Greenhouse Job Board API vs USAJOBS API for AI agents
Greenhouse Job Board API is a public JSON view of one company's offices, departments and published jobs on Greenhouse, meant for building that company's careers site. USAJOBS API is the official REST API for searching public U.S. federal government job announcements on USAJOBS.
The short answer
- Greenhouse Job Board API: Reading a known company's live openings straight from its own applicant tracking system.
- USAJOBS API: Authoritative, reusable data on U.S. federal government job openings.
Side by side
| Greenhouse Job Board API | USAJOBS API | |
|---|---|---|
| Searches | One employer's Greenhouse job board per call (by board_token); employer-direct, no cross-company search. | Public job announcements posted on USAJOBS (status/internal jobs need extra steps); a single employer-side source, not an aggregator. |
| Returns | JSON jobs with id, title, location.name, updated_at, absolute_url and, with content=true, the full description, departments and offices. | JSON SearchResult items with PositionTitle, PositionURI, ApplyURI, OrganizationName, PositionLocation (with lat/long) and PositionRemuneration. |
| Before the first call | Nothing for GET: no authentication; you need the company's board_token. Submitting applications needs the company's API key. | An API key requested through an application form (name, email, phone, organization, intended use); calls send Host, User-Agent (your email) and Authorization-Key headers. |
| Free | No key needed, and its pages state no price | Not stated on its pages |
| Acting on a result | absolute_url is the employer's own job post (the docs don't say where it is hosted). | PositionURI/ApplyURI point to the announcement on usajobs.gov. |
| Limits on keeping or showing results | Not stated on its pages | Public Data may be copied, stored, republished and used commercially; attribution to USAJOBS is encouraged, not required; don't present modified data as official. Max 10,000 rows per query, 500 per page. |
| Coverage | Wherever the employer hires. | United States federal government jobs (in the U.S. and abroad). |
| MCP server | No official server listed | No official server listed |
Where Openpath fits
If the agent needs a job to apply for in Austin, Texas, or a remote one, Openpath returns the listings themselves, free and with no key. See Openpath vs Greenhouse Job Board API and Openpath vs USAJOBS API.
Questions people ask
What do I need before I can use Greenhouse Job Board API?
Nothing for GET: no authentication; you need the company's board_token. Submitting applications needs the company's API key.
Is Greenhouse Job Board API free?
No key needed, and its pages state no price.
What do I need before I can use USAJOBS API?
An API key requested through an application form (name, email, phone, organization, intended use); calls send Host, User-Agent (your email) and Authorization-Key headers.
Is USAJOBS API free?
Its pages listed no free use when we read them on October 15, 2026.
Sources
Every line about another company comes from its own pages. Prices and terms change, so check the source before you rely on one.
Greenhouse Job Board API, read on October 15, 2026:
- docs.greenhouse.io/job-board.html: “Job Board data is publicly available, so authentication is not required for any GET endpoints.”
- docs.greenhouse.io/job-board.html: “a simple JSON representation of your company's offices, departments, and published jobs”
USAJOBS API, read on October 15, 2026:
- developer.usajobs.gov/guides/authentication: “To request an API Key, please go the the API Request page and fill out an application.”
- developer.usajobs.gov/apirequest: “Only public job information is available through this site.”
- developer.usajobs.gov/guides/rate-limiting: “Maximum of 10,000 rows per query”
- developer.usajobs.gov/guides/terms-of-service: “Public Data may be copied, stored, reformatted, adapted, analyzed, published, redistributed, and used for lawful commercial”
- developer.usajobs.gov/guides/terms-of-service: “OPM encourages users to identify USAJOBS as the source, link to the current official job announcement”
- developer.usajobs.gov/api-reference/get-api-search: “URI to apply for the job offering.”
- usajobs.gov/HiringPath/Public: “the official employment site for the federal government”