First Shift vs Hireology for home care hiring
Hireology is built for multi-location operators. If you're running one home care office with 15 caregivers, you're being sold location analytics, franchise-style workflow standardization and cross-site reporting you don't have a use for.
Here's the honest side-by-side: what Hireology costs (as far as it's published), what it's actually built for, and where First Shift is different for a single independent agency.
Written by Darren Clark — Founder of Dazlab, the studio behind First Shift
Last updated September 22, 2026
Quick verdict
Choose Hireology if you run multiple offices or a franchise brand that needs hiring standardized across sites. Choose First Shift if you're one office with 10 to 40 caregivers and want AI that reads a caregiver application specifically, at a price that's on the page.
Side by side
How they stack up
First Shift
from $49/mo
Unlimited users on every plan · plans provisional, see /pricing
Best for: The owner or office manager of a single, independent home care agency running 10 to 40 caregivers who wants every application read and scored, not just filed
- AI fit score 0–100 with strengths, gaps and red flags for every application
- Red flags when an applicant hasn't stated a registry check, background check, TB test or CPR certification
- Plain-English candidate search across your pipeline
- Side-by-side candidate comparison
- Automated candidate emails
- Careers page and application form built in
- Unlimited users on every plan
- Ask First Shift a question about your pipeline from Claude or ChatGPT
Hireology
$249–499/mo
Third-party estimate for Essentials/Professional; Hireology quotes Core/Perform directly
Best for: Multi-location and franchise operators who want one hiring platform standardized across every office
- Job posting and career sites
- Background screening (add-on)
- AI Interview (add-on)
- Interview scheduling
- Multi-location hiring reporting
- Payroll & HR integrations (add-on)
Feature by feature
First Shift vs Hireology: feature comparison
Feature | First Shift | Hireology |
|---|---|---|
AI fit score 0–100, with strengths, gaps and red flags | ✓ | AI-assisted prioritization on the Perform tier — no published 0–100 score |
Red flags for missing registry/TB/CPR statements | ✓ | — |
Plain-English candidate search | ✓ | — |
Side-by-side comparison | ✓ | — |
Automated candidate emails | ✓ | verify — not published on hireology.com |
Careers page + application form | ✓ | ✓ |
Job board posting | — | verify |
Multi-location reporting | — | ✓ |
EVV / scheduling | — | — |
Unlimited users | ✓ | verify — not published |
Ask from Claude/ChatGPT | ✓ | — |
from $49/mo | from $49/mo | $249–499/mo (third-party estimate; verify) |
A closer look at Hireology
Hireology sells two published tiers on its own site, Core and Perform, both without a listed price. You request a demo to get a number. Third-party pricing trackers put the older Essentials/Professional names at around $249/mo and $499/mo, and Hireology's own disclaimer language on those trackers confirms it's an estimate, not a published rate. Perform adds AI-assisted prioritization; Core and Perform both offer background screening, skills testing, reference checks and payroll/HR integrations as à la carte add-ons rather than included features.
Hireology is explicitly built for multi-location operators, and it has a real home care customer: Visiting Angels, the franchise brand, uses Hireology to source and hire caregivers across its locations. That's a genuine credential for a franchise network. It's a different fit for a single independent office that isn't rolling hiring up across sites.
What are our strengths?
First Shift
- The price is public, on /pricing, not a number you get after a demo call
- Built to read a caregiver application specifically, not a generic hire
- Flags what's missing from the application before you check the registry yourself
- Unlimited users on every plan, no per-seat math as your office staff grows
Hireology
- Proven at franchise scale: Visiting Angels runs its caregiver hiring on Hireology
- One vendor for background checks, skills testing, reference checks and payroll/HR if you want them bundled
- Standardizes a hiring process across many offices under one brand
Which one is for you?
When to choose each tool
When to choose First Shift
- You run one office, 10 to 40 caregivers, no other locations
- You want the price in writing, not a number after a demo call
- You want AI that reads a caregiver application, not a generic hiring workflow
- You don't need multi-location reporting or franchise-brand tooling
When to choose Hireology
- You run multiple offices or locations and need hiring standardized across them
- You're a franchise location on a brand that already runs on Hireology, like Visiting Angels
- You want background screening, skills testing, reference checks and payroll/HR integrations from one vendor
- You hire outside caregiving too: Hireology also serves automotive and hospitality
Frequently asked questions
Is Hireology built for home care?
Not specifically. Hireology serves automotive, healthcare and hospitality broadly. It does have a real home care customer: Visiting Angels, the franchise brand, runs its caregiver hiring on Hireology, but the product itself isn't home-care-specific the way First Shift is.
How much does Hireology cost?
Hireology doesn't publish prices on its own site; you get a quote after a demo. Third-party pricing trackers estimate the older Essentials/Professional tiers at around $249/mo and $499/mo. Verify directly with Hireology before you budget against that number. First Shift publishes its price: from $49/mo, see /pricing.
Does First Shift check the registry, background, TB or CPR for me?
No. First Shift flags when a caregiver's application doesn't state a registry check, background check, TB test or CPR certification. You still run the check yourself, the same way you do today, and confirm the current rule with your state.
The verdict
The honest split
Hireology's real edge is proof at franchise scale and an add-on marketplace. If you want background checks, skills testing and payroll integrations from one vendor, that's a legitimate reason to pick it, especially if you're a Visiting Angels location already on it. First Shift's edge is narrower and deliberate: it reads a caregiver application specifically, flags what's missing before you check the registry, and publishes its price instead of gating it behind a demo. For the single-office, 10-to-40-caregiver agency that this page is written for, that's the more useful trade.
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