Gem vs Greenhouse vs Lantern AI: 2026 Hiring Guide

Gem vs Greenhouse vs Lantern AI at a glance

If compliance paperwork is a gating factor for your hiring stack the way it is for security tooling, see how vendors handle audits and certifications in our TrustAI vs Vanta vs Drata vs Secureframe compliance automation guide for a sense of how SOC 2 and ISO 27001 claims typically get verified.

What is Gem

Gem is a recruiting platform built around a sourcing CRM: pipeline analytics, outreach, and scheduling automation that a team runs either on top of an existing applicant tracking system or as a bundled all-in-one plan with a built-in ATS. Its feature set includes CRM sourcing, scheduling automation, analytics and reporting, and fraud detection, but Gem does not list AI screening or interviewing as a native capability. Gem is SOC 2 Type II certified, per its own company blog, and supports SAML-based SSO configurations documented in its help center. It targets recruiting teams, particularly sourcers and recruiting leads, who want dashboards tied to specific projects and ATS-linked positions rather than a full hiring-process rebuild.

What is Greenhouse

Greenhouse is a full applicant tracking system built for structured hiring: sourcing and CRM tools, interview kits, an AI Notetaker, scheduling, reporting, and a career site builder, sold across three tiers (Core, Plus, and Pro). Its Core tier already includes SSO and its own Real Talent matching feature; Plus layers on AI-powered report filters, a business intelligence connector, sourcing automation, and fraud detection; Pro adds unlimited CRM events, enterprise security, an audit log, and a developer sandbox. Greenhouse confirms GDPR, SOC 2, ISO 27001, and SSO/SAML support on its security page. It targets talent teams that want one system covering the full requisition-to-offer workflow rather than a point solution.

What is Lantern AI

Lantern AI positions itself as an end-to-end AI hiring manager built around a conversational AI interviewer, described on its ourlanterns.com front end as "your AI interviewer." Its feature set centers on AI screening and interviewing, scheduling automation, multilingual interviews, and fraud detection, but it does not include its own ATS, CRM sourcing module, or analytics and reporting layer, relying instead on ATS/HRIS integrations to plug into a team's existing stack. Lantern AI reports GDPR, SOC 2, ISO 27001, SSO/SAML, and EU AI Act compliance. Third-party reporting from getlatka.com puts 2025 revenue at roughly $660,000 with a six-person team, consistent with a young, focused vendor rather than a broad hiring suite.

Gem: pros and cons

Pipeline analytics tied directly to open positions. A Capterra reviewer, a Senior Recruiter in biotechnology using Gem for 6-12 months, said they could "create a dashboard of analytics on projects you create and on positions linked to your ATS which can really help to paint a picture for hiring teams." That's a concrete workflow win for teams that need pipeline visibility without building it themselves.

SOC 2 Type II certified with documented SAML support. Gem's company blog confirms SOC 2 Type II certification, and its help center publishes SAML configuration steps for enterprise SSO. For security-conscious buyers, that's a verifiable compliance baseline rather than a marketing claim.

Flexible deployment against an existing ATS. Gem's "Gem + Your ATS" plan lets teams keep their current applicant tracking system and add sourcing, outreach, scheduling, and analytics on top, which matters if switching ATS platforms isn't on the roadmap this year.

Support responsiveness has drawn specific complaints. A Capterra reviewer, a CPO in airlines/aviation, said that when they requested 45 to 60 minutes for a task where the allotted time had "repeatedly proven inadequate," the request was declined because of Gem's "bandwidth constraints." That's a concrete service-level gap, not a vague dissatisfaction.

A long-time user reported quality decline after 2022. One Capterra reviewer, a recruiter in hospital and health care with 2+ years of use, wrote that the product was good in 2021 but "went completely downhill following mass layoffs" in 2022. Weigh this against more recent, positive reviews rather than as the current state of the product.

No native AI screening or interviewing. Gem's feature matrix does not include AI screening or interview capability, meaning teams that want an AI-led first-round interview need to pair Gem with a tool like Lantern AI or rely on Greenhouse's built-in screening instead.

Greenhouse: pros and cons

A structured, end-to-end workflow reviewers call out by name. A Capterra reviewer, Afreen P., a Senior Recruiter in staffing and recruiting, called Greenhouse "one of the most structured and user-friendly recruiting platforms I've used." Another reviewer, Will T., a Group Director of Recruitment with 2+ years of use, called it "Best ATS I have worked with, from candidate experience, scorecards to reporting."

The most fully confirmed compliance profile of the three. Greenhouse's security page confirms GDPR, SOC 2, ISO 27001, and SSO/SAML support all as verified. Gem's ISO 27001 status is unconfirmed for its own systems, and Lantern AI lacks independent review-platform verification of any compliance claim.

AI features are bundled into the platform rather than sold separately. AI Notetaker ships in the Core tier, and AI-powered report filters and fraud detection ship in Plus, meaning teams don't need a second AI vendor contract just to get screening notes or anomaly flags.

Reporting is described as clunky by at least one long-term user. A verified Capterra reviewer, a People Operations Specialist in computer software with 2+ years of use, said "most of their basic functions, like reporting, are unintuitive and ancient." That's worth testing directly if reporting is a primary use case for your team.

Pricing draws specific complaints for smaller teams. Afreen P., the same Senior Recruiter cited above, separately noted "pricing is on the higher side, especially for smaller companies or teams." Combined with the fact that none of the three tiers publishes a number, this makes early budget conversations with sales essential.

No tier publishes a price, even a starting one. Core, Plus, and Pro are all quote-based, which means comparing Greenhouse against Gem's published $270/user/month figure requires a sales call before you have equivalent numbers.

Lantern AI: pros and cons

Multilingual AI interviewing plus fraud detection, confirmed in the feature set. Neither Gem nor Greenhouse confirms multilingual interview support, making this a specific differentiator for global hiring teams screening candidates across languages.

EU AI Act compliance is listed alongside GDPR, SOC 2, and ISO 27001. For teams hiring in the EU where AI-assisted screening faces regulatory scrutiny, this is a compliance claim neither Gem nor Greenhouse makes in the available research.

Built to integrate rather than replace. Lantern AI's feature set confirms ATS/HRIS integrations without an included ATS of its own, so it slots into a Greenhouse or Gem-plus-ATS stack instead of requiring a full platform migration.

Pricing is entirely undisclosed, with no published tiers at all. Where Greenhouse at least names Core, Plus, and Pro, Lantern AI's pricing pages on both ourlanterns.com and lantern.md route every prospect to a demo or quote, leaving no public reference point.

No independent review-platform ratings could be found. As of August 22, 2026, no G2, Capterra, Trustpilot, or GetApp presence turned up for Lantern AI, consistent with a young, six-person-team vendor reporting roughly $660,000 in 2025 revenue, but it means there's no third-party user feedback to weigh against vendor claims.

No CRM sourcing or analytics and reporting module. Lantern AI's feature matrix marks both capabilities false, so a team relying on it alone would still need Gem or Greenhouse (or another system) for pipeline sourcing and reporting.

Use-case comparison

High-volume, compliance-sensitive screening. A team screening large candidate volumes across multiple languages, and needing to document EU AI Act alignment, gets more direct feature coverage from Lantern AI's confirmed multilingual, fraud-detection, and EU AI Act claims than from Gem or Greenhouse, provided it's paired with an existing ATS for tracking.

Sourcing-led recruiting with pipeline reporting. A recruiting team measuring sourcer productivity and pipeline health across positions linked to an ATS is better served by Gem's CRM and analytics dashboards, backed by the Capterra review describing exactly that workflow, than by Lantern AI, which has no analytics module.

Full-cycle structured hiring with a public-facing career site. A company that wants interview kits, a career site, AI Notetaker, and reporting in a single system, without stitching together a CRM and an interviewer tool separately, fits Greenhouse's Core-to-Pro tier structure more directly than a two-vendor Gem-plus-Lantern-AI stack.

If your team is still mapping out which category of tool it needs before comparing named vendors, our AI Recruiting Software comparisons hub breaks down the category further.

Gem pricing

Gem's published Startup tier for 1-10 FTE companies lists at $270 per user, per month, billed monthly. The pricing page also references discounted rates as low as $130 per user per month and a separate startup program described as free for six months for companies under 30 employees, then 50% off afterward, but the exact conditions distinguishing these offers from the $270 list price were not fully consistent across the page. Treat $270/user/month as the list-price reference point and confirm your actual rate with sales.

Beyond the Startup tier, Gem sells "Gem + Your ATS" (sourcing, outreach, scheduling, and analytics layered on an ATS you keep) and "Gem All-in-One" (the same capabilities plus a built-in ATS), both priced by contacting sales based on company FTE count, with no published number for either.

Pricing verified on August 22, 2026.

Greenhouse pricing

Greenhouse sells three tiers, none with a published price:

• Core: Sourcing & CRM, structured interview kits, AI Notetaker, scheduling, reporting, SSO, and Real Talent matching.
• Plus: Everything in Core, plus AI-powered report filters, a Business Intelligence Connector, sourcing automation, texting, and fraud detection.
• Pro: Everything in Plus, plus unlimited CRM events, enterprise security, an audit log, a developer sandbox, and enterprise Real Talent features.

Every tier is "customized to hiring needs" through a sales conversation. If cost predictability matters as much as feature depth, budget time for that conversation before comparing Greenhouse head-to-head against Gem's published Startup rate.

Pricing verified on August 22, 2026.

Lantern AI pricing

Lantern AI does not publish plan names, tiers, or prices on either ourlanterns.com or lantern.md. Both sites route prospects to a demo or a sales conversation, with pricing described as based on interview volume and use case rather than a flat per-seat rate. There is no self-serve pricing calculator or published starting figure to compare against Gem or Greenhouse.

Pricing verified on August 22, 2026.

What users say

Gem

"I am loving GEM! You can create a dashboard of analytics on projects you create and on positions linked to your ATS which can really help to paint a picture for hiring teams."

• Senior Recruiter, Biotechnology, 6-12 months use via Capterra

"I love what Gem has meant to my productivity. I honestly don't understand it when people tell me they don't get it."

• Lead Sourcer, Computer Software, 2+ years use via Capterra

"When I explicitly explained that the allotted time had repeatedly proven inadequate and requested 45 to 60 minutes, the request was declined because of Gem's 'bandwidth constraints.'"

• CPO, Airlines/Aviation, 1-2 years use via Capterra

Greenhouse

"It's one of the most structured and user-friendly recruiting platforms I've used."

• Afreen P., Senior Recruiter, Staffing and Recruiting via Capterra

"Best ATS I have worked with, from candidate experience, scorecards to reporting."

• Will T., Group Director of Recruitment, IT Services, 2+ years use via Capterra

"Most of their basic functions, like reporting, are unintuitive and ancient."

• verified People Operations Specialist, Computer Software, 2+ years use via Capterra

Lantern AI

No independent user quotes were found for Lantern AI on G2, Capterra, Trustpilot, or GetApp as of August 22, 2026. That's consistent with it being a smaller, newer vendor, but it also means you're relying on vendor-provided claims and a demo rather than third-party feedback until you request references directly. For context on how we treat gaps like this rather than filling them with assumptions, see our editorial policy.

Verdict per use case

Choose Gem if your team's main bottleneck is sourcing pipeline visibility and you already have an ATS you're happy with; the $270/user/month Startup tier gives you a published number to plan around, and the CRM-plus-analytics combination is exactly what its positive reviews describe. Watch for the support responsiveness and post-2022 quality concerns raised in critical reviews before committing to an annual contract.

Choose Greenhouse if you want one system covering sourcing, structured interviews, AI notetaking, career site, and reporting without stitching together multiple vendors, and you're prepared to run a sales conversation to get pricing since none of Core, Plus, or Pro publishes a number. It's the most compliance-complete of the three on paper, with confirmed GDPR, SOC 2, ISO 27001, and SSO/SAML.

Choose Lantern AI if AI-led, multilingual candidate interviewing with fraud detection and EU AI Act alignment is the specific gap in your current stack, and you're comfortable pairing it with an existing ATS rather than replacing one. Go in expecting a demo-first sales process and no independent review data to lean on yet.

Recap: Gem vs Greenhouse vs Lantern AI

For more context on how these figures get sourced and why some cells stay blank instead of estimated, read our editorial policy.

Frequently asked questions

Is Gem an ATS or a CRM? Gem started as a sourcing CRM and still ships that way by default, with pipeline analytics and reporting layered on top of whatever applicant tracking system you already run. It also sells a separate "Gem All-in-One" plan that bundles a built-in ATS, and a "Gem + Your ATS" plan that keeps sourcing and outreach on top of an existing system. Pricing for the ATS-inclusive plans is quote-based.

How much does Greenhouse cost? Greenhouse does not publish prices for any of its three tiers, Core, Plus, or Pro. Every plan is quoted after a sales conversation based on your hiring needs. Capterra reviewers have flagged the pricing as high for smaller teams, so budget for a sales call before you can compare costs against Gem or Lantern AI.

Does Lantern AI have a free trial or published pricing? No. Lantern AI's pricing pages on both ourlanterns.com and lantern.md route prospects directly to a demo or sales conversation, with rates set per interview volume and use case. As of August 2026, no plan names, tiers, or price points are published anywhere on the site.

Which tool is best for AI-led candidate interviews? Lantern AI and Greenhouse both list AI screening and interviewing as a built-in feature; Gem does not. Lantern AI is built specifically around a conversational AI interviewer with multilingual support and fraud detection, while Greenhouse folds AI interview notes and screening into a broader end-to-end ATS.

Is Gem SOC 2 compliant? Yes. Gem announced its SOC 2 Type II certification on its company blog and also supports SAML-based SSO configurations, documented in its help center. Its own security page attributes most ISO 27001-family certifications to its cloud infrastructure partners rather than to Gem directly, so treat that specific standard as unconfirmed for Gem itself.

Can I use Lantern AI with my existing ATS? Yes. Lantern AI does not include its own applicant tracking system or CRM sourcing module, and its feature set lists ATS/HRIS integrations as a core capability. It is built to sit alongside a system like Greenhouse or Gem's ATS rather than replace one.

What is the difference between Gem and Greenhouse? Gem's default strength is sourcing and CRM analytics that can sit on top of any ATS; it does not include AI screening or interview features. Greenhouse is a full ATS with a career site builder, structured interview kits, and AI screening built in, at pricing that reviewers describe as higher for smaller teams.

Does Greenhouse support multilingual interviews? That capability could not be confirmed from Greenhouse's published product pages as of August 2026, so this article does not claim it either way. Lantern AI is the only one of the three tools in this comparison with multilingual interviews confirmed as a listed feature.

Frequently asked questions