Why Are Bonusly Custom Rewards Manual to Fulfill?
Bonusly fulfills standard catalog rewards electronically, but custom rewards are fulfilled by you, offline — its help center states "company exclusives are managed and fulfilled by Admins." So any reward you create outside the standard catalog (custom swag, experiences, donations) becomes a manual admin task to track and deliver each time it's redeemed.
Custom-reward fulfillment mechanics sourced from Bonusly's public help center and product blog documentation; reviewer sentiment from G2, Capterra, and TrustRadius; all figures are list prices and behaviors reflect Bonusly's documented policies as of 2026-06-09.
What's Actually Going On
What 'manual fulfillment' means in Bonusly
Bonusly draws a clear line between two reward types. Standard catalog rewards (gift cards, charitable donations, and the like) are fulfilled electronically by Bonusly. Custom rewards are not: per Bonusly, "in contrast to standard rewards, which are fulfilled electronically by Bonusly, custom rewards are fulfilled by you, offline," and "company exclusives (donations or otherwise) are managed and fulfilled by Admins." So if you add a custom reward — a branded hoodie, a lunch with the CEO, an extra PTO day — an admin is the fulfillment engine: tracking the redemption, arranging delivery, and closing the loop with the employee.
The admin workload to plan for
This is a documented design choice, not a defect, but it does create recurring work. Every custom or company-exclusive reward generates an off-platform task each time someone redeems it — and that scales with both the number of custom rewards you offer and how popular they are. The watch-out: custom rewards are often the most culturally meaningful ones (the experiences employees actually want), which means the rewards with the highest morale value are also the ones that put the most manual load on whoever administers the program.
What Bonusly does well here (fair comparison)
The upside is real flexibility: Bonusly lets you create company-exclusive rewards that no off-the-shelf catalog includes, and it's transparent that you fulfill those yourself rather than pretending it's automated. Its standard catalog — gift cards, donations — is genuinely hands-off, and the Slack/Teams flow makes giving recognition effortless. The fulfillment question only bites if custom rewards are central to your program; if you mostly use the standard catalog, most fulfillment is automated.
What Bonusly Admins Actually Say
Verbatim from public review sites — not our paraphrase. Every quote links to its source.
“In contrast to standard rewards, which are fulfilled electronically by Bonusly, custom rewards are fulfilled by you, offline.”
“Company exclusives (donations or otherwise) are managed and fulfilled by Admins.”
Actify vs Bonusly on This
The same question, answered for both platforms.
Switching from Bonusly? It takes minutes, not a migration.
Flat fee, employees free, no contract. See it on your own data in a 20-minute demo.
When Bonusly Is the Better Pick
We're not pretending Actify wins for everyone. Here's when Bonusly is genuinely the right call.
You mostly use the standard catalog (gift cards, donations), where Bonusly fulfills everything electronically with no admin touch.
You value the flexibility to create truly bespoke company-exclusive rewards and are staffed to fulfill them yourself.
Your recognition program lives in Slack / Microsoft Teams, where Bonusly's in-the-flow giving experience is a top-rated strength.
Actify keeps the cost flat — and employees join free
Whatever your reward mix, Actify's pricing doesn't move with it: one flat monthly fee — $50/month up to 25 employees, $100/month for 26–100 — with points and rewards included in every plan and employees joining free. There's no per-seat charge that scales with how many people redeem, no annual minimum, and no long-term contract; cancel any month. (Actify is in beta; we don't claim to auto-fulfill every custom reward — the point here is that your platform cost stays flat regardless of reward volume.)
- Flat $50 / $100 per month — reward volume doesn't change your fee
- Points & rewards included in every plan
- Employees and friends & family join free
- No annual minimum, no contract — cancel any month
Switching from Bonusly? Setup is invite-and-go — no IT project required.
Frequently Asked Questions
See Why Teams Leave Bonusly for Actify
One flat monthly fee, employees join free, no annual minimum, and no long-term contract. Book a 20-minute demo and we'll show you the difference.
No credit card required. Invite-and-go setup.