A recruitment platform, not WordPress with plugins

Name: Serena — WordPress alternative for recruitment
Brand: Serena

For agencies and RPO providers who ship careers sites without stacking plugins, running security patches, or burning dev hours up front. 45+ ATS integrations built in. Site online in a day — content follows your team's pace.

Book a 15 min demo Check a demo

Recruitment sites for leading employers

4,5/5- Best Recruitment Platform Tool -RT25600+ sites live

Case study
Case study
99% form completion, with lower cost per applicant for high-volume hiring flows.
Maarten Bokhoven
Albert Heijn
Case study
Case study
An international recruitment site managed faster than a WordPress or custom-build route.
Smurfit Westrock
Customer case study
Testimonial
Testimonial
"That’s the advantage of Serena: it gives us the freedom to keep employee content up to date ourselves."
Vikthor Looten
Equans

Why WordPress hurts for recruitment

Five concrete pain points every partner recognises after building or maintaining a careers site on WordPress.

Plugins stacked for basic functions

Filters, job alerts, ATS connector, application form, cookie consent. Four to eight plugins per site, each with its own update cycle and conflict risk.

ATS integration is custom per client

Every ATS has its own WordPress plugin (or none). Bullhorn, Vincere, JobAdder, iCIMS — different mapping, different forms, different sync cadence. Building and testing takes days per client.

Security and updates land on you

WordPress core, theme, plugins, PHP versions. Weekly maintenance per client site. At 10 clients that is half an FTE of non-billable work.

Mobile performance is a fight

Page speed drops once 3+ plugins are active. Recruitment traffic is 70% mobile. Slow load times mean high bounce rate on the application flow.

Content templates do not exist

Every client site is bespoke. No way to ship 5 comparable careers sites without rebuilding each one from scratch.

99%apply completion

Albert Heijn

Application conversion on werk.ah.nl at Serena scale — one platform built for high-volume candidate journeys.

Serena is a recruitment website platform, not a generic CMS bent to fit jobs. Everything a careers site needs (templates, filters, ATS sync, mobile-first forms, analytics) is built in, centrally managed, and works for every client on the same foundation.

Three reasons to pick Serena over WordPress

Built for Recruitment Performance

Candidate-journey analytics, conversion dashboards, and recruitment-grade forms built in — measurable from day one, no Google Tag Manager workarounds.

Candidate-journey analytics and conversion dashboards available by default
Mobile-first templates with low-friction native application forms
Prove the lift to stakeholders with built-in dashboards, not GTM workarounds.
+175% conversion lift on Equans's careers site after switching off WordPress — measurable from day one, no GTM workarounds.
Lift earned by optimal tracking insights, best-converting native application forms, and unlimited flexibility with employer-branding modules.

Effortlessly scalable

Five client sites live in the time you currently spend on a single bespoke WordPress project.

Drag-drop editor and template library for reusable design per client segment
Job sync from the ATS, filter-based styling, content templates
Hey Serena assistant for fast content production

No developers required

No hosting, no plugin patches, no PHP updates. You ship careers sites; Serena carries the technical foundation.

ISO 27001 certified managed hosting
45+ ATS integrations out of the box (Bullhorn, Vincere, JobAdder, iCIMS, Recruitee, Carerix)
Site online in a day — content follows your team's pace — instead of a multi-week project

100+jobs in multiple countries

Smurfit Westrock

ATS connector live in five minutes for 100+ jobs across multiple countries — no plugin customisation per client.

Results that speak for themselves

45+

ATS integrations

Out of the box

RecruiteeCarerixJobylonSAP SuccesfactorsiCIMS

Cost per applicant

€3€1

Before

After

Conversion rate

3%9%

Trusted by leading employers

Hear from recruitment teams who moved their careers site to Serena.

Once we had the template, we were able to simply scale for more than 10 brands globally for Ahold Delhaize.

— Getnoticed

We are able to manage 10 recruitmentsites for clients with an efficient team, could have never done this with generic CMSs.

— EN HR Solutions

Doorstep

The best available website tool with an ATS included for SMEs starting to upgrade their recruitment strategy.

— Doorstep

Predictable Pricing. No Developer bills.

Replace €10K+ custom builds with a platform that scales with your business. Transparent pricing. No hidden costs. No per-client surprises.

save up to 20% with annual

Basic

€79/mo

For small teams starting with recruitment websites

Integrations

Serena ATS included
ATS connection add-on (€49/month)

Marketing

Google Analytics & Google for Jobs & GEO

Characteristics

Up to 20 vacancies
Max 2 users
Ticketing support

Start free trial

Advanced

€249/mo

For growing businesses scaling recruitment

Everything in Basic

Integrations

ATS connection included

Marketing

Advanced Serena Data Layer & SEO Templates

Characteristics

Up to 250 vacancies
Multi languages support included

Start free trial

Enterprise

€650/mo

For complex organizations with high-volume recruitment

Everything in Advanced

Integrations

Premium ATS support
Single Sign-On (SSO)

Characteristics

Up to 2,500 vacancies
Priority phone support
Custom SLA available

Schedule expert call

Quick Start with our Onepager

Just need one campaign page? Start from €49/mo with ATS, analytics & unlimited applicants.

Start free trial

Trusted by 15+ partners across Europe

4,5/5RT25 awards

Built for the toughest projects.

ISO 27001

GDPR Compliant

99.9% Uptime

Automatic Updates

45+ ATS integrations

All our recruitment and marketing tech integrations

45+ integrations, with much more coming through our Serena Marketplace.

Featured integrations

Workday

SAP SuccessFactors

SmartRecruiters

Teamtailor

Homerun

Recruitee

iCIMS

Oracle

Salesforce

AFAS Software

Jobylon

Carerix

Cost comparison: WordPress + plugins vs Serena

Licences and plugins

WordPress + plugins: £350-700/year per site (themes, 6-8 plugins). Serena: included from £45/month per site.

Hosting and security

WordPress + plugins: £25-85/month per site + patch work. Serena: included (ISO 27001 managed).

ATS integration per client

WordPress + plugins: 8-20 dev hours upfront + maintenance. Serena: built in, configure in minutes.

Maintenance per month

WordPress + plugins: 3-6 hours per site (updates, conflicts, security). Serena: 0 hours (fully managed).

Time to live for a new client

WordPress + plugins: 4-12 weeks. Serena: site online in a day, content follows your team's pace.

Predictability

WordPress + plugins: incidental, dependent on plugin updates. Serena: fixed monthly price.

Open ecosystem, no vendor lock-in

Instantly connect every recruitment tool your team needs. Roadtrip, Mr. Work, Rekan, GetNoticed and growing — partner-chosen marketplace, not a WordPress plugin stack tied to one theme vendor.

Capability	What it does
Licences and plugins	WordPress + plugins: £350-700/year per site (themes, 6-8 plugins). Serena: included from £45/month per site.
Hosting and security	WordPress + plugins: £25-85/month per site + patch work. Serena: included (ISO 27001 managed).
ATS integration per client	WordPress + plugins: 8-20 dev hours upfront + maintenance. Serena: built in, configure in minutes.
Maintenance per month	WordPress + plugins: 3-6 hours per site (updates, conflicts, security). Serena: 0 hours (fully managed).
Time to live for a new client	WordPress + plugins: 4-12 weeks. Serena: site online in a day, content follows your team's pace.
Predictability	WordPress + plugins: incidental, dependent on plugin updates. Serena: fixed monthly price.
Open ecosystem, no vendor lock-in	Instantly connect every recruitment tool your team needs. Roadtrip, Mr. Work, Rekan, GetNoticed and growing — partner-chosen marketplace, not a WordPress plugin stack tied to one theme vendor.

45+healthcare roles

Vierstroom

inTandem moved a 45+ role healthcare careers site beyond WordPress limits: full design freedom plus Roadtrip Explorer journey data through Serena's Datalayer.

600+ careers sites on Serena

Control, calm, certainty and growth — that is how EN HR Solutions describes moving from WordPress chaos to a standardized Serena platform for client sites.

— EN HR Solutions

Serena CMS is ultra-fast, scalable and user-friendly — for both candidates and internal stakeholders. With 400+ recruitment sites delivered, we know what works.

— Dirk Driessen, Managing Director, Getnoticed (Serena Gold Partner)

600+ careers sites45+ ATS integrationsISO 27001 certifiedSite online in a day vs 4-12 weeks WordPress · content follows

Serena AI

Just tell Serena what you need

Skip the menus and manuals. Describe what you want in plain language and Serena builds it — import branding, generate pages, connect an ATS, all through conversation.

Import a client's brand from any URL with one prompt
Generate page content matched to their tone of voice
Natural language site building for your whole team

Explore the platform

ai.serena.com

Hey Serena

Online

Build a careers page for Example.com using their brand

Done! I've created a careers site with Example.com's brand colors, logo, and tone.

Brand importedColors, logo, fonts

3 pages generatedHome, About-us, Contact

ATS connectedATS synced

Ask Serena anything...

"But our client just invested in WordPress?"

A migration to Serena as your CMS does not mean losing the investment your client already made. Content, structure, domains, and SEO redirects come with you; what changes is the maintenance model. Let us show you how easily we can migrate you from WordPress to Serena in a short demo.

Book a 15 min demo Take the platform tour

Frequently asked questions

How does a migration from WordPress to Serena work?

Three steps. Content export from WordPress (pages, media, vacancies). Template mapping by the Serena CS team together with your designer. Redirect schema for SEO. Migration typically runs 2-4 weeks for an average careers site, without the live site going down during the cutover.

What does Serena cost compared to my current WordPress stack?

From £45/month per site. That includes hosting, security, updates, drag-drop editor, templates and 45+ ATS integrations. A WordPress careers site averages £350-1,000 per year in licences and hosting, plus 3-6 hours of maintenance per month. Beyond 3 client sites, Serena is cheaper, and you ship faster.

What if we use specific WordPress plugins or custom code?

Serena has a marketplace of partner tools and an open API. For custom requirements: 45+ ATS integrations are built in, employer culture modules are native, analytics is built in. For specific client logic the CS team supports a co-development approach. You do not lose functionality — you gain predictability.

Do we lose technical control?

No. You keep CSS access, a drag-drop editor and a direct line to the Serena CS team. The difference: you build on top of a foundation that is maintained for you, instead of keeping everything running yourself. You decide how deep you go in configuration and styling.

What happens to SEO and existing rankings?

301 redirects are mapped per URL. Meta data, structured data and sitemap are migrated. Typically partners see SEO performance stabilise or improve within 6-8 weeks, helped by better Core Web Vitals (mobile page speed, LCP) on Serena.

Does Serena work for companies with anywhere from 10 to 10,000 open positions?

Yes. The platform is designed for that spread: small agencies with a limited client portfolio and large RPO providers with thousands of vacancies per client. Job sync, filters and templates scale without rebuilding per client.

From WordPress to Serena in 4 weeks

No downtime on your live site. Team of 2 people.

Week 1
Audit & mapping
Serena CS team inventories your current content, plugins and ATS setup.
Serena CS
Week 2
Template build
Drag-drop rebuild in Serena with your own brand and CSS.
You + Serena
Week 3
ATS connector + content migration
Vacancies and pages across, redirects mapped.
Serena CS
Week 4
Go-live + SEO monitoring
DNS switch, 301s active, Core Web Vitals in analytics.
You + Serena

What you keep

SEO rankings (via 301s)
Custom CSS (portable)
Content (exported)
Domain and brand identity

What you lose

Plugin stack
Patch weekends
Security worry
Hosting invoice
ISO 27001 certification project

A recruitment platform for agencies and RPO providers. No WordPress, no plugins, no dev hours upfront.

Book a demo

A recruitment platform, not WordPress with plugins

Book a 15 min demo Check a demo

Recruitment sites for leading employers

4,5/5- Best Recruitment Platform Tool -RT25600+ sites live

Case study
Case study
99% form completion, with lower cost per applicant for high-volume hiring flows.
Maarten Bokhoven
Albert Heijn
Case study
Case study
An international recruitment site managed faster than a WordPress or custom-build route.
Smurfit Westrock
Customer case study
Testimonial
Testimonial
"That’s the advantage of Serena: it gives us the freedom to keep employee content up to date ourselves."
Vikthor Looten
Equans