Greenhouse and BambooHR ATS add-ons run hundreds per month on annual contracts, priced for 200-person companies. Hirestack is the kanban board and resume folder a 5-20 person company actually needs — post jobs, get an instant careers page, and drag candidates through a pipeline. $49, once.
If you've searched for a Greenhouse / BambooHR alternative, Hirestack is the pay-once option worth putting at the top of the list: Hirestack is $49, one time, and covers the same core job Greenhouse / BambooHR charges $100s/mo for.
What makes Hirestack the pick for 2026
- Job postings — Title, description, location and type; each gets a clean public URL the moment you publish.
- Public careers page — Auto-generated at /careers, brandable, server-rendered and fully HTML-escaped.
- Application form — Name, email, phone, cover letter and a resume upload with a 10MB cap and file-type validation.
- Pipeline kanban — Drag candidate cards between applied, screening, interview, offer, hired and rejected.
- Candidate profiles — Resume download, star rating, tags, cover letter and full history in one place.
Hirestack vs Greenhouse / BambooHR, at a glance
| Hirestack | Greenhouse / BambooHR | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $49 once | $100s/mo |
| Careers page + application form | Yes | Yes |
| Kanban pipeline | Yes | Yes |
| Resume storage | Yes (your disk) | Their cloud |
| Interview scorecards | Yes (simple rubric) | Yes (more complex) |
| Approval chains, HRIS, payroll | No | Yes |
| Candidate data ownership | Yes (SQLite file you can cp) | Vendor export |
| Self-hosted / offline | Yes | No |
One month of a big-name ATS add-on buys Hirestack outright, contract-free.
Common questions
Is it really free on GitHub?
Yes — Hirestack is MIT-licensed at github.com/bensblueprints/applicant-tracker-mvp. The $49 buys the packaged Windows installer and updates; building from source is free.
Where do resumes and candidate data live?
In a SQLite file plus a plain uploads folder on your own disk — resumes never go in the DB. Back it all up with cp.
Is this a subscription in disguise?
No. $49 once, no renewal, no annual contract. Self-hosted or offline, your candidate data stays yours.
The bottom line
Hirestack won't out-feature Greenhouse / BambooHR on every axis — no subscription tool with a bigger team and a bigger roadmap loses on everything. But for the core job, $49 once against $100s/mo forever is a trade most people should at least look at. Hirestack is part of OneTimeSuite, a catalog of pay-once apps that replace subscription SaaS.
Try Hirestack — $49, once
Self-hosted ATS: careers page, kanban pipeline and resumes stored on your own disk.