Most recruiting software charges per seat. That works when the number of people using a tool tracks the amount of work it does. In high-volume hiring it rarely does. Three recruiters can run a quiet spring and a peak season with the same logins, while the work in front of them grows tenfold.

So Yardstick prices on two things that move with the work: active roles and screening credits. Seats are still on every plan, but they are a ceiling rather than the meter. This post explains why we chose that, what it costs in practice, and where it does not fit.

What you are actually paying for

The expensive part of screening is the reading. Every applicant gets read against the brief, asked the structured questions, and scored with the reasoning written out. That work happens once per applicant, whoever is logged in to review it.

That is what the two numbers on each plan measure:

• Active roles are the openings you are screening for at the same time. Starter covers 3, Team covers 10 and Growth covers 25.

• Screening credits cover interviews, outreach and scoring runs. Starter includes 2,000 a month, Team 10,000 and Growth 30,000.

Starter is $49 a month, Team is $149 and Growth is $399. Scale and Business carry more roles and credits for larger teams, and Enterprise is quoted per engagement. Prices exclude VAT and any local taxes. The full comparison is on the [pricing page](/pricing).

Why seats were the wrong meter

Seat pricing charges you for every person who opens the tool. In hiring, the people you most want looking at a shortlist are often the ones who open it least.

A site lead who reviews three shortlists a season, a works council representative checking how a role was screened, a hiring manager signing off a night rota. Each of them makes the decision better. Under seat pricing, each of them is also a line on the invoice, so teams quietly stop inviting them.

We built Yardstick on the idea that a person approves every send and every decision. A price that discourages people from looking works against that. Seats still exist on each paid plan, from 2 on Starter to 30 on Business, because a workspace needs a sensible limit. But adding a reviewer should never be the thing that pushes you up a tier.

A seasonal year, worked through

Take a retailer that hires for summer. One recruiter runs it most of the year, two more join for peak, and twelve store leads review shortlists for their own locations.

For this example, assume a full first round costs 10 credits per applicant: the outreach, the structured interview and the scoring run. That figure is an assumption for the arithmetic, not a rate card. Your own number depends on how many questions the brief asks and how many follow-ups it sends.

Off-season, nine months of the year. Two roles stay open, drawing about 150 applicants a month. That is 1,500 credits a month, inside Starter’s 2,000. One seat goes to the recruiter and the other to whichever store lead has a role open. Cost: $49 a month.

Peak, three months of the year. Eight roles open at once, with 1,000 applicants a month. That is 10,000 credits, which is exactly Team’s allowance, and 8 roles fit inside its 10. Three recruiters take 3 of the 5 seats, and store leads rotate through the other 2 as their shortlists land. Cost: $149 a month.

If peak runs hot. Say one month brings 1,200 applicants instead. That is 12,000 credits, so 2,000 over the allowance. Extra credits on Team cost $8 per 1,000, which adds $16. That month costs $165. Moving up to Growth for it would have cost $399.

Across the year, nine months at $49 is $441 and three months at $149 is $447. The total is $888. Staying on Team all year would cost $1,788. Under a per-seat model, fifteen people would be billed in January as well as in June.

Where this does not fit

Pricing on work has its own edges, and they are worth stating before you pick a plan.

• Credits run out. A brief with many questions, or a role that pulls in far more applicants than expected, uses credits faster. You can buy extra credits on every plan from Starter to Business, but the Free plan has none to buy.

• Roles can bind before credits do. A team with many small openings and few applicants per role may hit its role limit first. Starter’s 3 roles fill quickly if you hire across several sites.

• Seats are still a limit. In the example above, twelve store leads rotate through two seats. A large panel of regular reviewers on Team’s 5 seats will feel that.

• Estimates are yours to check. The 10 credits per applicant above is illustrative. Run one role for a month and read your own usage before planning a season around it.

The pricing FAQ covers what counts as an active role, whether unused credits roll over, and what happens when you change plan. Read those answers before you commit to a season.

How to choose a plan

Start from the busiest month you expect, not the average one. Count the roles you will have open at the same time. Estimate applicants per role, multiply by what a first round costs you, and compare that with each plan’s credits.

If the busy months only run a quarter of the year, plan for the quiet months and top up at peak. If you hire at volume all year, price the next plan up against a steady run of extra credits. The larger plan also brings more roles, more seats and the features that come with them.

Whichever plan you are on, the reading is the same. Every applicant is read against the brief, every rating links to its evidence, and a person on your team makes the call.