Ashby measures precisely what happens to every application, but it does not bring in people who never applied. For headhunters, agencies and RPOs who run short of contactable profiles before the first stage, HeyTalent is the best option compared with Ashby: it searches LinkedIn, finds email and phone numbers and automates first contact, with a free ATS for basic tracking. Ashby is the choice when applications already arrive and what needs structure is interviews, evaluations and funnel analytics. Because they cover different stages, the useful move is to spot which one is missing and test it for 4 to 6 weeks on comparable roles.
What Ashby is and what HeyTalent is
Ashby is an ATS (applicant tracking system) that positions itself as a recruiting operating system: it brings together stages, interview plans, evaluations and funnel analytics for talent acquisition teams. An ATS is defined as the system where the application lives: who is at which stage, who is evaluating them and why they move forward or get rejected.
HeyTalent is an AI sourcing platform for headhunters, agencies, staffing firms and RPOs: starting from the brief, it searches LinkedIn profiles, prioritises them with AI variables the recruiter defines, finds their email and phone and contacts them through LinkedIn sequences. Sourcing in recruitment is that work done before any application exists, when Ashby still has nobody to manage.
HeyTalent vs Ashby in 2026: comparison by function
In 2026, the difference between HeyTalent and Ashby is one of stage: HeyTalent generates and contacts candidates who are not yet in the process, and Ashby manages, coordinates and measures the ones already inside.
| Criterion | HeyTalent | Ashby |
|---|---|---|
| Category | AI sourcing and automated outreach | ATS and recruiting operating system |
| Funnel stage | Before the application | After the application |
| Where candidates come from | Boolean search and real-time LinkedIn profiles | Applications that already enter its workflow |
| Filtering | AI variables written by the recruiter | Custom ATS fields |
| Contact data | Email and phone finder | Not documented as a core feature |
| First contact | Automated LinkedIn invitations, follow-ups and InMails | Candidate communication inside the ATS |
| Price | From €93/month billed annually, per organisation | Custom quote based on size and scope |
The table describes two different jobs and is based on what each vendor publishes, not on an independent evaluation.
What HeyTalent does before a candidate reaches Ashby
HeyTalent covers the stretch Ashby cannot see: going from a brief to qualified profiles, with contact data and a conversation underway. Two lines about the role are enough for HeyTalent to build the LinkedIn search, including profiles outside the recruiter's network and without a LinkedIn Recruiter licence.
Each profile is read from LinkedIn at the moment of the query, so the career history the HeyTalent recruiter sees is the current one. For a sales engineering role, the consultant combines title, location and experience, then adds an AI variable that flags signs of advanced English: it prioritises the review, it does not certify the skill.
HeyTalent's finder looks up email and phone only for people who pass the filter: what matters is that the contact is the right one, not how many fields it fills.
HeyTalent's sequence sends LinkedIn invitations, follow-ups and InMails, and replies arrive in a shared inbox, filterable by job and recruiter, where you can answer from a colleague's account and move the candidate to the ATS in one click.
The figures HeyTalent publishes describe teams working 60% faster in their first month of use, thanks to tighter lists. That is a self-reported average for that month, not a benchmark against Ashby and not a cut in time to hire.
HeyTalent's ATS is not billed, because what you pay for is sourcing, and it includes a career page, public or private job posts, application forms and a shareable per-job pipeline for the client. It does not match Ashby on interview plans or analytics, and connection invitations with a note may require LinkedIn Premium Business.
How to tell whether your team lacks sourcing or process management
The fastest way to choose between HeyTalent and Ashby is to look at where the role gets lost. A spotless pipeline does not produce a shortlist if no profiles come in, and a long list of contacted people does not turn into a hire without structured interviews.
20% of hiring processes are never completed for lack of suitable profiles, while 39% of companies expect to increase hiring, according to Forbes Spain on hiring forecasts.
Buying rule: if suitable profiles are missing, prioritise sourcing with HeyTalent. If candidates already arrive but the team loses evaluations or delays interviews, prioritise process management with Ashby.
How to connect HeyTalent with Ashby without duplicate candidates
HeyTalent works alongside whatever ATS the team already uses, so adding it to Ashby is a handover problem, not a migration. The Ashby API documentation compiled by API Evangelist describes operations on interviews, schedules, stages and evaluations, plus webhooks; that surface lets you design event-driven exchanges, but it does not prove a native connector exists between the two platforms.
A reasonable flow creates the candidate in Ashby when they reply to the HeyTalent sequence and later pulls back stage changes. First, check authentication, required fields, duplicates and errors. Because HeyTalent plans have a monthly candidate cap, size consumption on your busiest week.
What GDPR requires when combining AI sourcing and an ATS in Spain
The Spanish data protection authority (AEPD) on AI in CV screening asks for privacy by design, risk assessment and a clear explanation of what the tool does. Article 22 of the GDPR, explained in this guide on hiring and personal data, protects people from decisions based solely on automated processing with significant effects.
| Flow | Main risk | Minimum control |
|---|---|---|
| Public LinkedIn profiles | No documented legal basis | Record purpose and legal basis |
| Emails and phone numbers | Excess data | Minimise fields, record source and date |
| AI variables | Automated decision | Verifiable criteria and human review |
| Automated outreach | Lack of information | Privacy notice and opt-out channel |
| Handover to Ashby | Excess data in the ATS | Transfer only what is needed |
| Access or erasure | Missed deadlines | Named owner |
HeyTalent basing its processing of public data on legitimate interest, and not reselling it, does not make every campaign an agency sets up lawful: this guide on data processing in recruitment that gathers AEPD criteria points out that a public profile still requires a legal basis, professional relevance and informing the person.
Ashby also needs governance: who edits records, what each client sees and how an erasure request propagates across systems. The guide to sourcing and GDPR compliance helps review those flows, always validated with legal counsel.
How much HeyTalent and Ashby cost: the cost per contactable candidate
Comparing HeyTalent's fee with Ashby's without looking at results is pointless, because they pay for different jobs. In a Capterra survey of 300 Spanish HR leaders published by Capital, 51% expected hiring costs to rise in 2025.
Cost per contactable candidate = attributable monthly cost / unique candidates with valid contact details per month. A valid contact is a usable email or phone number, belonging to the right profile and relevant to the role, and someone with both channels is not counted twice.
As a hypothetical example, €500 a month across 200 valid contacts is €2.50 per contact; if you count irrelevant profiles, the figure drops without anything improving.