Awardco Review 2024 – Features, Pricing, & More

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Our Verdict

Boost productivity while reducing costs

As an employee recognition and rewards software, Awardco simplifies the task of HR managers in making employees feel they’re appreciated for their hard work. With a vast array of tangible rewards options via Amazon Business, Awardco keeps employees excited about receiving rewards that matter to them. It also motivates them to put in their best work and recognize fellows who do the same.

Awardco is good for teams with around 200 employees and large enterprises. Any company that needs a diverse set of incentives to motivate their employees to get more productive and helpful will find using Awardco rewarding.

Pros

  • Millions of reward redemption options via Amazon
  • Additional reward options such as e-gift cards, events, swag, and custom catalogs
  • Peer-to-peer and manager-to-employee recognition
  • Cost-effective for teams of 200+ employees
  • Custom integrations via API

Cons

  • Overall depth of data analytics prowess is less than Workhuman
  • Not cost-effective for micro teams
  • Some users need custom amounts of points to give to fellows

 

Awardco Plans & Pricing

Awardco offers three pricing tiers with increasing robustness in terms of recognition programs, rewards, communication, and administration per level. Awardco isn’t directly advertising the exact price per plan on its website, and it will require you to contact sales to get a demo.

However, as Awardco requires a minimum of $5,000 USD to be signed on for its Core plan—the lowest tier—for a year, it would only be cost-effective for teams of at least 250 members. For the Pro plan, companies of at least 187 employees would find the 7500 USD/year minimum engagement reasonable.

Plan Tier/Level Core Plus Pro
Monthly Cost/Per user $1.67/employee/month ($20/employee/year, $5000 minimum) $2.2/employee/month ($26.40/ employee/ year, $6000 minimum) $3.33/employee/month ($40/employee/year, $7500 minimum)
Recognition Programs Service Anniversaries, Birthdays, Onboarding Spot Recognition, Bulk Recognition, Metadata (Tags, Filters) Nominations & Approvals, Lifestyle Spending Account (LSA), Franchise Engagement, 5 Custom Programs, Incentive Programs, Total Rewards
Rewards Virtual Gift Cards, Amazon BusinessEvents, Priceline Hotels Smart Award Networks, Turn-key Swag Store Custom Catalogs, Physical Awards
Communication Email Templates/ Notifications Email Templates/ Notifications, SMS Notifications Email Templates/ Notifications, SMS Notifications
Administration 4/7 Customer Support, Single Sign-on, Awardco App, HRIS Integration, Basic Budget Controls, Basic Analytics/ Dashboards, Dedicated CSM 4/7 Customer Support, Single Sign-on, Awardco App, HRIS Integration, Basic Budget Controls, Basic Analytics/ Dashboards, Dedicated CSM 4/7 Customer Support, Single Sign-on, Awardco App, HRIS Integration, Basic Budget Controls, Basic Analytics/ Dashboards, Dedicated CSM
Core - starts at $5000/year

The Core plan includes all the basic recognition features, such as service anniversaries, birthdays, and even an onboarding workflow. However, it doesn’t give you the ability to award recognition on the spot, such as for a great performance on a given project. If you want to, you need to move up to the Plus plan. Core also doesn’t allow you to recognize team members in bulk or organize metadata such as employee tags and filters.

The good news is that with the Core tier, small or startup teams can already make use of virtual gift cards and Amazon Business as rewards options, along with event bookings and accommodation to Priceline hotels. Note that the Core plan doesn’t allow you to set up Smart Award Networks, e.g., dedicating certain rewards such as tangible products to service-related achievements, while reserving gift cards for peer-to-peer spot recognition.

Moreover, the Core plan doesn’t include SMS notifications and doesn’t allow custom integrations, although it already links with essential ones like Slack and Microsoft Teams.

Plus - Starts at $6000/year

Plus is a more generous tier, as it has all the inclusions of the Core plan and shies away at the Pro level on a few extra features such as custom catalog, custom programs, and custom integrations.

At $1500 less than the Pro plan, the Plus level already includes SMS notifications in addition to email templates. Pro also enables Smart Award Networks that make sure you have categories of rewards available for redemption based on the recognition type an employee receives. With Plus, you can design peer-to-peer and bulk recognition, but you still can’t set up an employee’s Lifestyle Spending Account (LSA), as it’s reserved for the Pro tier.

If your HR strategy involves having dedicated physical awards, nominations, incentive programs, and total rewards that combine all benefits and compensation, then you need to go for the Pro plan.

Pro - Starts at $7500/year

All custom options on recognition programs, rewards catalog, and integrations only come with the Pro tier. Pro encompasses all the Core and Plus features, adding unique elements that can help highly strategic HR teams design competitive rewards programs.

For instance, aside from giving employees LSAs, the Pro plan allows HR managers to design performance incentive programs with corresponding custom rewards.

Awardco overview

Starting price $5000 minimum
Best for Streamlined Employee Recognition with Custom Rewards
Free plan
Free trial
Subscription
App PWA (Progressive Web Application)
Integrations Amazon Business, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Outlook, Workplace by Meta, Workday, BambooHR, ADP, Deloitte Tax Content, Zendesk

Features

Awardco has a unique partnership with Amazon Business for its extensive tangible rewards, which some employees may prefer over receiving only from a limited set of brands, such as Workhuman’s offer. Awardco also ties employee onboarding with rewards and recognition programs. Its peer-to-peer recognition feature helps employees boost each other’s morale.

New Product Update

September 12th, 2024 Update: Awardco now empowers admins to have more control over customized employee rewards. This new feature streamlines awarding processes and avoids time wasting. Admins will be able to access award budgets, manage award networks, and customize award options, point permissions, global options, and email templates for each of their reward networks. I consider this feature update a plus for admins managing international teams who need to customize award labels by country or region. It will also help admins eliminate the need for third-party intervention, as they can now track and monitor critical aspects of their reward networks.

Another thing about Awardco’s new updates that I think most organizations aiming to streamline their reward systems will find helpful is its point expiration tool. While this latest update helps admins work strictly with the company’s budget, it will also indirectly increase employees’ participation in their company’s rewards program. It benefits admins and organizations, balancing employee engagement with cost control.

Integration with Amazon Business

Awardco’s partnership with Amazon Business allows employees access to millions of reward choices with lower vendor fees and maintaining dollar-for-dollar recognition spend. This feature is unique to Awardco. With Amazon’s global fulfillment centers, employees can receive their physical rewards fast and easily.

Also, if an employee is a few points short of a desired item on Amazon, they can simply pay for the remaining amount.

Point System, Onboarding, and Milestones

Onboarding is an essential part of Awardco, allowing HR teams to reward employees from day one with a bonus of 100 points, equivalent to a $100 reward, as it’s a 1-to-1 equivalence by default. Employees can redeem these on company merch to serve as free marketing for the business and, at the same time, to make the employee feel truly welcomed as a new team member.

Additionally, you can set up Awardco such that a new employee can claim points once they complete a task, including an onboarding to-do list. The Awardco system also helps employees keep track of their careers with memory books.

Peer-to-Peer Recognition

Employees can give Awardco points to fellow workers to give a solid appreciation for their job. It develops a positive company culture and encourages teams to help each member. Awardco gives employees a sense of being connected to everybody in the company, even those in remote setups.

Integrations

Awardco’s integration with Amazon Business allows employees to redeem rewards of their own choice, thus making a company’s recognition program more relevant and exciting. Awardco also links with communication tools such as Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Workplace by Meta, where any recognition made in such apps also posts to the Awardco platform recognition feed.

With its BambooHR integration, Awardco can automatically transfer employee rosters to Awardco’s servers. If you’re using Zendesk, you can link it with Awardco to automate recognition and rewards based on Zendesk performance metrics.

Awardco Customer Reviews

Customers have given Awardco an average of 4.8/5 points in their reviews. It has been effective for those who work remotely, allowing them to boost each other’s morale even from home. HR admins have also appreciated how painless it is to set up Awardco, including managing different currencies for global teams.

The most valued part is the freedom of choice Awardco has been giving employees when it comes to redeeming tangible rewards.

Awardco vs Top Competitors

Provider Best for Starting Price Free Plan Free Trial Mobile App Integrations
Workhuman Large organizations and global corporations Custom quote Slack, Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Outlook, Yammer, Workday
Motivosity Fast-paced companies and medium-sized businesses $2/user/month BambooHR, Microsoft Azure, Paychex, Google Sheets, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Calendar, Outlook Calendar
Bonusly Startups and tech companies with a young workforce $3/user/month Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google, Google Chat, Dayforce, Workday, Namely, Zenefits, Gusto, ADP, Ultipro, iSolved, Paychex, Paylocity, SAP, Sage, BambooHR, HiBob, SFTP, Self Serve, Zapier

Awardco vs Workhuman

Awardco specializes in employee recognition and rewards, while Workhuman offers a broader range of HR solutions, including performance management and analytics. Workhuman is best suited for larger, global organizations.

Because of its partnership with Amazon Business, Awardco allows employees to choose physical reward items from virtually any brand. Workhuman, on the other hand, has partnered with specific brands, such as Nike, Sony, Kate Spade, Fitbit, and Ralph Lauren, for tangible employee rewards.

Awardco vs Motivosity

Motivosity offers additional features such as manager development and employee insights. Meanwhile, Awardco complements its main rewards feature by adding onboarding management. Interestingly, Motivosity specifically states that it’s best used for businesses with at least 25 employees, which is a much lower threshold in terms of per-user-costs compared to Awardco’s $5000 minimum engagement.

Like Awardco, Motivosity offers customizable rewards, including digital gift cards, charitable donations, and company-branded swag. However, Motivosity’s unique approach comes with its ThanksMatters Visa card, which allows employees to spend their rewards as cash. This can be a game-changer for personalized spending compared to Awardco’s partnership with Amazon Business for reward choice and delivery.

Awardco vs Bonusly

Bonusly primarily focuses on peer-to-peer recognition and social features. It has less emphasis on automated recognition and HRIS integrations, which are significant features of Awardco. Awardco also has a more extensive selection of rewards, especially tangible ones, thanks to its partnership with Amazon Business and even Lazada, especially for Southeast Asia, allowing it to provide employees with a vast array of merch options.

Both Awardco and Bonusly offer gift cards and cashout as points redemption options. However, Bonusly has another unique reward called Bonusly Points Boost, which allows users to purchase additional points to use for a desired reward.

How We Test HR Software

We test HR software, including the Awardco app, using standard criteria.

  • Pricing – We prioritize cost-effective pricing for both small startups and large enterprises, keeping in mind the value for money at every pricing tier.
  • Features – Basic and convenient extra features make HR systems more seamless.
  • Integrations – The more integrations with accounting, payroll, HRIS, HRMS, and other HR management apps, the better.
  • Automation – If an HR app can automate most repetitive tasks, that would free up the HR team to focus on high-level strategies.
  • Ease of use – The easier the use, the higher the adaptability.
  • Third-Party Reviews – It’s vital to see other use cases and how the product is useful from their perspective.

How to Choose the Best HR Software

Ensure your new HR software works seamlessly with the rest of your business processes.

Type of HR SoftwareEssential HR FeaturesPricingEase of useIntegrationsCustomer Support

Choose software that matches the size and complexity of your business, whether it’s for a small startup or a large enterprise.

Look for key functionalities like employee self-service, benefits and rewards management, compliance tracking, payroll processing, and onboarding.

Consider your budget and look for transparent pricing that aligns with your company’s needs without hidden fees.

Select user-friendly software with an intuitive interface to ensure smooth adoption by HR staff and employees.

Ensure the software integrates seamlessly with your existing business systems, like accounting, communication, and project management tools.

Opt for a provider with reliable, accessible customer support to assist with any issues or training needs.

FAQs

How does Awardco work?

What is the purpose of employee recognition programs?

What is the role of HR in employee recognition?

Is Awardco a SaaS company?

How do I use my Awardco points on Amazon?

Karen Crystal
Editor
Karen Crystal
Editor

Karen Crystal has built a career in digital marketing and content writing over the past 13 years, focusing on the vegan sector since 2020 and extending her expertise to industries such as crypto, Play-to-Earn (P2E) games, and revegetation solutions. As the Email Marketing Manager and Copywriter for AchieveCE, her role since 2022 involves crafting targeted email strategies and engaging content, underpinned by her analytical skills from a Master’s in Physics with a specialization in synchronization in simulated decentralized electrical networks. Karen’s academic pursuits include presenting at SPVM conferences and participating in the JENESYS Programme in Japan, experiences that have enriched…