What's your real cost per hire?
By [Dev Rishi Khare](https://curriculo.me/founder-of-curriculoats/), founder of Curriculo (ex-Amazon ML engineer) · Last updated May 2026
Most teams underestimate their cost per hire by 60% because they don't count screening time. Move the sliders to see what hiring actually costs you this year, and what you'd save with an AI ATS.
What this calculator shows you
- Your true all-in cost per hire once recruiter screening time is counted, not just tool fees
- Where the spend actually goes, broken into screening hours, recruiter cost, and ATS fees
- What an AI ATS would save you per year by cutting screening time and replacing a paid ATS
How the math actually works
Three numbers most teams miss. The calculator above runs all three in real time as you move the sliders.
1. Screening hours
The largest hidden cost. A recruiter reading 200 resumes per role at 5 minutes each spends 16 hours screening before the first interview even starts.
resumes × minutes ÷ 60 ### 2. Loaded hourly cost
Recruiter salary × benefits ÷ 2080 working hours. A $120K recruiter costs ~$75/hour fully loaded. That's what every screening minute actually costs.
hours × $75 = total ### 3. ATS subscription
Greenhouse starts at $15K/year. Lever runs ~$8K. Workable from $1.8K. Curriculo's free Starter plan: $0 forever (unlimited jobs, 1,000 candidates ranked by Impact Score).
total ÷ hires = CPH ## Manual hiring vs Curriculo
That 75% savings number comes from one change: AI surfaces the top 20 candidates first, so you stop reading all 200.
Manual screening
Today- Read every resume top-to-bottom, 5 min each
- Re-read borderline candidates ("did they actually do that?")
- Build spreadsheets to track who's where in the pipeline
- Pay $8K-15K/year for an ATS that does keyword filters
- Lose strong candidates to faster competitors
Realistic cost per hire:$4,700-$8,000 (SHRM avg + tool fees)
With Curriculo
Free Starter- AI scores every resume 0-100 in seconds with written reasoning
- 1,000 candidates ranked by Impact Score, so you review the best first
- Gmail-style inbox auto-sorted by Impact Score
- $0 ATS cost on the free Starter (unlimited jobs, lifetime)
- 15-minute setup with no implementation manager required
**Realistic cost per hire:**Under $2,000 for most startups
Questions founders ask
## Free for unlimited jobs. *Forever.*
unlimited job listings + 1,000 candidates ranked by Impact Score, ranked by AI Impact Score. 15-minute setup, no credit card, no per-seat fees. Pro plan unlocks unlimited jobs at $100/mo ($50/mo early-bird).