Small business▼−1Since September 2026: 60% → 59%, −1 point. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.
59%from 60% in September 2026
Inside the floor by 12 pointsRank 1 of 50, unchanged
4 categories · RankedBonusly
186Judge labels
49First choices
17Negative labels
14 / 14Models named it
4Categories
October 2026 Edition. Every number here is derived from the raw labels under vendor table v2026-10.7, every buyer segment counted.
Best standing
60% in Recognition and rewards for small business buyers
Rank 1 of 98 in the mid-market standingaccepted challenger
4 of 14 models made it the first choice on the direct prompt; 7% of its 57 labels there were negative.
What the models named instead of Bonusly →By buyer segmentStrongest at small business.
Small business1 of 52
60%66 labels
endorsed leader
Mid-market1 of 98
29%57 labels
accepted challenger
Enterprise4 of 48
8%32 labels
criticized challenger
In recognition and rewards · each standing computed within its segment · bars are 0 to 100 · the accent bar is the product's own best reading
Standing by category
Every category where a model named Bonusly for a mid-market B2B company. Share is first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts; rank is within every product named in that category.
| Category | Function | Share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels | Quadrant | Since September 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Recognition and rewards | Onboarding and employee experience | 29% | 1 of 98 | 7% | 57 | accepted challenger | ▲+1Since September 2026: 22% → 23%, +1 point. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. |
| Employee engagement surveys | Onboarding and employee experience | 0% | 17 of 58 | 0% | 5 | under 10 labels · led by Culture Amp at 37% | =heldSince September 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. |
| HR AI assistants | Onboarding and employee experience | 0% | 27 of 142 | 0% | 3 | under 10 labels · led by MeBeBot at 21% | =heldSince September 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. |
| 360 feedback | Performance and talent management | 0% | 27 of 73 | 0% | 1 | under 10 labels · led by Lattice at 34% | newNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 0% now. |
Movement
Since September 2026, Bonusly held within the floor in all four categories: no change cleared 13 points.
Best category · Recognition and rewards · by segment
Mid-market▲+1Since September 2026: 22% → 23%, +1 point. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.
23%from 22% in September 2026
Inside the floor by 12 pointsRank 1 → 2 of 87
Enterprise▲+5Since September 2026: 2% → 7%, +5 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.
7%from 2% in September 2026
Inside the floor by 8 pointsRank 7 → 4 of 46
All categories · Mid-market
| Category | September 2026 | Now | Change | Reading | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Recognition and rewards | 22% | 23% | ▲+1Since September 2026: 22% → 23%, +1 point. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. | Within noise | Rank 1 of 98, unchanged |
| Employee engagement surv | 0% | 0% | =heldSince September 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. | Within noise | Rank 14 → 17 of 58 |
| HR AI assistants | 0% | 0% | =heldSince September 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. | Within noise | Rank 26 → 27 of 142 |
| 360 feedback | 0% | 0% | newNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 0% now. | New this edition | Rank 27 of 73, unchanged |
Shares here are read over the models both editions asked, so they can differ by a point or two from the standing above, which counts every model in this edition.
The floor is 13 points of share, measured: how far the models move a leader on their own when the same questions are asked twice with nothing changed. A larger change is movement; a smaller one is noise, and both are shown. Movement is read over the twelve models both editions asked; GPT-6 Luna, Muse Glimmer 30B joined this edition and are in the standing but not yet in the comparison. How the floor is measured · The editions
By model
How each model treated Bonusly across every prompt where it was named for a mid-market B2B company. Fourteen models, six prompts per category.ShowHide
By model
How each model treated Bonusly across every prompt where it was named for a mid-market B2B company. Fourteen models, six prompts per category.
ShowHide| Model | First choice | Alternative | Mention | Negative | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| GPT-5.4 mini | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| Perplexity Sonar | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Grok 4.1 Fast | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 7 |
| Mistral Small | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 8 |
| Llama 4 Maverick | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Kimi K2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| MiniMax M2.5 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| GPT-6 Luna | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| Muse Glimmer 30B | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
By framing
Which of the six questions produced the naming. By model says how often; this says asked what. The first-choice count on the right carries the marks of the models that produced it.
FramingLabels by classFirst choices
Direct33 labels16
Paraphrase25 labels14
Comparative41 labels19not counted in share
Budget-constrained45 labels16
Scale-constrained18 labels3
Negative24 labels2not counted in share
First choiceAlternativeMentionNegative186 labels in all, every segment counted; 49 of the 70 first choices count toward share, since the comparative and negative framings do not. The bar is one segment per label class, to scale within the framing.
What the models said for it
Verbatim evidence the judge attached to positive labels.
“The best employee recognition software for most mid-market companies in 2025 is Bonusly for budget-conscious teams wanting fast peer-to-peer adoption” Muse Glimmer 30B · Recognition and rewards · direct prompt · first choice
“For most mid-market B2B companies (roughly 100–1,000 employees), Bonusly is consistently ranked as the best overall choice.” DeepSeek V4 Flash · Recognition and rewards · direct prompt · first choice
“Bonusly (Best Overall Value) ... widely considered the gold standard for affordability among professional recognition platforms” Qwen 3.7 Flash · Recognition and rewards · budget prompt · first choice
“the best overall choice is usually Bonusly because it is repeatedly recommended for small businesses and small budgets” Perplexity Sonar · Recognition and rewards · budget prompt · first choice
And against it
Verbatim evidence attached to negative labels. A warning on a product with few labels is a warning; on a product with many, it is one voice among them.
“Some AI models explicitly recommend avoiding SMB-focused "peer-shout-out" tools like Bonusly for large organizations” Mistral Small · Recognition and rewards · negative prompt · hard negative
“Common gripes include monthly point caps that run out fast ... Reviewers say it feels generic and limiting for larger or unique teams.” Grok 4.1 Fast · Recognition and rewards · negative prompt · soft negative
“Smaller international reach, limited regional reward depth, point-to-value inconsistencies” Kimi K2 · Recognition and rewards · negative prompt · soft negative
“you find major players like Bonusly or Nectar too expensive” Gemini 3.5 Flash · Recognition and rewards · budget prompt · soft negative
Named alongside
The products named in the same answers as Bonusly, over the 186 answers that named it. Took the first choice instead counts the answers where the other product was the first choice and Bonusly was named but was not.ShowHide
Named alongside
The products named in the same answers as Bonusly, over the 186 answers that named it. Took the first choice instead counts the answers where the other product was the first choice and Bonusly was named but was not.
ShowHideProductSame answerTook the first choice insteadHead to head
A head-to-head page exists where both products are among a category's top eight. The other rows are the same fact without a page behind them, so they link to the product instead.
What carried it into the answer
The sites and pages cited by the answers that named Bonusly. A fact about retrieval, not a lever on the model.
Citations exist only for the models that return a source list, five of the fourteen in this edition, so these counts come from 176 of the 186 answers that named Bonusly and are not a share of its labels.
Domains cited
workhuman.com92
engagedly.com82
g2.com81
peoplemanagingpeople.com81
tremendous.com74
awardco.com67
achievers.com66
selectsoftwarereviews.com62
thrivesparrow.com61
bonusly.comYour site58
666 of the 724 domain citations in answers naming Bonusly came from somebody else's page.
Pages cited
Pages are listed as the models cited them.
Search and answers
Where Bonusly stands in Google search beside where it stands in the models' answers.ShowHide
Search and answers
Where Bonusly stands in Google search beside where it stands in the models' answers.
ShowHideIn search
Google, US estimatesPosition for “recognition platforms”
–
not in the top ten
Position for “employee recognition platform”
3
- Searches for its name, Google
- 14,800 a month (“bonusly”)
- AI search demand for its name, est.
- 75 a month
- Organic visits to its site
- about 44,595 a month
- Searches its site ranks for
- 5,714 · 220 in the top three
- Sites linking to it
- 4,564
- Paid Google search
- No ads found in the estimate; that does not mean it runs none
In answers
This editionShare of first choices
29%
rank 1 of 98 in recognition and rewards
First choices
49
across its categories
- Named in
- 186 answers
- Its own site cited
- in 176 of the answers that named it
Search figures are US estimates from DataForSEO, read September 28, 2026; AI search demand is its modeled, directional estimate, not a count of queries to any assistant. The answers are this edition's. Two measurements side by side: neither is read as the cause of the other.
What it publishes
ShowHide
What it publishes
ShowHideAddresses on bonusly.com
1,118
subdomains included
Content
846
counted in the table below
Documentation
0
Product · Integration
12 · 51
| Kind | Pages | Last 90 days | 2025-10 to 2026-09 | Latest | Categories named |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blog | 654 | undated | Performance management, People analytics | ||
| Webinar or virtual event | 102 | undated | |||
| Case study | 45 | undated | |||
| Template or tool | 17 | undated | Recognition and rewards, Employee onboarding | ||
| Comparison | 10 | undated | |||
| Glossary or explainer | 8 | undated | Performance management | ||
| Conference or event | 6 | undated | |||
| Report or ebook | 4 | undated |
How it is countedHide how it is counted
Every page bonusly.com exposes, subdomains included. Kind is read from the address and title. The last 90 days, the latest date and the twelve months count pages by when they were published, from the site's feeds, a date in the address, or the page's own publication date, read from up to a hundred of its most recently changed pages; a page that says only when it last changed is counted in its kind but not in when, so the recent counts are a floor, and a kind none of whose pages gives a publication date reads undated. An event counts as online when its address or title says so (webinar, on demand, virtual or online summit); a conference, summit, trade show, expo or roadshow that does not say so is counted as a conference or event, which on a vendor's site is mostly in person. Read September 29, 2026.
Follow Bonusly
An email the morning each edition publishes: where this product moved, where it held, and by how much against the noise floor. One address, confirmed by a click; a stop link in every email.
Already following? Everything you follow, with a stop for each.
The company
Bonusly is its own company.ShowHide
The company
Bonusly is its own company.
ShowHideIn its own words
Stated by the vendor, not checked- Positioning
- Employee Recognition Software & Rewards Platform
- For
- teams
- Price stated
- No credit card required bonusly.com
- Starting price
- $0 bonusly.com/pricing
- Free plan or trial
- Get Started for Free bonusly.com
- Certifications
- SOC 2 compliant
- Customers named
- ToastSurveymonkeyZipRecruiterMindbodyRechatAmerican Red Cross
- Not stated on the pages read
- Integrations, hosting
What Bonusly's own pages state, read September 28, 2026: bonusly.com, bonusly.com/pricing, bonusly.com/blog-topic/security, bonusly.com/product/growth, bonusly.com/blog-topic/customer-stories. A claimed page can correct any of them.
Is this your product?
Claim this page
Claiming is free and changes nothing in the data. A claimed page shows a verified contact who is told when each edition publishes and when Bonusly's standing changes by more than the noise floor; the right to propose corrections to the vendor table, meaning names the judge wrote that should or should not read as Bonusly, applied by version and listed in the change log; and a one-line description supplied by the vendor and marked as such.
What a new claim receivesHide what a new claim receives
A new claim receives the current edition's vendor brief for Bonusly by email, built from the raw record of the edition. It shows:
- where Bonusly is named, by buyer and by framing, and which cells hold its first choices;
- the claims the models make when they name it, ranked, with the strongest and the weakest quoted;
- its vocabulary against the segment leader's, and the pages the models cited;
- who was chosen in the answers that did not name Bonusly, and every reason the record gives;
- a battlecard for each top rival: the head-to-head split, why they win, and the reservation quoted against them;
- one page of published figures cleared to show a buyer.
Badges
Wins only: a badge exists where Bonusly is ranked in a category's top three this edition. Three sizes, one file each, light and dark; the code is under each.ShowHide
Badges
Wins only: a badge exists where Bonusly is ranked in a category's top three this edition. Three sizes, one file each, light and dark; the code is under each.
ShowHideAI models recommend Bonusly first in Recognition and rewards this edition. Each badge says so in the buyer's words, names the edition, and links to the standing. The next edition issues a new badge; this one stays true as a record of October 2026.
Wide · 320 × 104 Website, beside other badges
Square · 240 × 240 LinkedIn, slides
Compact · 200 × 56 Email signature, footer
Badges read on light and dark pages. Alt text carries the claim, the category, the edition and the index, so it stays a citation where the image does not load.