Pick a replacement by the way your reviews run, not by the longest feature list. If reviews, goals and one-to-ones are the heart of it, look at a performance-first platform; if surveys and engagement matter as much, an engagement-led tool fits better; and if your managers live in Microsoft Teams, choose one built to sit inside it.
Most 360 feedback goes wrong long before anyone reads it: the wrong reviewers get picked, or comments end up in front of the wrong people. If you're moving away from Small Improvements, that's the part to get right next time. Below are ten options for HR leads and managers who run reviews and ongoing feedback, listed in no particular order and grouped by the job each one does best.
Grouped by the job they do best
Performance-first platforms
15Five, Betterworks, Lattice and Trakstar put reviews, goals and manager conversations at the centre. One pitches itself on building better managers, one on joining up goals, feedback and skills, one bundles wider people management with its performance tools, and one keeps a tighter focus on appraisals and goal setting. If your current setup is mostly about running the review cycle well, start here.
Engagement-led tools
Culture Amp, CultureMonkey and Quantum Workplace come at feedback from the engagement side. Surveys and listening sit alongside, or ahead of, the review process. They suit HR teams who want to know how people feel about their work as well as how they're performing, and who plan to act on survey results, not just file them.
Wider HR suites
Leapsome and PeopleForce cover more of the HR job than reviews alone, with onboarding, recruiting and time tracking sitting next to performance. They make sense if you're also replacing other HR systems and want fewer logins, though you'll have more to set up on day one and more people to train.
Built for Microsoft
Teamflect runs reviews, goals, OKRs, feedback and surveys inside Microsoft Teams and Outlook. If your managers already spend the day in Teams, keeping reviews there removes one more tab they'll forget to open.
Reviewers, anonymity and goals: what to try first
The current tool describes itself as configurable review software that's easy to launch and aimed at mid-sized companies. That's a sensible pitch, and it's also the pitch most of the tools below make, in slightly different words. Homepages won't separate them. The mechanics will, and there are three worth testing in any replacement.
- How reviewers are chosen. Can the employee nominate peers, does the manager approve the list, and can HR step in when a nomination looks one-sided? A tool that gets this wrong produces feedback nobody trusts.
- How feedback is collected and shown. Check whether comments can be anonymous, how small groups are protected so nobody can guess who wrote what, and what the employee sees compared with their manager.
- How it ties to goals and reviews. Feedback that sits in its own corner gets forgotten by review time. See whether peer comments, goals and the formal review appear on the same screen, or whether managers end up copying things across.
Run one real review cycle through your shortlist, even a small one with a single team. You'll learn more from that than from any sales call, because you'll see exactly where managers get stuck.
Side-by-side view
| Tool | Type | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| 15Five | Performance management | Building stronger managers through reviews and check-ins |
| Betterworks | Performance and talent platform | Linking goals, feedback and skills data |
| Culture Amp | Employee experience platform | Performance, development and engagement under one roof |
| CultureMonkey | Employee engagement platform | Automated surveys and acting on what staff say |
| Lattice | People and performance platform | Performance plus wider HR tools on one platform |
| Leapsome | HR platform | Replacing several HR systems with one |
| PeopleForce | All-in-one HR software | Onboarding, recruiting, time tracking and reviews together |
| Quantum Workplace | Engagement and leadership | Supporting leaders and team health |
| Teamflect | Performance inside Microsoft | Reviews and goals inside Teams and Outlook |
| Trakstar | Performance appraisal software | Appraisals, 360 feedback and goal setting |
The ten, A to Z
Alphabetical and in no particular order. Each line reflects what the vendor says about its own product.
15Five
Best for: Companies that want performance management centred on better managers, which the vendor describes as AI-powered and aimed at business impact.
Betterworks
Best for: Teams wanting goals, feedback and skills in one place; the vendor's pitch is real-time performance management feeding talent decisions.
Culture Amp
Best for: HR teams running performance, development and engagement together in what the vendor calls an all-in-one employee experience platform.
CultureMonkey
Best for: Engagement work first: automated surveys, collecting candid feedback and acting on what people tell you, per the vendor's own description.
Lattice
Best for: People teams who want performance and wider HR tools on one platform; the vendor also puts its AI features up front.
Leapsome
Best for: Businesses replacing several HR systems at once; the vendor presents it as an HR platform with AI agents built in.
PeopleForce
Best for: Covering onboarding, recruiting, time tracking and performance from one HR product, according to the vendor.
Quantum Workplace
Best for: Organisations whose main aim is supporting leaders and team health, which is how the vendor frames its product; ask to see the review flow early.
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Teamflect
Best for: Microsoft shops: reviews, goals, OKRs, feedback and surveys all run inside Teams and Outlook, as the vendor describes it.
Trakstar
Best for: Appraisal-led teams; the vendor names unlimited employee reviews, 360 feedback and goal setting, and stresses ease of use.
My advice for HR leads moving review software
Don't let a polished demo decide this. The review cycle is where software either earns its place or gets quietly ignored, so judge every option on how much work it leaves for managers. If a manager needs more than a few minutes to nominate reviewers, read feedback and write a summary, they'll start skipping steps, and the data you collect will be patchy.
Think about who'll own the system day to day, too. A performance-first platform usually needs someone in HR to design cycles and templates. An engagement tool needs someone to read survey results and turn them into action. A wider HR suite needs both, plus whoever runs onboarding and recruiting. Match the tool to the people you have, not the team you wish you had.
If you're replacing more than performance reviews, my guide to the best HR software in the UK covers the wider HR side, and if you'd like a ready-made starting point for your first cycle in a new tool, see where to get free performance review templates.
Feedback is personal data. Rules on storing and sharing it vary by country, so check what your regulator expects before you move years of reviews into a new system.
What a good first review cycle looks like
- Every employee has a reviewer list they recognise, and nobody had to chase HR to change it.
- Managers can read all the feedback for one person on a single screen, next to that person's goals.
- Anonymous comments stay anonymous, even in the smallest teams.
- Past reviews and goals came across from the old system, or you've kept a clean export somewhere safe.
- Staff could leave feedback from their phone without hunting for a login.
Do you make 360 feedback or performance review software? Tool makers can ask to be considered for a featured place on this list.
Want your tool on this list? Featured spots and reviews here are paid partnerships. Here's how to partner with me.
Frequently asked questions
What is 360 feedback software?
It collects feedback on one person from several directions, usually their manager, peers, direct reports and themselves, then shows it in one place so it can feed into a review or a development plan.
How many reviewers should each person have?
There's no fixed number. You want enough that no single comment dominates and anonymous comments can't be traced back, but not so many that people are writing about colleagues they barely work with.
Should 360 feedback be anonymous?
Often, yes, especially upward feedback to managers. Check how each tool handles small groups, because anonymity means little if only two people could have written a comment.
Can I move my old reviews to a new tool?
Ask each vendor before you sign. Some will import past reviews and goals, others start you from a clean slate, which matters if you want a record of someone's progress over several years.
When is the best time to switch review software?
Between review cycles, never halfway through one. Plan the move so nobody loses feedback they've already written, and give managers time to learn the new screens before the next cycle opens.
Do these tools work for small teams?
Some are built with larger organisations in mind and some suit smaller teams. Run a short pilot with one team first and see how much setup it needs before you commit.
