Glassdoor vs Indeed: Pricing, Features & What’s Best in 2020

Many wonder what the difference is between Glassdoor and Indeed, and many other job posting resources out there today. We will focus mostly on Indeed and Glassdoor, while offering a great alternative to both options.

Glassdoor is a database of company reviews, CEO approval ratings, salary reports, interview reviews, salary tools, and a free job board. It’s best for businesses focused on employer branding and encouraging job seekers to apply. In comparison, Indeed is a free job board that provides employer reviews and salary tools as well, but it’s best for businesses that need to fill open positions quickly.

When to Use Glassdoor

Glassdoor originally began as a website to let employees provide anonymous reviews of their company for other prospective employees to read. Therefore, it’s the perfect place to manage your employment brand. In addition, like Indeed, it has salary tools, job postings, and business tools that let you create the perfect company profile. You can advertise open jobs on Glassdoor. However, it doesn’t have a way to search resumes of passive job seekers and reach out to them like Indeed does.

Visit Glassdoor

Glassdoor’s website is easy to navigate and quickly gets you to the location on the website you need. Additionally, Glassdoor has articles that you can click into that are targeted at both job seekers and employers. (depending on which portion of the site you are visiting).

When to Use Indeed

Indeed is the No. 1 job board in the United States. As many as 3 million businesses post their open jobs on Indeed and it has more than 200 million job seeker resumes, which is about four times that of Glassdoor. You can use Indeed to post unlimited jobs for free whereas Glassdoor’s free version is restricted to three initial job posts. On Indeed, you can advertise jobs by setting your own budget instead of paying for a package as required on Glassdoor.

You can also view job seeker resumes, create a company and careers page, determine what salary to pay and improve your employer brand. Therefore, it’s best to use Indeed when you’re actively seeking candidates.

Visit Indeed

Since Indeed’s primary purpose is to post jobs, it is a little more streamlined and, thus, quicker to complete a job posting. For job seekers, the query process for the type of opportunities you are searching for are quickly created and delivered to the job seeker within seconds.

When to Use ZipRecruiter: Best Alternative to Indeed and Glassdoor

In our research we have tested one alternative that is worth mentioning in addition to Indeed and Glassdoor. ZipRecruiter has earned its place in the marketplace with employers. It offers a user-friendly interface, mobile-optimized tool, centralized database for hiring and recruiting related data, and a comprehensive collaboration suite to increase productivity. ZipRecruiter offers a limited free trial. Sign up today.

ZipRecruiter will instantly distribute your job listings to more than 100 job boards with one click. It also captures all your candidate data saving you from having to collect and filter applications from multiple job sites as well as important attributes such as an easy interface to navigate. ZipRecruiter is mobile-friendly with an easy app. It offers daily or short-term pricing that allows flexible choices for employers. For in-depth details on ZipRecruiter visit our full review.

Try ZipRecruiter

How We Evaluated Glassdoor vs Indeed

We have thoroughly evaluated these two options for you, and even though hiring new employees is the focal point for each, they are designed to serve slightly different purposes. Glassdoor is not as singularly focused on posting jobs (employers) and attracting applicants (job seekers), which is Indeed’s primary focal point on their website. Glassdoor also offers employer reviews, some basic training for job seekers, just to name a couple added features.

Although we do not fully endorse Glassdoor’s employer reviews feature (which are posted much of the time by former employees of listed companies) it can be a helpful guide in determining if candidates want to consider your organization for employment.

In both cases, Indeed and Glassdoor know that small businesses need a way to advertise a job and find new and qualified employees fast. In addition, it’s also important that prospective employees are able to find their open jobs, obtain information about their company, and be encouraged to apply to open positions. Both Indeed and Glassdoor also provide solutions to help employers recruit.

Based on the needs of small business, the criteria we used to evaluate Glassdoor vs Indeed include:

• Price: Both have free options and plans that are affordable for small businesses.
• Ease of use: Both are intuitive, making it easy for job seekers and employers to use.
• Job posting: Both allow businesses to post and advertise open jobs.
• Company page: Both provide a company page to use for job postings and employer branding.
• Company reviews: Both publish reviews from current and former employees.
• Job seekers: Both have plenty of job seekers using the site; Indeed has over 150 million resumes and access to a growing talent pool with 5 million+ resumes added or updated every month while Glassdoor has 67 million.
• Salary tools: Both provide tools for employers and employees to determine what a job should pay in terms of salary.
• Company reviews: Both provide a section for current and prior employees to share their feedback about the company.

Glassdoor vs Indeed at a Glance

Glassdoor vs Indeed: Which Is Better for Job Seekers?

In addition to being a job board, Indeed aggregates jobs from other job posting sites and cross-posts them on Indeed. From a job seeker’s point of view, Indeed is probably the better place to look for a job. More employers post jobs on Indeed than any other job board. Even Glassdoor posts its open positions on Indeed.

However, once you find a job you like, it’s good to check out the company’s reviews on both sites. On Glassdoor, you’ll even get insight into what the company’s interview process is like.

Glassdoor vs Indeed: Which Is Better for Employers?

Note that both Indeed and Glassdoor are owned by Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd. who understands the importance of how online recruiting and data sharing of companies and their general profiles make both job seekers and companies who utilize their services, better informed and prepared to find the perfect match.

The best job posting sites out there offer useful tools for employers in addition to the ability to post jobs. The fact is that employers enjoy utilizing both Indeed and Glassdoor for more than just soliciting job applicants. Indeed is a high-functioning repository to post positions and to get candidates. Glassdoor is also utilized for recruitment, however, it also promotes its employer branding tools which employers use to casually sprinkle brand exposure in front of Glassdoor applicants seeking employment.

Glassdoor’s “employer branding” feature can help get your company’s brand in front of job seekers even when you do not have active recruitments underway.

Indeed vs Glassdoor: Pricing & Features

You can sign up for a free employer account on both Indeed and Glassdoor. The free account allows you to claim your company page and online reviews. You can also post jobs for free and the salary tools for free as well. However on Glassdoor, the free job postings only last seven days. After that, you have to upgrade to a paid package.

However, if you want to advertise your open positions, you’ll have to pay extra regardless of which job posting site you use. Advertising ensures your job posting is seen by a larger audience, increasing the likelihood that qualified job seekers will apply.

Indeed Pricing & Features

Indeed pricing starts at $0 and costs as little as $5 per day to sponsor a job, which is a feature it calls job advertising. You can also pay for a feature that allows you to contact job seekers who haven’t applied to your job. This costs between $100 and $250 per month for 30 to 100 contacts.

Job Posting

There’s no limit to the number of jobs you can post for free on Indeed. Glassdoor, in contrast, limits the free postings to three. With Indeed, there’s no time limit either. Jobs you post appear in general search results, candidates can apply online or mobile, and you can manage your applicants through the recruiting pipeline, directly from your Indeed account, similar to an Applicant Tracking System (ATS).

Salary Tools

Indeed’s salary tools are similar in look and feel to that of Glassdoor. However, Indeed’s salaries are based on more than anonymous employee reporting. They’re also based on real job ads that employers have posted for these same positions. In addition, they typically include twice as many data points, likely improving their accuracy.

Salary tools on Indeed showing what an SEO job pays

Company Page

The company page on Indeed is very much like the company reviews page on Glassdoor. It provides current and former employee reviews, salaries, photos, open jobs and a Q&A section where job seekers can ask questions.

Fit Small Business Company Page on Indeed

All this information is displayed on a snapshot as shown above. In addition, applicants can follow the company using the Follow button at the top of the page. That way, they’ll know when new jobs are posted, for example.

You can claim, update and customize your company page for free with Indeed. In comparison, customization of your company reviews page on Glassdoor requires you to upgrade to a paid plan.

Job Advertising

Advertising a job on Indeed is based on a pay-per-click model. Indeed calls it “Sponsoring a Job.” You start by setting a budget, say $5 per day and pay-per-clicks that range from $0.25 to $5.00. The price of a click is based on the competition in that job market, similar to advertising on Google. For example, paid clicks cost less in a small rural market than in a major urban area like San Francisco or New York.

Featured Employer

As with display ads on Glassdoor, employers can pay to become a “featured employer” on Indeed. What this means is that the employer will have an ad displayed on the sidebar of the webpage that job seekers view when looking at posted job opportunities.

This can be a nice way to brand your organization with job seekers. Job seekers may also have some initial familiarity, and this comfort, with your brand after having seen it as a “Featured Employer.”

Resume Search

Resume search is a feature that sets Indeed apart from Glassdoor and most other job boards. You can search resumes for free. Then, when you find a candidate you’d like to contact, you can pay a monthly fee. For $100 per month, you can contact up to 30 job seekers while $250 allows you to contact up to 100. That’s helpful when you want to reach out and encourage top talent to apply to your open job posting.

Applicant Tracking

Indeed allows you to track applicants, provides pre-employment screening tests, and integrates with third-party applicant tracking systems like Homebase Hiring. With Homebase you can post to multiple job boards, sort, filter, and schedule applicants, and automatically send out interview reminders to reduce no-shows.

Glassdoor Pricing & Features

Posting a job is free on Glassdoor for up to seven days. It’s also free to claim your employer account. After that, Glassdoor costs $249 to $600 per month depending on how many jobs you want to post and what specific features you want to add (again, the premium service costs more).

Glassdoor’s pricing is neither transparent nor posted on its website. It’s also based on your location. For example, it costs more to post jobs in New York than in Kansas. Therefore, you will have to talk to its sales department to determine the number of job postings, costs for your location, and the feature-set you need.

Glassdoor: Pricing Table

Job Posting

Job posting is free, up to seven days for one to three jobs. That’s great if you have a one-time hiring blitz and want to receive free resumes from job seekers. However, if you want to use the platform for all your job postings, you’ll have to pay for a package.

That can run from $249 per month on up, depending on your business location and how many jobs you want to post at once. If you’re using the site solely for job posting, Indeed is a great alternative that’s free.

Salary Tools

Like Indeed, the salary tools are free. Glassdoor designed the salary tools based on the need for employees to find out what they can expect to be paid. Its data is based on salaries reported anonymously by workers with the same or similar job titles. Here’s an example:

Salary tools on Glassdoor show what SEO jobs pay.

Company Page

Your company page is where you can share information about your company with job seekers. You can claim your company page for free on Glassdoor as well as on Indeed. The company page is where job seekers learn more about your company and its culture. On Glassdoor, they can even find out how difficult it is to interview for a job.

In comparison, Indeed provides more basic information. Here’s what our Fit Small Business company page looks like on Glassdoor. However, to customize your company page, you’ll need to contact Glassdoor for a sales quote.

Fit Small Business’ company page on Glassdoor

Job Advertising

While it’s free to post a job on Glassdoor, advertising the job makes sure that it shows up at the top of job seekers’ search results. Packages that include job advertising cost $249 per month and up on Glassdoor. You can target job seekers by role, location, or industry. You can view data on how your ads are performing and boost your jobs so that they’re featured in search results and/or sent to candidates via job alert emails.

Display Advertising

Glassdoor provides display advertising that targets individual job seekers based on variables such as location, occupation, and other demographics. It can even put your ad on a competitor profile, so that job seekers see your ad when researching other companies.

Enhanced Profile

The Enhanced profile is quite nimble and allows an employer to customize fairly significantly. One can view analytics, including how many applicants have reviewed their posting, when resumes have been submitted and, if skill tests are required, who have completed them and are ready for review.

Resume Search

Once applicants apply to your job, you can view their resume online. However, you cannot search for candidates and contact them if they haven’t applied for a job you’ve posted. Indeed, in comparison, allows you to view all resumes for free.

Applicant Tracking

Although Glassdoor has an applicant tracking system (ATS) partner program, it does not come with built-in applicant tracking tools as Indeed does. Note that Glassdoor integrates with several third-party tracking systems such as Homebase so you can manage job posting and applicants the way you want.

Glassdoor also lets you schedule interviews, notify applicants, and send out suggestions and reminders to help you streamline the interview process. Indeed also offers these features with a little more simplification, which helps the user process or experience.

Indeed vs Glassdoor: Ease of Use

From the job seeker’s point of view, both sites have their strengths and advantages. However, from an employer’s point of view, the job posting is a bit more complex on Glassdoor. There are a few more steps to complete than with Indeed’s process.

You can create an account and advertise a job by setting up a free account on Indeed. On Glassdoor, you can set up a free account, but if you want to advertise a job, you need to talk to someone in sales to buy a package. This is a rather significant difference in the customer experience, and might explain why Indeed has grown much faster than Glassdoor over the last five years.

Indeed: Ease of Use

Indeed has a clear interface with menus for both job seekers and employers. In addition, it has a mobile app for job seekers to search for employers and apply for jobs. It also has a mobile app for employers to post jobs and manage candidates who have applied.

In contrast to Glassdoor, Indeed’s employer page focuses on the features a business needs, with step-by-step instructions for posting a job, searching resumes, and showcasing your employer brand on your Company page. You can also view hiring resources, pricing, and products from the employer page.

Glassdoor: Ease of Use

Glassdoor makes it easy for job seekers to find jobs and post reviews. It has a mobile app for job seekers but not for businesses/employers to manage their job postings or applications. In addition, Glassdoor’s webpage contains a dashboard with tools to allow job seekers to set up a job alert, follow companies, write a review, and upload a resume, for example.

In contrast, the employer page on Glassdoor is a bit salesy. You can sign up, post jobs, respond to reviews, or talk to a sales team member. Menus at the top of the employer page allow employers to view products, resources, a blog, online help, and claim their free employer account.

Indeed vs Glassdoor: Customer Service

Because Indeed and Glassdoor both serve two distinct audiences, it’s important to know how they provide service to each. To clarify, they target both job seekers looking for work and employers looking for workers. Here’s how their customer service compares:

Indeed: Customer Service

Indeed provides customer support Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern time. It provides support to both job seekers and employers. Its support service call center also supports both English and Spanish speakers. Users can call, submit an email request, or use Twitter to send their issue to @IndeedSupport. Indeed also provides a robust Employer Help Center organized by topics such as contacting candidates, posting and managing jobs, and company pages.

Glassdoor: Customer Service

Glassdoor provides customer support by having you fill out a form online. You can also contact representatives by phone. Job seekers are not provided with an option to call. Glassdoor does provide an online form that users can complete to get a response to their inquiries.

If you linger on the Glassdoor’s site “For Employers” page long enough, a Chatbot will pop up. However, it appears not to respond to questions outside of its programming; instead, it will set up a sales call or redirect you to the website for an answer. It’s not a very helpful Chatbot.

Indeed vs Glassdoor: Customer Reviews

You are not necessarily comparing apples with apples when placing these two options side by side. Indeed provides more features for free and has been in the job posting business much longer than Glassdoor. Glassdoor offers features, such as employer ratings that are helpful, but not always needed or desired when posting positions.

Indeed: Customer Reviews

In general, Indeed user reviews are more plentiful and offer higher ratings on third-party review websites. Customers rate it between 3 and 5 out of 5 stars, depending on which review site you look at. That’s much higher than Glassdoor. Employers tend to like the value and the number of candidates. Job seekers like its ease of use.

Glassdoor: Customer Reviews

Based on third-party review sites, including Consumer Affairs, Glassdoor doesn’t have stellar reviews of its website or service. It’s rated about 2 out of 5 stars, on average. Some customers like their customer service, and others don’t. Job seekers claim that employers can remove bad reviews.

Bottom Line

Both Indeed and Glassdoor are great tools for recruiting (as is ZipRecruiter). The key to success is determining which out of these top ranking job boards is most useful to you. Many companies utilize both all three of these boards to cover all their unique employment needs and to target a variety of candidates in today’s job market.