Indeed and Glassdoor are two websites that employers can use to create business profiles, attract employees, post job listings, and more.
People searching for jobs can also use them to research companies, apply to job listings, and compare salaries.
But which one is better for employers or employees, Glassdoor or Indeed?
Today, I will be comparing them for multiple things, including finding out information about a company, and posting job listings.
At the end of this article, you’ll have a pretty good idea of whether to use Indeed or Glassdoor for your company or job search, depending on your needs.
Indeed vs Glassdoor: The Basics
Indeed
Indeed and Glassdoor are two very different websites. While they are owned by the same company, causing some overlap and integration between the two platforms, they serve very different purposes.
Indeed is a platform connecting companies looking to hire with people looking for jobs. Its focus is on job listings, although it does allow employers to build company profiles as well.
Glassdoor
Glassdoor, on the other hand, is a site focused on company profiles. While it is a job listing site as well, its focus is primarily on company profiles, allowing employees to review companies and share their experiences of working there.
It also provides other information to potential hirees looking for jobs, such as salary ranges.
Glassdoor vs Indeed: Creating Company Profiles
Indeed
Indeed allows you to create company profiles that inform job seekers about your company, what it stands for, and what the advantages of working at the company are. You’ll be able to make the best first impression of your brand, using custom branding, including your customer brand colors, images, and videos.
On your profile, you can highlight your most positive reviews to better improve your company image. You can also highlight job positions that you need to fill with high priority and add updates about your company, such as new job positions or initiatives that are focused on improving the work environment.
According to Indeed, if you use branded premium profiles, potential employees will be 2.5x more likely to apply, on average.
By signing up, you’ll also get access to advanced analytics about your company profile. That includes review data, page follower growth, and even side-by-side comparisons to competitors, allowing you to see how you compare to other companies regarding employee compensation, benefits, work/life balance, and more.
Different plans are available, and the features you will get will depend on which plan you pay for.
Glassdoor
Glassdoor also allows you to claim your employer profile. You can customize and brand your profile with your logo and tell your brand story from your perspective, making it more attractive for people to come work at your company.
You’ll be able to request reviews from current employees and respond to reviews that current and past employees post to your profile. Furthermore, you can publish updates about your company, showcase awards and ratings, and shape your brand image.
Analytics help you monitor your brand image and control how people view it. The analytics analyze your reviews and look for positive and negative sentiments to give you a clearer picture of how your brand is perceived in several aspects, such as employee benefits, leadership, diversity, and more.
Since Indeed and Glassdoor are owned by the same company, the analytics will include data from reviews on both Glassdoor and Indeed.
You can also compare yourself to other companies in your industry and create benchmarks and goals.
Also Read: Best LinkedIn Alternatives For Professional Networking
Glassdoor vs Indeed: Researching a Company
Indeed
Indeed is a decent option for researching what working at a company will be like. Indeed company profiles allow you to read real reviews from previous employees telling you the truth of what working at the company is like.
Employees can rate a company on different things, like work-life balance, job advancement, company culture, pay and benefits, and more.
Indeed will even feature things that stand out across all reviews, including both things that people like and areas the company can improve in. For example, people might like the way a company helps them reach their personal goals, but a sense of belonging might be lacking.
There is also a Question and Answer section where you can ask specific questions and get answers from current or past employees. Furthermore, you can browse previously answered questions.
Salary information is available as well, and you can learn more about career advancement opportunities and other perks.
One cool feature is the ability to compare one company to another. If you applied and got accepted to two positions at two different firms, comparing them side by side and seeing how they measure up can help you make a better decision.
Glassdoor
Glassdoor is also an excellent option for company research. Overall, I found it a bit better than Indeed for researching companies.
Right off the bat, you get more information about working at the company on the company’s profile page on Glassdoor compared to Indeed. For example, you’ll see more highlights from reviews, pros and cons, how diverse the company is, information about interviewing at the company, and more!
Overall, though, the difference is mostly in the layout. For example, in the Interviews section on Indeed, you might find information such as a breakdown of how long the interview process was for different people and the most common steps of the interview process, from applying to getting accepted.
On Glassdoor, on the other hand, you might find more in-depth reviews of the interview process and a breakdown of how many people had a positive vs. negative experience, allowing you to hear firsthand what to expect when applying.
One section I noticed when researching Spotify on Glassdoor, which I did not see on Indeed, was a “Benefits” section. The Benefits section allows you to get a lot more information about benefits, such as:
- Health insurance
- Retirement
- Vacation
- Time off
- Discounts
- And other perks
Both platforms have a Photos section and a Jobs section. In fact, despite Indeed being more of a job search platform than Glassdoor, Glassdoor features more Spotify jobs than Indeed, but that varies from one company to another.
Indeed vs Glassdoor: Discovering Salaries
Indeed
Part of researching a company involves looking up your potential salary. Both Indeed and Glassdoor have a section with salary information, usually generated from user-submitted data.
It’s worth looking at both Indeed and Glassdoor for salary information. Sometimes, Glassdoor will have more user submissions, but Indeed will have more at other times.
Indeed shows you the most relevant salary information as soon as you click on the Salaries tab. Glassdoor, on the other hand, breaks things down into different job categories, such as “Engineering” or “Research & Science.”
You’ll notice that salaries for the same job position at the same company are often different on the two platforms. For example, Glassdoor currently lists the salary for a data engineer at Spotify at $111,027 per year, while Indeed lists it at $145,720 per year.
That’s because this data is based on user submissions. However, both Indeed and Glassdoor give you a range showing you the lowest and highest salaries for each position, based on user submissions, which you can use to get a better idea of what range your salary will fall into.
Remember, your salary might vary based on your previous experience in the industry and your exact job requirements.
You can also compare the number of submissions for each job position. For example, Indeed currently has six salary submissions for a data engineer at Spotify, while Glassdoor has 31, making it a lot more accurate.
Glassdoor
Glassdoor also publishes salary listings, so if you don’t find the salary you were looking for on Indeed, search for it on Glassdoor. Besides, it’s worth comparing the data on both sites to get a more accurate idea of what the salaries are.
One thing I’ll note is that both Glassdoor and Indeed allow you to compare the salary of that particular job at that particular company to the average base salary for that job in the United States.
However, the data will again differ. For example, Indeed notes that working as a data engineer at Spotify brings in a salary 15% higher than the national average, while it’s only 11% higher according to Glassdoor.
That’s because both of those metrics (including the national average) are based on user submissions, which differ from one platform to the other.
Glassdoor vs Indeed: Posting Job Listings
Indeed
One of the major differences between Indeed and Glassdoor is that you can only post job listings on Indeed.
Indeed allows you to post free job listings. Start by creating your account, and then add a job title, location, and description.
You should also add the skills you require candidates to have to be eligible for the position.
Screening candidates is easy when you use Indeed. You can add qualifying questions, see resumes of applicants, message candidates, and schedule interviews.
While posting a job is free, you can also sponsor a job – or pay for it to be promoted – to get more visibility and increase your chances of hiring someone quickly.
When you sponsor a job, you only pay when people click on it. The pay per click model ensures that you get the extra engagement you are paying for.
Glassdoor
When you try to post a job listing on Glassdoor, it will simply redirect you to Indeed. Glassdoor itself doesn’t have any option to post job listings.
Don’t misunderstand this part – the jobs you post on Indeed will show up on Glassdoor as well. That gives you added exposure – candidates who exclusively use Glassdoor will see your open job positions too.
However, you do need to create a separate account on Indeed to post your jobs to Glassdoor. That is a bit of an inconvenience, whereas you don’t need to create an extra account if you already use Indeed.
Indeed vs Glassdoor: Browse Resumes
Indeed
What if you want to be proactive about finding new talent? Instead of posting a job listing and passively waiting for candidates to contact you, you might want to search for candidates who fit your bill and reach out to them first.
Indeed lets you do just that. If you have a premium plan, you can view millions of resumes from candidates around the world.
You can filter for resumes based on job title, skills, companies, field of study, location, and more. Once you find candidates you like, you can reach out to them.
Doing that allows you to get the best talent for your company before your competitors snatch them up. There are over 200 million resumes in the Indeed resume database, and you can use up to 25 filters and create projects to find the right people for different positions you need to fill.
There are even advanced filters like “Willingness to Relocate,” though access to those filters will depend on your plan.
According to Indeed, around one out of five of its users update their resumes but don’t actively seek out jobs. By signing up for a premium plan, you can reach those users as well.
Depending on your plan, you can also send SMS messages to candidates who opted in.
You are given 30 or 100 contact credits per month, depending on your plan. However, those contacts roll over for six months instead of expiring immediately, giving you more flexibility in how you reach out to candidates.
You can even set up resume alerts. Resume alerts notify you by email, every day, of new resumes uploaded to the database which match your search criteria.
That allows you to find fresh talent all the time. In fact, according to Indeed, employers who reach out to candidates have a 50% response rate.
After all, these people have actively uploaded a resume because they want to be contacted. All you have to do is present them with the offer.
Glassdoor
Another downside of Glassdoor is that it doesn’t have a global resume database. That makes finding the right employees a little more difficult.
Glassdoor vs Indeed: Applying to Jobs
Indeed
As a job seeker, which site is better for you? Both sites display job listings, but are they equally as useful when searching for jobs?
Indeed is my top choice if you are a job seeker searching for a job. That’s because it was designed, from the get-go, to be a job search and hiring platform.
Therefore, the process of searching for and applying for jobs is very straightforward and streamlined.
When using Indeed, you are able to upload an Indeed resume that you can later use to apply for many jobs on Indeed. You can find and edit your resume on your profile.
Your resume is what employers will see when applying for jobs directly on Indeed. It includes information such as:
- Your name and other personal information
- Your headline
- Your work experience, including positions and job descriptions
- Your education and degrees
- Your skills
- Links to your website, online portfolio, etc.
- Certifications and licenses
- Languages you speak
- Military service you have completed
- Awards you have received
- Groups you are a member of
- Patents you own
- Publications you have published
You can make your resume public or private. If you make it public, it will show up in the global resume database on Indeed.
That means that employers actively searching for workers will be able to find your resume and reach out to you about job opportunities, making your search significantly easier.
You can download your Indeed resume or get a direct link to share it with others.
Indeed offers an Instant Resume Report, which will provide insights into how you can improve your resume. It will look at spelling and grammar issues, suggested updates, resume length, use of high-impact action verbs, and more.
It will also search for missing information. In addition, you can preview how employers using Applicant Tracking Systems to pull data from resumes will see your information.
Note that you don’t have to use your Indeed resume when applying for jobs.
There are two types of jobs on Indeed. Some allow you to apply quickly by sending your Indeed resume directly on the job seeking platform.
Other jobs, though, require you to visit and apply on the company’s site. However, even when applying on Indeed, you always have the option of uploading a separate resume instead of using your Indeed resume.
When you’re ready to search for jobs, click on Find Jobs at the top menu. You can start your search by entering keywords, job titles, or the specific company you want to work at.
You should also enter a zip code or city. If you are looking for remote jobs, enter “Remote.”
Then, browse the results, view more information about each job listing, and follow the instructions to apply.
One cool feature is that Indeed will show you job suggestions based on your resume and recent activity on Indeed in a curated feed on the “Find Jobs” page.
Glassdoor
Glassdoor is also decent for finding jobs, especially now that the two platforms are owned by the same company and the same jobs show up on both platforms.
You’ll notice that Glassdoor only allows you to upload resumes to your profile, not to create a separate online Glassdoor resume. However, you can optimize your profile by changing your job search status (actively looking, not looking but open, etc.) and specifying the types of jobs and job titles you’re interested in.
You can also add a preferred salary range, industry, location, and more.
Since Glassdoor and Indeed are integrated, you can apply to many jobs directly using Indeed’s Easy Apply option. Other jobs will require you to visit the company website to apply.
Glassdoor allows you to search for and save jobs. Consider setting up job alerts so you are notified of new job opportunities as they are posted, allowing you to be the first to apply.
You can also go to the Companies page to find suggested companies to work for, compare companies, and read reviews.
Pros and Cons
Indeed Pros
- Search unlimited jobs for free
- Post jobs for free
- Search through millions of resumes
- Read company reviews and more
Indeed Cons
- Salary information isn’t always as accurate as on Glassdoor
- It costs money to search through resumes
- As an employer, you get limited contact credits per month for contacting employees
Glassdoor Pros
- It’s awesome for researching companies
- You can now see jobs from Indeed on Glassdoor
- Read company reviews
Glassdoor Cons
- You can’t post jobs on Glassdoor directly
- No resume database
- No online resume option
Pricing
Indeed
It’s free to post jobs on Indeed, and paying for a sponsored job can cost as little as $5/day. You only pay for real clicks, and you get to set your budget.
See updated pricing here.
Contacting candidates costs extra. You will need a premium plan after your free trial ends, which starts at $120/month.
Note that you only get a limited number of contact credits per month. After that, you can continue contacting candidates, but it will cost you $1/contact.
You can see updated pricing for resume search plans here.
Also Read: How To Write An Email For A Job?
Glassdoor
Glassdoor is free for businesses. The free plan allows you to add basic company information, review requests, and see basic profile analytics.
The premium plan allows you to do a lot more, including adding premium branded content, accessing advanced job seeker insights, competitive benchmarking, and more. You’ll need to contact sales for a quote, though, since prices aren’t spelled out on the website.
You can see more information about pricing here.
Similarities & Differences
| Indeed | Glassdoor | |
| Post Jobs | ✓ | ✓ (Through Indeed) |
| Optimize Profile | ✓ | ✓ |
| Read Company Reviews | ✓ | ✓ |
| Find Jobs | ✓ | ✓ |
| Get a Unique Online Resume | ✓ | ✗ |
| Search Resumes & Contact Candidates | ✓ | ✗ |
Wrapping It Up: Which Is Better, Indeed or Glassdoor?
Indeed and Glassdoor offer very similar services, especially after the integration.
For posting and finding jobs, Indeed is better. For researching companies or optimizing your company reputation, Glassdoor is better.
However, I recommend using both sites whether you’re a job seeker or employer, as they complement each other very well.
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