Bonusly lists its paid Team plan at $3–5 per user per month and says on its own FAQ that all plans are billed annually; Guusto's FAQ puts the subscription floor at $200/month billed annually — both on their pricing pages, checked 2026-09-26. For a 32-person team that is $960–2,400 a year in subscription alone, before any reward. The software moves points and sends gift cards; it does not decide what your company values, who judges, on what budget, or what you do when the channel goes quiet in month four. That layer — define → earn → budget → launch → run → milestones → measure → refresh — is what this kit ships as 30 files you own: the program charter, an award menu with real judging criteria, a per-person quarterly budget model with approval emails, a six-week launch plan, a weekly ops SOP, milestone and anniversary playbooks, a KPI scorecard, and the refresh routine that keeps programs alive in year two. Run it on Slack and a spreadsheet for $0 tooling — or bolt it onto the software you already rent. One payment of $79.
Get the kit — $79One zip, 30 working files — the eight-step program loop (define → earn → budget → launch → run → milestones → measure → refresh) with a worked example beside every template: a fictional 32-person remote design agency, Solstice Studio, running a #kudos channel on a $30/person/quarter budget. No software to install, nothing to subscribe to.
The one-page program charter names what deserves praise and what does not (overtime is a planning failure, not a value). The values-behavior matrix turns wall words into observable moments, and the fairness rules keep it from becoming a popularity contest.
Peer spots, manager awards, quarterly nominations and milestones — each with judging criteria, a worked post that clears the bar and one that does not, a one-page nomination form with three worked examples, and a shoutout playbook with strong verbs.
A per-person quarterly model with four pools and a 10–15% buffer, a worked cost CSV that reconciles to the dollar, market reference points dated 2026-09-26 with a blank update log — plus three approval emails, including the one for "not now".
The T-42 → day 0 plan: charter sign-off, mechanics, budget details, manager briefs before the all-staff email, then a 30-minute kickoff where three real shoutouts get posted live. Four comms templates and a manager banked-drafts trick included.
A 15-minute weekly ops SOP, moderation and inclusion guardrails you can pin and quote, a 32-person coverage tracker showing who has gone 90 days unnamed — and the milestone playbook with privacy rules and anniversary templates for 1/3/5/10 years.
Four metrics with definitions two people would compute the same way (participation, coverage, balance, budget use), the 90-day survey with a synthesis method and a mandatory read-back, the 60-minute quarterly review agenda, and the two-quarter refresh SOP.
Three real files from the kit, trimmed: the program charter, the award menu and criteria, and the weekly ops SOP. Instant download — no email needed.
Download the free sample (zip) Read what's inside first →Verified against the vendors' own pricing pages at the time of writing (2026-09-26). Prices change — check before any purchase, including this one.
| What you get | Bonusly | Guusto | Kudoboard | This kit ($79 once) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Published pricing | Team $3–5/user/mo monthly, $30–50/user/yr annual — "all our plans are billed annually"; Organization custom | Tier minimums from its own FAQ: "USD $200/mo" Essential, "$500/mo" Premium, billed annually | Business plan (1–50 people) $299/yr annual or $39/mo — a posting platform, boards and e-cards | $79 once, printed on this page |
| Cost for a 32-person team | $960–1,600/yr in subscription — before rewards, which they charge at face value | $2,400–6,000/yr floor in subscription — before rewards | $299/yr for the venue; the program still has to be invented | $79 once — the whole budget is the awards themselves |
| What ships in the box | The pipe: points, a rewards catalog, Slack/Teams integration — implementation "typically takes 4–6 weeks" | Reward delivery: gift cards at face value, milestone automation, budgets | Celebration boards: group cards, tributes, e-cards | The program: charter, criteria, budget model, launch plan, ops SOP, guardrails, milestones, scorecard, refresh |
| When you stop paying | The channel closes and the habits leave with the subscription — every year, re-decided | Same — rewards keep flowing only while the contract does | Boards persist; the program around them was never theirs to lose | Files stay: charter, trackers and scorecard hand to the next program owner intact |
Sources: bonusly.com/pricing · guusto.com/pricing · kudoboard.com/pricing (all read 2026-09-26); Nectar and Vantage Circle moved to custom-quote pricing the same day. Demand anchor: recognition SaaS is a crowded paying market — Bonusly's page claims 4,500+ customer reviews, Nectar's claims 3,000+ companies (the vendors' own figures). "Ask HN: Does in your workplace employee engagement / recognition is important?" ran June 2026.
Designed for someone who has never run a recognition program. Every step in the SETUP guide ends with a "what success looks like" check.
One folder, 30 files, a manifest that matches. Open START-HERE and see the eight-step program loop and the time budget on one page.
The charter decides what deserves praise at your company, the award menu sets four doors with real criteria, the budget model turns a per-person ceiling into pools with a buffer — and the approval email goes out with one decision, one number, one date.
Six weeks of launch plan ending in a 30-minute kickoff; then 15 minutes every Friday — sweep, repair, coverage glance, flags, ledger — with the scorecard and the refresh SOP keeping it alive through year two.
Less than one month of the cheapest recognition-software floor — and the files outlive every subscription.
Secure checkout via Stripe · 14-day refund, no forms · sample above if you want to look first
Thirty files that take "we should recognize people more" to a measured program with owners and dates — charter, award menu, budget, launch plan, weekly ops, milestones, scorecard, refresh. $79 once, and it hands over intact when the program owner changes.
Get the kit — $79