Giig vs JobAdder: which is better for a small recruitment agency?

By Luke, founder of Giig · Updated October 2026 · Prices checked against public pricing pages

JobAdder is a well-established recruitment platform from Sydney, majority-owned by SEEK, with a big footprint in Australia, New Zealand and the UK. It’s known for being easy to use and for strong job posting.

Giig is a UK recruitment CRM and ATS built for independent recruiters and agencies of 1–20 people, with a free plan, published per-user pricing and no contracts.

On paper JobAdder’s “Lite” plan targets the same small agencies we do. Here’s how they compare in practice.

Giig vs JobAdder at a glance

Prices exclude VAT/sales tax. Competitor details come from their public websites and review sites as of October 2026. Things change, so check before you sign anything.

Pricing: published vs “request a quote”

Giig’s side of this is short, because it’s all public. There’s a free plan for one user, then £12.50, £37.50 or £49.17 per user per month on annual billing (+VAT) across Starter, Plus and Giig AI, with monthly billing if you prefer. You can sign up and start without speaking to anyone – the pricing page has the lot.

JobAdder doesn’t publish prices. Its pricing page lists the tiers – Lite (1–5 users), Essential (6–20), Pro (21+) and a separate in-house plan – and asks you to request pricing. There’s no free plan, and JobAdder’s FAQ says there’s no free trial either.

Third-party estimates (Compono, Spott, Atlas and others) put it somewhere between roughly $95 and $200+ per user per month, with one European quote for Essential reported at €124 per user per month plus a €550 implementation fee. Treat those as ballpark only – the only way to know is to ask.

For a three-person agency, that’s somewhere around $285–$600 a month on JobAdder (estimate), on an annual contract. On Giig it’s £112.50 a month for Plus or £147.51 for Giig AI, billed annually, with no contract, or month to month if you prefer.

The small-agency catch: AI starts at 6 users

Here’s the bit that matters most if you’re small. JobAdder’s AI, Adder Intelligence, is available from the Essential tier, which is for 6–20 users. The Lite plan for 1–5 users doesn’t list AI or an API.

So if you’re a two-person agency, you’d be on the plan without the AI. On Giig, every user on the Giig AI plan gets AI and the Claude connector, whether you’re one person or twenty.

Where JobAdder wins

• Job posting. Posting to 200+ boards is one of JobAdder’s best features, and reviewers like it. Giig handles multi-posting through idibu, which is a separate subscription.
• Temp and contract. JobAdder includes temp and contract management.
• Integrations. 100+ in its marketplace.
• Ease of use. Reviewers consistently say it’s easy to pick up. It’s one of the friendlier big platforms.

Where Giig wins

• You can see the price. And you can start free, today, without talking to sales.
• No annual contract. JobAdder runs on annual contracts. Giig doesn’t have contracts.
• AI for small teams. AI and the Claude connector aren’t reserved for agencies with six or more people.
• Faster start. No 2–4 week onboarding. Most people are working in Giig the day they sign up.
• Support you can actually reach. JobAdder’s Lite plan gets ticket support, and reviewers on Capterra mention it being hard to reach by phone. Giig support is a call or email to the founders.

AI and Claude

JobAdder’s Adder Intelligence works quietly in the background – summarising candidates, suggesting record updates and writing job descriptions. It’s sensible, practical AI, but it’s on the bigger tiers and it stays inside JobAdder.

Even on a two-person team you get the lot. The Giig AI plan includes our native Claude connector, so you can ask things like “summarise the candidates I’ve shortlisted for the Bristol role” or “write a job ad from this brief and save it to the job”. Claude can read and update candidates, jobs, contacts, companies, notes and tasks, with permissions you set per role. If MCP is new to you, start here.

As of October 2026 we couldn’t find a Claude or MCP connector for JobAdder.

Moving your data from JobAdder to Giig

A free CSV import on any paid plan gets most small agencies up and running the same day. If you want your full JobAdder history, we can restore your whole database from an SQL or .bak backup file – that’s a paid job, so contact the team for a quote.

The verdict

JobAdder is a solid, well-liked platform, especially if job posting is the centre of your workflow or you’re a growing agency with six or more recruiters.

If you’re a 1–5 person agency, though, you’d be on JobAdder’s most limited tier, on an annual contract, at a price you can’t see without a call. Giig gives you AI, Claude and transparent monthly pricing from day one. Try the free plan and compare.

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