Awardco Review: Achieve 22% More Productivity and Cut Turnover by 31%

Recognition efforts falling flat at your company?

If you’re evaluating employee recognition software, chances are your current approach feels inconsistent, repetitive, and a hassle to maintain. That’s why you’re likely digging into what Awardco really offers.

The tough reality? Daily disengagement and wasted budget on generic gifts leave you frustrated, feeling like recognition just isn’t sticking with your team.

Awardco flips the script, tying recognition to meaningful rewards, thousands of choices via Amazon, and automating everything from milestones to lifestyle spend—all so you actually get visible, lasting impact.

In this review, I’ll explain how Awardco helps create authentic recognition moments your team actually loves—with less busywork for HR or managers.

In this Awardco review, you’ll get my hands-on take on core features, how much it costs, where it excels or falls short, and how it stacks up to alternatives like Bonusly and Kazoo—so you can nail your evaluation.

You’ll leave knowing exactly what features you need to foster engagement and pick the right recognition tool confidently.

Let’s dive into the analysis.

Awardco Overview

Awardco has been around since 2011, based in Provo, Utah, with a mission to simplify employee recognition and rewards under one comprehensive platform. They focus on providing businesses a modern way to celebrate employee milestones and achievements.

What sets them apart is their direct integration with Amazon Business and other large reward networks, offering millions of reward options with zero markups. This feature primarily targets mid-market and enterprise companies looking to consolidate multiple employee experience programs into one solution.

A notable development I’ve seen in my Awardco review is the addition of Lifestyle Spending Accounts (LSAs), enhancing flexibility for employee benefits. Their $65 million Series A funding in 2021 also underlines their growth ambitions.

Unlike many others, Awardco emphasizes providing extensive reward choices without markups, making rewards feel more valuable. This approach contrasts with competitors who often have limited and costly catalogs, so you’ll notice it caters well to companies needing complex recognition and incentive programs in one place.

They work with a wide range of organizations, especially mid-sized to large enterprises aiming to modernize employee engagement through scalable, personalized reward systems.

Their current focus is expanding flexible rewards and automating incentive programs, aligning with the growing demand for personalized employee experiences that drive motivation and retention.

Now let’s examine their capabilities.

Awardco Features

Recognition programs feel inconsistent and easy to overlook.

Awardco solutions bring together a comprehensive platform for employee recognition, rewards, incentives, service awards, and lifestyle spending. These are the five core Awardco solutions that address real business challenges by improving employee engagement and simplifying program management.

1. Recognition Programs (Recognize)

Struggling with manual and low-impact recognition?

Many workplaces still rely on sporadic, paper-based, or email shout-outs that don’t stick. This often results in disengaged employees feeling undervalued.

This solution centralizes all recognition with social feeds and automated triggers like birthdays or anniversaries. From my testing, the public feed really boosts visibility of positive actions and the multiple recognition types (peer, manager, nomination) give everyone a voice. It’s easy to use and encourages consistent participation.

What you get is a vibrant culture where appreciation is part of the daily routine, increasing morale and alignment with company values.

2. Rewards Network

Tired of lame rewards nobody wants?

Limited catalogs and high markups often kill the value of your reward budget, leaving employees unmotivated.

Awardco’s Rewards Network directly integrates with Amazon Business, offering employees millions of products with no markups and Prime shipping. The breadth of options including travel, donations, and swag ensures each reward feels meaningful. Here’s what I found—the freedom to choose drastically improves redemption rates and employee satisfaction with incentives.

This means your rewards budget actually drives motivation and feels worthwhile for your workforce every time.

3. Incentive Programs (Earn)

Still managing incentive tracking in spreadsheets?

Manual tracking of points or goals often leads to errors and confusion, causing delayed reward distribution and de-motivated employees.

With this solution, you can automate points-based incentives for behaviors like sales targets, safety milestones, or wellness challenges. From my testing, the automation and real-time tracking capabilities eliminate admin headaches while keeping employees continually motivated. Customizable rules make it easy to tailor incentives to your business goals.

So you can drive key behaviors reliably and reward wins instantly, improving overall performance.

4. Automated Service Awards

Old-school anniversary awards feel outdated and burdensome.

Traditional milestone gifts and plaques require manual processes that drain HR resources and lack personal touch.

Awardco automates service award delivery by syncing with your HRIS system. Employees get a notification with points and a leadership message exactly on their milestone date. What I love about this feature is how it removes admin work while giving employees choice through the rewards network, making anniversaries genuinely memorable.

Your HR team saves time, and employees receive meaningful recognition that aligns with their preferences.

5. Lifestyle Spending Accounts (LSAs)

Rigid benefits programs frustrate diverse employee needs.

Standard stipends for wellness or education can be inflexible, hard to track, and don’t always match what employees want.

LSAs let you allocate funds in categories like Wellness or Professional Development electronically. Employees can spend through Awardco’s rewards network or submit receipts for reimbursement. From my experience, this solution adds flexibility and transparency effortlessly, allowing benefits to fit individual lifestyles while reducing paperwork.

This means happier employees who use benefit funds where it matters most, boosting program value and satisfaction.

Overall, the Awardco solutions work collectively to create a fully integrated employee engagement platform that streamlines recognition and rewards while empowering your workforce. This cohesive approach turns everyday appreciation into a strategic business advantage.

Awardco Pricing

Confused about what you’ll actually pay monthly?

Awardco pricing follows a custom quote model tailored to your company size, features, and implementation needs, requiring direct contact with sales. This means you won’t find standard tiers but can expect pricing that scales with your usage and business requirements.

1. Pricing Model & Cost Factors

Custom pricing offers flexibility.

Awardco’s pricing model relies on a per-employee-per-month subscription with a custom quote based on your company’s size and feature needs. Additional costs typically include a one-time implementation fee. Their pricing approach means your monthly costs correlate directly with your workforce size and required platform capabilities, so you’re not paying for unnecessary features.

From my cost analysis, this lets your budget scale predictably with your organization’s growth and complexity.

2. Value Assessment & ROI

Fair pricing tied to real value.

What makes their pricing different is the direct link between costs and actual rewards given: you pay only the reward’s face value, with no hidden markups or shipping fees on incentives. This transparency ensures your budget truly reflects meaningful employee recognition spend without inflated costs.

This means your investment yields measurable ROI through better employee engagement aligned with your spending.

3. Budget Planning & Implementation

Plan ahead for full costs.

Beyond subscription fees, you’ll encounter typical implementation fees related to setup, data imports, and HRIS integrations. From what I found regarding pricing, these upfront costs can vary but are essential to consider for total ownership. Awardco’s pricing model aims to keep ongoing monthly fees straightforward while the initial implementation impacts early budget planning.

This means you should allocate funds upfront to avoid surprises during deployment.

My Take: Awardco’s pricing works best for mid-to-large businesses that want clear costs tied directly to employee engagement spend, plus flexibility to scale features and user counts without paying for extras.

The overall Awardco pricing reflects customized value based on your company’s needs.

Awardco Reviews

Are Awardco reviews truly reliable?

From my review analysis across platforms like G2, Capterra, and TrustRadius, Awardco reviews reveal consistent user experiences highlighting both strengths and areas for improvement. What I found in user feedback offers a well-rounded understanding to guide your decision-making process for implementing this employee recognition software.

1. Overall User Satisfaction

Users show strong overall satisfaction.

From the reviews I analyzed, Awardco scores an impressive average near 4.8 out of 5 stars, reflecting widespread positive sentiment. What stands out is how users consistently praise the platform’s reliability and value in recognition workflows. Review-wise, this pattern suggests you can expect a stable and well-received experience for most organizations.

Key satisfaction drivers include the vast rewards network and ease of program consolidation, while occasional concerns arise around some feature limitations.

2. Common Praise Points

Users consistently love the Amazon integration.

What I found in user feedback is that the most frequently mentioned positive aspect is Awardco’s direct Amazon Business integration. This offers unmatched reward variety with zero markups, a feature customers extol repeatedly in their reviews. Along with ease of use and administrative streamlining, these highlights generate positive buzz.

These praised features matter because they empower employees to choose meaningful rewards and simplify program management, boosting overall engagement and satisfaction.

3. Frequent Complaints

Mobile app and reporting draw common criticism.

From my review analysis, users often report that Awardco’s mobile app feels less intuitive compared to the desktop version, and that reporting options lack advanced customization. What stood out is how limitations in analytics and search functionalities appear recurrent in reviews, indicating areas where power users seek more depth.

However, these issues tend to be minor inconveniences rather than deal-breakers for many users, especially those prioritizing core reward and recognition features.

The overall Awardco reviews indicate strong user satisfaction balanced with practical feature requests, reflecting a mature platform with room for growth.

Best Awardco Alternatives

Too many Awardco alternatives to choose from?

The market offers several best Awardco alternatives, each tailored to different business sizes, budgets, and recognition priorities. Understanding these options helps you pick the right fit for your unique employee engagement goals.

1. Bonusly

Looking for easy peer-to-peer recognition?

Bonusly shines when your goal is a simple, social recognition platform that boosts team morale in small to mid-sized companies. From my competitive analysis, Bonusly’s peer-driven engagement fosters strong collaboration with a lower complexity alternative to Awardco’s enterprise features.

Choose Bonusly if your priority is straightforward user experience and peer recognition without managing complex reward programs.

2. Achievers

Need a data-driven awards platform?

Achievers stands out in large enterprises seeking deep analytics and employee engagement measurement. What I found comparing options is that Achievers offers robust analytics tied to recognition but comes at a higher cost and steeper learning curve than Awardco.

You should choose Achievers when engagement tracking and detailed reporting are critical and budget is available for an enterprise-grade platform.

3. Kudos

Want to reinforce company values through feedback?

Kudos works well when your main focus is on values-based recognition and embedding qualitative feedback in performance culture. From my competitive analysis, Kudos emphasizes structured feedback and values reinforcement, making it a good alternative for culture-centric programs.

Select Kudos if your situation calls for enhancing feedback quality alongside recognition rather than broad reward selections.

4. Nectar

Searching for budget-friendly and easy integrations?

Nectar is a great alternative when cost sensitivity is high and you want smooth Slack or Microsoft Teams integrations. From my evaluation, Nectar delivers affordable recognition with strong collaboration ties, fitting smaller businesses looking for a simple, effective solution.

Go with Nectar if you want a user-friendly, budget-conscious platform integrated into daily communication tools.

The best Awardco alternatives depend on your company size, culture focus, and budget priorities rather than feature checklists alone.

Setup & Implementation

Worried about the complexity of Awardco implementation?

The Awardco review shows deployment is well-supported but requires thoughtful coordination. You’ll want to understand what it takes beyond signing up to set realistic expectations for successful Awardco implementation.

1. Setup Complexity & Timeline

Implementation isn’t always plug-and-play.

Awardco implementation typically spans 4 to 8 weeks for mid-sized companies, heavily influenced by program complexity and HR data readiness. From my implementation analysis, dedicated account managers streamline the process efficiently, but the timeline depends on how well you prepare your program goals and user info.

You’ll want to prepare your recognition programs, budgets, and employee data upfront to avoid delays.

2. Technical Requirements & Integration

Integration is a key hurdle for many.

Awardco is cloud-based, so no on-prem hardware is needed, but connecting with your HRIS (like Workday or BambooHR) is critical. What I found about deployment is that HRIS integration often dictates implementation speed, since syncing employee and service anniversary data requires IT coordination and testing.

Make sure your IT team is ready to support HRIS and communication platform integrations early in the process.

3. Training & Change Management

User buy-in can make or break success.

Awardco provides training for admins and resources for employee rollouts, yet from my analysis, effective change management remains essential because introducing new recognition habits takes time and encouragement across departments.

Plan training sessions and communication campaigns that align with your company culture to boost adoption rates smoothly.

4. Support & Success Factors

Vendor support matters during deployment.

Awardco offers a dedicated implementation manager and ongoing support, which most users praise for responsiveness. From my implementation analysis, having a committed vendor partner directly improves your success by quickly addressing issues and guiding best practices.

To succeed, maintain regular contact with your Awardco rep and assign internal champions to keep momentum.

Overall, Awardco implementation requires strong coordination and vendor partnership, but with the right resources, it delivers a streamlined employee recognition platform that fits your business scale.

Who’s Awardco For

Who benefits most from Awardco?

In this Awardco review, I’ll help you pinpoint if this employee rewards platform fits your specific business setup by analyzing typical user profiles, team sizes, and key use cases.

1. Ideal User Profile

Mid-market to large enterprises needing unified recognition.

Awardco is designed for organizations juggling multiple employee recognition programs at once—like service anniversaries, spot bonuses, and wellness incentives. From my user analysis, companies seeking to consolidate diverse reward efforts across global teams will get the best value with Awardco’s scalable and centralized platform. HR leaders and total rewards managers who prioritize employee choice and budget efficiency find the software particularly effective.

You’ll succeed if you need a comprehensive, streamlined rewards program across multiple employee groups.

2. Business Size & Scale

Built for 200+ employee organizations.

Your business should be mid-sized or large, typically with 200 or more employees, to maximize Awardco’s feature set and Amazon Business integration. What I found about target users is that smaller businesses often prefer lighter, simpler tools while Awardco shines when managing complex, global recognition programs involving many users and programs simultaneously.

You’re a strong fit if your team size demands a scalable solution with centralized administration.

3. Use Case Scenarios

Best for multi-program, global rewards management.

Awardco excels in scenarios where you run varied incentive programs simultaneously—spot awards, sales bonuses, wellness challenges, plus service milestones. User-wise, the platform works well when employees benefit from an extensive, zero-markup rewards catalog accessible worldwide. It’s less suited to straightforward single-program or localized recognition needs, though.

If your reward programs are varied and you want to give employees ultimate gift choice, Awardco is a solid option.

4. Who Should Look Elsewhere

Not ideal for very small or startup companies.

If your business is under 50 employees or you want a simple, cost-effective solution to recognition, Awardco may feel too complex and costly. From my user analysis, startups and small businesses benefit more from lightweight tools like Bonusly or Nectar that handle peer-to-peer recognition with minimal setup.

Look to these alternatives if you prioritize simplicity and low overhead in employee reward programs.

In summary, this Awardco review shows it fits best for companies needing multi-program scale rather than simple, small-team reward solutions.

Bottom Line

Can Awardco transform your employee rewards?

My Awardco review distills a thorough evaluation into a balanced recommendation based on strengths, limitations, and fit for your business needs to help you decide confidently.

1. Overall Strengths

Awardco excels at simplifying employee recognition.

The platform’s seamless integration with Amazon Business provides employees with access to millions of rewards without additional markups, creating an unmatched selection. From my comprehensive analysis, the consolidated approach reduces administrative overhead significantly by combining service awards, spot bonuses, and incentives in one intuitive system.

These strengths empower businesses to foster engagement through ease of use and expansive reward options, which boost employee satisfaction.

2. Key Limitations

Some areas need refinement to maximize value.

While Awardco shines in many aspects, the mobile app’s functionality can feel less polished and intuitive compared to desktop use. Based on this review, reporting capabilities require more granular customization options to satisfy advanced analytics demands without exporting data externally.

These limitations are generally manageable trade-offs but should be considered if mobile access or deep in-platform analytics are top priorities for your organization.

3. Final Recommendation

Awardco earns my recommendation for mid-market and enterprise buyers.

You should choose Awardco when your priority is a scalable, easy-to-manage employee recognition platform with expansive reward choices. From my analysis, this software delivers exceptional value especially through Amazon integration and administrative consolidation, making it competitive across pricing and features.

Your decision should include testing the platform’s fit via demos or trials, ensuring it aligns with your mobile and reporting needs for maximum impact.

This Awardco review concludes with confident support for its core strengths and fit while outlining key considerations you should weigh carefully.