Give River vs Culture Amp
Culture Amp is an employee experience platform built around engagement surveys and performance reviews, sold on annual quotes. Its strength is measurement: 40+ survey templates, benchmarks, and People Scientists. Give River publishes its pricing, starts free, bills monthly, and gives people something to do every day: recognition, rewards, gamified Seasons, and micro-learning, with surveys and eNPS built in.
Where Give River stands apart.
$5 per user, everything included
Core covers recognition, rewards, micro-learning, team challenges, and surveys for $5 per user per month. No add-on modules, no hidden upcharges or fees, no long-term contract.
90% average adoption
Customers average 90% adoption, against the 20–30% typical of workplace tools. Seasons give people a reason to come back.
Built around the game
Seasons, team challenges, River Rankings leaderboards, and streaks are the product, not badges added to a recognition feed.
Built on the 5G Method
Gratitude, Gamification, Growth, Generosity, and Guidance: a framework drawn from the sports psychology behind championship teams.
Which should you choose?
Choose Give River if…
- You want to raise engagement, not only measure it: recognition, rewards, team challenges, and micro-learning in one platform.
- You want a published price ($5 per user per month for Core), monthly billing, and no annual contract.
- You want real gamification. Culture Amp's only game-like feature is a leaderboard for its Shoutouts.
- Your people work from their phones. Give River has iOS and Android apps; we couldn't find a Culture Amp app.
- You're a team of roughly 10–500 that wants to launch in about two weeks rather than 6–12.
Choose Culture Amp if…
- Surveys are the main job: you want templates designed by organizational psychologists and industry benchmarks.
- You need full performance management: reviews with calibration, 360° feedback, goals, and 1-on-1s.
- You want People Scientists to read your results with you (Enterprise tier, or a paid consulting add-on).
- You're a larger organization running one survey across subsidiaries or regions.
Feature by feature.
| Feature | Give River | Culture Amp |
|---|---|---|
| Published pricing | ✓ | Quote only |
| Free plan or trial | Free plan; 30-day trial on paid plans | No free plan listed |
| Billing | Monthly, no long-term contract | Annual; renews for 12 months unless cancelled 90 days ahead |
| Peer recognition tied to company values | ✓ | Shoutouts, given in Slack or Teams |
| Points and rewards | Drops redeem for gift cards and custom rewards (Core) | Not listed |
| Seasons, challenges, and leaderboards | Seasons, team challenges, River Rankings | Shoutouts leaderboard only |
| Micro-learning content | River Runs, 5–20 min, for everyone (Core) | Skills Coach: 2-minute exercises for managers |
| Engagement surveys and eNPS | Surveys, polls, eNPS (Core) | 40+ templates, pulse, eNPS, benchmarks |
| Performance reviews | Goals and coaching (Growth) | Reviews, calibration, 360°, goals, 1-on-1s (Perform) |
| Birthdays and work anniversaries | Core and up | Not listed |
| Charitable donations | ✓ | Not listed |
| Volunteer management | Growth plan | Not listed |
| Wellness programs | Wellness Seasons | Wellbeing survey questions |
| Slack and Microsoft Teams | Slack on Free; both on Core | One or the other, not both at once |
| HRIS sync | BambooHR, ADP, Rippling, Workday, and other HRIS integrations available. | Workday, BambooHR, HiBob, and others; API and SFTP |
| Single sign-on | Core and Growth | Google or SAML, all plans |
| iOS and Android apps | Core and up | Not listed; mobile web for surveys and feedback |
| Coach or success manager | River Guide: shared on Core, dedicated on Growth | Group support under 200 employees; one-on-one from 200 |
| Typical implementation | About 2 weeks | 6–12 weeks for a first implementation |
| Best-fit company size | Roughly 10–500 employees | Tiers from under 200 to 1,000+ employees |
Culture Amp details come from Culture Amp's public website and help center, checked October 5, 2026 (sources below). Plan names in a cell show where a feature sits. “Not listed” means we couldn't find it on their site. Products change, so confirm with Culture Amp before you decide.
What Give River looks like.
Time-bound 1–3 month Seasons with a team leaderboard.
Peer shout-outs tied to your company values, with Drops attached.
Drops redeem for gift cards and custom company rewards.
5–20 minute modules on wellness, professional growth, and soft skills, plus your own.
Employees turn Drops into donations to the causes they choose.
Recognition where people already work, plus mobile apps.
What each one costs.
Give River
Free plan that includes your first Season. Core is $5 per user per month; Growth is custom, up to $9 per user per month. Paid plans start with a 30-day free trial, no credit card required, with no long-term contracts, no hidden upcharges or fees, and discounted nonprofit pricing. Your rewards budget is separate and set by you. See all plans.
Culture Amp
Quotes only; Culture Amp doesn't publish prices. Price depends on headcount, product (Engage for surveys, Perform for performance and development), and service tier, and every product is billed annually. People Science Consulting is a paid add-on. Subscriptions renew for 12 months unless either side gives notice 90 days before the end, and Culture Amp may charge more mid-term if your headcount passes your tier. Registered nonprofits are eligible for special pricing.
Give River vs Culture Amp: common questions.
If you want to raise engagement rather than only measure it, yes. Culture Amp is strongest at surveys, benchmarks, and performance reviews. Give River runs recognition, rewards, gamified Seasons, and River Runs micro-learning every day, with surveys and eNPS built in, at a published $5 per user per month.
Give River publishes its prices: a free plan, Core at $5 per user per month, and Growth at up to $9, billed monthly with no long-term contract and no hidden upcharges or fees. Culture Amp sells annual subscriptions on custom quotes, priced by headcount, product, and service tier.
It has Shoutouts: peer recognition given in Slack or Microsoft Teams, with a leaderboard of the top 20 givers and receivers. We couldn't find points, rewards, badges, or challenges on its site. Give River is built around gamification: Seasons, team challenges, River Rankings, and Drops that redeem for rewards.
You can. Culture Amp measures engagement with surveys; Give River gives people daily ways to build it and tracks the effect. If you'd rather run one tool, Give River includes surveys, polls, and eNPS on Core.
Yes, with a difference. Culture Amp includes both on every plan, but a company can run only one of them at a time. Give River includes Slack on the Free plan and both Slack and Microsoft Teams on Core and Growth, plus iOS and Android apps.
Sources, checked October 5, 2026
- Culture Amp pricing
- Engage
- Perform
- Shoutouts
- Introducing Shoutouts
- Skills Coach
- Survey templates overview
- Install the app for Slack or Microsoft Teams
- HRIS integrations
- Single sign-on
- Platform home page (mobile)
- Prepare for your implementation
- Terms of service
- Culture Amp Foundation (nonprofit pricing)
Spotted something out of date? Email hello@giveriver.com and we'll fix it. Give River facts: giveriver.com/facts.
See Give River in action.
30-day free trial. No credit card. River Guide included on Core and Growth.