LinkedIn Recruiter vs Handshake Events
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
LinkedIn Recruiter
This app helps talent professionals find and engage ideal candidates quickly. Search and connect with a vast network, review profiles, and manage your recruitment pipeline from anywhere. It offers AI-powered messaging and smart filters to streamline the hiring process.
- Search entire LinkedIn talent pool
- AI-generated messages for higher acceptance rates
- Real-time candidate response notifications
- Manage job posts and applicants
- Collaborate with team members
- Access ATS data on candidate profiles
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Find your ideal candidate faster with the LinkedIn Recruiter app. Stay on top of recruiting while you’re on the go by searching and connecting with our entire network of 1 billion+ members, right from your phone. Review profiles, reach out and respond to candidates, and manage your pipeline, whenever and wherever you’d like. With the LinkedIn Recruiter app, you can: • Be notified in real-time when candidates respond to your messages • Increase InMail accept rate by 40% with AI-generated messages • Search the entire LinkedIn talent pool using Spotlights, smart filters and keywords • Review best-matching candidates using Recommended Matches and Spotlights • Stay on top of important tasks with Suggested Actions • Post, update and manage your job posts and applicants • Access and edit your recent searches easily • Collaborate with your team by tagging them in Notes and starting a conversation • Easily share candidate profiles with your hiring manager/client for feedback • View information from your ATS directly on candidate profiles with Recruiter System Connect The LinkedIn Recruiter app requires a Recruiter or Recruiter Lite account, which is a paid LinkedIn subscription for talent professionals. If you are interested in learning more about LinkedIn Recruiter, please visit: https://business.linkedin.com/talent-solutions/recruiter LinkedIn is committed to making its products and features accessible. Please find our statements to support this commitment at https://linkedin.com/accessibility/reports.
Handshake Events
Streamline event management for recruitment by connecting sourcing, scheduling, communication, and messaging. This app facilitates on-the-go candidate engagement, evaluation, and follow-up for both virtual and in-person events, speeding up the hiring process.
- Seamless sourcing, scheduling, and communication
- Offline event experience
- On-the-go candidate profiles and evaluations
- Resume photo capture
- Targeted follow-ups
- Video support
- Powerful scheduling workflows
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Handshake Events elevates your event strategy online and on campus by seamlessly connecting sourcing, scheduling, communication, and messaging all in one place. The new end-to-end system provides your field team with a hassle-free event experience where they can keep in touch—anywhere, anytime—with no internet connection required. You invest a lot of time and money into your event strategy and Handshake Events seamlessly connects sourcing, scheduling, communication, and messaging. You can hire your future workforce—fast—and speed up candidate conversion. Instant access on the go to student profiles and evaluations means recruiters can say hello and connect with students as they configure check-ins and questions, track attendees, capture recommendations, take notes, snap photos of resumes, and create targeted follow-ups before, during, and after virtual and in-person events. They will no longer have to worry about switching devices, and can instead focus on getting to know candidates and sharing valuable info—staying on Handshake every step of the way. It even supports video. Handshake Events is events made easy. Build a strong talent brand Deliver a standout candidate experience every step of the way. Consolidate sourcing and events Meet, message, and engage qualified candidates from the largest network of skilled Gen Z talent. Better candidate experience Instantly send scheduling links to great candidates to plan next steps. Students on Handshake and prospects can now check-in, schedule meetings, and RSVP right from the app. Speed up conversion Move candidates through the hiring funnel faster with on-the-go evaluations. Events at your fingertips Attendees get all information in one place, on their phone. Powerful scheduling Manage complex scheduling workflows for multiple teammates. Maximize on-campus and event ROI Analyze and optimize event performance to make sure you're spending your resources wisely. Speed up hiring and increase recruiter capacity Drive your hiring funnel forward from evaluations to 1:1s, faster—and with fewer gaps
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: LinkedIn Recruiter at 4.8 against Handshake Events's 3.3. LinkedIn Recruiter also leads on ratings volume (9.2K vs 7). Handshake Events's advantage is monetization model (free vs paid) and ads (none vs shown). On price, update cadence, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
LinkedIn Recruiter holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: LinkedIn Recruiter has 9.2K ratings behind it against 7, so its average is the more settled of the two.
LinkedIn Recruiter ships an update every 5 weeks, Handshake Events every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and September 26, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | LinkedIn Recruiter | Handshake Events |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (9.2K ratings) — better | 3.3 (7 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 25.2% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 9.2K — better | 7 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 weeks — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 59 MB | 25 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | LinkedIn Corporation | Stryder Corp. |
Customer experience
LinkedIn Recruiter
Handshake Events
Bugs and requests
LinkedIn Recruiter
Reported bugs
4 issues- Messages not sending properly
- Profiles and projects not loading correctly
- Push notifications not working as expected
- Incompatibility with newer devices
Requested features
5 requests- Ability to edit message templates
- Option to select candidate relocation preferences
- More granular distance search filters
- Expanded city/location database
- Direct access to job applicants and pipelines
Handshake Events
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
LinkedIn Recruiter
No in-app purchases
Handshake Events
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is LinkedIn Recruiter free?
Is Handshake Events free?
Which has better reviews, LinkedIn Recruiter or Handshake Events?
Do LinkedIn Recruiter or Handshake Events have ads?
Which is updated more often, LinkedIn Recruiter or Handshake Events?
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