Disclosure first: Betterleap is one of the tools on this page, and we wrote it. To keep it useful anyway, every claim about another vendor is quoted from that vendor's own website on the date under Sources, we say what each tool does not do, and we group tools by where their clinicians come from instead of ranking eleven unlike products against each other. For a travel nurse agency, "sourcing" is really four different supply questions, and no single tool answers all four.
Where a travel nurse agency's clinicians come from
A travel or allied staffing agency fills a contract from one of four places, and each has its own category of tool:
- Clinicians who are not looking. Licensed nurses and therapists who are not on any marketplace and have not applied anywhere. Reached by outbound sourcing tools that search an external candidate database and send the outreach.
- Travelers shopping for a pay package. Clinicians who are actively comparing contracts on a marketplace. Reached by posting your packages there and responding to the leads it sends.
- People already in your database. Past travelers coming off assignment, candidates who were never placed, and the friends of both. Reached by your ATS and CRM, its automation, and a referral program.
- Everyone above, once you have a number. Whichever source a clinician came from, the agency that texts back first usually wins the submission. Covered by engagement and texting tools that sit on top of the ATS.
Your staffing ATS is the system of record underneath all four. Two of the tools below are that system; the rest assume you have one and integrate with it.
The map
| Source of clinicians | What the tool does | Tools on this page |
|---|---|---|
| Clinicians who are not looking | Searches an external database, checks licensure, sends and follows up outreach | Betterleap, SeekOut, hireEZ, LinkedIn Recruiter |
| Travelers shopping for a package | Lists your contracts where travelers compare pay, sends you leads and profiles | Vivian, Wanderly |
| Your own database | Staffing ATS and CRM, redeployment automation, credentialing, referrals | Bullhorn, LaborEdge Nexus, Staffing Referrals |
| Any source, once you have a number | Two-way texting, automated engagement and re-activation on top of the ATS | Sense, TextUs |
Source 1: Clinicians who are not looking
Marketplaces and job boards only show you the travelers who are already shopping. Everyone else, which is most of the licensed workforce in a given specialty and state, has to be found and contacted. That is the job of a sourcing tool with its own candidate database.
Betterleap
Betterleap is an AI recruiting agent built only for healthcare. A recruiter describes the contract in plain language ("ICU nurses with a compact license within 50 miles of Phoenix"), and the agent searches 35M+ verified healthcare professionals, checks licensing data through 25+ state board partnerships, drafts a multi-step outreach sequence, sends it from the recruiter's own mailbox, follows up automatically and reports replies and pipeline velocity in one dashboard. It also re-engages the candidates already in your ATS after refreshing their contact data, and integrates with 25+ applicant tracking systems. Customers include hospitals, health systems and rehab providers; FOX Rehabilitation used it to enter 5+ new states with no prior talent pipeline and saw a 60% email open rate against 10% with its CRM (case study). What it does not do: it is not a marketplace, it does not credential, and it does not run your back office.
SeekOut
SeekOut is a cross-industry sourcing platform that lets you "find and engage candidates across 1B+ profiles and your ATS", with a healthcare recruiting capability it describes as recruiting "from the largest pool of healthcare workers". It also sells applicant evaluation and AI screening, ATS rediscovery ("44% of great hires already exist in your ATS") and a Chrome extension. It is the one tool in this group with self-serve pricing and a free trial (below). What it does not do: healthcare is one capability among many, and licensure verification against a state board is not described.
hireEZ
hireEZ describes itself as "One Talent Acquisition Platform. Agentic AI on top of your ATS." Its sourcing reaches the open web and partner networks "across 45+ platforms", and it lists Healthcare ("Match healthcare professionals to critical roles") and RPO/Staffing ("Automate talent pipelines with tailored outreach") among its industries, alongside tech, defense, insurance, finance, manufacturing and energy. The platform spans sourcing, CRM, outreach, screening, scheduling and analytics. What it does not do: it is a general-purpose platform; its site does not describe a healthcare-specific candidate index or licensure verification against a state board.
LinkedIn Recruiter
LinkedIn Recruiter, "now with Hiring Assistant", is "a talent platform to quickly source, manage, and connect with qualified candidates" on what LinkedIn calls "the world's most dynamic talent network". Its staffing page says "85% of staffing professionals say they're more successful with Recruiter" and points staffing firms to Recruiter Professional Services Plus. What it does not do: it searches member profiles, not a healthcare-specific index, so a nurse without an up-to-date profile is invisible to it, and licensure is whatever the member typed.
Source 2: Travelers shopping for a pay package
Travel nurses compare contracts the way everyone else compares flights. The two marketplaces below are where that comparison happens, and both sell agencies access to the people doing it.
Vivian
Vivian's agency product is "The AI-Powered Platform for Healthcare Staffing", "the largest online marketplace for healthcare talent, purpose-built for contract clinicians". Recruiters can "send proposals to over 2.5 million healthcare professionals in the Vivian Talent Pool" filtered "by skill, preferences, recent activity, and much more" (the same page also cites "over 2.8 million diverse professionals across RN, Allied, Therapy, and more"), receive Universal Profiles that "capture all the essential data for submission", and hand first contact to a Vivian AI Assistant that "engages, screens, and preps candidates 24/7". It quotes "up to 4x higher candidate engagement rates" and an "increase in placements of up to 15%" when the assistant is first to engage. Integrations cover "automatic job postings, instant ATS candidate synching for qualifying plans, and direct submissions to select VMSs", and Vivian IQ gives "real-time compensation insights by location, discipline, and specialty". What it does not do: it is inbound. Every clinician it shows you chose to be on Vivian, and so did every competing agency's recruiter. See also Vivian Health alternatives.
Wanderly
Wanderly runs a "Healthcare Staffing Marketplace" it describes as "the only true marketplace", where clinicians "search, compare, and apply to new pay packages" and read agency reviews ("Browse top-rated travel nursing and allied health staffing agencies"). Its products page cites "663,000+ registered users" and sells agencies Recruit, "a realtime platform connecting qualified, fully credentialed clinicians with your recruiters", plus Recruit Analytics, a Credential product ("Request and maintain compliance documents in the platform"), Matrix for shift scheduling and a Workforce back-office service. What it does not do: like Vivian it is inbound only, with a smaller stated pool, and it publishes no pricing.
Source 3: Your own database
Every travel agency's cheapest hire is a traveler it has already placed. The tools here are the staffing ATS itself and the two things that make a database produce new starts: automation and referrals.
Bullhorn
Bullhorn is the staffing-industry ATS and CRM ("More than 10,000 companies rely on Bullhorn's cloud-based platform"), with a healthcare edition offering "dedicated workflows for travel nursing, locum tenens, allied health, and per diem" and a claim to be "Trusted by 22 of the top 25 healthcare staffing agencies". Its sourcing features work on the database you already have: "instantly match open shifts with available, credentialed providers in your database", credentialing with visibility into expiring credentials, and Bullhorn Automation (formerly Herefish), which sends outreach "through email, SMS, and chat", books interviews and runs "automated data hygiene"; it quotes "24% more placements per head" and a "75% increase in redeployment". A marketplace of "300+ pre-integrated technology partners" is where most of the other tools on this page plug in. What it does not do: it does not bring you clinicians who are not in it. Bullhorn's AI "Digital Workers" automate match, screen, outreach and enrichment on your records, not an external search.
LaborEdge Nexus
LaborEdge builds Nexus, a healthcare-only staffing stack: NexusATS ("Keeping track of every job, every candidate, every credential, every client", with "Automated Credentialing based on assignment"), NexusVMS, and NexusMobile, "the healthcare industry's Candidate-Facing mobile application" where travelers "Apply/Respond/Accept", view schedules and upload credentials. The site is explicit that "LaborEdge provides a robust software solution and is NOT a staffing agency". What it does not do: like Bullhorn, it manages the candidates you have; it does not search an external pool, and it publishes no pricing.
Staffing Referrals
Staffing Referrals calls itself "The #1 Referral Software for Staffing Agencies" and opens with "Stop paying job boards for people already in your database". It automates "referral promotion, tracking, and management inside Bullhorn, Avionté, and more" (ATS sync is listed for Bullhorn, Avionté, LaborEdge and TempWorks), gives every recruiter a branded job page, pays bonuses "with a record finance can reconcile" and reports which placements the network drove. Its benchmark of "882,004 placements" says referred candidates "stay 50 to 82% longer than job-board candidates". Its sample job is an ICU nurse travel contract. What it does not do: a referral program only reaches the friends of people you already know; it is priced per agency and the price is quoted on a call.
Source 4: Any source, once you have a number
None of the tools above help if a lead sits unanswered for a day. These two are the engagement layer travel agencies put on top of the ATS so the first reply goes out in minutes.
Sense
Sense is a talent engagement platform for staffing firms ("Sense works with 5 of the 10 largest staffing firms in the world") that promises to "Fill roles up to 55% faster, while achieving 3× more placements and slashing spend by 35%". It personalizes messages over "SMS, WhatsApp, email, or chat", automates scheduling, reminders and follow-ups, and sells an AI Interviewer and AI Receptionist. Its sourcing pitch is re-activation: "With Sense's bi-directional ATS integrations, tap into your dormant database" and "Close over 70% of roles using talent already in your system, and transform your ATS into your most powerful sourcing channel". What it does not do: it has no external candidate database and no healthcare licensure layer; it works the people already in your system. Pricing is not published.
TextUs
TextUs is "Text Messaging Built for Staffing & Recruiting": "high-response, two-way texting" to "reach candidates faster, reduce time-to-fill, and boost placements", with campaigns that "automate initial outreach, segment contacts for specific roles" and a 1:1 inbox for "reviving a passive candidate, confirming an interview, or closing on a placement". It integrates with Bullhorn, Salesforce, HubSpot, Workday and Greenhouse and publishes its price (below). What it does not do: texting needs a phone number you already have; it is a channel, not a source.
Which tools publish pricing
| Tool | Published pricing (read 10 October 2026) |
|---|---|
| Betterleap | Not published; quoted per organization after a demo |
| SeekOut | Sourcing Core $149 per month paid annually, or $179 per month billed monthly; 14-day free trial, no credit card; team and ATS-integration tiers quoted |
| hireEZ | "Solo recruiters start at $494/mo with a 7-day free trial"; enterprise pricing "configured to the stack hireEZ replaces", after a four-week verification |
| LinkedIn Recruiter | Not published; "Contact sales" |
| Vivian | Not published |
| Wanderly | Not published |
| Bullhorn | Small agencies: Starter $99 per user per month, Core $165 per user per month; Pro, Max and the larger-agency, AI and Recruitment Cloud plans are quoted |
| LaborEdge Nexus | Not published |
| Staffing Referrals | Plans described (Starter, Pro, Enterprise), "priced per agency, not per seat", figure quoted on a call |
| Sense | Not published |
| TextUs | Pro $299 per month for 5,000 messages and 5 phone numbers, $0.02 per extra message, $49 per month per extra number; Enterprise custom |
How to pick a stack for a travel nurse agency
- Start from the contract you cannot fill. If it is a common specialty in a big metro, a marketplace probably has travelers for it and the fight is speed of response (Source 2 plus Source 4). If it is a rare specialty, a rural site or a state with few compact nurses, the people you need are not shopping, and you need an outbound tool (Source 1).
- Count the clinicians, not the profiles. Cross-industry databases quote hundreds of millions of profiles; what matters is how many licensed clinicians in your specialty and state they hold, and whether licensure is verified or self-reported. Ask each vendor for a count on one real requisition.
- Check who else the lead went to. A marketplace lead usually went to several agencies at once. An outbound reply came to you alone. Price per start, not per lead.
- Make the ATS the hub. Staffing Referrals, TextUs and Sense all name Bullhorn integrations, and Staffing Referrals names LaborEdge too. Choose tools that write back to the ATS so redeployment and referral automation see the candidates sourcing found.
- Pilot on the recruiter's mailbox and phone. Outreach that goes out under the recruiter's own name, with the follow-ups automated, is what travelers answer. Run a 30-day pilot on three open contracts and compare submissions per recruiter-hour across the tools.
Betterleap covers Source 1 and the ATS rediscovery half of Source 3 for healthcare only, and leaves the marketplace, credentialing and texting to the tools built for them. Want to see it search 35M+ healthcare professionals on one of your open contracts? Request a demo.
Sources
- Bullhorn, Staffing software for healthcare, Recruitment automation software for staffing agencies and Bullhorn product pricing, read 10 October 2026.
- LaborEdge, laboredge.com, read 10 October 2026; no pricing page is published.
- Vivian, Vivian for Staffing Agencies and hire.vivian.com, read 10 October 2026; no pricing page is published.
- Wanderly, Wanderly Products and Healthcare Staffing Agencies, read 10 October 2026; no pricing page is published.
- SeekOut, seekout.com and SeekOut Pricing, read 10 October 2026.
- hireEZ, hireez.com and hireEZ Pricing, read 10 October 2026.
- LinkedIn, LinkedIn Recruiter and LinkedIn Staffing Solutions, read 10 October 2026.
- Staffing Referrals, staffingreferrals.com and Pricing, read 10 October 2026.
- Sense, Staffing Agency Software, read 10 October 2026; no pricing page is published.
- TextUs, SMS for Staffing and Recruiting and TextUs Pricing, read 10 October 2026.
- Betterleap, betterleap.com and the FOX Rehabilitation case study.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best sourcing tool for a travel nurse staffing agency?
It depends on where your next traveler is. For clinicians who are not shopping any marketplace, an outbound healthcare sourcing agent such as Betterleap (35M+ healthcare professionals, licensure checked through 25+ state board partnerships, outreach sent for you). For travelers already comparing pay packages, Vivian or Wanderly. For redeploying your own database, Bullhorn or LaborEdge Nexus with Sense or TextUs on top.
Is Vivian a sourcing tool or a job board?
Both, from the agency's side. Vivian describes itself as the largest online marketplace for contract clinicians, and its agency product lets recruiters send proposals to the clinicians in its talent pool and hands first contact to an AI assistant. Every clinician it shows you chose to be on Vivian, which is also where competing agencies see them.
Do travel nurse staffing agencies need a sourcing tool if they use Bullhorn?
Bullhorn manages, matches and automates outreach to the candidates already in your database, and its healthcare edition has travel nursing workflows. It does not search clinicians who are not in it. Agencies add a marketplace or an outbound sourcing tool for new supply and keep Bullhorn as the system of record the new candidates flow into.
Which travel nurse sourcing tools publish pricing?
Of the eleven on this page, four publish a figure: Bullhorn for small agencies (Starter $99 and Core $165 per user per month), SeekOut Sourcing Core ($149 per month paid annually), hireEZ for solo recruiters ($494 per month) and TextUs Pro ($299 per month). Betterleap, Vivian, Wanderly, LaborEdge, Staffing Referrals, Sense and LinkedIn Recruiter quote per customer.
Does Betterleap work for staffing agencies or only hospitals?
Betterleap is built for healthcare employers of every kind, including staffing agencies. The agent searches 35M+ healthcare professionals, checks licensing data, sends outreach from the recruiter's own mailbox and integrates with 25+ applicant tracking systems, so replies land in the staffing ATS you already run.