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Employee Engagement · head to head

Empuls vs Loop & Tie

Empuls logo

Empuls

Employee Engagement

Employee engagement platform for connection and recognition

From
$1/month per employee
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Loop & Tie logo

Loop & Tie

Employee Engagement

Choice-based gifting on a flat annual subscription with a marketplace weighted toward small and independent makers

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Loop & Tie has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Empuls limited customization options for organizations with unique workflows; Loop & Tie the tier structure gates users tightly, so needing a fourth user pushes an organisation from five hundred to five thousand dollars a year, a tenfold platform cost increase for one seat.
  • They diverge on capability: Empuls covers Social intranet, Loop & Tie covers Choice-based collections.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Empuls and Loop & Tie actually diverge.

Attributes where Empuls and Loop & Tie differ
AttributeEmpulsLoop & Tie
Starting price$1/month per employeeFree
Pricing modelUnknownPer year subscription plus gift spend
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, Mobile, SlackWeb
Founded2018Unknown

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Employee Engagement).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Empuls

  • Social intranet
  • Peer recognition
  • Rewards marketplace
  • Surveys
  • Celebrations
  • Analytics
  • Mobile app
  • Gamification

Only in Loop & Tie

  • Choice-based collections
  • Curated marketplace
  • Flat rate or free shipping
  • Redemption analytics
  • Post-redemption scheduling
  • Branded merchandise and swag
  • Salesforce and HRIS integrations
  • Global warehousing

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Empuls

  • Employee recognitionnot Loop & Tie
  • Team engagementnot Loop & Tie
  • Pulse surveysnot Loop & Tie
  • Rewards programsnot Loop & Tie

Loop & Tie

  • A marketing team that wants gifting spend to go to small and independent makers rather than mass-produced branded drinkwarenot Empuls
  • A customer success team sending moderate volumes of thank you gifts and needing a meeting booked immediately after redemptionnot Empuls
  • A property management company sending resident perks where a curated local-feeling catalogue matters more than catalogue sizenot Empuls
  • A small business that wants to run gifting properly on a published five hundred dollar a year subscription rather than negotiating an enterprise contractnot Empuls

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Empuls

  • Limited customization options for organizations with unique workflows
  • Integration with third-party HR and payroll systems is restricted, often requiring manual workarounds
  • Mobile app is less stable and slower than desktop version with reported bugs
  • Limited options to customize user interface for brand alignment
  • Platform can feel overwhelming due to large number of features

Loop & Tie

  • The tier structure gates users tightly, so needing a fourth user pushes an organisation from five hundred to five thousand dollars a year, a tenfold platform cost increase for one seat.
  • The curated marketplace is deliberately smaller than mass catalogues, so recipients who want a specific well known product will not find it and some will treat the choice as limited.
  • Global warehousing and international fulfilment only appear on the Premium tier, so any organisation gifting outside its home market is effectively on the five thousand dollar plan whatever its volume.
  • Native Salesforce and HRIS integration is a Premium feature or an Essentials add-on, so the automation that makes gifting scalable is not in the price most buyers first see.
  • Free shipping starts at Essentials, meaning free plan users pay five dollars per gift in shipping, which on any real volume is more than the Essentials subscription would have cost.

Pricing, plan by plan

Empuls

$1/month per employee
  • Reward & Recognize$3/month per employee
    • Recognition badges
    • Reward catalog
    • Points management
  • Surveys & Feedback$3/month per employee
    • Engagement surveys
    • Pulse surveys
    • Analytics
  • Perks & Benefits$2/month per employee
    • Perks catalog
    • Benefits management
  • Social Intranet$1/month per employee
    • Internal communications
    • Announcements
    • Employee directory

Loop & Tie

Free
  • FreeFree
    • One user
    • Full marketplace access
    • Send gifts by email
  • Essentials$500/year
    • Three users and three teams
    • Custom gift collections
    • Free shipping
  • Premium$5000/year
    • Unlimited users and five teams
    • Gift cards, print on demand and branded merchandise
    • Global warehousing and fulfilment
  • Build Your Own$undefined/year
    • Custom team structures and permissions
    • Exclusive inventory or private-label collections
    • Custom logistics and compliance-driven fulfilment

Which should you pick?

Choose Empuls if

  • You need social intranet.
  • You work on Web, Mobile, Slack.
  • You also want peer recognition.
Empuls review

Choose Loop & Tie if

  • You need choice-based collections.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want curated marketplace.
Loop & Tie review

Questions people ask

Is Empuls or Loop & Tie better?
Neither clearly leads. Empuls starts at $1/month per employee and Loop & Tie at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Empuls or Loop & Tie?
Loop & Tie has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $1/month per employee for Empuls and Free for Loop & Tie.
Does Empuls or Loop & Tie run on more platforms?
Empuls runs on Web, Mobile, Slack. Loop & Tie runs on Web.
Can I use Loop & Tie for free?
Yes. Loop & Tie has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Empuls starts at $1/month per employee.
What is Empuls best used for?
Empuls is most often used for employee recognition, team engagement, pulse surveys, rewards programs. Of those, employee recognition and team engagement are not what Loop & Tie is typically brought in for.
What can Empuls do that Loop & Tie cannot?
Empuls covers Social intranet, Peer recognition, Rewards marketplace, Surveys. Loop & Tie covers Choice-based collections, Curated marketplace, Flat rate or free shipping, Redemption analytics.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Empuls: What are the main features of Empuls?

Empuls is an AI-led employee engagement platform combining social intranet, recognition and rewards, surveys and feedback, employee gifting, and perks and benefits—all in one platform built on four pillars: communication, alignment, empowerment, and motivation.

Source
Loop & Tie: How much does the platform cost?

Free for one user, five hundred dollars a year for Essentials with three users, five thousand dollars a year for Premium with unlimited users, plus a quoted enterprise tier. Gift spend is separate.

Empuls: How much does Empuls cost?

Empuls pricing is module-based: Reward & Recognize at $3 per employee/month, Surveys at $3 per employee/month, Perks & Benefits at $2 per employee/month, Social Intranet & Employee Communication at $1 per employee/month, plus Employee Gifting & Service Rewards with no platform fees.

Source
Loop & Tie: What is different about the catalogue?

It is curated toward small, independent, sustainable and diverse-owned brands rather than mass market products, which is the usual reason buyers choose it over larger competitors.

Empuls: Does Empuls integrate with Slack?

Yes, Empuls integrates with Slack to enable peer recognition, badge sending, polls, surveys, and achievement celebrations directly within Slack without app switching, with automatic social notifications to the channel.

Source
Loop & Tie: Do recipients choose their gift?

Yes, the sender sets a collection and price band and the recipient picks one item.

Empuls: Can I use Empuls APIs to customize integrations?

Yes, Empuls provides APIs for sending appreciations and gifts, redeeming reward points, accessing reports (awards and core values), and embedding employee engagement features into other work tools via API and SDK.

Source
Loop & Tie: Can I gift internationally on the cheaper plans?

Not properly. Global warehousing and fulfilment are Premium features.

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