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Motivosity vs Bucketlist Rewards: Choosing the Right Employee Recognition Platform for Your Team

Published on
September 16, 2025
Overlayed logos for the employee recognition platforms, Motivosity and Bucketlist Rewards.

TL;DR

Motivosity and Bucketlist Rewards are both employee rewards and recognition programs, but they take very different approaches. Motivosity focuses on building long-term culture through recognition, connection, feedback, and flexible rewards—helping teams feel appreciated, connected, and motivated to stay. Bucketlist Rewards, on the other hand, emphasizes customizable incentives and quick-to-launch rewards programs aimed at short-term motivation.

  • Choose Motivosity if you want to strengthen culture, improve relationships, and track engagement over time—paired with the most expansive, flexible rewards marketplace available.
  • Choose Bucketlist Rewards if you need a simple, reward-centric tool for milestones and performance-based incentives.

The right choice depends on whether you want to build a lasting culture or deliver quick motivational perks.

Navigating the Rewards and Recognition Tech Landscape

With so many tools aimed at improving employee engagement, recognition, and workplace culture, it’s no surprise that leaders find themselves asking: “Which platform is right for us?” Two common names that often come up in this conversation are Motivosity and Bucketlist Rewards.

This blog isn’t about who’s better; it’s about helping you find the right fit. Whether you're a people-first startup, a global enterprise, or somewhere in between, we’ll break down what each platform does best and how to align that with your unique team dynamics.

First, what is Motivosity?

Motivosity is a comprehensive people-first employee recognition and rewards platform built around the idea that people thrive when they feel connected, appreciated, and heard. Unlike other recognition and rewards tools, Motivosity is the only solution focused on improving employee relationships and company culture to achieve better performance, retention, and bottom-line results, rather than prioritizing rewards and perks first. The platform enables frequent recognition, automates programs, simplifies communication, connects teams, and delivers meaningful, flexible rewards—all while consolidating tools and minimizing the administrative lift for HR teams.

Motivosity’s platform enables:

  • Frequent recognition: Peer-to-peer recognition, manager-led recognition, challenges and achievements, nomination awards, values-based recognition, spot bonuses, customer-to-employee recognition,
  • Program automation: Program spaces, integrations and webhooks, AI insights, customizable awards, program-specific catalogs, incentive programs, automated service awards, and milestone celebrations.
  • Simplified communication: Company-wide social feed, announcements and highlights, targeted comms, resource libraries and management, event hosting, custom user groups, and a fully functional native mobile app.
  • Team connection: Interest groups, personal profiles, personality tests, employee spaces, ERGs, remote/hybrid/deskless tools, and employee spaces.
  • Meaningful, flexible rewards: Fully custom marketplace, global rewards and fulfillment, ThanksMatters Card, custom swag, gift cards, charitable donations, custom catalogs, redemption-only gifting, external gifting, Amazon, Shopify connectors, curated travel and experiences, Lifestyle Spending Accounts, and global rewards fulfillment/support.

Companies that choose Motivosity don’t just recognize and reward employees; they build cultures that people stay for and businesses perform at the highest level.

Image of an employee using Motivosity for milestone recognition, employee rewards, and more.

What is Bucketlist Rewards?

Bucketlist Rewards is an employee recognition platform focused on customizable reward experiences and incentives. It aims to increase engagement by letting employees choose rewards.

Its core strength lies in offering a wide range of tangible reward options and integrations with common HR platforms, making it easy to implement a recognition and rewards program quickly.

Comparing Motivosity and Bucketlist Rewards: Culture vs. Rewards

Feature Category Motivosity Bucketlist Rewards
Core Philosophy People-first culture and employee engagement Reward-driven motivation and experiences
Recognition Style Peer-to-peer and manager-led + public feed + personalized rewards Manager or system-driven reward moments
Reward Customization High (custom marketplace, ThanksMatters Card, global rewards support, custom swag creation, and global fulfillment) High (experiential, custom marketplace)
Culture Tools Yes (Employee spaces, values-based recognition, social feed, personal profiles, interest groups, etc.) Limited
Surveys & Feedback Yes (eNPS, engagement tracking) No
Use Case Fit Companies building long-term company culture and trust, and looking to boost engagement Companies prioritizing short-term motivation and gamified rewards
Mobile App Yes (Native mobile app with full product functionality) Yes (Native mobile experience with in-app recognition and redemptions)
Rewards Options 500M+ rewards options available in 238 countries and territories with global fulfillment at no additional cost 4,000+ options across 110+ countries (gift cards, experiences, swag, donations)
Program Automation HRIS/SSO integrations, open API, and direct wellness partnership with Sworkit HRIS-integrated for milestones and recognition
Customer Support Dedicated CSM and Implementation Specialist, 24/7 support Onboarding Specialist and CSM
Pricing Fully custom pricing based on needs Tiered pricing
Global Readiness Support for 70+ languages and 17 full-UI translations. Purchase power parity and global currency/rewards support in 238 countries and territories 110+ countries, local currencies, 23+ languages

Who is each platform best for?

Choose Motivosity if:

  • You want to build culture, not just a perks program.
  • You want to unite your people and create lasting alignment across teams.
  • You’re looking for employee engagement that lasts and daily moments of connection.
  • Your company values good culture, employee connection, transparency, and belonging.
  • You're looking to track and improve eNPS and engagement over time.

Choose Bucketlist Rewards if:

  • You’re focused on reward-based motivation tied to performance or milestones.
  • You're building an incentive program quickly.
  • You’re looking for a lightweight solution to plug into existing HR systems.

What do you want to get out of your employee recognition platform?

While it’s tempting to compare platforms in a head-to-head battle, the truth is that Motivosity and Bucketlist serve different philosophical approaches to engagement.

Motivosity leans into consistent and frequent recognition, lasting connections, culture building, and meaningful rewards, while Bucketlist Rewards emphasizes short-term incentive-driven engagement.

Final Thoughts: Focus On What Matters to Your People

Choosing the right platform isn’t about features; it’s about fit.

If you’re looking to make work a better place by creating a culture where people feel seen, supported, and socially connected, Motivosity is likely your answer.

If you want a platform that focuses solely on rewards, then the answer is in the name: Bucketlist Rewards might be the tool for you.

At the end of the day, your team’s engagement strategy should reflect your values, goals, and culture...and the right platform should amplify all three.

Ready to transform your culture? Get started with Motivosity!

Article written by
Erika Rahman
Marketing Manager
Erika Rahman is a Marketing Manager at Motivosity. She studied marketing and business management at Utah Valley University. Erika has a broad background—from optometry to trade school administration—giving her a love and understanding for people across industries. She grew up in Northern California and Colorado, and currently calls the Utah slopes home.
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