.svg)
Modern HR leaders have more performance management software options than ever before—and with good reason. Research shows that companies that put structured, people-focused performance management at the center are 4.2 times more likely to outperform their peers.
Two names that frequently appear on shortlists are Lattice and PerformYard. Although both tools handle reviews, feedback and goals, they were built for different priorities and budgets.
But what if there was a better approach—one that combines the best features of both platforms while addressing their common limitations?
This guide compares Lattice and PerformYard's features, pricing, ideal customers and user feedback, then shows you why ThriveSparrow might be the smarter choice for 2025.
What is Lattice?
Lattice positions itself as an all-in-one "people success" platform, bringing together performance management, goals, employee engagement, compensation and analytics. It's popular with mid-size and larger organizations that want a unified suite rather than separate point solutions.
Lattice Key Features
Lattice's product modules can be purchased individually or combined. Key features include:
1. Performance Reviews & Talent Reviews
Managers design custom review workflows, run multi-rater (360°) feedback and calibrate ratings. Lattice also offers talent review tools like nine-box grids that help map potential against performance.
2. OKR-driven Goal Management
Lattice's goal-setting module is built around the Objectives and Key Results framework. Goals can be displayed in daily tools like Slack, Salesforce and Jira, keeping them visible in the flow of work. Mid-cycle adjustments are possible, making it suited to fast-changing environments.
3. Engagement & Pulse Surveys
The platform includes engagement surveys with more than 90 benchmarks and AI-backed suggestions. Pulse surveys and eNPS tracking allow HR teams to monitor sentiment continuously.
4. Real-time Feedback & 1:1 Meetings
Employees can provide feedback and suggestions for co-workers, using either pre-built or custom 1:1 templates. The platform provides structured 1:1 meeting templates, shared agendas, and follow-up notes to make feedback frequent and meaningful.
5. Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs)
Lattice offers HR-approved PIP templates with approval workflows, employee acknowledgment flows, and progress tracking. Managers, HR, and collaborators can add updates, while audit-ready documentation ensures legal compliance with approval logs and outcome histories.
6. People Analytics & Lattice AI
Lattice centralizes employee performance, demographic and engagement data in comprehensive dashboards. The integrated AI tool helps managers write reviews, extract insights from survey comments, and provides an always-on AI agent for HR support and retention risk flagging.
7. Employee Health & Turnover Risk Detection
Available to customers using both HRIS and Performance modules, Employee Health analyzes team stability, growth, feedback, sentiment, and tenure data to surface simple risk scores (high, medium, low) for potential turnover before it becomes reality.
8. Career Development & Growth Tools
The platform includes career pathing frameworks, Individual Development Plans (IDPs), skill assessments, and growth opportunity visualization to help employees advance within the organization.
9. Compensation Management
Compensation bands ensure pay equity with transparent salary ranges, benchmarking capabilities, and streamlined compensation cycle management with two-way approval visibility and automated workflows.
10. HRIS & Administrative Functions
The optional HRIS module manages core HR tasks including employee records, onboarding workflows, time-off tracking, payroll integration, and customizable reporting with automated compliance features.
11. Advanced Analytics & Custom Roles
Features include Analytics Charts (data exploration), one-to-many custom roles for scaled access management, and comprehensive reporting with filters for demographics, departments, tenure, and performance trends.
Lattice Pricing
Core Plans & Modules
- Performance Management: $10/user/month (includes performance reviews, 1:1s, feedback, updates)
- Engagement: $4/user/month add-on (engagement & pulse surveys, eNPS, onboarding, AI insights)
- Grow: $4/user/month add-on (career tracks, competencies, IDPs, 1:1 integration)
- Compensation: $6/user/month add-on (benchmarking, cycle management, comp bands, analytics)
- Goals & OKRs: $8/user/month (goal setting/tracking, alignment)
- Performance Management + OKRs & Goals Bundle: $11/user/month (360° reviews, calibration, analytics, dynamic org chart)
- HRIS: $10/user/month (employee records, onboarding, time off, report builder, workflows; US only, beta elsewhere)
- Payroll: $6/user/month (integrates with HRIS, admin control, US only)
- Time Tracking: $2/user/month (timesheets, payroll exports)
Lattice Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Flexible scheduling for updates (bi-weekly, weekly or monthly check-ins)
- Employees can submit suggestions for co-workers and use pre-built or custom 1:1 templates
- Automatic reminders for pending tasks and safe anonymous feedback
Cons:
- Review cycles involve multiple steps and can feel complex
- No built-in messaging or chat function
- Updating OKRs requires manual edits; template customization can be limited
Lattice G2 review
Average Score: 4.7/5 across review platforms
If your organization wants deep analytics or an all‑in‑one platform, you may outgrow Lattice’s capabilities and need to explore alternatives like ThriveSparrow.
Want to check out a quick comparison of how ThriveSparrow can be a brilliant alternative to Lattice?
Take a look at our latest ThriveSparrow vs Lattice comparison page.
Start your 14-day free trial with ThriveSparrow!
.svg){kind=small}
With Lattice qualities in mind, let’s now look at what makes PerformYard a trusted choice for thousands of companies worldwide.
What is PerformYard?
PerformYard markets itself as a streamlined performance-management and employee-engagement platform. It helps organizations run reviews, track goals and manage continuous feedback in a single package. The system is SOC 2 certified, making it attractive to organizations concerned about data security.
PerformYard Key Features
PerformYard positions itself as a streamlined performance management and employee engagement platform. Key features include:
1. Customizable Performance Reviews & Live Dashboards
HR teams can create review forms, timelines and questionnaires tailored to the organization. A live progress dashboard tracks review completion in real time, with automated reminders and approval notifications.
2. 360-Degree Feedback & Calibration
Collects peer, manager, and direct-report input with all feedback displayed in the employee's review dashboard. The system includes calibration tools to align ratings across teams and remove bias for fair evaluations.
3. Cascading Goal Management
Goals cascade from company objectives down to individuals, aligning everyone's efforts. Visual progress tracking at team and department levels integrates directly into review cycles, with goal updates tying back to performance ratings.
4. Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs)
Managers can design structured PIPs with clear goals, expectations and deadlines to help underperforming employees improve rather than facing termination. Built-in templates foster growth and accountability.
5. Continuous Feedback & Check-Ins
Enables real-time feedback and praise between team members, not just during review seasons. Scheduled recurring check-ins with light prompts and reminders help maintain regular manager-employee conversations.
6. Historical Performance & Dynamic Cohorting
Maintains complete records of past reviews, goals and feedback for data-driven decisions. Dynamic cohorts allow HR to group employees by department, tenure or location to identify performance trends more effectively.
7. Employee Engagement & eNPS
Supports pre-built or custom anonymous surveys to gauge sentiment and track participation rates. The engagement module includes eNPS tracking and cohort analysis for different departments or job roles.
8. Nine-Box Grids & Flexible Reporting
HR can slice data by team, role or timeframe using nine-box grids to map employee potential against performance. Custom reporting helps identify exceptional workers and succession planning opportunities.
9. AI-Assisted Review Writing (2025 Feature)
Uses generative AI to help rephrase review comments, ensuring balanced tone and enhanced clarity. This feature launched in 2025 to speed up the review writing process while maintaining professional standards.
10. Onboarding Review Cycles (2025 Feature)
Streamlines onboarding evaluations with templates and centralized documentation, making it easier to assess new employee progress and integration.
PerformYard Pricing
PerformYard offers all-inclusive pricing with a separate engagement add-on:
- Performance Management – $5–$10 per user/month
- Employee Engagement Add-On – $1–$3 per user/month for surveys and cohort analysis
- Meetings - $2-$4 per user/month for 1:1 meetings, Task creation, Shared/private notes, Meeting hub, Collaborative agendas, Review integration
- Surveys - $2-$4 per user/month for Multiple Question Types, Participation Tracking, Simple Survey Builder, Live Response, Dashboard, Multi-Survey Management, CSV Export
PerformYard Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Highly customizable review forms and cycles, with automated reminders
- Employees can create their own performance goals and add comments
- Built-in PIP templates and dynamic cohorts foster growth
Cons:
- Completed goals disappear from the progress view
- Notifications or alerts may be delayed
- No overdue-goal notifications and review visibility controls require manual steps
PerformYard G2 review
Average Score: 4.7/5 across review platforms
Key Feature at Glance
Which Platform Fits Your Needs?
Choosing between Lattice and PerformYard depends on your organization's size, complexity and appetite for analytics.
Choose Lattice if:
- You need a comprehensive people platform combining performance, engagement, compensation, and analytics
- AI-driven insights and benchmarked engagement data are important for strategic decision-making
- You have a larger team (50–1,500 employees) and can afford modular pricing with annual commitments
Choose PerformYard if:
- You want flexible review cycles and straightforward goal tracking without heavy configuration
- Ease of use, customization and lower entry cost are priorities
- You run a small or mid-sized business where simplicity and high adoption matter
Why ThriveSparrow Outperforms Both
After evaluating dozens of performance management platforms, many HR leaders find themselves frustrated with the limitations of both Lattice and PerformYard. That's where ThriveSparrow comes in.
ThriveSparrow combines the comprehensive features of Lattice with the simplicity and affordability of PerformYard—without the drawbacks of either platform.
Here's how ThriveSparrow addresses the common pain points with both platforms:
Why ThriveSparrow is the best alternative to PerformYard and Lattice?
1. All-in-One Simplicity
Unlike Lattice's complex modular pricing, ThriveSparrow offers everything you need in one comprehensive package—360-degree reviews, goal management, pulse surveys, and analytics—all at a transparent, predictable price.
2. Advanced Analytics Without Complexity
Get Lattice's powerful insights without the steep learning curve. ThriveSparrow's AI-powered analytics provide actionable insights through clean, easy-to-understand dashboards.
3. Flexible Goal Frameworks
Whether you prefer OKRs like Lattice or cascading goals like PerformYard, ThriveSparrow supports multiple goal-setting methodologies in one platform—no additional modules required.
4. Superior User Experience
While PerformYard users complain about delayed notifications and disappearing completed goals, ThriveSparrow provides real-time updates, persistent goal tracking, and an intuitive interface that teams actually want to use.
How ThriveSparrow Works
1. Streamlined Setup:
Get up and running in minutes, not weeks. ThriveSparrow's intuitive onboarding process means you can launch your first review cycle the same day you sign up.
2. Comprehensive Performance Reviews:
Create custom 360-degree review cycles with templates that actually make sense for your organization—no technical expertise required.
3. Smart Goal Management:
Set and track goals using OKRs, SMART goals, or cascading objectives. Goals stay visible and never disappear from your dashboard once completed.
4. Real-Time Engagement Insights:
Monitor employee sentiment with pulse surveys, eNPS tracking, and AI-powered analysis that surfaces actionable insights automatically.
5. Transparent Pricing:
One simple price includes all features—no hidden modules, no annual commitments required, no surprises on your bill.
The best part? ThriveSparrow costs significantly less than Lattice's full feature set while being more reliable and user-friendly than PerformYard. Our customers consistently report higher adoption rates compared to their previous performance management tools.
Want to see why leading companies are switching from Lattice and PerformYard to ThriveSparrow?
Try ThriveSparrow free for 14 days — no credit card required!
FAQs
1. What is the main difference between Lattice and PerformYard?
Lattice offers a comprehensive platform that combines performance management, OKRs, engagement surveys, career development and compensation management. PerformYard focuses on streamlined reviews, goals and feedback, with an optional engagement module.
2. Which platform is more affordable?
PerformYard generally costs less: performance management starts at $5–$10 per user/month. Lattice's performance or OKRs module costs $8 per seat/month, and the combined Talent Management package is $11 per seat/month.
3. Which tool suits small businesses better?
PerformYard is easier to adopt and customize for small or mid-size teams. Lattice's rich features may be overkill for very small companies and come with higher minimum contracts.
4. Does Lattice offer better analytics than PerformYard?
Yes. Lattice provides AI-powered engagement analysis, benchmarks and integrated dashboards. PerformYard focuses on flexible reporting and nine-box grids but lacks advanced AI insights.
5. Is ThriveSparrow really better than both Lattice and PerformYard?
ThriveSparrow combines the best features of both platforms while addressing their key limitations. You get Lattice's comprehensive functionality without the complexity and PerformYard's ease of use without the feature gaps—all at a better price point. Most organizations see higher user adoption and better results with ThriveSparrow compared to either alternative.
