The Battle for Company Culture
15Five and Lattice are the two leaders in the "modern performance management" category. They replaced the dreaded annual review with continuous feedback, weekly check-ins, and real-time praise.
15Five started with a simple premise: spend 15 minutes writing a report that takes 5 minutes to read. It's built around the weekly check-in and focuses heavily on manager-employee relationships and coaching.
Lattice started with goals (OKRs) and expanded into a complete "People Success Platform." It connects performance, engagement, goals, and now compensation into one powerful suite. It's built for data-driven people teams.
Choosing between them depends on whether you want a coaching tool (15Five) or a strategic people platform (Lattice).
When 15Five Wins
The Weekly Check-in
15Five invented the modern weekly check-in, and they still do it best:
- "How are you feeling?" pulse check
- Key wins and challenges
- Priorities for next week
- Questions for your manager
It creates a rhythm of communication that feels natural, not bureaucratic. Lattice has updates, but 15Five's feel more "human" and conversation-starters.
Manager Coaching & Training
15Five invests heavily in turning managers into coaches:
- Transform: Built-in manager training and coaching education
- Best Self Review: Performance reviews designed to focus on growth, not just rating
- Career Hub: dedicated space for career development discussions
If your managers are inexperienced and need guidance on how to lead, 15Five offers more educational scaffolding.
Simplicity & Adoption
15Five is incredibly easy to adopt:
- Friendly, approachable interface
- Employees "get it" immediately
- High fives (recognition) feature is fun and widely used
For smaller companies or cultures that resist "corporate" tools, 15Five feels softer and more welcoming.
Lower Entry Price
15Five offers an "Engage" plan for just $4/user/month (surveys only). Their full performance suite is comparable to Lattice, but the entry point is lower if you just want engagement features.
When Lattice Wins
Comprehensive "People Success" Suite
Lattice is a true all-in-one platform for people strategy:
- Performance: Reviews, 360s, feedback
- Goals: OKRs, SMART goals, cascading alignment
- Engagement: Pulse surveys, eNPS, sentiment analysis
- Grow: Individual development plans, career tracks, competency matrices
- Compensation: Salary bands, merit cycle management
15Five has most of these, but Lattice's integration between them is tighter. Goals feed into reviews; reviews feed into comp.
Powerful Goal/OKR Management
Lattice started as a goal-setting tool, and it shows:
- Visual goal trees (see how individual goals roll up to company goals)
- Update goals directly from Slack/Teams
- Integrate with Salesforce/Jira to auto-update key results
15Five's goal tracking is solid but less sophisticated.
Better Analytics & Reporting
Lattice gives HR leaders superpowers with data:
- Correlate engagement with performance (e.g., "Are high performers more engaged?")
- Attrition prediction
- DEI dashboard (track bias in reviews or compensation)
- Adoption metrics by department
15Five has reporting, but Lattice creates insights.
Compensation Management
Lattice includes a Compensation module that connects performance ratings directly to salary adjustments and bonus calculations. 15Five does not have this.
If you want to run your merit cycle in the same tool as your reviews, Lattice is the only choice here.
Scalability
Lattice scales better to 1,000+ employees:
- More granular permissions
- Better handling of complex org structures (matrix reporting)
- Enterprise-grade security and SSO
15Five can handle scale, but Lattice feels more robust for mid-market and enterprise.
Pricing Deep Dive
15Five Costs
- Engage: $4/user/mo (Surveys only)
- Perform: $10/user/mo (Reviews, Check-ins, Goals)
- Total Platform: $16/user/mo (Everything + Transform training)
Lattice Costs
Lattice uses a modular pricing model:
- Performance: $11/user/mo (Reviews, Goals, Feedback)
- Engagement: +$4/user/mo
- Grow: +$4/user/mo
- Compensation: +$6/user/mo
- Bundle: Often ~$15-20/user/mo for full suite
Cost Comparison: For the full suite (Performance + Engagement + Goals), both land around $16-20/user/month. They are competitively priced against each other.
Real Customer Feedback
15Five
Pros: "Changed our culture," "Managers actually talk to their teams now," "Support is incredible," "Very human-centric."
Cons: "Reporting is a bit basic," "Goals feature could be better," "Can feel repetitive if managers don't engage."
G2 Rating: 4.6/5 | Capterra: 4.7/5
Lattice
Pros: "One place for everything," "Best OKR tool we've used," "Connects reviews to goals perfectly," "HR analytics are amazing."
Cons: "Expensive if you add all modules," "Compensation module is new/growing," "Slight learning curve for admins."
G2 Rating: 4.7/5 | Capterra: 4.6/5
The Philosophy Difference
15Five believes that better conversations lead to better performance. They focus on the psychology of work, manager effectiveness, and psychological safety.
Lattice believes that alignment and clarity lead to better performance. They focus on structure, goals, data, and connecting all the dots of the employee lifecycle.
Decision Framework
Choose 15Five if you:
- Want to fix "bad managers" or improve communication habits
- Are a smaller company (<200 people) building your culture
- Care more about the weekly pulse than complex OKR trees
- Want a tool that feels friendly and safe, not "corporate"
- Need manager training included in the software
Choose Lattice if you:
- Are a scaling company (100-2,000 people)
- Use OKRs and need robust tracking
- Want to link performance reviews directly to compensation
- Need deep analytics to present to the board/execs
- Want one "source of truth" for people data
The Bottom Line
Choose 15Five if:
Your primary goal is manager effectiveness and engagement. You want to build a habit of communication. You want a tool that coaches your leaders. You prioritize the "human" side of HR.
Choose Lattice if:
Your primary goal is strategic alignment and performance. You need a robust suite that handles reviews, goals, engagement, and compensation in one place. You prioritize data, structure, and scalability.
Our honest take: Lattice has slightly pulled ahead as the "market leader" for comprehensive people platforms, especially for tech companies. However, 15Five remains the best choice for companies specifically trying to improve manager-employee relationships.