Cobalt vs Vincere 2025: Complete Comparison and Best Alternative

Vincere: Overview and Positioning

What is Vincere?

Vincere is an ATS/CRM founded in 2012, positioned as a Bullhorn alternative for recruiting agencies. The platform was acquired by Access Group in 2021, marking a turning point in product development and customer service.

Vincere's Positioning

Common Problems with Vincere

Since the Access Group acquisition, Vincere faces recurring criticism:

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Why Look for a Vincere Alternative?

The Customer Support Problem

Vincere support is the most consistent criticism, especially since the Access Group acquisition:

"Rather than using AI to enhance the user experience, Vincere opted to replace much of their customer service team with AI. Support is AI-first, and if the AI cannot assist, no human support is available on weekends."

Reported problematic practices:

• Poor communication and unresolved issues
• Aggressive sales tactics
• Less support after declining paid add-ons
• Discount offers for positive reviews (Trustpilot manipulation)

"They offered me 50% discount to change my review to 5 stars, which led me to change it to 1 star. The reviews on Trustpilot are being manipulated by this company."

Dependence on Third-Party Tools

Vincere depends on third-party solutions for key features:

This dependence means:

• Less control over features
• Slower innovation
• Additional costs

Limited Manual Search

"I spend several hours running the same search which would have taken me an hour or 90 minutes tops before. I am now running behind competitors. You cannot remove people from your search and rerun to see who is new."

Vincere search:

• Depends on accumulated manual tagging
• Uses complex Boolean queries
• Gives no context on why a candidate was selected

Email and Outreach Problems

Vincere offers an integrated inbox, but:

• Syncs only 1x/day (unless manual refresh)
• You still need to check your real inbox
• No integrated outreach sequences (separate purchase)

Problematic Contracts and Pricing

"We knew we were on an annual contract ending in March 2025. In December 2024, we asked to cancel. Thankfully we did - because Vincere/Access automatically renews your contract if you don't give 3 months' notice on a 12-month agreement. Miss that window and you could need to give 14 months' notice to cancel. Completely unreasonable."

• Auto-renewal without clear notification
• 3-month notice on annual contracts
• Unjustified price increases (+6.5% in April 2025)

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Cobalt vs Vincere: Detailed Comparison

Overview

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Sourcing and Tools

Vincere's third-party problem:

"Reliance on third-party tools means Vincere has no real control over its features, limiting customization options, and usually an indicator of slow innovation."

"Applications from Indeed and Vincere's own portal don't parse automatically into the ATS, requiring manual addition."

Sourcing Verdict: Cobalt develops tools in-house for more control and innovation.

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Search and Matching

Cobalt example:

Ask "Show me candidates with healthcare experience who have managed teams of 10+ people" and Cobalt instantly identifies matching candidates, scores them by relevancy, and provides an explanation for each selection.

Search Verdict: Cobalt offers AI natural language search, Vincere depends on manual tagging.

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Outreach and Email

Vincere's email problem:

"Your inbox only syncs once a day unless you manually refresh. In reality, you'll be refreshing your regular inbox to make sure you're not crossing mails - very impractical."

"Vincere opted not to build any outreach cadence technology. You need to purchase this functionality from a separate provider, and it will not be integrated."

Outreach Verdict: Cobalt integrates everything natively. Vincere requires separate purchases.

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Customer Support

Vincere's support problems:

"Support is AI-first, and if the AI cannot assist, no human support is available on weekends."

"We have heard several people complain about receiving significantly less support after declining their paid add-ons."

Support Verdict: Cobalt offers human local support. Vincere has degraded AI support.

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Contracts and Pricing

Vincere's contract trap:

"Vincere/Access automatically renews your contract if you don't give 3 months' notice. Miss that window and you could need to give 14 months' notice to cancel."

Contracts Verdict: Cobalt offers flexible, transparent contracts. Vincere has rigid practices.

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Summary Table: Cobalt vs Vincere

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Conclusion: Vincere or Cobalt?

Choose Vincere if:

• You're a UK temp staffing agency
• You need integrated payroll/shift management
• You accept rigid contracts
• AI-first support works for you
• You're willing to buy add-ons

Choose Cobalt if:

• You're a European staffing firm or agency
• You want responsive human support
• You're looking for in-house developed tools
• You want true semantic AI
• You prefer flexible contracts
• You want all-inclusive without add-ons
• You value transparency and ethics

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Ready to discover a better Vincere alternative?

Request a free Cobalt demo and experience truly human support and truly integrated tools.