AI recruiting software is priced in three main ways: per seat, per credit, or per hire. Seats charge for the people who log in, credits charge for the AI work done, such as analysing one resume, and per-hire fees charge for each placement. HyreTech uses credits. Most AI actions cost 1 credit, the Free plan includes 20 (enough to score about 20 applicants before paying anything), and paid plans start at $69 a month with 300 credits. The model matters less than whether you can estimate your own bill from your own hiring volume, so this guide shows how.
Vendor pricing pages rarely make the comparison easy. Below are the three models side by side, why vendors are moving toward credits, what a credit buys at HyreTech, and a worked estimate you can reuse with your own numbers. Prices are in US dollars. Workspaces registered in Indonesia are billed in rupiah, and those prices are given where they differ.
The Three Pricing Models in AI Recruiting Software
Most tools fall into one of three models, and some mix two.
| Model | You pay for | Cost rises when | Predictability | Fits best |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Per seat | Each person who logs in | You add recruiters or hiring managers | High | Large teams with steady, shared use |
| Per credit | Each AI action, such as analysing a resume | Applicant volume or AI actions rise | Medium, depends on the allowance | Teams whose volume changes month to month |
| Per hire | A fee for each placement | You make more hires | High per hire, lumpy overall | Occasional senior hires you would otherwise give an agency |
Per-hire pricing is how agencies charge, and it is less common in software. Bain & Company's August 2026 brief on AI pricing lists HR among the areas where outcome-based pricing struggles, because HR decisions span several systems and people, not only the software.
If you are weighing an agency fee against software, our breakdown of recruiter fees in Singapore and Indonesia covers when the fee is worth paying.
Why Vendors are Moving from Seats to Credits
AI changes what it costs a vendor to serve one customer. A single recruiter can trigger hundreds of analyses in an afternoon, so a flat seat fee stops tracking the work done.
Eric Johnson, PagerDuty's CIO, makes the same point in Verdict: AI lets one user trigger far more actions than before, while some buyers worry about cost volatility and forecasting.
Bain's analysis shows how the market is splitting. About four out of every five vendors introducing AI pricing choose capacity models, where customers commit to a fixed amount that is not refunded or rolled over if unused.
Among vendors adding a hybrid AI meter, about 55% charge for output, about 35% for effort such as tokens or compute, and about 10% for outcomes (Bain & Company, pricing data from about 200 B2B SaaS companies, June 2026). On our reading of those definitions, a HyreTech credit is an output meter: you pay for each analysis produced, not for the tokens behind it.
HyreTech combines both halves of Bain's split. Paid plans refill a monthly credit allowance that does not roll over, which is the capacity model. Top-up credits are pay-as-you-go, never expire and are spent first, which is closer to direct usage. HyreTech is not priced per user, though each tier includes a fixed number of team members and active roles.
The Verdict piece adds a buyer's test worth applying to any vendor, ours included: usage-based pricing only works when customers can easily see what is being measured, backed by clear billing and ways to keep spending under control.
What Drives Your Credit Bill at HyreTech
Most AI actions cost 1 credit, and opening a result you have already paid for never does. This is every action that spends credits as of 8 October 2026. The credit help article keeps the current list.
| Action | What happens | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Analysing a resume | Parse, evaluate against the role's rubric, produce reasoning. GitHub or portfolio links inside the resume are read as part of it | 1 |
| Re-analysing a candidate | A fresh evaluation, for example after you change the rubric | 1 |
| Matching a talent-pool CV | Match one CV against all open roles. Re-matches are free | 1 |
| Semantic search | One natural-language search across your candidates or talent pool. A new page or filter is a new search | 1 |
| Setting up a role | Draft its evaluation criteria and index it. Your first role is free | 2 |
| Regenerating evaluation criteria | Redraft a role's criteria with AI | 1 |
| Saving a role's description | Re-index the role for matching | 1 |
| Drafting role text | Turn a pasted job description into description, requirements and screening questions, or generate all role text at once. Single fields are 1 each | 1 |
| Hiring intent | Per draft, save or edit of a role's hiring intent | 1 |
| Enriching a profile | Per GitHub or portfolio link submitted on an application form | 1 |
| Opening an existing result | A scorecard you have already paid for | Free |
The cost driver is the resume analysis. Everything else is small by comparison, and editing a role's criteria or weights by hand costs nothing. What a credit-funded scorecard contains is covered in how the match score is built.
How to Estimate Your Monthly Credits
A rough monthly formula:
Credits ≈ applicants analysed + re-analyses + 1 per role's text drafted + 2 per role set up after your first + 1 per search, intent save or profile link
Here it is applied to three common setups. We assume each role is created this month on a new account, so the first role's setup is free, and we leave out searches, intent, enrichment and re-analyses.
| Setup | Analyses | Drafts and setup | Total | Against the plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 role, 60 applicants, Free | 60 | 1 draft, 0 setup | 61 | 20 one-time: 41 short |
| 3 roles, about 100 applicants each, Starter | 300 | 3 drafts, 4 setup | 307 | 300 a month: 7 short |
| 10 roles, about 80 applicants each, Growth | 800 | 10 drafts, 18 setup | 828 | 800 a month: 28 short |
Two patterns show up. First, each plan's allowance roughly matches the applicant volume it is built for. Drafting and setup push you a few percent over in the month you open roles, and drop out in the months after.
Second, top-ups cover the gap. They come in 100, 500 and 1,000-credit packs at $14.99, $59.99 and $99.99, about $0.10 to $0.15 per credit. In Indonesia the same packs cost Rp 99,000, Rp 449,000 and Rp 799,000. For the Free setup above, one 100-credit pack covers the 41-credit gap with credits to spare.
Plan prices buy more than credits. Starter at $69 a month for 300 credits works out to about $0.23 per credit if you use them all, and Growth at $199 for 800 credits to about $0.25, so top-ups are the cheaper way to buy credits alone. The plans also buy active roles (3 on Starter, 10 on Growth), team members, Google Calendar and Meet scheduling (Starter and above), and the verification trust score and advanced analytics (Growth).
In Indonesia, Starter is Rp 399,000 and Growth Rp 1,199,000 a month. A team with one active role and no need for scheduling can stay on Free and buy top-ups. You only need a paid plan for more roles, more seats or those features.
Where Credit-Based Pricing can Cost you More
Credits are not always the cheaper model, and a fair comparison should say when.
- Bursty hiring. Plan credits refill every month, even on annual billing, and do not roll over. A quiet month wastes allowance, and a spike means top-ups.
- Many users, little volume. If a large group of managers each reviews a few candidates, per-seat pricing can be cheaper. HyreTech's tiers also cap team members at 1 on Free, 3 on Starter and 10 on Growth.
- Rare, senior hires. One placement a year through an agency may cost less than a software subscription.
- Late rubric changes. Changing a role's criteria does not re-score anyone already analysed. Re-scoring means re-analysing each candidate at 1 credit each, so a rubric change late in a big search costs about as much as the first pass.
- Dropping to Free. Top-up credits never expire, but credits you bought are forfeited if you leave a paid plan for Free. Credits earned through referrals are kept. Spend bought credits before the plan ends.
A practical habit: for your first two roles, keep a tally of credits per hire (total credits spent divided by hires made). It turns a vague pricing model into a number you can forecast with.
Questions to Ask Any Vendor Before you Sign
Our buyer's checklist for AI recruitment software in Singapore asks "What is the unit of pricing, and what does a unit buy?" as question ten.
These are the follow-ups. The first filter is whether pricing is public at all, which we recorded for each tool in our comparison of six AI recruiting tools.
| Question | Why it matters | HyreTech |
|---|---|---|
| What does one credit or unit buy? | Units differ widely between tools | Most AI actions are 1 credit. A resume analysis is 1 |
| Does re-reading a result cost anything? | Reviewing should not be metered | Free |
| Do unused credits roll over? | Decides how much bursty months hurt | Plan credits do not. Top-ups never expire, but bought ones are forfeited on a move to Free |
| Can you buy more mid-month without changing plan? | Avoids forced upgrades | Yes, top-ups on every plan including Free |
| Can you measure your own usage before paying? | Estimates beat guesses | Free plan: 20 credits, 1 active role |
| What does re-scoring after a rubric change cost? | Hidden repeat charges | 1 credit per candidate re-analysed. Editing the criteria alone is free |
Ready to Test Your Own Numbers?
The fastest way to replace an estimate with a measurement is to run one real role. The Free plan covers one active role with 20 credits, so you can score a first batch and see exactly what each action spends.
If you want to check the numbers yourself: Start free and read your credit balance after a first batch.
If you are hiring for several roles at once or need help sizing a plan: Book a demo and we will go through your applicant volume with you.
FAQ
How is AI recruiting software priced?
In one of three ways, sometimes two combined: per seat, for each person who logs in; per credit or usage, for each AI action such as analysing a resume; or per hire, a fee for each placement. Per-seat pricing is the most predictable for large teams, credits suit applicant volume that changes month to month, and per-hire fees are mostly how agencies charge.
How is HyreTech's credit pricing different from paying per user?
HyreTech charges for AI work, not for each login. Most AI actions cost 1 credit, such as analysing a resume, and opening a result you already have is free. The Free plan includes 20 credits and one active role, Starter is $69 a month with 300 credits and 3 team members, and Growth is $199 a month with 800 credits and 10 team members. Extra credits can be bought on any plan.
Is credit-based pricing cheaper than per-seat pricing?
It depends on your volume. Credits favour teams with few users and variable applicant volume, while per-seat pricing can favour many users who each review a few candidates. Compare by estimating your monthly credits from the formula above, then checking the plan price per credit against top-up prices.
Why are AI recruiting tools moving from seats to credits?
Because AI work costs the vendor money per action, not per user, and one user can now trigger far more actions than before. Bain & Company found that about four out of every five vendors introducing AI pricing choose capacity models, which is the structure behind monthly credit allowances.
What is a capacity model in AI software pricing?
You commit up front to a fixed amount of usage, such as a monthly credit allowance, and unused capacity is not refunded or rolled over. Bain & Company's 2026 analysis found it is the most common choice among vendors introducing AI pricing. HyreTech's paid-plan allowances work this way; its top-up credits do not, because they never expire.
When is credit-based pricing a worse deal?
In quiet months, because plan credits do not roll over. It can also cost more than a flat seat fee at very high applicant volumes, because every analysis is metered, and after a late rubric change that means re-analysing a large pile. Track credits per hire for your first two roles before you commit to a tier.