10 Best Continuous Feedback Software (That Aren't Lattice)

In this article:

• What to Look for in the Best Continuous Feedback Software [4 Factors]
• The 10 Best Employee Feedback Software in 2024 - Summary
• Mesh - Best Overall Continuous Feedback Software
• 9 Other Continuous Feedback Software to Consider

What to look for in the best continuous feedback software [4 Factors]

Continuous feedback software makes it easy for your entire team to provide regular, timely feedback to each other in a structured way.

Reinforcing the right behaviors, values, and competencies in the moment can help create a happier, more engaged workforce: Studies have shown that employees who receive frequent “meaningful feedback”—and feel they get the right amount of feedback—are more likely to be engaged than those who don’t.

According to an Eagle Hill Consulting study, 63% of employees want more "in the moment" feedback on their performance, but 48% say they only get feedback during annual or semi-annual performance reviews.

But with so many continuous feedback software out there, choosing the right one can be overwhelming.

To help, we asked our People Science Team about what exactly makes the “best” tool. 

Gaurav Chaubey, our People Science Leader here at Mesh.ai, recommends you look for continuous feedback software that fulfills these 4 factors:

• Facilitates continuous, in-the-moment feedback to reinforce positive behaviors and quickly course-correct any problem areas in real time.
• Analyzes and suggests improvements to manager feedback (ideally using AI to speed things up) to make it more constructive, meaningful, and actionable.
• Nudges managers to provide timely feedback and schedule 1:1 meetings so you don’t rely on on manager’s memories to keep them and their direct reports on the same page about goals and progress.
• Integrates with your existing communication tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams, making it easier for everyone to give and receive feedback.

Below, I’ll introduce you to Mesh.ai—our own continuous feedback platform—and show you how it excels in the above areas. 

I'll also list nine alternative tools to help you decide if they’re for you.

Let's dive in!

The 10 best employee feedback software in 2024 - Summary

1. Mesh.ai - Best overall continuous feedback software

Traditional performance reviews held once or twice a year just don’t cut it for modern employees who expect their managers to empower, engage, and upskill them consistently.

Enter Mesh.ai, an all-in-one performance enablement solution with a continuous feedback feature that helps everyone in your organization share frequent, in-the-moment feedback with their peers, managees, and managers 

According to Gallup, employees are nearly 4 times more likely to say they are motivated to do outstanding work when their manager provides daily feedback instead of annual.

With Mesh.ai, your teams can improve their performance a little bit every day for big long-term results: Our continuous feedback and performance enablement features are designed to companies improve performance by 15%.

"What we … most appreciate about Mesh.ai is the fact that we can connect our entire people management model in a single platform,”—Cayo Lujan, Corporate Planning Specialist at Pipefy and a real Mesh.ai customer.

Let’s see how Mesh.ai delivers on the four factors our People Science Leader recommended earlier:

Factor 1: How Mesh.ai facilitates continuous, in-the-moment feedback

Mesh.ai makes real-time feedback a daily habit. 

Our “Nudge” feature prompts managers to offer timely feedback when an employee requests it, when someone on their team completes (or misses) a goal, or when they need to schedule 1:1s and reviews with direct reports. This keeps managers accountable for giving and modeling continuous feedback to their team when it matters most.

Employees can also request feedback from managers and colleagues through Mesh.ai. These insights are synced with other forms of feedback so they’re readily available to managers for 1:1 meetings and performance reviews. 

Here are a few other Mesh features that encourage ongoing feedback and dialogue between managers and employees:

• Goals and OKRs: Co-create goals and track progress in real time to help align individual objectives with the broader goals of the company.

• Performance development: When managers and employees work together to identify key competencies and create professional development plans, everyone can stay on track and make adjustments if something isn’t working.

• 1:1s and 360 reviews: Mesh.ai makes it easy to facilitate and manage regular 1:1 meetings and 360 reviews across your organization.

For 1:1s, managers can create automated meetings and use our templates for thorough, meaningful discussions. They can also add agenda points to each meeting, along with notes that can be private or visible to both participants.

Our 360 review dashboard collects feedback from managers, peers, and employee self-evaluations for review cycles. Managers can configure these views and details to make sure performance information is shared only with relevant individuals.

Factor 2: How Mesh.ai helps your managers provide better, more constructive feedback

With Mesh's AI coaching feature Maven, your managers can give better, more impactful feedback and stay on top of performance goals.

• Feedback analysis and phrasing assistance: Say goodbye to “good job.” Maven analyzes manager feedback to ensure it’s meaningful, specific, and actionable, rather than generic.

Mesh Maven even makes suggestions for drafting or rephrasing feedback to make it as constructive and useful to the employee as possible.

• Call and meeting transcription: Mesh Maven transcribes calls and 1:1 meetings, and then identifies the key points to create detailed agendas and action items. It can also recommend topics for future meetings based on previous information.

• Smart goal setting: Mesh Maven can transform broad goals into specific, measurable ones. This saves your entire organization valuable time and provides clarity on individual and team goals.

Factor 3: How Mesh.ai automatically reminds managers to provide feedback

Mesh.ai's reminder system, Mesh Recommends, ensures managers and their employees never miss an opportunity to connect.

• Timely feedback prompts: Mesh.ai reminds managers to provide praise or advice immediately after a notable action or event, like a client call or a completed project.
• Goal check-in alerts: If a team goal is falling behind, the right people will get an alert to address any obstacles.
• 1:1 scheduling reminders: Regular check-ins help your direct reports feel supported in their roles and empower your management team to address promptly. Mesh will remind managers of who needs a 1:1 and when.

Factor 4: How Mesh.ai integrates with your existing communication tools

Mesh.ai integrates with Slack and Microsoft Teams so your entire organization can embed continuous feedback into their daily workflows.

• Real-time feedback integration: Anyone in the organization can give praise and advice directly within Slack or Teams, which builds continuous feedback into daily communications and workflows.
• Action item notifications: Mesh.ai can send post-meeting tasks and follow-ups through Slack or Teams, which keeps everyone on the same page and ensures nothing falls through the cracks.
• Performance insights: Managers receive performance insights and updates directly in Slack or Teams, so they can stay informed and proactive in managing and supporting their teams.

Pricing: With plans that start at just $4/person/month, Mesh is an affordable way to start building continuous feedback processes into your culture. Here’s a look at our available pricing plans.

Teams that use Mesh to share continuous feedback see a nearly 140% boost in feedback inputs throughout the year over traditional annual or semi-annual performance review cycles.

Learn more about Mesh’s continuous feedback software.

2. Cornerstone OnDemand - Best for crowdsourcing employee feedback

Cornerstone OnDemand makes it easy to crowdsource input from across your workforce on its social application, Cornerstone Connect. The app allows team members to leave comments on specific tasks, projects, documents, and goals.

Employees can also give and earn public badges for things like going above and beyond, contributing a great idea, or being a great mentor, and apply them toward their performance goals. This gamified way of giving and receiving feedback adds an element of friendly competition and incentivizes employees and managers to recognize achievements throughout the year.

All of this feedback data is tied back to a performance management dashboard so managers can more easily facilitate conversations about performance and goal progress.

One downside of Cornerstone is that employees have to log into a separate application to give feedback. Other software like Mesh make the process easier by integrating continuous feedback systems into existing tools like Slack and Teams.

Key Features:

• Employee social application. Encourage continuous performance feedback between managers, employees, and their peers in a familiar social media-style format.
• Customized social badges. Your unique badges can be customized with different titles, images, and point values to reinforce your company culture and values. 
• Employee skills graphs. Get a quick snapshot of employee competencies and performance potential based on custom criteria and feedback gathered from across Cornerstone’s platform.

Pricing: Not publicly available

3. Deel Engage - Best for career path development

Deel Engage’s AI-powered People Suite helps HR teams quickly and automatically create detailed career paths and employee training courses based on performance feedback and goals set within the system. 

Its helpful “Ask AI” feature speeds up the process of providing useful feedback for employees. This built-in tool analyzes performance data inputs to help managers quickly draft or refine employee feedback, which saves time while making their comments and meeting agendas more impactful.

Like some other software on this list, Deel also offers Slack plugins for continuous feedback, including one called Kudos for employee recognition. This is a great way to encourage real-time feedback and track it all within your existing tech stack, but you won’t be able to use it if you’re on MS Teams. Other tools (like Mesh) integrate with both communications platforms.

Deel also has one of the more expensive listed prices of the software we researched, so it may be out of budget for some teams.

Key Features:

• AI-powered career path and training development. Automatically create career paths and training courses, which saves hours of time and encourages manager contributions. 
• Slack HR plugins. Integrate Deel’s tools with Slack to make feedback and communication easier across the organization. Popular plugins include Kudos for employee recognition, pulse surveys, and dedicated 1:1 check-in channels between managers and direct reports.
• 360° customizable reviews. Create a unique performance appraisal process with multiple feedback types and anonymity settings for more meaningful and actionable reviews.

Pricing: Starts at $20/employee/month

4. Eletive - Best for building action plans

Eletive helps you create detailed action plans for individual employees, teams, and the entire company based on continuous feedback gathered from across the organization. 

Your action plans are based on synced data from Eletive’s suite of engagement and performance management tools, including real-time pulse surveys, 1:1 meetings, OKRs, SMART goals, and 360° feedback. This saves everyone time and ensures each action plan is based on the same shared data.

Because these action plans are tied to actual employee-driven insights and goals, they promote greater buy-in, accountability, and visibility on goal progress.

One downside is that you’ll have to invest in Eletive’s Standard or Professional plan to use the action plan tools, and OKRs, 1:1s, and 360 reviews are only available as add-ons. Many other providers on this list (including Mesh) have these features built into their core pricing plans.

Key Features:

• 1:1 meetings with notes. Employees and managers can take notes before, during, and after 1:1 meetings so they can better reflect on discussion points and how to achieve goals. Notes can be set to private or visible to both parties.
• Real-time pulse surveys powered by AI. Create quick, science-backed pulse surveys to get organization-level insights in real-time so you can quickly identify what’s working and what’s not.
• Eletive Copilot AI assistant. Available on the Standard plan or higher, Copilot combines your company’s Eletive data with AI-driven insights to increase employee engagement by asking the right questions at the right time.

Pricing: Not publicly available

5. Engagedly - Best for anonymous employee feedback

Engagedly’s anonymous feedback feature in its Performance Suite helps you gather honest, unbiased insights from across your organization.

Each time a manager or employee shares feedback through Engagedly, they can decide who sees it (including the employee’s manager and other team members) and whether they’d like to remain anonymous. This level of control over feedback visibility can make employees feel more empowered to speak their minds, especially if they’re sharing a difficult or unpopular opinion.

Engagedly offers other continuous feedback tools like reward points for sharing feedback, a mobile app with public Feedback Wall, and feedback share, request, and nudge features. 

Other tools on this list provide similar or more advanced features at a much lower price tag: Engagedly requires a minimum annual contract of $5,000.

Key Features:

• Anonymous feedback. Employees can opt to give feedback without revealing their identity, which encourages them to be truthful and unbiased in sharing their thoughts.
• Controlled visibility. Feedback data is accessible only to authorized individuals so your team members can maintain confidentiality and protect sensitive information. 
• Feedback requests and nudges. Employees can request feedback directly from their peers, managers, and other company leaders to get the input they need to keep improving their performance. Engagedly also prompts managers to give feedback reminders for greater employee engagement.

Pricing: Starts at $5,000 billed annually

6. HiBob - Best for inclusive culture building

HiBob’s primary offering is core human resources functions through its HR platform, Bob. Its suite of culture-related tools can help you build an inclusive company culture through real-time engagement and feedback.

Each employee fills out a profile that includes preferred pronouns and gender identity, name pronounciations, hobbies, and other self-identifying information. Employees can view these profiles when they interact with each other or give Shoutouts and Kudos via the social media-like Bob homepage. 

Like many other solutions on this list, HiBob’s platform also allows for employee feedback through its customizable 360° performance reviews, 1:1 check ins, surveys, and goal-setting tools.

While HiBob offers a lot of useful tools for managing employee culture and feedback, some users have reported issues with customer support, “confusing” setup processes, and a poorly-designed user interface.

Key Features:

• Detailed, inclusive employee profiles. Employee profiles, which are rich with self-identifying information, are linked to your company’s Org Chart, People Directory, and Bob homepage so employees can forge connections based on common identities and interests.
• Feedback polls. Create polls within Bob to get real-time feedback from employees and peers on any topic, such as preferred offsite meeting locations or office lunch orders.
• Built-in anonymous platform for reporting concerns. Bob’s Leverage Your Voice platform gives employees a safe place to anonymously report concerns like misconduct, harassment, or conflicts.

Pricing: Not publicly available

7. Reviewsnap - Best for 360-degree feedback

Reviewsnap lets you gather feedback from multiple sources, including peers, managers, direct reports, and even external partners or customers for a well-rounded evaluation of employee performance.

The platform’s Performance Notes feature encourages continuous feedback between review cycles. Employees and managers can document workplace activities, capture important moments, and keep performance-related records to refer back to during performance conversations.

One downside of Reviewsnap is that it lacks some of the integration capabilities of other software on this list. It does have an API to allow an existing HR system to read its data, but other tools like Mesh make it easier to facilitate continuous feedback by integrating with communication tools like Slack and Teams. 

Key Features:

• Performance Notes tool: Document activities and achievements in real-time for each employee so your performance conversations are more accurate and meaningful.
• Unlimited, customizable review forms and surveys. Conduct as many 360° feedback surveys as needed and tailor them to your company’s needs to get comprehensive and ongoing performance evaluations from multiple sources, including external parties.
• Automatic notifications. Keep performance reviews on schedule with automatic notifications and alerts for due dates and overdue feedback surveys.

Pricing: Not publicly available

8. TINYPulse - Best for tracking feedback activity

TINYPulse’s employee recognition platform, Cheers for Peers, provides granular analytics data to help you better understand continuous feedback patterns across your organization.

Your Cheers for Peers data helps you identify which employees are giving and receiving the most feedback and which ones aren’t being recognized. 

With this snapshot of high versus low performers (based on the frequency and nature of manager and peer feedback), leaders can take further action, whether it’s putting someone in line for a promotion or facilitating a constructive performance conversation.

TINYPulse’s full suite of employee engagement tools includes Engage for pulse surveys and Coach, a software that helps managers have more productive and impactful 1:1 performance conversations. 

However, it’s missing some other performance enablement features that other providers on this list offer, like direct feedback requests and Nudges for timely feedback.

Key Features:

• Recommendations and reports: Run reports and filter data for insights on who’s giving and receiving Cheers. TINYPulse also provides recommendations for engaging employees who don’t get as much feedback.
• Core value tags: Employees can tag their Cheers with core value tags, which helps you identify employees who are upholding the company culture and its ideals.
• Coaching software for 1:1s: Managers can make their 1:1s more productive with Coach by designing agendas with qualitative and quantitative questions, setting SMART goals with employees, and viewing and sharing real-time performance data.

Pricing: Not publicly available

9. Weekdone - Best for small teams

Weekdone is designed to keep managers and employees aligned on goal progress through continuous individual performance updates and insights into team and company performance. 

In Weekdone, Managers can give 1:1 feedback, praise good performance, and monitor employee wellbeing through regular check-ins and pulse surveys. They can also work with their employees to set quarterly personal goals and track them with weekly reviews and progress updates so everyone stays on target. 

We like that Weekdone offers a free plan for very small teams (up to 3 users), and its paid plans for 4 or more users start at $9/user/month billed annually after a 14-day free trial. However, other software on our list offer the same (or more) continuous feedback features at an even more affordable price point. For example, Mesh starts at just $4/user/month.

Key Features:

• Weekly progress updates: Managers receive weekly updates on employee plans, progress, and problems to make sure everyone is on track and moving forward.
• Pulse surveys and star ratings: Built-in surveys and star rating tools help you measure and visualize employee engagement so managers can address issues promptly.
• 1:1 check-ins and feedback: Managers can conduct 1:1 weekly reviews via a real-time chat function to stay aligned with direct reports.

Pricing: Free for up to 3 users. Paid plans start at $9/user/month.

10. Zensai - Best for companies using Microsoft

Zensai's Performance365 product is specifically designed to integrate with the Microsoft ecosystem. It promotes continuous feedback through frequent check-ins and regular performance reviews. 

Zensai automatically pulls in relevant data on check-in history, feedback, and goal progress into conversation agendas and integrates with your company’s Microsoft 365, Outlook, and Teams accounts. This allows for more meaningful performance conversations without adding another tool to your employees’ daily tech stack.

Organizations that use Slack instead of Teams can technically integrate with Zensai, but they may not be able to take advantage of other features designed to work with Microsoft products. It’s likely worth considering other tools on this list with Slack integrations, like Mesh or Deel.

Key Features:

• Automated performance data aggregation. Zensai pulls relevant performance data from past check-ins and reviews to reduce managers’ prep time for performance evaluations.
• Holistic performance reviews and goal tracking: Get a complete picture of employee performance with data from regular check-ins and feedback, and use Zensai’s OKR and SMART goal features to tie objectives to performance reviews.
• Mobile app check-ins. Zensai’s mobile app makes it easy for employees to complete check-ins on their phone and update their goal progress, which gives their managers real-time performance insights.

Pricing: Not publicly available

Continuous feedback software - FAQs

Have more questions about continuous feedback software? We answered them here:

What is a continuous feedback system?

A continuous feedback system allows for ongoing, real-time feedback between managers and employees. 

It focuses on regular check-ins, performance discussions, and instant feedback rather than annual reviews. 

This system helps in quickly addressing issues, recognizing achievements, and fostering a culture of open communication, ultimately leading to improved performance and employee engagement.

How do you create a continuous feedback loop?

Creating a continuous feedback loop involves several key steps:

1. Schedule Regular Check-ins: Set up frequent, informal meetings between managers and employees.
2. Encourage Open Communication: Foster a culture where feedback is welcomed and given constructively.
3. Use Feedback Tools: Implement software that facilitates real-time feedback.
4. Set Clear Expectations: Ensure employees know what is expected of them and how feedback will be used.
5. Act on Feedback: Show employees that their feedback is valued by taking action on it.

How does performance management software work?

Performance management software automates and streamlines the process of tracking and managing employee performance. 

It typically includes features such as goal setting, continuous feedback, performance reviews, and analytics. 

This software helps managers monitor progress, provide timely feedback, and make data-driven decisions to enhance employee performance and organizational productivity.

What are the goals of performance management software?

The primary goals of performance management software are to:

1. Enhance Employee Performance: Provide tools for setting clear goals and tracking progress.
2. Improve Feedback Quality: Facilitate continuous, constructive feedback.
3. Align Goals: Ensure individual and team goals align with organizational objectives.
4. Increase Engagement: Boost employee motivation and engagement through regular recognition and feedback.
5. Data-Driven Decisions: Offer insights and analytics to inform better management decisions.

The ultimate goal is to create a more efficient, motivated, and high-performing workforce.