Factorial is a solid HR platform, but its ATS module falls short for companies that hire actively. Treegarden gives you a purpose-built ATS plus a complete HR module - at flat-rate pricing that never scales with headcount.
Factorial entered the market as an HR management platform and later added recruitment features to compete with dedicated ATS tools. For companies whose primary challenge is managing HR workflows - leave requests, payroll integration, employee documents - Factorial delivers solid value. However, for HR and talent acquisition teams that hire at any meaningful volume, the gaps in Factorial's ATS capabilities quickly become a daily friction point.
The most common complaints from teams evaluating Factorial alternatives center on the candidate pipeline. Factorial's recruitment module lacks the depth that modern recruiters expect: the Kanban board is limited, AI-powered candidate scoring is absent or superficial, job board integrations are restricted to the most popular platforms, and the interview coordination workflow requires significant manual effort. When a recruiter is managing 20 open roles simultaneously, these limitations compound into real productivity losses.
Pricing is the second trigger. Factorial charges per employee per month, which means every new hire increases your software cost. For a company scaling from 80 to 200 employees over 18 months, that pricing model translates into a substantially higher bill at the exact moment operational budgets are already stretched by growth. Many HR teams find that they are subsidising Factorial's HR features through their recruiting budget, even though Factorial's ATS is what they use the most.
Treegarden was designed as an ATS first, with HR management built as an equally deep second layer - not an afterthought. The result is a platform where both recruiting and HR operations are genuinely first-class, rather than one being strong and the other adequate.
On the recruiting side, Treegarden provides a full Kanban candidate pipeline with drag-and-drop stage management, AI-powered match scoring that ranks candidates against job requirements automatically, multi-board job posting to 20+ platforms including LinkedIn, Indeed, Glassdoor, eJobs, and BestJobs, bulk CV upload with automated parsing, reference check management, and structured interview scorecards. The AI recruiter module can perform initial candidate screening, generate interview questions tailored to the role, and draft offer letters - all within the platform. Every AI decision is audited and explainable in compliance with GDPR and the EU AI Act.
On the HR side, Treegarden covers the full employee lifecycle: onboarding checklists and workflows, absence and leave management with policy enforcement, 360-degree performance reviews, performance improvement plan (PIP) tracking, compensation planning with salary analytics, an employee self-service portal, org chart management, offboarding workflows, and HR analytics dashboards. When a candidate accepts an offer in the ATS, they convert to an employee record automatically - no data re-entry, no integration, no second system.
Factorial's per-employee pricing model means that as your team grows, your HR software cost grows with it. A company with 100 employees on a mid-tier Factorial plan might be paying $800-$1,200 per month. At 250 employees that same plan could cost $2,000-$3,000 per month. The cost scales whether you are actively recruiting or not.
Treegarden charges a flat monthly rate regardless of how many employees your company has. The Startup plan at $299 per month, the Growth plan at $499 per month, and the Scale plan at $899 per month each include unlimited users and unlimited active job postings. A company that doubles its headcount from 100 to 200 employees sees zero increase in their Treegarden subscription. Over a three-year period, the cumulative savings for a fast-growing team frequently exceed $20,000 compared to per-employee tools.
The migration process from Factorial to Treegarden is handled by our onboarding team end to end. We extract employee records, organizational structure, HR policy configurations, and any active candidate pipelines from Factorial. Data is mapped to Treegarden's schema, reviewed for accuracy, and imported in a staging environment before going live. Your team can continue using Factorial during the migration window with no disruption to daily operations. Most organizations complete the transition and are fully self-sufficient on Treegarden within two weeks of starting the process.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Treegarden | Factorial |
|---|---|---|
| ATS / Recruitment module | Purpose-built ATS | Basic module |
| HR module | Full HR included | Full HR included |
| Candidate pipeline (Kanban) | Full Kanban + drag-drop | Limited pipeline |
| AI candidate scoring | Advanced AI scoring | Not available |
| Multi-country HR support | Native multi-country | Partial support |
| Pricing model | Flat monthly rate | Per employee/mo |
Why teams switch
Treegarden's Kanban pipeline handles multiple open roles simultaneously with drag-and-drop stage management, bulk operations, and stage-specific email automations. Factorial's pipeline was designed as a lightweight complement to its HR features - not for teams managing 10 or more concurrent positions.
Treegarden scores every incoming application against the job requirements automatically, ranking candidates from most to least relevant. Recruiters see a match score alongside each CV, cutting initial screening time by 60-70%. Factorial's recruitment module does not offer equivalent AI screening capabilities.
Post to LinkedIn, Indeed, Glassdoor, eJobs, BestJobs, Adzuna, Jooble, and 15+ additional platforms from a single interface. Factorial's job board integrations are limited to a handful of major platforms. For companies hiring across European markets - especially in Eastern Europe - Treegarden's integration breadth is a significant operational advantage.
Every Treegarden plan has a fixed monthly fee. $299, $499, or $899 per month - regardless of whether you have 50 or 500 employees. Unlimited users are included on every plan. As your company grows, your Treegarden cost stays exactly the same. Factorial's per-employee model means your bill grows automatically with every hire.
30-minute demo. No commitment. We will show you how the ATS and HR module work together in a single platform.
Book a demoWhat our customers say
"Factorial was fine for HR administration but our recruiters were constantly frustrated. The pipeline was too basic for the volume we were running. Treegarden gave us a proper ATS without losing the HR functionality we already had."
"The per-employee pricing in Factorial was killing us during our growth phase. Every month the bill went up. Treegarden's flat rate meant we could hire aggressively without the software cost compounding on top of salary costs. The math was obvious."
"We operate in four countries and Factorial was struggling with the multi-jurisdiction leave policies and org structure. Treegarden handled everything cleanly - different holiday calendars, different leave rules, different approval chains - all in one platform."
"The AI scoring in Treegarden changed how we screen candidates entirely. We used to spend hours reviewing CVs manually. Now the system pre-scores every application and we focus our time on the top-ranked candidates. That alone was worth the switch."
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