Work Feels Better When People
Feel Seen

Most teams forget to say thank you. HeyTaco helps them remember—building a culture of gratitude, connection, and joy in Slack logo Slack, Microsoft Teams logo Microsoft Teams, and Google Chat logo Google Chat.

G2 star rating 4.8 out of 5

Try HeyTaco Free Get a demo

The Smallest Thanks Can Change Everything 🌮

With HeyTaco, simple words of appreciation grow into lasting connection. Small thank-yous turn into daily habits that bring people closer and make work feel more human.

Lars
Lars 9:31 AM
Thanks Koko for having close attention to detail and going the extra mile! taco emoji
Felix
Felix 9:32 AM
Ned taco emojitaco emoji for adding the best employee recognition app ever!
Tilly
Tilly 9:34 AM
Fitz taco emoji for taking this project and running with it, even if it feels like you’re running in place.

The Taco Effect

The Taco Effect HeyTaco turns appreciation into a playful daily habit—powered by tacos!

Each day, you get five virtual tacos to share kindness and celebrate everything from small wins to big achievements. As you give and collect tacos, you'll grow your taco empire, spread positivity, and earn your way to legendary Taco Hero status.

The Most-Loved Way to Say Thanks at Work

Trusted by 2,500+ teams—from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies—HeyTaco has earned industry recognition and awards for transforming workplace culture.

HeyTaco is a leader in Mid-Market Employee Recognition on G2 Users love HeyTaco on G2 HeyTaco is a leader in Employee Recognition on G2

Make Gratitude Fun. Watch Engagement Soar. 🚀

HeyTaco turns appreciation into something people genuinely love to do. As teammates give tacos, they celebrate wins, strengthen connection, and boost morale.

Filter:

Leaderboard

Rank Person Total Tacos
1 Avatar Ned 102 Taco
2 Avatar Koko 100 Taco
3 Avatar Tilly 36 Taco
4 Avatar Zane 33 Taco
5 Avatar Lars 12 Taco
6 Avatar Fitz 11 Taco
7 Avatar Angus 3 Taco

Turn Recognition into a Ripple of Generosity

Giver Mode celebrates the people who make others feel appreciated. By highlighting tacos given instead of received, it encourages thoughtful recognition, kindness, and a culture where giving feels just as good as getting.

See Giver Mode in action

Celebrate Life at Work—Automatically 🎉

HeyTaco remembers the moments that matter most. From birthdays to work anniversaries, Milestones makes it easy to celebrate your people with genuine appreciation (and a few tacos, of course)—no extra effort required.

Lars
Cake image
HeyTaco 9:31 AM
🎉 Happy Birthday, @Koko! 🌮

Wishing you a day full of joy, appreciation, and of course... tacos! Thanks for being an awesome part of the team!
Lars
Cake image
HeyTaco 9:31 AM
🎉 Happy 3rd Workaversary, @Tilly! 🌮🌮🌮

Thanks for showing up, standing out, and making this place better every day. Let's celebrate your time, your impact, and your excellence!

Explore Milestones →

Bring Your Core Values
to Life 🌟

Taco Tags turn appreciation into action—connecting everyday recognition to your company's core values, so people don't just see them, they live them every day.

#outstanding
#authenticity
#selflessness
Tilly
Tilly 12:42 PM
Thanks Ned for your #outstanding and unwavering commitment to going above and beyond! taco emoji #authenticity #selflessness

How Strong Is Your Culture of Recognition?

Take this quick 6-question checkup to see how your team's doing when it comes to appreciation, connection, and recognition. You'll get simple, practical tips to build a culture where people feel seen, appreciated, and valued.

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Frequently Asked Questions

HeyTaco is an employee recognition platform that integrates directly into Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Google Chat. It helps teams build a culture of daily appreciation using a simple, fun system: each person gets 5 virtual tacos daily to give as recognition to teammates. Tacos can be redeemed for rewards or simply enjoyed as appreciation. Used by 2,500+ teams worldwide.

HeyTaco works in three simple steps:

  1. Install HeyTaco in your Slack, Microsoft Teams, or Google Chat workspace (takes a few minutes)
  2. Each team member automatically receives 5 tacos every day to give as recognition
  3. Send tacos to teammates directly in chat by typing their name and adding :taco: with a message explaining why they deserve recognition

Tacos accumulate in each person's account and can be redeemed for rewards like gift cards, extra PTO, or custom company perks. The daily limit ensures everyone participates and recognition stays fair—you can't send all your tacos to one person.

HeyTaco offers three pricing plans:

  • HeyTaco Classic: $3 per user/month - includes unlimited recognition, leaderboards, custom rewards, analytics, and integrations
  • HeyTaco Deluxe: $5 per user/month - includes everything in Classic plus automated birthday/anniversary celebrations, 2,000+ instant gift cards in 200+ countries, and a dedicated account manager
  • HeyTaco Supreme: Custom pricing - includes everything in Deluxe plus custom emoji tracking, custom branding, recognition segmentation, enhanced analytics & insights, bi-annual recognition program review with dedicated account manager

All plans include:

  • 30-day free trial (no credit card required)
  • No setup fees
  • No per-transaction charges
  • No contracts
  • Cancel anytime

For example, a 50-person team would pay $150/month for Classic or $250/month for Deluxe. Learn more about pricing

Yes, HeyTaco is fully integrated with Slack and is one of our most popular integrations. HeyTaco works natively inside Slack—you give tacos directly in channels and threads without ever leaving Slack.

Key Slack features:

  • Give tacos in any channel that HeyTaco has been added to
  • Recognize people in conversation threads
  • Leaderboards display in Slack
  • Notifications appear in Slack
  • Taco balances show in Slack
  • Set up in under 1 minute from the Slack App Directory

HeyTaco also integrates with Microsoft Teams and Google Chat.

HeyTaco offers a 30-day free trial with no credit card required, but it is not a permanently free product. After the trial, pricing starts at $3 per user/month for the Classic plan.

While HeyTaco isn't free long-term, it's one of the most affordable employee recognition platforms available—25% less expensive than many competitors. The free trial gives you a full month to test all features with your team before committing.

What's included in the free trial:

  • All Deluxe plan features
  • Unlimited recognition
  • Full access to analytics
  • Custom rewards
  • Integrations with Slack, Teams, or Google Chat
  • Migration support if switching from another platform

Tacos serve two purposes: appreciation and rewards.

As appreciation:

  • Each taco represents recognition from a teammate
  • Your taco count shows team appreciation visibly
  • Leaderboards celebrate top receivers and givers
  • Tacos create a tangible record of contributions

As rewards (optional):

  • Redeem tacos for 2,000+ gift cards (Amazon, Starbucks, etc.)
  • Redeem tacos for custom company rewards like:
    • Extra PTO day
    • Premium parking spot
    • Lunch with CEO
    • Donation to charity of choice
    • Team lunch budget
    • Work-from-home day

You set the redemption rate. Many teams use 1 taco = $0.50, but you have full flexibility. Some teams use tacos purely for recognition without monetary rewards—it works both ways. Learn more about rewards

HeyTaco differs from traditional recognition platforms in four key ways:

  • Lives in your chat tools: HeyTaco works inside Slack, Teams, or Google Chat—no separate platform to log into. Competitors often require visiting their website.
  • Daily taco limits prevent favoritism: Everyone gets the same 5 tacos per day, so you can't send everything to close friends. This prevents "recognition cliques" that plague unlimited systems.
  • Quick setup: Install and start using immediately. Many recognition platforms take 30-60 minutes to configure.
  • Focused on recognition only: HeyTaco does one thing exceptionally well rather than bundling recognition with surveys, feedback tools, and community features you may not need. This keeps costs 25% lower than competitors.

Result: 67% daily active users vs. 35-45% for typical recognition platforms.

Yes, HeyTaco works excellently for small teams (5-50 people). In fact, small teams often see the highest engagement because recognition is more personal and visible.

Why HeyTaco works for small teams:

  • No minimum user requirements
  • Pricing is affordable at scale ($150/month for 50 people)
  • Simple enough that small teams don't need dedicated admins
  • Setup takes less than a minute—no complex implementation
  • Recognition builds tight-knit culture in growing companies

Small team advantages:

  • Everyone sees everyone's recognition (builds connections)
  • Easier to track culture health with smaller datasets
  • Quick to see impact (high engagement within first week)
  • Can start with 5 people and scale to 500+

HeyTaco is used by teams ranging from 10-person startups to Fortune 500 companies with thousands of employees. The platform scales with you.

Yes, HeyTaco offers extensive reward customization. You have complete control over what tacos can be redeemed for.

Custom reward options:

  • Non-monetary rewards (most popular):
    • Extra PTO day (e.g., 100 tacos = 1 day off)
    • Premium parking spot for a month
    • Lunch with leadership
    • Work-from-home days
    • Team outing budget
    • Charity donation in employee's name
    • Office perks (standing desk, better chair, etc.)
  • Instant gift cards (Deluxe plan):
    • 2,000+ options including Amazon, Starbucks, Target
    • Available in 200+ countries
    • Digital delivery within minutes
  • Company swag:
    • Branded merchandise
    • Custom company items
    • Team apparel
  • Collaborative rewards:
    • Teams can pool tacos for group rewards
    • Department outings or team celebrations

You set the redemption rates and can change them anytime. Many companies create tiered rewards (25 tacos for coffee gift card, 100 tacos for PTO day, 500 tacos for major reward).

By default, each person receives 5 tacos per day. This is the standard allocation that most teams use because it:

  • Encourages daily recognition habits
  • Prevents favoritism (can't send everything to one person)
  • Feels generous but not overwhelming
  • Creates urgency (use them or lose them)

The daily limit is fully customizable:

  • You can increase to 10+ tacos for larger, more active teams
  • You can decrease to 3 tacos for smaller teams
  • Admins can adjust limits per individual
  • Limits reset every 24 hours at midnight in your timezone

Why daily limits matter: Teams with daily limits show 67% active participation vs. 35-45% for platforms with unlimited recognition. The constraint actually drives more thoughtful, meaningful recognition.

Yes, HeyTaco is ideal for remote and hybrid teams. In fact, more than 60% of HeyTaco customers are fully remote or hybrid.

Why HeyTaco works for remote teams:

  • Lives where remote teams already work (Slack, Teams, Google Chat)
  • Makes appreciation visible when you can't high-five in person
  • Bridges time zones—recognition happens asynchronously
  • Creates connection in distributed cultures
  • No in-office events required

Remote team features:

  • Recognition happens in public channels (builds camaraderie)
  • Global gift card options (200+ countries)
  • Async participation (give tacos anytime)
  • Creates virtual "watercooler moments"
  • Helps remote workers feel seen and valued

Remote teams report that HeyTaco helps solve the "out of sight, out of mind" problem where distributed teammates get less recognition than in-office colleagues. Daily tacos ensure everyone participates equally, regardless of location.

HeyTaco provides free migration support for all teams switching from other platforms. The process is simple and non-disruptive.

Migration process:

  1. Export your data from your current platform (recognition history, point balances)
  2. Schedule a migration call with HeyTaco support (15-30 minutes)
  3. We import your data and convert points to tacos at your preferred ratio
  4. We help you set up equivalent rewards in HeyTaco
  5. Run both platforms in parallel for 1-2 weeks (optional)
  6. Complete cutover when your team is ready

What gets migrated:

  1. User point/taco balances
  2. Custom rewards (recreated in HeyTaco)

What doesn't transfer:

  1. Recognition messages
  2. User credentials (each person logs in with Slack/Teams)
  3. Platform-specific features unique to old system

Average migration time: 3-5 days from decision to full launch. Most teams are surprised how smooth it is—especially compared to implementing their original platform which often took weeks.

Common migrations: Bonusly to HeyTaco, Awardco to HeyTaco, Kudos to HeyTaco.