Alternatives to 15Five: Finding the Ideal People Management Software

Tools like 15Five are designed to help HR and management support the employee experience through continuous feedback and data-driven insights. Of course, for things like HR software to be effective, delivery matters just as much as content. That’s why you need to consider potential 15Five alternatives before settling on a service provider.

• Zensai
• Leapsome
• Lattice
• CultureAmp

The level of preventable employee turnover

People leave their jobs for all sorts of reasons, from retirement to better offers. Sometimes, it’s inevitable, but a lot of the time, employee turnover is preventable. According to findings from Gallup:

• Over half of US employees were passively or actively seeking new jobs in May.
  
• Approximately 42% of turnover over the previous 12 months was preventable by managers according to the ex-employees in question.
  
• 77% of voluntary turnover happens in the first three months of employment.
  
• In 36% of turnover cases, exiting employees don’t proactively communicate leading up to their departure.

The right platform can allow HR to better support managers, and prevent disengagement and turnover before they become major problems. Of course, which ones are right depends on your business and its needs.

About 15Five

Founded in 2011, 15Five is primarily a performance management platform, although it does offer engagement features. It uses continuous feedback to influence employee experience and improve productivity.

Core features

15Five’s platform is spread across four main modules listed below, plus Manager Copilot and a compensation add-on. Each module includes an array of tools and features that make this platform strong competition for any 15five alternatives.

• Perform: 15Five’s primary performance management tool. It’s got everything you’d expect, like 360 feedback, goals and OKRS, the ability to set review cycles, and integrations with other commonly used tools like Jira and Salesforce. Like most of 15Five’s modules, Perform also offers a variety of AI features.
  
• Engage: The Engage module provides a wide variety of survey tools, including eNPS and manager effectiveness. You can also use benchmarking to check engagement stats against industry standards. Engage also offers a predictive impact model and analytics with dynamic heat maps and AI insights.
  
• Transform: The Transform module focuses on supporting and developing the managers in your business. It provides access to in-house and industry content libraries, learning customization, and the Manager Copilot AI assistant, which is integrated with the rest of 15Five.
  
• HR dashboard: HR’s own centralized space for tracking engagement, performance, manager effectiveness and other relevant metrics. It also integrates with common HRIS systems.

Strengths and selling points

As a performance management platform that shares a few things in common with Zensai, 15Five has some strong selling points, many of which relate to its in-depth AI integration. 

• Continuous feedback and performance management: Like Zensai, 15Five uses an employee check-in to deliver continuous feedback. This allows for a moving picture of performance and engagement, with regular feedback opportunities bridging the gap between actual performance reviews.
  
• AI for performance review assistance: Beyond scheduling and templates, 15Five also supports managers conducting performance reviews with AI. This allows for easy automation when it comes to otherwise time-consuming review prep.
  
• Analytics and actionable insights: 15Five offers a strong collection of analytics tools, metrics and insights. AI-powered impact modeling allows for trend prediction, while the survey heat maps offer a handy visualization of engagement across your organization.
  
• Manager Copilot: Part of the Transform module, Copilot not only helps managers navigate their training and development, but also offers guidance and support based on the metrics and insights derived from a manager’s team.

Drawbacks and limitations

While 15Five emphasises continuous feedback and performance management, as well as the range of ways they’ve implemented AI, there are some issues which hold this platform back from being the ideal HR solution.

• Lacks native HR features: For all the many tools 15Five provides its users, its basic HR features are quite limited compared to many 15Five alternatives.
  
  It lacks dedicated onboarding tools, while payroll and rewards systems are recent additions relegated to paid add-ons. That said, 15Five does have integrations with other HRIS tools.
  
• Only has manager development options: 15Five offers learning and development content like many of its competitors. However, it’s entirely geared towards developing managers, with no support for employee upskilling.
  
• Paywalls on important features: While modular design is common among HR and performance management platforms, 15Five’s design puts some of the most essential features in separate modules. For example, the bulk of AI functions require the Total Platform package.
  
• No sentiment analysis reports: While 15Five offers its share of feedback analytics tools, it doesn’t offer actual sentiment analysis reporting, which can limit the depth of its insights.

Best fit and price structure

Between its pricing and the complexity of its features, 15Five is a better fit for medium-to-large businesses rather than SMBs. They have a wide range of customers including HubSpot, Flexjobs, Envato and Udemy.

15five offers individual pricing for each of its modules, which include the following features:

• Engage ($): Tools, metrics and analytics for tracking employee engagement.
  
  • Engagement surveys, eNPS, manager effectiveness surveys, targeted assessments and external benchmarking.
    
  • AI predictive impact model with co-planner and a dataset of 600,000+ surveys.
    
  • Data analytics with filterable breakdowns, action planning, AI insights and dynamic engagement heat maps.
    
• Perform ($$): Performance management, goal-tracking and tools for continuous feedback.
  
  •  The Core Hub with check-ins, 1:1 agendas, a mobile app and various integrations.
    
  • Performance reviews with 360 feedback, competencies, career paths and HRIS integrations.
    
  • Goal and OKR tracking with business-wide tracking and cross-functional goal alignment, as well as integration with Jira and Salesforce.
    
• Transform ($$-$$$): 15Five’s suite for manager training and development.
  
  • The Copilot & Content package provides 15Five’s AI manager assistant, and a variety of in-house and industry expert-created course content.
    
  • The live group and 1:1 coaching package includes Copilot & Content plus group coaching and 1:1 manager awards, increased scheduling power and detailed session pages.
    
• Total Platform ($$$): Includes the full Engage and Perform modules, along with Microlearning from the Transform module, and the following features:
  
  • 15Five AI (synthesized feedback insights, assisted reviews, and their predictive impact model).
    
  • The HR outcomes dashboard (analytics, actionable metrics, HRIS integration, etc).
    
  • Manager effectiveness indicator with assessment tools, customization and weighting, and individual and aggregate data viewing.
    
  • DPAs and security questionnaires.

A compensation add-on is also available, providing compensation reviews, pay ranges management, benchmarking and a rewards dashboard.

1. The Human Success Platform from Zensai

Kicking off the list of alternatives to 15Five is our own solution, the Human Success Platform. Much like the subject of today’s article, our platform is module-based. That said, it focuses more on overall employee development instead of catering specifically to managers.

Core features

Like 15Five, Zensai’s Human Success Platform provides different modules:

• Learn365: Zensai’s Learning Management Software (LMS), which enables learning and development for everyone, from senior leadership and management right down to ground-level employees.
  
  Learn365 uses AI-assisted course creation tools combined with some of the world’s largest content libraries plus your own to upskill your people. It also includes AI-assisted course management, a skills framework, customized learning, a mobile app, and end-to-end automation.
  
• Engage365: Zensai’s engagement platform. Unlike 15Five, we include our employee check-in system here to support long-term engagement, as well as supporting continuous performance management tools. For example, engagement survey functionality that helps you get answers to make informed engagement decisions.
  
  Engage365 also includes AI-assisted manager coaching and AI-powered check-in summaries. Not to mention analytics and reporting which include full sentiment analysis. And the AI can show managers common team check-in topics, helping them address team issues early.
  
• Perform365: Our comprehensive performance management platform streamlines performance conversations by automating the admin and helping managers and employees prepare. It also offers your choice of OKRs or SMART Goals (or both through Hybrid Goals), 360 feedback, talent mapping and succession planning.
  
  In addition, Perform365 offers performance insights using data from all of the above, plus real-time insights between review seasons by integrating our employee check-ins. It is all supported by AI-generated Goals and OKRs and AI-summarized performance reviews.
  
• Single Sign-On through Microsoft 365: While many 15Five alternatives may integrate with Microsoft tools and services, ours are actually built to be part of them. All of our modules function through Microsoft Teams and integrate with everything from Viva to SharePoint, so each employee only needs one set of login credentials.

On top of all this, the entire Human Success Platform is available through our mobile app to bring full learning, support and performance management to deskless or frontline workers.

Strengths and selling points of this 15five alternative

Of all the alternatives to 15Five, the Human Success Platform is the one that most closely matches its philosophy of continuous feedback for real-time employee insights. These are the strengths that help Zensai’s platform stand out from competitors:

• Inherently user-friendly: As the only people management solution built into Microsoft Teams, the Human Success Platform offers unparalleled integration and ease-of-use. Its centralized nature benefits HR and employees alike, while its UI simplicity helps to avoid putting off new users.
  
• Embraces sentiment analysis: If you’re looking at alternatives to 15Five, it might be because you need fully fleshed out sentiment analysis reporting. Engage365 has you covered. Its AI uses Natural Language Processing (NLP) on employee feedback combined with other engagement metrics to provide bespoke analysis of how your people feel, what they appreciate, and where they hope for improvement.
  
• Supports employee learning and development: While 15Five caters to managerial development, Learn365 enables learning across your whole business. Talent mapping even allows HR to evaluate skills gaps across the whole organization. That way, you can always be prepared with courses crafted from vast content libraries using Content365.
  
• A highly scalable HR solution: The extent to which Zensai’s platform automates the busywork behind learning, engagement and performance make it a strong option for mid-to-enterprise size businesses.
  

Best fit and price structure of this 15Five alternative

Zensai has designed the Human Success Platform for businesses who really understand the value of their employees. It’s most suited to companies between 250-2,500 employees. Customers include BDO Denmark, Dynatrace, and Wirral University.

As noted, our platform is highly scalable. Like many 15Five alternatives, we offer a tiered pricing structure to support a range of budgetary requirements. While our modules are available individually, the real magic happens when you combine Learn365, Engage365 and Perform365. Our Grow365 plan for the full platform is as follows:

• Grow Basic ($): All three core modules so that you aren’t missing any essential features. This plan includes Success Basic support for free.
  
• Grow Plus ($$): Adds Success Plus support, which offers advanced analytics and workload automation features.
  
• Grow Premium ($$$): Adds support from our expert team of technical consultants to help customize, maintain and excel with your talent development platform.

2. Leapsome

Leapsome is another HR platform that features heavy AI integration. As with other alternatives to 15Five, it emphasizes continuous feedback and goal-setting. Let’s look at what it has to offer.

Core features

Leapsome has plenty of features to show off, including broader HR functions than some 15Five alternatives. Its main features include:

• Performance review builder with automated review cycles.
  
• Goals and OKRs with AI-generated recommendations.
  
• Learning and onboarding tools including Leapsome Academy for manager development.
  
• AI-powered competency frameworks and sentiment analysis.
  
• Compensation management tools and HRIS integration.

Strengths and selling points of this 15Five alternative

As an all-in-one solution to people management, Leapsome offers a respectable array of selling points for larger organizations:

• Native HRIS functionality: Unlike many 15Five alternatives, Leapsome has its own HRIS tool rather than solely relying on integrations. It also has a system for compensation management for increased HR centralization.
  
• 50+ HR integrations: Leapsome has done a good job expanding their list of HR integrations, which include the likes of SAP SuccessFactors, AlexisHR, People HR and Deel.
  
• Lots of AI features: The combination of Leapsome’s different AI features makes it a highly scalable solution for large businesses and enterprises.
  
• Great customer service: Leapsome’s customer support team has a great reputation with their clients, making them a good choice if you’re worried about implementation.

Drawbacks and limitations

While Leapsome offers great breadth of functionality, it falls down in a few key areas:

• Shallow Microsoft integration: Leapsome has basic Teams integration, but lacks support for any of Microsoft’s other tools.
  
• Difficult user interface: While Leapsome’s range of features may save your team time in the long run, its lack of user-friendliness means you might need to train with it first.
  
• Lack of price transparency: Leapsome’s platform is divided into a variety of modules and add-ons, with little indication as to their costs.
  
• HRIS functions are a work in progress: Native HRIS may be a useful feature, but it’s still in early access as of the time of writing. Expect some technical difficulties while they refine the service.

Best fit and price structure of this 15Five alternative

Leapsome’s granularity, automation and extensive AI features make it a good fit for larger businesses, and perhaps mid-sized organizations too. That said, the volume of modules and add-ons with no pricing transparency mean we can’t firmly recommend it for small businesses.

• The basic platform ($):
  
  • Leapsome AI
  • Meetings
  • Instant feedback
  • Q&A boards
  • Competency frameworks
    
• Individual modules ($$):
  
  • Core HR
  • Surveys
  • Reviews
  • Learning
  • Goals
  • Time tracking
  • Compensation
    
• Leapsome add-ons ($$$):
  
  • Learning content
  • Compensation benchmarks
  • DATEV integration
  • Whistleblowing

3. Lattice

Lattice is a strong competitor on our list of alternatives to 15Five. Like Leapsome, it offers a wide selection of HR tools for comprehensive people management and support.

Core features

Lattice offers an impressive range of features for HR and people management, which include:

• Performance reviews, talent reviews, 1:1s and ongoing feedback.
  
• Compensation reviews and native HRIS and payroll functionality.
  
• Analytics tools including team analytics DEIB and program participation.
  
• Engagement tracking, including pulse surveys, eNPS, benchmarking, onboarding and exit surveys.
  
• Lattice AI, including AI-generated onboarding videos, review assistance and growth plans.

Lattice also has an AI assistant in development, which is listed as “coming soon” at the time of writing.

Strengths and selling points of this 15Five alternative

Lattice lives up to its name with a range of truly supportive features for any HR team. Its biggest strengths are:

• Growing AI functions: Lattice AI supports everything from onboarding and employee development to analytics and reporting. Its upcoming Lattice Assistant shows the platform’s applications are continuing to expand.
  
• Extensive analytics and reporting: Lattice centralizes data for everything, from employee demographic info to performance and engagement, with customizable data breakdowns and dashboards.
  
• Platform versatility: As we’ll make clear in our best fit section, Lattice is a great option for companies of all sizes and sectors.
  
• Transparent pricing: Unlike many people management SaaS providers, Lattice displays their platform pricing openly on their website without the need to necessarily seek a quote.

Drawbacks and limitations

Of course, no solution is perfect. Here are the areas where Lattice could stand to improve the most:

• Employee development lacks training options: Grow has features like development planning, career tracks and competency matrices, but no actual courses or content. You’d have to rely on other tools for L&D.
  
• Technical issues: While Lattice has a great reputation for releasing new features, these can sometimes result in technical issues while they work out implementation.
  
• Lack of branding customization: Lattice lacks support for customizing platforms with your own logos or company content, so it’s harder to truly make this platform your own.
  
• Limited Microsoft integrations: Lattice beats alternatives to 15Five like Leapsome by having more than just Teams integration, but platforms like Zensai offer greater Microsoft compatibility.

Best fit and price structure of this 15Five alternative

As noted, Lattice’s versatility and transparent pricing make it easy to understand if it’s right for your business. Customers include Braze, Monzo, and Vantage West.

• Core HRIS ($): Employee records, workflows, onboarding and a report builder available for early bird pricing.
  
• Talent Management/Foundations ($$): Performance management tools (reviews, 1:1s, feedback, etc), as well as goals and OKRs.
  
• Add-ons ($$$): Many of Lattice’s important features are delivered as paid add-ons, including their:
  
  • Engagement module
  • Grow module (employee development)
  • Compensation module

4. Culture Amp

Rounding off our list of alternatives to 15Five is Culture Amp. Their platform aims to improve your workplace culture by enhancing the employee experience, and their features reflect that fact.

Core features

As a science-backed industry leader, Culture Amp has what it takes to go up against even the best 15Five alternatives. Its major features include:

• Ongoing feedback, goal-setting and ongoing feedback, shoutouts and calibrations.
  
• Benchmarked employee surveys for real-time engagement insights.
  
• Career paths, growth plans and skills coaching.
  
• AI-powered analytics and reporting.

Strengths and selling points of this 15Five alternative

As usual, it’s time to look at Culture Amp’s major selling points before we examine its drawbacks:

• An industry leader: Culture Amp enjoys great name recognition for the quality of its platform, making it a safe option for many businesses.
  
• Benchmarking: Up-to-date industry benchmarking gives Culture Amp the ability to contextualize internal HR insights outside of the vacuum of your business.
  
• Continuous feedback: Although this can be said for many 15Five alternatives, Culture Amp offers strong ongoing feedback using templates, smart suggestions and embedded coaching.
  
• Scientific survey design: Culture Amp’s team of industry and psychology scientists ensure surveys remain relevant and insightful.

Drawbacks and limitations

While Culture Amp certainly has a lot to offer, it does have a few faults worth mentioning:

• Limited employee-level use: While Culture Amp offers plenty of features for HR and management, it’s much more limited for employees, which doesn’t quite support their focus on the employee experience.
  
• Another opaque pricing structure: While they’re hardly alone, Culture Amp’s lack of price transparency makes it harder to recommend than it should be.
  
• Fiddly user permissions: Setting up user permissions is inefficient, which can make it more time-consuming to set up new hires.
  
• May require training: Culture Amp’s granular permissions and sheer range of survey options may be hard to navigate for new users.

Best fit and price structure of this 15Five alternative

In theory, Culture Amp would be a great fit for large and small businesses. This is shown by its impressive range of customers, including McDonald’s, Nasdaq and Intercom.

• Individual modules and add-ons ($): Engage, Perform and the Develop add-on are available for individual price quotes.
  
• The full platform bundle ($$): The full platform bundle offers Engage, Perform and Develop together for a reduced overall cost.
  
• Custom enterprise pricing ($$$): Organizations over a certain size may benefit from Culture Amp’s custom price plans.

What makes for an effective people management platform?

Of course, it’s one thing to compare different alternatives to 15Five. To make an informed choice, however, you need a solid set of base criteria. So, to finish up, let’s look at what you need for effective people management and HR.

Comprehensive analytics and reporting

Guesswork won’t get you far. There’s a reason analytics and reporting tools are included in pretty much every people management platform on the market. They’re a way of listening to your people and deriving actionable insights from solid, data-backed metrics.

Analytics and reporting play an essential role in every aspect of people management, from long-term performance management and engagement practices to the success of your L&D courses and policies.

HR centralization

Whichever of the 15Five alternatives you pick needs to be HR friendly. After all, they’re likely to be its heaviest users. That’s why some market competitors have gone out of their way to bring other common HR features under their umbrella.

Whether it’s through HR integrations or native functionality, features like HRIS, payroll and so on mean your HR team won’t spend as much time navigating between systems. Having it all centralized allows them to work much more efficiently.

AI, automation and streamlining

Last but not least, we have automation and streamlining features. In modern people management tools, these are quite often powered by AI. Analytics and reporting tools are a great example of how AI automation can make life easier for HR.

Manual data collection and analysis are incredibly time-consuming, even for SMBs, much less enterprises. AI completes these tasks in a fraction of the time, freeing up HR personnel to implement actionable insights.

On top of that, you have things like performance review automation to speed up feedback and communication for managers and employees, as well as L&D guidance and personalization. It’s important to consider the balance of these features that different 15Five alternatives offer versus the needs of your organization.

Alternatives to 15Five: Try out different people management tools

With so many options on the market, it’s worth taking any opportunity to familiarize yourself with them before you commit. That’s why so many providers offer guided demos or trial versions. Otherwise, you could end up suffering buyer’s remorse.

If you’re interested in seeing what Zensai’s Human Success Platform has to offer, reach out and book a demo with us today.