Best free AI tools for recruiters.

Updated 16 October 2026

You don’t need a budget to start using AI on a desk. Every tool below has a free plan listed on its own pricing page, checked on 16 October 2026. It isn’t a ranking, and we haven’t tested them hands-on yet. Free plans come with limits, so we’ve said what to watch for.

AI assistants

ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini

Free plan: all three list one (ChatGPT ↗, Claude ↗, Gemini ↗). Good for: first drafts of job ads, Boolean strings and outreach rewrites. Watch: keep candidate details out of personal accounts. See the assistants compared.

Interview and client-call notes

Fireflies.ai

Free plan: “Free forever”, with transcription and limited AI summaries (pricing ↗). Watch: the summary and storage limits if you record every day. Is Fireflies free?

Otter.ai

Free plan: Basic, “Free forever” (pricing ↗). Watch: tell people they’re being recorded. Fireflies vs Otter.

Finding contact details

Hunter

Free plan: 50 credits a month for finding and verifying emails (pricing ↗). Good for: the odd hiring manager email for business development.

Lusha

Free plan: up to 40 credits a month (pricing ↗).

Apollo.io

Free plan: listed, plus a free trial of paid plans (pricing ↗). Watch: it’s built for sales teams, so it’s more than most recruiters need.

Contact details are personal information, even work emails. Read our Australian law guide before you start emailing candidates.

Our own free tools

When it’s worth paying

Once you’re using a tool every day, or it touches candidate data, a paid business plan is usually worth it for the data protections alone. Until then, free plans are a good way to work out what you actually need.

Questions

Are free AI plans safe for candidate data?

Usually not the right place for it. The OAIC recommends, as best practice, not entering personal information into publicly available AI chatbots. Use free plans with de-identified or non-personal information, and a business plan for anything else.

Do free plans stay free?

Vendors can change plans at any time. Everything here was listed as free on the vendor’s pricing page when we checked on 16 October 2026.