Microsoft Viva Insights is a popular tool for employee engagement, collaboration, and productivity insights. However, it may not be the perfect fit for every organization. In this blog post, we have compiled a list of the 5 best alternatives to Microsoft Viva Insights that cater to different needs and use cases.

1. Email Meter

Best for: Tracking your team’s email volume and response time in Outlook and Microsoft 365

For tracking email analytics, Email Meter is a complete platform giving you a wide range of statistics and insights on all aspects of your email. By connecting to your Gmail/Microsoft inbox (or your team’s), it automatically calculates things like number of sent or received emails, your response time, who you email the most, how many CC’s vs direct messages you receive and more.

Email Meter Best Features

• Tracks emails automatically—no complex setup or install needed.
• Gives you insights on all aspects of your email behavior, allowing you to track your marketing, sales or any other efforts easily.
• See the workload for each of your team members, including in shared inboxes.
• Instant installation for your entire domain.
• Fully customizable dashboards are available, or choose from a variety of useful pre-made metrics.
• “My overall experience was great. When I had a question, the team was responsive, informative, and timely. The data was useful and allowed us to understand our email and business practices on a team and individual level.” - Natalia S. on Capterra

Email Meter Pricing

• Free forever.
• Pro: 15$/month yearly payment ($180) or $19/month. Unlocks filtering, 2 years of past data and other advanced features.
• Teams: 15$/user/month yearly ($180) or $19/user/month. An extension of Pro, adds the ability to see your whole team from a central dashboard, and generate full reports for any combination of team members.
• Enterprise: Pricing dependent on needs. Unlocks the most powerful features, generally recommended for teams of 15+ members. Completely custom dashboards and metrics can be created for you upon request.

“My overall experience was great. When I had a question, the team was responsive, informative, and timely. The data was useful and allowed us to understand our email and business practices on a team and individual level.” - Natalia S. on Capterra

2. Slack Insights

Best for: Teams already using Slack who want to understand their performance.

Slack Insights offers actionable insights into team communication and collaboration within the popular messaging platform, Slack. By analyzing message data, it enables organizations to identify patterns and optimize team collaboration.

Slack Insights Best Features

• Message analysis: Examine the content and frequency of messages exchanged within your team
• Active users and channels tracking: Monitor the activity levels of team members and channels to identify collaboration patterns
• Communication trends: Understand how communication flows within your organization, including peak hours and popular topics
• Time spent on Slack: Analyze the time your team members spend on Slack to identify potential productivity issues
• Custom reports: Generate tailored reports to share with stakeholders and drive data-driven decision-making

Slack Insights Pricing

• Included with all Slack plans, which start from 0$ and go up to Enterprise with custom pricing. Pro plan is $7.25 per user per month, while Business+ is $12.50.

“With slack, it's extremely easy to connect with colleagues, work on quick initiatives and gain insight quickly and efficiently without having to comb through countless emails to get the message across.” - Jag S. on G2

3. Trello Analytics

Best for: Product management insights, and those already with Trello

Trello Analytics is an add-on for the popular project management tool, Trello. It offers detailed insights into board activities, task completion rates, and team performance, enabling managers to optimize workflows and boost productivity.

Trello Analytics Best Features

• Activity tracking: Monitor activities across all Trello boards, including card creation, movement, and completion
• Task completion analysis: Evaluate the progress and completion rate of tasks to identify bottlenecks in your workflows
• Team performance reports: Assess the efficiency and productivity of individual team members and departments
• Customizable dashboards: Create personalized views with the most relevant data for your role and objectives
• Workflow optimization suggestions: Receive recommendations on how to streamline your workflows and improve team performance

"Trello is one of the best available project management tools with all the available features for task creation, management and analytics." - User on G2

Trello Analytics Pricing

• Trello Analytics is a ‘Power-Up’ (as they call add-ons) which has to be purchased separately to your normal plan. There’s a number of different options available with different prices.

4. Timeular

Best for: Tracking time management for yourself and employees

Timeular is a time tracking and productivity insights tool that helps organizations better understand how their employees are spending their time. With detailed analytics, it enables managers to identify areas for improvement and coach employees on more effective time management.

Timeular Features

• Time tracking: Record and analyze how employees allocate their time across tasks and projects
• Productivity analysis: Evaluate individual and team productivity levels to identify areas for improvement
• Customizable reports: Generate custom reports to better understand time allocation patterns and trends
• Time management coaching: Offer personalized coaching sessions to employees to help them improve their time management skills
• Integrations with popular productivity tools: Seamlessly connect Timeular with tools like Trello, Asana, and more to streamline your tracking process

"Easy set up and easy customization, and who doesn't love a nice report showing up right in your email inbox on a weekly basis?!?!" - Phil K. on G2

Timeular Pricing

• Personal: $6.30/month yearly payment ($75.60) or $8/month.
• Personal Pro: $9.60/month yearly payment ($115.20) or $12/month.
• Teams: $14.60/month yearly payment ($175.20) or $18/month.

5. Charma (FKA WorkPatterns)

Best for: employee engagement and performance tracking

WorkPatterns is an employee engagement and performance management tool that provides insights into employee interactions, one-on-one meetings, and performance trends. It helps managers better understand their team dynamics, optimize meetings, and improve employee engagement.

Charma Features

• Employee engagement tracking: Monitor various indicators of employee engagement, such as participation in meetings, project contributions, and feedback sharing
• One-on-one meeting analytics: Analyze the frequency, duration, and effectiveness of one-on-one meetings between managers and employees
• Performance trend analysis: Assess changes in employee performance over time and identify areas for improvement or recognition
• Customizable reports: Create tailored reports that focus on the most relevant data for your team and organization
• Actionable insights: Receive data-driven recommendations to enhance employee engagement, optimize meetings, and improve overall team dynamics

"WorkPatterns is very user-friendly. It's organized in a way that drives efficiency. Its been able to drive accountability across all teams and visibility to workloads." - Keydi B. on G2

Charma Pricing

• Free plan available for up to 4 people.
• Startup plan for up to 25 people at $8/month.
• Enterprise pricing is tailored to your needs.

How to Choose the Right Alternative

When considering alternatives to Microsoft Viva Insights, it's essential to evaluate your organization's unique needs and priorities. Consider factors such as the platforms your team uses, the level of customization required, and the depth of insights you need. By understanding your team's requirements, you can select the best tool to optimize productivity and collaboration.

FAQs

What is Microsoft Viva Insights?

Microsoft Viva Insights is an employee experience platform that provides insights into employee engagement, collaboration, and productivity. It uses data from various Microsoft tools, such as Teams, Outlook, and Office 365, to offer actionable recommendations for managers and employees to improve their work experience and optimize their performance.

Why should I consider alternatives to Microsoft Viva Insights?

While Microsoft Viva Insights is a powerful tool, it may not be the best fit for every organization. You might consider alternatives for reasons such as:

• Your organization uses different communication or project management tools
• You require specific features that are not available in Viva Insights
• You need a more cost-effective solution
• You are looking for a tool with a simpler interface or a smaller learning curve

How do I determine which alternative is best for my organization?

To choose the best alternative for your organization, consider factors such as:

• The platforms and tools your team uses
• The depth of insights and analytics you require
• Customization options and the ability to tailor the tool to your organization's needs
• Pricing and available plans that fit your budget
• Integration capabilities with your existing tools and systems

By understanding your team's specific requirements, you can select the most suitable tool to improve productivity and collaboration.

What are the key features to look for in an insights tool?

Key features to consider when evaluating an insights tool include:

• Analytics and reporting capabilities
• Customizable dashboards and reports
• Integration with the tools your team uses daily
• Collaborative features that allow teams to work together efficiently
• Actionable insights and recommendations for improving productivity and engagement

Are there any free alternatives to Microsoft Viva Insights?

Yes, there are free alternatives to Microsoft Viva Insights. Some of the options listed in this article, such as Email Meter and Charma (WorkPatterns), offer free plans with limited features. These plans can be a good starting point for organizations with budget constraints or those looking to try out a new tool before committing to a paid plan.