Key Takeaways
- Overview: Money named Indeed as the best overall job posting site because its high web traffic will help employers get in front of a large pool of applicants and it has budget-based pricing for paid posts, as well as relatively generous free job listing rules.
- Editor’s take: Online job posting sites are the fastest way to find applicants and onboard qualified hires. While there are dozens of job posting sites to choose from, only a few are worth your time and money — particularly in today’s challenging hiring market.
- Methodology: Our research included a review of job sites’ features, pricing, responses to a brief questionnaire and web traffic data. Read our full process here.
Hiring is consistently challenging for employers big and small. With unemployment rates still under 5% and a flood of AI-generated resumes hitting job boards, hiring managers are having difficulties finding and vetting skilled talent — and some even admit to making the wrong hires, according to research from Robert Half.
Nailing job ads and making use of the best job posting sites is critical to attracting top talent to your job openings.
Are you an employee looking for the best job search sites? We have that covered in this guide.
Our Top Picks for the Best Job Posting Sites
- Indeed: Best Overall
- LinkedIn: Best for Professional Hiring
- Craigslist: Best for Local Hiring
- ZipRecruiter: Best for Small Businesses
- Handshake: Best for College Recruiting
- Levels.fyi: Best for Tech Jobs
- Upwork: Best Freelance Marketplace
Pros
- Free job posts
- Large reach
Cons
- Free job posts have reduced visibility
HIGHLIGHTS
- Cost
- The minimum price for sponsored job posts varies.
- Monthly visits
- 177.2 million
Aside from LinkedIn (which doubles as a social media site), Indeed gets more web traffic than any other job posting site in the U.S. To put it simply, Indeed is the best way to get a job listing in front of the maximum number of job seekers, and it’s almost guaranteed to expand the pool of applications for your company to review. Tons of job seekers rely on Indeed to find work and the site’s users are highly engaged compared with other job sites. Indeed had over 170 million monthly U.S. visits in January, according to Similarweb, a digital intelligence platform.
Employers can post up to three jobs for free in a month with a 30-day limit for each post. The site tightened its limits around free job posts in December, and yet Indeed’s free services still compare favorably against those of its competitors. “Standard” and “Premium” job posts, which draw more reach than free listings, both require payment.
Pros
- Recruit top candidates
- One free job post
- Professional networking
Cons
- Free job posts are only active for 14 days
- Expensive paid versions
HIGHLIGHTS
- Cost
- Employers get one free job post at a time. LinkedIn has “promoted” and “contract” tiers for employers. Exact prices are not available online.
- Monthly visits
- 565.3 million
More than a million companies use LinkedIn Talent Solutions for hiring. LinkedIn is the largest job posting site in the U.S. and an essential platform for employers of all sizes. You can only post one free job at a time on LinkedIn, but for small businesses, that may be all you need to hire your workforce. LinkedIn also has a free trial for promoting a job, which typically triples the amount of applications.
LinkedIn is a social media and networking platform in addition to a job board, and with paid versions, employers can search profiles and message users to invite them to apply to open positions. LinkedIn’s more interactive style allows for quicker and easier connections with potential employees, as well as providing a broader look at who each candidate is.
Pros
- Cheap job posts
- Simple interface
- Local reach
Cons
- Declining users
HIGHLIGHTS
- Cost
- Fees from from $10 to $75
- Monthly visits
- 107.8 million
Craigslist is the original online classifieds page of the web, and to this day it plays a major role in local hiring in cities across the U.S. Of all the sites Money analyzed, Craigslist had the third most monthly visitors, according to Similarweb.
While most of Craigslist is free, there actually is a fee to post jobs. The good news: At $10 to $75 (depending on the market), posting in the jobs section isn’t too expensive — at least compared to other sites that charge hundreds of dollars for job posts.
Craigslist sometimes gets a bad reputation for containing spam, but no matter what site you use, receiving some low quality applications is inevitable when posting jobs online. With Craigslist, you’ll have to learn how to filter through responses (just like any other platform), but it can be worth it to find local talent in industries like hospitality and construction.
Pros
- Post to multiple job boards
- 24/7 customer service
Cons
- Free trial only lasts two days
- Less control over how jobs posts appear
HIGHLIGHTS
- Cost
- Pricing starts at $24 per day or $299 per month. A brief free trial is available.
- Monthly visits
- 30.3 million
If free job posting services are not meeting your small business’s needs, ZipRecruiter’s hiring solutions can help put your listings in front of the right candidates.
The job site has broad reach with over 30 million monthly visits, and jobs posted to the platform can be distributed to over 100 other job boards.
A two-day free trial offers employers a feel for the platform. With paid plans starting at $299 per month, ZipRecruiter’s pricing compares competitively with premium options from competitors. One way the plan stands out: Once you’ve paid, posts can attract an unlimited number of clicks and applications.
Read Money’s full ZipRecruiter review.
Pros
- Recruit college students and alumni
Cons
- Premium tiers are more expensive
HIGHLIGHTS
- Cost
- Basic tier (up to two roles) is free. Pricing for the Plus tier (up to 10 roles) is based on “flexible payment plans per job.” The Talent Engagement Suite, a program for large companies, has annual billing based on program size.
- Monthly visits
- 14.9 million
Do you want to hire college students and alumni with .edu email addresses? Handshake is the most robust job posting site for college hiring and it allows recruiters to take advantage of the company’s direct relationships with U.S. universities — Handshake has more than 1,500 “educational partners.”
Posting a job or an internship opportunity on Handshake is free, and this option is suitable for hiring one or two roles, the company said. Companies with more hiring needs will likely need to use a premium version, either Handshake’s “Plus” option for small and medium-sized businesses or the job site’s enterprise tier.
Pros
- Popular among tech professionals
- Salary benchmarking
Cons
- Fewer users than general job boards
HIGHLIGHTS
- Cost
- Free to post jobs. Premium options start at $800.
- Monthly visits
- 1.7 million
Companies hiring tech professionals like software engineers may want to use industry-specific sites to reach job seekers with the specialized skills and qualifications they need.
Levels.fyi, a tech-specific job board and compensation “benchmarking” site founded in 2017, has grown to become the most visited career site for the industry. Compensation benchmarking is a tool that provides data about pay bands that are typical for a role and level at a given company, and it can help employers determine pay and retain employees.
The company says that posting a job is free with a basic account. When you post a job, the listing will also be indexed by Google. The job site offers premium accounts that grant access to the site’s compensation data. The lowest-priced option is $1,000 per month (or $800 a month if you subscribe for a full year).
Pros
- Quickly hire freelancers
- Post jobs for free
Cons
- Fees to hire freelancers
HIGHLIGHTS
- Cost
- Basic plan has a 5% service fee for employers, and there’s also a contract initiation fee, which ranges from $0.99 to $14.99. The Business Plus version comes with a higher fee (10%), but it includes premium features like talent vetting and there is no initiation fee for contracts over $100. Custom pricing is available for large businesses.
- Monthly visits
- 8.5 million
There are two main online sites for freelance work: Upwork and Fiverr. These sites serve slightly different types of freelance work, but between the two, we gave the nod to Upwork based on its lower fees and more engaged network of skilled freelancers.
Upwork makes it easy to get tasks done. It’s simple to make an account with the site. From there, you can either post a job or search the profiles of freelancers who are advertising the type of work you need done. Upwork can be used for hiring contract workers for quick short-term jobs all the way up to year-long projects.
According to a spokesperson for Upwork, the company does not report how many freelancers are on the platform, but the company says its freelancer network has skills in over 10,000 categories ranging from website and app development to creative and design niches.
Other job posting sites we considered
Employers may want to use multiple job posting sites for their hiring. Here are some others to consider:
Monster
Pros
- Competitive pricing
- Legacy brand
Cons
- Declining users
HIGHLIGHTS
- Cost
- Monster+ job posting starts at $18 per day. The Monster+ Pro plan is $299 per month.
- Monthly visits
- 3.8 million
Monster is one of the longest standing job sites, recently celebrating 30 years since its launch. The job board remains active, but has lost monthly visits since its peak. Last year, the company was acquired by BOLD, which also owns CareerBuilder. Its $299 per monthly subscription for Monster+ Pro is designed for small businesses to post jobs to Monster, CareerBuilder and partners sites.
Red Money’s full Monster.com review.
Fiverr
Pros
- Good for individual projects
Cons
- High fees for sellers
HIGHLIGHTS
- Cost
- The basic version is free. “Essential” has no subscription fee but requires $1,000 of services ordered per year. “Advanced” is $129 per month.
- Monthly visits
- 10.4 million
Fiverr isn’t exactly a job board. It’s a freelance marketplace best-known for gig projects. For example, you could hire an artist to design your company’s logo.
You can either search the marketplace of freelancers or post a “project brief” with the option of using Fiverr’s AI assistant. When you’re posting a job, you can set a budget between $25 and $50,000. Keep in mind that sellers (aka the talent you’re hiring) on Fiverr pay a 20% fee, which may force freelancers to ask for higher prices than they would on other platforms.
Built In
Pros
- Reach tech job seekers
Cons
- No price transparency
HIGHLIGHTS
- Cost
- Pricing isn’t available online
- Monthly visits
- 1.5 million
Built In is another industry-specific site that you can use if you need to hire for a tech role. It’s a well-designed online job board used by programmers and coders in Silicon Valley and beyond. Built In claims that its job seekers are typically more qualified and experienced than applicants on general platforms. To post a job on Built In, you will need to contact the company for a quote.
What you need to know about posting jobs online
Online job boards are immensely popular among job seekers, and the most time-efficient way for recruiters to reach a vast pool of them. Here’s what you need to know to use them to your advantage:
Choose the right job posting site
Our guide is designed to help you choose the best job posting sites for your business. Indeed is great for general hiring and free job posts. LinkedIn is best for professional hiring, while Craigslist excels as a local classifieds option. Other job posting sites serve specific needs: Handshake is optimized for college recruiting and Levels.fyi is our top pick for tech hiring, and depending on your industry, there are likely other niche platforms worth looking into.
Optimize the job description
Once you’ve chosen a recruitment platform, the next step is to craft a compelling job post. Keep the ideal candidate in the back of your mind as you write, and be sure to clearly — and truthfully — outline the following details:
- An overview of the position and its responsibilities
- Qualifications and requirements
- The company’s mission, culture and values
- Salary information
A well-written job post can make all the difference in the success of the hiring process. Write in simple language, and avoid using jargon. Proofread it for spelling and grammar errors, too. If a post seems thoughtless and done without care, people will perceive your company as unprofessional, or even fraudulent.
More states are passing pay transparency laws, but the practice of posting a job listing with clear salary information still isn’t universal. If you want the best applicants to apply, your job post should include the expected salary or salary range for every position you list.
Use multiple job posting sites
Most companies should use more than one job posting site, says Kyle Patrick Smith, a talent acquisition expert. While you could use a paid applicant tracking system or a service like ZipRecruiter to target multiple job boards, it’s not always necessary. Even if you have a limited budget, you can still reach potential candidates on individual job boards. “Some opportunities will play very well on some of the low cost or no cost options,” Smith says, mentioning Indeed as his top choice for non-managerial roles.
While there are many different companies that can blast your job post to dozens of job boards, Smith says he prefers posting directly. “You begin to lose control over your employment message,” he says. “When you aggregate it out to those sites, you have no idea how that job posting is going to appear.” Also, many of the job posting sites that these listings get cross-posted to are lower quality and lack the web traffic of the major companies featured in this guide.
Message candidates you want to apply
Some job posts will quickly attract dozens (or even hundreds) of qualified applicants, but other roles are harder to fill, potentially because of the skills required, the location or other factors. When hiring for key roles or harder-to-fill roles, employers often build their applicant pool by reaching out to employees at other companies or job seekers who’ve indicated they are on the market.
The paid tool LinkedIn Recruiter is one of the main ways for employers to message job seekers. LinkedIn Recruiter matches employers to possible candidates based on filters and enables access to AI messaging features. Indeed and ZipRecruiter also offer employers similar tools for browsing resume databases and engaging candidates.
Best Job Posting Sites FAQs
What is the best job posting site?
There is no one-size-fits-all job posting site. The best site for your business is the one that best fits your hiring needs. This will depend on the level of the position you’re hiring for, the size of your company, and your budget.
How much does it cost to post a job online?
Some job posts sites have free basic versions, which can meet the needs of small businesses. Sites like Craigslist and others have fees under $100 per month for a job post. Companies hiring larger staffs will likely need to use paid job posting services that range in price. Premium tiers and sponsored job packages can cost thousands of dollars or more.
What are the best free job posting sites?
In our analysis, Indeed stood out as the best free job posting site. LinkedIn and Handshake are other good options for free job posts. Any free service will have limitations, but many employers are able to do all their hiring without paying a dime, so don’t underestimate the power of free job posts.
Latest news
- Major job posting sites have launched AI tools that are helping employers post jobs and identify candidates. Indeed Talent Scout, a new AI-powered tool for premium clients, helps employers find top candidates through a chat experience, and a new Indeed app in ChatGPT aims to connect more job seekers to employers’ listings. In September, LinkedIn launched an AI-powered agent for recruiters, Hiring Assistant. The tool is designed to help recruiters across the world speed up talent sourcing.
- Traffic changes: As job seekers look for networking opportunities, LinkedIn traffic is climbing. In the past three years, LinkedIn’s visits increased 14%, according to Similarweb data. In that same time, Indeed’s visits declined 9.9%.
- The unemployment rate is 4.4%, slightly above the 4% level that typically indicates “full employment.” However, officials say it’s a time of low job creation. The hiring market is relatively slow, in part because employees aren’t changing jobs at a fast pace. Employers are also still processing how the evolution of AI may affect labor needs.
How we chose the best job posting sites
Money assessed the best job posting sites for employers by comparing companies’ pricing, candidate pools, job board design and special features.
We compiled an initial list of over three dozen job sites. Using web analytics data provided by Similarweb to identify the most active job boards, we narrowed this down to a shortlist of 12 sites. Two industry-specific job boards for tech recruiting were also considered. We conducted additional research on the pricing and features of these companies, reaching out to each one with the opportunity to respond to a brief questionnaire that included questions about pricing tiers and free trials/demos. Finally, seven companies were selected based on their excellence in individual categories.
To be considered for this article, a job posting service must have its own online job board, even if submitted job posts are also distributed to other platforms. This requirement excluded many popular applicant tracking systems. If you’re interested in that kind of service, we’ve covered them in a separate report on the best recruiting software.
In March 2026, Money reviewed and updated our picks of the best job posting sites for features and pricing. We will continue to monitor this industry and update our selections when appropriate.
Summary of our top picks for job search sites
- Indeed — Best Overall
- LinkedIn — Best for Professional Hiring
- Craigslist — Best for Local Hiring
- ZipRecruiter — Best for Small Businesses
- Handshake — Best for College Recruiting
- Levels.fyi — Best for Tech Jobs
- Upwork — Best Freelance Marketplace
Key Takeaways
Overview: Money named Indeed as the best overall job posting site because its high web traffic will help employers get in front of a large pool of applicants and it has budget-based pricing for paid posts, as well as relatively generous free job listing rules.
Editor’s take: Online job posting sites are the fastest way to find applicants and onboard qualified hires. While there are dozens of job posting sites to choose from, only a few are worth your time and money — particularly in today’s challenging hiring market.
Methodology: Our research included a review of job sites’ features, pricing, responses to a brief questionnaire and web traffic data. Read our full process here.
Hiring is consistently challenging for employers big and small. With unemployment rates still under 5% and a flood of AI-generated resumes hitting job boards, hiring managers are having difficulties finding and vetting skilled talent — and some even admit to making the wrong hires, according to research from Robert Half.
Nailing job ads and making use of the best job posting sites is critical to attracting top talent to your job openings.
Are you an employee looking for the best job search sites? We have that covered in this guide.
Our Top Picks for the Best Job Posting Sites
Indeed: Best Overall
LinkedIn: Best for Professional Hiring
Craigslist: Best for Local Hiring
ZipRecruiter: Best for Small Businesses
Handshake: Best for College Recruiting
Levels.fyi: Best for Tech Jobs
Upwork: Best Freelance Marketplace
Pros
Free job posts
Large reach
Cons
Free job posts have reduced visibility
HIGHLIGHTS
Cost
The minimum price for sponsored job posts varies.
Monthly visits
177.2 million
Aside from LinkedIn (which doubles as a social media site), Indeed gets more web traffic than any other job posting site in the U.S. To put it simply, Indeed is the best way to get a job listing in front of the maximum number of job seekers, and it’s almost guaranteed to expand the pool of applications for your company to review. Tons of job seekers rely on Indeed to find work and the site’s users are highly engaged compared with other job sites. Indeed had over 170 million monthly U.S. visits in January, according to Similarweb, a digital intelligence platform.
Employers can post up to three jobs for free in a month with a 30-day limit for each post. The site tightened its limits around free job posts in December, and yet Indeed’s free services still compare favorably against those of its competitors. “Standard” and “Premium” job posts, which draw more reach than free listings, both require payment.
Pros
Recruit top candidates
One free job post
Professional networking
Cons
Free job posts are only active for 14 days
Expensive paid versions
HIGHLIGHTS
Cost
Employers get one free job post at a time. LinkedIn has “promoted” and “contract” tiers for employers. Exact prices are not available online.
Monthly visits
565.3 million
More than a mil
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