Every job search starts the same way. A spreadsheet, maybe a Notion page, a few browser tabs, and the quiet promise that you will keep it updated. Two weeks in, the tracker is out of date, the recruiter threads are scattered across email and LinkedIn, and you cannot remember which version of your resume you sent where. The right tool fixes that. Here is an honest comparison of the four options most people actually consider in 2026.
What a good job tracker actually needs to do
- Capture an application from a job posting in one or two clicks, without retyping the company, title, and URL.
- Hold one source of truth per role: posting, resume version sent, cover letter, contacts, status, notes.
- Move applications through a real pipeline (saved, applied, screen, onsite, offer, closed) without ceremony.
- Surface what to do next today, not just a graveyard of stale rows.
- Stay private. Your search history is sensitive data.
Huntr
Huntr was the first to nail the kanban-for-jobs format. The browser extension captures postings cleanly from LinkedIn, Greenhouse, Lever, and most ATS hosts. Free tier covers a light search; the paid tier adds resume tailoring and contact tracking.
Best for
People who think visually and want a clear kanban board. Strong if you are managing 30+ active applications and want to see the funnel at a glance.
Watch out for
Resume tailoring is generic AI rewriting, not grounded in your real career history. Easy to produce something that reads fluently but does not actually match the role.
Teal
Teal leans heavier on resume building. The tracker is solid (kanban or list view), and the resume tool has good keyword analysis against job descriptions. Free tier is generous; paid tier (Teal+) unlocks unlimited AI features.
Best for
People who want resume tooling and tracking in one place and are willing to manage versions manually. Good fit if you are early-career or pivoting and need to iterate on resume framing a lot.
Watch out for
Keyword matching is not the same as ATS optimization. A resume that scores 90% on Teal's match meter can still get filtered by an actual ATS because of formatting or section headers.
Simplify
Simplify's pitch is autofill. Their extension fills out application forms across most major ATS platforms, which genuinely saves time on volume applications. They also added a tracker and a job board.
Best for
High-volume applicants, especially early-career and new grads applying to dozens of roles a week. The autofill is the real product.
Watch out for
Autofill encourages spray-and-pray. The applications that actually convert in 2026 are the ones tailored to the role, not the ones submitted fastest. The tracker piece is lightweight compared to Huntr or Teal.
A spreadsheet
Still the most popular tracker by far, and there is no shame in it. A clean Google Sheet with columns for company, role, source, date applied, contact, status, and next step beats every fancy tool that you do not actually update.
Best for
Searches under about 20 active applications, or anyone who already has a system they trust. Free, private, no learning curve.
Watch out for
Manual everything. No reminders, no resume versioning, no contact threading. The spreadsheet is only as good as your discipline to update it, and most searches lose that discipline by week three.
Where Offboard fits
Offboard's tracker is built into the same workspace as your resume, cover letters, interview prep, and financial runway. The difference is memory: when LUMO helps you tailor a resume for a role, it already knows which version you sent to the last similar role, what notes you took after the screen, and which contacts at the company you have talked to. The tracker is one view on top of a connected career memory, not a standalone board you have to sync manually with the rest of your search.
High volume, mostly autofill: Simplify. Visual board, contact tracking: Huntr. Resume-first iteration: Teal. Under 20 applications and you trust your habits: a spreadsheet. Anything post-layoff where you need resumes, interviews, runway, and tracking to share context: Offboard.
The tool matters less than the habit. Whichever you pick, set a daily 15-minute checkpoint to log new applications, move stale ones, and decide one concrete next action. That habit is what separates searches that compound from searches that fizzle.