Katara vs. Traditional Agencies
Katara vs. traditional recruitment agencies: the real cost comparison
Contingency and retained search agencies still price hiring the same way they did twenty years ago: a percentage of salary, per hire. Katara replaces that with predictable subscription pricing — use our savings calculator below to see the difference in your own numbers.
Katara
Traditional Agencies
Pricing model
One subscription
15–25% of first-year salary, billed per placement
Cost at scale
No per-hire fee — hire 1 or 20 engineers, cost never moves with hire count
Cost multiplies with every hire: 5 hires at $150k and a 20% fee is $150,000 in fees alone
Contract terms
Cancel anytime, monthly or yearly
Often exclusivity clauses and guarantee periods
Pricing transparency
Published pricing, known upfront
Fee often negotiated per search, invoiced after placement
Speed
Candidates are already opted in and looking
Recruiters source and vet candidates from scratch — timelines vary
Best for
Teams that hire engineers regularly and want to keep the fee
One-off executive or highly specialized searches
How much would you actually save?
Plug in your hiring numbers and see the gap between agency commissions and one Katara subscription.
See how you'd do without Traditional Agencies
Agencies bill a percentage of salary on every hire. Katara charges predictable subscription pricing — run the numbers with our savings calculator.
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