The price anchor
| Hirestack | BambooHR | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly | $0 — no subscription | $100s/mo |
| Annual | $0 after purchase | $2,400 |
| 5-year total | $49 | $12,000 |
| 10-year total | $49 | $24,000 |
Subscription figures from the vendor's published pricing ($100s/mo, ~$2,400/yr); the Hirestack column is the full price, paid once.
Break-even analysis
One month of a big-name ATS add-on buys Hirestack outright, contract-free.
- After 1 year: Hirestack has cost you $49 total — Greenhouse / BambooHR has cost $2,400.
- After 3 years: Hirestack is still $49 — the subscription is at $7,200.
- After 5 years: Hirestack is still $49 — the subscription is at $12,000.
What you get for $49 once
- 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.
- No renewal, ever. The license does not expire and there is no per-seat meter — $49 is the whole price.
Pricing 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.
Hirestack — $49, one time
Or get Hirestack plus every other app in the suite: the OneTimeSuite bundle is currently $97, one time.