Perkbox vs Reward Gateway vs Incentivesmart: which is best for HR teams at UK SMEs?

The key differences between Perkbox, Reward Gateway and Incentivesmart

Perkbox, Reward Gateway and Incentivesmart all help organisations improve employee engagement – the main difference is focus. Perkbox is a perks and wellbeing platform, Reward Gateway is a broad employee engagement suite, and Incentivesmartoffers a motivational employee engagement platform that uses recognition and rewards to drive culture and performance improvement, with hands-on support for SMEs. 

If your strategy is to positively impact culture and performance and build high-performing teams, then our Incentivesmart platform is your best choice. 

Features compared: Perkbox vs Reward Gateway vs Incentivesmart

Support levels and setup fees vary by choice of package. Incentivesmart ‘Enterprise’ package customers benefit from dedicated Client Success Managers, implementation support, regular business reviews, bespoke reporting and strategic consultancy.Sourced July 2026.
 

Perkbox features

Perkbox is best known for employee perks, discounts and wellbeing benefits:  

• Employee discounts and perks marketplace 

• Employee recognition and rewards (5000+ items, physical and digital) 

• Wellbeing tools and resources 

• Employee pulse surveys and feedback, including eNPS 

• Goal setting and challenges 

• Gamification and engagement tools 

• Internal communications and social feed 

• Real-time insights, analytics and reporting 

• HRIS and SSO integrations and mobile app 

Reward Gateway features

Reward Gateway offers a broader employee experience platform that combines recognition, communications, surveys and discounts: 

• Employee recognition 

• Employee benefits and rewards, including discounts, vouchers and cashback 

• Wellbeing and employee experience tools 

• Employee pulse surveys and feedback, including eNPS 

• Gamification and engagement tools 

• Internal communications and social feed 

• Supports employee referrals 

• Real-time insights, analytics and reporting 

• HRIS, SSO and custom integrations and mobile app 

Incentivesmart features

Incentivesmart’s flexible employee engagement solution helps SMEs and larger organisations drive performance improvement and build stronger workplace cultures through recognition, reward, communications and data insights. It puts enterprise-level features within reach for UK organisations of just 50+ employees, and also offers the ROI-building advantage of agency-style support. 

• Employee engagement and performance improvement (incentivisation, sales-based reward and recognition, visual tracking) 

• Values-based recognition (for behaviours and activities, milestones, birthdays, referrals, ideas) 

• Points-based rewards (4,000 aspirational awards, physical and digital) 

• Employee pulse surveys and feedback, including eNPS 

• Gamification, engagement tools and tactical campaigns 

• Engagement and learning (social feed, communications) 

• Supports submissions for employee referrals, business referrals and ideas  

• Rewards only invoiced on redemption 

• Real-time insights, analytics and reporting 

• API, HRIS, SSO and bespoke integrations; mobile-first experience 

Incentivesmart’s relatively new employee engagement platform is based on the same innovative and ever-evolving technology and reward mechanic that has powered its Customer Loyalty solution for more than 18 years. It uses the same evidence-based strategic approach and is built on the same behavioural science principles: people are motivated to change behaviour when the reward is meaningful to them, whether they are a customer earning points for loyalty or an employee being recognised for performance. Incentivesmart’s evidence-based approach drives behavioural change. 

“We now have an employee hub that takes reward, recognition and team building to the next level, driving employee engagement and supporting our company culture… it’s given us a cost-effective way of recognising and rewarding our people little and often, which sustains ongoing engagement.”
 

James Geary, Managing Partner, EMW 

Integration and support from Perkbox, Reward Gateway and Incentivesmart

Integration options 

Perkbox integrations support the main SSO and HRIS providers, while Reward Gateway has a large database of available integrations and Open API. Incentivesmart integrations include Microsoft and Google SSO and API connectivity, plus bespoke integrations including HRIlogieS, CRM, ERP and WMS.
 

Implementation and support

Perkbox offers standard onboarding and support, while Reward Gateway is more structured and offers implementation guidance.

Incentivesmart’s Premium and Enterprise packages include full onboarding, as well as bespoke dashboards built by data experts to report on organisation-specific business objectives and KPIs. Enterprise customers also benefit from a dedicated Client Success Manager, targeted to drive employee engagement with the platform, translating data into actionable business insights and recommending actions to improve engagement and ROI. 

• Recruitment specialists Simply Education saw 100% of recruiters register on their Incentivesmart platform, leading to a 36% reduction in employee turnover. 

• Incentivesmart clients Miele saw their engagement score climb to 87%, with 98% of employees joining their branded employee engagement programme with Incentivesmart. 

• A major mobile network provider needed a behaviour-shifting, scalable employee strategy that boosted knowledge and rewarded effort. Thanks to the Incentivesmart platform, their short-term sales incentive was so effective that it was extended to run for a year.

Perkbox vs Reward Gateway vs Incentivesmart: which should you choose?

Your best choice will depend on several factors: the size of your organisation, your budget, and – most importantly of all – your objectives for your employee engagement programme. For example, the perks and discounts that Perkbox offers may be a desirable addition to your EVP. If you’re looking for a broader engagement suite that includes wellbeing, Reward Gateway may be more suitable. And if you want to motivate and incentivise your people through meaningful recognition and memorable rewardsthat build culture and foster values-based behaviours, then Incentivesmart is likely to be the best choice. 
 

Get started with Incentivesmart

Looking for more than just employee perks?

Incentivesmart helps organisations improve employee engagement, recognition and retention through a platform that combines rewards, communications and behavioural engagement tools in one place. Unlike traditional perks platforms, Incentivesmartfocuses on creating measurable cultural impact through recognition, rewards and employee participation. 

Book a demo to see how Incentivesmart can help you build a more engaged, motivated and connected workforce.

See how Incentivesmart works > 

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