Are Indeed's Sponsored Jobs worth the money?

It depends on the role. Sponsorship tends to perform well for high-volume, lower-skill openings and weaker for niche or professional roles. Indeed shows the price upfront before you sponsor and lets you set a daily or monthly budget, so test a small budget on one role before committing across a desk.

How does Indeed's employer pricing actually work?

You can post up to three jobs free per calendar month, each live for up to 30 days. Beyond that, Sponsored Jobs run on a daily or monthly budget you set, and Indeed shows the price before you confirm. Cost per applicant varies widely by role and competition, so treat any figure you see quoted as someone else's market rather than a rate card.

Did Indeed stop letting staffing agencies post for free?

Yes. Indeed's own guidance states that jobs posted by a staffing agency are excluded from free posting. If you run an agency, plan for Sponsored Jobs spend rather than relying on free posts.

Why do I still get unqualified candidates even with screening questions?

Knockout and screening questions help, but applicants can misanswer them, and screening is reportedly bypassed for some invited or easy-apply candidates. Expect to review and filter applicants yourself rather than trusting the questions to fully gate them.

Do I still need an XML feed, or should I post through my ATS integration?

Post through the integration. Under Indeed's Single-Source Feed Policy, if your ATS already integrates with Indeed you are required to use that integration, and jobs sent through a single-source XML feed are visible only when sponsored. Feeds from systems without an Indeed integration, such as Taleo or a homegrown ATS, are not affected. Agencies that manage feeds on behalf of employers face further restrictions under the same policy, so check your setup against Indeed's published timeline.

Job Boards

Indeed

General job board for posting roles and sourcing candidates at scale.

What is Indeed?

Indeed is a general job board with reach across most industries and roles, and one of the largest pools of active job seekers of any board. Alongside posting and applications it carries employer ratings, reviews and salary data contributed by employees, which is useful to a recruiter researching a prospective client or benchmarking a role before an offer. Two rules shape how recruiters use it: Indeed excludes staffing agencies from free posting, and under its single-source feed policy, jobs sent through a single-source XML feed are visible only when sponsored if the employer ATS already integrates with Indeed.

Features

What are Indeed's key features?

Sponsored Jobs lift a posting up search results on a daily or monthly budget you set.

Talent Scout AI agent sources candidates and tunes postings; paid Smart Sourcing add-on.

Employer ratings, reviews and salary data let you research a client before a BD call.

Official MCP server gives AI agents job search, job detail and company data. Beta.

Indeed Apply routes applications into your ATS through the integration, not by import.

Use Cases

How do recruiting teams use Indeed?

Reach the largest pool of active job seekers when you post a client role.
Track which companies are posting to see who is actively hiring.
Use that intent to find the decision-maker and open the conversation.

Fit

Who is Indeed best for?

In-house teams filling broad-appeal, operational or admin roles at volume
Agencies posting through an ATS that integrates with Indeed, not a standalone feed
Not for agencies expecting free posts: Indeed excludes staffing agencies from them

Pros & Cons

What are Indeed's pros and cons?

Pros

Broadest candidate reach of any general job board, across most roles and industries.
Three free direct posts a calendar month, each live 30 days, before any spend.
Resume search and AI matching cut the filtering load on high-volume roles.
Jobs post straight from an integrated ATS, so there is no separate posting step.
One of the few job boards with a vendor-hosted MCP, so AI tools can read it directly.

Cons

Staffing agencies are excluded from free posting, so agencies start on the paid side.
Sponsored jobs pull applicant volume that swamps screening without tight filters.
Single-source XML feeds need sponsoring if your ATS already integrates with Indeed.
Some categories are sponsored-only, so free reach is limited in practice.

Reviews

What are people saying about Indeed?

Reviewers on the hiring side describe posting a role and getting more applicants than they can work through. Several found candidates other boards never surfaced, and the reporting shows which activity is paying off. The frustration comes next: filters are not strong enough to cut the volume down, so shortlisting stays manual. Others got caught out by spend, unclear whether a campaign, a direct advert or the account manager controls the budget, and overran it.

Consolidated from 692 reviews across G2 · Updated July 30, 2026

Alternatives

How does Indeed compare to alternatives?

Feature	Indeed	Dice	LinkedIn Jobs	Simply Hired
Category	Job Boards	Job Boards	Job Boards	Job Boards
AI-first
API
MCP
GDPR
Best for	Agency, In-House	Agency, In-House	Agency, In-House	Agency, In-House

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FAQ

Frequently asked questions about Indeed

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