. Canadian rules are typically handled by configuration, add-ons, or outside the system entirely.
Who should clearly pick Bullhorn?
A placement-driven firm with several recruiters, an admin who owns configuration, and a client-development CRM need. At that shape and scale, Bullhorn's ecosystem and pipeline depth are genuinely the market standard.
Sources
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