HeyTaco vs. Matter: Which Recognition Platform Is Right for Your Team? [2025]

Before diving into differences, let's acknowledge what Matter does right. Matter is an affordable Slack/Teams recognition platform with real strengths:

Matter's Strengths

Affordable entry point: Starting at $1/user/month with a free plan available, Matter is one of the most budget-friendly recognition platforms. This makes it accessible for startups and small teams with limited budgets.

Feedback Friday feature: Automated weekly reminders encourage peer-to-peer recognition on a designated day. This creates a structured cadence for teams that want a weekly recognition ritual rather than daily participation.

Slack/Teams native: Like HeyTaco, Matter integrates directly into Slack and Microsoft Teams, allowing recognition to happen within daily communication tools without platform switching.

Customizable kudos templates: Choose from 9 pre-built templates or create custom kudos cards to match your company values, inside jokes, and culture. Visual variety appeals to creative teams.

Quick setup: Matter claims 2-minute setup, making it one of the fastest platforms to launch. Low barrier to entry helps teams start recognizing quickly.

Optional survey add-on: Unlike bundled platforms, Matter's surveys are optional ($2/user/month additional). Pay only if you need pulse surveys and eNPS tracking.

Where Teams Experience Friction with Matter

Despite these strengths, many teams find challenges:

Unlimited kudos creates favoritism: Without distribution limits, employees can concentrate recognition on close friends. Teams report this creates "recognition cliques" where the same people always recognize each other, undermining fairness.

Weekly vs. daily cadence: Feedback Friday encourages weekly recognition bursts rather than daily habits. Many teams find weekly reminders create boom-bust cycles—active on Fridays, quiet the rest of the week.

Feature limitations on lower tiers: The $1/month Basic plan lacks automated rewards, advanced analytics, and challenges. Teams need the $3/month Pro plan for full functionality, reducing the price advantage.

Smaller reward catalog: While Matter offers gift cards and custom rewards, users mention limited charity options and fewer reward varieties compared to platforms with extensive catalogs.

Kudos card complexity: Some teams find the template system adds unnecessary steps. Instead of simple "@person :taco:", you navigate kudos templates, which can slow spontaneous recognition.

Participation dependency: Users report Matter "needs a good bit of staff participate to be more effective." Without universal adoption, the platform loses impact—a common challenge with unlimited recognition models.

Knowing the true cost difference helps you make a smarter decision when evaluating platforms.

HeyTaco Pricing

HeyTaco Classic Plan: $3/user/month

• Unlimited recognition sends and receives
• Public and private leaderboards
• Custom daily taco limits
• Custom and collaborative rewards
• Gamification with stickers, levels, and Tacotars
• Company/individual insights and tracking
• Integrations (Slack, Teams, Google Chat)
• Unlimited teams, channels, and spaces
• Migration support from other platforms
• World class customer support
• Monthly or annual billing
• Secure login with SSO

HeyTaco Deluxe Plan: $5/user/month

• Everything in Classic
• Automated milestone celebrations (birthdays, work anniversaries)
• Instant gift cards (2,000+ options in 200+ countries)
• Dedicated account manager to help you customize, optimize, and scale your recognition strategy

No hidden costs:

• No setup fees
• No additional transaction fees
• No per-redemption charges
• No minimum commitment

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Matter Pricing

Free Plan: $0

• Kudos recognition
• Kudos template library
• Feedback Friday reminders
• Limited features

Basic Plan: $1/user/month

• Everything in Free
• Company values integration
• Birthday & work anniversary celebrations
• Basic analytics

Pro Plan: $3/user/month

• Everything in Basic
• Automatic reward delivery
• Challenges & incentives
• Advanced analytics reporting
• Priority support

Surveys Add-on: +$2/user/month

• Pulse surveys + eNPS
• 10x survey response rates
• Survey rewards with coins

Additional notes:

• Billed only for channel members (not entire workspace)
• Pro-rated daily based on channel users
• Monthly or annual billing
• HRIS integrations require annual plan + additional fee

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Real Cost Comparison

For a 100-person team (full features):

HeyTaco Classic:

• Platform: $300/month ($3,600/year)
• All features: Included
• Daily recognition: Built-in fairness
• Total: $3,600/year

Matter Pro (comparable features):

• Platform: $300/month ($3,600/year)
• Same price as HeyTaco Classic
• But: weekly vs daily cadence
• But: unlimited creates favoritism risk
• Total: $3,600/year

Value comparison: Similar pricing, but HeyTaco's daily limits prevent favoritism and drive 67% daily engagement vs. weekly participation bursts

For a 100-person team (with surveys):

HeyTaco Classic (recognition only):

• $3,600/year
• Use separate survey tool if needed

Matter Pro + Surveys:

• Pro: $3,600/year
• Surveys: +$2,400/year
• Total: $6,000/year

HeyTaco advantage: If you don't need surveys, Matter Pro costs the same but with weekly vs daily engagement and favoritism concerns

HeyTaco: Daily Reset Creates Daily Habits

Every person gets a fresh taco allowance each day (typically 5 tacos). Key dynamics:

• Daily prompt: Fresh tacos every morning create urgency
• Use them or lose them: Encourages daily recognition
• Prevents favoritism: Can't send 100% to one person
• Consistent rhythm: Recognition happens every day, not just Fridays
• Sustained engagement: 67% daily active users

Why this works: Daily resets create consistent habits. Teams recognize great work immediately when it happens, not just on designated days.

Matter: Weekly Feedback Friday

Automated Friday reminders encourage recognition on a designated day. Key dynamics:

• Weekly cadence: Feedback Friday notifications prompt recognition
• Unlimited kudos: No restrictions on how many you send
• Customizable timing: Choose your preferred day
• Burst pattern: Active on Fridays, quiet rest of week
• Risk of gaming: Can concentrate kudos on favorites

Trade-off: Weekly reminders create recognition spikes but not daily habits. Users report that 90% of employees feel comfortable with recognition after implementing Feedback Friday, but participation is concentrated on one day.

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Recognition Simplicity

HeyTaco: Emoji-Simple Recognition

Recognition is as simple as typing an emoji:

• One-step recognition: @person deserves a :taco: for [reason]
• No templates needed: Just type naturally
• In conversation: Recognize in any channel or thread
• Instant visibility: Team sees it immediately
• Zero friction: No clicks, no menus, no choices

Result: The simplicity drives spontaneous recognition. See great work, send a taco—done.

Matter: Template-Based Kudos

Recognition uses customizable kudos cards:

• Choose template: Select from 9 templates or custom cards
• Add message: Write recognition message
• Attach coins: Decide coin amount
• Visual variety: Different cards for different values
• Extra steps: More clicks than simple emoji

Trade-off: Templates add visual appeal but create extra steps. Some teams love customization; others find it slows spontaneous recognition.

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The Favoritism Problem

HeyTaco's Built-in Fairness

Daily limits prevent gaming the system:

• Can't monopolize: 5 tacos/day means you must spread recognition
• No reciprocal deals: Can't trade tacos back and forth daily
• Visible fairness: Everyone sees who's getting recognized
• Self-regulating: Social pressure prevents abuse

Matter's Unlimited Model

No rules on recognition distribution:

• Can concentrate kudos: Possible to send most recognition to favorites
• Recognition cliques form: Same people always recognizing each other
• Perceived unfairness: Teams may see imbalanced recognition
• Participation dependent: Users note "needs staff participation to be effective"

Real feedback: Unlimited recognition consistently creates favoritism concerns across all platforms. Daily limits solve this problem by design.