The best employee engagement survey tools have recognition and reward features and feedback and survey capabilities. They also enable managers to align employee goals, provide organizations with valuable data insights, and have messaging tools to reach employees effectively.
In this article, we evaluated 13 employee engagement tools and narrowed them down to our top five recommendations:
- Connecteam: Best overall for improving communication and collaboration among remote or dispersed teams
- Leapsome: Best for aligning employee goals and fostering professional growth and development
- Bonusly: Best for a gamified recognition and rewards system
- 15Five: Best for promoting a culture of continuous feedback
- Pingboard: Best for enhancing transparency and connection within organizations
Best Employee Engagement Tools Compared
Free Trial/ Free Version | Basic Plan Starts at | Surveys | Engagement Metrics | 1:1 Meetings | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Free Version | $35/month for the first 30 users* | ✓ | ✓ | ✕ | |
Free Trial | $8/module/ month** | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
Free Trial | $3.00/user/ month* | ✓ | ✓ | ✕ | |
Free Trial | $4/person/ month (billed annually) | ✓ | ✕ | ✓ (only available in the higher-tier plans) | |
Free Trial | $149/month for 20 users | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ (available as an add-on) | |
*Providers offer annual billing at a discounted rate.
**Leapsome uses a modular pricing scheme. You have to contact sales for a customized pricing quote.
Connecteam: Best Overall for Improving Communications Among Remote Teams
Pros
- In-app messaging
- Push notifications
- Geotagging
- Has a document repository
Cons
- Doesn’t have a 1:1 meeting feature
- Most tools are only available in the higher-tier plans
- Too many options tend to be a bit overwhelming
Connecteam Pricing
- Free Version (up to 10 users): Access to basic features; has no survey capabilities
- Basic ($35/month for the first 30 users, 6 cents/month for each additional user): Has private and team chats, survey creation, media and file attachments, and post insights
- Advanced ($59/month for the first 30 users, $1.80/ month for each additional user): Access to everything in Basic + admin permissions, read receipts, create live polls and anonymous surveys
- Expert ($119/month for the first 30 users, $3.60/month for each additional users: Access to everything in Advanced + a personal account manager and private branding
Connecteam is the best overall employee engagement tool in our evaluation and one of our recommendations for the top employee survey tools. It effectively improves communication and collaboration among remote or dispersed teams as its features are specifically designed to enhance remote work dynamics. It has multichannel communication options, including chat, group messaging, and even social media integrations. This allows teams to easily connect and collaborate in real time, fostering effective communication and minimizing the challenges of distance and time zones.
In our evaluation, Connecteam earned a 4.58 out of 5. Its reporting and analytics features, as well as benchmarking and engagement metrics, all contributed to its high score. Its ratings took a hit for lacking a 1:1 meeting feature and having a limited number of integrations. If you are specifically looking for these features, Leapsome is a good alternative.
Connecteam Standout Features
- Push notifications: This feature ensures timely and immediate communication. It lets organizations instantly notify employees about important updates, announcements, or urgent tasks, keeping them informed and engaged. By delivering real-time notifications directly to employees’ mobile devices, Connecteam helps create a sense of connectivity and responsiveness, fostering a more engaged and connected workforce.
- Engagement metrics: This feature allows organizations to measure and track employee engagement levels over time, providing valuable insights into the overall employee experience and identifying areas for improvement.
- Surveys: With surveys, organizations can create and distribute employee engagement surveys easily, gathering feedback and opinions from employees to inform decision-making, identify trends, and address concerns effectively.
- Task management: Among the other tools on this list, only Connecteam has this feature. It allows teams to assign tasks, set deadlines, track progress, and collaborate on projects. Connecteam makes employee management more efficient, as it streamlines workflows, ensures accountability, and improves team productivity by providing a centralized platform for task coordination and management.
- Trend analysis: Like Leapsome and Bonusly, Connecteam allows organizations to identify patterns and trends in employee engagement data over time, enabling them to gain deeper insights and make data-driven decisions to improve engagement strategies and initiatives.
Connecteam is also included as one of the top tools in our Free HR Software for Small Businesses and Employee Scheduling Software for Small Businesses.
Leapsome: Best for Aligning Employee Goals
Pros
- Good documentation
- Multilanguage
- Dedicated customer support
- Tracks previous meeting notes
Cons
- Text editor is a bit clunky
- Has a learning curve
- Doesn’t have notifications
Leapsome Pricing
- $8/month*: Access to 1:1 meetings, feedback leaderboards & analytics, and calendar integrations
*Leapsome uses a modular pricing scheme. You have to talk to sales to get a customized quote
Leapsome’s comprehensive features make it the ideal solution for employee goal alignment and professional growth. It has personalized training programs and skill assessments that could greatly help managers coach their employees to improve. Meanwhile, its regular performance reviews and 360-degree feedback promote a culture of continuous improvement within the organization.
Continual growth is a key factor in promoting retention. Find out more ways to reduce turnover in our employee retention strategies guide.
Like 15Five, it has a benchmarking feature that allows organizations to compare employee performance and progress against industry standards and best practices, providing valuable insights for talent development and goal setting.
In our evaluation, Leapsome earned an overall rating of 4.40 out of 5, with perfect scores in reporting and analytics, popularity, and integrations. It took a hit in employee engagement features and pricing because it only offers a free trial and requires talking to a sales representative to get the full pricing information. It also lacks a people directory, an essential feature, especially for large organizations.
Leapsome Standout Features
- Surveys: With surveys, organizations can create customizable surveys, collect anonymous responses, and analyze results in real time.
- Engagement metrics: Leapsome’s engagement metrics feature allows for measuring and tracking key engagement indicators, which play a crucial role in employee retention. This includes participation rates, sentiment analysis, and response rates to assess overall employee satisfaction and motivation.
- 1:1 Meetings: With 1:1 meetings, managers and their team members can set agendas, take notes, and track action items, ensuring that meetings are structured and action-oriented. It also has automatic reminders, scheduling flexibility, and centralized documentation. It helps teams stay organized, promotes accountability, and creates a repository of historical meeting data for future reference and analysis.
- Anonymous suggestion box: Among all the other employee engagement tools we evaluated, only Leapsome has this feature. It allows employees to share ideas, suggestions, and feedback without revealing their identities. It encourages open and honest communication by removing barriers and fear of judgment, fostering a culture of psychological safety. Additionally, it helps organizations gather valuable insights and address concerns or challenges within the workplace effectively.
- Learning paths: This is designed to facilitate employee growth and development by providing a structured framework for learning and skill-building. It allows organizations to create customized learning paths with curated resources, track progress, and provide targeted guidance to help employees acquire new knowledge and competencies.
Bonusly: Best for a Gamified Recognition & Rewards System
Pros
- Intuitive and user-friendly UI
- Points are redeemable
- Wide variety of rewards
Cons
- No integration option to performance management system
- Points expire at the end of each month
Bonusly Pricing
- Core ($3.00/user monthly): Access to chat tool, global rewards, actionable analytics, and detailed reporting
- Pro ($5.00/person monthly): Access to advanced reporting features, HRIS integrations, access control, SSO
- Custom (custom pricing): Dedicated support, custom HRIS integrations, manager resources
As the best employee engagement tool for a gamified recognition and rewards system, Bonusly has some unique features that make employee recognition more fun and interactive. While the other tools may offer some recognition features, only Bonusly has points systems, badges, and leaderboards that further enhance the engagement and motivation of employees.
Like Connecteam, Bonusly has robust reporting capabilities to track and measure engagement metrics like recognition activity, participation rates, and sentiment analysis. Both platforms offer benchmarking tools for comparing engagement levels. Unlike Connecteam, however, Bonusly lacks a task management feature, which could be very helpful for assigning meaningful tasks that align with each of your employees’ skills and interests.
In our evaluation, Bonusly earned a 4.31 out of 5 rating with perfect scores in reporting and analysis, integrations, and ease of use. While most of its other ratings got more than 4, its employee engagement feature got a 3 out of 5 rating because it doesn’t have 1:1 meetings and people directory features. Despite this, a lot of users appreciate its rewards and recognition features because Bonusly gamifies them, and users can redeem their points at partner websites like Amazon, Krispy Kreme, Home Depot, and more.
Bonusly Standout Features
- Redeemable reward points: Bonusly’s reward points can be cashed in or redeemed as gifts through various options. Employees can choose to convert their points into cash rewards or select from a wide range of gift cards from popular retailers, like Amazon, Target, and Starbucks.
- Actionable analytics: This feature enables organizations to identify trends, patterns, and areas of improvement in their recognition and rewards programs. Through these insights, managers and HR teams can make informed decisions by providing real-time feedback, sentiment analysis, and performance metrics, empowering them to optimize their employee engagement strategies.
- Manager resources and training: Bonusly stands out among the employee engagement survey tools we reviewed by offering this unique feature, which provides managers with comprehensive resources, guides, and training materials to further recognize and engage their teams. By equipping your leaders with the necessary tools and knowledge, they can effectively lead and foster a culture of appreciation within their teams.
- Engagement metrics: While Leapsome and Connecteam also have this feature, Bonusly emphasizes real-time feedback and peer recognition, providing a holistic view of engagement within teams. While other platforms may focus on traditional survey-based metrics, Bonusly’s approach captures ongoing engagement through continuous recognition, fostering a culture of appreciation and empowering employees to drive engagement from within.
- Surveys: The tool offers pulse surveys for quick check-ins on employee sentiment, culture surveys to assess the organization’s values and alignment, and engagement surveys to measure overall employee satisfaction and engagement levels. These survey options give organizations a comprehensive understanding of their workforce and enable them to make data-driven decisions to improve employee experience and engagement.
Looking to find more ways to recognize employees and promote engagement? Check out our recommended employee engagement ideas for increasing morale and productivity.
15Five: Best for Promoting a Culture of Continuous Feedback
Pros
- Has OKRs and performance tracking
- High-level reporting and analytics
- Goal tracking and alignment features
Cons
- May require additional modules or integrations to cover all employee engagement aspects
- Pricing structure can be complex
Pricing*
- Engage ($4/user monthly): Access to surveys, heatmaps and analytics, benchmarks, and action plan dashboard
- Perform ($10/user monthly): Access to performance reviews, data insights, 360* feedback, and performance insights
- Total Platform ($16/users monthly): Access to everything in Engage and Perform
*15Five only provided their annual billing quote on their website
15Five encourages regular check-ins and allows for easy sharing of insights, accomplishments, and challenges. Features like the High Fives (15Five’s recognition program) and comments promote a positive feedback culture, recognizing and appreciating employees’ contributions. Additionally, its reporting and analytics provide valuable data to measure feedback trends, identify areas for improvement, and continuously enhance the feedback process.
Like Leapsome, 15Five uses a modular pricing strategy—but offers more flexibility in its pricing options. Furthermore, only 15Five and Pingboard have a people directory, which makes it easier to find the people and their respective departments in your organization.
With an overall rating of 4.26 out of 5, 15Five got perfect scores in popularity, ease of use, and integration. It also scored high in its reporting and analytics features. Many love how the tool helped them manage their employees’ performance and give feedback more easily. However, it lost points because it does not have a free version and in-app messaging. Its 1:1 meeting and survey features are only available in the higher-priced plans.
15Five Standout Features
- Continuous Feedback: 15Five emphasizes ongoing feedback between managers and employees, promoting regular communication and growth.
- OKRs: The tool enables the setting and tracking of Objectives and Key Results, ensuring alignment and progress toward organizational goals.
- Goal Tracking: The feature enables individuals and teams to set, monitor, and achieve their goals effectively. It provides a streamlined platform for goal creation, progress updates, and feedback, facilitating a culture of transparency and accountability within organizations.
- Pulse Surveys: 15Five includes pulse surveys to gather frequent feedback from employees, enabling organizations to stay attuned to their needs and concerns.
Pingboard: Best for Enhancing Transparency Within Organizations
Pros
- Visual and interactive org charts
- Employee profiles with customizable information
- Integration with popular HRIS and communication tools
Cons
- Limited engagement-specific features compared to other tools
- Advanced features like custom workflows are available only in higher-priced plans.
Pricing
- Basic ($149/month for 20 users, $3/month for each additional user): Access to org chart, live chat support, and employee profiles
- Essential ($299/month for 50 users, $5/month for each additional user): Access to everything in Basic + reports and analytics, usage metrics, Applause, and Slack integration
- Pro ($399/month for 50 users, $7/month for each additional user): Access to everything in Pro + 1:1 Meetings, onboarding checklists, and surveys
Pingboard is the best tool for enhancing transparency within an organization due to its people directory, org chart, and shared calendar features. The org chart lets employees visualize the company’s structure and easily identify team members. In fact, its robust org chart creation features helped it score highly in our evaluation of the best org chart software.
With its directory and profile customization options, employees can share their skills, interests, and availability, fostering better collaboration and knowledge sharing. The shared calendar offers visibility into employee absences and schedules, ensuring transparency in team availability and improving planning and coordination.
Pingboard earned a 3.77 out of 5 rating in our evaluation. Its integration with a wide range of HRIS software and its various customer support channels contributed to its high score. However, it lost points because it has no free version, and a lot of its employee engagement features, like 1:1 Meetings, are available only in higher-priced plans.
In terms of customer feedback, those who left reviews on G2 and Capterra appreciate its org chart feature because it allows them to see who’s who in their organization at a glance. Others, on the other hand, say that doing manual edits is a bit difficult, and there’s a limitation with the customization options.
Pingboard Standout Features
- Org chart visualization: Pingboard provides interactive org charts that allow employees to easily navigate and understand the company’s structure. It promotes transparency and collaboration across teams.
- Employee profiles: The tool offers customizable employee profiles where employees can showcase their skills, interests, and achievements. It enhances visibility and recognition within the organization.
- Integration: Pingboard integrates with popular HRIS and communication tools, ensuring consistent and up-to-date employee data across platforms.
- 1:1 Meetings: Like Connecteam and Leapsome, Pingboard also has this feature. As with Pingboard’s case, however, it is only available in the higher-priced plans.
- Surveys: Pingboard also has employee engagement surveys, which managers can customize based on their target audience. This allows them to get insight from the right people.
How We Evaluated the Best Employee Engagement Tools
We considered the top employee engagement tools, looking at how they competed. Apart from comparing their prices, we looked for employee engagement features as well as their reporting and data analysis capabilities. We also checked their HRIS or HRM software integrations. Finally, we also checked for ease of use and their popularity among real-world users.
Click through the tabs below for a more detailed breakdown of our evaluation criteria:
30% of Overall Score
We looked for employee engagement functions like 1:1 meetings, recognition and rewards, and surveys. We also gave extra points to the tools with in-app messaging and a people directory.
20% of Overall Score
We gave the most credit to the tools with engagement metrics, trend analysis, benchmarking, import/export capabilities, and data visualization.
10% of Overall Score
Preference was given to the tools that don’t just have HRIS integration only but also integrate with communication and collaboration software.
25% of Overall Score
We checked to see if the employee engagement tool is affordable for small businesses, has transparent pricing, and requires no minimum annual contract. We also gave additional points to those that offer a free version instead of just a free trial.
10% of Overall Score
We gave a high score to the tools that require no help during setup. We also checked if they offer live phone support or have a knowledge base that users can easily access and refer to when they have questions or clarifications regarding the software.
5% of Overall Score
We considered online user reviews—including those of our competitors like G2 and Capterra—based on a 5-star scale, wherein any option with an average of 4+ stars is ideal. Also, software with more than 200+ reviews on third-party sites are favored.
Bottom Line
The tools on this list have the necessary features to help you improve your employee engagement. However, choosing the best engagement survey tool depends on your organization’s needs, priorities, and budget.
Based on our evaluation, we found Connecteam to be the best employee engagement survey tool. With its mobile-first approach, employees can stay connected and engaged on the go. Its feature-rich platform includes tools for internal communication, task management, surveys, and recognition boards, providing a comprehensive solution for fostering employee engagement.
Sign up for a Connecteam plan today and see how it can help you improve your employee engagement.