15+ Best Employee Recognition Software To Boost Retention

Unrecognized work can lead to disengaged and burnt-out employees. In fact, 66% of people consider leaving their jobs when they feel unappreciated. Higher turnover rates harm morale, effectiveness, and productivity—terrible outcomes for any business. Not to mention, turnover is extremely costly (in terms of both new hiring costs and lost knowledge).

To prevent these outcomes, foster a positive workplace culture that recognizes, engages, and motivates employees.

Thankfully, administering an employee recognition program doesn’t have to be complicated or time-consuming. Employee recognition software streamlines the process so that you can build a culture of appreciation that leaves no team member behind.

We’ll highlight top providers that can help any organization improve its recognition program, plus we’ll cover frequently asked questions and steps for choosing the right recognition software once you’re ready to get started.

---

15+ Employee Recognition Platforms for Any Organization

Here are our favorite employee recognition tools and software solutions that can help you strengthen your relationships with employees and build a more engaging culture:

Platform	Recommended For:	Pricing
eCardWidget	Employee Recognition Messaging	Free for 10 eCards per month; check the pricing page for the latest costs
Givhero	Employee Wellness	Custom quote
SnackNation	Custom Snack Boxes	Starts at $22 per box for remote employees
WorkTango	Company-Wide Recognition	Pricing available upon request
Jotform Teams	Team Collaboration and Shoutouts	Free up to 5 forms; paid plans start at $34 per month
Motivosity	Peer-to-Peer Recognition	$3,000 minimum annual spend; pricing available upon request
Fond	Custom Awards Catalogs	Annual platform fee + retail price for rewards; pricing available upon request
Empuls	Surveys and Social Recognition	Varies based on features and number of employees
Snappy	Gift-Based Recognition Programs	Free plan where you only pay for claimed gifts; paid plans start at $999 per year
Workhuman	Service Milestones	Pricing available upon request
Guusto	Frontline Employee Recognition	Free plan for a single user account; paid plans start at $40 per month
Kudoboard	Group Appreciation Boards	Business plans start at $25 per month
Mo	Remote Employee Recognition	Custom quote based on goals and company size
Terryberry	Service Awards	Pricing available upon request
Bucketlist Rewards	Experiential Recognition Programs	Pricing available upon request

eCardWidget: Best Software for Employee Recognition Messaging

• Recognize employees with meaningful messages
• Allow employees to recognize each other
• Create eCards that specifically relate to company values
• Include digital rewards or vouchers in eCards
• Create simple employee contests and raffles
• Support temporary projects and priorities
• Keep records of who’s been recognized and for what

Recognition doesn’t have to be complicated—in fact, simpler solutions are more likely to be used frequently and drive real impact! eCardWidget gives you the full customization, flexibility, and robust reporting features you need to create an engaging culture of recognition (without creating an overdesigned or cumbersome process).

Learn more about eCardWidget and request a demo to see all its flexible use cases in action!

Curious how other companies are using our employee recognition platform? Read Modivcare’s case study to see how they launched a successful recognition program with eCardWidget.

Givhero: Top Software for Encouraging Employee Wellness

• Personalized mental and physical health challenges, such as step challenges
• Activity tracking via integrations with apps like Strava and Apple Health
• Peer recognition through badges and applause
• Automated donation processing to support chosen charitable causes
• Customizable leaderboards to enhance motivation among employees

The platform makes it easy to invest in employees’ well-being and reward their participation in company challenges with charitable donations.

Employee Recognition Software Pricing

Givhero does not publicly disclose specific pricing details for employers. For detailed pricing information, contact Givhero directly and get a customized quote based on the specific needs and size of your organization.

Learn more about Givhero.

SnackNation: Best Employee Recognition Software for Custom Snack Boxes

The platform also offers options for easily managing a repeat shipment service to keep your office stocked with healthy snacks, beverages, and other supplies, helping create a culture that employees want to be a part of. Not only does SnackNation offer recognition boxes that everyone is guaranteed to enjoy, but its platform also takes the logistical and time concerns out of maintaining an appealing workplace.

Employee Recognition Software Pricing

SnackNation offers several pricing options tailored to different needs:

• Remote Employees: Pricing starts at $22 per box, with free shipping and one meal donated to Feeding America for every snack box sold.
• In-Office Snacks: Pricing starts at $219 per box, which also includes free shipping and ten meals donated for each snack box sold.
• Home Delivery: Pricing starts at $16 per box, with free shipping and one meal donated for every snack box sold.

These plans are designed to be customizable based on your team’s specific needs. Each box includes a variety of snacks such as bars, chips, jerky, granola, trail mix, sweets, and premium coffee.

Learn more about SnackNation.

WorkTango: Best For Company-Wide Employee Recognition

For your recognition program, specifically, WorkTango creates a social media-style interface where employees and managers can post, react to, and comment on shout-outs. Easily set up special incentive programs to promote your business priorities and other engagement programs, like L&D and employee wellness. WorkTango’s options for reward point systems also make it easy to create catalogs of merchandise, gift cards, and more gifts for employees to choose from.

Most importantly, if investing in a larger-scale platform like WorkTango, you’ll need robust analytics features to ensure it’s having the desired impact. This platform’s data capabilities ensure that your team will be able to accurately gauge the success of your recognition and engagement efforts over time.

Employee Recognition Software Pricing

WorkTango offers a flexible pricing structure primarily focused on two main solutions: Employee Surveys & Insights and Recognition & Rewards.

For employee recognition, either purchase the Recognition & Rewards solution or the Full Employee Experience Platform. You’ll need to schedule a demo for specific pricing details.

Learn more about WorkTango.

Jotform Teams: Top Platform for Team Collaboration and Shoutouts

Make recognition easy by seamlessly integrating shout-out forms into your daily operations. Gather the data and insights you need to make engagement a strategic priority. Use intuitive communication features to collaborate with team members. With Jotform, businesses can increase internal efficiency and improve the employee experience without investing in a large HR platform.

Employee Recognition Software Pricing

Jotform Teams pricing is based on these key packages:

• Starter (Free): Basic features with Jotform branding
• Bronze ($39/month): Ideal for startups or freelancers needing more than the basics, with higher form and submission limits
• Silver ($49/month): Best value for small to mid-sized businesses, allowing scalable data management
• Gold ($129/month): Highest limits outside of enterprise plans, including optional HIPAA compliance for handling sensitive data
• Enterprise (custom quote): Custom pricing for large organizations, allowing multiple users and additional functionalities like enhanced security and custom domains

If you pay annually, you can receive a 20% discount. For more detailed information and custom quotes, explore Jotform’s website or request a quote.

Learn more about Jotform Teams.

Motivosity: Best Peer-to-Peer Employee Recognition Software

Along with employee profiles, announcement tools, and interest group capabilities, Motivosity offers a full range of options to build stronger connections between your organization and employees. Its customizable rewards system stands out as particularly engaging, plus it includes built-in processes for budgeting and awarding spot bonuses for standout performance. You can even use the platform to power your employee awards program and allow peer nominations.

Employee Recognition Software Pricing

Motivosity offers a few pricing plans that focus on different employee development and engagement needs:

• Standard: Includes features such as automated service awards and birthdays, peer appreciations, global rewards, swag connector, and social feed
• Pro: Builds on the Standard plan with additional features like challenges, incentives, nomination awards, and bulk recognition
• Custom: Create a personalized solution that fits your business

They also have optional add-ons, such as surveys and meeting management. You’ll need to contact their sales team for specific pricing details. Motivosity charges licensing fees on an annual basis, and regardless of the plan you choose, there’s a minimum annual spending requirement of $3,000.

Learn more about Motivosity.

Fond: Top Employee Recognition Software for Custom Awards Catalogs

Fond includes a full range of social recognition, awards catalogs, and advanced analytics features. One standout benefit of this platform is the pre-negotiated, transparently priced corporate discounts on employee perks and rewards. Full customization in an easy-to-use platform with complete visibility makes Fond a smart choice for many businesses.

Employee Recognition Software Pricing

Fond’s pricing is based on the number of employees at your organization. The price of items are the same as the retail price with no additional markup. You’ll pay an annual subscription for the platform, but you’ll need to request a demo for pricing details.

Learn more about Fond.

Empuls: Best Platform for Surveys and Social Recognition

Empuls includes various communication, recognition, and rewards tools to help you build a more engaging workplace culture. Typical features like surveys, social recognition, and rewards catalogs abound, but Empuls stands out for some of its more unique offerings, like an AI-powered chatbot to nudge employees on special occasions and jury-based awards systems for teams to collaboratively choose recipients.

Employee Recognition Software Pricing

Empuls offers a straightforward pricing structure based on the number of employees at your company and the features you need. Here are your options:

• Reward & Recognize ($3 per employee/month): Includes features like peer-to-peer rewards, spot rewards, recognition leaderboard, private recognition, rewards management, and more
• Surveys ($3 per employee/month): Includes a variety of surveys, automated survey scheduling, and recommended action plans
• Perks & Benefits ($2 per employee/month): Includes features like exclusive discounts, a customizable perks catalog, corporate wellness program management
• Employee Gifting & Service Rewards (5% fees on issued rewards): Includes gifting management for leadership and a gift catalog filled with gift cards, swag, charitable donations, experiential rewards, and more
• Social Intranet & Employee Communication ($1 per employee/month): Includes features like a social content feed, organizational announcements, a feedback box, a special occasion wish board for birthdays and anniversaries, and an employee directory
• All-in-One Employee Experience Pack (custom quote): Create a custom plan based on your company’s needs.

Trusted by companies like Adobe and AT&T, Empuls is a comprehensive, budget-friendly platform for all your employee engagement needs. Note that their minimum contract agreement is $1,000.

Learn more about Empuls.

Snappy: Best Choice for Gift-Based Employee Recognition Programs

Snappy curates unique collections of products, experiences, subscriptions, and more. Your organization can then build out dedicated recognition campaigns for specific occasions, like peer-to-peer shout-outs, service awards, and anniversaries. With full customization, flexible options, and helpful analytics, Snappy is a great choice for businesses that want to specifically focus on offering rewards as a form of recognition.

Employee Recognition Software Pricing

Snappy offers pricing plans that fit everything from small teams to large enterprises. Here’s a breakdown of their pricing tiers:

• Essential (free): Only pay for claimed gifts, brand the platform with your logo, and send branded swag with no inventory commitment to unlimited users.
• Elevated ($999/year): Access greater functionality with more on-demand swag, HR system integrations, a branded digital unwrapping experience, and more.
• Enterprise (custom quote): Receive everything from the other plans plus a dedicated onboarding team, custom swag kits, enterprise-grade security, and send gifts to customers.

Plus, shipping is free, and you only pay for the gifts your recipients select. The difference will be returned to you. You can even expire unclaimed gifts to get your money back.

Learn more about Snappy.

Workhuman: Best Employee Recognition Software for Service Milestones

It offers modular sets of features designed to help you facilitate social employee recognition, celebrate life events, foster conversation and connection, and even check in on employee engagement down to the individual level through pulse surveys and sentiment analytics. Rewards catalogs, various communication features, and even an AI-driven coaching tool make Workhuman stand out as another robust option for businesses seeking to upgrade how they engage employees.

Employee Recognition Software Pricing

Workhuman does not publicly disclose specific pricing details for their employee recognition software. To receive a price quote, you need to contact Workhuman directly.

According to Workhuman’s pricing advantage page, they’ll refund fees at the end of your first year if you don’t achieve their guaranteed results if you follow their guidance.

Learn more about Workhuman.

Guusto: Top Frontline Employee Recognition Software

Its intuitive platform can fit seamlessly with existing workflows, allowing managers and peers to recognize contributions, even in fast-paced environments. Trusted by top companies, Guusto stands out for its focus on flexibility and simplicity as well as its “give-back” model, which supports access to clean water for communities in need.

Employee Recognition Software Pricing

Get a single-user account with no platform fees. Alternatively, choose one of Guusto’s paid options for additional features and users:

• Free ($0/month): Get a single user account where you can send rewards via the web or by printing them out.
• Lite ($40/month): Access greater functionality to celebrate employee milestones, schedule rewards, set claim periods, and more.
• Essential ($120/month): Up to 30 users can send rewards. Add seats for $4/person/month. Automate rewards, create custom rewards, get a social feed, access non-monetary shoutouts, and tap into other features with this plan.
• Premium ($400/month): Up to 80 users can send rewards. Add seats for $5/person/month. Access additional features like global rewards, streamlined reward approvals, and HRIS integrations.

Learn more about Guusto.

Kudoboard: Best Platform for Group Appreciation Boards

Designed for special occasions like birthdays, work anniversaries, and retirements, Kudoboard transforms traditional recognition into a dynamic, digital experience. Trusted by organizations of all sizes, Kudoboard fosters a culture of gratitude through a fun platform that employees love.

Employee Recognition Software Pricing

Kudoboard offers three pricing plans for organizations. Pricing scales based on your number of employees. The pricing below is based on 1-50 employees:

• Business Plan ($39/month): This plan gives organizations everything needed to celebrate employee milestones and send peer-to-peer shoutouts.
• Pro Plan ($59/month): This plan provides additional functionality through integrations and automation.
• Enterprise Plan (custom quote): Create a customized plan, ideal for large organizations that have unique employee recognition needs.

Pay upfront for a year, and you can save 36% on any plan.

Learn more about Kudoboard.

Mo: Best Remote Employee Recognition Software

With features like custom rewards, recognition feeds, and engagement analytics, and anniversary reminders, Mo helps remote teams stay motivated. Mo ensures that distance doesn’t dilute the power of meaningful employee recognition.

Employee Recognition Software Pricing

Mo provides three different packages: Recognise, Reward, and Engage. Get a quote based on your goals and company size.

Learn more about Mo.

Terryberry: Top Choice for Employee Service Awards

Whether it’s their first work anniversary or 20th, Terryberry ensures every employee feels valued for their contributions and tenure. Paired with features like social recognition and incentives, this platform offers a holistic approach to employee engagement.

Employee Recognition Software Pricing

Request a demo to chat about your needs and learn about costs.

Learn more about Terryberry.

Bucketlist Rewards: Best Platform for Experiential Recognition

This user-friendly employee recognition software includes an intuitive dashboard, seamless integration with HR systems, and analytics to track program engagement. By combining flexibility, simplicity, and meaningful rewards, Bucketlist Rewards transforms traditional recognition into experiences that motivate any team.

Employee Recognition Software Pricing

Reach out to Bucketlist’s team for pricing information.

Learn more about Bucketlist Rewards.

---

Employee Recognition Software FAQ

If you’re curious about the role dedicated software plays in running your business, explore the following answers to some common questions.

What is an employee recognition platform?

An employee recognition platform is a virtual tool designed to help companies acknowledge and reward employees for their workplace contributions and achievements. As a subset of employee engagement software, these platforms commonly enable managers to give timely feedback, facilitate peer-to-peer recognition, and leverage gamification features like public leaderboards or badges. Some have rewards catalogs where employees can redeem points they earn for gift cards, experiences, charitable donations, company swag, and other rewards.

The goal of these employee recognition software is to foster a positive work culture and boost retention by integrating appreciation into everyday workflows.

Why invest in employee recognition programs?

Investing in employee recognition directly impacts employee motivation and satisfaction. Recognition also plays a pivotal role in improving workplace culture and communication, creating a positive environment that encourages collaboration, innovation, and stronger relationships.

Taken together, these forces can improve employee engagement, which has a powerful trickle-down effect. Engaged employees are much less likely to leave your business and more likely to perform at their best. In fact, a study by Gallup and Workhuman found that 68% of employees who feel connected to their organization’s culture are less likely to feel burned out.

Engaged, satisfied, productive teams and better business results, all thanks to making a concerted effort to recognize employees—what’s not to love?

Why invest in employee recognition software?

Small acts to express recognition might be easily forgotten in a busy workday. Remember that the negative impacts of neglecting to build a culture of recognition can be far-reaching and hard to overcome! In fact, 66% of employees consider quitting when they feel unappreciated. With Millennial workers, that number jumps to 76%, according to this Forbes article.

Here’s why many organizations leverage dedicated employee recognition software:

• Structured and Consistent Recognition Process: You’ll have a reliable system to ensure regular acknowledgment.
• Enhanced Visibility in Hybrid Environments: You’ll ensure employee achievements are acknowledged even when those individuals aren’t physically present, which is especially important in today’s hybrid work environments.
• Record Keeping: Easily maintain records of who’s been recognized, by whom, and for what. You’ll also simplify performance reviews since managers can easily look back to review individuals’ impact and recognition data.

By integrating these tools into your workplace, you can create a more engaged, motivated, and productive workforce. In no time, you’ll start fostering a more positive organizational culture.

What features do employee recognition platforms offer?

Employee recognition can take several forms depending on what motivates your employees. Your recognition program should be tailored to best support your unique culture and goals.

Software developers recognize this and have created recognition platforms that offer a diverse range of features, such as:

• Peer-to-peer systems and social recognition
• Surveys for feedback collection
• Performance management and goal-tracking capabilities
• Gamification elements like badges and leaderboards
• Rewards and incentive processes/catalogs
• Analytics and reporting to measure program effectiveness

When looking for the best platform for your team, consider your organization’s culture and objectives. This should help you select the best fit to motivate your team.

---

How To Choose The Right Recognition Tools

How do you choose the right employee recognition software? Whether you’re starting from scratch or looking for an additional tool to add to your recognition program, there are a handful of essential steps you should follow:

1. Form a team to help you research your options and then implement your chosen solution. This team should include a range of perspectives, including those who’ll make the ultimate purchase decision, managers, and employees.
2. Define your needs and wants. What exactly are you seeking to accomplish, and/or what new features would be nice to have?
3. Set guidelines for your search, like your budget, target deadline and timeframe, and the number of expected users for the new platform.
4. Research and compare your options using your needs, wants, and guidelines.
5. Refine your list of options, and conduct demos. Work as a team to narrow down your options to a short list of providers that check all your boxes. Request demos of each option and record them so that your whole team can use them to help make a final choice.
6. Secure buy-in. If the person who will ultimately give the green light to purchase the new tool hasn’t yet been involved, present your findings and top choices to them for input.
7. Choose your new platform based on all the factors discussed above.
8. Create an implementation plan. The complexity of the plan will vary based on the particulars of the new tool, but you should at the very least lay out a timeline and assign ownership for different tasks.
9. Explain your new tool to employees. Make sure your entire team understands what the new tool is, what you’re investing in it, and how it will be used.
10. Reinforce adoption and track usage over time. Ensure that everyone continues using the new tool as intended by tracking usage and discussing it as a team.

Depending on the scale of your needs and the complexity of the solution you choose, you may abridge the steps listed above, forming a smaller research team or laying out a very loose implementation plan. The key point, though, is to be prepared and thoughtful with each step. Your new employee recognition platform will only drive the desired impacts if it’s treated as a true investment and priority!

Getting Started

By telling employees about the impact of their contributions, you can reduce turnover and increase morale. The platform you choose can make all the difference!

If you’re just getting started with employee recognition software, choose a platform that makes it easy to master the fundamentals: acknowledging contributions in a personalized way. All other parts of your recognition program should be built on this foundation.

Just be sure that your employee recognition platform makes the process easy. If it takes too long to send a shout-out, adopting your system will be a challenge. eCardWidget is designed to alleviate this challenge with highly customizable and quick recognition shout-outs. Learn more about how businesses use our eCards to recognize employees, or take our solution for a spin with a free demo.

Want to learn more about employee engagement best practices? We’ve got you covered:

• Remote Employee Recognition: Why it Matters and 13 Ideas: Learn how and why you should prioritize your remote workers with unique recognition ideas.
• Outstanding Recognition Awards to Elevate Company Culture: Explore creative employee award ideas and why many companies use this form of recognition.
• How to Dive into the Future of Work with a Hybrid Workplace: Bridge the gap between your remote and in-person employee experience with this actionable advice.