Best AI screening tools for staffing agencies in 2026

The best AI screening tool for a staffing agency depends on what you place and how you place it. For IT and professional roles submitted to clients, where proxy interviews and fake candidates are a real risk, we built Simplehire for exactly that job: an AI voice screen with proctoring on every interview, $2 to $5 per screen and 25 free Basic screens every month. For hourly and temp roles where candidates should simply call a number, PhoneScreen.AI fits better. If your agency lives in Bullhorn, Ribbon syncs results back to it. If you only need the lowest price at steady high volume, Kira-AI and InterviewFlowAI publish the cheapest monthly plans.

We make Simplehire, so we put it first. Everything we say about other tools comes from their own websites, linked in each section. Prices are as published on 19 October 2026; check each vendor's page before you buy.

What should a staffing agency look for in an AI screening tool?

You screen to decide who to submit, a client sees your shortlist, and one weak or fake candidate costs you credibility (we worked through the numbers in what a weak submission costs). So the checklist looks like this:

Which AI screening tools do staffing agencies compare?

Recruiters who prefer to watch recorded answers themselves also look at one-way video tools such as Spark Hire, whose video interview plan starts at $249 a month billed annually, varying by company size. That is a different job from an AI-run screen, because a person still watches every recording. We compare the formats in AI voice interview vs one-way video.

Why do agencies that submit to clients use Simplehire?

We built Simplehire for recruiters who need to know a candidate holds up before their name goes to a client:

• The screen follows the role. The recruiter creates a role with its required skills and sends the candidate a link. The AI interviewer asks about those skills, and the recruiter gets a written report with a recommendation and the evidence behind it. A recruiter makes every submission decision.
• Three depths, priced per screen. Basic is $2 for about 15 minutes, for high-volume first screens and junior roles. Adaptive is $3 for about 20 minutes and adds follow-up questions for technical and client-submission roles. Advanced is $5 for about 30 minutes for senior or client-critical roles, with an optional coding round scored separately.
• Proctoring on every screen, at every price. The interview runs in enforced full-screen; leaving it, switching tabs, losing focus and pasting text are recorded with timestamps. Interview audio is recorded and alerts come with screenshots.
• Stronger checks when the role needs them. On supported Windows and Mac interviews, the Simplehire Proctor desktop app has candidates close risky applications such as remote-desktop tools before they start. The recruiter can require a paired second device for a side-camera view of the candidate and their desk. The ID check can be set to Off, Optional or Required; when required, the candidate passes a government ID check and a live face match before the interview begins.
• No contract, no seats, no monthly fee. You pay for the screens you run. Every workspace gets 25 free Basic screens a month, no credit card required (unused free screens don't roll over).

Simplehire flags integrity events for a person to review. It does not judge whether a candidate used AI from their answers, and no tool catches every fraud attempt; more in AI cheating in interviews.

Where Simplehire is not the best fit: we don't integrate with Bullhorn or other ATS tools today, so recruiters send links and read reports in Simplehire. We don't dial candidates' phones; the interview runs in the browser. And from about 100 screens a month, some tools in the cost table below cost less on list price; talk to our sales team about volume pricing.

What is each other tool best at?

PhoneScreen.AI: hourly and temp staffing by phone

PhoneScreen.AI says it is built for hourly hiring, and its staffing page targets temp and temp-to-hire candidates. Candidates call in through a link, or it calls new applicants, in 34 languages. It charges $4 per completed screen with the first 10 free and no monthly fee; calls that go to voicemail or end before any questions aren't charged. We found no identity or fraud checks described on its home, pricing or staffing pages.

Ribbon: agencies on Bullhorn

Ribbon runs AI voice and video interviews, including phone screens, has a cheating-detection feature page, and says it can "sync interview results back to Bullhorn." Billed annually, Growth is $499 a month with 100 interviews, Business $999 with 400 and Scale $1,999 with 1,000 (monthly billing is $599, $1,199 and $2,399), plus $2.50 to $4 for each extra interview. If your recruiters live in Bullhorn, that integration may be worth the price.

QuillHire: lowest pay-as-you-go price

QuillHire publishes the lowest pay-as-you-go price we found, with no plan: $1 for a 15-minute phone screen and $2 for a 45-minute live technical video interview, bought as credits that never expire. For its video interviews it advertises "Anti-cheat for the whole session" with timestamped findings. We found no identity checks or ATS integrations described on its home or pricing pages.

Kira-AI and InterviewFlowAI: steady high volume

If you run the same high volume every month and mainly need a quick spoken screen, flat plans are hard to beat on price. Kira-AI charges $349 a month for 500 audio-only interviews, about $0.70 each, and pauses at the limit instead of charging overage. Its site says "No camera, no screen monitoring, no proctoring," by design, and it has no ATS integration yet. InterviewFlowAI runs voice, video or phone interviews: Growth is $299 a month for 303 and Scale $499 for 505, cheaper billed yearly, and unused credits roll into the next cycle on both. Cheat detection is included on Scale, not on Pilot or Growth.

HeyMilo: larger agencies wanting integrations

HeyMilo markets high-volume screening across phone, video, SMS and forms, lists cheat detection ("Catch fraud and identity spoofing."), and names Bullhorn and Avionté among its integrations. It doesn't publish prices, so expect a sales process.

Interviewer.AI and Hyring: video-first screening

Interviewer.AI is built around one-way video, from $199 a month for 50 credits, with conversational avatar interviews on Professional and Bullhorn listed on Enterprise. Hyring has a free plan with 50 credits a month (1 seat, 1 active job), useful for trying AI interviews; its phone screens use half a credit, and pay-as-you-go credits start at $5 each and fall with volume.

What does AI screening cost at agency volumes?

List prices for one month, using each tool's cheapest published option that covers the volume, with annual billing where it is cheaper. Simplehire figures include the 25 free Basic screens; one-time trials and taxes are left out.

Notes: QuillHire sells credits in packs of 100 or more, so 50 screens uses half of a $100 pack (credits never expire). InterviewFlowAI at 50 is the $59 Pilot plan for 20 plus 30 extra credits at $3 (the page lists both $2.95 and $3); at 100 to 500 it is Growth or Scale billed yearly ($250 or $416.60 a month). Ribbon is billed annually; at 200 it is Growth plus 100 extra interviews at $4 each, and at 500 it is Business plus 100 extra at $3 each. Hyring's free plan can cover up to 100 phone screens a month at $0, with 1 seat and 1 active job.

Three things the table doesn't show:

• Flat plans only cost this little if you use the allowance. An agency that screens 400 candidates in a busy month and 80 in a quiet one pays the full plan either way, unless it downgrades in time. Annual billing, which Ribbon, InterviewFlowAI, Interviewer.AI and Hyring all offer at a discount, commits you for the year.
• Not every low price includes integrity checks. Kira-AI states it has no proctoring, and InterviewFlowAI's cheat detection starts on Scale. Simplehire's prices include proctoring on every screen, and the ID check with a live face match and the second-device camera are settings the recruiter turns on when needed.
• Price per screen isn't cost per placement. One proxy candidate who reaches a client interview costs far more than the difference between a $2 and a $5 screen; compare it with the cost of a weak submission.

How should an agency choose?

1. Write down your real monthly screen count for the last three months, including the quiet month.
2. Decide which roles need fraud checks. Remote IT and contractor roles usually do; local hourly roles often don't.
3. Shortlist two tools from the comparison that match your format (phone, browser voice or video) and your ATS.
4. Run the same five live reqs through both for two weeks. Count how many screened candidates your recruiters would submit, and how many interviews the client accepted.
5. Pick on submissions and client feedback, then on price.

Simplehire's 25 free Basic screens a month cover a small pilot without a credit card. For a larger pilot or steady volume, talk to sales. You can also start free, see pricing, or read how proctoring works.