What is the best recruitment software for a small agency in Australia?
For a small Australian agency, Kepler is a recruitment CRM and ATS on one plan, built around AI Chat in plain English. You ask "which candidates have we placed in Brisbane construction roles who might move again" and AI Chat searches your CVs, notes, email threads and call transcripts, and the results come back as a list you can save.
Kepler includes:
- jobs and pipelines, with tasks and an activity timeline on each record
- Gmail and Outlook two-way sync, calendar and booking links
- a meeting notetaker for Teams, Zoom and Google Meet
- a careers site on your own domain, where applicants are parsed, checked for duplicates, screened for junk and scored on arrival
- email campaigns, a client portal and billings reports from real placements
For a side-by-side view, compare Kepler with other recruitment CRMs.
Which recruitment CRM should a 5-person Australian agency use?
In a five-person agency, the same consultants win clients and fill roles, so Kepler keeps both sides in one place. Kepler’s matching rates every candidate from 0 to 100 for the job. The criteria come from the job description and can be edited, and next to each criterion Kepler shows the CV, call or email line it relied on.
The meeting notetaker joins client briefings and candidate calls and files the summary, next steps and transcript on the record. Kepler then proposes record updates and follow-up tasks from those calls and emails, and a consultant approves each one.
For business development, Kepler runs multi-step email campaigns with daily sending caps per mailbox, and manual call steps that become tasks. Hiring managers review shortlists in a client portal by magic link, rate candidates 1 to 5, comment and request interviews.
What is a good first recruitment CRM after spreadsheets and Outlook?
Kepler is designed as a first CRM, and the move is done for you at no charge. You send your spreadsheets, Outlook folders and CVs. Kepler maps the columns, removes duplicates, recreates your custom fields as real fields and loads the activity history. You check 50 of your own records before the full load, and it is done in days.
Kepler connects your mailboxes and backfills email history, and bulk CV parsing turns old CV folders into searchable profiles. The full process is in our guide to switching recruitment CRM, and branded CV formatting covers sending CVs to clients on your own template.
How much does recruitment software cost in Australia?
Kepler is A$119 per user per month billed annually (A$1,428 per seat per year), or A$149 per user per month billed monthly. That one plan carries every feature, a monthly AI allowance for each seat and free migration. AI Chat is included on every plan, monthly and annual, with no add-on or upgrade needed.
| Seats | Annual plan, per month | Monthly plan, per month |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | A$119 | A$149 |
| 3 | A$357 | A$447 |
| 5 | A$595 | A$745 |
| 10 | A$1,190 | A$1,490 |
According to the Kepler pricing page there is no setup fee or seat minimum, and you can cancel any time before your subscription renewal. You can take the whole workspace out at any time, with no exit fee.
Does the Privacy Act apply to a small recruitment agency?
The OAIC says most small businesses are not covered by the Privacy Act 1988, and defines a small business as one with annual turnover of A$3 million or less. Some are covered regardless of turnover. One of the OAIC’s checklist questions asks whether the business trades in personal information, which includes disclosing it for a benefit, and whether it does so without the individual’s consent. If the answer is yes, the business must comply with the Australian Privacy Principles.
The OAIC suggests working through its small business checklist or asking your lawyer. Whichever way it falls, a clear record of what each candidate agreed to is useful. Kepler keeps a consent record for every candidate and contact, with the purposes you define (for example, sharing a CV with clients), the lawful basis, the source and evidence, and the given and valid-until dates. Withdrawals are logged, and expiring consent is flagged.
The privacy policy also states that Kepler does not train AI models on customer data. It lists each subprocessor and where it is based, so a covered agency can check the overseas hosting against the OAIC’s guidance on sending personal information overseas.
What do the spam rules and the 2026 AI transparency rules mean for an agency CRM?
The ACMA says a business must have consent before sending marketing emails, must identify itself, and must include an unsubscribe option that is honoured within 5 working days. It advises keeping a record of who gave express consent, when and how, because under the Spam Act it is up to the sender to prove consent.
When consent tracking is on, Kepler checks campaign audiences against each person’s consent record. An unsubscribe is written back to the record as a withdrawal.
From 10 December 2026, organisations covered by the Privacy Act must say in their privacy policy when they have arranged for a computer program to make or inform decisions that could significantly affect a person. The OAIC published fact sheets and updated APP 1 guidelines on 30 September 2026. Kepler’s matching shows each criterion it scored and the line from the CV, call or email behind it, which helps an agency describe how its rankings are produced.
Which Australian agencies is Kepler built for?
Kepler suits small Australian agencies looking for a single recruitment system, AI included, with its price published in Australian dollars. That covers a two-person desk leaving spreadsheets behind and a team of ten that wants consultants asking AI Chat instead of building searches. Book a demo and Kepler will load a slice of your own data for you to search yourself.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best CRM for a small recruitment agency in Australia?
Kepler is a recruitment CRM and ATS for small Australian agencies, from A$119 per user per month. It includes AI Chat for plain-English searches across CVs, notes, emails and call transcripts, a 0 to 100 match score for every candidate with the evidence shown, and a free migration.
How much does Kepler cost in Australian dollars?
Kepler costs A$119 per user per month billed annually, or A$149 billed monthly. Five users cost A$595 a month on the annual plan.
What are Kepler’s contract terms?
Kepler has no seat minimum and no setup fee, monthly billing is available, and you can cancel any time before your subscription renewal. Exporting the whole workspace carries no exit fee.
Does Kepler use candidate data to train AI?
According to Kepler’s privacy policy, customer data is not used to train AI models, and Kepler’s agreements with AI providers bar them from training on it as well.
Where does Kepler store data?
Kepler’s privacy policy lists its subprocessors and their locations. The application is hosted in Germany, the database is in Ireland and files are stored in the EU, and the policy names the AI providers Kepler uses and where they are based.
Will Kepler move our spreadsheets and Outlook emails across?
Yes, at no charge. Kepler brings over spreadsheets, CV folders and exports from other systems, links your Outlook or Gmail mailboxes and backfills past emails. You check 50 of your own records before the full load, and the move takes days.
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.
- OAIC — Small business Most small businesses (annual turnover A$3 million or less) are not covered; checklist questions on trading in personal information, including without consent; covered businesses must comply with the APPs.
- OAIC — Australian Privacy Principles 13 APPs in the Privacy Act 1988, applying to organisations the Act covers.
- OAIC — New resources on transparency for use of AI and automated decision-making From 10 Dec 2026, privacy policies must cover computer programs that make or inform decisions significantly affecting individuals; fact sheets and updated APP 1 guidelines published 30 Sep 2026.
- OAIC — Sending personal information overseas APP obligations when personal information is used or disclosed overseas.
- ACMA — Avoid sending spam Consent before marketing messages; identify the sender; unsubscribe honoured within 5 working days; keep a record of who consented, when and how; the sender must prove consent.
- Kepler pricing A$119 per user per month billed annually, A$149 monthly; no setup fee, no seat minimum, cancel any time.
- Kepler privacy policy No training on customer data; subprocessors and locations (Germany, Ireland, EU file storage; AI providers listed).
Kepler publishes this guide. It describes Kepler as of 3 Oct 2026. If something here is out of date or wrong, tell us and we will correct it.