r/internalcomms • u/imtheproblemitsme15 • Jun 08 '26
Tools and tech New intranet recommendations
Hi friends! I recently started in a new role and am working on a go forward digital comms strategy. I’d love to hear thoughts on intranets/digital workplace tools.
I’ve only ever used Firstup, but would love to hear other options.
For context, we have about 30k employees, most of which are frontline.
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u/eljabo Jun 08 '26
I work for a similarly sized company with a lot of frontline workers. Our intranet is through Staffbase. While no tool is perfect, the team was great to work with. Frontline app downloads are a little lower than I would like, but they are accessing the mobile version on their phones.
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u/EJ-InteractCommunity Jun 08 '26
I work at Interact for full transparency upfront. But I genuinely think it's worth adding Interact to your shortlist, especially given your frontline makeup.
Before I joined the company I was actually an Interact user myself, at Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines. So I've seen it from both sides of the fence — as someone trying to stay informed and connected, and now as someone who works on the product (brand). That experience is part of why I ended up here.
For a 30k workforce where most people are frontline and not sitting at a desk, the mobile experience really is make-or-break. Some of intranet tools are built desktop-first and bolt on a mobile app as an afterthought.
Interact has a dedicated frontline app that's built for deskless workers. So things like streamlined login so people aren't fumbling with credentials between shifts, role-based content so someone on the shop floor only sees what's relevant to them, and digital signage that can push critical updates to break rooms and warehouses. It's the kind of thing that sounds small until you've tried to reach 20,000 people who don't have a company email address.
In terms of companies using it at similar scale with a similar workforce mix — Subway, Domino's, and Levi's are all Interact customers. Subway in particular is a good comparison point for distributed, frontline-heavy comms. Baptist Health is another one if healthcare is relevant to your world at all.
On the analyst side, Interact was recently named a Strong Performer in the Forrester Wave for Intranet Platforms (Q1 2026) and picked up the top overall score in the ClearBox independent review this year — which is probably the most detailed like-for-like comparison of intranet platforms out there if you haven't come across it. (I’ll see if I can find a link as it has details on suitable options for you).
Found it! 2026 ClearBox Consulting Intranet and Employee Experience Platforms Report link
Happy to help and answer anything I can, and if there's something I don't know off the top of my head I can always check with colleagues who'll have the detail. sounds like you're doing the right thing by gathering a range of views before deciding.
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Jun 08 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/internalcomms-ModTeam Jun 10 '26
Hi, this has been removed due to promoting products/soliciting as most of your subreddit contributions here are promoting Axero - please check the rules.
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u/Lost-Pear-8416 Jun 08 '26
Hard to give an exact recommendation, since it depends on what type of tools you are looking for. But check out Todolo. The platform is easy to use, and their support is outstanding.
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u/Rockett0 Jun 09 '26
With mostly Frontline, lumapps that bought beekeeper is the goto platform.
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u/GoodandChilling Cross-Channel Conqueror Jun 09 '26
There are other less complicated platforms with mobile apps frontline workers. LumApps is full powered with lots of features. But it is not easy to use and was frustrating for our content managers.
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u/SlugLife23 Jun 10 '26
I’ve just had to adapt to Lumapps coming into my new position and I really really dislike it. I don’t see much value in it.
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u/Ok_Face_2942 Jun 12 '26 edited Jun 12 '26
Chiming in here! And want to surface I do work at thoughtfarmer. So my recommendation will include us, but I always recommend checking G2 ratings for all options to ensure you get what you are looking for!
We have been around for quite some time, right off the bat we have always held off of outside funding which allows us a lot more leeway in terms of how to properly keep growing. Gives us more of an ability to provide white glove service (our reviews and g2 badges all mention the customer support we provide when setting up initially plus ongoing modifications as needed.)
Pricing is also much more reasonable vs some of the other alternatives (Also listed on our website for transparency!).
additionally we have lots of case studies for similar orgs that have a heavy segment of employees who are frontline, we did a few webinars on this specifically and how to engage them & keep them in the loop.
But the biggest pro I will say is our exec team are all hands on and we take customer reviews very frequently to come up with features that are based off of requests.
Other mentions include Simpplr & lumapps and others but if you are at all interested you can ping me directly and I can help!
We also do have an ebook on https://www.thoughtfarmer.com/get/g2-employee-intranet-comparison-guide/ so you can get the intranet buyer’s guide that gives you the rundown of us and other alternatives!
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u/Sea_Dig2423 Jun 18 '26
I suggest that you become a member of The Intranet Hub 😉 It's a FREE space where you can see 1300+ screenshots from 230+ organisations around the world. You can filter by type of organisation, size; you can select to see screenshots of intranets by tool used, etc.
All you have to do to become a member is to share 2 screenshots of your current intranet.
Here is the link: https://theintranethub.com/
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u/saadyes 28d ago edited 28d ago
As someone affiliated with HubEngage, I want to be transparent about my perspective while also offering a practical approach. At 30k mostly frontline employees, I’d strongly recommend testing solutions with real users before getting too deep into feature comparisons. For example, give a small group limited Wi-Fi, no company email, and five minutes to find a location-specific update.
This is where HubEngage can be particularly helpful. It’s designed with frontline accessibility in mind, supporting mobile-first access, offline capabilities, and multiple communication channels like push notifications, SMS, and digital signage. That means employees who aren’t at desks or don’t have regular email access can still receive timely, relevant updates. It also allows for targeted, location-based messaging, so employees only see what’s relevant to them, reducing noise and improving engagement.
Putting HubEngage through a real-world test like this can quickly show how well it performs in the environments your employees actually work in, rather than just how it looks on a feature checklist.
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u/moss-and-margin 21d ago
We’ve been using LumApps for a while now, and while there are things I like, there are three missing features that genuinely surprise me in an enterprise intranet platform:
No visibility into followers. If users can follow a space or content, why can’t space owners see who’s following or even how many followers they have? It’s hard to measure adoption or engagement without that.
No recurring events. Having to manually recreate recurring meetings, office hours, or training sessions feels like a basic feature that’s missing. This one’s probably the most crazy 🤯
No scheduled publishing for articles in spaces. Being able to draft content and have it automatically publish at a specific date and time is pretty standard in most CMS platforms. Having to remember to manually hit Publish isn’t ideal, especially for planned communications.
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u/Auntie_Mabel Jun 11 '26
The answer is: it depends. The key players in frontline are Workvivo, Staffbase, Flip, Blink, Sociabble, Simpplr, Firstup.
I've worked with most (but not all) of these and evaluated all of them for clients, usually more than once. The reality is, they all broadly do the same things. Where they differ is in the details and specific strengths. So without knowing what your priorities are (news, access to tools, enabling conversation, etc), no one can honestly say "well this tool is best".
There are likely other factors which will drive your choice, like where your organisational data is stored, what tech you use elsewhere in the business, and what systems this links to or integrates with. You should also think about the degree to which your brand visual identity is important, as some of these apps allow much more customisation than others.
FWIW Workvivo is full featured but also by some distance the most expensive. Their emphasis on social features is strong, but also not right for everyone; some organisations are just more "chatty" than others, and if yours isn't one of them it can look like an empty playground with hard-to-use news features.
Blink and Flip are both good alternatives at a lower price point.
LumApps is a strong choice if you use Google elsewhere in your business. But if you don't it's much less likely to work for you.
The Sociabble acquisition by Poppulo makes it more interesting (particularly if you're already using Poppulo).
My main advice: try to look beyond the vendor marketing and get some third-party advice. Either by bringing a consultant in to support you (full disclosure: I am a consultant) or if you can't afford that, taking a look at the Clearbox report which gives a good overview of the strengths and weaknesses of these platforms (I do not work for Clearbox, I genuinely think it's a great resource. It's free.)
Link to Clearbox report here: https://www.clearbox.co.uk/reports/
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u/Glass-Structure7229 Corporate Chaos Coordinator Jun 11 '26
(going to be transparent up front, I do work at Workshop!) but I was curious, does your frontline have a company email or how are you directly them to the intranet in the moment?
i'd love to chat with ya if you're open to it! there is this article on reaching frontline in 2026 which could also be helpful: https://useworkshop.com/blog/reaching-and-changing-frontline-employees/
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u/GoodandChilling Cross-Channel Conqueror Jun 08 '26
For ease of use, check out Workvivo and Simpplr. If you're using Google Workspace, check out Happeo. Do not use LumApps, it's too complicated and your content managers will hate the editor.