Free usually means free up to a line

Most job searches run on no budget, and many AI tools say “free” somewhere on their homepage. That word covers very different things: the whole product with a daily limit, the tracker without the part that does the work, or a handful of scans a month. The job is to see where each line sits before you build a routine on it.

How to judge a free tier

Ask one question of every free plan: what will I run out of first, and when? A 100-job tracker is plenty for a six-week targeted search and tight for a broad one. An auto-apply plan with a monthly cap works as a supplement, not as your only channel.

The second thing to notice is what kind of work sits behind the paywall. Organizing is the most generous category: Teal, Huntr and Simplify all give you a working tracker for nothing. The gates appear where a tool acts on your behalf: Simplify’s Autopilot, Backdoor’s founder emails. LoopCV and Jobright are the two that document automatic applying on a free tier, each with limits.

So a free search works well when you accept a split: free tools handle discovery, tracking and form-filling, and your own time handles the writing and the judgment. That is a perfectly good search. It just asks more of your evenings.

A whole search, step by step

What it takes with no tools at all

  1. Find roles. Check a few boards each day and read company news for the ones that interest you.
  2. Tailor your resume. Adjust the summary and the top bullets for each role you care about.
  3. Apply. Type your history into each application form, again.
  4. Track it. Keep a spreadsheet with the company, the date, the stage and the person you spoke to.
  5. Reach people. Find a recruiter, hiring manager or founder, write a short note, and follow up a few days later.

Every step is free already. What costs you is the hours, and the steps that slip when the week gets busy: logging an application after you send it, and the follow-up you meant to write.

Two free helpers that are not AI products

Hacker News “Who is hiring?”. Each month, the whoishiring account posts a thread where companies list open roles, one post per company. The rules at the top of the October 2026 thread ask posters to be at the hiring company, not a recruiting firm or job board, and say “Please only post if you are actively filling a position and are committed to replying to applicants.” So each post should be a live role with a person behind it. A companion thread, “Who wants to be hired?”, lets you post your own short profile.

Gmail’s own reminders. If you send notes from Gmail, two built-in settings handle the follow-up step that slips. Gmail Help describes nudges you can turn on under Settings, General: “Suggest emails to follow up on: At the top of your inbox, you can find sent emails that you may need to follow up on.” It notes you need conversation view on first. Schedule send lets you write follow-ups on Sunday for Tuesday morning; Gmail Help says “You can have up to 100 scheduled emails.” Neither writes anything for you, but between them a follow-up date is hard to miss.

What each free plan covers

The table shows what each tool’s own pages say about its free plan and the steps around it. “Not publicly documented” means we found no statement on the vendor’s pages on the date checked; it does not mean the feature is missing.

What each free plan documents
ToolFree planEmails foundersSends from GmailFollow-upsTrackingAuto-apply
Backdoor Discovery, research, resume and partner-startup intros are free, plus a free hiring list (mostly startups in India); you pay only for active outreach Verified Finds founder emails and drafts notes Verified Sends approved emails via your connected Gmail Verified Follows up in the same thread until a reply Verified Dashboard of every lead and reply; texts you when a founder replies Verified Not publicly documented
Teal Free forever: unlimited resumes, job tracking, bookmarking Verified Not publicly documented Not publicly documented Not publicly documented Job tracker with stages from bookmarked to negotiating Verified Not publicly documented
Huntr Free plan: track up to 100 jobs, unlimited base resumes Verified Not publicly documented Not publicly documented Not publicly documented Job tracker with notes, dates, tasks, contacts Verified Not publicly documented
Simplify Free autofill, tracker, job matches, basic resume builder; Autopilot is paid Verified Not publicly documented You send recruiter emails from the tracker via your connected Gmail Verified Drafts follow-up emails for you to review and send Verified Job Tracker, auto-adds applications submitted via Simplify Verified Yes, Autopilot submits applications (Simplify+, 20/week) Verified
Jobright All features free; daily limits on some (e.g. resume tailoring) Verified Not publicly documented Not publicly documented Not publicly documented Agent tracks every application it submits Verified Yes, Jobright Agent submits applications for you Verified
LoopCV Free forever plan, no card; limited applications Verified Not publicly documented Not publicly documented Can send follow-up emails Verified Dashboard logs every application the bot sends Verified Yes, submits applications automatically Verified
Jobscan Free: a few resume scans per month, unlimited builder downloads Verified Not publicly documented Not publicly documented Not publicly documented Job tracker boards from Applied to Interviewed Verified Yes, you approve each application before it sends Verified
Wellfound Free for candidates (profile and applying) Verified Not publicly documented Not publicly documented Not publicly documented Not publicly documented Not publicly documented
YC Work at a Startup Free sign-up with one profile for YC startups Verified Not publicly documented Not publicly documented Not publicly documented Not publicly documented Not publicly documented

Choose by situation

Where to start if you want a free way to reach people at startups

Most free plans on this page help you apply to posted roles or keep track of them. Backdoor puts its free tier at the step before that: getting you in front of people at startups. It is built to email startup founders for you, and that sending is the one part you pay for. Backdoor’s site says “Discovery, research, your resume and introductions to our partner startups are all free. You only pay for active outreach.” You chat with it over iMessage: send your LinkedIn, resume or a voice note, and it researches your background and asks what you want next. In practice the free tier gives you four things.

  1. Matched startups. Each morning it picks startups that fit you from fresh funding, launch and hiring news.
  2. Research and your resume. The profile research and the resume help sit on the free side of the line.
  3. Partner intros. Backdoor says its partner startups are “hand-picked and backed by top-tier VCs,” and “When one is hiring for someone like you, we introduce you to the founder.” You do not ask for these; they come to you if you fit.
  4. Free hiring lists. A Google Sheet of people who hire at startups. Backdoor says it lists 2,000+ people at 320+ companies, “mostly startups in India,” with each row giving a name, title, company, email and LinkedIn. Its page says “No signup, no card, no email. Text Backdoor and the Google Sheet arrives in seconds.” A second free sheet covers “200 Y Combinator startups with open roles,” with the founders and a public contact email for each.

So you can take the matches, the intros and the list and write to founders yourself, from your own Gmail, with Gmail’s nudges reminding you to follow up. That is a complete free route. Backdoor’s own page is also clear about who it is not for: “If you want to mass-apply to big companies, it isn’t for you.”

What the paid step costs. The paid part is active outreach: Backdoor finds the founder’s email, drafts each note, waits for you to say send, sends it from your Gmail and follows up in the same thread until someone replies. It is sold as a one-time pass, and the site lists it as “₹999 for 7 days, ₹1,599 for 30 days, or ₹1,799 for 90 days.” It adds “Nothing renews on its own,” so there is no subscription to remember to cancel. The pricing heading on the site reads “Plans from ₹20 a day,” which is what the 90-day pass works out to. If you want to test the sending before committing, the 7-day pass is the smallest step. The downside on this page is plain: if you want the founder emails written and sent for you, that part is not free.

When Teal or Huntr is the better fit

If your main need is organizing a search for free, start with Teal. Its job tracker page says you can “Bookmark and track progress on unlimited jobs and make custom resumes all for free,” and the free Chrome extension saves jobs from 50+ job boards in one click. Each job moves through stages from bookmarked to negotiating, and you can attach the recruiters, hiring managers and referrals you find. For a search with no budget and no fixed end date, an unlimited tracker removes one thing to worry about.

The catch is the AI: Teal’s pricing page lists “Limited AI credits” on the free plan, though the tracking stays free.

Huntr is the alternative if you want the same board on your phone: it documents a web app, a Chrome extension and mobile apps on the App Store and Google Play. Its free plan covers “Track up to 100 jobs” and “Unlimited Base Resumes,” and Huntr describes it as always free. That 100-job ceiling is its one real limit: plenty for a focused search, tight for a wide one. Job application trackers compares the two head to head.

When Simplify is the better fit

If you apply to posted roles yourself and hate retyping, Simplify gives you the most useful free pair on this page. Simplify says “Our autofill, application tracker, job matches, and basic resume builder are features we commit to keeping free for everyone.” The extension fills in application forms, and “Applications submitted through Simplify are automatically added to your Job Tracker,” so the logging step people skip happens without you. Its iOS app is free too.

The downside is the gate. Autopilot, which submits applications for you, is on the paid Simplify+ plan, along with its AI email drafts. On the free tier you still click submit on every application, which for many people is the right amount of control anyway.

When Jobright is the better fit

Jobright makes the broadest free promise here: “Yes, all features on Jobright.ai are free to use.” That covers job matching with what it calls “early alerts,” application autofill, insider connections on the hiring team with a drafted email to them, and the Jobright Agent, which applies for you and tracks every submission it makes. The fine print is that “certain features like resume tailoring have daily usage limits.”

One thing to confirm: the Agent page also shows the label “Unlock Auto-Apply,” and the pages we checked do not explain what that step involves on the free plan. See what it asks of you before building your week around it.

When LoopCV is the better fit

If you want some applications going out while you sleep and will not pay for it, LoopCV says it “has a free forever plan with no credit card required,” and its auto-apply submits applications on your behalf. Every application the bot sends is logged in a web dashboard, so you can read what went out.

The limit is the volume. LoopCV says “Free users receive a limited number of applications per month,” and we found no figure for that limit on the pages we checked. Treat it as a supplement for roles that fit on paper, and keep its search settings tight so the free allowance goes where it counts. Auto-apply tools vs founder outreach goes deeper on when automatic applying is worth it.

When Jobscan’s free scans are enough

Jobscan scores your resume against a job description. Its own comparison page says the free plan “Includes a few resume scans per month, unlimited resume downloads in the resume builder.” Spend those scans on the two or three roles you want most. Jobscan also runs a job tracker and an Auto Apply tool, but the free-plan description we found mentions only scans and downloads, so check your account before counting on either.

When you want startups to find you

Two startup job sites cost job seekers nothing. Wellfound says “Creating a profile and applying to jobs on Wellfound is always free for candidates,” and it pitches “Direct lines to founders and hiring managers, not third-party recruiters.” You can also “Let founders and recruiters reach out to you.” The downside: we found no mention of tracking on its pages, so log your Wellfound applications in Teal or Huntr alongside everything else.

YC Work at a Startup asks for one free profile, and YC says filling it in “only takes a few minutes.” From there you can “Let YC founders contact you or browse companies privately.” Its reach stops at YC-funded companies, and YC notes that most of them use the site, though not all. For ten minutes of setup, that is still a lot of founders who can find you.

When a free plan runs out

Most people never need to pay. When you do hit a line, pay for the one tool whose limit you keep hitting, and prefer a short pass to a subscription while you test it. For Backdoor, that is the 7-day pass above, when you want founder emails sent for you. For the others, look at the paid tier once its free limit pinches: Teal+ when the AI credits run out, sold by the week as well as for 30 and 90 days; Simplify+ for Autopilot, which Simplify says “includes 20 auto-applies a week,” on a one-week or one-month plan; LoopCV’s paid plans when the free monthly cap is too low; and Huntr Pro when 100 jobs is not enough. Each tool’s profile lists the current prices.

LazyApply is not a free option: its FAQ says “No, we don’t offer a free trial,” and plans start at $99 a year. Jobright’s own pages list different paid prices, so check the figure in your account before you rely on one. We found no paid plan for job seekers on Wellfound’s or YC Work at a Startup’s pages.

Illustrative example written for this page: one week of a search run entirely on free plans, for a product designer applying to startups and mid-size companies. It is not a real message or a real user's result.

Once, on day one (about an hour).

  • Send Backdoor your LinkedIn so its free startup matches begin, and ask for its free hiring list; skim it for design-led startups to add to Teal.
  • Fill in a YC Work at a Startup profile and a Wellfound profile, with the same three portfolio links on both.
  • Install Teal’s extension and move last month’s spreadsheet into it.
  • Install Simplify’s extension.
  • Set up Jobright’s matching and LoopCV’s free plan with tight search settings: product designer, two cities plus remote, companies under 500 people.
  • In Gmail, turn on the nudge to suggest emails to follow up on.

Monday, 30 minutes. Read Backdoor’s morning picks, Jobright’s matches and anything new on Wellfound. Bookmark the good ones in Teal. If it is the first week of the month, skim the new Hacker News “Who is hiring?” thread for design roles and save any that name a person to write to.

Tuesday to Thursday, 45 minutes a day. Apply to the strongest bookmarks by hand, with Simplify’s autofill doing the forms. Those land in Simplify’s tracker on their own; move them to Applied in Teal too, so one board shows everything. Run a Jobscan scan only on the two roles you most want this week.

Thursday evening, 15 minutes. Check LoopCV’s dashboard and read what it sent. Pause any filter that sent applications to roles you would not take.

Friday, 30 minutes. In Teal, sort by date. Write one short follow-up for anything older than ten days, from your own inbox, and use schedule send so they land on Tuesday morning. Clear whatever Gmail’s follow-up nudges surfaced. Tally the five days: applications by hand, applications by LoopCV, replies from each, and any founder who reached out through YC or Wellfound.

Change the mix to fit you. If nearly all your applications go through Simplify, its tracker can be your only board. If you are aiming only at small startups, spend the Tuesday-to-Thursday time on notes to founders instead of forms; AI job-search tools, by workflow covers that route.

This week, on a budget of zero

Start Backdoor’s free matches, pick one tracker and one applying tool, and set up the two startup profiles. That is five free accounts and about an hour, and it covers reaching people, saving, applying, logging and being found.

Then run two weeks before paying for anything. If you keep hitting the same limit, such as Huntr’s 100 jobs, Teal’s AI credits or LoopCV’s monthly cap, that tells you which upgrade would earn its price. If you hit none, the bottleneck is elsewhere, usually in what you send and to whom.

How we chose

We compare tools on what their own public pages say, checked on the dates shown, and label every claim. How we compare tools.

FAQ

Best free AI job search tools?

Start with Backdoor's free tier to reach people at startups, then add a free tracker and a free applying tool; no one free plan covers a whole search. Backdoor's matched startups, partner intros to founders and hiring list cost nothing, and only the founder outreach it sends for you is paid. Teal's free plan holds unlimited jobs and Huntr's up to 100, Simplify's autofill and tracker are free, and LoopCV's free plan auto-applies up to a monthly cap. Wellfound and YC Work at a Startup are free for finding startup roles.

Sources checked

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