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JOB BOARD COMPARISON
A 2026 head-to-head: real pricing, applicant volume by role type, candidate quality, and an honest "choose Craigslist if / choose Indeed if" matrix.
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Scores are calibrated on a universal 1-5 scale across all US job boards. 5 = best-in-class. 1 = wrong tool for the job.
| Dimension | Craigslist | Indeed |
|---|---|---|
| Applicant volume — hourly | ||
| Applicant volume — salaried | ||
| Applicant volume — remote | ||
| Applicant quality — hourly | ||
| Applicant quality — salaried | ||
| Applicant quality — remote | ||
| Employer brand fit | ||
| Ease of use |
Real 2026 pricing by role type, verified on each board's current employer pricing page.
| Role type | Craigslist | Indeed |
|---|---|---|
| hourly | $10-$75 per post per metro, paid each 30-day cycle (no renewal). Mid-size metros $25-$45; NYC ~$45; LA ~$45-$75; SF Bay ~$75. Multi-city posting requires paying separately for each city. | Free organic posts capped at 3 per employer per calendar month with 30-day visibility (down from 120 days in Dec 2025). Sponsored from $5/day minimum with a $25/job-day floor; CPC commonly $0.10-$2.50 for hourly roles in rural/suburban markets. |
| salaried | $10-$75 per post per metro, same fee structure. Audience mismatch makes the spend hard to justify above ~$60K roles. | Same 3-job free cap. Sponsored CPC commonly $1.50-$5.00+ for professional roles. PPSA (Pay-Per-Started-Application) auto-applies to mid/enterprise accounts at ~$15-$50 per started app with no option to revert to PPC. |
| remote | $10-$75 per post per metro, but jobs are tied to a city subdomain - there is no true 'remote' surface, so the fee buys very little reach for distributed roles. | Same sponsored model, but effective cost rises ~30-80% because remote postings draw national bid competition. Premium Sponsored Jobs (launched Sept 2025) is priced above Standard with no published floor. |
The composite score weights applicant quality (1.5x) more than raw volume (1x) — quality matters more for the buyer.
CraigslistIndeedCraigslistIndeedCraigslistIndeedNon-obvious facts most posting guides miss. Cited where the source is public.
Craigslist charges $10-$75 per posting depending on metro: NYC ~$45, LA $45-$75, SF Bay ~$75, mid-size metros $25-$45, smallest paid markets at $10. Paid posts CANNOT be renewed - at day 30 the listing dies and you must create a new post and pay again. Posting the same role in NYC + LA + SF in a 30-day window can run $165+.
The jobs section enforces roughly one post per position per area per 30 days. Trying to repost the same role earlier - even in a different category - gets the listing ghosted or removed.
Craigslist auto-generates a randomized reply address (e.g. rcc9la26d7@reply.craigslist.org) that proxies between applicant and employer. Pros: hides employer identity, reduces scrapers. Cons: no structured app data - every applicant arrives as a raw email/attachment, so screening overhead is high.
Posting under specific categories (food/beverage/hospitality 'fbh', skilled trades 'trd', healthcare 'hea', transportation 'trp') yields meaningfully better applicants than the 'general labor' (lab) bucket, which is the lowest-trust surface and pulls the most unqualified replies and scams.
Workable and Workstream both warn employers to expect a high volume of unqualified replies, recruiter spam, fake resumes, and overseas outsourcing pitches. Plan for ~30-50% of replies needing to be discarded; an ATS or simple screener form is effectively mandatory above ~20 applicants.
Free hosted jobs are capped at 3 per employer per calendar month and visible for only 30 days, down from 120 days. Direct-feed (XML/API) jobs without an Indeed-Apply-integrated ATS lost free organic visibility entirely on March 31, 2026.
Pay-Per-Started-Application auto-opts qualifying accounts into a $15-$50-per-started-app model with no option to revert to PPC. Employers report this raises true cost-per-hire 2-4x vs CPC at the same budget.
Recruit Holdings cut 1,300 staff in July 2025 and is folding Glassdoor operations into Indeed. From Nov 18, 2025 new Glassdoor users sign in via Indeed; existing accounts must link by April 20, 2026.
Recurring complaint themes: billing after cancellation, accounts suspended without explanation after large spend, and overspend vs set daily budget. Credibility risk for buyers researching the brand before signup.
41% of employers cite candidate quality as their top hiring barrier (Indeed's own data). Indeed Apply produces 5x completed applications, but Capterra/G2 reviewers consistently flag that even with screener questions, unqualified applicants dominate.
The newest 8 things across both boards. Stale comparison pages miss most of these.
End of free organic visibility for single-source XML/API feeds without an Indeed-Apply-integrated ATS (effective March 31, 2026).
Workable and Workstream refreshed their 2026 Craigslist employer guides, both reaffirming Craigslist as 'still worth it for local hourly' but explicitly steering salaried/remote/tech hiring off the platform.
Craigslist tightened mail-flagging on the email relay, auto-suppressing more known scam/recruiter-spam patterns before they reach the employer inbox - modest reduction in junk volume reported by bulk posters.
SF Bay Area job-posting fee confirmed at the top of the range (~$75) while NYC and LA settled at $45-$75; mid-size metros consolidated at $25-$45.
Free hosted jobs capped at 3 per employer per calendar month; organic visibility cut from 120 days to 30 days (US, CA, UK, DE, NL).
Glassdoor login consolidation - new users must sign in via Indeed; existing users have until April 20, 2026 to link.
Similarweb reported continued YoY traffic decline for craigslist.com (-28% MoM in Feb 2026 snapshot) while craigslist.org held steadier, signaling consolidation onto the .org subdomain network where the jobs vertical actually lives.
Recruit Holdings announces 1,300 Indeed+Glassdoor layoffs and formal integration of Glassdoor into Indeed.
It depends on the role. For hourly roles, Indeed wins on the volume + quality composite. For salaried roles, Indeed wins. For remote roles, Indeed wins. The full role-type matchup with reasoning is in the section above.
Craigslist: $10-$75 per post per metro, same fee structure. Audience mismatch makes the spend hard to justify above ~$60K roles.. Indeed: Same 3-job free cap. Sponsored CPC commonly $1.50-$5.00+ for professional roles. PPSA (Pay-Per-Started-Application) auto-applies to mid/enterprise accounts at ~$15-$50 per started app with no option to revert to PPC.. Total cost depends on how long the role stays open and whether you sponsor / promote. The "Cost comparison" table above breaks it down by role type.
Yes - most small businesses post to multiple boards to maximize reach. ParsleyHR syndicates to Craigslist, Indeed, and 13+ other major job boards in one click, with every application landing in a single inbox so you don't manage two dashboards.
Craigslist: hours. Indeed: hours. Time-to-first-app is heavily affected by role popularity, location, and whether you sponsor; these are typical baselines for the boards' default surfaces.
No - they're separate platforms with separate posting flows. You either post on each board independently, or use a syndication tool like ParsleyHR that pushes to both from one form.
Stop choosing between boards. ParsleyHR syndicates your role to every major job site, and every application lands in a single pipeline with stages, scorecards, and reminders.
