Why Your Choice of Job Board Matters
For a small or mid-size business, a job board is usually the biggest variable in hiring. The applicant tracking system, the interview process and the offer letter all matter, but none of them help if the right people never see the ad. And job boards are now priced in very different ways. Some charge a flat fee per post. Some charge per click or per started application against a budget you set. Some sell monthly subscriptions with job slots or credits. Some are free to post on and make their money from sourcing tools or recruiters.
That means two boards that look similar can cost very different amounts for the same hire, and the cheapest-looking option is not always the cheapest per hire. A free post that gets buried after a week can cost you more in lost time than a $200 promoted ad that fills the role.
This guide compares seven places to post jobs in 2026: Indeed, LinkedIn, ZipRecruiter, Wellfound, Handshake, Monster and Craigslist. We checked each vendor's own employer, pricing and help pages in October 2026. Where a vendor does not publish a price, we say so instead of guessing. Reach and performance figures are quoted as the vendor states them; we have not tested them.
A note on Glassdoor. Glassdoor no longer sells job postings to employers. Its own "post a job" page now sends employers to Indeed and says: "Jobs you pay to post on Indeed will also appear on Glassdoor." Glassdoor and Indeed are run by the same company, and Glassdoor's employer products today are about employer branding (company reviews, Spotlight Pages, branding ads and review analytics), with pricing through sales. So we have treated Glassdoor as a distribution channel of Indeed's paid posts and given its slot to Craigslist, which many small businesses still use for local hourly hiring and which publishes its job posting fees.
Indeed review
What it is
Indeed is a general job site that covers every kind of role, from hourly retail and warehouse work to nursing, trades, office and professional jobs. Its employer side lets you post jobs, screen and message applicants, schedule interviews and search resumes. Indeed calls itself "the world's #1 job site" on its employer pages, and Glassdoor's employer page says that "together, Glassdoor and Indeed reach over 80% of online job seekers in the U.S." Those are the vendors' claims, not our measurements.
The most important detail for small businesses: since Glassdoor stopped selling job posts, a paid Indeed post is how you get a job onto Glassdoor as well. Indeed's free posts do not get that extra placement; Glassdoor's page says jobs you pay to post on Indeed will also appear on Glassdoor.
Key features
- Free job posts for many roles, with screening questions, message templates and basic analytics (impressions, clicks, applications)
- Sponsored Jobs in three plans: Standard, Premium and Premium Plus (beta)
- Indeed Apply, which lets candidates apply to your ATS jobs without leaving Indeed
- Smart Sourcing, a separate subscription for resume search and outreach, now with an AI Sourcing Assistant
- Paid posts also appear on Glassdoor
Pricing
Indeed's pricing has three layers.
Free posts. Indeed says "many jobs can be posted for free, subject to Indeed's terms, conditions, quality standards, and usage limits." Some jobs are "sponsored only": Indeed lists examples such as jobs pulled from a careers site, jobs published from a data feed (XML or API) and jobs published from an applicant tracking system. Indeed also reserves the right to require sponsorship for any job.
Sponsored Jobs. You set a budget and pay for "job seeker interactions like clicks or started applications." Indeed does not publish a fixed price. It recommends a budget based on job title, location and description, and the minimum depends on the market, competing job posts and the plan you choose. You can set a different amount as long as it meets the minimum. There is no long-term contract, you set the ad duration and you can change the budget from the employer dashboard. Billing happens on the first day of the month or when your spending reaches $500, whichever comes first.
- Standard: visibility boost over free posts, email advertising to relevant job seekers, placement in the job seeker feed and automated messages. Indeed says Standard gets "3X more applications than free."
- Premium: everything in Standard plus a first page boost, AI-powered advanced matching, an "Urgently hiring" label, your logo and company image, matched candidates you can invite to apply and SMS messages. Indeed says Premium jobs appear in the top three search results 2X more often than Standard (Indeed US data). The Premium price is set above the Standard price.
- Premium Plus (beta): everything in Premium plus an AI Recruiting Assistant with automated invites, application scores and summaries (a "Smart Fit Score" from 0 to 100), license and certification gathering and AI follow-up questions. Pricing is not published.
Smart Sourcing. Indeed's resume search subscription has a 14-day free trial. The Professional plan is listed at $520 per month or $4,992 per year and includes 100 contacts per month with a six-month rollover, extra contacts at $5.20 each, the Sourcing Assistant (up to three jobs at once), resume search filters, bulk and AI-written outreach, and team analytics. Premium Sponsored Jobs include a daily allowance of matched candidate contacts for that job, which do not use up Smart Sourcing credits.
Pros
- Free posting for many roles makes it a no-risk first step
- Pay-per-click or per-started-application budgets scale down to very small spends, with no contract
- Paid posts also reach Glassdoor's audience
- Covers almost every role type, from hourly to professional
Cons
- No published prices for Sponsored Jobs; you see the recommended budget only when you post
- Some jobs, including many posted from an ATS, must be sponsored
- High application volume for popular roles means more screening work
Who it's for
Almost every small and mid-size business should start with Indeed. It suits hourly, skilled trades, healthcare, customer service and general office roles particularly well, and it is a solid secondary channel for professional roles.
LinkedIn review
What it is
LinkedIn is the professional network, and its job posts reach both active job seekers and people who are not actively looking but keep a profile up to date. LinkedIn says its matching uses insights from "over 1 billion LinkedIn members" and that "83% of posted jobs on LinkedIn get a qualified candidate within 24 hours" (LinkedIn global data, July 2023). For employers that hire occasionally, LinkedIn now packages job posting as Hiring Pro, an AI assistant that drafts the post, sorts applicants and helps with screening. For companies that hire all year with recruiters, LinkedIn sells Job Slots and Recruiter through sales.
Key features
- Free job posts tied to your company's LinkedIn Page
- Promoted job posts with targeting by location, industry and more
- Hiring Pro: AI-drafted job posts, applicant evaluation against your criteria, candidate summaries and 25 recommended candidates per day
- AI video interviews and InMail credits on promoted jobs
- Job Slots for year-round hiring, with ATS and CRM integrations
Pricing
Free posts. You can have one free job post active at a time and a limited number of free posts in a 30-day window. A free post stays active for up to 14 days, then pauses; if you do not promote it, it closes after 30 days. Free posts have an application limit that LinkedIn says "typically ranges from 10 to 30 applications depending on the role," and once the limit is reached the post is hidden from search. Free posts become less visible over time.
Promoted posts. Promoted jobs are pay-per-click, and you only pay for clicks in the country where the job is posted. You choose a daily average budget (the post stays active and bills up to that amount until you close it, or up to six months) or a total budget (the post pauses when the budget is spent). LinkedIn says you won't be charged more than your daily or total budget. Promoted jobs get unlimited applicants, top placement in search, up to 350 invites to recommended candidates, five InMail messages per post, unlimited applicant evaluations and 40 AI video interviews. LinkedIn does not publish a cost per click; it says pricing "varies based on your hiring needs, the role you're hiring for, and the location of the job."
Job Slots and Recruiter. Quote-based through LinkedIn sales.
Pros
- Best reach of the group for professional, managerial and specialist roles
- Candidate profiles give a lot of context before you open a resume
- Promoted budgets are flexible and capped
- Hiring Pro adds screening help for owners without a recruiter
Cons
- Free posts are capped at one at a time and roughly 10 to 30 applications
- No published cost per click
- Less useful for hourly and frontline roles than Indeed or Craigslist
Who it's for
Businesses hiring for office, sales, marketing, finance, engineering, management and other professional roles. If the role needs a degree or a specific career history, budget for a promoted LinkedIn post.
ZipRecruiter review
What it is
ZipRecruiter is a hiring marketplace built around distribution and matching. When you post a job, ZipRecruiter says it sends it "to 100+ job sites, including Google Jobs and niche job boards," alerts candidates by text and email, and uses AI matching to invite qualified job seekers to apply. Its employer page describes it as "Rated #1 hiring site in the U.S." and says "4 out of 5 employers who post on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate within the first day."
Key features
- One-click distribution to 100+ job sites
- AI matching that invites candidates to apply
- Resume Database, which ZipRecruiter says holds over 56 million profiles
- Flexible job slots: close a filled role and reuse the slot for a new one right away
- 500+ job description templates, screening questions and 24/7 US-based support
Pricing
ZipRecruiter does not publish prices. Its pricing page lists three plans, Standard, Premium and Pro, with no dollar amounts:
- Standard: dashboard, distribution to 100+ job boards and AI outreach to candidates.
- Premium: adds the Resume Database and sponsored placement (ZipRecruiter says sponsored jobs get 9X more applicants than organic jobs on average).
- Pro: adds TrafficBoost for urgent and hard-to-fill jobs and ATS integrations; you contact ZipRecruiter by email or phone to start.
ZipRecruiter describes its pricing as "monthly subscriptions with customizable job slots and pay-per-day options," and offers new employers a free trial (it does not state the trial length on its pricing page). A key difference from Indeed and LinkedIn: ZipRecruiter says you get "unlimited clicks and applies to your job included in your standard rate," so you are not billed per click or per application.
Pros
- Wide distribution from a single post
- Fixed-rate plans make monthly cost predictable once you have a quote
- Job slots can be reused as soon as a role is filled
- Phone, chat and email support around the clock
Cons
- No published prices; you need the sign-up flow or a sales call to see a number
- Distribution to many sites can bring volume rather than fit
- Resume Database is not in the entry plan
Who it's for
Businesses hiring several roles at once that want one dashboard and a predictable monthly bill instead of managing per-click budgets on several sites.
Wellfound review
What it is
Wellfound, formerly AngelList Talent, is a job marketplace for startups. Its audience is people who specifically want to work at startups, including engineers, designers, product managers and early go-to-market hires. Wellfound says "27,000+ companies hire on Wellfound, from seed to scale." Beyond job posts, it now sells AI sourcing (Reach) and a managed recruiting service (Autopilot).
Key features
- Unlimited free job listings with a built-in ATS (or sync to your own)
- Listings shown in Wellfound search, candidate email alerts and the weekly newsletter
- Paid Job Ads for top-of-results placement and an email blast
- Reach: AI sourcing agents that send outreach from your own Gmail or Outlook
- Native two-way sync with Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby and Workable, free on every plan
Pricing
- Job Posts: $0, unlimited listings, "free forever."
- Job Ads (add-on): from $200 per ad, for top-of-search placement, a dedicated email blast and newsletter promotion.
- Reach Explore: $0 per month, 20 contact reveals per month, three active agents.
- Reach Starter: $135 per seat per month, 250 contact reveals per month, unlimited agents.
- Reach Growth: $199 per seat per month, 1,000 contact reveals per month, ATS integration.
- Reach Scale: custom pricing, unlimited contact reveals and SSO.
- Autopilot: $500 per month per open role plus a 10% placement fee on a successful hire. A dedicated recruiter delivers five to ten candidates per week; no contract, pause anytime.
Wellfound's pricing page does not say whether Reach seats are billed monthly or annually.
Pros
- Free, unlimited job posts
- Audience self-selects for startup work, including equity-heavy offers
- Clear published prices for every paid product
- ATS sync included free
Cons
- Narrow audience: not the place for hourly, frontline or traditional corporate roles
- The managed recruiting option adds a 10% placement fee on top of the monthly fee
- Paid Job Ads are priced "from" $200, so the exact price can vary
Who it's for
Startups and venture-backed companies hiring for tech, product, design and early sales roles. If you are a startup, post here for free alongside Indeed and LinkedIn.
Handshake review
What it is
Handshake is a career network for students and recent graduates that has expanded to alumni and advanced-degree holders. Employers use it for internships, entry-level jobs and campus recruiting. Handshake says it has "25M job seekers," "15M+ alumni," "4M+ PhDs & Masters" and "1,600+ university partners."
Key features
- Unlimited job posting to Handshake's network of verified early-career talent
- Candidate messaging (10 messages per month on Basic, 200 on Pro)
- Talent matches and filters by school year, major, GPA and skills
- School connections, custom school lists and event promotion across schools
- ATS and XML integrations on Enterprise
Pricing
- Basic: free. Post jobs, 10 messages per month and a simple company presence. Promoted jobs are available as an add-on starting from $34 per day.
- Pro: $450 per month. 200 messages per month, AI-powered applicant tools, multi-user collaboration and workflow automation. Includes three days of promoted jobs per month, with rollover. Handshake's page does not say whether Pro is billed monthly or annually.
- Enterprise: contact for pricing, annual plan. Advanced messaging, promotions and event support, ATS integrations, team permissions and funnel analytics, with promoted jobs included.
Pros
- Free posting to a large early-career audience
- Filters built for campus hiring (major, school year, GPA)
- Published prices for Basic and Pro
- Event tools for career fairs and info sessions
Cons
- Built for early-career hiring; weaker for experienced hires
- Free plan messaging is limited to 10 per month
- Promoted jobs start at $34 per day, which adds up over a long campaign
Who it's for
Any business hiring interns, graduates or entry-level staff. If you run a summer internship program, Handshake should be your first post.
Monster review
What it is
Monster is one of the oldest general job boards. Its employer product, Monster+, now shares jobs across Monster and CareerBuilder: Monster's employer page says "CareerBuilder and Monster, two of the industry's leading job sites, have joined forces," and that it shares your job on both sites, their mobile apps and a network of job boards and partners. The two brands went through a change of ownership in 2025, so check the current terms when you sign up.
Key features
- Promoted job ads on a daily average budget
- Distribution across Monster, CareerBuilder and partner sites
- Resume search with saved searches and alerts (Pro)
- Applicant dashboard with ratings and status tracking
- Credits that cover both promotion and resume search on Pro
Pricing
- Monster+ Standard (Promoted Jobs): starting at $8 per day. The daily budget is the average you spend per day over 30 days, and you can end a promotion at any time. You are billed per click (when a candidate clicks, taps or swipes to view the ad, or clicks Apply). The first time you promote a job, Monster takes a $10 upfront charge to verify your card, which appears as 10 credits that must be used within 30 days. No resume search, no unlimited user access.
- Monster+ Pro: $299 per month, or $2,990 per year billed annually. Includes 299 credits per month (one credit equals $1) that expire monthly. Credits pay for job clicks and resume search, where each resume view or action costs two credits ($2). If you spend past your credits, the overage is billed at the start of the next period. Unlimited users. Cancellation takes effect at the start of the next monthly period.
Monster's current pricing page lists only these two paid plans; we could not confirm a free posting option on it.
Pros
- Clear published prices for both plans
- Pro bundles promotion and resume search in one predictable budget
- Jobs also reach CareerBuilder's audience
- No limit on applicants with paid plans
Cons
- Overages on Pro are billed automatically
- Pro credits expire monthly, so unused budget is lost
- A smaller audience than Indeed for most role types
Who it's for
Businesses that hire steadily, want a fixed monthly budget that also covers resume search, and are happy to use Monster as a second channel alongside Indeed.
Craigslist review
What it is
Craigslist is the classifieds site organized by city. Its jobs section is plain, local and cheap, and it remains a common place for small businesses to advertise hourly, trades, restaurant, retail and gig work. There is no applicant tracking, matching or sourcing: candidates reply to your post by email.
Key features
- City-by-city local audience
- Flat one-time fee per post with no subscriptions or renewals
- Paid job posts live for 30 days
- Separate gigs category for short-term work
- Free resume category to browse
Pricing
Craigslist's fee page says job posts in the US and parts of Canada cost $10 to $75 per post, with the fee varying by area. Gigs cost $3 to $10 in the US and selected Canadian areas. A paid post is live for 30 days and "publishing your posting is a one time charge"; Craigslist says it has no automated renewal fees or subscription fees. To get back to the top of the listings you have to buy a new post or repost. One job per post: Craigslist asks for one job description per ad. High-volume posters can open a paid posting account with invoicing.
Pros
- Very low, flat, published price
- Strong for local hourly and trades roles
- No contracts, subscriptions or click budgets
- Live within about 10 to 20 minutes of posting
Cons
- No screening, matching or applicant management tools
- Posts slide down the listings as new ones appear, and moving up means paying again
- Plain format with little room for employer branding
Who it's for
Local businesses hiring hourly, restaurant, retail, trades and gig workers that want a cheap ad alongside a free Indeed post.
How to Choose
Use these rules to decide where to post. Most businesses should use two boards, not one.
- Start with Indeed for almost every role. Post free where Indeed allows it. If you need applicants within a week or the job is marked "sponsored only," sponsor it with a modest daily budget.
- Add LinkedIn for professional roles. If the job needs a degree, a specific career path or management experience, promote it on LinkedIn. A free LinkedIn post caps at roughly 10 to 30 applications, which may be enough for a niche role but not for a competitive one.
- Add Wellfound if you are a startup. It's free, and the audience wants startup jobs. Post every tech, product and design role there.
- Use Handshake for interns and new graduates. The free plan is enough for a handful of roles. Consider Pro ($450 per month) only during your main campus hiring season.
- Use Craigslist for local hourly roles. Pair a $10 to $75 Craigslist ad with a free or lightly sponsored Indeed post.
- Choose ZipRecruiter or Monster when you want one predictable monthly bill. ZipRecruiter suits several simultaneous roles with wide distribution; Monster+ Pro suits steady hiring where you also want to search resumes. Get ZipRecruiter's quote in writing before the trial ends.
- Measure cost per qualified applicant, not cost per post. After two weeks, divide what each board cost by the number of applicants you would actually interview. Move budget to the winner.
Pricing Comparison: Worked Examples
Indeed, LinkedIn and ZipRecruiter don't publish fixed prices for paid posts, so you can't compare them line by line. The examples below use published prices where they exist and a budget we chose ourselves for the pay-per-click boards. Those budgets are assumptions for illustration, not vendor prices. Actual minimums appear when you post.
Example 1: a 10-person business hiring two roles
Suppose a 10-person business is hiring a front-desk coordinator (local, hourly) and an account manager (professional), each running for 30 days.
- Front-desk coordinator: free Indeed post ($0) plus one Craigslist ad. At the top of Craigslist's published range that is $75; at the bottom, $10. Total: $10 to $75.
- Account manager: promoted LinkedIn post with an assumed $20 daily average budget for 30 days: 20 x 30 = $600 maximum, since LinkedIn won't bill beyond the budget. Add a free Indeed post: $0.
- Total for both roles: $610 to $675 at most, with the LinkedIn spend fully under your control.
If the same business preferred a fixed plan, Monster+ Pro would cost $299 for the month and cover promotion of both jobs plus resume views at $2 each, but any spend over 299 credits would be billed as overage.
Example 2: a 25-person business hiring six roles over a quarter
Suppose a 25-person business needs two warehouse associates, one bookkeeper, one software engineer, one marketing intern and one sales rep over three months.
- Warehouse associates (2): Indeed Sponsored Jobs with an assumed $10 daily budget each for 30 days: 2 x 10 x 30 = $600 maximum. Optional Craigslist ads: 2 x $10 to $75 = $20 to $150.
- Bookkeeper and sales rep (2): promoted LinkedIn posts at an assumed $20 daily budget each for 30 days: 2 x 20 x 30 = $1,200 maximum.
- Software engineer: free Wellfound post ($0) plus one Wellfound Job Ad from $200, and a promoted LinkedIn post at the same assumed $20 per day for 30 days: $600 maximum.
- Marketing intern: free Handshake Basic post ($0). If you wanted promotion, Handshake's add-on starts at $34 per day, so seven days would be at least 7 x 34 = $238.
- Total: about $2,620 to $2,750 at most, before any optional Handshake promotion ($600 + $20 to $150 + $1,200 + $200 + $600).
For comparison, three months of Monster+ Pro is 3 x $299 = $897 in credits, and three months of Handshake Pro would be 3 x $450 = $1,350. Indeed Smart Sourcing Professional for the quarter would add 3 x $520 = $1,560 if you wanted to source candidates actively rather than wait for applicants.
What the examples show
Pay-per-click boards are cheapest when you only need a few strong applicants and you pause the budget as soon as you have them. Fixed plans (Monster+ Pro, ZipRecruiter, Handshake Pro) are easier to budget but cost the same whether you hire in week one or week four. Free channels (Indeed free posts, Wellfound, Handshake Basic) should always come first.
Common Mistakes and Hidden Costs
- Assuming a Glassdoor listing is a separate purchase. It isn't. Paying for an Indeed post is how a job appears on Glassdoor. Glassdoor's own products for employers are branding tools sold through sales.
- Posting from an ATS and expecting free placement. Indeed lists jobs published from an ATS or a data feed among those that may need to be sponsored. Budget for sponsorship if you post through an ATS.
- Leaving a daily budget running after you fill the role. Indeed, LinkedIn and Monster all bill until you close or pause the job. LinkedIn's daily budget posts run up to six months if you never close them.
- Ignoring LinkedIn's free post limits. One free post at a time and roughly 10 to 30 applications. A second simultaneous role means paying.
- Missing overages and expiring credits on Monster+ Pro. Credits expire monthly, and spending past them is billed on your next statement.
- Starting a ZipRecruiter trial without a price. ZipRecruiter does not publish prices, and the trial continues into your selected plan unless you cancel from the dashboard. Get the monthly price before the trial ends.
- Counting placement fees as optional. Wellfound Autopilot adds a 10% placement fee on a successful hire on top of $500 per month per role. That is a recruiting service, not a job post, so compare it with an agency, not with Indeed.
- Judging by applicant count. A board that brings 200 unqualified applicants costs you hours of screening. Track cost per interview-worthy applicant instead.
- Writing a vague post. Every board on this list ranks posts partly on relevance. A clear title, location, pay range and must-have requirements will do more than a bigger budget.
Final Recommendation
Indeed is the best place for most small and mid-size businesses to post jobs in 2026. It lets you post many jobs for free, its sponsored budgets scale down to small amounts with no contract, and a paid Indeed post also reaches Glassdoor. Start there for almost every role.
Then add one specialist channel based on the role:
- LinkedIn for professional and managerial roles, with a promoted post if the role matters.
- Wellfound for startup and tech roles, free.
- Handshake for interns and new graduates, free on Basic.
- Craigslist for local hourly and trades jobs, at $10 to $75 per post.
Choose ZipRecruiter if you want one fixed monthly plan that pushes jobs to 100+ sites (and get the quote first), or Monster+ Pro at $299 per month if you want predictable spend that also covers resume search. Whatever you choose, close or pause paid posts as soon as you have enough strong candidates.
Marcus Williams