Is Kudos or Zeplin better?

Neither clearly leads. Kudos starts at $5/month and Zeplin at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Kudos or Zeplin?

Zeplin has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $5/month for Kudos and Free for Zeplin.

Does Kudos or Zeplin run on more platforms?

Kudos runs on Web, Ios, Android, Api. Zeplin runs on Web, Desktop, Mobile.

Can I use Zeplin for free?

Yes. Zeplin has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Kudos starts at $5/month.

What is Kudos best used for?

Kudos is most often used for employee recognition, culture building, employee engagement, retention improvement. Of those, employee recognition and culture building are not what Zeplin is typically brought in for.

What can Kudos do that Zeplin cannot?

Kudos covers Peer-to-peer recognition, Manager recognition, Social recognition wall, Points & rewards. Zeplin covers Design specs, Asset export, Code snippets, Design tokens. Both handle Slack, SOC2, GDPR.

HR & Recruiting · head to head

Kudos vs Zeplin

Kudos

HR & Recruiting

Employee recognition that drives performance

From: $5/month
Rated: -

Full review Website

Zeplin

Design Tools

Design handoff and developer collaboration

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Only Zeplin has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
Each has a real cost: Kudos kudos publishes no price for any of its three tiers (Basic, Plus, Enterprise); the entire plans page gates every tier behind "Request a Demo" or "Request a Trial" with only a discount for not-for-profit organizations over 100 employees mentioned, no figures given (archived plans page, 22 February 2021); Zeplin the free plan is limited to 1 project and 100 screens and works only in a personal workspace
They diverge on capability: Kudos covers Peer-to-peer recognition, Zeplin covers Design specs.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Kudos and Zeplin actually diverge.

Attributes where Kudos and Zeplin differ
Attribute	Kudos	Zeplin
Starting price	$5/month	Free
Free tier	No	Yes
Platforms	Web, Ios, Android, Api	Web, Desktop, Mobile
Category	HR & Recruiting	Design Tools
Founded	2010	2014

Identical on both: pricing model (subscription), user rating (Not yet rated).

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 Kudos

Peer-to-peer recognition
Manager recognition
Social recognition wall
Points & rewards
Awards & nominations
Anniversary celebrations
Analytics dashboard
Company values alignment

Only in Zeplin

Design specs
Asset export
Code snippets
Design tokens
Comments
Version control
Handoff workflow
Accessibility checks

Both cover

Slack
SOC2
GDPR

What people use each for

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

Kudos

Employee recognitionnot Zeplin
Culture buildingnot Zeplin
Employee engagementnot Zeplin
Retention improvementnot Zeplin
Values reinforcementnot Zeplin

Zeplin

Handing off design specs from Figma or Sketch to developersnot Kudos
Sharing screens, assets and style guides with an engineering teamnot Kudos
Reviewing and commenting on design versionsnot Kudos

Where each one falls short

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

Kudos

Kudos publishes no price for any of its three tiers (Basic, Plus, Enterprise); the entire plans page gates every tier behind "Request a Demo" or "Request a Trial" with only a discount for not-for-profit organizations over 100 employees mentioned, no figures given (archived plans page, 22 February 2021)

Zeplin

The free plan is limited to 1 project and 100 screens and works only in a personal workspace
Free plan AI reviews are capped at 3 per week
Role based permissions require the Advanced plan or higher
Single sign on, multi factor authentication, activity logs and invoiced billing are Enterprise only
Priority 24 hour support is Enterprise only
Basic plan caps screens at 1,000 per project and is priced per project rather than per seat
Enterprise pricing is by quote with no published rate

Pricing, plan by plan

Kudos

$5/month

Plus$5/month
- Peer recognition
- Social recognition wall
- Points system
Enterprise$undefined/month
- Everything in Plus
- Awards & nominations
- Advanced analytics

Zeplin

Free

FreeFree
- 1 project
- 1 workspace
- Basic specs
Starter$19/month
- Unlimited projects
- Multiple workspaces
- Advanced specs
Professional$49/month
- Everything in Starter
- Team collaboration
- Admin controls

Which should you pick?

Choose Kudos if

You need peer-to-peer recognition.
You work on Web, Ios, Android, Api.
You also want manager recognition.

Kudos review

Choose Zeplin if

You need design specs.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Web, Desktop, Mobile.
You also want asset export.

Zeplin review

Questions people ask

Is Kudos or Zeplin better?: Neither clearly leads. Kudos starts at $5/month and Zeplin at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Kudos or Zeplin?: Zeplin has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $5/month for Kudos and Free for Zeplin.
Does Kudos or Zeplin run on more platforms?: Kudos runs on Web, Ios, Android, Api. Zeplin runs on Web, Desktop, Mobile.
Can I use Zeplin for free?: Yes. Zeplin has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Kudos starts at $5/month.
What is Kudos best used for?: Kudos is most often used for employee recognition, culture building, employee engagement, retention improvement. Of those, employee recognition and culture building are not what Zeplin is typically brought in for.
What can Kudos do that Zeplin cannot?: Kudos covers Peer-to-peer recognition, Manager recognition, Social recognition wall, Points & rewards. Zeplin covers Design specs, Asset export, Code snippets, Design tokens. Both handle Slack, SOC2, GDPR.

Kudos vs Zeplin

Kudos

Zeplin

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Kudos

Only in Zeplin

Both cover

What people use each for

Kudos

Zeplin

Where each one falls short

Kudos

Zeplin

Pricing, plan by plan

Kudos

Zeplin

Which should you pick?

Choose Kudos if

Choose Zeplin if

Questions people ask

Related pages

More on Kudos

More on Zeplin

Keep looking

Other head to heads