The seven Invenias alternatives in one line each
- Kepler — search firms whose real asset is an unsearchable database, at one price.
- Ezekia — retained executive search and leadership advisory with the assignment as the unit of work.
- Clockwork — boutique retained firms whose client relationship runs through a collaboration portal.
- Loxo — retained and contingency desks that need to buy reach.
- Crelate — boutique US firms that want an optional back office in the same platform.
- Recruiterflow — search firms whose revenue comes from four-channel outbound sequences.
- Spott — AI-native, EU-weighted agencies that want breadth of modules and ISO 27001.
Why do agencies look for an Invenias alternative?
Every reason below is structural and on Bullhorn’s own pages.
- No published price on any edition. Bullhorn’s Invenias product page routes every edition to a demo request. The Executive Edition, the premium bundle with Invenias Client, is quote-only, and so are Essentials and Professional. The USD 99 and USD 165 seats Bullhorn does publish are its small-agency staffing plans, which do not include Invenias. Checked 13 Sep 2026.
- The full product is a Windows desktop application inside Outlook. Bullhorn’s system requirements list Windows 11 64-bit with Microsoft Office 2016, 2019 or 2021, and its own Web Application FAQ states that the Essentials web app “is not an alternative to the Professional Desktop Application”.
- The AI is optional, and it runs on your own cloud account. The Invenias AI Assistant is an optional feature on Person and Assignment records, enabled through an Account Manager and run on OpenAI or Azure OpenAI credentials the firm supplies. Bullhorn’s Invenias AI roadmap of 16 June 2026 places AI that reads call transcripts and updates records in stage two, “coming next”.
- Ownership, and which Bullhorn you are being quoted for. Bullhorn acquired Invenias in July 2018, invenias.com now redirects to Bullhorn’s product page, and Bullhorn sells “Invenias by Bullhorn for boutique firms” beside “Bullhorn Recruitment Cloud for enterprise firms”. They are different systems, and a firm has to establish which one a quote covers.
- Segment fit. Invenias is built for boutique retained executive search. A firm whose desk is mixed — retained work beside contingency, interim or in-house hiring — is paying for an assignment workflow it uses part of the week, and that is the buyer most of the seven below are for.
Comparison at a glance
The price column is the tier carrying that vendor’s AI, on an annual-billing basis, never the cheapest tier. All figures were read on the vendor’s own pricing page on 13 Sep 2026.
| Tool | Best for | Matched plan, per user / month, annual | AI included in that plan | Publishes pricing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kepler | Search firms whose asset is the database; mixed desks | One edition, USD 99 | Yes, with a monthly allowance | Yes |
| Ezekia | Retained executive search and leadership advisory | Enterprise, not published | Yes, in Enterprise | No |
| Clockwork | Boutique retained firms run through a client portal | One plan, USD 149 | Yes; chat-app subscription for MCP separate | Yes |
| Loxo | Desks that need to buy reach | Professional, USD 199 | Yes, on Professional only | Yes |
| Crelate | Boutique US firms wanting an optional back office | Business Plus, not published | Partly; Advanced AI only on Business Plus | Two of three tiers |
| Recruiterflow | Outbound-led search firms | AIRA Plan, not published | AIRA Plan only | Platform Plan only |
| Spott | AI-native, EU-weighted agencies | Pro, USD 199 | Yes; enrichment credits extra | Yes |
How we evaluated these alternatives
Every claim about a vendor comes from that vendor’s own public material — pricing page, product pages, help centre or published roadmap — read on the date given in the sources, and each entry links the longer review where those sources are listed in full. Pricing follows one rule: the figure shown is the plan carrying the AI being compared, on an annual-billing basis, and where it has no public price the post says “not published” rather than estimating. Kepler is the publisher of this post and its claims are held to the same standard.
The 7 best Invenias alternatives in 2026
1. Kepler
Kepler is a recruitment CRM built around one assistant and a searchable database, and it is not built specifically for executive search. Its search is hybrid semantic and keyword retrieval across candidates, CVs, notes, email threads and call transcripts, so a plain-English question surfaces a person because of a line in a 2019 candidate report or something said on a recorded call. The assistant sits in a sidebar on every page, reads the whole workspace, and writes nothing until you approve it. Matching returns a verdict and a source for every requirement rather than a score; a notetaker files the summary, next steps and transcript of a call against the record; emails and calls become proposed field updates a person accepts or rejects. A job-scoped client portal lets a hiring manager rate a shortlist 1–5, comment and request interviews, and a consent ledger carries a lawful basis and an expiry per candidate. Kepler suits a search firm whose bottleneck is the records underneath the process, and a mixed desk.
Pricing: USD 99 per user per month billed annually, or USD 129 monthly, in one edition with every feature included, unlimited records and storage, and every AI feature inside the seat price with a monthly allowance. Migration is done for you, free, on every plan; full export at any time with no exit fee.
Where Kepler falls short of Invenias, plainly: no off-limits object, so nothing warns or blocks a consultant approaching someone the firm placed; no merge-tag assignment report, only CV formatting onto your own template; no relationship mapping or company hierarchy; no business-development pipeline; no native mobile app; no Outlook add-in; no ISO 27001 or SOC 2; and a consent ledger that flags but never erases. A firm buying the retained workflow should read the next two entries first.
See Kepler’s pricing and the feature pages.
2. Ezekia
Ezekia is the closest like-for-like substitute for Invenias in this list: an AI-powered BD, CRM and ATS platform for executive search firms, in-house executive recruiting teams and talent partners, operated from London and focused exclusively on executive search for more than eleven years. Its data model is the search itself — Lists, Opportunities and Assignments as project types that convert into one another — with off-limits flags, organisation charts, a white-labelled client portal carrying reports, and billing with fee splits around it. It is browser-based on any device, the largest practical difference from Invenias’ Windows desktop application.
Pricing: Ezekia’s pricing page, checked 13 Sep 2026, shows one paid tier, Enterprise, priced CUSTOM — per user, billed monthly, with no annual commitment — and it is the tier carrying “AI-powered workflows & search”. There is no cheaper paid tier; the only other option is a 30-day free trial. Migration services are scoped in the quote, with onboarding and training included.
Where Ezekia is ahead of Kepler: off-limits flags, organisation charts, an opportunities pipeline, retainer billing with fee splits, right-to-erasure and data-access-request handling, ISO 27001:2022, an optional 95,000-candidate “Not Actively Looking” pool, monthly terms with no lock-in, and a client portal that carries the search report under the firm’s brand. Kepler has none of those. Ezekia is Microsoft-centred and does not name Google Workspace.
Side by side: Kepler vs Ezekia · the Ezekia review.
3. Clockwork
Clockwork is executive search software for boutique retained firms, in-house executive recruiting teams and institutional investors, organised around the client’s view of the search. Its client collaboration portal lets the client vote and comment on candidates, work a shared longlist, read automated status and research-coverage reports and see diversity metrics. Around that sit a recruiting CRM, Cai — Clockwork’s generative AI, which drafts five weighted research criteria and rates candidates inside a project fifty at a time — and business-development tools covering deals, contracts, forecasting and cashflow. It suits a firm that keeps retained mandates by showing the client progress continuously.
Pricing: one plan at USD 149 per user per month billed annually, or USD 179 monthly, under the heading “One plan. All the features.” Cai, the portal, automations and the MCP connector are in it and there is no cheaper tier. Outside the seat price sit data migration, a professional service priced by volume and scope, optional Premium Support at USD 3,500 per year, and the ChatGPT, Claude or Copilot subscription its MCP connector is used with. Read 13 Sep 2026.
Where Clockwork is ahead of Kepler: the client collaboration portal with coverage reports, target company lists, compensation data and a client mobile app; interview scorecards against benchmark competencies; diversity reporting as a client deliverable; a BD CRM with contracts, forecasting and cashflow; native iOS and Android apps; and SOC 2 Type II, stated as maintained since 2022, with SSO. Its candidate search is name and keyword matching with filters, and cross-record AI work goes through the MCP connector into the firm’s own chat app.
Side by side: Kepler vs Clockwork · the Clockwork review.
4. Loxo
Loxo is a talent intelligence platform for contingency and retained agencies, US-weighted: an ATS and CRM wrapped around a proprietary graph of 850M+ professionals and agents that source, rank and reach out. Loxo Source returns people the firm does not yet hold, with contact information alongside the shortlist. It suits a search desk whose problem is coverage of a market it has no records in.
Pricing: Loxo Professional, from USD 199 per user per month billed annually and paid up front, is the like-for-like plan; it carries Loxo Source, the agents with their AI Notetaker, Loxo AI Chat and API access, with 2,500 credits per seat per month. Loxo Core, from USD 149, drops all of those. Both priced tiers are labelled a new-customer limited-time offer; Enterprise is quote-only. Migration is free for Core teams of three or more seats and a scoped fixed package otherwise. Read 13 Sep 2026.
Where Loxo is ahead of Kepler: the 850M+ sourcing graph, which Kepler has nothing comparable to; SMS and voice inside sequences; job multiposting to Indeed, Glassdoor, ZipRecruiter, Seek, Reed and others; a sales CRM with deals; data-hygiene and deduplication agents; SSO and SAML on Enterprise; and maturity — Loxo states 125,000+ recruiters, where Kepler has no paying customers yet.
Side by side: Kepler vs Loxo · the Loxo review.
5. Crelate
Crelate is a broad US recruiting platform for boutique and mid-size agencies, with a strong pipeline UI and an optional back office. Its Discovery Agent sources from an external pool Crelate describes as up to a billion people, and Crelate Deliver adds assignments, timekeeping, invoicing and payroll export inside the same platform. It suits a boutique firm that places contractors as well as running search.
Pricing: the like-for-like plan is Business Plus — the tier with the Advanced AI Assistant, automation and sequences and the full API — listed as “Custom”, per user, paid annually, so there is no public figure. Business is USD 119 per user per month billed annually or USD 149 monthly, with the basic AI Assistant and client portals but not sequences, the Advanced AI Assistant or the full API; Essentials is USD 85 billed annually, capped at two users and 20,000 contacts. Texting, email campaigns, eSignature and enrichment cost extra on every tier; migration is a separate package scoped by sales. Read 13 Sep 2026.
Where Crelate is ahead of Kepler: the back office in Crelate Deliver, the largest single gap in Kepler’s product; the external sourcing pool; business-development workflows on Business Plus; native texting with a synced inbox and the Crelate Connector mobile app; and ISO and SOC 2 compliance among the enterprise options on its Platform tier.
Side by side: Kepler vs Crelate · the Crelate review.
6. Recruiterflow
Recruiterflow is an ATS and CRM for boutique and mid-size agencies built around outbound sequences, and it states that 2,100+ search firms use it. Its sequences send email, calls, SMS and LinkedIn natively with branching logic; AIRA, its agent layer, adds a notetaker, a matchmaker, a field-updates agent and a sourcing agent over 850M+ profiles. It suits a search firm whose revenue is made by sequenced outbound.
Pricing: the AIRA Plan — the tier carrying AIRA Notetaker, AIRA Matchmaker and the Field Updates Agent — is priced “Let’s chat custom pricing”, so there is no public figure. The cheaper Platform Plan is USD 119 per user per month billed annually or USD 149 monthly and has none of the AIRA agents. Self-serve CSV import is free; white-glove migration is paid, priced by data volume, over six to eight weeks. Read 13 Sep 2026.
Where Recruiterflow is ahead of Kepler: multichannel sequencing across email, calls, SMS and LinkedIn with branching, where Kepler’s sequences send email only; SMS as a native channel; sourcing over 850M+ profiles; job distribution to LinkedIn, Indeed and Glassdoor; deals with a probability to close per stage; interview scorecards on pipeline stages; custom BI dashboards; and a dozen named customer case studies where Kepler has none.
Side by side: Kepler vs Recruiterflow · the Recruiterflow review.
7. Spott
Spott is an AI-native ATS and CRM for recruitment agencies, EU-weighted, and the product here closest to Kepler in ambition while differing in shape: roughly twenty discrete AI features, each with its own switch, and an Ask AI panel scoped to one record, with cross-record work pushed to ChatGPT or Claude through an MCP server. It suits an agency that wants breadth of modules, EU hosting and a certification.
Pricing: Spott Pro is the like-for-like plan at USD 199 per user per month billed annually, or USD 249 monthly; it adds automations, multi-channel sequences, a marketing suite and enrichment to the notetaker, search and matching in Core. Core is USD 139 billed annually or USD 169 monthly and drops those four. AI token spend is included; enrichment credits cost extra. Spott runs the migration, typically four weeks, and publishes no migration fee. Read 13 Sep 2026.
Where Spott is ahead of Kepler: an opportunities pipeline with weighted value; interview scorecards; seven VoIP integrations, live call cards and SMS threads in the inbox; job multiposting through Broadbean and idibu; contact enrichment; native iOS and Android apps; company hierarchies; and ISO 27001 with EU hosting.
Side by side: Kepler vs Spott · the Spott review.
Which Invenias alternative should you choose?
A retained executive-search firm that needs the assignment workflow — off-limits with an expiry, organisation charts, a client portal carrying the search report, retainer invoicing, a certification for client security reviews — should shortlist Ezekia first. It is the nearest like-for-like substitute and browser-based where Invenias is a Windows application. Its price is a quote, as Invenias’ is.
A boutique firm whose client relationship runs through a portal — coverage reports, diversity metrics, a longlist the client votes on — should shortlist Clockwork. It publishes one price, USD 149 per user per month billed annually, holds SOC 2 Type II, and prices migration separately by volume.
A firm whose real asset is the database it cannot search — twenty years of CVs, candidate reports, email threads and call recordings that Boolean search does not reach — and whose desk is mixed rather than purely retained, should shortlist Kepler. It publishes USD 99 per user per month billed annually with the assistant, the matching and the notetaker in the price and the migration done for you. It has no off-limits object, no assignment report and no certification, so a firm that needs those should not pick it.
A desk that needs to buy reach, or runs on outbound should look at Loxo for the sourcing graph and Recruiterflow for four-channel sequences; a firm placing contractors alongside search should look at Crelate for the back office; and Spott is the choice for an EU agency that wants the broadest module list with ISO 27001.
Frequently asked questions
Is Kepler a good Invenias alternative?
For a search firm whose problem is the database underneath the process, yes: Kepler searches CVs, notes, email threads and call transcripts together in plain English, includes its assistant and matching in a USD 99 per user per month seat billed annually, and does the migration for you on every plan. For a firm buying the retained executive-search workflow itself, no: Kepler is not built for executive search, has no off-limits object, no merge-tag assignment report, no relationship mapping, no business-development pipeline, no native mobile app and no ISO 27001 or SOC 2. Ezekia and Clockwork are the better Invenias alternatives for that buyer.
How much does Invenias cost?
Bullhorn does not publish a price for any Invenias edition. The plan comparable to the tools in this post is the Executive Edition, which bundles the Invenias Client portal, Analytics, Proximity and Premium Data Privacy and is quoted through an Account Manager; the AI Assistant is a further optional feature run on your own OpenAI or Azure OpenAI credentials. The cheaper Essentials and Professional editions are also quote-only. Bullhorn’s published USD 99 and USD 165 seats belong to its small-agency staffing plans, not to Invenias. Checked 13 Sep 2026.
Which Invenias alternatives publish their pricing?
Four of the seven. Kepler publishes USD 99 per user per month billed annually for its one edition; Clockwork publishes USD 149 per user per month billed annually for its one plan; Loxo publishes USD 199 for Professional, the tier with its AI and sourcing graph; and Spott publishes USD 199 for Pro. Ezekia’s Enterprise tier, Crelate’s Business Plus and Recruiterflow’s AIRA Plan — the tiers that carry those vendors’ AI — are quote-only, though Crelate and Recruiterflow publish a price for a cheaper tier without it.
Which Invenias alternative is best for retained executive search?
Ezekia, for a firm that wants the assignment modelled end to end: off-limits flags with time limits, organisation charts, an opportunities pipeline, a white-labelled client portal carrying the search report, billing with fee splits, and ISO 27001. Clockwork, for a firm whose client experience is a collaboration portal with coverage and diversity reporting and a client mobile app, backed by SOC 2 Type II. Neither Kepler nor the other four are built for retained search specifically.
Can you migrate from Invenias to Kepler?
Yes, and Kepler runs the migration for you, free, on every plan. You send an export from Invenias plus any loose CVs, candidate reports and spreadsheets; Kepler handles extraction, mapping, de-duplication and validation, rebuilds your custom fields as real fields rather than notes, and shows you fifty of your own records fully parsed before the full load. Activity, stages and history come across. The only timing claim Kepler makes is that it happens in days. One thing will not come across as a working feature: Invenias off-limits policies would arrive as data on a record with no enforcement behind them, because Kepler has no off-limits object.
Does an Invenias alternative need to run on Windows?
No. Invenias’ full product is a Windows 11 desktop application inside Outlook, and Bullhorn’s own FAQ says the Essentials web app is not an alternative to it. All seven tools in this post are browser-based; Clockwork, Crelate and Spott also ship native mobile apps, and Ezekia states it runs on any device. Kepler is a responsive web app with no native mobile app.
Is Bullhorn itself an Invenias alternative?
Not in the sense this post means. Bullhorn acquired Invenias in July 2018 and sells it as “Invenias by Bullhorn for boutique firms” beside “Bullhorn Recruitment Cloud for enterprise firms”, so moving to Bullhorn is moving within the same vendor to a different product built for enterprise staffing rather than boutique search. Bullhorn’s wider ecosystem and back office are a genuine reason to stay with Invenias as a firm grows; they are not a reason to leave it.
Sources
Every claim about another vendor on this page comes from that vendor's own public material. Where a vendor does not publish something — pricing is the usual one — this post says so rather than estimating.
- Bullhorn — Invenias Executive Search Platform No Invenias price published; every edition routes to a demo request. Positioning as “Invenias by Bullhorn”.
- Invenias knowledge base — Executive Edition Self Service Implementation of Premium Products Executive Edition as the premium bundle of Invenias Professional with Invenias Client, Analytics, Proximity and Premium Data Privacy; no price.
- Bullhorn — Executive Search Software Solutions “Invenias by Bullhorn for boutique firms” beside “Bullhorn Recruitment Cloud for enterprise firms”.
- Bullhorn — What’s next for Invenias: AI, reporting, and the road ahead Published 16 Jun 2026; stage two (transcripts to records, conversational action execution) listed as coming next.
- Bullhorn acquires Invenias (press release) Dated 24 Jul 2018.
- Invenias knowledge base — Web Application FAQ “Essentials is not an alternative to the Professional Desktop Application.”
- Invenias knowledge base — Minimum & Recommended System Requirements Windows 11 64-bit desktop application with Office 2016/2019/2021; Mac users on the Essentials web app plus the O365 add-in.
- Invenias knowledge base — Enabling Invenias AI Assistant Optional feature requested through an Account Manager; OpenAI or Azure OpenAI credentials supplied by the firm.
- Invenias knowledge base — Invenias Frequently Asked Questions Up to five registered devices per licence; the Outlook application requires one PC at a time.
- Bullhorn — Staffing Software Pricing for Small Agencies USD 99 and USD 165 seats are staffing plans; Invenias does not appear on this page.
- Ezekia — pricing One paid tier, Enterprise, shown as CUSTOM, per user, monthly, no annual commitment; 30-day free trial; no cheaper paid tier.
- Ezekia — full functionality list Lists, Opportunities and Assignments; off-limits flags; organisation charts; billing with fee splits; GDPR data access requests; the 95k “Not Actively Looking” pool; ISO 27001:2022.
- Ezekia — client portal White-labelled portal sharing shortlists, reports, interview feedback, project updates and search activity.
- Ezekia — Microsoft 365 integration Microsoft throughout; Google Workspace not named.
- Clockwork — Platform Pricing One plan at USD 149 per user per month paying annually, USD 179 monthly; “One plan. All the features.”
- Clockwork — Onboarding and Setup Services “Data Migration - Priced By Volume”; Premium Support USD 3,500 per year; Elite USD 25,000.
- Clockwork — Features Client portal, status reports, DEI reporting, mobile app, BD CRM with deals and contracts, SSO.
- Clockwork — Security SOC 2 Type II stated as maintained since 2022; SSO through Okta and Microsoft Azure.
- Clockwork Knowledge Base — Cai: AI Rating and Notes Fifty candidates at a time; notes described as draft documentation to validate.
- Loxo — Pricing Professional from USD 199 per user per month billed annually, paid up front, with Loxo Source, agents, AI Chat and API; Core from USD 149; 2,500 credits per seat; limited-time offer labels; migration free for Core teams of 3+.
- Loxo Source The 850M+ professional graph with contact information.
- Loxo Help Center — Loxo & Job Boards Job board integrations by XML feed, integrations page or API key.
- Crelate — pricing Business Plus “Custom”, paid annually; Business USD 119 annual / USD 149 monthly; Essentials USD 85 annual, 2 users, 20,000 contacts; texting, campaigns, eSignature and enrichment extra on every tier.
- Crelate — Deliver back office Assignments, timekeeping, invoicing and payroll export inside the platform.
- Crelate — ATS data migration Standard and Advanced migration packages, scoped by sales.
- Recruiterflow — pricing AIRA Plan “Let’s chat custom pricing”; Platform Plan USD 119 annual / USD 149 monthly without AIRA agents; white-glove migration priced by data volume, 6–8 weeks.
- Recruiterflow — multichannel sequences Email, calls, SMS and LinkedIn steps with branching logic.
- Recruiterflow home page 2,100+ search firms stated; AIRA Source over 850M+ profiles.
- Spott pricing Pro USD 199 annual / USD 249 monthly; Core USD 139 annual / USD 169 monthly; token spend included, enrichment credits extra; migration by Spott, typically four weeks, no fee published.
- Spott product documentation Opportunities with weighted value, scorecards, VoIP providers, multiposting, enrichment, mobile app, company hierarchies, Ask AI scope and the MCP server.
- Kepler pricing USD 99 per user per month billed annually (USD 1,188 per seat per year), USD 129 monthly, one edition with every feature included, unlimited records and storage, free done-for-you migration on every plan, full export with no exit fee.
Kepler is a recruitment CRM and this post is published by Kepler, so read it as an interested party's account. We have tried to describe Invenias as its own team would recognise it, and every factual claim is sourced above. If something here is out of date or wrong, tell us and we will correct it.