Nectar vs. Workhuman [2025 Unbiased Comparison]

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When it comes to building a strong company culture, an effective employee recognition platform can make all the difference. Two leading platforms in this space, Nectar and Workhuman, offer powerful tools to help organizations boost employee engagement, increase morale, and improve overall productivity. However, selecting the right employee recognition software depends on your company's specific needs.

In this comparison, we'll explore Nectar vs. Workhuman, examining their features, integrations, pricing, customer support, and reviews. Whether you're searching for Nectar alternatives or investigating Workhuman competitors, this guide will provide the insights you need to make an informed decision. Plus, we'll introduce Matter, a standout platform that offers a robust alternative to both Nectar and Workhuman.

Nectar vs. Workhuman: Overview comparison

Both Nectar and Workhuman are widely recognized platforms for employee recognition and rewards, but they approach their solutions differently based on organizational needs.

Nectar: Nectar strongly emphasizes peer-to-peer recognition, encouraging employees to give real-time shoutouts that align with the company's core values. The objective of this platform is to increase employee engagement by cultivating a culture in which feedback and appreciation are frequently provided, not only by managers but also by peers. Nectar's points-based rewards system allows employees to redeem points for custom rewards, including gift cards, company-branded swag, and charitable donations.

The platform is known for automating work anniversaries and birthday shoutouts, ensuring important milestones are never overlooked. Additionally, Nectar integrates seamlessly with popular communication tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams, making sending and receiving recognition within the team's existing workflow easy.

Workhuman: Workhuman distinguishes itself by focusing on creating global employee recognition programs that incorporate employee feedback and performance management. It offers robust tools to help organizations foster employee engagement through recognition, reward, and feedback. Workhuman's global rewards catalog includes many reward options, from personalized gifts to experiences, making it particularly attractive to larger organizations with a global presence​.

Workhuman also emphasizes the importance of employee data and recognition trends, providing HR teams with powerful reporting features and insights into the impact of their recognition programs. Like Nectar, Workhuman integrates with HRIS systems and collaboration tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams, ensuring seamless recognition processes​.

While both platforms offer effective solutions for enhancing employee engagement, Nectar excels in peer recognition and driving engagement through frequent, value-based recognition. This makes it ideal for companies focused on building a collaborative culture. Workhuman, with its global rewards and comprehensive performance management features, is a better fit for larger enterprises seeking a complete employee experience solution.

Nectar vs. Workhuman: Features

Nectar and Workhuman both provide robust employee recognition platforms, but they differ significantly in their approaches and key features.

Nectar vs. Workhuman: Workhuman Platform
Nectar vs. Workhuman: Workhuman Platform

Workhuman features:

  • Global rewards catalog: Workhuman provides access to a vast global rewards catalog, offering a wide selection of personalized gifts, experiences, and custom rewards. This makes it an excellent fit for companies looking to offer employees a diverse range of options to redeem their recognition points globally​.
  • Holistic employee engagement: Workhuman integrates recognition with other engagement tools such as employee feedback, pulse surveys, and performance management, creating a complete engagement ecosystem. This holistic approach makes Workhuman ideal for organizations that aim to manage employee feedback and employee experience alongside recognition​.
  • Work anniversaries and birthdays: Workhuman automates the recognition of important milestones, like work anniversaries and birthdays, allowing organizations to celebrate wins and recognize key moments in an employee's career​.
  • In-depth reporting: Workhuman provides detailed reporting features that allow HR professionals to track recognition trends, measure engagement, and analyze the effectiveness of their recognition programs.
Nectar vs. Workhuman: Nectar Platform
Nectar vs. Workhuman: Nectar Platform

Nectar features:

  • Peer-to-peer recognition: Nectar encourages peer-to-peer recognition, enabling employees to send real-time shoutouts tied to core values. This fosters a collaborative culture by allowing employees at all levels to participate in recognizing achievements​.
  • Custom rewards and swag: Nectar offers a variety of reward options, including gift cards, company-branded swag, and charitable donations. This flexibility allows companies to customize rewards based on their unique needs​.
  • Milestones and challenges: Nectar automates recognition for key milestones, such as birthdays and work anniversaries, and allows organizations to create custom challenges that align with company goals, such as wellness activities or professional development initiatives​.
  • Data-driven insights: Nectar provides powerful analytics to help companies track employee engagement and recognition trends. This ensures that HR professionals can monitor how frequently employees are recognized and align recognition with organizational goals.

Both platforms offer flexibility, automation, and rich reward options. Still, Workhuman excels with its global reach and comprehensive approach to employee engagement, while Nectar emphasizes peer recognition and core value-driven rewards.

Nectar vs. Workhuman: Integration options

When it comes to integrations, both Nectar and Workhuman allow businesses to seamlessly embed recognition into their existing workflows. Whether your team uses Slack, Microsoft Teams, or HRIS systems, both platforms ensure smooth integration to streamline the recognition process. However, Workhuman focuses on integration flexibility for large enterprises with complex structures, while Nectar provides easy access to peer-to-peer recognition within everyday tools.

Workhuman integrations:

  • Slack and Microsoft Teams: Workhuman integrates directly with Slack and Microsoft Teams, enabling employees to recognize peers in real time without leaving their collaboration tools. This integration ensures a seamless and accessible recognition process across the organization​.
  • HRIS systems: Workhuman offers comprehensive integration with leading HRIS systems such as Workday and SAP SuccessFactors, allowing HR professionals to automate recognition based on employee milestones like work anniversaries and birthdays. This makes it ideal for larger organizations that rely on deep HR system integration​.
  • Single sign-on (SSO) and security: Workhuman supports SSO integrations with major providers like Okta and Azure, ensuring a secure and user-friendly login experience across teams.

Nectar integrations:

  • Slack and Microsoft Teams: Similar to Workhuman, Nectar integrates seamlessly with Slack and Microsoft Teams, allowing employees to send shoutouts and recognize peers directly from these platforms. This integration simplifies the recognition process by making it accessible through the tools employees already use​.
  • HRIS systems: Nectar integrates with popular HR platforms like BambooHR, Workday, and ADP, automating the syncing of employee data and recognition for important milestones such as work anniversaries and birthdays.
  • Single sign-on (SSO): Nectar also offers SSO integrations with providers like Okta and Azure, providing secure access without needing multiple credentials, making it easier for employees to log in and participate in the recognition process​.

Both platforms excel at providing seamless integration options that fit within everyday workflows. However, Workhuman offers broader integration with HR systems and advanced SSO capabilities, making it a better fit for organizations with more complex needs. On the other hand, Nectar is ideal for teams looking for simplicity and peer-to-peer recognition within communication platforms.

Nectar vs. Workhuman: Pricing and plans

Pricing is an important consideration when choosing an employee recognition platform. Nectar and Workhuman offer flexible options that cater to businesses of various sizes, though with different pricing structures.

Nectar vs. Workhuman: Workhuman Recognition
Nectar vs. Workhuman: Workhuman Recognition

Workhuman pricing: Pricing is not listed on the website. To learn more about pricing, you'll need to schedule a demo/sales call with Workhuman.

Have a look at a more detailed overview of Nectar's plans and pricing on their website.

Nectar vs. Workhuman: Nectar Recognition
Nectar vs. Workhuman: Nectar Recognition

Nectar pricing:

  • Plus $5/user/month, billed annually
  • Premium $6/user/month, billed annually
  • Custom [Book Demo for Quote]

Have a look at a more detailed overview of Nectar's plans and pricing on their website.

While Workhuman offers a more customized approach tailored to larger enterprises with complex needs, Nectar's pay-per-active-user model provides flexibility for businesses wanting to minimize costs associated with inactive users. Both platforms offer scalable options, but Nectar's pricing model is particularly well-suited for smaller businesses looking for predictable, low-cost solutions.

Nectar vs. Workhuman: Customer support

Customer support is essential in ensuring any employee recognition platform's smooth operation and success. Both Nectar and Workhuman offer a range of support options, but the level of service and personalization differs slightly between the two.

Workhuman customer support:

  • Dedicated customer success teams: Workhuman provides dedicated client success teams for larger organizations, ensuring a personalized approach to onboarding, troubleshooting, and program optimization. These teams work closely with HR professionals to help them get the most out of the platform and its features​.
  • 24/7 support for critical issues: Workhuman offers 24/7 support for critical issues, ensuring companies with global teams can receive assistance at any time. This is particularly valuable for enterprises that need consistent support across different time zones​.
  • Help center and knowledge base: Workhuman provides access to a comprehensive online help center and knowledge base that includes articles, guides, and tutorials to assist users with common issues and questions​.

Nectar customer support:

  • Live chat and email support: Nectar offers all users live chat and email support, ensuring quick and direct access to customer service during business hours. This is a convenient option for smaller teams looking for immediate answers to their questions​.
  • Dedicated account managers: For companies subscribed to higher-tier plans, Nectar offers access to dedicated account managers who provide personalized support and guidance. These managers assist with onboarding, configuration, and long-term optimization​.
  • Help center and resources: Nectar features an extensive help center that includes detailed articles and guides to help users troubleshoot common issues and navigate platform features. This self-service option empowers HR teams to resolve minor issues independently​.

Both Nectar and Workhuman offer strong customer support options, but Workhuman focuses more on hands-on, personalized service for larger enterprises with complex needs. With its live chat and dedicated account managers for premium plans, Nectar provides flexible support, making it suitable for small to mid-sized organizations that require more structured assistance.

Nectar vs. Workhuman: Customer reviews

Real-world customer reviews offer valuable insights into how Nectar and Workhuman perform in practice. By examining user feedback, you can better understand which platform is better suited to your organization's needs.

Nectar customer reviews: 

Nectar holds a G2 review: 4.7/5 based on over 200 reviews.

  • “I like the purpose of it - to better employee culture at my company. I don't like the UX and UI very much. I cannot view many messages at once and am not able to easily see all my messages in one place.” - Verified User in Design
  • “App is a little clunky. Not all website features are available on the app.” - Verified User in Hospital & Health Care (Customer G2 Review)
  • “I struggled to properly give points to my team members in the beginning. The provided graphics, while simple, didn't clearly define the order of operations to mention, assign points, and assign a hashtag to the post. Perhaps a short video or animation on the three step process would be helpful.” - Kelly S. (Customer G2 Review)

Workhuman customer reviews:

Workhuman has a G2 review: 4.7/5 based on over 500 reviews.

  • “The gift options are lacking significantly. The company is charged a certain amount of money per point, however the available prize options to the employee do not translate to anything close to the cost paid for the points. For example, 1,000 points could cost the company $100, however the prizes available to the employee for 1,000 points can vary from a fair market value of $15-$75. This doesn't reward employees with the full reward the employer is paying for and Workhuman is making money off of this.” - Sarah W., Senior Tax Analyst
  • “I think the feature that can be improved the most is the list of recognition for you peers. I wish there was an easier way awards given to colleagues in my area to see the accomplishments around the team.” - Verified User in Pharmaceuticals (Customer G2 Review)
  • “Fun for people to use. Easy to use and great way to reward. The only downside is that sometimes the gift certificates are unavailable but it's no deal breaker and worth the wait!” - Verified User in Pharmaceuticals

Summary of reviews:

Both platforms receive high user marks, but Nectar is often praised for its simplicity and ease of use, making it a great choice for small to mid-sized companies. Workhuman, on the other hand, is appreciated for its robust feature set and global capabilities, making it a better fit for large enterprises with more complex needs. While Nectar is more intuitive and user-friendly, Workhuman's detailed analytics and broad engagement features cater more to organizations looking for an all-in-one solution for employee engagement.

Nectar vs. Workhuman: Which is the right tool for you?

Choosing between Nectar and Workhuman depends on your company's unique needs, workplace culture, and the type of employee recognition program you want to implement. Both platforms offer valuable solutions for boosting employee engagement but cater to different business models and priorities. Here's a breakdown to help you decide which platform aligns best with your business goals.

Nectar vs. Workhuman: Workhuman Rewards
Nectar vs. Workhuman: Workhuman Rewards

Choose Workhuman if:

  • Your company requires a global rewards catalog with access to millions of rewards, including gift cards, experiences, and personalized gifts.
  • You need a flexible and comprehensive employee recognition platform that integrates seamlessly with tools like Slack, Microsoft Teams, and major HRIS systems such as Workday and SAP SuccessFactors.
  • You're looking for a recognition platform to handle global recognition programs and automate milestone celebrations like birthdays and work anniversaries.
  • Your company values a holistic approach to employee engagement, with tools for employee feedback, performance management, and corporate wellness platforms.
  • You prefer a tailored pricing model that allows for flexible scaling based on your business needs, especially if managing complex, global recognition workflows​.

Check out our Workhuman vs. Matter guide for a full comparison.

Nectar vs. Workhuman: Nectar Rewards
Nectar vs. Workhuman: Nectar Rewards

Choose Nectar if:

  • You need a peer-to-peer recognition system that ties recognition directly to your company's core values, encouraging employees to give meaningful shoutouts.
  • Your company prefers a pay-per-active-user model, which helps manage costs by only paying for employees who actively use the platform​.
  • Integration with HR systems like BambooHR, ADP, or Workday is a priority for automating recognition based on real-time employee data.
  • With flexible redemption choices, you're seeking various reward options, including gift cards, company-branded swag, and charitable donations​.
  • Your company is focused on creating custom recognition trends and running challenges to boost employee morale, making Nectar competitors more focused on fostering a positive workplace culture through engagement​.

Check out our Nectar vs. Matter guide for a full comparison.

Ultimately, both Nectar and Workhuman are powerful tools for fostering a positive workplace culture and rewarding employees. Determining the right choice will depend on your company's size, goals, and the type of recognition system you want to implement. If you're looking for a Workhuman alternative or Nectar alternative that balances ease of use with scalability, Matter offers a competitive solution featuring a comprehensive recognition program designed to boost employee engagement as your business grows.

Matter: The best alternative to Nectar and Workhuman

With the additional insights about Matter, it becomes evident why it stands out as a leading alternative to both Nectar and Workhuman competitors. Matter combines flexibility, ease of use, and a range of customizable features, making it a top choice for organizations looking for an efficient, user-friendly, and automated employee recognition platform.

Why Matter stands out:

  • Slack-first and Teams-first integration: Matter seamlessly integrates with both Slack and Microsoft Teams, making it the perfect fit for companies that use these tools for daily communication. Employees can give and receive recognition directly within their workflows without switching platforms. Matter is specifically designed with Slack and Teams in mind, enhancing the user experience within these environments​.
  • Customizable kudos cards: Matter keeps peer-to-peer recognition fun and engaging by offering customizable kudos cards. Employees can create unique cards that reflect company values or even inside jokes, promoting camaraderie and boosting morale​.
  • Automated and user-friendly platform: Matter is designed with simplicity in mind. The platform is quickly set up and easily customized with a two-minute installation and minimal ongoing management. Automated features like Feedback Friday encourage consistent recognition, making it easier for companies to sustain engagement​.
  • Celebrations and rewards: Matter automates key milestone celebrations such as birthdays and work anniversaries, offering employees rewards like digital gift cards or charity donations. Employees can also self-manage their celebration dates through the platform, ensuring no one is left out​.
  • Flexible rewards system: Matter offers various rewards, including digital gift cards, prepaid Visa/Mastercard options, and custom-branded rewards. The platform's coin system refreshes weekly, encouraging ongoing participation and recognition, making it stand out against competitors​.

Key features of Matter:

  • Peer-to-peer recognition with kudos cards: Matter enables employees to send customizable kudos cards, making recognition both fun and meaningful.
  • Automation and ease of use: By automating recognition procedures like Feedback Friday, the platform makes sure that recognition is a consistent practice throughout the company.
  • Custom rewards and coins: Matter's coin system promotes frequent engagement, and employees can redeem coins for various rewards.
  • Incentivized surveys: Matter encourages survey participation by offering rewards and collecting feedback quickly and efficiently.

Matter is a robust and flexible alternative to Nectar and Workhuman, offering intuitive, customizable, and automated features. Its seamless integration with Slack and Teams and its emphasis on continuous feedback and recognition make it ideal for businesses looking to enhance employee engagement and foster a positive workplace culture. A comprehensive solution that can expand with your business is provided by Matter, regardless of whether your organization prioritizes automation, simplicity of use, or a wide variety of reward options.

Nectar vs. Workhuman: FAQs

Here are some frequently asked questions to help you determine whether Nectar or Workhuman best fits your company's employee recognition and engagement needs.

Q: How do Nectar and Workhuman compare in terms of features?

A: Nectar is designed for peer-to-peer recognition, allowing employees to send shoutouts aligned with company values. It provides flexible reward options, including gift cards, company-branded swag, and charitable donations. Workhuman, on the other hand, offers a more comprehensive employee recognition platform, combining recognition with tools for employee feedback, corporate wellness, and performance management. Workhuman's global rewards catalog includes millions of products, making it ideal for large, international organizations​.

Q: Which platform is better suited for global organizations?

A: Workhuman is better suited for large, global organizations due to its extensive global rewards catalog, offering over 10 million reward options, including merchandise, experiences, and gift cards. It integrates seamlessly with major HR platforms like Workday and SAP SuccessFactors, making it ideal for organizations with complex global needs. While supporting international rewards, Nectar is more focused on fostering peer recognition within midsized organizations.

Q: How do the platforms handle employee engagement tracking?

A: Workhuman provides in-depth reporting features and real-time insights into employee engagement and recognition trends. This helps HR teams measure the impact of recognition on employee behavior and performance. Nectar provides a simpler reporting system, focusing on frequent, peer-driven recognition tied to company values, making tracking employee engagement at the individual level easy.

Q: How do these platforms integrate with existing tools?

A: Both Nectar and Workhuman integrate seamlessly with communication tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams, allowing employees to give recognition without leaving their workflows. Workhuman also integrates with a broader range of HRIS systems, including BambooHR, Workday, and ADP, making it better suited for larger enterprises with complex HR needs​.

Q: How do Nectar and Workhuman handle customer support?

A: Nectar offers live chat and email support for all users, and higher-tier plans include access to dedicated account managers for personalized assistance. Workhuman provides 24/7 customer support and dedicated client success teams to assist larger organizations with onboarding and ongoing support​.

Q: Are there alternatives to Nectar and Workhuman?

A: If you're looking for an alternative, Matter is a standout option. Matter integrates with Slack and Microsoft Teams, offering peer recognition through customizable kudos cards. It automates milestone celebrations and offers a flexible coin-based rewards system, making it a robust choice for companies looking for a balance of ease of use and advanced features​.

Nectar and Workhuman are both robust platforms designed to enhance employee recognition and engagement, but they cater to different organizational needs. Nectar excels with its simple, peer-to-peer recognition system, making it ideal for small to mid-sized companies. At the same time, 

Workhuman offers a more comprehensive solution with a global rewards catalog and advanced employee engagement features suited for larger enterprises. However, if you're looking for a versatile platform that balances ease of use, automation, and seamless integration with Slack and Microsoft Teams Matter is the ideal alternative. Matter is an ideal choice for organizations that are dedicated to the cultivation of a positive work environment and increasing employee engagement due to its intuitive interface, flexible rewards system, and customizable features. Get started with Matter today and transform your company's recognition and engagement efforts!

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