Best alternative to Perkbox and Reward Gateway for gift-led recognition

So you've looked at Perkbox. Maybe you've sat through a Reward Gateway demo. And you're wondering: does employee recognition really need to be this... complicated?

It doesn't.

If what you actually need is a simple way to send thoughtful gifts for birthdays, work anniversaries, team wins, and moments that matter, you don't need an all-in-one benefits platform with a perks marketplace, discount schemes, and a points system that requires three training sessions to understand.

You need gift-led recognition. And that's exactly what Huggg does.

Last reviewed: October 2026

Quick answer: If what you mainly need is a way to send gifts for birthdays, work anniversaries and thank-yous, there are better-fitting alternatives to Perkbox and Reward Gateway than another all-in-one benefits hub. Huggg is a free employee gifting platform: there's no platform, setup, per-employee or per-send fee, so you pay for the gifts you send and nothing else. Recipients pick what they want from a selection you set, with no login. If you need pensions, discounts and wellbeing tools in one place, Perkbox or Reward Gateway still make sense.

What do Perkbox and Reward Gateway actually do?

Let's be clear: Perkbox and Reward Gateway aren't bad platforms. They're comprehensive benefits and recognition systems designed for enterprises with complex needs, dedicated People Ops teams, and budgets to match. We've compared them with the other main options in our guide to UK employee reward and recognition platforms.

Perkbox offers:

• Employee benefits marketplace
• Discount schemes (gym memberships, cinema tickets, retail)
• Recognition and rewards platform
• Wellbeing tools
• Company communications features

Reward Gateway provides:

• Benefits hub
• Recognition and reward programs
• Employee engagement tools
• Discount and savings schemes
• Integration with existing benefits providers

Both platforms try to be everything to everyone. And if you need an all-in-one benefits solution with recognition as one component among many, they might be perfect.

But here's where it gets tricky.

Why do companies look for a Perkbox or Reward Gateway alternative?

1. Is the setup more than you need?

Setting up Perkbox or Reward Gateway typically requires weeks (sometimes months) of implementation. You'll need to integrate with your HRIS, configure permissions, set up workflows, train managers, and onboard employees to yet another platform they need to log into.

That's a lot of overhead if all you're trying to do is send someone a birthday gift.

2. Will you use most of the features?

Most organisations use maybe 20-30% of what these platforms offer. You're paying for a benefits marketplace when all you want is gifting. You're managing a points system when what you really need is to send a hamper to someone's home.

It's like buying a Swiss Army knife when you only ever use the bottle opener.

3. Is the pricing built for enterprises?

Neither Perkbox nor Reward Gateway publishes its prices. Each quotes your company separately, and the platform costs money whether or not anyone sends a gift. Ask for the full-year cost before you sign, and set it next to what you actually plan to spend on gifts.

If recognition is what you're after, that's a lot of budget going to features you don't need.

4. Do points feel transactional?

Both platforms use points-based recognition where employees accumulate points and redeem them for rewards. The problem? Research consistently shows that points systems often feel transactional rather than personal.

When someone gets ‘500 points’ for going above and beyond, it doesn't quite hit the same as receiving a thoughtfully curated gift that shows someone actually paid attention.

How is Huggg different from Perkbox and Reward Gateway?

Huggg isn't trying to be an all-in-one benefits platform. We're not competing with your pension provider or your private medical insurance.

We do one thing really well: gift-led recognition that's simple, personal, and scalable.

What does ‘gift-led recognition’ actually mean?

Gift-led recognition is about marking moments that matter with thoughtful gifts rather than points, discounts, or generic vouchers. It’s human. It’s simple. Sometimes it involves brownies. What more could you want?!

Here's how it works:

1. You identify the moment (birthday, work anniversary, team win, life event, client thank-you)
2. You choose the gift or gift category (hampers, experience days, wellbeing gifts, etc.)
3. You send a link via email, SMS, Slack, or Teams
4. Recipients choose and claim what suits them (and provide their own address)
5. The gift arrives with your personalised message

That's it. No points to manage. No platform logins for recipients. No three-month onboarding process.

Do you need employees' home addresses?

Unlike traditional gifting (and unlike what you'd have to set up manually with Perkbox or Reward Gateway's gifting modules), Huggg doesn't require you to collect home addresses.

Recipients get a link, choose their gift, and add their own address. This means:

• No awkward "send us your home address" emails
• No spreadsheets of personal data
• Less personal data to hold and protect
• No admin overhead

It's especially powerful for hybrid and remote teams where you might not even know where people live.

Can employees choose their own gift?

Here's where Huggg is genuinely different from both Perkbox/Reward Gateway and traditional gift card providers.

With gift with choice, you curate a selection of gifts at a price point that suits your budget (£20, £50, £100, whatever makes sense). Recipients choose what they actually want from that selection.

This gives you:

• The thoughtfulness of a curated gift (you've chosen meaningful options)
• The flexibility of recipient choice (they get something they'll actually use)
• The personal touch of a real gift (not a voucher or points balance)

Research shows this approach creates significantly higher satisfaction than either fixed gifts or open-ended gift cards.

Our own data points the same way. In the Christmas Gift Index 2025, which looked at gifts sent by 477 UK companies, 79% of senders chose Gift with Choice over a single fixed gift. And when people chose freely, 84% of their picks came from outside the ten most popular items. Tastes are spread wide, which is why one hamper or one points catalogue rarely fits a whole team.

How much does it cost compared with Perkbox and Reward Gateway?

Huggg is free to use. No platform fee, no setup cost, no per-employee or per-send fee, and no minimum. You pay for the gifts you send, and that's it. The listed gift price includes VAT and postage, so nothing gets added at checkout.

Reward Gateway pitches "zero markup" pricing on its rewards. That's about the rewards themselves; with us, the platform you send from costs nothing too.

If you want extras like your own branding or SSO, they're paid add-ons, without the enterprise price tag of all-in-one platforms.

For most mid-market companies (50-500 employees), Huggg costs a fraction of what you'd pay for Perkbox or Reward Gateway, while delivering exactly what you need for gift-led recognition.

Huggg vs Perkbox vs Reward Gateway: how do they compare?

Here's the side-by-side. Competitor details come from their own sites; where a price isn't published, we've said so.

Who has swapped an all-in-one platform for simpler gifting?

More than 2,000 UK companies send gifts through us, rated 4.8 on Trustpilot. Two examples with hard numbers:

• Cycas Hospitality cut bulk reward sends from two full days to five minutes, a roughly 98% drop in admin time. Read the Cycas story
• Starbucks moved from a nomination scheme that reached 0.5% of its workforce to instant gifting that reached 28.8%, more than 50 times as many people. Read the Starbucks story

As Jenny Wieland, People Systems Manager at Cycas, put it: "With Huggg, it takes us five minutes max to send rewards. The admin burden is gone, and now we can track everything."

When should you choose Perkbox or Reward Gateway?

There are absolutely situations where all-in-one platforms make sense.

Choose Perkbox or Reward Gateway if you:

• Need a full benefits hub (pensions, insurance, wellbeing programs, etc.)
• Want a discount marketplace for employees (cinema tickets, gym memberships, retail savings)
• Have a dedicated People Ops team to manage complex platforms
• Need enterprise-grade compliance and reporting across multiple benefit types
• Want recognition as one component of a broader engagement strategy
• Have 1,000+ employees and the budget for enterprise solutions

But if recognition and gifting is what you're actually trying to solve, you don't need all that.

Are there better alternatives to Perkbox or Reward Gateway for small and mid-sized companies?

Yes, if gifting is the main job. Choose Huggg if you:

• Want to send thoughtful gifts without the complexity of an all-in-one platform
• Need something that works out of the box, not after a three-month implementation
• Don't want to manage another login for employees
• Care about personal, memorable recognition rather than transactional points
• Need address-free gifting for hybrid and remote teams
• Want transparent pricing without per-employee fees
• Are a mid-market company (50-500 employees) without an enterprise budget
• Actually just want to send gifts, not rebuild your entire benefits strategy

How long does it take to get started?

Here's what "simple" actually means in practice.

With Perkbox or Reward Gateway:

1. 4-12 week implementation
2. IT and HR involvement for integration
3. Manager training sessions
4. Employee onboarding to another platform
5. Ongoing admin for points management
6. Quarterly reviews and configuration updates

With Huggg:

1. Create account (5 minutes)
2. Send first gifts (2 minutes)
3. That's it

The difference isn't just about ease. It's about time to value. With Huggg, someone can be receiving a birthday gift this afternoon. With enterprise platforms, you're looking at months before you're fully operational.

What can you use a simpler alternative for?

Can you automate birthday and work anniversary gifts?

Most organisations struggle with this. Perkbox and Reward Gateway can automate it, but it requires setup, points allocation decisions, and employee engagement with the platform.

With Huggg, you’ll sync your HRIS once and birthdays happen automatically. No points. No logins. Just a thoughtful gift that arrives with a personal message. Learn more here.

Can managers reward someone straight away?

When your sales team closes a big deal or your customer support team handles a crisis brilliantly, you want to recognise that immediately.

With Huggg, a manager can send a team gift in under a minute. No points budgets to check, and approvals only if you switch them on. Just instant, meaningful recognition. 

Does it work for client gifting?

Neither Perkbox nor Reward Gateway is built for client gifting. Huggg is.

Whether you're thanking a client for a referral, marking a contract renewal, or sending a seasonal gift, Huggg handles it with the same simplicity as employee recognition, but with client-appropriate gift options and messaging.

What about weddings, babies and big milestones?

When someone gets married, has a baby, or celebrates a major career milestone, points feel wrong. These moments need real gifts.

Huggg's curated collections (new baby hampers, wedding gifts, celebration gifts) give you thoughtful options without the overwhelm of choice or the impersonality of vouchers.

What don't you get with a gifting-only platform?

Let's be clear about what Huggg doesn't do, because honesty matters.

Huggg doesn't offer:

• Benefits marketplace (pension, insurance, healthcare)
• Discount schemes for retail, cinema, gym memberships
• Broader engagement tools or pulse surveys
• Social recognition feeds where everyone sees every recognition
• Volunteer time tracking

If those things matter to your strategy, Perkbox or Reward Gateway might still be the right choice.

But if gift-led recognition is what you need, those features are just noise you're paying for but not using.

How do you switch from Perkbox or Reward Gateway?

If you're currently using Perkbox or Reward Gateway and realising you're only using the gifting component, switching to Huggg is straightforward.

What carries over:

• Your existing gift budgets (probably at lower cost)
• Your recognition moments and calendar
• Your team's expectations for thoughtful gifts

What you leave behind:

• Complex setup and ongoing admin
• Logins and training requirements
• Enterprise pricing for features you don't use

Most organisations are up and running with Huggg in days, not months. And because there's no platform fee, you can trial it alongside your existing platform, for free, before making a full switch.

So, what's the best alternative to Perkbox and Reward Gateway?

Perkbox and Reward Gateway are powerful, comprehensive platforms designed for enterprises that need benefits, engagement, and recognition in one system.

Huggg is designed for organisations that just want to send thoughtful gifts without the complexity, setup time, or enterprise pricing of all-in-one solutions.

If you're spending months implementing a platform just to send birthday gifts, you're over-engineering the problem.

Want to see how simple gift-led recognition can be? Try Huggg for free or talk to us about how we compare to your current platform.

FAQ: Huggg vs. Perkbox and Reward Gateway

What's the main difference between Huggg and Perkbox or Reward Gateway?

Perkbox and Reward Gateway are all-in-one benefits and engagement platforms that include recognition as one component among many (benefits marketplace, discount schemes, wellbeing tools, etc.). Huggg is specifically designed for gift-led recognition: we do gifting really well, without the complexity or cost of broader platforms. If you need comprehensive benefits management, choose Perkbox or Reward Gateway. If you want simple, thoughtful gifting, choose Huggg.

Is Huggg cheaper than Perkbox and Reward Gateway?

For most teams that mainly want to send gifts, yes. Perkbox and Reward Gateway don't publish their prices and quote each company separately. Huggg has no platform fee. It's free to use and you only pay for the gifts you send. Paid add-ons like your own branding and SSO cost a fraction of enterprise platform fees, making it much more accessible for mid-market companies.

Can Huggg integrate with our existing HRIS like Perkbox and Reward Gateway do?

Yes. Huggg will integrate with major HRIS platforms (BambooHR, Hibob, Workday, etc.) for automated birthday and anniversary gifting. The key difference is setup time: integrations will be fast, not the weeks or months typical of enterprise platform implementations.

Do employees need to log in to another platform with Huggg?

No. Unlike Perkbox and Reward Gateway which require employee logins to access benefits and redeem rewards, Huggg recipients just get a link. They click, choose their gift, add their address, and that's it. No account creation. No password to remember. No training needed. This dramatically increases engagement and reduces friction.

Does Huggg offer points-based recognition like Perkbox and Reward Gateway?

No, and that's intentional. Points-based recognition can feel transactional: receiving "500 points" doesn't create the same emotional impact as receiving a thoughtfully chosen gift. Huggg focuses on gift-led recognition where the gift itself is the reward, not points you convert later. Research shows this creates more memorable, meaningful recognition moments.

Can we use Huggg alongside Perkbox or Reward Gateway?

Absolutely. Many organisations use Perkbox or Reward Gateway for benefits and broader engagement, while using Huggg specifically for gifting because it's simpler and more cost-effective. Since Huggg doesn't overlap with benefits management, discount schemes, or pulse surveys, the platforms complement rather than compete with each other.

How long does it take to set up Huggg compared to Perkbox or Reward Gateway?

Huggg can be fully operational in minutes. Create an account, connect your HRIS if you want automation, and start sending gifts. Perkbox and Reward Gateway typically require 4-12 weeks of implementation including IT integration, permissions setup, manager training, and employee onboarding. If you need recognition up and running quickly, the simpler setup is a major advantage.

Does Huggg work for client gifting as well as employee recognition?

Yes. Unlike Perkbox and Reward Gateway which are employee-focused, Huggg works equally well for client gifting, partner thank-yous, candidate gifts, and any other business relationship where thoughtful gifting matters. You can send gifts to anyone with an email address or phone number, making it more versatile than employee-only platforms.

What if we only need gifting, not all the benefits features Perkbox offers?

Then Huggg is probably the better choice. Many organisations realise they're paying enterprise pricing for Perkbox or Reward Gateway but only using the recognition component. If benefits management, discount schemes, and engagement surveys aren't priorities, you're paying for complexity you don't need. Huggg delivers just the gifting component at a fraction of the cost and complexity.

Can Huggg scale as we grow, or will we eventually need Perkbox or Reward Gateway?

Huggg scales beautifully from 10 to 1,000+ employees. The question isn't size, it's scope. If you grow and need comprehensive benefits management, discount marketplaces, and enterprise compliance across multiple benefit types, Perkbox or Reward Gateway might make sense. But if gift-led recognition is what you need regardless of size, Huggg remains the simpler, more cost-effective choice even at scale.

Last updated: October 2026