There are hundreds of job sites in the UK, we post jobs to these boards every day. We see which ones deliver applications and which ones waste money.
So here is an honest breakdown of every board worth considering, what they cost, how much traffic they get, and what we actually see when we post to them.
If you want to skip straight to the comparison, here is the table.
It is worth highlighting that you don’t always need to pick between the sites, there are services, like ours at Get Staffed, where we post your advert to multiple job sites for a single cost and collect all applications in one place for you. We’ll review those options too.
How we review these boards
We are not a review site, we are a flat-fee recruitment company. We post to these boards every day so we know first-hand which ones pull their weight.
We scored the job boards on three things:
1. Candidate volume – how many applications does it generate per job?
2. Candidate quality – do those applications lead to hires?
3. Value for money – what does it cost to post, and is that cost justified?
Where we have our own data, we have included it. Where we do not post to a board directly, we have said so.
UK job board comparison table
| Board | Free / Paid | Cost per job | Monthly UK traffic | Avg. apps/job | % hires | Trustpilot score | Our verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indeed | Both | From £8/day | 15,900,000 | 24.0 | 41% | 2.1 | Biggest audience. Good volume of candidates. |
| Both | Free / £200–500+ promoted | 20,800,000 | 12.8 | N/A | 1.2 | Expensive. Best when candidates are not actively looking. | |
| Totaljobs | Paid | From £109 | 1,700,000 | 23.8 | 24% | 4.7 | Reliable volume. Wide network inc. Jobsite, CWJobs. |
| Reed | Paid | From £89 | 1,200,000 | 13.0 | 8% | 4.3 | Consistent. CV database good for proactive search. |
| CV-Library | Paid | From £149 | 412,400 | 15.5 | 12% | 4.8 | Good reach for the money. Good network of job boards. |
| The Guardian Jobs | Paid | From £575 | 1,200,000 | 8.5 | 4% | N/A | Premium price, premium audience. |
| Find a Job | Free | Free | 581,700 | 16.8 | 4% | N/A | Government-run. Good for volume. It’s free! |
| Google for Jobs | Free | Free (structured data) | N/A — search feature | N/A | N/A | N/A | Free, worth having. |
*Traffic data from SEMrush — May 2026 | **Application and hire data from Get Staffed ATS
The major UK job boards
Indeed
The biggest job site in the world with a dominant UK presence.
Indeed works two ways. Lots of small businesses can post a job for free and it will appear in organic search results. This is becoming more limited with more hiring companies being made to sponsor jobs. Indeed then charge you based on performance, you pay either every time someone clicks on your advert for a sponsored job, or if you sponsor within a campaign you can choose to pay per click or per apply start.
Pricing varies on a number of factors such as job title, location, and other relevant marketplace factors, these are not published which is why Indeed pricing is described as “black box”.
Since Indeed acquired Glassdoor, jobs posted on Indeed also appear on Glassdoor automatically. That is two audiences for one posting.
Although pricing can vary, the response rates from Indeed are usually high, we have a large number of hires so quality can be high. But due to the large number of applications we do see a common complaint that a number of applications are unsuitable and not relevant.
Monthly UK traffic: 15,900,000 monthly users
Cost: Free organic listing for new users. Minimum daily budgets for sponsored jobs are dynamic based on job title, location, and other relevant marketplace factors. Our experience suggests they start from £8 per day with recommendations of £30+ for best results
Get Staffed data: 24.0 avg applications per job / 41% of client hires from Indeed
Best for: An all rounder with clients hiring in most categories. But particularly strong within Transport & Logistics, Engineering and Admin roles
LinkedIn, the professional social network, has over a billion members globally. In the UK, it gets 20.8m monthly users, but the vast majority of those are not looking for a job at any one time.
It is the social network for professionals, which makes it uniquely good at reaching passive candidates. People who are not looking for a job but would move for the right one.
There are a number of ways to get a job on Linkedin, companies can post a basic job listing for free, but it will generally cap you to 10 applications before it requires sponsorship. You can always post an advert yourself on your feed, but it won’t then show in the job searches.
The promoted jobs product work in a similar way to Indeed with a cost per click or application basis. They cost hundreds of pounds depending on the role type and location.
And then they offer a whole suite of recruiter products from “Recruiter Lite” to “Recruiter+”
Monthly UK traffic: 20,800,000 monthly users
Cost: Free (for 10 candidates) / £200-10,000+ (promoted roles and recruiter packages)
Get Staffed data: 12.8 avg applications per job
Best for: Professional services and passive candidates
Totaljobs
Totaljobs, now part of the Stepstone group, is the second largest UK job board after Indeed and drives almost the same amount of applications for our clients.
They own a number of other large job boards which they cross post when you buy a TotalJobs credit. Depending on your vacancy the role will also be posted on Jobsite, CWJobs (tech), Retail Choice, Just Engineers or CareerStructure.
2.1 million candidates receive weekly updates for suitable jobs by email or push notification.
A strong 4.7 score on Trustpilot with customers frequently praise the staff for their helpfulness, kindness, and professional demeanor, often going above and beyond to resolve issues.
Monthly UK traffic: 1,700,000 monthly users
Cost: From £109 per 7 day posting, or £189 for a featured 6 week listing
Get Staffed data: 23.8 avg applications per job / 24% of client hires from Totaljobs
Best for: Punches above its share in Finance & Accounting, Admin, and Property
Reed
Reed has been around since the 1960s. The online board carries around 100,000+ live jobs at any time and has one of the most actively used CV databases in the UK.
What sets Reed apart is the mix of job advertising and proactive search. You post a job and receive applications. But you can also search their CV database and reach out directly to candidates who have not applied. That two-pronged approach works well for harder-to-fill roles.
Reed also offers courses and training content, which means their audience includes people actively investing in their careers. That can translate into higher-quality applicants.
In recent years Reed have launched a pay per application model to the job board and also operate Reed.ai which is an extension of the CV database with AI search tools for recruiters.
Monthly UK traffic: 1,200,000 monthly users
Cost: From £89+VAT per job
Get Staffed data: 13 avg applications per job / 8% of client hires from Reed
Best for: We have a number of clients that have hired in IT and Technology roles, but does well on a number of office categories
CV-Library
CV-Library’s main selling point is distribution. When you advertise with them your role gets pushed across their network of 800+ partner sites.
Their CV database holds over 14 million profiles, and they have the strongest Trustpilot rating of all of these featured job boards at 4.8 stars.
They get 3 million applications a month and are trusted by over 10,000 employers.
Monthly UK traffic: 412,400 monthly users
Cost: From £149 per job
Get Staffed data: 15.5 avg applications per job / 12% of client hires from CV-Library
Best for: Broad reach. Good for roles where you want maximum exposure quickly, performs particularly well in London and the south east
The Guardian Jobs
A premium option, pricing starts at £575 per advert. The Guardian Jobs is the most expensive general board on this list. But the audience is different and often not found on the other sites listed on this page.
Guardian readers skew towards public sector, education, charity, senior leadership and policy roles. If your vacancy fits that profile, the quality of applicants can justify the cost. For a standard office or warehouse role, then going direct is not good value for money.
Monthly UK traffic: SEMRUSH reports 1.2m monthly users, but with a heavy caveat that this doesn’t split traffic between the jobs pages and the wider news website, so should be taken with a pinch of salt
Cost: From £575 for a 30 day branded job listing. Up to £1,075 for a Gold Job Ad which gets you their premium offer, a cross post to LinkedIn and will show as a “Top Job”
Get Staffed data: 8.5 avg applications per job / 4% of client hires from Guardian Jobs
Best for: We see Guardian perform disproportionately well for Charities and in the Care & Health sectors
FindaJob (gov.uk)
The UK government’s official job board, replacing the old Universal Jobmatch. It is free to post and it is used by every Jobcentre Plus office in the country. That means your job gets in front of people who are actively searching with the support of a work coach.
For volume roles, warehouse, retail, cleaning, customer service, this is a solid free option. For professional roles, the audience is usually less relevant.
A high traffic site, in the last 6 months it has been the third biggest source of applications on Get Staffed.
Monthly UK traffic: 581,700 monthly users
Cost: Free
Get Staffed data: 16.8 avg applications per job / 4% of client hires from Find a Job
Best for: Does particularly well in warehouse, driver and care vacancies
Aggregators and Google for Jobs
How aggregators work and why they matter
Aggregator job boards don’t have their own candidate base in the same way as Indeed or Reed. Instead, they pull job listings from across the web, job boards, company career pages, and ATS systems and display them in one searchable place.
The practical upside for employers: if your job is already posted on a board that feeds into these aggregators, you get the extra visibility for free. You rarely need to post to them directly.
This is how Indeed built its traffic in the UK originally. However they can cause some less than ideal candidate journeys with candidates having to click through multiple websites when they apply.
Google for Jobs
The biggest and most important aggregator in the UK, Google’s own research suggests 70% of all job searches start on Google.
When someone searches “marketing manager jobs near me” Google displays a panel of jobs drawn from Indeed, Totaljobs, Reed, LinkedIn, company career websites and other job boards.
If your job is on any of those boards and the structured data is correctly set up, it will appear automatically. You cannot post directly to Google for Jobs.
Adzuna
Aggregates jobs from thousands of sources and receives around 10 million monthly visits. It also provides job market data, salary benchmarking, and they have recently launched an AI apply tool for candidates, ApplyIQ. If you want to post directly to Adzuna there pricing works on a pay per click model like Indeed.
Monthly UK traffic: SEMRUSH reports 42,500 monthly users
Jooble
An international aggregator operating in 67 countries and pulling from over 140,000 sources daily. UK traffic is harder to isolate but it provides useful additional distribution for roles already posted elsewhere.
Monthly UK traffic: SEMRUSH reports 111,400 monthly users
SimplyHired
Use a pay-to-contact model. Free to post, but you’re charged (around £7) when you move a candidate forward. Worth knowing about for high-volume roles where you want reach without upfront cost. Owned by the same company as Indeed.
Monthly UK traffic: SEMRUSH reports 889,400 monthly users
Aggregators are distribution tools, not a primary strategy, if you post to the major boards then the aggregator traffic will take care of itself and you will see the benefit of the extra coverage.
Specialist boards worth knowing about
Specialist boards charge more per posting than generalist ones, but they reach audiences that simply don’t turn up on Indeed or Totaljobs. Worth using when the role genuinely requires a niche candidate pool.
Technology and IT
CW Jobs
Part of the Totaljobs/Stepstone Group, it has a CV database of over 1.4 million tech professionals and each month attracts over 40% of the UK’s tech workforce. It is now included as a cross post as standard when you post an advert to Totaljobs, meaning your role will show on both job boards with a single Totaljobs credit.
Monthly UK traffic: SEMRUSH reports 72,400 monthly users
Jobserve
One of the oldest job boards on the internet, founded in 1993. It receives over 1.5 million applications per month and has over 200,000 daily searches, it is still very effective for IT roles. Pricing starts at £155+VAT for a 7-day listing, so jobs stay on the site for a shorter time than most sites.
Monthly UK traffic: SEMRUSH reports 16,700 monthly users
Charity and Non-Profit
CharityJob
The number one board for the UK charity and non-profit sector, with around 375,000 candidates monthly. Adverts start from £285, and volunteer roles can be posted for free. If you’re hiring in this sector it should be your first call. We had 4 clients hire candidates from Charityjob in Q1 2026, so can vouch for the quality of applicant it provides.
Monthly UK traffic: SEMRUSH reports 318,700 monthly users
Third Sector Jobs
Another well-established charity sector board, attracting over 120,000 unique visitors monthly. Advertising costs start at £220 for smaller charities (those with less than £500k annual income) with pricing starting at £540 for larger charities.
Monthly UK traffic: SEMRUSH reports 13,200 monthly users
Hospitality and Leisure
Caterer.com
Another Totaljobs/Stepstone job board, this is the UK’s largest hospitality job board in the UK with over 2.9 million CVs in the database. They cover hotels, restaurants, pubs, bars, and food service. Pricing starts from £165+VAT per advert. If you’re hiring chefs, front-of-house, or hotel management this should be on your list.
Monthly UK traffic: SEMRUSH reports 98,400 monthly users
Leisurejobs
A specialist board for the wider leisure and hospitality sector, fitness, sport, spa, travel, and retail as well as hospitality, with access to over 1.2 million job seekers. These jobs can be hard to fill and Leisurejobs provides a good alternative to Indeed which tends to be the generalist choice for this type of role. Pricing from £150+VAT per listing.
Monthly UK traffic: SEMRUSH reports 151,000 monthly users
Diversity and Inclusion
If your organisation is committed to building a more diverse workforce, these boards are worth including alongside your mainstream advertising, not instead of it.
The Diversity Jobs Group
They provide a network of 9 specialist D&I job boards covering disability, ethnicity, LGBTQ+, gender, neurodiversity, over-50s, social mobility, and more. One job post is shared across the entire DJG network. Pricing starts at £500+VAT per advert.
Monthly UK traffic: SEMRUSH reports 1,400 monthly users
Evenbreak
An award-winning not-for-profit job board run by and for disabled people, and widely considered the UK’s most accessible specialist job board. 82% of disabled candidates say they are less likely to apply for roles on mainstream boards and Evenbreak exists to fix that gap. Used by employers including Tesco, Unilever, and Meta. A job posting lasts 60 days and costs £160+VAT for a single advert.
Monthly UK traffic: SEMRUSH reports 2,800 monthly users
Why post to multiple boards at once?
An alternative to using these job board platforms directly is to use a service, like Get Staffed, where you can advertise to multiple job boards at once. They buy credits in bulk from the job boards and then share the discounts with the hiring companies.
This makes it a far more cost effective solution than going to two or more of the job boards directly yourself. A single job posted individually to Totaljobs (£109), Reed (£89) and CV-Library (£149) would cost £349, just for three boards. Add Indeed sponsorship, Guardian Jobs and the DiversityJobsGroup the cost is well over £1,500.
They will increase the number of applications you get as different jobseekers use the different job boards. The average Get Staffed job gets over 100 applications, vs 24 on our best performing job board.
Most multi-job board solutions provide an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) so you collect all applications in one place, you don’t need to log in to different job sites.
And offer additional services like AI candidate scoring, video interviews, psychometric testing or arranging interviews depending on the price and provider.
How multi-board posting services compare
| Service | Price from | Boards included | Additional services |
|---|---|---|---|
| Get Staffed | £249 | Indeed, Totaljobs, Reed, CV-Library, Find a Job, Guardian Jobs, LinkedIn, DiversityJobsGroup | ATS, AI CV matching, Video screening tools |
| Flat Fee Recruiter | £299 | Indeed, Totaljobs, Reed, CV-Library, hundreds of affiliates and aggregator sites | CV shortlisting, phone screening and interview scheduling available on premium products |
| eTalent | £595 | Indeed, Totaljobs, Reed, CV-Library, Find a Job, Guardian Jobs, LinkedIn | Psychometric testing, personality profiling and video previews |
Why Get Staffed?
We have been doing this since 2012, we offer the best value of job board coverage for the price. Our customers love the service, scoring us 4.8 on Trustpilot.
We will help you optimise your advert to ensure the best chance of finding your ideal candidate, your Account Manager will be on hand throughout your campaign and our ATS gives you the tools to quickly identify and communicate with the strongest applications.
Core (£249): Your job posted across Indeed, Totaljobs, Reed, FindaJob, S1 Jobs and more
Branded (£299): A branded advert with your logo on Indeed, Reed, Totaljobs and CV-Library
Branded Pro (£349): Everything in Branded plus Guardian Jobs, LinkedIn, FindaJob and DiversityJobsGroup
No hidden fees, one price and hire as many candidates as you like.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best free job site for UK employers?
Indeed is the strongest free option. Most new or smaller employers can post a job at no cost and it will appear in organic search results. But they are giving away less free jobs, especially to frequent employers. FindaJob (gov.uk) is also completely free and reaches Jobcentre audiences with a high volume of applications. Get Staffed offers a free trial for your first job across Indeed, Reed, Totaljobs and more.
Can I post to multiple job boards at the same time?
Yes. Multi-board posting services (sometimes called flat-fee recruitment) let you advertise on 10-15+ boards for a single flat fee. Get Staffed, Flat Fee Recruiter and eTalent all offer this. Get Staffed includes advert writing and an applicant tracking system from £249.
Which UK job board gets the most applications?
Of the job boards we post to Indeed and Totaljobs both get 24 applications per role, followed by FindaJob which gets nearly 17 applications per role. Get Staffed average over 100 applications per role by posting to all of the major UK job boards at the same time.
What happened to Monster UK?
Historically monster.co.uk would have been in these lists, however in July 2025 its parent company entered bankruptcy proceedings and closed the Monster’s UK website down. The UK job board is no longer active. Employers who used Monster should consider Indeed, Totaljobs or Reed as alternatives, or use a multi-board service to cover all the major boards at once.
Is it worth paying for sponsored job ads on Indeed?
Most companies won’t have the choice as Indeed limits free postings. But Indeed advertise you get roughly 3-4x more visibility than free listings. It is hard to say as there are so many variables (Job Title, Location, Salary) and our clients report mixed feedback with some getting better results when they advertised for free. But most of the time the more you pay to Indeed, the better visibility you will get and therefore the more chance you have of candidates finding your vacancy.
How do I get my job to appear on Google for Jobs?
You cannot post directly to Google for Jobs. It pulls listings from job boards that use the right structured data markup (like Indeed, Reed and Totaljobs). If your job is posted on any major board, it is likely already appearing in Google for Jobs results. If your structured data (schema) is set up correctly Google will also pull jobs from your own careers page.
