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Top Echelon

Features
Ease of use
Ease of management
Quality of support
Affordability
Market presence
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Pricing from
$75 per user per month
Free Trial
Free version unavailable
User corporate size
Small
Medium
Large
User industry
  1. Professional services (engineering, legal, consulting, etc.)
  2. Information technology and software
  3. Energy and utilities

What is Top Echelon

Top Echelon is a staffing and recruiting platform that combines an applicant tracking system (ATS) with CRM-style candidate and client management for recruiting agencies. It supports end-to-end workflows such as requisition/job management, candidate sourcing and submissions, pipeline tracking, and placement reporting. The product is primarily used by staffing firms and independent recruiters that need a single system to manage candidates, clients, and jobs. It also offers optional access to a recruiter network for split placements, which is a differentiating capability compared with many general-purpose recruiting tools.

pros

Agency-focused ATS and CRM

Top Echelon is designed around staffing agency workflows, including managing candidates, companies/contacts, jobs, submissions, and placements in one system. It supports tracking activity and pipeline stages across both candidate and client sides of the process. This focus can reduce the need to adapt HR-centric systems that prioritize internal hiring processes.

Split placement network option

The platform includes an optional recruiter network that supports split placements between recruiting firms and independent recruiters. This can help users collaborate on searches and share candidates or job orders within the network. Many recruiting systems provide collaboration within a single organization, but fewer include a built-in external network component.

Reporting for recruiting operations

Top Echelon provides reporting oriented to staffing operations, such as tracking job and candidate pipeline activity and placement outcomes. These reports support day-to-day management of recruiter productivity and funnel performance. For small and mid-sized agencies, built-in operational reporting can reduce reliance on separate spreadsheets or BI tools.

cons

Not an HRIS or payroll suite

Top Echelon focuses on recruiting and staffing workflows rather than broader HR administration. Organizations looking for integrated payroll, benefits administration, time tracking, or core HR records typically need separate systems. This can increase integration and data synchronization requirements for firms that want an all-in-one HR platform.

Limited native candidate messaging

Compared with tools centered on outbound engagement (e.g., dedicated texting or email sequencing platforms), Top Echelon may require add-ons or integrations for advanced messaging automation. Teams that rely heavily on SMS, multi-step sequences, or conversational automation may find native capabilities insufficient. This can add cost and complexity when building a modern engagement stack.

Best fit for agency workflows

The product is primarily built for third-party recruiting and staffing agencies, not internal talent acquisition teams. Internal HR teams may find some agency-oriented concepts (e.g., client/job order structures and placement-centric reporting) less aligned with their processes. As a result, it may be less suitable as a general-purpose corporate ATS.

Plan & Pricing

TE Recruit (tiered subscription plans)

Plan Price Key features & notes
Standard (annual billing) $75 per user/month (billed annually) Resume parsing; Pipeline Management; Custom Fields; Hotlists; Advanced Search; Record Management; Merge Records; Full Text Searching; Email Integration; Calendar Integration; Careers Page; Browser Extension; Job Board Integrations; GDPR & CCPA compliance tools; Notifications; Advanced user permissions; No-cost support & training; 5K emails/month per account; 10 GB storage; One backup per month.
Professional (annual billing) $89 per user/month (billed annually) All Standard features plus Smart-TE AI; Automations; Sequences; Custom Application Forms; Custom Careers Page Domain; Organization Chart; 10K emails/month per account; 100 GB storage; One backup per week; TE Recruit API access; Email Inbox Syncing (coming soon).
Standard (monthly billing) $89 per user/month (billed monthly) Same feature set as Standard; 5K emails/month per agency; 10 GB storage.
Professional (monthly billing) $110 per user/month (billed monthly) Same feature set as Professional; 10K emails/month per agency; 100 GB storage.

TE Network (membership)

Plan Price Key features & notes
TE Network — Monthly $150 per month per agency (billed monthly) $350 one-time startup fee. Pricing is per month per agency and billed monthly.
TE Network — Yearly $135 per month per agency (billed annually) $350 one-time startup fee is waived. Pricing is per month per agency and paid upon contract signing.

Seller details

Top Echelon Software, LLC
Canton, Ohio, USA
1988
Private
https://www.topechelon.com/
https://x.com/topechelon
https://www.linkedin.com/company/top-echelon-software/

Tools by Top Echelon Software, LLC

Top Echelon

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