12 Best Peer-to-Peer Recognition Software For Celebrating Employees
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Choosing the right employee recognition platform can be a challenge for HR professionals.
As businesses increasingly understand the critical role of employee recognition in fostering engagement and productivity, the demand for recognition software solutions has skyrocketed. Yet, with a myriad of providers out there, it's easy to feel lost in the sea of options.
In this article, we've curated a complete guide tailored specifically for HR professionals looking to implement peer-to-peer recognition software for their business. We’ll outline the core features and unique offerings of some of the top recognition platforms in the market. From intuitive user interfaces to robust analytics capabilities, each platform has something distinctive to offer.
By highlighting their strengths and areas of expertise, we help you make informed decisions that align with your organization's goals. Whether you're leading a small startup or managing a large enterprise, this article is your compass in the quest for the right software provider.
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12 Best Peer-to-Peer Recognition Software For Celebrating Employees
Qarrot
Number of G2 Reviews: Qarrot has received over 200 reviews on G2. Read Qarrot reviews.
Pricing: Qarrot offers simple pricing for businesses of every size. The most popular "pro" plan costs $4/user per month ($3.60/user if billed annually) and includes all of Qarrot's features and pro services, like comprehensive onboarding. Custom pricing is also available upon request, and you can always try Qarrot risk-free for up to 30 days for unlimited users.
Core Features: Some of Qarrot's core features include incentive campaigns, peer-to-peer recognition, recognition points, automated milestone awards and a global digital rewards catalog. The platform supports both manager-to-peer and peer-to-peer recognition, offering a points-based system for rewards. It's equipped with analytics for tracking recognition and engagement and integrates seamlessly with HRIS systems, Slack, and Microsoft Teams.
Unique Aspects: What sets Qarrot apart is its focus on strengthening workplace culture and driving employee motivation through its peer-to-peer recognition and incentive campaigns. Incentive campaigns leverage the power of gamification to incite employee motivation. Employees are given clear objectives to meet and automatically offered rewards and recognition for completing their stated objectives. This feature can help establish healthy competition within your team by allowing participants to track their progress toward objectives and compare their performance to others. Plus, they can see when others earn campaign rewards and congratulate one another.
100% of reviewers are planning to renew with Qarrot
Source: SoftwareReviews
Award Co.
Number of G2 Reviews: Awardco has received over 1,500 reviews on G2.
Pricing: Detailed pricing for Awardco is not publicly available and requires contacting the company for a demo or quote.
Core Features: Award Co’s platform core features include peer-to-peer recognition, recognition points, service awards and milestones, and incentive campaigns. As Amazon's only featured rewards and recognition partner, Awardco offers a large selection of rewards across various categories, ensuring employees have the power of choice in their rewards, supplemented by zero markups and free shipping on rewards.
Unique Aspects: Awardco's unique selling proposition is its status as Amazon's exclusive rewards and recognition partner, offering a vast and varied rewards catalog. This integration provides employees with a wide array of reward options, making the recognition experience more personalized and appreciated.
Bonusly
Number of G2 Reviews: Bonusly has received over 2,700 reviews on G2.
Pricing: Bonusly's Core plan is priced at $3 per user per month. The Pro plan is available at $5 per user per month. Both plans include their core peer-to-peer recognition feature. Custom pricing options are available for mid-sized to large organizations, tailored to their specific needs. Bonusly also offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card or commitment required.
Core Features: The Bonusly platform's core features include peer-to-peer recognition, a points-based recognition system, a rewards catalog, automated milestone awards, and incentive campaigns.
Unique Aspects: Bonusly is primarily a recognition platform, and it stands out for its extensive catalog of digital rewards, including gift cards to popular brands, cash options, and charity donations. This flexibility ensures employees receive meaningful recognition. Its custom rewards feature also lets employers add unique rewards, creating a tailored experience for their teams. Popular custom rewards include company branded swag, subscription services, and charitable giving options.
WorkTango
Number of G2 Reviews: WorkTango has over 400 G2 reviews.
Pricing: WorkTango's specific pricing details are not publicly disclosed. However, their pricing plan offers three subscription tiers—one for the employee survey module, one for the recognition and rewards module, and one that offers both modules. To learn more about pricing structures, you must request a demo or contact the company directly.
Core Features: WorkTango’s core features include peer-to-peer recognition, recognition points systems, a rewards catalog, incentives, and award nominations. It also has a surveys and insights module, so you can conduct various types of employee surveys and view results on dashboards for insights and action planning.
Unique Aspects: WorkTango provides a more robust and holistic employee experience platform. It combines recognition and rewards, engagement surveys and insights, and goals and feedback into one platform, offering HR professionals a suite of employee engagement tools in one cohesive platform instead of several.
Kudos
Number of G2 Reviews: Kudos has received over 1,100 G2 reviews.
Pricing: Pricing details are not readily available on their website. If you’re interested in learning more, you are encouraged to request a demo for specific pricing information.
Core Features: The Kudos platform includes core features such as peer-to-peer recognition, a recognition points system, a reward catalog, awards and nominations, milestone awards, people analytics dashboards, and pulse surveys.
Unique Aspects: The Kudos platform takes a more holistic approach by incorporating employee engagement features like pulse surveys and analytics dashboards. All these engagement tools are combined into one platform, so HR professionals have one centralized tool to help drive forward their employee engagement and cultural efforts.
Nectar
Number of G2 Reviews: Nectar has garnered over 3,800 G2 reviews.
Pricing: Nectar's pricing is divided into a Standard plan at $2.75 per user/month ($3.00 if billed monthly) and a Plus plan at $4.00 per user/month ($4.50 if billed monthly), with volume discounts for organizations exceeding 500 users.
Core Features: The Nectar platform boasts a suite of core features, such as peer-to-peer recognition capabilities, service and milestone awards, and the “challenges” module. Through its Amazon Business integration, it also offers an extensive rewards catalog.
Unique Aspects: Nectar is primarily focused on employee recognition. It differentiates itself through its integration with Amazon Business and significantly expanded rewards catalog, providing a variety of redemption options. Additionally, Nectar stands out for its ease of use, sleek design, and user-friendly interface.
Motivosity
Number of G2 Reviews: Motivosity has received over 800 G2 reviews.
Pricing: Motivosity’s basic plan starts at $2 per month per user. Additional features can be added at an extra price. For example, the Recognition and Rewards, Manager Development, and Employee Insights modules can be added for an additional $2 per month per user for each module.
Core Features: The Motivosity platform's core features include peer-to-peer recognition, manager development and 1:1s tools, and employee insights and surveys.
Unique Aspects: Motivosity's approach is unique from other platforms in that it doesn’t use a recognition points system. Instead, its recognition system operates with a “ThanksMatter” card. Employees earn and accumulate cash rewards on their ThanksMatter Visa card, which gives employees the flexibility to spend their earned rewards however they want to!
Guusto
Number of G2 Reviews: Guusto has garnered over 4000 5-star reviews.
Pricing: Guusto offers several pricing tiers, starting from a free tier for single-user accounts with unlimited users. Their paid plans include the Lite plan at $40.00/month, Essential at $120.00/month for 30 seats (additional seats at $6/mo), and Premium at $400.00/month for 80 seats (additional seats at $7.5/mo). They also provide an enterprise option with volume discounts.
Core Features: Guusto’s core features include peer-to-peer recognition, milestones and service awards, as well as a wide range of reward options such as gift cards, company swag, charity donations, and custom rewards.
Unique Aspects: Guusto is distinct for its inclusivity and flexibility, catering not just to office employees but also to frontline workers across various industries like healthcare, retail, and hospitality. Recognition can be delivered by SMS, TV display, and even printed out. Print shoutouts and rewards can be delivered in person. The recipient can use the QR code or link to redeem the reward for their merchant of choice. The platform also eliminates the need for recognition point systems, allowing rewards to be sent to anyone without requiring all employees to create accounts.
Vantage Circle
Number of G2 Reviews: Vantage Circle has received over 5,500 reviews on G2.
Price: Pricing for the Vatange Circle platform starts with a basic rewards and recognition “grow” plan priced at $2.69 per user per month. They offer an upgraded pricing tier, “transform,” which includes additional rewards and recognition features priced at $3.89 per user per month. They also provide an enterprise option with volume discounts.
Core Features: Core features of the Vantage Circle platform include Vantage Rewards for recognition, Vantage Pulse for employee feedback, Vantage Perks for corporate discounts, and Vantage Fit for wellness.
Unique Aspect: The platform offers an all-in-one suite for holistic employee engagement. It is one of the few recognition platforms that includes an employee wellness module called “Vantage Fit.” This module helps motivate employees with easy-to-use wellness challenges and actionable health insights.
Achievers
Number of G2 Reviews: Achievers has over 200 reviews on G2.
Pricing: Achievers doesn’t publicly post its pricing. If you’re interested in learning more about the platform, you can book a demo or request a proposal on their website.
Core Features: The Achievers platform offers an entire suite of employee engagement features. These core modules include peer-to-peer recognition, points-based recognition, a reward catalog, employee listening tools, a connect module to help employees have “water cooler moments,” and service award programs.
Unique Features: Achievers is known for its comprehensive employee recognition software that empowers employees to live out shared core values every day. Achievers enable easy recognition through a desktop platform or mobile app, integrating with tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams for convenient appreciation in the flow of work. It offers a points-based recognition system, allowing employees to redeem points in a global rewards marketplace. The platform supports meaningful rewards aligned with company values, emphasizing its uniqueness in creating a culture of recognition
HeyTaco
Number of G2 Reviews: HeyTaco has over 400 reviews on G2.
Pricing: HeyTaco costs $3 per person per month. They also offer a 30-day free trial, no credit card required.
Core features: HeyTaco is, first and foremost, an employee recognition tool. It integrates into work tools like Slack and allows employees to offer each other fun and unique “kindness currency” – tacos – which helps build stronger connections, boost morale, and increase overall team happiness. The tool also offers a custom rewards catalog, where admins can add items like company swag that employees can trade with their earned Tacos. HeyTaco also offers a feedback survey module, so you can send employees quick employee surveys and gather information on employee sentiment.
Unique Aspects: One of HeyTaco’s main differentiating factors is that instead of the recognition points system, they use Tacos as a “kindness currency.” The tool is also designed to integrate with work tools like Slack, so employees don’t have to switch to a different platform to exchange recognition and appreciation with each other.
Reward Gateway
Number of G2 Reviews: Reward Gateway has over 2500 reviews on G2.
Pricing: Reward Gateway doesn’t publicly post its pricing. If you’re interested in learning more about the platform, you can book a demo or make further inquiries on their website.
Core features: Reward Gateway offers a comprehensive employee engagement platform that boasts several core features, including a recognition and rewards module, employee communications, employee surveys, a discount program, employee analytics, and employee wellness.
Unique Aspects: Reward Gateway is a robust engagement tool that offers a suite of features to help HR professionals with all their engagement and culture goals. Each feature has some unique functionalities and perks that make it stand out. For example, the recognition and rewards models offer personalized, custom eCards that reflect your culture and values. The platform also offers integration with the Amazon marketplace for your rewards catalog, and rewards are provided at market pricing—no markups, ever
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5 Pro Tips for Choosing The Right Employee Recognition Software
At Qarrot, we've helped many companies launch and implement successful employee recognition and reward programs within their organizations.
We know that picking the right employee recognition software can take time. With all the options on the market and having to get buy-in from your decision-makers, this process doesn't happen overnight--it takes a lot of work!
Since we've advised many companies on this journey, we wanted to share some pro tips for HR professionals who are comparison shopping for recognition vendors or software providers. By following these tips, you can pick the software provider that best suits your business's short- and long-term needs.
1. Define Your Dealbreakers
Before you explore options, determine what's important to your organization. For example, determine whether you're seeking a more “pure” peer-to-peer recognition program or additional features to enhance the impact of employee engagement, like Pulse Survey and employee analytics features. Understanding your dealmakers and dealbreakers will help you choose a software solution that perfectly matches your company's needs and goals.
2. Establish a Realistic Budget
While employee recognition is invaluable, it's essential to have a clear budget in mind when selecting a software provider. Assess your financial resources and create a realistic budget that meets your organization's needs. Keep in mind that while some providers offer comprehensive packages with advanced features, others may offer more budget-friendly options tailored to small or medium-sized businesses.
3. Consider The Type of Rewards Employees Will Prefer
The success of a recognition program heavily relies on the rewards offered. Take the time to understand what motivates your employees and what type of rewards they would most appreciate. Whether it's gift cards, tangible goods, experiences, or even cash rewards, different software vendors offer various types of reward options for all types of employees. Selecting a software provider that offers a diverse range of rewards will ensure you can cater to the varying preferences of your workforce.
4. Evaluate Customization and Flexibility
Every organization operates differently, and your employee recognition program should reflect your unique company culture and values. Look for a software provider that offers customization options, allowing you to tailor the program to suit your specific requirements. Scalability and integration with existing systems are crucial to accommodating future growth and changes within your organization.
5. Seek User-Friendly Interface and Support
Ensure your employee recognition program has a user-friendly interface to ensure widespread adoption. Choose a software provider that offers intuitive and accessible platforms, making it easy for both administrators and employees to navigate and utilize the system effectively. You should also prioritize providers that provide reliable customer support and training resources to help you maximize the benefits of the software and resolve any issues that arise.
Final Thoughts
If you’re looking to launch an employee recognition program in your company, the abundance of software options can leave many HR professionals feeling perplexed. You’re certainly not alone!
This article is meant to ease that burden by providing a curated list of some of the best employee recognition platforms on the market. And most importantly, doing some of the leg work for you and highlighting their price point, key features, and unique capabilities.
We hope this knowledge and information will help you clarify your goals, narrow your options, and ultimately choose the recognition software provider that best matches your organization's needs.
Related: Choose the right recognition software solution with this 5-Step Buyer's Guide
