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What are the best Donut alternatives for Slack?
The best Donut alternatives for Slack are BuddiesHR, CoffeePals, RandomCoffee, Shuffl, CultureBot and LEAD.bot. BuddiesHR is the closest like-for-like swap at the lowest price. Its coffee chat app, Alfy, costs $1 per user per month on yearly billing, so a 50-person team pays $50 a month instead of $299 for Donut Standard. For $2 per user you also get birthdays, kudos, surveys, an org chart, standups and time off tracking, all inside Slack.
What is Donut for Slack?
Donut is a Slack app that introduces coworkers who don't know each other well. It pairs people in a channel for virtual or in-person coffee chats, posts watercooler conversation prompts, and celebrates birthdays and work anniversaries. Paid plans add onboarding journeys and more channels. Teams usually look for an alternative when the price jumps at 25, 50 or 100 people, or when they want more than coffee chats from one tool.
Donut for Slack pricing vs BuddiesHR, by team size
Donut prices by bands of people in your Donut channels. BuddiesHR charges a flat $1 per user per app, or $2 per user for every app. Here's what that looks like on annual billing:
| Team size | DonutStandard | BuddiesHR AlfyCoffee chats | BuddiesHR Culture OSAll 7 apps |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 people | Free plan (limited) | Free | Free |
| 20 people | $74/month | $20/month | $40/month |
| 45 people | $149/month | $45/month | $90/month |
| 80 people | $299/month | $80/month | $160/month |
| 150 people | $599/month | $150/month | $300/month |
Donut counts the people in your Donut channels, so your bill jumps when you cross a band. Add the 25th person and your bill goes from $74 to $149. BuddiesHR goes up by one dollar.
Donut figures are Standard plan prices billed annually, from Donut's help center (checked October 2026). Donut's monthly billing is higher. BuddiesHR prices are from buddieshr.com/pricing.
Donut Slack app vs BuddiesHR: feature by feature
| Feature | Donut | BuddiesHR |
|---|---|---|
| Random coffee chats and intros | ✓Yes | ✓Yes (Alfy) |
| Birthdays and work anniversaries | ✓Yes | ✓Yes (Billy) |
| Watercooler prompts | ✓Yes | ✓Yes |
| Peer kudos and recognition | ~Points for completed intros, rewards store | ✓Yes, with rewards (Clappy) |
| eNPS, pulse surveys and polls | ✕No | ✓Yes (Pulsy) |
| Org chart and employee directory | ✕No | ✓Yes (Linky) |
| Async standups | ✕No | ✓Yes (Stany) |
| Time off tracking | ✕No | ✓Yes (Palmy) |
| Performance reviews | ✕No | ✓Yes (SimplePerf) |
| Microsoft Teams | ~Intros only, early-access app | ✓Every app, native. Teams app |
| Onboarding journeys | ✓Yes (Premium) | ✕No |
| Free plan | ~Up to 24 people per round, 1 channel | ✓All apps, free under 10 users |
| Free trial | ~14 days on Standard or Premium, no credit card | ✓30 days, no credit card |
| Pricing model | ~Bands by participants | ✓Flat per user |
| G2 rating | ~4.5/5 (18 reviews) | ✓4.8/5. Reviews |
Why teams move from Donut to BuddiesHR
You stop paying for bands
Donut's price jumps at 25, 50, 100 and 200 people. BuddiesHR's doesn't. You pay per person, and you can start with one app and add more without renegotiating anything.
Everything stays inside Slack / Teams
There's no separate admin dashboard to learn. You set up Alfy in Slack, pick a channel, choose how often people get paired, and you're done. Most teams are running their first round the same day.
One tool instead of five
Most teams on Donut also pay for a kudos bot, a survey tool and a standup bot. BuddiesHR covers all of them for $2 per user, so you get one vendor, one bill and one place to manage it all.
"We're currently using Donut but it's too expensive and I'm looking to change to Alfy."
"We decided to move from Donut to you guys, since our team enjoy this interactions so much."
"I installed Alfy to pair our design team since we're remote across regions. It reduces the mental load of scheduling something weekly. Super easy to set up."
Thinking of making the same move? Our step-by-step guide to switching from Donut shows where each Donut feature lives in BuddiesHR and how to time the switch.
When Donut is still the better choice
Donut is a good product, and it's the right pick in a few cases. If you run structured onboarding journeys through Slack, Donut's Premium plan has a library built for that. If you're on Slack Enterprise Grid and need intros across multi-workspace channels, Donut supports it on Premium. And if a single coffee chat channel under 24 people is all you'll ever need, Donut's free plan may be enough.
If what you want is coffee chats plus the everyday culture tools around them, at a price that scales one person at a time, BuddiesHR is the better fit.
Other Donut alternatives for Slack worth a look
1. BuddiesHR
Our pickCoffee chats plus six other culture apps, all inside Slack and Teams. It's $1 per user per app or $2 for everything, and free under 10. Best for teams that want Donut's features and the tools around them at a flat price.
Price $1/user/monthSee Alfy for coffee chats →2. CoffeePals
Donut-style automated coffee pairings for Slack and Microsoft Teams. Best if pairings are all you need.
Price Free up to 24 users. Pro from $49/month for up to 25 users3. RandomCoffee
Random coffee matching focused purely on pairings. Best for a simple, single-purpose setup.
Price Free for 20 users per session. Pro from $19/month for up to 25 users4. Shuffl
Shuffles teammates into small groups for virtual socials and new-hire onboarding. Best if group socials matter more than 1:1s.
Price Free up to 50 members, 1 channel. Pro from $50/month5. CultureBot
Slack prompts, celebrations and shoutouts. Best if engagement prompts matter more than pairings.
Price Priced by team size, not listed publicly. 14-day free trial6. LEAD.bot
Introduces coworkers across teams, departments and locations in Slack and Microsoft Teams. Best for structured cross-team networking programs.
Price Free up to 24 users per round. Paid from $49/month
Competitor prices from each vendor's pricing page or listing, checked October 2026.
More than a Donut replacement
Alfy replaces Donut. The rest of BuddiesHR replaces the other bots in your workspace.
How to replace Donut in Slack in under 10 minutes
- 1
Install Alfy in Slack. No credit card needed.
- 2
Point it at your existing channel. Your #donut or #coffee-chats channel works as-is, so people don't have to join anything new.
- 3
Set your rhythm: how often people get paired and how big the groups are.
- 4
Uninstall Donut once your first Alfy round goes out.
Moving birthdays and kudos too? Read the full Donut migration guide.
What HR teams say about BuddiesHR
Read more reviews →We love this little app at Travalyst - it makes enhancing our remote-first team culture so easy, and helps bring some joy and levity to their working weeks.
I recently installed Alfy as a way to pair our design team for pair design sessions and to catch up since we're a remote based company with folks in different regions. Also it reduces the mental load of scheduling something weekly rather keeps things interesting. Alfy's been great! Super easy to set up and has been running seamlessly for a few weeks now.
I’ve had a really good experience with Billy. It has really streamlined recognition for my team, and it helps to consistently engage the team through birthday and anniversary celebrations without me needing to manage it on a daily basis.
Donut alternative FAQ
What are the best Donut alternatives for Slack?
BuddiesHR, CoffeePals, RandomCoffee, Shuffl, CultureBot and LEAD.bot. BuddiesHR is the closest replacement on features and the cheapest at scale: $1 per user per month for coffee chats, or $2 for its full suite of seven Slack apps.
Is the Donut Slack app free?
Donut has a free plan that pairs up to 24 people per round in one Slack channel, with 12 default watercooler topics. Paid plans start at $74 a month billed annually. BuddiesHR is free for teams under 10 with every app included.
What is Donut used for?
Donut is a Slack app that pairs coworkers for virtual coffee chats, posts watercooler prompts, and celebrates birthdays and work anniversaries. It also offers onboarding journeys on its Premium plan.
How much does Donut cost?
Donut's Standard plan starts at $74 a month billed annually for up to 24 participants, then rises in bands: $149 for 25 to 49 people, $299 for 50 to 99, and $599 for 100 to 199. Monthly billing costs more.
What's the cheapest alternative to Donut?
BuddiesHR's Alfy costs $1 per user per month on yearly billing and is free for teams under 10. For a 50-person team that's $50 a month, compared with $299 for Donut Standard.
Is there a free Donut alternative?
Yes. BuddiesHR is free forever for teams under 10 users, with every app included. Larger teams get a 30-day free trial with no credit card.
Does BuddiesHR work in Microsoft Teams?
Yes. Every BuddiesHR app is native in both Slack and Microsoft Teams. Donut's Teams app currently covers intros only.
Can I keep my existing Donut channel?
Yes. Install Alfy, point it at the same channel, and uninstall Donut once your first round goes out. Your team doesn't need to change anything. The Donut migration guide walks through every step, including birthdays and kudos.
Does BuddiesHR do birthdays and watercooler topics like Donut?
Yes. Birthdays and work anniversaries are handled by Billy, included in the $2 all-apps plan. BuddiesHR also includes watercooler topics to keep conversations going in Slack and Teams.
Who is BuddiesHR?
BuddiesHR is a bootstrapped, profitable company that builds people tools for Slack and Microsoft Teams. More than 1,000 HR teams use it, including Oura, Docplanner and SafetyWing.
Try the Donut alternative free for 30 days
Install Alfy in Slack, run your first round of coffee chats today, and compare the bill. It's free under 10 people.