The Kudoboard Alternative Your Team Will Actually Want to Use
Smiile is a modern group card platform built for workplaces that care about how things look and feel. Beautifully designed cards, Giphy stickers, native Slack and Teams integration, and simple flat pricing with no per-card fees.
Smiile
Kudoboard
The Short Version
Smiile is a modern group card platform built for workplaces that care about how things look and feel. Beautifully designed cards, Giphy stickers, native Slack and Teams integration, and simple flat pricing with no per-card fees.
Choose Smiile if…
you care about design, want native Slack or Teams built in on every plan, and prefer a simple monthly subscription over paying per card.
Choose Kudoboard if…
you need a very mature enterprise feature set (SSO, HRIS integrations, bulk creation for 500+ employees) or if you only send cards a few times a year and prefer paying $5.99 per board over a subscription.
The rest of this page shows where the two products differ, how the pricing actually works out, and what you gain by switching.
Where Smiile Is Different
Cards that look like they were designed this decade
Kudoboard is the market leader and that shows in many ways — but the default card experience still looks and feels like the 2010s era of office gift cards. Smiile is built around design first: modern themes, layouts that make every message feel intentional, and a Giphy sticker library baked in. The card is the product. If the card doesn't feel special, the moment doesn't either.
Native Slack and Microsoft Teams on every plan
Kudoboard has Slack and Teams integrations, but they're reserved for the Pro plan ($59/month). On Smiile, Slack and Teams are included on every plan — including the $29/month Starter tier. Invite contributors from a channel, send reminders, and deliver the finished card without anyone leaving the tool they already work in.
Built by a team with a track record
Smiile is built by the same team behind Frill.co, Juuno.co, Curator.io, and Flook.co — software that's been used by hundreds of thousands of teams. You're not the beta tester for someone's first SaaS.
How It Works
Smiile vs Kudoboard — Feature Comparison
Where Kudoboard wins
Mature enterprise feature set (SSO, HRIS, bulk creation), pay-per-card option for occasional users, much larger template library built up over years.
Where Smiile wins
Design quality, Slack/Teams on every plan, simpler pricing, Giphy built in, WhatsApp delivery, modern product feel.
Pricing — The Real Math
Most "platform A vs platform B" pages stop at the sticker price. The real question is what your team actually pays in a year.
Scenario: a 30-person team that celebrates
Let's say your team sends cards for:
- 30 birthdays
- 6 leaving cards
- 10 work anniversaries
- 4 new hire welcomes
- 2 promotions / congratulations
That's 52 cards a year.
On Kudoboard:
52 × $8.99 = ~$467/year in per-card costs — or you move to the Business plan at $299/year (unlimited boards, no native Slack/Teams) or the Pro plan at $449/year (unlimited boards + Slack/Teams).
(using Premium boards at $8.99 each, the middle per-board tier):
On Smiile:
$29/month = $348/year for unlimited cards with Slack and Teams included.
For teams that send cards regularly, Smiile usually works out cheaper than the Kudoboard Pro plan — and you get the design and integrations in the base price.
*Pricing accurate as of 2026-04-20. Kudoboard pricing: kudoboard.com/pricing.
Smiile pricing: smiile.co/pricing.
Switching from Kudoboard to Smiile
Sign up for Smiile's free trial
Create a test card — a birthday or a welcome — and send it to yourself to see the finished product.
Connect Slack or Teams
If you use either, connect them during onboarding. This is the step most people say "oh, that's different" — because the integration is actually native, not a webhook bolted on.
Import your team's birthdays.
Upload a CSV or sync from your HRIS (if you use one of the supported providers). Smiile takes over the reminders automatically.
Let your current Kudoboard plan run out
If you're on an annual Kudoboard plan, there's no rush — run it to term and run Smiile in parallel for a few celebrations to compare.
We don't do forced migrations, pushy onboarding, or "talk to sales" gates. You can evaluate the whole product without a call.
Frequently Asked
Questions.
Send a card your team will actually screenshot
A group card is a small gesture, but it's one of the few moments at work where people feel genuinely seen. The platform you send it on matters more than it sounds. Try Smiile free and send a card — to yourself, to a colleague, to your team. If it feels better, you've found your answer.