The 6 best temp agency tools for agencies under 100 workers (2026)

Why build a stack instead of one all-in-one suite?

The big all-in-one suites (Bullhorn, TempWorks, Avionté) are built for mid-market firms and priced per user, with implementation projects quoted on top and US compliance baked into their defaults. Small Canadian agencies are better off buying focused tools for each job (shift operations, payroll, accounting) and keeping them simple. Total cost is lower, you keep control, and you pay only for what you use.

1. Kordis: shift operations (filling, confirmation, credential gating, hours to payroll)

• What it is: the tool that runs the shift desk itself. Orders and shifts live in it, confirmation texts go out on their own, the quiet ones get called, fills are staged for your OK, screening calls come back with transcripts, and credential expiry (Smart Serve, Serving It Right, ProServe, forklift cards) gates dispatch.
• Best for: agencies running their own crews for repeat clients in warehouse, care, or event work. The more repeat shifts, the more of the week it takes over.
• Pricing: flat per agency, not per user. See pricing for the current rate.
• What it does not do: it does not run payroll (Wagepoint or Payworks does), keep your books (QuickBooks does), or manage a placement pipeline (that is an ATS like Bullhorn, if you ever need one).

2. Wagepoint or Payworks: Canadian payroll

Every staffing agency needs a dedicated payroll tool. Your bank account doesn't run payroll, and neither should your ATS or scheduler. Wagepoint and Payworks are both fully Canadian, handle CRA remittances, T4/ROE, WSIB, and provincial tax, and cost 50 to 100 dollars per month for a 20-person shop.

• Wagepoint ($20 base + $4 to $6 per employee/month): Simpler, lower per-employee cost. Best if you run straightforward payroll (no complex premiums).
• Payworks ($20.90 base + $2 per employee paid that run): Pay-as-you-go model; you're only charged for employees in each payroll run, not a fixed roster. Includes optional HR and time-tracking modules.
• Kordis produces a payroll-ready hours file from your confirmed shifts, so the hours reach your payroll tool without re-typing.

3. Agendrix or Workstaff: scheduling-only alternatives

If all you want is scheduling and clock-ins, without the confirmation calling, screening, credential gating, or payroll handoff, two Canadian tools do that job well: Agendrix for pure affordability, Workstaff for scheduling plus invoicing.

• Agendrix ($3.25 to $5.25/user/month): Quebec-built, the cheapest, bilingual, and includes HR document management and absence tracking. Great if you strictly need schedules and clock-ins. A 20-person team costs 65 to 105 dollars per month.
• Workstaff ($99 to $139/user/month): Montreal-built, bilingual, includes scheduling, timesheets, and invoicing. A 20-person team costs 2,000 to 2,800 dollars per month, but you get more ops features in one place.

4. QuickBooks: Accounting and books

• What it is: Accounting software for your business books (invoices, income, expenses, tax prep). Every staffing agency needs one.
• Best for: Tracking client invoices, reconciling hours with payments, and exporting financials for tax time or lender reports.
• Pricing: QuickBooks Online is 15 to 55 dollars per month depending on features.
• What it doesn't do: QuickBooks is not payroll. Wagepoint handles payroll; QuickBooks sees the payroll expense post to your P&L. They talk via integration (Wagepoint exports to QuickBooks).

5. (Optional) Excel or a spreadsheet for candidate tracking

• For a 25 to 100 person agency, a spreadsheet (applicant name, skills, availability, referral source, last contacted) is often enough. No tool cost; lives on your Google Drive or Dropbox.
• If you grow to 50+ active applicants and 2+ hiring people, graduate to a formal ATS like Bullhorn. Until then, a shared spreadsheet and email are fine.

6. Bullhorn (when you scale): Formal ATS for high-volume recruiting

• What it is: Applicant tracking and recruiting CRM. Market-leading but per-user pricing ($99 to $165+/month).
• Best for: Agencies that post 100+ job openings per year, have 2+ people recruiting, and need formal candidate pipelines and reporting.
• When to buy: When your ops person is spending 20+ hours per week on recruiting and you can afford $200+ per month in software. Before then, use a spreadsheet.
• Pricing: $99 to $165 per user per month. See our Bullhorn pricing guide for real costs.

Your complete tech stack: an example for a 30-person agency

This stack is complete: shifts filled and confirmed, payroll run on time, books clean, applicants tracked. And every piece keeps its own job, so you can swap any one of them later without touching the rest.

How do the tools hand off to each other?

Kordis turns confirmed shifts into a payroll-ready hours file your payroll tool imports, so nothing is re-typed. Wagepoint posts payroll to QuickBooks so the expense lands on your books. The handoffs are simple exports and imports rather than deep integrations, and that is the point: data moves down the chain, and no tool holds another hostage.