Best Free Job Application Tracker

“Free” is a loaded word. Some “free” job application trackers cap you at 20 jobs. Some are free trials. Some show you ads while you’re trying to land a job. Here’s what the actually-free options look like, what the asterisks are, and how ReTrack compares.

The contenders

Tool	Free tier	Mobile	Auto-fill	Ads	Best for
ReTrack	Unlimited, forever	PWA + Chrome ext	Any URL	None	Job seekers who want zero friction
Huntr	Limited (free tier capped)	Web + extension	Yes (paid)	None	Power users willing to upgrade
Notion template	Unlimited	Mediocre on mobile	No	None	People already in Notion
Google Sheets	Unlimited	Mediocre on mobile	No	None	Spreadsheet natives
Trello	Up to 10 boards	Decent	No	Soft (upsells)	Kanban thinkers
Excel	One-time purchase	Mediocre on mobile	No	None	Offline diehards

What “free” actually means in practice

ReTrack — free forever

Unlimited applications. Unlimited devices. Web + Chrome extension + mobile PWA. Auto-fill from any job URL. No paid tier exists. No ads. The product is the free product.

Huntr — freemium with caps

The free tier limits how many jobs you can track and how many features you can use. Auto-fill, analytics, and document storage are paid. Reasonable for someone who’s willing to pay; misleading if you assume “free” means “the whole thing.”

Notion templates

Unlimited because Notion’s personal tier is free. The template itself is free. The work to maintain it isn’t — every job entry is manual, the mobile experience is heavy, and templates from different creators all work slightly differently. Great if you already live in Notion. Painful if you’re trying to start fresh.

Google Sheets

The classic. Unlimited. Free. Works on every device. But: every job entry is copy-paste, the mobile sheet UI is rough, and there’s no concept of moving a card between stages — you’re editing a “Status” column.

Trello

Free for up to 10 boards, which is plenty for one job search. The Kanban view is naturally a good fit for the saved → applied → interview → offer flow. But there’s no auto-fill, no listing-aware integrations, and you’re constantly being upsold to Premium.

Excel

If you have it, it works offline. If you don’t, it’s not free. Mobile editing is a chore.

How to pick

Be honest about three things:

1. Will you actually open it on your phone? If yes, rule out anything with a clunky mobile experience (Sheets, Excel, most Notion templates).
2. How much friction will kill you? If retyping every job’s title and company will eventually make you stop using the tool, you need auto-fill — which rules out the manual options.
3. Are you OK with caps and upsells? If yes, Huntr’s paid tier is fine. If you want something that’s just free, ReTrack and Notion are your only real choices, and ReTrack has auto-fill.

The honest pitch for ReTrack

ReTrack is free, has auto-fill, has a real mobile app (PWA), has a Chrome extension, and shows zero ads. There’s no paid tier — not because we’re going to add one later, but because the whole product is built to be the simple, free thing. If you find a feature you want that ReTrack doesn’t have, tell us.

If you’ve been bouncing between Sheets and Notion and feeling friction every time, give it 5 minutes.