Best 8 Fidforward Replacements for Engineering Leaders in 2026
8 Proven Alternatives for Continuous Feedback and Engineering Performance
Pensero
Pensero Marketing
Jan 17, 2026
These are the best Fidforward replacements this year:
Lattice
15Five
Small Improvements
Matter
Leapsome
Karma
Bonusly
Engineering leaders often consider replacing Fidforward when they need more than Slack based gamified feedback collection.
While its continuous feedback approach helps address the timing challenges in performance management, the platform shows limited signs of broader market adoption, which naturally raises questions about its long term roadmap, support expectations, and overall product maturity.
Reviewers frequently highlight concerns about the platform’s evolution pace and its readiness for scaleup and enterprise environments, where reliability and continuity are critical.
Teams evaluating Fidforward replacements typically seek solutions that demonstrate consistent product development, structured customer success processes, and dependable ongoing support.
Scaleups and larger organizations in particular expect regular updates, guided onboarding, responsive assistance, and stability that ensures their performance infrastructure can grow with them.
They look for continuous feedback capabilities backed by a vendor able to deliver sustained improvements and a partnership oriented relationship rather than experimental solutions with uncertain support expectations.
This guide examines eight compelling Fidforward replacements, starting with platforms that provide comprehensive engineering intelligence alongside continuous feedback capabilities.
The Best Fidforward Replacements
1. Pensero
Pensero provides comprehensive engineering intelligence that supports performance management through continuous visibility into actual work rather than relying solely on gamified feedback collection.
Built by a team with over 20 years of average experience in the tech industry, the platform enables meaningful performance conversations through a genuine understanding of technical contributions rather than aggregating peer feedback scores.
What makes Pensero different from Fidforward
While Fidforward focuses primarily on collecting continuous feedback through Slack gamification, Pensero provides continuous visibility into actual engineering work, ensuring that performance conversations are grounded in what people actually build rather than relying únicamente on peer feedback gathered through gamified mechanisms.
Pensero also includes lightweight kudos and peer recognition features, but these act as a complement rather than the core foundation of the platform.
This work based approach offers an objective baseline for performance discussions that naturally complements subjective feedback instead of replacing it.
By understanding real technical contributions throughout the year and layering recognition on top, Pensero enables more accurate, context rich assessments supported by a platform designed for reliability, continuous improvement, and long term organizational partnership.
This view shows what “work-based performance” looks like in practice. It connects contributions to real output, giving managers context that feedback-only tools can’t provide, especially when teams scale.
Key capabilities
"What Happened Yesterday": provides daily visibility into individual technical contributions throughout the year. You recognize good work when it happens through direct observation rather than waiting for feedback requests or gamification prompts, building genuine understanding that makes performance assessments natural.
Body of Work Analysis: assesses actual engineering output over time with understanding of technical complexity and contribution quality. This provides substantive performance insights that feedback collection alone cannot match, showing what engineers accomplished rather than just collecting opinions about their work style.
Executive Summaries: document individual and team accomplishments continuously in plain language. These summaries serve multiple purposes: immediate recognition, stakeholder updates, and performance review documentation reflecting real contributions rather than aggregated feedback scores requiring interpretation.
AI Cycle Analysis: helps you understand how individual engineers adapt to and leverage AI coding tools through actual work pattern analysis, not surveys or feedback requests about AI tool feelings. You see real productivity impact demonstrating learning agility and technical adaptability.
Industry Benchmarks: provide comparative context for individual performance using engineering-specific metrics. This helps distinguish genuine high performers from average contributors using objective technical data rather than subjective feedback aggregation prone to bias.
What you need to know
Best for: Engineering leaders and managers needing continuous work visibility and objective performance insights alongside or instead of feedback mechanisms
Integrations: GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Jira, Linear, GitHub Issues, Slack, Notion, Confluence, Google Calendar, Cursor, Claude Code
Notable customers: Travelperk, Elfie.co, Caravelo
Organizational backing: Experienced team with proven market presence versus one-person operation
Why Pensero works as Fidforward replacement
Fidforward's continuous feedback collection addresses timing challenges in performance management but provides only subjective opinions without objective work understanding. Pensero provides continuous visibility into actual work that makes performance management substantive rather than subjective, backed by proven team and real customers.
You understand technical contributions directly rather than inferring performance from gamified feedback collection, with confidence that platform is backed by real organization capable of sustained development, support, and improvement rather than depending on single individual's availability.
2. Lattice
Lattice represents the established leader in performance management software with comprehensive continuous feedback capabilities serving thousands of organizations globally.
Lattice has substantial market presence, the platform provides mature continuous feedback infrastructure alongside broader performance management capabilities with proven reliability.
What it offers as Fidforward replacement
Lattice built comprehensive continuous feedback features within broader performance platform backed by substantial organization. The system handles ongoing praise, feedback requests, one-on-one meeting notes, and performance conversations integrated with review cycles and goal tracking.
Recent AI features help synthesize feedback and draft performance reviews similar to Fidforward's approach but within proven enterprise platform with extensive customer base, active development team, and reliable support infrastructure.
For organizations wanting continuous feedback from established platform with proven track record rather than one-person experimental operation, Lattice provides mature capabilities with reliability confidence that critical HR infrastructure requires.
What you need to know
Best for: Organizations wanting comprehensive continuous feedback within proven performance management platform with enterprise maturity
Integrations: Slack, Teams, Gmail, Google Calendar, major HRIS systems, extensive integration marketplace
Notable customers: Thousands of organizations globally across all industries
Worth noting: Lattice provides continuous feedback within comprehensive performance infrastructure. The platform excels at HR processes without engineering-specific technical contribution analysis but offers proven reliability and ongoing development that one-person operations cannot match.
3. 15Five
15Five focuses specifically on continuous performance management through weekly check-ins that naturally incorporate ongoing feedback alongside performance dialogue.
The platform's weekly check-in rhythm creates regular feedback opportunities without requiring gamification mechanics to drive engagement, backed by established company with dedicated team.
What makes it different from Fidforward
15Five's weekly check-in approach integrates feedback collection naturally within regular performance conversations rather than depending on gamification to encourage participation. The structured rhythm provides continuous feedback without relying on game mechanics that may feel gimmicky or lose effectiveness over time.
The platform combines check-ins with peer recognition, one-on-one meeting agendas, and review cycles backed by established organization. The weekly structure ensures regular feedback flow supporting meaningful performance conversations.
For teams wanting structured continuous feedback without gamification dependency or one-person operation risk, 15Five provides established approach with proven adoption across thousands of organizations and real organizational backing.
What you need to know
Best for: Organizations wanting continuous feedback through structured weekly check-ins with proven platform maturity
Worth noting: 15Five emphasizes weekly dialogue and manager engagement over gamified feedback collection. The established approach works for teams wanting regular feedback without experimental mechanics or platform viability concerns that one-person operations present.
4. Small Improvements
Small Improvements provides straightforward continuous feedback alongside performance management core capabilities with focus on praise recognition and 360-degree feedback.
The platform handles ongoing feedback, praise, and recognition within intuitive interface designed for practical adoption without overwhelming complexity or experimental approaches.
What it offers as Fidforward replacement
Small Improvements focuses on making continuous feedback practical through simple, intuitive features backed by established company. The praise and recognition capabilities encourage positive feedback naturally without requiring gamification mechanics that may feel forced.
The 360-degree feedback capabilities integrate with continuous feedback collection, providing comprehensive performance input from multiple sources throughout the year rather than just annual review cycles, all backed by proven platform with real organizational support.
For organizations wanting practical continuous feedback without experimental approaches, gamification dependency, or one-person operation risk, Small Improvements provides established capabilities with reliability confidence.
What you need to know
Best for: Teams wanting straightforward continuous feedback and recognition within practical performance management platform
Worth noting: Small Improvements provides solid continuous feedback capabilities without attempting gamification or experimental mechanics. The practical approach offers reliability over innovation with organizational backing that one-person operations cannot provide.
5. Matter
Matter specializes in peer recognition and continuous feedback via Slack with focus on making feedback enjoyable and frequent through gamification.
The platform provides Slack-native feedback and recognition similar to Fidforward's approach but backed by established company with dedicated team, active customer base, and proven market presence.
What makes it different from Fidforward
Matter emphasizes making feedback fun through kudos, recognition, and rewards integrated directly in Slack similar to Fidforward's gamification philosophy. The gamification approach aims to increase feedback frequency through positive reinforcement rather than obligation.
The platform integrates with performance review cycles, allowing accumulated feedback and recognition to inform formal assessments backed by established organization capable of sustained platform development and support.
For teams specifically wanting Slack-based continuous feedback with gamification from established company rather than one-person operation with minimal market validation, Matter provides similar approach with dramatically better viability signals and organizational backing.
What you need to know
Best for: Teams wanting Slack-native continuous feedback and recognition with gamification from established platform
Market validation: Established customer base versus minimal traction
Worth noting: Matter competes directly with Fidforward's Slack-based gamified approach but with substantially better organizational backing, market validation, and platform maturity. The platform focuses specifically on recognition and feedback rather than comprehensive performance management.
6. Leapsome
Leapsome offers comprehensive performance management with strong continuous feedback capabilities integrated with learning, development, and engagement features.
The platform provides mature continuous feedback within holistic people enablement platform backed by substantial organization.
How Leapsome differs from Fidforward
Leapsome integrates continuous feedback with performance reviews, goal tracking, one on one meeting support, and learning modules, offering a far broader people development platform than Fidforward’s Slack based feedback model.
Its approach recognizes that continuous feedback is only one component of effective performance management and works best when combined with structured development workflows, goal alignment, and manager enablement.
The platform’s AI capabilities help synthesize feedback into actionable insights similar to Fidforward’s philosophy, but they sit within a comprehensive, multi layer system supported by an established product organization with ongoing development, customer success processes, and proven adoption across diverse companies.
For organizations looking for continuous feedback embedded into a holistic performance and development ecosystem rather than a single channel feedback tool, Leapsome provides a mature, full spectrum solution.
Si quieres, puedo aplicar esta misma lógica a los apartados de Matter, Karma y Bonusly para mantener coherencia total en el post.
What you need to know
Best for: Organizations wanting continuous feedback integrated with comprehensive performance management and learning platform
Integrations: Slack, Teams, Google Calendar, major HRIS systems
Worth noting: Leapsome provides continuous feedback within broader performance and development infrastructure backed by substantial organization. The comprehensive approach offers more capability than focused feedback tools but with proven organizational maturity that one-person operations cannot match.
7. Karma
Karma provides Slack-based recognition and feedback platform with emphasis on team culture and appreciation.
The platform focuses specifically on making recognition and feedback easy within Slack similar to Fidforward's Slack-native approach but with dedicated focus on culture building and established company backing.
What makes it different from Fidforward
Karma emphasizes building positive team culture through easy recognition and feedback mechanisms in Slack. The platform makes giving kudos and appreciation simple, encouraging frequent positive feedback naturally without complex gamification.
The leaderboards and analytics provide visibility into recognition patterns and team culture health backed by established platform. The gamification elements aim to make feedback and recognition engaging rather than obligatory.
For teams wanting Slack-native recognition and feedback focused specifically on culture building, Karma provides established platform with clear focus and organizational backing that one-person operations cannot offer.
What you need to know
Best for: Teams wanting Slack-native recognition and culture building through continuous feedback and appreciation
Worth noting: Karma focuses specifically on recognition and culture rather than comprehensive performance management. The focused approach works for teams wanting to improve feedback culture without requiring extensive performance infrastructure, all backed by real organization capable of sustained support.
8. Bonusly
Bonusly provides peer recognition and continuous feedback platform with emphasis on rewards and appreciation integrated with Slack and Teams.
The platform combines recognition, feedback, and reward mechanisms to encourage frequent appreciation and feedback exchange backed by established company.
What it offers as Fidforward replacement
Bonusly integrates recognition with actual rewards, allowing team members to give both feedback and redeemable points. The tangible reward element provides additional motivation for frequent recognition beyond gamification alone.
The platform tracks recognition patterns to reveal team dynamics, collaboration patterns, and culture health backed by established organization. The analytics help identify both high contributors and potential culture issues.
For organizations wanting recognition and feedback combined with reward mechanisms to encourage participation, Bonusly provides established platform with unique value proposition and organizational backing far exceeding one-person operations.
What you need to know
Best for: Teams wanting continuous recognition and feedback combined with reward mechanisms to encourage participation
Worth noting: Bonusly emphasizes rewards and recognition over comprehensive performance management. The reward integration differentiates from pure feedback platforms but requires budget for reward programs, all backed by real organization capable of sustained platform operation and support.
Why Teams Replace Fidforward
Fidforward addresses a genuine insight: continuous feedback throughout the year produces better performance understanding than annual reviews alone.
Its gamification approach and Slack integration aim to reduce friction in feedback collection by making participation easy and engaging.
However, public reviews and general market commentary often highlight concerns around the platform’s long term direction, pace of development, and alignment with the needs of scaleups and enterprise level organizations.
For companies relying on performance management as critical infrastructure, signals around product evolution, support expectations, and roadmap clarity become especially important.
Teams often replace Fidforward when they need:
Proven platform maturity: with visible product evolution, structured customer support, and signals that the platform is actively maintained and improving over time.
Engineering specific intelligence: going beyond feedback collection to include visibility into actual technical contributions, development patterns, and code level impact. Understanding engineering performance requires more than peer impressions about collaboration or communication.
Comprehensive capabilities: including structured onboarding, responsive support, integration maintenance, and continuous updates that ensure the system scales with organizational needs.
Clear signals of reliability: reassurance that the platform will continue to evolve, remain supported, and integrate smoothly into long term performance processes rather than relying primarily on single channel feedback mechanisms.
These needs favor platforms that combine continuous feedback with deeper performance understanding, sustained product development, and clear customer success practices. Pensero addresses these concerns through continuous visibility into actual engineering work, ongoing product iteration, and a platform designed to support growing organizations that require reliability, context, and long term partnership.
Making the Right Choice
Fidforward brought interesting thinking to continuous feedback through Slack-native gamification addressing timing challenges in performance management. The approach recognizes that making feedback easy and engaging increases participation and provides better performance insights than annual reviews.
Pensero stands out as Fidforward replacement by providing continuous visibility into actual work that makes performance conversations substantive rather than relying solely on feedback collection.
The platform's engineering-specific intelligence, proven customer base like Travelperk and Elfie.co, and experienced team with over 20 years of collective experience provide both better insights and dramatically greater reliability than experimental one-person operations can offer.
Each alternative brings distinct strengths:
Lattice offers comprehensive continuous feedback within proven enterprise performance platform
15Five provides structured weekly check-ins for regular feedback without gamification
Small Improvements focuses on practical continuous feedback and recognition
Matter delivers Slack-native gamified feedback from established company
Leapsome integrates continuous feedback with comprehensive people enablement
Karma emphasizes Slack-based recognition for culture building
Bonusly combines recognition with reward mechanisms to encourage participation
Pensero helps you lead effectively by providing continuous understanding of actual work that makes performance conversations meaningful backed by real team, proven market traction, and engineering-specific capabilities that feedback collection alone cannot match.
Consider starting with Pensero’s free tier. Within a few days, you’ll see something most feedback tools simply can’t give you: clear visibility into actual engineering work. Not opinions. Not reaction prompts. Real output, real patterns, real context.
For teams handling performance, growth, and development, that clarity matters. You need a platform that keeps improving, that listens, that supports your processes rather than forcing you to adjust to its limitations.
Pensero delivers what organizations consistently ask for: a product that evolves, responds quickly, and provides a stable, long term foundation for performance conversations.
When choosing a Fidforward replacement, the question becomes simple:
Which platform gives you more visibility, more confidence, and less friction in your day to day work?
Pensero is built for exactly that.
These are the best Fidforward replacements this year:
Lattice
15Five
Small Improvements
Matter
Leapsome
Karma
Bonusly
Engineering leaders often consider replacing Fidforward when they need more than Slack based gamified feedback collection.
While its continuous feedback approach helps address the timing challenges in performance management, the platform shows limited signs of broader market adoption, which naturally raises questions about its long term roadmap, support expectations, and overall product maturity.
Reviewers frequently highlight concerns about the platform’s evolution pace and its readiness for scaleup and enterprise environments, where reliability and continuity are critical.
Teams evaluating Fidforward replacements typically seek solutions that demonstrate consistent product development, structured customer success processes, and dependable ongoing support.
Scaleups and larger organizations in particular expect regular updates, guided onboarding, responsive assistance, and stability that ensures their performance infrastructure can grow with them.
They look for continuous feedback capabilities backed by a vendor able to deliver sustained improvements and a partnership oriented relationship rather than experimental solutions with uncertain support expectations.
This guide examines eight compelling Fidforward replacements, starting with platforms that provide comprehensive engineering intelligence alongside continuous feedback capabilities.
The Best Fidforward Replacements
1. Pensero
Pensero provides comprehensive engineering intelligence that supports performance management through continuous visibility into actual work rather than relying solely on gamified feedback collection.
Built by a team with over 20 years of average experience in the tech industry, the platform enables meaningful performance conversations through a genuine understanding of technical contributions rather than aggregating peer feedback scores.
What makes Pensero different from Fidforward
While Fidforward focuses primarily on collecting continuous feedback through Slack gamification, Pensero provides continuous visibility into actual engineering work, ensuring that performance conversations are grounded in what people actually build rather than relying únicamente on peer feedback gathered through gamified mechanisms.
Pensero also includes lightweight kudos and peer recognition features, but these act as a complement rather than the core foundation of the platform.
This work based approach offers an objective baseline for performance discussions that naturally complements subjective feedback instead of replacing it.
By understanding real technical contributions throughout the year and layering recognition on top, Pensero enables more accurate, context rich assessments supported by a platform designed for reliability, continuous improvement, and long term organizational partnership.
This view shows what “work-based performance” looks like in practice. It connects contributions to real output, giving managers context that feedback-only tools can’t provide, especially when teams scale.
Key capabilities
"What Happened Yesterday": provides daily visibility into individual technical contributions throughout the year. You recognize good work when it happens through direct observation rather than waiting for feedback requests or gamification prompts, building genuine understanding that makes performance assessments natural.
Body of Work Analysis: assesses actual engineering output over time with understanding of technical complexity and contribution quality. This provides substantive performance insights that feedback collection alone cannot match, showing what engineers accomplished rather than just collecting opinions about their work style.
Executive Summaries: document individual and team accomplishments continuously in plain language. These summaries serve multiple purposes: immediate recognition, stakeholder updates, and performance review documentation reflecting real contributions rather than aggregated feedback scores requiring interpretation.
AI Cycle Analysis: helps you understand how individual engineers adapt to and leverage AI coding tools through actual work pattern analysis, not surveys or feedback requests about AI tool feelings. You see real productivity impact demonstrating learning agility and technical adaptability.
Industry Benchmarks: provide comparative context for individual performance using engineering-specific metrics. This helps distinguish genuine high performers from average contributors using objective technical data rather than subjective feedback aggregation prone to bias.
What you need to know
Best for: Engineering leaders and managers needing continuous work visibility and objective performance insights alongside or instead of feedback mechanisms
Integrations: GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Jira, Linear, GitHub Issues, Slack, Notion, Confluence, Google Calendar, Cursor, Claude Code
Notable customers: Travelperk, Elfie.co, Caravelo
Organizational backing: Experienced team with proven market presence versus one-person operation
Why Pensero works as Fidforward replacement
Fidforward's continuous feedback collection addresses timing challenges in performance management but provides only subjective opinions without objective work understanding. Pensero provides continuous visibility into actual work that makes performance management substantive rather than subjective, backed by proven team and real customers.
You understand technical contributions directly rather than inferring performance from gamified feedback collection, with confidence that platform is backed by real organization capable of sustained development, support, and improvement rather than depending on single individual's availability.
2. Lattice
Lattice represents the established leader in performance management software with comprehensive continuous feedback capabilities serving thousands of organizations globally.
Lattice has substantial market presence, the platform provides mature continuous feedback infrastructure alongside broader performance management capabilities with proven reliability.
What it offers as Fidforward replacement
Lattice built comprehensive continuous feedback features within broader performance platform backed by substantial organization. The system handles ongoing praise, feedback requests, one-on-one meeting notes, and performance conversations integrated with review cycles and goal tracking.
Recent AI features help synthesize feedback and draft performance reviews similar to Fidforward's approach but within proven enterprise platform with extensive customer base, active development team, and reliable support infrastructure.
For organizations wanting continuous feedback from established platform with proven track record rather than one-person experimental operation, Lattice provides mature capabilities with reliability confidence that critical HR infrastructure requires.
What you need to know
Best for: Organizations wanting comprehensive continuous feedback within proven performance management platform with enterprise maturity
Integrations: Slack, Teams, Gmail, Google Calendar, major HRIS systems, extensive integration marketplace
Notable customers: Thousands of organizations globally across all industries
Worth noting: Lattice provides continuous feedback within comprehensive performance infrastructure. The platform excels at HR processes without engineering-specific technical contribution analysis but offers proven reliability and ongoing development that one-person operations cannot match.
3. 15Five
15Five focuses specifically on continuous performance management through weekly check-ins that naturally incorporate ongoing feedback alongside performance dialogue.
The platform's weekly check-in rhythm creates regular feedback opportunities without requiring gamification mechanics to drive engagement, backed by established company with dedicated team.
What makes it different from Fidforward
15Five's weekly check-in approach integrates feedback collection naturally within regular performance conversations rather than depending on gamification to encourage participation. The structured rhythm provides continuous feedback without relying on game mechanics that may feel gimmicky or lose effectiveness over time.
The platform combines check-ins with peer recognition, one-on-one meeting agendas, and review cycles backed by established organization. The weekly structure ensures regular feedback flow supporting meaningful performance conversations.
For teams wanting structured continuous feedback without gamification dependency or one-person operation risk, 15Five provides established approach with proven adoption across thousands of organizations and real organizational backing.
What you need to know
Best for: Organizations wanting continuous feedback through structured weekly check-ins with proven platform maturity
Worth noting: 15Five emphasizes weekly dialogue and manager engagement over gamified feedback collection. The established approach works for teams wanting regular feedback without experimental mechanics or platform viability concerns that one-person operations present.
4. Small Improvements
Small Improvements provides straightforward continuous feedback alongside performance management core capabilities with focus on praise recognition and 360-degree feedback.
The platform handles ongoing feedback, praise, and recognition within intuitive interface designed for practical adoption without overwhelming complexity or experimental approaches.
What it offers as Fidforward replacement
Small Improvements focuses on making continuous feedback practical through simple, intuitive features backed by established company. The praise and recognition capabilities encourage positive feedback naturally without requiring gamification mechanics that may feel forced.
The 360-degree feedback capabilities integrate with continuous feedback collection, providing comprehensive performance input from multiple sources throughout the year rather than just annual review cycles, all backed by proven platform with real organizational support.
For organizations wanting practical continuous feedback without experimental approaches, gamification dependency, or one-person operation risk, Small Improvements provides established capabilities with reliability confidence.
What you need to know
Best for: Teams wanting straightforward continuous feedback and recognition within practical performance management platform
Worth noting: Small Improvements provides solid continuous feedback capabilities without attempting gamification or experimental mechanics. The practical approach offers reliability over innovation with organizational backing that one-person operations cannot provide.
5. Matter
Matter specializes in peer recognition and continuous feedback via Slack with focus on making feedback enjoyable and frequent through gamification.
The platform provides Slack-native feedback and recognition similar to Fidforward's approach but backed by established company with dedicated team, active customer base, and proven market presence.
What makes it different from Fidforward
Matter emphasizes making feedback fun through kudos, recognition, and rewards integrated directly in Slack similar to Fidforward's gamification philosophy. The gamification approach aims to increase feedback frequency through positive reinforcement rather than obligation.
The platform integrates with performance review cycles, allowing accumulated feedback and recognition to inform formal assessments backed by established organization capable of sustained platform development and support.
For teams specifically wanting Slack-based continuous feedback with gamification from established company rather than one-person operation with minimal market validation, Matter provides similar approach with dramatically better viability signals and organizational backing.
What you need to know
Best for: Teams wanting Slack-native continuous feedback and recognition with gamification from established platform
Market validation: Established customer base versus minimal traction
Worth noting: Matter competes directly with Fidforward's Slack-based gamified approach but with substantially better organizational backing, market validation, and platform maturity. The platform focuses specifically on recognition and feedback rather than comprehensive performance management.
6. Leapsome
Leapsome offers comprehensive performance management with strong continuous feedback capabilities integrated with learning, development, and engagement features.
The platform provides mature continuous feedback within holistic people enablement platform backed by substantial organization.
How Leapsome differs from Fidforward
Leapsome integrates continuous feedback with performance reviews, goal tracking, one on one meeting support, and learning modules, offering a far broader people development platform than Fidforward’s Slack based feedback model.
Its approach recognizes that continuous feedback is only one component of effective performance management and works best when combined with structured development workflows, goal alignment, and manager enablement.
The platform’s AI capabilities help synthesize feedback into actionable insights similar to Fidforward’s philosophy, but they sit within a comprehensive, multi layer system supported by an established product organization with ongoing development, customer success processes, and proven adoption across diverse companies.
For organizations looking for continuous feedback embedded into a holistic performance and development ecosystem rather than a single channel feedback tool, Leapsome provides a mature, full spectrum solution.
Si quieres, puedo aplicar esta misma lógica a los apartados de Matter, Karma y Bonusly para mantener coherencia total en el post.
What you need to know
Best for: Organizations wanting continuous feedback integrated with comprehensive performance management and learning platform
Integrations: Slack, Teams, Google Calendar, major HRIS systems
Worth noting: Leapsome provides continuous feedback within broader performance and development infrastructure backed by substantial organization. The comprehensive approach offers more capability than focused feedback tools but with proven organizational maturity that one-person operations cannot match.
7. Karma
Karma provides Slack-based recognition and feedback platform with emphasis on team culture and appreciation.
The platform focuses specifically on making recognition and feedback easy within Slack similar to Fidforward's Slack-native approach but with dedicated focus on culture building and established company backing.
What makes it different from Fidforward
Karma emphasizes building positive team culture through easy recognition and feedback mechanisms in Slack. The platform makes giving kudos and appreciation simple, encouraging frequent positive feedback naturally without complex gamification.
The leaderboards and analytics provide visibility into recognition patterns and team culture health backed by established platform. The gamification elements aim to make feedback and recognition engaging rather than obligatory.
For teams wanting Slack-native recognition and feedback focused specifically on culture building, Karma provides established platform with clear focus and organizational backing that one-person operations cannot offer.
What you need to know
Best for: Teams wanting Slack-native recognition and culture building through continuous feedback and appreciation
Worth noting: Karma focuses specifically on recognition and culture rather than comprehensive performance management. The focused approach works for teams wanting to improve feedback culture without requiring extensive performance infrastructure, all backed by real organization capable of sustained support.
8. Bonusly
Bonusly provides peer recognition and continuous feedback platform with emphasis on rewards and appreciation integrated with Slack and Teams.
The platform combines recognition, feedback, and reward mechanisms to encourage frequent appreciation and feedback exchange backed by established company.
What it offers as Fidforward replacement
Bonusly integrates recognition with actual rewards, allowing team members to give both feedback and redeemable points. The tangible reward element provides additional motivation for frequent recognition beyond gamification alone.
The platform tracks recognition patterns to reveal team dynamics, collaboration patterns, and culture health backed by established organization. The analytics help identify both high contributors and potential culture issues.
For organizations wanting recognition and feedback combined with reward mechanisms to encourage participation, Bonusly provides established platform with unique value proposition and organizational backing far exceeding one-person operations.
What you need to know
Best for: Teams wanting continuous recognition and feedback combined with reward mechanisms to encourage participation
Worth noting: Bonusly emphasizes rewards and recognition over comprehensive performance management. The reward integration differentiates from pure feedback platforms but requires budget for reward programs, all backed by real organization capable of sustained platform operation and support.
Why Teams Replace Fidforward
Fidforward addresses a genuine insight: continuous feedback throughout the year produces better performance understanding than annual reviews alone.
Its gamification approach and Slack integration aim to reduce friction in feedback collection by making participation easy and engaging.
However, public reviews and general market commentary often highlight concerns around the platform’s long term direction, pace of development, and alignment with the needs of scaleups and enterprise level organizations.
For companies relying on performance management as critical infrastructure, signals around product evolution, support expectations, and roadmap clarity become especially important.
Teams often replace Fidforward when they need:
Proven platform maturity: with visible product evolution, structured customer support, and signals that the platform is actively maintained and improving over time.
Engineering specific intelligence: going beyond feedback collection to include visibility into actual technical contributions, development patterns, and code level impact. Understanding engineering performance requires more than peer impressions about collaboration or communication.
Comprehensive capabilities: including structured onboarding, responsive support, integration maintenance, and continuous updates that ensure the system scales with organizational needs.
Clear signals of reliability: reassurance that the platform will continue to evolve, remain supported, and integrate smoothly into long term performance processes rather than relying primarily on single channel feedback mechanisms.
These needs favor platforms that combine continuous feedback with deeper performance understanding, sustained product development, and clear customer success practices. Pensero addresses these concerns through continuous visibility into actual engineering work, ongoing product iteration, and a platform designed to support growing organizations that require reliability, context, and long term partnership.
Making the Right Choice
Fidforward brought interesting thinking to continuous feedback through Slack-native gamification addressing timing challenges in performance management. The approach recognizes that making feedback easy and engaging increases participation and provides better performance insights than annual reviews.
Pensero stands out as Fidforward replacement by providing continuous visibility into actual work that makes performance conversations substantive rather than relying solely on feedback collection.
The platform's engineering-specific intelligence, proven customer base like Travelperk and Elfie.co, and experienced team with over 20 years of collective experience provide both better insights and dramatically greater reliability than experimental one-person operations can offer.
Each alternative brings distinct strengths:
Lattice offers comprehensive continuous feedback within proven enterprise performance platform
15Five provides structured weekly check-ins for regular feedback without gamification
Small Improvements focuses on practical continuous feedback and recognition
Matter delivers Slack-native gamified feedback from established company
Leapsome integrates continuous feedback with comprehensive people enablement
Karma emphasizes Slack-based recognition for culture building
Bonusly combines recognition with reward mechanisms to encourage participation
Pensero helps you lead effectively by providing continuous understanding of actual work that makes performance conversations meaningful backed by real team, proven market traction, and engineering-specific capabilities that feedback collection alone cannot match.
Consider starting with Pensero’s free tier. Within a few days, you’ll see something most feedback tools simply can’t give you: clear visibility into actual engineering work. Not opinions. Not reaction prompts. Real output, real patterns, real context.
For teams handling performance, growth, and development, that clarity matters. You need a platform that keeps improving, that listens, that supports your processes rather than forcing you to adjust to its limitations.
Pensero delivers what organizations consistently ask for: a product that evolves, responds quickly, and provides a stable, long term foundation for performance conversations.
When choosing a Fidforward replacement, the question becomes simple:
Which platform gives you more visibility, more confidence, and less friction in your day to day work?
Pensero is built for exactly that.
These are the best Fidforward replacements this year:
Lattice
15Five
Small Improvements
Matter
Leapsome
Karma
Bonusly
Engineering leaders often consider replacing Fidforward when they need more than Slack based gamified feedback collection.
While its continuous feedback approach helps address the timing challenges in performance management, the platform shows limited signs of broader market adoption, which naturally raises questions about its long term roadmap, support expectations, and overall product maturity.
Reviewers frequently highlight concerns about the platform’s evolution pace and its readiness for scaleup and enterprise environments, where reliability and continuity are critical.
Teams evaluating Fidforward replacements typically seek solutions that demonstrate consistent product development, structured customer success processes, and dependable ongoing support.
Scaleups and larger organizations in particular expect regular updates, guided onboarding, responsive assistance, and stability that ensures their performance infrastructure can grow with them.
They look for continuous feedback capabilities backed by a vendor able to deliver sustained improvements and a partnership oriented relationship rather than experimental solutions with uncertain support expectations.
This guide examines eight compelling Fidforward replacements, starting with platforms that provide comprehensive engineering intelligence alongside continuous feedback capabilities.
The Best Fidforward Replacements
1. Pensero
Pensero provides comprehensive engineering intelligence that supports performance management through continuous visibility into actual work rather than relying solely on gamified feedback collection.
Built by a team with over 20 years of average experience in the tech industry, the platform enables meaningful performance conversations through a genuine understanding of technical contributions rather than aggregating peer feedback scores.
What makes Pensero different from Fidforward
While Fidforward focuses primarily on collecting continuous feedback through Slack gamification, Pensero provides continuous visibility into actual engineering work, ensuring that performance conversations are grounded in what people actually build rather than relying únicamente on peer feedback gathered through gamified mechanisms.
Pensero also includes lightweight kudos and peer recognition features, but these act as a complement rather than the core foundation of the platform.
This work based approach offers an objective baseline for performance discussions that naturally complements subjective feedback instead of replacing it.
By understanding real technical contributions throughout the year and layering recognition on top, Pensero enables more accurate, context rich assessments supported by a platform designed for reliability, continuous improvement, and long term organizational partnership.
This view shows what “work-based performance” looks like in practice. It connects contributions to real output, giving managers context that feedback-only tools can’t provide, especially when teams scale.
Key capabilities
"What Happened Yesterday": provides daily visibility into individual technical contributions throughout the year. You recognize good work when it happens through direct observation rather than waiting for feedback requests or gamification prompts, building genuine understanding that makes performance assessments natural.
Body of Work Analysis: assesses actual engineering output over time with understanding of technical complexity and contribution quality. This provides substantive performance insights that feedback collection alone cannot match, showing what engineers accomplished rather than just collecting opinions about their work style.
Executive Summaries: document individual and team accomplishments continuously in plain language. These summaries serve multiple purposes: immediate recognition, stakeholder updates, and performance review documentation reflecting real contributions rather than aggregated feedback scores requiring interpretation.
AI Cycle Analysis: helps you understand how individual engineers adapt to and leverage AI coding tools through actual work pattern analysis, not surveys or feedback requests about AI tool feelings. You see real productivity impact demonstrating learning agility and technical adaptability.
Industry Benchmarks: provide comparative context for individual performance using engineering-specific metrics. This helps distinguish genuine high performers from average contributors using objective technical data rather than subjective feedback aggregation prone to bias.
What you need to know
Best for: Engineering leaders and managers needing continuous work visibility and objective performance insights alongside or instead of feedback mechanisms
Integrations: GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Jira, Linear, GitHub Issues, Slack, Notion, Confluence, Google Calendar, Cursor, Claude Code
Notable customers: Travelperk, Elfie.co, Caravelo
Organizational backing: Experienced team with proven market presence versus one-person operation
Why Pensero works as Fidforward replacement
Fidforward's continuous feedback collection addresses timing challenges in performance management but provides only subjective opinions without objective work understanding. Pensero provides continuous visibility into actual work that makes performance management substantive rather than subjective, backed by proven team and real customers.
You understand technical contributions directly rather than inferring performance from gamified feedback collection, with confidence that platform is backed by real organization capable of sustained development, support, and improvement rather than depending on single individual's availability.
2. Lattice
Lattice represents the established leader in performance management software with comprehensive continuous feedback capabilities serving thousands of organizations globally.
Lattice has substantial market presence, the platform provides mature continuous feedback infrastructure alongside broader performance management capabilities with proven reliability.
What it offers as Fidforward replacement
Lattice built comprehensive continuous feedback features within broader performance platform backed by substantial organization. The system handles ongoing praise, feedback requests, one-on-one meeting notes, and performance conversations integrated with review cycles and goal tracking.
Recent AI features help synthesize feedback and draft performance reviews similar to Fidforward's approach but within proven enterprise platform with extensive customer base, active development team, and reliable support infrastructure.
For organizations wanting continuous feedback from established platform with proven track record rather than one-person experimental operation, Lattice provides mature capabilities with reliability confidence that critical HR infrastructure requires.
What you need to know
Best for: Organizations wanting comprehensive continuous feedback within proven performance management platform with enterprise maturity
Integrations: Slack, Teams, Gmail, Google Calendar, major HRIS systems, extensive integration marketplace
Notable customers: Thousands of organizations globally across all industries
Worth noting: Lattice provides continuous feedback within comprehensive performance infrastructure. The platform excels at HR processes without engineering-specific technical contribution analysis but offers proven reliability and ongoing development that one-person operations cannot match.
3. 15Five
15Five focuses specifically on continuous performance management through weekly check-ins that naturally incorporate ongoing feedback alongside performance dialogue.
The platform's weekly check-in rhythm creates regular feedback opportunities without requiring gamification mechanics to drive engagement, backed by established company with dedicated team.
What makes it different from Fidforward
15Five's weekly check-in approach integrates feedback collection naturally within regular performance conversations rather than depending on gamification to encourage participation. The structured rhythm provides continuous feedback without relying on game mechanics that may feel gimmicky or lose effectiveness over time.
The platform combines check-ins with peer recognition, one-on-one meeting agendas, and review cycles backed by established organization. The weekly structure ensures regular feedback flow supporting meaningful performance conversations.
For teams wanting structured continuous feedback without gamification dependency or one-person operation risk, 15Five provides established approach with proven adoption across thousands of organizations and real organizational backing.
What you need to know
Best for: Organizations wanting continuous feedback through structured weekly check-ins with proven platform maturity
Worth noting: 15Five emphasizes weekly dialogue and manager engagement over gamified feedback collection. The established approach works for teams wanting regular feedback without experimental mechanics or platform viability concerns that one-person operations present.
4. Small Improvements
Small Improvements provides straightforward continuous feedback alongside performance management core capabilities with focus on praise recognition and 360-degree feedback.
The platform handles ongoing feedback, praise, and recognition within intuitive interface designed for practical adoption without overwhelming complexity or experimental approaches.
What it offers as Fidforward replacement
Small Improvements focuses on making continuous feedback practical through simple, intuitive features backed by established company. The praise and recognition capabilities encourage positive feedback naturally without requiring gamification mechanics that may feel forced.
The 360-degree feedback capabilities integrate with continuous feedback collection, providing comprehensive performance input from multiple sources throughout the year rather than just annual review cycles, all backed by proven platform with real organizational support.
For organizations wanting practical continuous feedback without experimental approaches, gamification dependency, or one-person operation risk, Small Improvements provides established capabilities with reliability confidence.
What you need to know
Best for: Teams wanting straightforward continuous feedback and recognition within practical performance management platform
Worth noting: Small Improvements provides solid continuous feedback capabilities without attempting gamification or experimental mechanics. The practical approach offers reliability over innovation with organizational backing that one-person operations cannot provide.
5. Matter
Matter specializes in peer recognition and continuous feedback via Slack with focus on making feedback enjoyable and frequent through gamification.
The platform provides Slack-native feedback and recognition similar to Fidforward's approach but backed by established company with dedicated team, active customer base, and proven market presence.
What makes it different from Fidforward
Matter emphasizes making feedback fun through kudos, recognition, and rewards integrated directly in Slack similar to Fidforward's gamification philosophy. The gamification approach aims to increase feedback frequency through positive reinforcement rather than obligation.
The platform integrates with performance review cycles, allowing accumulated feedback and recognition to inform formal assessments backed by established organization capable of sustained platform development and support.
For teams specifically wanting Slack-based continuous feedback with gamification from established company rather than one-person operation with minimal market validation, Matter provides similar approach with dramatically better viability signals and organizational backing.
What you need to know
Best for: Teams wanting Slack-native continuous feedback and recognition with gamification from established platform
Market validation: Established customer base versus minimal traction
Worth noting: Matter competes directly with Fidforward's Slack-based gamified approach but with substantially better organizational backing, market validation, and platform maturity. The platform focuses specifically on recognition and feedback rather than comprehensive performance management.
6. Leapsome
Leapsome offers comprehensive performance management with strong continuous feedback capabilities integrated with learning, development, and engagement features.
The platform provides mature continuous feedback within holistic people enablement platform backed by substantial organization.
How Leapsome differs from Fidforward
Leapsome integrates continuous feedback with performance reviews, goal tracking, one on one meeting support, and learning modules, offering a far broader people development platform than Fidforward’s Slack based feedback model.
Its approach recognizes that continuous feedback is only one component of effective performance management and works best when combined with structured development workflows, goal alignment, and manager enablement.
The platform’s AI capabilities help synthesize feedback into actionable insights similar to Fidforward’s philosophy, but they sit within a comprehensive, multi layer system supported by an established product organization with ongoing development, customer success processes, and proven adoption across diverse companies.
For organizations looking for continuous feedback embedded into a holistic performance and development ecosystem rather than a single channel feedback tool, Leapsome provides a mature, full spectrum solution.
Si quieres, puedo aplicar esta misma lógica a los apartados de Matter, Karma y Bonusly para mantener coherencia total en el post.
What you need to know
Best for: Organizations wanting continuous feedback integrated with comprehensive performance management and learning platform
Integrations: Slack, Teams, Google Calendar, major HRIS systems
Worth noting: Leapsome provides continuous feedback within broader performance and development infrastructure backed by substantial organization. The comprehensive approach offers more capability than focused feedback tools but with proven organizational maturity that one-person operations cannot match.
7. Karma
Karma provides Slack-based recognition and feedback platform with emphasis on team culture and appreciation.
The platform focuses specifically on making recognition and feedback easy within Slack similar to Fidforward's Slack-native approach but with dedicated focus on culture building and established company backing.
What makes it different from Fidforward
Karma emphasizes building positive team culture through easy recognition and feedback mechanisms in Slack. The platform makes giving kudos and appreciation simple, encouraging frequent positive feedback naturally without complex gamification.
The leaderboards and analytics provide visibility into recognition patterns and team culture health backed by established platform. The gamification elements aim to make feedback and recognition engaging rather than obligatory.
For teams wanting Slack-native recognition and feedback focused specifically on culture building, Karma provides established platform with clear focus and organizational backing that one-person operations cannot offer.
What you need to know
Best for: Teams wanting Slack-native recognition and culture building through continuous feedback and appreciation
Worth noting: Karma focuses specifically on recognition and culture rather than comprehensive performance management. The focused approach works for teams wanting to improve feedback culture without requiring extensive performance infrastructure, all backed by real organization capable of sustained support.
8. Bonusly
Bonusly provides peer recognition and continuous feedback platform with emphasis on rewards and appreciation integrated with Slack and Teams.
The platform combines recognition, feedback, and reward mechanisms to encourage frequent appreciation and feedback exchange backed by established company.
What it offers as Fidforward replacement
Bonusly integrates recognition with actual rewards, allowing team members to give both feedback and redeemable points. The tangible reward element provides additional motivation for frequent recognition beyond gamification alone.
The platform tracks recognition patterns to reveal team dynamics, collaboration patterns, and culture health backed by established organization. The analytics help identify both high contributors and potential culture issues.
For organizations wanting recognition and feedback combined with reward mechanisms to encourage participation, Bonusly provides established platform with unique value proposition and organizational backing far exceeding one-person operations.
What you need to know
Best for: Teams wanting continuous recognition and feedback combined with reward mechanisms to encourage participation
Worth noting: Bonusly emphasizes rewards and recognition over comprehensive performance management. The reward integration differentiates from pure feedback platforms but requires budget for reward programs, all backed by real organization capable of sustained platform operation and support.
Why Teams Replace Fidforward
Fidforward addresses a genuine insight: continuous feedback throughout the year produces better performance understanding than annual reviews alone.
Its gamification approach and Slack integration aim to reduce friction in feedback collection by making participation easy and engaging.
However, public reviews and general market commentary often highlight concerns around the platform’s long term direction, pace of development, and alignment with the needs of scaleups and enterprise level organizations.
For companies relying on performance management as critical infrastructure, signals around product evolution, support expectations, and roadmap clarity become especially important.
Teams often replace Fidforward when they need:
Proven platform maturity: with visible product evolution, structured customer support, and signals that the platform is actively maintained and improving over time.
Engineering specific intelligence: going beyond feedback collection to include visibility into actual technical contributions, development patterns, and code level impact. Understanding engineering performance requires more than peer impressions about collaboration or communication.
Comprehensive capabilities: including structured onboarding, responsive support, integration maintenance, and continuous updates that ensure the system scales with organizational needs.
Clear signals of reliability: reassurance that the platform will continue to evolve, remain supported, and integrate smoothly into long term performance processes rather than relying primarily on single channel feedback mechanisms.
These needs favor platforms that combine continuous feedback with deeper performance understanding, sustained product development, and clear customer success practices. Pensero addresses these concerns through continuous visibility into actual engineering work, ongoing product iteration, and a platform designed to support growing organizations that require reliability, context, and long term partnership.
Making the Right Choice
Fidforward brought interesting thinking to continuous feedback through Slack-native gamification addressing timing challenges in performance management. The approach recognizes that making feedback easy and engaging increases participation and provides better performance insights than annual reviews.
Pensero stands out as Fidforward replacement by providing continuous visibility into actual work that makes performance conversations substantive rather than relying solely on feedback collection.
The platform's engineering-specific intelligence, proven customer base like Travelperk and Elfie.co, and experienced team with over 20 years of collective experience provide both better insights and dramatically greater reliability than experimental one-person operations can offer.
Each alternative brings distinct strengths:
Lattice offers comprehensive continuous feedback within proven enterprise performance platform
15Five provides structured weekly check-ins for regular feedback without gamification
Small Improvements focuses on practical continuous feedback and recognition
Matter delivers Slack-native gamified feedback from established company
Leapsome integrates continuous feedback with comprehensive people enablement
Karma emphasizes Slack-based recognition for culture building
Bonusly combines recognition with reward mechanisms to encourage participation
Pensero helps you lead effectively by providing continuous understanding of actual work that makes performance conversations meaningful backed by real team, proven market traction, and engineering-specific capabilities that feedback collection alone cannot match.
Consider starting with Pensero’s free tier. Within a few days, you’ll see something most feedback tools simply can’t give you: clear visibility into actual engineering work. Not opinions. Not reaction prompts. Real output, real patterns, real context.
For teams handling performance, growth, and development, that clarity matters. You need a platform that keeps improving, that listens, that supports your processes rather than forcing you to adjust to its limitations.
Pensero delivers what organizations consistently ask for: a product that evolves, responds quickly, and provides a stable, long term foundation for performance conversations.
When choosing a Fidforward replacement, the question becomes simple:
Which platform gives you more visibility, more confidence, and less friction in your day to day work?
Pensero is built for exactly that.
