You can set how many points to award each person to use. You can create awards, designate who can pull from the awards bucket, and how much to cap the awards (yearly, monthly, quarterly, etc.).

You can set the awards to be a fixed amount and template, which made it easy to use for competitions. There are claimable awards that we would rotate for things like "posting a review on Glassdoor," "sharing a LinkedIn post," attending a training, etc.

We got Bonusly about 5 years ago because we were seeing a real dip in employee morale and thought this could be an easy way to show appreciation in a more tangible way.

Manager to employee feedback existed, but there was nothing structured for peer to peer recognition, and that was also a gap we really wanted to close. Bonusly gave us a way to make recognition part of everyday culture rather than something that only happened during performance reviews or when a manager remembered to say something.

I have personally used it for the full five years, and it has consistently been one of the tools I would fight to keep in the budget. The morale shift was noticeable and it kept coming up in engagement surveys; people felt more connected to their coworkers and more appreciated for the work they were putting in.

I liked that you could have an award template, but sometimes it would be nice to have the template but allow for adjustments or forms to fill out.

For example, "Thank you for posting on LinkedIn" is the template, and maybe you want it to say "Thank you for posting about the new hire on LinkedIn." I would like to make the Microsoft Teams feed more user friendly.

It integrates with Teams, but it's not the easiest, and it breaks or disconnects frequently. They added a survey aspect to it, but the surveys leave a lot to be desired. It's not as comprehensive as a survey tool like TINYpulse or SurveyMonkey. More options for other countries' gift cards. Many employees in India wanted more options.

I have used GCodes, Bucketlist, and Bonusly. Bonusly is by far the most user friendly. I also like that the points you get recognized with do not expire, so you can save them.

Knowing what the total budget is for the year will help you get a clearer picture. The demo will help you model the total spend based on what buying power your employees have.

Bonusly continues to add different gift cards/prizes to choose from, and added surveys.

Any organization that is on a computer regularly will find Bonusly beneficial. It is super simple and easy to use and learn, and makes regular recognition an easy win!

I like that the platform is easily accessible and intuitive for publicly recognizing team members in a visible way.

From an HR perspective, I like that I can track data showing which company values resonate most and least with employees, which helps leadership focus on areas that may need stronger reinforcement.

I also like that team members are incentivized to participate through a points and rewards system.

As our company began to scale as a globally distributed workforce across the US, EMEA, and APAC, we wanted to adopt a tool that could promote a company culture of recognition and appreciation.

Our teams were spread across multiple offices, so finding a tool that made recognition easily accessible in real time was important. We also believed that incentivizing team members to recognize others’ contributions through gamification would encourage broader participation.

To make it easier for team members to think through their recognitions, we created hashtags aligned with each of our core company values. This allowed us to collect measurable data to track which values resonated most with team members and identify areas where leaders could lean in more and lead by example.

I have personally used the tool for over three years.

It would be helpful to filter public recognition posts using more advanced criteria, particularly when reviewing usage by teams or functional groups.

At the time, the integration with our company swag store was not very user friendly, though improvements may have been made since then. An easier integration with Zenefits would also be beneficial.

I have not used similar tools to Bonusly, so I cannot directly compare it to competitors.

One key consideration is weighing the pros and cons of both adopting the tool and gamifying recognition. Gamification introduces factors such as budget constraints and the risk of misuse by team members acting in bad faith.

Another consideration is whether a platform like Bonusly will support your intended outcomes, such as improving company culture, morale, or engagement.

The platform has become more intuitive to use over time. Integrations with HRIS systems like Gusto have made importing new hires into the platform much more seamless.

It works well for distributed workforces, whether remote, in person, hybrid, or global. Organizations focused on strengthening engagement and building a culture of recognition and appreciation are likely to see strong value from this platform.

Bonusly helped reinforce a culture of appreciation by making recognition frequent, inclusive, and integrated into everyday work rather than limited to formal review cycles.

From an administrative perspective, Bonusly was easy to manage and offered a flexible, points-based rewards system that employees could redeem for gift cards or company swag, increasing participation and motivation.

My organization implemented Bonusly to create a more consistent and visible way to recognize employees in real time, rather than relying solely on annual reviews or manager-led recognition.

The goal was to improve morale and engagement by giving all employees the ability to acknowledge each other’s contributions across the organization.

Bonusly allowed peer-to-peer recognition through public shout-outs, which helped reinforce positive behaviors and made appreciation more immediate and inclusive. The platform also offered a points-based system that employees could redeem for rewards such as gift cards, adding a tangible incentive to recognition.

I personally used Bonusly for approximately one year as an HR leader, during which time it was well-received and had a positive impact on team morale and workplace culture.

Depending on how the points and rewards system is configured, Bonusly can become costly for smaller organizations or nonprofits when points are redeemed for cash-based rewards.

While the platform is intentionally lightweight, organizations may need to invest time in ongoing moderation, guidelines, and education to ensure consistent and appropriate use across teams.

Compared to other employee recognition tools I’ve evaluated or used, Bonusly stands out for its balance of simplicity, visual appeal, and ease of adoption. The platform is intuitive for employees, with a minimal learning curve, while still offering enough structure for HR teams to manage recognition in a meaningful way.

When selecting an employee recognition platform like Bonusly, organizations should first assess their company culture and readiness for a public, peer-to-peer recognition model.

Budget considerations are also important, particularly regarding how points are valued, funded, and redeemed over time.

Leaders should evaluate employee demographics and engagement levels to ensure the platform will be widely adopted and used consistently.

During my time using Bonusly, the most noticeable evolution was in how employees adopted and engaged with the platform rather than changes to the tool itself.

Initially, there was some hesitation as employees learned how recognition worked, but usage increased as the organization reinforced its purpose and value.

Over time, employees became more comfortable giving and receiving recognition, and participation grew as the impact on morale became more visible.

Bonusly is well-suited for organizations of various sizes and industries that value real-time, peer-driven recognition as part of their culture.