17 top employee recognition software for 2023

¹ Leapsome

Leapsome’s holistic, all-in-one people enablement solution bridges the gap between employee engagement, learning, goal setting, rewards, and performance management. 

The software’s modular design makes it a solution that evolves with you as your business grows. Combining all these features allows people ops leaders to create a continuous and sustainable cycle of employee development and company growth — all while celebrating success in the workplace.

Notable features

• Public praise

• Private feedback

• Anonymous feedback conversations

• Actionable feedback analytics

• Sentiment analysis

• Personalized employee engagement action plans

• 1:1s and team meetings for continuous development

• Compensation and promotion tools

• Customizable compensation review templates

• Transparent promotion workflows

• Learning features

• Employee engagement surveys

• Competency frameworks

• SSO and encryption features

• ISO 27001 compliance

• Multilingual interface

Through the platform’s wide array of interconnected features, Leapsome works to increase employee engagement, facilitate continuous conversation and development, and give workers a sense of belonging and fulfillment, leading to better productivity and performance.

You can outline employee and peer wins through instant and continuous feedback and provide more in-depth evaluations based on predefined competencies and company values.

You can also celebrate your people’s strengths and wins with Leapsome’s Praise Wall. Our Praise Wall shows several pieces of praise at any given time, so each person gets the spotlight they deserve.

Leapsome’s integrations with communication tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams also allow you to share praise with your entire team immediately. This encourages employee visibility and motivates team members to praise one another even more (and a Praise Wall is also a great way to engage your remote employees!)

Another way to recognize your people is by collecting feedback and gauging their motivations, frustrations, and engagement levels with an employee engagement questionnaire. You can then use Leapsome’s advanced analytics and expert insights to create action plans that improve satisfaction and reduce turnover. 

Finally, Leapsome enables managers to make informed, people-focused decisions based on relevant performance and engagement data. You can create flexible templates and custom rules for promotion reviews and easily track employee career development. Build automated workflows to identify your promotion-ready talent based on core performance and engagement data and streamline promotion processes.

And if you’re ever struggling with boosting employee engagement and are looking for employee engagement survey questions, Leapsome has many educational resources — like a Knowledge Hub, a blog, and a podcast that can provide useful tips and information for many different parts of your organization. Finally, our award-winning Customer Success team is there to ensure your success through a dedicated account manager, regular check-ins, and hosting recurrent webinars!
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Pros & cons

One of the biggest perks of using Leapsome is that its all-in-one modular approach ensures people are supported throughout the entire employee lifecycle — because employee recognition goes deeper than gift cards and redeemable points.

For example, you can conduct 360° reviews, use engagement tools to understand impact drivers, share praise and constructive feedback, turn feedback into growth opportunities with personal development paths, and reward employees through a scalable compensation process.

Also, Leapsome’s modular pricing means users can mix and match products — like Surveys, Learning, Compensation, and other modules — and pay per bundle or individual service.

Leapsome is also consistently growing and adding new features to support companies in creating a more engaged workforce, decreasing employee turnover, and driving business success.

Some users report that while Leapsome is user-friendly and provides a positive user experience, utilizing the tool to its full potential requires some initial training. To take full advantage of Leapsome’s vast range of modules and features more easily, it’s vital to start out with a clear roadmap and a full understanding of your company goals and objectives.

And if you ever need help with facilitating processes more easily or simply exploring the tool, Leapsome’s Customer Success team will provide you with continuous guidance via live webinars, onboarding sessions, and video and written tutorials.
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Pricing

Leapsome’s pricing starts at US$8 per user per month. A free 14-day trial is also available.

² Assembly

Assembly is a workplace engagement and productivity tool that supports teams through workflows for employee engagement surveys, employee nominations, and weekly check-ins.
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Notable features

• Reporting and analytics

• Workflow automation templates

• Helpful news feed

Another one of Assembly’s highlights is its engagement templates that help streamline employee and peer recognition. For example, HR managers can use the employee nominations template to prompt staff members to shout someone out for a job well done.
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Pros & cons

Assembly’s integrations with Slack and Microsoft Teams make adoption easier since they allow employees to offer meaningful recognition where they work. Additionally, the recognition platform has a straightforward and pleasing user interface (UI).

However, some users reportedly find the software to be rather slow, especially when it comes to tasks like optimizing profiles and adding profile pictures.
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Pricing

Assembly’s Starter plan is free for up to ten employees. After that, plans begin at US$2.80 per employee per month.

³ Bonusly

Bonusly is an employee recognition tool that seeks to empower managers and improve employee engagement by encouraging teams to run award and incentive programs, including spot bonuses, wellness initiatives, and milestone celebrations.

The tool’s recognition feed brings visibility to employee successes and encourages internal communication by allowing team members to shout out each other’s wins and gift points that can be redeemed later for apparel, charitable donations, or custom company rewards.
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Notable features

• Reporting and analytics

• Social feed 

Employees can use specific hashtags aligned with their company values to make their recognition posts stand out.
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Pros & cons

Bonusly is an easy-to-use platform with a relatively shallow learning curve. The tool also offers a wide variety of cashout options that let employees redeem their points by donating to their preferred charity or buying digital gift cards to businesses like Uber and Amazon.

However, users report that certain features — like hashtags or point allowances — aren’t highly intuitive. Additionally, many individuals find the allotted number of points that employees can gift to their team members limiting. As one platform reviewer pointed out: “I wish I had a larger allotment of Bonusly points per month because there are so many instances that deserve or warrant points.”
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Pricing

Bonusly’s pricing begins at US$2.87 per user per month when billed monthly.

⁴ Cooleaf

Cooleaf is an employee engagement software specializing in higher education, tech, and healthcare industries. Its rewards tool allows employees to align recognition with their company’s core values and instantly recognize peers for going above and beyond.
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Notable features

• Analytics

• Automatic work anniversary rewards

• Integrated social feed

• Customizable rewards and perks
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With Cooleaf, organizations can create company stores from scratch. That means managers can reward new and existing employees with company merchandise without having to deal with inventory storage or shipping.
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Pros & cons

Cooleaf’s recognition platform is user-friendly, and the gamification of the points and rewards system makes both manager-to-report and peer-to-peer recognition fun.

However, to prevent abuse of the tool, the platform only assigns points to one recognition per day. Employees can still recognize their colleagues with shoutouts but can’t assign any points to those recognitions. That means people can’t successfully reward all their peers with points if multiple employees across different teams deserve to be acknowledged for their contributions on the same day.
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Pricing

Cooleaf’s pricing isn’t readily available.

⁵ Engagedly

Engagedly is primarily a performance management and employee engagement platform that serves industries from healthcare to financial services.
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Notable features
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• Gamification

• Badges

• Public praise

The Engage pillar gamifies employee recognition through point distribution and public praise.
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Pros & cons

Engagedly has a straightforward interface that’s simple to use. Users also praise the support team’s service and availability.

However, the platform’s heavy emphasis on employee engagement and performance management functionalities like surveys and OKR management sidelines their rewards and recognition program. Additionally, users also frequently report a buggy interface.
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Pricing

Engagedly’s starting annual agreement is US$5,000.

⁶ Fond

Fond is an employee recognition platform that offers two key products: Fond Rewards and Fond Perks. Employees can share their rewards and perks with a limited number of family members or friends, as well as redeem and reward on the go.
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Notable features

• Social feed

• Company-specific rewards and perks

• Corporate discounts

Employees and managers can take advantage of Fond’s corporate discount platform, Fond Perks, and access discounts for numerous popular products and services. Fond also takes care of negotiating with local vendors to get discounts for your employees.
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Pros & cons

Fond is a user-friendly and easy-to-use platform with a wide selection of products and services.

However, the limitation on the number of Fond Points team members can give out per quarter can be problematic for bigger companies, as some users reportedly run out of points regularly.
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Pricing

Fond’s pricing isn’t readily available.

⁷ Guusto

Guusto is an employee recognition platform with two main pillars: Employee Recognition and Customer Rewards and Incentives. This platform differentiates itself by partnering with the One Drop Foundation and donating one day of clean drinking water for every Guusto gift sent.
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Notable features

• Customer rewards program

• Social feed

• Peer-to-peer shoutouts

• Employee leaderboards

In addition to its employee recognition program, Guusto allows managers to retain clients and build loyalty through the software’s customer rewards program.
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Pros & cons

Guusto is relatively customizable, and HR professionals can modify the platform to match their company brand. Users also praise the tool’s user-friendliness and the wide variety of merchants employees can choose from.

However, some users find the platform complicated for employees who aren’t tech-savvy. 
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Pricing

Guusto’s Starter plan is free for individual accounts. After that, plans start at US$2.25 per member per month, with an US$80 per month minimum.

⁸ Kudos

Kudos is an employee recognition platform that streamlines peer-to-peer recognition through a social intranet, a points and rewards system, and peer awards and nominations. The platform allows employees to recognize each other based on behaviors and qualities that align with their company culture, like “timely,” “attentive,” and “accountable.”
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Notable features

• Culture and people analytics

• Spaces and galleries to showcase company moments and memories

Employees can share memories, celebrate their peers’ hard work, and recognize each other’s wins.
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Pros & cons

Kudos is a user-friendly and straightforward application that helps coworkers stay in touch and show appreciation for each other through the social intranet. Additionally, users have reported that the platform is simple to navigate.

Each Kudos point is equivalent to 10 cents, which means that to redeem a US$10 gift card, users need 100 points. The relatively low value of the points makes it difficult for users to accumulate enough points to obtain meaningful employee rewards. Additionally, users share that the mobile app isn’t as intuitive as the desktop interface.
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Pricing

Kudos’ pricing isn’t readily available.

⁹ Motivosity

Motivosity is a peer recognition software solution that’s broken down into four main modules: Connect, Recognize, Lead, and Listen. The Recognize module lets managers celebrate employees for successes and milestones through rewards and recognitions like gift cards and spot bonuses. Motivosity also enhances company culture by streamlining peer-to-peer recognition.
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Notable features

• Social feed

• Peer-to-peer appreciation

• Spot bonuses

• Milestone tracker

• Customizable store
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Managers can also align rewards with their company’s core values and recognize employees for contributing to their workplace culture.
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Pros & cons

One of Motivosity’s pros is its modular pricing. Users can mix and match products and pay per bundle or individual service.

However, some users say the interface comes with a learning curve and report frequent glitches when dealing with the platform, especially the login function.
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Pricing

The full Motivosity suite’s pricing is US$8.80 per user per month.

¹⁰ Nectar

Nectar is a 360 rewards and recognition platform that offers four main products: Recognition, Rewards, Milestones, and Challenges.

The Rewards module provides employees with exclusive discounts and allows them to redeem their points by donating to charities, purchasing custom company merchandise, or buying gift cards to popular brands and stores.
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Notable features

• Corporate discounts

• Peer-to-peer recognition points 

• Automated milestone awards and reminders

Nectar’s Challenges module helps incentivize employees to take part in wellness activities and company initiatives. For example, employees can earn 50 points for completing a 10,000-step challenge.
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Pros & cons

Nectar is interesting for hybrid and remote companies as it streamlines employee communication and boosts employee engagement. Additionally, users praise the recognition platform’s ease of use.

Users also share that the limited amount of allocated employee points tends to hold them back from adequately celebrating their peers who go above and beyond.
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Pricing

Nectar’s pricing begins at US$3 per person per month, billed monthly.

¹¹ Officevibe

Officevibe is an employee experience platform that combines employee recognition with products like Engagement, Alignment, and Team Leadership, adopting a young and aesthetically pleasing UI.
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Notable features

• Good Vibes recognition tool

• Recognition reports

Another one of Officevibe’s most notable features is its fun interface.
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Pros & cons

The tool’s interface is straightforward and the software is easy to use.

However, other than offering a simple recognition tool and corresponding analytics, Officevibe doesn’t provide all the employee recognition features a company needs to establish a strong feedback culture.
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Pricing

Officevibe offers a free plan for teams of up to 10 people. Paid plans cost US$3.50-5 per employee per month when billed annually.

¹² Plai

Plai is a people and performance management software that aims to increase employee recognition and engagement through OKR management, performance reviews, 1:1s, and praise.
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Notable features

• Public praise aligned with company values

• Slack integration for improved employee engagement

• Leaderboard feature

Employees can share timely recognition and engage in healthy competition with a leaderboard that rates users based on top praise givers and receivers, as well as top performers.
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Pros & cons

Plai has a straightforward, modern interface, and its Free plan allows companies to easily test out their platform. Users also praise the company’s customer service.

However, the product is relatively young and still in the development stage, which makes Plai mainly suitable for smaller teams. If you’re a larger company looking for more advanced functionalities, you might want to look elsewhere.
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Pricing

Plai’s pricing starts at US$4 per user, per month, billed monthly

¹³ Quantum Workplace

Quantum Workplace is a performance management software that’s divided into three pillars: Engagement, Performance, and Intelligence.

The Performance module motivates employees and managers through goal planning, 1:1s, talent reviews, and real-time employee recognition.
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Notable features

• Social feed

• Recognition analytics

Users can visualize and report on recognition results in real-time with a simple dashboard that helps managers understand how frequently it happens and which core values are highlighted most often.
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Pros & cons

Quantum Workplace’s interface is easy to understand and navigate.

However, users share that many of the employee recognition functions, like praise categories, aren’t very customizable. This can lead to lower adoption rates since employees may feel like the solution isn’t tailored to their needs.

Additionally, Quantum Workplace’s reporting and analytics functions are quite simple and may not suit the needs of teams looking for more in-depth, meaningful insights.
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Pricing

Quantum Workplace’s pricing isn’t readily available.

¹⁴ Tap My Back

Tap My Back is an employee engagement platform that aims to enable HR managers and team leaders to build more engaged teams. Its recognition product is intended to motivate team members with rewards and recognition functions like peer-to-peer recognition and instant feedback.
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Notable features

• Public praise and “Taps”

• News feed with a mood tracking feature

• A rewards system

• Recognition analytics

Employees can celebrate their colleagues by giving “Taps” based on organizationally aligned values — e.g., “creative,” “growth-minded,” or “radical candor.” They can also collect the monetary value associated with each ”Tap” and redeem it within the Tap My Back’s reward gateway.
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Pros & cons

Tap My Back makes peer-to-peer recognition simple and fun with its instant “Taps.” The mood tracking functionality also increases workplace transparency by allowing employees to easily share their current emotional state with their peers.

However, the UI is reportedly not very simple or user-friendly. Additionally, some users might find some employee recognition features, including badges and customizations, lacking compared to other tools.
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Pricing

Tap My Back’s pricing begins at US$2 per user per month.

¹⁵ Vantage Circle

Vantage Circle is an employee recognition platform that offers four main products: Vantage Rewards, Perks, Pulse, and Fit.

Vantage Rewards and Vantage Perks help managers create a culture of recognition in their company through instant rewards and praise, gamified engagement boards, and a streamlined redemption process.
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Notable features

• Interactive social feed for optimizing peer-to-peer appreciation

• Gamified leaderboard ranking employees based on engagement scores

• Recognition program analytics

• Corporate discount platform

Employees can redeem their points at global online and retail stores for gift cards and merchandise. The reports and analytics dashboard also gives HR teams a broad overview of budgeting and allocation, as well as awards and badge configuration options.
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Pros & cons

Vantage Circle has a clear and straightforward interface. Additionally, the Vantage Fit product helps keep your workforce healthy with wellness contests and challenges.

This recognition platform allows users to redeem points for gift vouchers. However, users reportedly encounter various issues related to the redemption process, including a lack of voucher amount flexibility, website crashes, and vendor restrictions.
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Pricing

Vantage Circle offers modular pricing, so your quote will depend on the services you need and how many employees you have.

¹⁶ WorkTango

WorkTango (formerly Kazoo) is an employee experience platform that aims to improve employee engagement by combining surveys, employee feedback, goals and OKR management, and incentives. The employee recognition program encourages staff members to connect with their peers through WorkTango’s social feed and allows managers to create custom rewards and assign employee reward points.
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Notable features

• The ability to create custom incentives for employee action

• Gamified user experience (UX)

This tool also supports employee development by allowing HR managers to tie rewards and recognition to learning and other training objectives. For example, managers can create a task called “attend a workshop” and reward their employees for completing it.
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Pros & cons

One of the pros of this platform is its intuitive and modern UI. WorkTango also serves as a nice morale booster due to its gamified points and reward distributing system.

However, according to users, the incentives user experience (UX) still has a long way to go, and some reported experiencing bugs, long loading times, and issues with points distribution and redemption.
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Pricing

WorkTango’s pricing isn't readily available

¹⁷ Xoxoday Empuls

Empuls is an employee recognition and engagement platform focusing on corporate rewards, recognition, and continuous performance management. Users have access to different modules; the Remote and Hybrid Work module aims to provide a better experience for remote workers through engagement surveys and virtual celebrations.
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Notable features

• A corporate perks and discounts program

• Pulse and feedback surveys

• Social intranet

• Peer-to-peer rewards

Empuls users can reward good performance, milestones, and even personal occasions with gamified points, which can be redeemed monthly. Empuls also strives to promote employee financial wellness and maximize employee savings with its exclusive perks and discounts program.
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Pros & cons

Empuls is an affordable solution for businesses looking for a relatively easy-to-use platform that offers more than just basic functionalities. Notifications and nudges that serve as event, work anniversary, and birthday reminders help make the workplace more fun.

However, many users have reported issues with the platform’s UI and have shared that Empuls’ strong emphasis on the employee reward program can make workers lose focus and pay too much attention to their points and redeemable rewards.
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Pricing

Empuls’ pricing starts at US$2 per user per month.

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Finding the ideal employee recognition platform for your business

Choosing the right employee recognition software comes along with many important company benefits — like increased engagement and higher job satisfaction levels.

That’s why finding the best solution for your company is a crucial part of driving sustainable employee engagement and improving the employee experience. To help simplify your decision-making process, we compared 17 tools based on G2 reviews, notable features, pros and cons, and pricing.

If you’re looking for an all-in-one people enablement solution that provides support throughout the employee lifecycle, scales with you, and closes the loop between performance management, employee engagement, and learning, then Leapsome is the tool for you.

Employee recognition tool comparison chart

If you’re struggling to decide between two or more options, here’s a more concise overview of each software tool and its features.

*The information above is based on our research from July to September 2022. All user feedback referenced in the text has been sourced from independent software review platforms such as G2 and Capterra in December 2022