Sprad vs. Manatal: which one fits your agency?

Manatal and Sprad solve different halves of the same problem. Manatal is a low-cost ATS/CRM that manages candidates once they're in your pipeline, with AI-assisted enrichment and a LinkedIn sourcing extension; Sprad adds a requirement search across the agency's own pool plus more than a billion external profiles, and a talent pool designed to stay with the agency after cancellation. For an agency that mostly manages inbound applicants, Manatal's price is hard to beat.

For one that needs to actively find candidates who aren't already applying, the comparison looks different.

Manatal vs. Sprad, side by side

Where Manatal is the better choice

manatal.com

Manatal: homepage, September 2026.

Manatal wins clearly on raw seat price: at $15/user/month, it's less than a fifth of Sprad's Recruiter Lite seat price, which matters for a very small agency running one or two roles at a time with no active sourcing need. It also ships a genuinely self-serve 14-day trial with no demo call required, and its interface covers Spanish and French in addition to German and English — useful for an agency with a broader multilingual footprint than just DACH. Reviewers consistently call the interface fast to learn, and its client-relationship features are a complete, mature module rather than the leaner context layer Sprad currently offers for managing client accounts.

Where Sprad is the better choice

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Sprad People Search, September 2026.

Sprad's core difference is sourcing: instead of a Chrome extension for LinkedIn, it reads full candidate profiles — inside your own pool and across more than a billion external ones, including your own LinkedIn network and employees' networks if you upload them — against a requirement you describe in plain language. Sprad's sourcing engine, Atlas, checks every profile against the requirement with AI rather than matching keywords. In the recruiting area of the open PeopleSearchBench, four systems have published scores (Lessie 68.2, Juicebox 65.7, Exa 64.7, Claude Code 50.5); our own re-measurement of Atlas, converted to that scale, comes to about 73.5 and is not an entry in the benchmark's table (published by Lessie, October 2026). In our own measurement (Sprad, as of 15 August 2026, method), Atlas found 38 % of the candidates that four other systems found; the best of those came to 9 %. Outreach runs over LinkedIn (including InMail) and email in one inbox per talent, and the talent network and all data stay after a cancellation, with a full raw-data export. It also screens candidates with voice and video interviews in 12 languages, something Manatal doesn't offer at all, and its credit-based pricing means an agency only pays for searches, outreach and interviews that actually happen — a real advantage for teams with uneven workload across recruiters, where Manatal's flat per-seat price keeps charging the same amount whether a recruiter runs one search a month or fifty.

What it costs in practice

A 5-recruiter team on Manatal's Professional plan pays $75/month ($900/year, about €828) as long as it stays under 15 open jobs and 10,000 candidates — genuinely the cheapest option here; our Manatal pricing breakdown covers all tiers. The same team on Sprad's Recruiter Lite pays €395/month (€4,740/year) for five seats, which include Quick and Normal searches; credits are only needed for deep search, company search and contact data, and you can start free with 100 credits a month.

At 15 recruiters, Manatal's Professional cost is $225/month ($2,700/year, about €2,484) if the job ceiling still fits, or jumps to Enterprise at $525/month ($6,300/year) if it doesn't; Sprad's Recruiter Lite cost at that size is €1,185/month (€14,220/year). The gap is real, and it's the price of adding external sourcing, voice/video screening and pool ownership that Manatal doesn't offer at any tier — whether that trade is worth it depends entirely on how much of your pipeline today comes from active sourcing versus inbound applications.

What neither tool does today

Being fair in both directions: Sprad's own client-facing CRM — deal tracking, contract value, renewal dates — is explicitly a beta feature, not the finished module Manatal already ships. Neither tool includes payroll, contractor billing or call recording, so staffing agencies with those needs will look past both.

Decision help by agency type

• Very small agency (1-3 recruiters), inbound-heavy, tight budget: Manatal — the seat price and simplicity outweigh sourcing depth you may not need yet.
• Agency actively headhunting passive candidates or running executive search: Sprad — Manatal has no answer beyond a LinkedIn extension.
• Agency with uneven workload across recruiters: Sprad's credit model avoids paying full seat price for idle capacity.
• Agency that wants a mature client-CRM today, not in beta: Manatal.
• Agency worried about depending on LinkedIn's rising prices long-term: Sprad — the talent pool is built to survive a cancelled subscription.
• Running both: some agencies keep Manatal for day-to-day pipeline and client management while using Sprad specifically for roles that need active sourcing — not the cheapest setup, but a workable bridge while a full switch is evaluated.

How we compared. Prices and features come from the vendors' public pricing and product pages, as of September 2026. This is a comparison of published information, not a paid test of every product. Sprad is itself a vendor and appears in this comparison.

FAQ

Is Sprad more expensive than Manatal?

Per seat, yes: Recruiter Lite is €79 per seat/month (Atlas Recruiter €299), with a free start of 100 credits a month, versus Manatal's $15-55 range. Manatal doesn't offer external sourcing across 1B+ profiles at any tier.

Does Manatal have AI sourcing like Sprad?

No. Manatal's AI works on candidates already in your database — enrichment and recommendations — plus a LinkedIn Chrome extension for manual sourcing. It has no requirement-based search across an external profile pool.

Which tool is easier to start with?

Both offer a fast, low-commitment start: Manatal with a 14-day self-serve trial, Sprad with a free start of 100 credits a month.

Does Sprad replace a client CRM?

Not fully yet — Sprad's client-context layer feeds AI search and messaging but isn't a deal-stage sales CRM. Manatal's client relationship management is the more complete option today.

Can I use both tools together?

Some agencies do, running Manatal for pipeline and client management while sending specific hard-to-fill roles through Sprad's sourcing. It works, but means paying for two subscriptions rather than consolidating into one; the broader choices are listed in Manatal alternatives.

Does Manatal or Sprad have better reviews?

Manatal scores 4.8/5 on G2 and 4.6/5 on Capterra as of September 2026, with users praising price and ease of use but flagging reporting depth and AI nuance as weak points. Both platforms are worth reading directly for the specific complaints closest to your own use case before deciding.

The bigger picture

Manatal is one of the most affordable ways to run a clean ATS. Sprad is built around a different bet: that your agency's real asset is the network you build, not the software you rent, and that network should still be searchable and yours after any subscription ends.

Sprad combines a requirement search over 1B+ profiles, an owned talent pool, and voice/video screening in one workspace. You can start free with 100 credits a month; Recruiter Lite costs €79 per seat/month. See what that looks like for your team: software for recruitment agencies.