The best Workable alternatives for high-volume hiring in Australia
Updated October 2026
Ployo is recruitment software with a built-in applicant tracking system and an AI video interviewer that interviews every applicant the day they apply. It is our recommendation for Australian employers leaving Workable because the step that stalls their hiring is the first conversation with each applicant, not the job ad. Workable describes itself as a talent management platform, with plans priced by company headcount and an AI agent paid for in credits, so the first question on this page is which of those two problems you are actually trying to solve. Every competitor fact below comes from that vendor's own website, read on 13 October 2026.
For an Australian employer hiring at volume, the best Workable alternative is Ployo: it tracks every applicant from the job link to the hire and has Sarah, Ployo's AI interviewer, run a live video interview with each of them, so the shortlist arrives with evidence instead of a pile of CVs. If you are a small business that wants payroll, rostering and hiring from one vendor, Employment Hero fits. If you want job ads, onboarding and contracts in one Australian system, Scout Talent fits. If you already roster on Humanforce, its Talent product keeps hiring in the same suite. If what you need is a fast-growing tech team's recruiting operations, Ashby is the other platform buyers in this category compare.
Recruiting and HR software that calls itself 'a talent management platform for an agentic world', with job board distribution, a careers page builder and an AI agent, Workable Agent.
- Format
- Applicant tracking, sourcing and HR software. Workable Agent sources, screens and qualifies candidates on AI credits. Video interviews are included on Premier and Enterprise and sold as an add-on on Standard.
- Based
- Not stated on its homepage.
- Pricing
- Standard $299 a month, Premier $599 and Enterprise $719 for 1 to 20 employees, shown for the smallest of nine headcount bands only. Video interviews add $109 a month on Standard. Currency not printed.
Side by side
| Workable | Ployo | |
|---|---|---|
| Type of tool | Recruiting and HR software: applicant tracking, sourcing, HR information system, onboarding, time off and payroll preparation. | Recruitment software with a built-in applicant tracking system and an AI video interviewer. |
| What the AI does | Workable Agent sources, screens and qualifies candidates. Workable says it checks every applicant against up to 14 job criteria and shows its reasoning on a shortlist. | Sarah, Ployo's AI interviewer, runs a live two-way video interview with every applicant and asks follow-ups on what they actually said. |
| How the AI is paid for | AI credits: 1 per candidate screened, 2 per passive candidate sourced, 10 per candidate chat interaction. 3,000 free credits, then packs from 5,000 credits for $600. | Interviews are included in the plan: 60, 250 or 800 a month. No credits and no per-seat charge. |
| Video interviews | Included on Premier and Enterprise. A $109 a month add-on on Standard. The pricing page does not say whether they are recorded or live. | A live, two-way video interview with Sarah for every applicant, the day they apply, in any of 23 languages. |
| Job boards and careers page | Yes. Job board distribution to 200+ boards and a careers page builder on every plan. | No. Ployo does not post to job boards or host a careers site. Applicants arrive through a job link, a bulk CV upload or a connected Gmail inbox. |
| What a hiring manager receives | A shortlist the agent has rated against the job spec, with its reasoning, which recruiters can override. | A Met or Not Met verdict on the must-haves, the quote behind each requirement, and the full recording and transcript. |
| Pricing | From $299 a month for 1 to 20 employees, priced by headcount band. Larger bands are not shown. Currency not printed. | Published in US dollars: from US$249 a month with 60 interviews included, the same price whatever your headcount. |
Choose Workable if
- You want job ads, a careers page and applicant tracking in one tool. Workable distributes to 200+ job boards and includes a careers page builder on every plan. Ployo does neither; you advertise elsewhere and send applicants to Ployo's job link.
- You want HR in the same system. Workable's Standard plan includes an HR information system, onboarding, time off, time tracking and payroll preparation. Ployo stops at the hire.
- You want to try before you talk to anyone. Workable offers a 15-day trial with no credit card. Buying Ployo starts with a call to the founder, and the closest free thing is the sample interview at ployo.ai/sample.
- You want an agent that also sources passive candidates. Workable says its agent searches for passive candidates and sends outreach. Ployo works on the people who apply and does not source.
Choose Ployo if
- Your roles draw more applicants than your team can phone. Ployo invites every applicant to a live, two-way video interview with Sarah, Ployo's AI interviewer, the day they apply. The candidate books a slot or starts straight away, on any device, at any hour, and reminders go out automatically, so nobody waits days for a callback while a competing employer makes an offer.
- You want the must-haves checked in a conversation, not inferred from a CV. Each role has must-have and good-to-have requirements. Ployo asks about each one, and the verdict is Met or Not Met on the must-haves only, with the candidate's own words quoted behind every requirement. Good-to-have gaps show as red flags rather than silently downgrading anyone.
- You want a price that does not move with your headcount or your applicant volume. Ployo publishes its plans in US dollars, Essential US$249 a month with 60 interviews, Growth US$850 with 250 and Scale US$2,135 with 800, with no per-seat charge and no credits to top up. Workable shows prices for its smallest headcount band only and bills its agent per candidate in credits.
- You hire frontline, shift or care roles at volume. Ployo was built for that work and runs in production on Australian care and health hiring, where every applicant needs a real conversation about availability, checks and hands-on experience before anyone can shortlist.
- You want a person to make every decision. Ployo never auto-rejects anyone. Its automation only moves candidates forward, inviting them to screening or interview when a CV clears your bar, and your team reads the evidence before anyone is moved out.
- You need a record you can defend. Every interview keeps its recording and transcript, and the activity log and email log show who moved whom and what each candidate was sent, which is what a complaint or an audit of a hiring decision will ask for.
Candidates ranked by what they actually proved
The alternatives, and who each one suits
Ordered by the kind of buyer they fit, not by preference. Several of these are a better choice than Ployo for a given team, and the note says which.
Recruitment software with a built-in applicant tracking system and an AI video interviewer, Sarah, who interviews every applicant the day they apply.
Best for: An employer hiring at volume whose bottleneck is the first interview with every applicant, and who wants tracking and that interview in one place. Not the fit if you need job-board posting, a careers site or HR in the same system.
An HR, payroll, hiring and rostering platform with an ATS and a Recruitment Agent that runs AI video interviews.
Best for: A small Australian employer that wants payroll, rostering and hiring from one vendor.
An AI-powered ATS with job posting, onboarding, contracts and a learning system, plus recruitment services, with locations in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and Canada.
Best for: An in-house HR team at a care provider, council or not-for-profit that wants job ads, onboarding and contracts in one Australian system.
The talent product of Humanforce, the Australian-born HCM vendor that acquired LiveHire in December 2024, combining direct sourcing, applicant tracking and talent communities for frontline workforces.
Best for: An aged care or healthcare operator that already runs Humanforce for rostering, HR or payroll and wants hiring inside the same suite.
An all-in-one recruiting platform covering ATS, CRM with sourcing, scheduling and analytics, with AI features including application review and an interview notetaker.
Best for: A growing team that wants recruiting operations, interview scheduling and recruiting analytics in one system.
What Workable is, and what you are really replacing
Workable presents itself as a talent management platform. Its Standard plan covers sourcing, applicant tracking with unlimited active jobs, job board distribution to 200+ boards and a careers page builder, plus HR: an HR information system, onboarding, time off, time tracking and payroll preparation. Premier and Enterprise add texting, video interviews, assessments and referrals. Workable Agent, an add-on to any plan, sources, screens and qualifies candidates and is paid for in AI credits.
Ployo does a narrower part of the job, and does it for every applicant. It is recruitment software with a built-in applicant tracking system and an AI video interviewer that interviews every applicant the day they apply. If what you are replacing is job posting and HR, another all-in-one platform is the right category. If what you are replacing is the week your team spends phoning applicants, Ployo is the recommendation.
The same answer, two formats
A first round is worth what it can find out. Both of these are real screening formats and both work; they differ in what happens after the candidate stops talking.
Typed answer
“One of our residents kept trying to leave at night. I sat with her, worked out she was looking for her husband, and changed her evening routine.”
Submitted, scored, and the interview moves to the next question. Written in private, at the candidate’s own pace, with every tab on their machine available to them.
Spoken answer
“One of our residents kept trying to leave at night. I sat with her, worked out she was looking for her husband, and changed her evening routine.”
And then, unscripted
“You changed the routine. Who signed that off, and what did you write in the notes?”
That second question did not exist until she gave the first answer. It is the one that separates a story a candidate can tell from a shift they actually ran.
Rating applications versus interviewing applicants
Workable says its agent checks every applicant against up to 14 job criteria, messages candidates to fill gaps and shortlists them with its reasoning shown. That is a reading of what an applicant wrote. Ployo starts from the same must-haves but asks each one out loud: Sarah interviews the candidate live on video, follows up on vague answers, and returns Met or Not Met with the candidate's own words quoted behind every requirement.
For professional roles where the CV carries the signal, reading applications well may be enough. For shift, care and frontline roles, the CV usually does not say whether someone can work Sunday mornings, has done personal care, or holds a current check. Those are answered in a conversation, which is why Ployo has one with every applicant.
How Ployo runs a high-volume hire, from application to shortlist
Applicants arrive through a public job link or apply page, a bulk CV upload of up to 25 files at a time, or a connected Gmail inbox, which also picks up LinkedIn Easy Apply emails. A repeat application to the same role is caught. Each CV is parsed and checked against the role's must-haves and good-to-haves, quoting the line behind each one.
Every applicant is then invited to a live, two-way video interview with Sarah, Ployo's AI interviewer, in any of 23 languages. The verdict is Met or Not Met on the must-haves, with the verbatim quote behind each requirement, and the recording and transcript are kept. Your team moves candidates through the stages to Hired, one at a time or in bulk, and analytics show the funnel and the pass rate per requirement.
What Ployo does not do, so you can plan around it
Ployo does not post to job boards, host a careers site, send offer letters or run onboarding. It does not verify registrations, police checks, worker screening or visas with the issuing body; it asks the candidate and records the answer, and confirming it stays your process. It does not sync calendars, schedule panel interviews, send SMS, run payroll or roster staff.
Most teams already have a job board account and an HR system for the back half. Ployo slots between them: the ad brings applicants in, Ployo tracks and interviews all of them, and your people make the hiring decisions.
Ployo platform data
30,000+
AI Interviews Completed
340,000+
Candidate Answers Graded
70%+
Interview Completion Rate
15,000+
Recruiter Hours Saved
What it costs, and how buying works
Ployo publishes its prices in US dollars at ployo.ai/pricing: Essential US$249 a month with 60 interviews, Growth US$850 with 250, Scale US$2,135 with 800, and custom Group pricing for multi-site operators. Interviews are included and there is no per-seat charge. Buying starts with a call to the founder rather than a self-serve signup, and ployo.ai/sample shows a real interview without signing up. Across the platform, Ployo has completed 30,000+ AI interviews and captured 340,000+ candidate answers (Ployo platform data).
Workable is built to run the whole talent process, from the job ad to HR, with an agent that reads applications and rates them. Ployo is built for the step where most volume hiring stalls: an actual conversation with every applicant. That conversation, live on video, with the candidate's own words kept as evidence, is the part a CV review cannot replace, and it is the part Ployo runs for everyone who applies.
Workable is a layer 0 tool: the ats knockout and resume screen. Software reads the application and rejects most of them before any person is involved. See how the six layers of first-round screening fit together →
Frequently asked
What are the best alternatives to Workable for high-volume hiring?
For an employer whose bottleneck is getting a real first interview with every applicant, Ployo is the recommendation: it tracks every applicant and has Sarah, Ployo's AI interviewer, run a live video interview with each one the day they apply. Employment Hero suits a small Australian business that wants payroll, rostering and hiring together, Scout Talent suits in-house teams wanting ads, onboarding and contracts in one Australian system, and Humanforce Talent suits operators already on Humanforce.
Does Workable include video interviews?
Workable's pricing page lists video interviews as included on its Premier and Enterprise plans and as a $109 a month add-on on Standard. The page does not say whether those interviews are recorded or live. Ployo's interview is a live, two-way video conversation with Sarah for every applicant, included in every plan.
How does Workable price its AI agent?
Workable Agent is an add-on paid for in AI credits: 1 credit per candidate screened, 2 per passive candidate sourced and 10 per candidate chat interaction, with 3,000 free credits and packs from 5,000 credits for $600. Ployo has no credits: interviews are included in each plan, 60, 250 or 800 a month.
Does Ployo post jobs to job boards like Workable does?
No. Ployo does not post to job boards or host a careers page. You keep advertising on SEEK, Indeed or LinkedIn and point applicants at your Ployo job link, or upload CVs in bulk. Ployo then tracks and interviews everyone who applies.
Is Ployo cheaper than Workable?
They price different things. Workable prices by company headcount, showing $299 a month for 1 to 20 employees on Standard, with video interviews extra on that plan and the agent billed in credits. Ployo prices by interviews, from US$249 a month with 60 included and no per-seat charge, whatever your headcount. Which costs less depends on your size and how many people apply.
Sources
Facts about other products come from their own public pages, checked on the dates below. Vendors change pricing and features without notice, so verify anything decision-critical at the source. Found something out of date? Tell us and we'll correct it.
- Workable pricing page (Standard, Premier and Enterprise plans, headcount bands, add-ons, 200+ job boards, careers page builder, Workable Agent and AI credits, 15-day trial) · checked 2026-10-13
- Workable homepage (agent sourcing, screening against up to 14 job criteria, shortlisting with reasoning) · checked 2026-10-13
- Employment Hero pricing page (Pro and HR plans) · checked 2026-09-10
- Scout Talent recruitment software page (modules, small-business option) · checked 2026-09-10
- Humanforce Talent product page (direct sourcing, applicant tracking, talent communities) · checked 2026-09-10
- Ployo pricing (US dollars) · checked 2026-10-13
Most of what decides this is your own role, not the feature grid. Worked examples of AI screening applied to specific sectors are on the solutions pages, and the practical how-to side, including what compliance actually requires before someone starts a shift, is in the hiring guides.
If you would rather see the mechanics than read about them, the AI video interviewer page walks through an interview end to end.
Related comparisons
TRUSTED BY HIRING TEAMS AT
The only comparison that settles it
Run it on your own applicants. Book 30 minutes with the founder, we'll set Ployo up on a role you're hiring for right now, and you can judge the shortlist yourself.
30-minute call · See Ployo on one of your live roles