Overview

Guusto is employee recognition and rewards software for employers serving both frontline and office teams. It is best suited to HR leaders coordinating structured programs across varied work settings. Flexible reward delivery and budget controls make it capable, but annual minimums on its seat-based plans can make it a poor fit for smaller budgets.

Organizations can run birthdays, anniversaries, peer shoutouts, manager awards, nominations, performance awards, safety incentives and learning incentives. Recipients can redeem rewards for gift cards, company swag, charity donations or custom rewards. Founded in 2012, Guusto is headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia.

For category comparisons, browse Employee Recognition Software, Employee Rewards Software and Total Rewards Software.

Key features

Recognition that reaches different work settings

Rewards can be delivered by email or SMS, printed, shown as QR codes, or sent to a manager for in-person delivery. That range is useful when employees do not regularly use workplace apps or work at a desk. Guusto supports peer recognition, manager awards, nominations and custom award types, so it can cover both informal appreciation and more structured incentives.

Budgets, approvals and reporting

Separate workspaces can have their own budgets and administrators. Approval workflows and cost-center pools give organizations tools to govern spending across teams, while real-time reporting and taxable-benefit reporting support oversight. These controls suit organizations managing multiple programs, though they add less value to a small team seeking only occasional recognition.

Integrations and security

Guusto lists HRIS, single sign-on and collaboration integrations, including Microsoft Teams, Outlook, SharePoint and UKG Pro. Its API supports recognition sending and reporting integrations, and report exports can be scheduled over SFTP. The trust page identifies PCI DSS and SOC 2 compliance, along with audit logging, encryption at rest, backups, access monitoring, multi-factor authentication and data security. Guusto also states an average support response time under 10 minutes and a 95% support satisfaction rating.

Pricing

Guusto has a free plan, paid plans and a 30-day trial. The entry paid rate is $4/user/mo, but Essential and Premium are seat-based, billed annually and subject to minimum contracts that matter more than the headline seat price for smaller buyers.

Free: 0.00 USD per free. It has no minimum reward spend and includes reward sending, a mobile app and 100+ merchant options. It is the low-commitment way to start, but does not include the published management capabilities tied to higher tiers.
Lite: 150.00 USD per month. It includes one sender seat, 250 recipient seats, bulk sending to unlimited recipients and cancellation of unclaimed gifts. This fixed-price option may suit a program with one administrator and a defined recipient base, but its 250-seat limit is a constraint.
Essential: 4.00 USD per month, billed as $4.00/mo per sender seat and $0.70/mo per recipient seat. The minimum contract is $200/mo, billed annually. It offers a lower seat rate than Premium, but the annual minimum raises the actual commitment for organizations with few seats.
Premium: 5.00 USD per month, billed as $5.00/mo per sender seat and $1.00/mo per recipient seat. The minimum contract is $500/mo, billed annually. It is for organizations willing to commit more for a higher tier; the larger minimum makes it difficult to justify for modest programs.
Enterprise: custom pricing. It is positioned for enterprise-grade recognition, customization, automation and integrations, making it the relevant route for organizations needing that level of configuration.

For Lite and higher tiers, unclaimed gifts are credited back in full. Review the annual minimums alongside seat counts before choosing Essential or Premium.

Platforms

Guusto supports Android, iOS and web, and offers an API. Its delivery options, including printed rewards and manager handoff, complement app and web access for employees who are not consistently online.

Who it's for

Guusto is aimed at HR leaders building recognition programs that include frontline staff as well as office employees. Its stated sector focus includes healthcare, hospitality, retail, construction, manufacturing and financial services. The delivery choices and program controls are most useful to organizations with distributed workforces and multiple recognition budgets; buyers wanting a small, low-cost program should weigh the plan minimums carefully.

Pros and cons

Pro: Multiple delivery methods, including SMS, QR codes, print and manager handoff, help reach employees beyond desk-based teams.
Pro: Separate workspace budgets, approvals, cost-center pools and taxable-benefit reporting support administration across distinct programs.
Pro: Gift cards can be redeemed for merchant gift cards, company swag, charity donations or custom rewards, giving recipients several reward formats.
Con: Essential and Premium require annual contracts with $200/mo and $500/mo minimums respectively, which can outweigh the per-seat rates for smaller programs.
Con: Lite is $150.00 USD per month and caps recipient seats at 250, so it may be too costly or restrictive for a small team or a larger recipient population.

Alternatives

Bonusly is worth considering for a smaller team: its free plan covers up to 8 users and includes peer recognition, guidance, Slack and Teams integrations, and iOS and Android apps.
Kudosky may fit a team seeking a free starting point capped at 10 users.
Tradler offers a free plan for up to 10 users with no credit card required, or an Engage plan at 2.00 EUR per month for unlimited teams.
Culture Cloud is another paid option for Android, iOS and web, with API and extension platforms also listed.
Assembly is an alternative for buyers seeking a free plan or Empower at 36.00 USD per year, billed annually, with peer-to-peer recognition, points, budget controls and AI insights.
Bucketlist is another paid option, with a Starter plan based on a one-time setup fee and annual fee tied to employee count; rewards are billed separately.
Mo is a paid alternative with quote-based pricing.
Motivosity offers custom pricing for Celebrating People, which includes a social platform, mobile app, milestone celebrations, corporate gifting and a global reward marketplace.

Verdict

Choose Guusto if you need a flexible recognition program that can reach frontline and office staff while giving administrators control over budgets, approvals and reporting. Its strongest reason to choose it is the combination of varied reward delivery and program oversight. Look elsewhere if your program is small or cost-sensitive: the annual minimums on Essential and Premium can be a larger concern than their per-seat rates suggest.

	Guusto	Tango
Free plan	Yes	Yes
Free trial	No	No
Paid from	$4/mo	Free
Open source	No	No
Platforms	Android, api, iOS, Web	api, Web
Free plan	Yes	Yes
Paid from	4 /user/mo	—
Reward types	—	gift cards
Redemption catalog	—	Yes
Incentive campaigns	—	Yes
Global rewards	—	Yes
HRIS integrations	—	Yes

Guusto vs Tango

Guusto

Tango