Staffbase vs. Blink: which is best for you in 2022?

Your internal communications tools can use an update to engage employees in the new year. We compare Staffbase vs. Blink to see which is right for you.
What we'll cover

You’re in the market for a new internal communications platform, but which is better: Staffbase vs. Blink?

The answer depends on what exactly you’re looking for. Both offer several similar features, but their execution is different. Let’s dive into the specifics to see which communication tool is right for you.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

Staffbase vs. Blink — quick facts

Blink vs. Staffbase
Staffbase vs. Blink: which is best for you in 2022? 1

The Staffbase employee app works best for big corporations, while Blink’s simpler format lends itself to on-the-go workers.

If a good portion of your team comprises frontline employees, Blink is the internal communications platform for you. Their mobile-first design and seamless app integrations are ideal for keeping deskless workers engaged.

Staffbase offers more robust customization features as standard with each product launch, including a custom logo and font.

A user said, “I love the look & feel of the app and the option to personalise the app for (conditional) user groups.”

But for those looking to customize their employee intranet software’s overall function and employee experience, Blink brings more flexibility, with deep integrations with existing apps inside the platform.

Within this, Blink brings existing apps to the platform via Single Sign-On integrations, while Staffbase offers more functionalities out of the box.

For example, Staffbase comes with a basic payroll function, while Blink has an end-to-end integration with Workday.

Comparing Blink vs. Staffbase on history, Staffbase has been around longer, making it a more established product with tried-and-tested service offerings. It is well-respected as a quality option.

As a newer company, Blink offers more innovation and cutting-edge features. 100% of the product roadmap is written based on customer requests, and it’s to provide feedback on the functionalities they want with each update.

The right solution for you depends on if you’re looking for a one-stop solution or something to complement your existing software.

Staffbase vs. Blink: How they’re similar

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Staffbase vs. Blink: which is best for you in 2022? 2

Mobile content

Comparing Staffbase vs. Blink on mobile compatibility, you’ll find both offering well-optimized mobile platforms. That means your deskless employees will have the same access to information, documents, and community as those in the office with either platform.

But some G2 reviews suggest that Staffbase’s “Admin access on smartphones is very limited with basic functionality.”

Support for XL enterprises

Both internal communication platforms are robust enough to support enormous organizations. The intranet, news, and key features are designed to aggregate and organize a large content volume across many different functionalities.

But Staffbase is best used by large corporations, while Blink also works for companies with a large frontline workforce but smaller desk-based teams. Blink’s platform requires less time to implement and works with a hands-off IT experience.

Centralized intranet solution

Staffbase and Blink are good options for those searching for an employee intranet replacement. While peripheral features differ, both offer a solution to disseminate updates, provide access to company policies, spark conversation, and track insights about employee engagement.

Although the search in Staffbase works fine for a mobile app, those using Staffbase intranet will find the lack of filters, document management, and content management tools limiting them from creating a proper knowledge base.

Staffbase vs. Blink: How they’re different

When comparing Staffbase vs. Blink at a high level, it may seem like they share many features. But the execution of those features varies greatly.

Customer input

Blink serves fewer customers, which means they can have a much closer relationship with their customers — we’re talking on a first name basis.

Blink relies heavily on customer feedback to craft its product roadmap and even maintains a Product Portal to allow customers to request features and vote on what they want to see next.

In contrast, users say that Staffbase “aren’t quick to take on board and prioritise client feedback/requests for development.” Overall, Staffbase’s updates and features implementations are less agile.

Email

One notable feature that Staffbase offers that Blink lacks is email building. Through their merger with Bananatag, Staffbase lets you create engaging newsletters, send targeted emails to subsets of employees, and measure the impact of your internal email strategy.

Since frontline workers don’t have company email addresses, email is less of a focus at Blink, although it is accessible via integrations with Gmail and Outlook.

Employee generated content

Blink focuses on decentralizing employee communication so that every employee has a voice.

Blink champions employee-generated content through a live user feed and omni-directional chat features. For organizations that want to revitalize their outdated top-down team communication structure, Blink is a great choice.

Staffbase does not make it as easy for users to share content with other users. To upload a photo, users must send a submission form to the admin — who then creates the post themselves.

This setup is ideal for companies looking for greater control over who can share news. A user appreciated this feature, saying, “It’s very easy to make someone editor of a news channel so for example a Team Leader can communicate to his own team without giving him administrator rights of the whole app.”

Integrations

Blink offers a wider range of integrations with thousands of apps via Single Sign-On. Employees can access niche industry tools, Microsoft teams, and Sharepoint without ever leaving the app. The Blink team also takes care of the dev work, making it an all-in-one solution.

Staffbase integrations are more limited. They offer integrations with Microsoft 365 and SAP. This could only work well for a company that uses other enterprise applications or has a dedicated team to customize Staffbase through their APIs. Users said, “Currently, no local programs can be integrated into the launchpad.”

Notifications

Blink offers an array of real-time and schedulable push notifications to keep employees in the loop and engage with the app frequently.

Besides regular notifications, admins can create priority posts to catch everyone’s attention or create mandatory posts that users must acknowledge. Users can switch notifications on and off and follow certain posts.

Staffbase employee app’s push notifications are less customizable, focusing only on basic functions. Users say notifications “need improving,” and “There is no way to control push notifications separately for each channel.”

Chats

Blink’s chat is designed for both socializing and collaboration — wherever you are. Advanced features like saving messages and file sharing elevate the chat as a tool for getting workflows done rather than just a social media feature.

Staffbase offers an instant messaging feature as an add-on to advanced subscriptions. The chat supports one-on-one and group chats with a 128 user cap.

Users can only send images or videos on the Apple and Android apps, rather than documents. This leads to users calling Staffbase’s chat function “very basic.”

Here’s what Staffbase supports:

Chart detailing the file types supported for sending chats in Staffbase
Staffbase vs. Blink: which is best for you in 2022? 3

Frontline focus

Blink’s core principle is that they improve frontline workers’ lives. As a result, engagement with the app is remarkably high, with an average of 10 opens per user per day.

While Staffbase is also targeted at frontline workers, many features aren’t carried through to the mobile interface. Reviewers say, “The biggest obstacle for us is to get non-desk users excited about the app and to integrate them.

Content moderation

In Blink, administrators can assign content moderators who have complete power in managing content.

But Blink offers omnidirectional communication: User-generated content does not have to undergo a review before getting published, but any user can report and flag inappropriate content.

At Staffbase, admins have more direct control over moderating content. But there are some functional limitations around offline viewing and flagging inappropriate content which is surprising in an otherwise full-featured app.

Staffbase vs. Blink: pricing

Blink offers four levels of paid service based on company size, while Staffbase structures its pricing based on the number of features you use.

Blink levels:

  • Essential: $3.40 per person, per month
  • Business: Price on application
  • Enterprise: Price on application
  • Enterprise Plus: Price on application

Staffbase levels:

  • Employee app
  • Employee app + Intranet
  • Staffbase NOW

Final thoughts: Staffbase or Blink — which should you use in 2022?  

Staffbase is a highly customizable internal communication software ideal for large corporations with a clear idea of what tools they need to round out their digital workplace.

Blink is ideal for businesses large and small wanting a complete out-of-the-box solution to engage frontline workers and facilitate more communication across their organization.

If you’re not sure, try a free demo of Blink and see for yourself the technology that drives a 330% increase in engagement for its users.