Manatal is a cloud-based applicant tracking system and recruitment CRM that combines candidate management, job posting, and client relationship tools in one platform.
However, like any platform, Manatal comes with trade-offs. While it excels at affordability and ease-of-use, it may lack the advanced customization and hiring manager collaboration features that larger enterprises demand. Additionally, some users report that the AI features deliver mixed results for complex, niche roles.
Our research team dedicated over 42 hours reviewing the product, features, pricing, integrations, and verified user feedback. Our in-depth Manatal review reveals where it excels and where teams may struggle or require add-ons.
Why Trust Our Manatal Review?
To ensure this review is genuine, balanced, and evidence-based, our team followed a solid review methodology:
- Official Product Analysis: We checked Manatal's features, docs, and integration options from their website and support resources.
- Verified User Reviews: We analyzed trends in verified reviews on G2, Capterra, and others to find real user feedback on strengths and weaknesses.
- Role-Based Use Cases: We evaluated the platform's value for different roles, including recruiters, TA leaders, and hiring managers, across various company sizes.
- Feature vs. Real-World Performance: We compared promised features with actual user experiences to ensure accuracy.
This review contains no affiliate links, sponsored content, or paid placements to give you an honest, unbiased analysis.
Manatal Overview
Manatal is positioned as an affordable, AI-enabled ATS that focuses on candidate enrichment, semantic search, and simple pipelines. It emphasizes fast setup and usability, aiming to reduce time-to-hire for teams that want solid AI assistance without an enterprise price tag.
Moreover, the platform offers built-in AI (enrichment, recommendations, job-description generation) and an open API for deeper integrations.
Key Manatal Features
Below are the standout features we verified on Manatal's official platform:
- AI Candidate Enrichment: Automatically pulls public data (LinkedIn, GitHub, etc.) to enrich candidate profiles beyond the resume.
- AI Recommendations & Match Scoring: Auto-suggests candidates for jobs and shows match scores with explainable criteria.
- Powerful CV/Resume Parsing: Extracts structured data from resumes and indexes skills/experience for semantic search.
- Semantic & Boolean Search: Fast candidate discovery using keyword, Boolean, and AI-powered semantic search.
- Applicant Tracking & Custom Pipelines: Unlimited, customizable job pipelines with quick screening and stage tracking.
- People-Match Chrome Extension: Source candidates from LinkedIn and other public profiles directly into the ATS.
- Workflow Automation: Automate repetitive tasks (email templates, stage changes) available on higher plans.
- AI Interviewer (add-on): 24/7 automated video screening and multilingual interviewing as an optional module.
- Integrations & Open API: Connect to job boards, email/calendar, HR systems, and build custom integrations via Manatal’s API.
- Reporting & Role-Based Access: Recruiter and manager reporting with role controls; advanced reporting is reserved for higher tiers.
Manatal Pricing
Pros and Cons of Manatal
Verified users across review platforms consistently highlight these strengths:
- Easy-to-Use Interface: A clean UI and simple workflows help recruiters onboard quickly. This reduces training time and boosts adoption among small hiring teams.
- AI-powered Candidate Enrichment: Automated enrichment gathers public profiles and skills. This enhances candidate records and cuts down manual sourcing time for recruiters each day.
- Robust Sourcing Tools: The Chrome extension quickly captures LinkedIn profiles and public data. This streamlines candidate entry into the ATS for faster team pipelines.
- Strong Parsing and Semantic Search: Accurate resume parsing and semantic search help find qualified candidates using skills and context rather than exact keyword matches rapidly.
- Scalable Integrations: APIs and integrations connect to job boards, HR systems, and custom workflows. This supports teams needing more automation and data exchange.
Despite several benefits, verified users reported these limitations of Manatal:
- Support Response Variability: Some users experience slow or uneven customer support, especially across different regions. This can delay issue resolution.
- Limited Enterprise-Grade Workflows: Companies with complex HRIS integrations or specific compliance needs sometimes find that Manatal lacks the extensive customisation that large enterprises demand.
- Sourcing Credits Add Cost: High-volume sourcing may add extra costs through contact credits and add-ons. This can significantly increase the overall cost of ownership for recruiting teams.
- Occasional UX Bugs or Quirks: A few reviews note minor UX bugs and occasional glitches. These can disrupt workflows until resolved by updates or support.
- Interview Scheduling Limitations: Users report that interview scheduling and calendar integrations are not as intuitive as those of competitors. This can lead to coordination difficulties for hiring teams.
How Can Integrating Skima AI Handle Manatal Limitations?
Skima AI enhances Manatal's AI matching capabilities by adding contextual skill intelligence and explainable candidate scoring directly into your Manatal workflow.
Unlike Manatal's recommendation engine, Skima AI digs deeper into the resume context. It identifies skills backed by work history and provides clear reasons for each match score.
When integrated through Manatal's API, Skima AI works quietly in the background. It scores candidates as they come in and highlights top matches with shortlist recommendations. No extra logins, no separate tools, and no data exports.
Key benefits of Manatal integration with Skima AI:
- Smarter Candidate Matching: Skima AI uses context-aware scoring to find top talent better than basic keyword matching. This is especially useful for complex roles needing specific skill sets.
- Explainable AI Scores: Each match includes bullet points that explain why a candidate fits the role. This builds trust with recruiters and helps them make quicker, confident hiring decisions.
- Real-Time Talent Rediscovery: Skima AI regularly re-evaluates your candidate database against open roles. It highlights candidates you may have missed who are now qualified.
- Collaborative Shortlists: Hiring managers can review Skima-scored candidates in a straightforward shortlist view within Manatal. They can approve, skip, or flag candidates, with all feedback logged for audits.
- Enterprise-Grade Security: Skima AI is SOC 2 compliant and GDPR aligned, ensuring all candidate data remains secure within your Manatal environment, protected by end-to-end encryption.
Who Should Consider Manatal?
Manatal is the right choice for:
- Small to mid-sized recruiting teams that want a fast-to-deploy ATS with AI enrichment.
- Agencies and boutique firms that need candidate database management and LinkedIn sourcing.
- Teams on a tight budget who still want modern AI features without enterprise licensing overhead.
Who Should Avoid Manatal?
Manatal is not ideal for:
- Large enterprises that require deep, bespoke HRIS/ERP integrations and complex compliance workflows.
- Teams that need advanced reporting, SSO, or API access but cannot or will not move to Enterprise Plus.
- Organizations expecting white-glove, immediate global support in every timezone, support speed may vary.
Final Verdict
Manatal is a solid, affordable recruitment solution for small and mid-sized teams that need an easy-to-use ATS and CRM without enterprise complexity. It delivers genuine value in candidate sourcing, resume parsing, job posting, and basic AI recommendations.
However, its limitations become apparent when you need advanced hiring manager collaboration, complex workflow automation, or industry-specific features. For many teams, Manatal is a perfect starting point until you outgrow it.
Integrating Skima AI enhances Manatal into a smarter hiring platform. It boosts Manatal's AI with context-aware candidate matching, clear scoring reasoning, and real-time talent rediscovery.
For recruitment teams using Manatal, Skima AI fills the gap between affordability and hiring intelligence. This helps you make faster screening decisions and find better candidates without changing your current workflow.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is Manatal?
Manatal is an AI-enabled applicant tracking system and recruitment CRM that streamlines sourcing, resume parsing, candidate enrichment, pipeline management, and reporting for small-to-mid-size teams and recruitment agencies. It offers integrations and scalable pricing.
2. Is Manatal legit?
Yes, Manatal is a legitimate ATS used by hundreds of companies worldwide, backed by verified reviews, active development, and official integrations.
3. How does Manatal pricing work?
Manatal offers subscription tiers based on per-user pricing. You can choose monthly or discounted annual billing. Plans vary by features, including core ATS, enriched AI, API access, and SSO. Pick a plan based on your needs for automations, integrations, and candidate volume.
4. Can Manatal integrate with other HR tools and job boards?
Yes, Manatal supports integrations, an open API, job board connections, calendar and email sync, and a Chrome sourcing extension; some integrations require higher-tier plans or custom setup for enterprise workflows.
5. How does Manatal work with Skima AI?
Skima AI integrates with Manatal to enrich matching and explainability, writing match scores, tags, and reason summaries back to candidate profiles via API, improving shortlist accuracy and recruiter decision speed.
6. What benefits does Skima AI add to Manatal workflows?
Skima AI adds explainable scoring, bias-aware shortlists, automated role-fit rules, audit trails, and analytics dashboards. Recruiters gain faster screening, traceable decisions, and richer insights without replacing Manatal’s core ATS or workflows.
