HeyTalent is the better choice over Bullhorn for an agency that loses its weeks before the pipeline rather than inside it: it finds people on LinkedIn who are not yet in your database, looks up their email and phone, launches the first touch and charges per organisation instead of per user. Bullhorn is an ATS and CRM built for recruitment and staffing agencies, and it pays off when the problem is organising candidates, clients and history you already hold. The useful question is which stage the role gets stuck in, not which tool has more features.
What Bullhorn is and what HeyTalent is
Bullhorn is an ATS and CRM for recruitment agencies and staffing firms: it keeps candidates, clients, jobs and history in one system and organises the work in stages. An ATS (applicant tracking system) is defined as the official record of the hiring process, showing who is at each stage and why. For the detail, see what an ATS is and what it centralises.
HeyTalent is an AI sourcing platform: it extracts up-to-date LinkedIn profiles, including outside the recruiter's network and without a LinkedIn licence, filters them with AI variables the team defines, finds emails and phone numbers and automates invitations, follow-ups and InMails on LinkedIn. HeyTalent was born inside a tech recruitment agency in Barcelona.
Bullhorn keeps the pipeline; HeyTalent fills it. User reviews live on the Bullhorn listing on GetApp; this comparison uses what Bullhorn publishes on its own site.
HeyTalent vs Bullhorn in 2026: comparison by criterion
In 2026, HeyTalent works before the candidate exists in your database, and Bullhorn works once they are in it.
| Criterion | HeyTalent | Bullhorn |
|---|---|---|
| Stage covered | Passive talent search and first contact | Managing candidates, clients and jobs |
| Where candidates come from | LinkedIn profiles extracted on the spot, including outside your network | Its own candidate and client database |
| First contact | Automated invitations, follow-ups and InMails on LinkedIn | Email, SMS and chat with Bullhorn Automation |
| AI | Custom variables to filter and prioritise profiles | AI features from the Pro plan; agentic workflows in Max |
| ATS | Its own, free of charge | Its core function |
| GDPR | Public data under legitimate interest, never resold | Consent requests sent from lists and a consent tab on each record |
| Pricing unit | Per-organisation plan, unlimited users | Per user per month |
| Published entry price | €93/month on the annual plan | Starter, $99 per user per month |
What HeyTalent does before a candidate reaches Bullhorn
HeyTalent turns a job brief into a list of contactable professionals, the stage before the candidate has a record in Bullhorn. You give it a job description or two lines, and HeyTalent turns it into a search with advanced LinkedIn filters.
HeyTalent extracts each profile in real time, so the candidate's experience is current at the moment of the search. It then filters with AI variables, such as English level or company type. A variable orders the review; it does not prove a skill.
With the list reviewed, HeyTalent finds emails and phone numbers and launches a LinkedIn sequence of invitations, follow-ups and InMails. HeyTalent campaigns run on LinkedIn only: it finds the email but does not send from it.
Replies land in a shared inbox, filterable by job and by recruiter, where you can answer from a colleague's LinkedIn account; from there, the candidate moves to the HeyTalent ATS in one click.
According to HeyTalent, its users work 60% faster during their first month, an average efficiency gain the company attributes to tighter lists. It is a self-reported figure and does not measure time to hire.
HeyTalent's limit: it has no sales CRM and no temporary-staffing logic, so a staffing firm that lives on assignments and client history needs a system like Bullhorn at the centre.
How much Bullhorn costs in 2026 and how it charges
Bullhorn charges per user per month and publishes the price of its two entry plans. According to its pricing page for small agencies, as of 4 November 2026, Starter costs $99 per user per month; Core costs $165 per user per month.
| Bullhorn plan | Published price | What it adds |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | $99 per user per month | Applicant tracking, resume parsing, client management and job posting |
| Core | $165 per user per month | App marketplace, custom fields and workflows, LinkedIn integrations and email sidebar |
| Pro | Quote only | Recruitment CRM and AI features |
| Max | Quote only | Agentic AI workflows on top of Pro |
According to the same page, Starter, Core and Pro include implementation at no cost, while Max is quoted separately. A Bullhorn bill grows with every user.
How much HeyTalent costs and which unit to compare
HeyTalent plans start at €93/month billed annually and are charged per organisation, with unlimited users on all three plans. Volume ranges from up to 2,000 candidates a month on Recruiter to up to 14,000 on Ultra; priority support is Ultra only.
HeyTalent offers its ATS free of charge and charges for the sourcing layer: profiles, contact data and outreach. Because HeyTalent's fee is per organisation and LinkedIn Recruiter's is per seat, the company puts the saving at up to 5x versus LinkedIn Recruiter, a margin that grows with the team and does not apply in the same way to someone working alone.
Compare the cost of each useful shortlist, licences and hours included. The guide to sourcing tool pricing in 2026 ranks the market on that basis.
How to combine HeyTalent and Bullhorn without duplicate candidates
HeyTalent and Bullhorn can coexist if you decide up front which system is the master. HeyTalent's one-click send goes to its own ATS; a direct connection to Bullhorn is not documented, so moving candidates from one system to the other has to be tested on a real job before you design the workflow.
Before launching the first HeyTalent campaign alongside Bullhorn, answer in writing:
- Master record. Which record counts when two versions of the same candidate exist?
- Candidate status. Who logs a reply, a rejection or a placement, and in which system?
- Duplicates. Which identifier, such as the LinkedIn URL, recognises the same professional in HeyTalent and in Bullhorn?
Bullhorn is also the agency's client CRM, and sourcing does not replace that layer; to review it, Octatech explains how to choose a CRM.
How to source scarce tech profiles with HeyTalent
A scarce profile is searched for by tasks, not by job title, and that is where HeyTalent adds more than a search over Bullhorn's internal database. According to a TalentHackers report carried by INESE, more than 13,000 job openings in Spain were tied to AI and data in 2025.
The shortage is not limited to AI. Among the vacancies Randstad Professionals handled in Spain in May 2024, engineering accounted for more than 21%, ICT specialists for more than 14% and sales profiles for 11%, according to Randstad.
To turn a technical role into a useful list with HeyTalent:
- Separate requirements from preferences. For an MLOps role, specify whether it means deploying models, maintaining inference services or handling observability.
- Tie each filter to a task. Combine Boolean search and AI variables; a concrete responsibility filters better than a generic title.
- Check the signal in the work history. If an AI variable has no visible support in the profile, mark it as pending instead of rejecting.
- Measure response by segment. Split campaigns by the experience that justifies the outreach.