Staffing Agency Software: Front Office or Full Suite?
Compare staffing platforms by who owns onboarding, timesheets, payroll and billing—not just the ATS feature list.
A Ceipal alternative. With per-seat prices on the website.
Ceipal sells its ATS alongside a VMS and workforce tools for US IT staffing, and shares pricing in a demo. Longlist is for agencies whose day is client development, sourcing and CV submissions.
Free data migration 14-day free trial
YOUR NEXT CHAPTER
New software.
Same valuable relationships.
- Candidates, clients, and jobs together
- Outreach built into your workflow
- A real team to help you move
Good company. Great recruiting teams.
Longlist or Ceipal: the short answer
Choose Longlist if you run perm, search or contract desks and want a client CRM, sequences and branded CV packs at $47–$65 a seat. Choose Ceipal if you place IT contractors through VMS programmes and need timesheets, AR/AP and H-1B, I-9 and E-Verify tracking next to the ATS. Ceipal reaches into the back office, while Longlist stays on the recruiting desk with a published price and a 14-day trial.
Which agencies each one suits
| Choose Longlist if | Stay with Ceipal if |
|---|---|
Clients brief you directly, and you win work through BD calls and campaigns. | Most of your requisitions arrive through VMS and MSP programmes. |
You want to see the seat price before you book a sales call. | You want ATS, VMS and workforce management from one vendor on one quote. |
Your consultants send clients branded CV packs with a recommendation on the cover page. | You sponsor H-1B workers and track LCAs, PAFs, I-9 and E-Verify in the same system. |
Paid job boards are an occasional channel, posted by hand. | You post to Dice, Monster, Indeed and LinkedIn from the ATS through Ceipal’s 50+ board integrations. |
Ceipal and Longlist, row by row
We compared pricing, outreach, job posting and the staffing modules using Ceipal’s product pages, checked October 16, 2026. Each Ceipal cell links to the page that supports it.
Scroll across to compare every detail
| Feature | Recommended |  |
|---|---|---|
| Published price per seat | Yes $47–$65 billed annually ($59–$79 billed monthly) | No Pricing is covered in the demo |
| Free trial | Yes 14 days, no card | Product tour and demo No trial offered on ceipal.com |
| Email campaigns to candidates | Yes Sequences that stop on reply, every plan | Yes Built-in campaigns and a mass email center |
| Texting candidates | Plus plan Two-way SMS and WhatsApp on the record | Yes TextToHire SMS built in; voice through partners |
| Branded careers page | Yes Hosted page, feeds Google for Jobs | Yes Branded Career Portal |
| Job board multiposting | No Careers page, Google for Jobs and Careerjet feed | Yes 50+ boards, including Dice, Monster and Indeed |
| AI agents for search and ranking | No AI CV parsing and AI-drafted outreach (beta) | Yes Search and tag, relevancy, job optimizer and voice agents |
| Free data migration in | Yes Done by our team | Yes Advertised as completely free |
| VMS | No | Yes ProcureWise |
| Timesheets, AR/AP and commissions | No Bill and pay rates recorded on the placement | Yes Workforce module with QuickBooks sync |
| H-1B, I-9 and E-Verify compliance | No | Yes |
| Book Demo |
Sources, verified October 2026: Ceipal [1], [2], [3], [4], [5].
THE DETAILS MAKE THE DIFFERENCE
Why some teams move off Ceipal
Themes from public Capterra reviews of Ceipal ATS, with what changes in Longlist.
Slow pages and server errors
Reviewers mention slowness and occasional errors. Run your own searches and pipeline moves in a 14-day Longlist trial before you decide.
Reports that won’t bend
Some reviewers found reporting hard to customise and short on filters. Longlist Plus adds custom reports on top of the standard activity reports.
A lot to learn
Reviewers say the breadth of modules takes new users time. Longlist starts with agency stages from Review through CV Sent, interviews, offers and Joined already set up.
What Ceipal and Longlist cost
Longlist’s rates are on the pricing page in USD. Ceipal doesn’t publish rates, and its /pricing address redirects to the homepage, so expect a quote after the demo.
| Software | Starting price | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Longlist Growth | $47 annual / $59 monthly | USD per user/month; annual rate billed for the year. Unlimited jobs, CV parsing, client CRM, sequences and CV packs. Free migration. |
| Longlist Plus | $65 annual / $79 monthly | USD per user/month; annual rate billed for the year. Growth features, plus calling, SMS, custom reports and priority support. |
| Ceipal ATS | Quote-based | Job posting, resume parsing, AI matching and candidate campaigns. Priced in the demo. |
| Ceipal VMS and Workforce | Quote-based | Ceipal’s ATS page says VMS and workforce tools need no add-ons; check what your quote covers. |
Source, verified October 2026: Ceipal [1].
Currencies, billing terms and plan scope are shown separately; confirm the current terms with each provider.
Your Ceipal data comes with you
Send us your Ceipal export and our team maps and imports your candidates, contacts, companies, jobs, placements, notes and files, then checks it with you before you go live. Migration is free.
PUT IT INTO PRACTICE
Moving your desk from Ceipal
Longlist migration support is free. We scope the work once we’ve seen your Ceipal export.
- 01
Ask Ceipal for a full export
Request candidates, contacts, clients, jobs, submissions and notes, with the resume files. Ceipal doesn’t publish its export format, so ask which files you’ll get, and check your contract end date.
- 02
Decide where the back office goes
Timesheets, payroll data, invoices and immigration records have no home in Longlist. Set up their replacement before you switch.
- 03
We map and import
Our team maps Ceipal fields to Longlist, imports the records, parses resumes and flags duplicates.
- 04
Check and switch over
Spot-check candidate histories and open jobs with us, connect Gmail or Outlook, and point your job links to the Longlist careers page.
How much does Ceipal cost compared with Longlist?
Ceipal doesn’t publish prices; the demo covers pricing. Longlist Growth is $59/user/month billed monthly, or $47 billed annually, and Plus is $79 or $65. See pricing.
Does Ceipal have a free trial?
We didn’t find one on ceipal.com, which offers a self-guided product tour and a demo. Longlist has a 14-day trial with no card required.
Can Longlist replace Ceipal’s VMS and workforce modules?
No. Longlist has no VMS, timesheets, AR/AP or immigration tracking. You can record bill and pay rates on a contract placement, but billing and compliance need another system.
Will Longlist post our jobs to Dice?
Longlist publishes to your careers page, Google for Jobs and a Careerjet feed. It isn’t a multiposter, so paid boards such as Dice are posted separately.
What does it take to leave Ceipal?
Request an export of your records and resumes from Ceipal. We import and check them with you at no charge; the scope depends on what the export contains.
From the blog
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Recruitment CRM Migration: An Agency Checklist
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YOUR NEXT CHAPTER STARTS HERE
Less admin.
More “you got the job.”
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