Both platforms deliver employee feedback and engagement surveys. But one guarantees your work won't disappear, your pricing won't jump 20% at renewal, and your anonymity is cryptographically protected.
The critical differences between Blik and Culture Amp
| Feature | Blik | Culture Amp |
|---|---|---|
| Deployment Options | SaaS (€49/mo) OR Self-hosted (Free) You choose what fits |
SaaS only Their servers, their pricing |
| Work Loss Protection | ✓ Auto-save, no timeouts Your work is always protected |
✗ Timeout deletes work "An hour of writing, POOF! All lost" |
| SaaS Pricing Stability | €49/month flat rate No renewal surprises |
20% renewal increases "Refused relief until we involved VP Finance" |
| Implementation Cost | $0 (docker compose up) Ready in <1 hour |
$1,000-$20,000+ Plus ongoing consultant fees |
| True Anonymity | ✓ Cryptographically guaranteed Technically impossible to trace |
⚠ "Comments can be traced" "Fear of retaliatory actions" |
| HRIS Integration | Direct database access Your data, your control |
"Rippling integration is a joke" "Duplicate profiles, terrible data" |
| Individual Extensions | Per-user deadline control Extend for one person easily |
Must reopen entire cycle "Administrative nightmare" |
| Promised Features | What we document, we deliver Open source = verify yourself |
9-box grids not supported "Build it yourself outside platform" |
| Calendar Integration | Standard iCal/Outlook Works with any calendar |
No Google Calendar "1:1s lose sync" |
| Scalability | Works at any size Self-hosted scales with you |
"Can't support growth" "Scaled 100→400, product couldn't keep up" |
| Support Model | Direct email + community Open source transparency |
1.5-7 hour response times "Just download CSV and do it manually" |
The most severe UX failure in performance review software: platforms that delete your work without warning.
"I hate this platform for one simple reason, it loves to delete your work. Picture this, you spend an hour writing a glorious review for a co-worker. You're finally happy with it and you hit submit! Does it submit though? No. Culture-Amp decides that the submit button should instead refresh the page (some un-alerted timeout feature), and all your work is lost."
— Trustpilot Review, Culture Amp User
Your thoughtful feedback is too valuable to lose. We protect every word.
One timeout can destroy morale and waste hours of thoughtful work.
Performance reviews require deep thought. When employees spend 30-60 minutes crafting thoughtful, constructive feedback only to have it disappear, several things happen: (1) They lose trust in the platform, (2) They rush through rewrites with less thoughtful content, (3) They become resentful of the review process itself. Data loss is not just a UX bug—it's a fundamental breach of trust that corrupts the entire feedback culture.
"There are concerns about the anonymity of feedback, with some users feeling that their comments can be traced back to them, leading to potential retaliatory actions."
— Multiple user reviews aggregated
Tell your team: "Even I can't see who wrote what." That's true psychological safety.
When employees fear being traced, honest feedback disappears.
360° feedback only works when reviewers feel safe being honest. Research shows that perceived anonymity isn't enough—employees are more candid when they know it's technically impossible to identify them. Culture Amp users explicitly report anonymity concerns. With Blik's cryptographic approach, you eliminate that fear entirely. The difference isn't theoretical—it's the difference between getting honest feedback and getting politically safe platitudes.
50 employees = €588/year
Any size = $0/forever
50 employees = $5,400-8,400/year
"Upon renewal we were informed that our prices would be increasing by 20% after coming off a multi year agreement."
"Culture Amp refused to provide any kind of relief from renewal uplift until we involved our VP of Finance."
"Culture Amp wanted to remove a discount we had on our order form. This increased our price significantly. After repeated rounds of negotiations we were able to cut this increase in half."
— Vendr negotiation reports
€588/year
Flat rate, no surprises
$5,400/year
Before renewals
$6,480/year
Common renewal pattern
Blik saves €4,600-€5,500 annually vs Culture Amp
Source: Software Advice, Capterra reviews
Source: Capterra reviews
Source: Capterra reviews
Source: Software Advice reviews
Blik is open source (AGPLv3). Deploy it yourself for free, or use our managed hosting for €49/month. No credit card required to explore the code and see how we protect your data.
Don't risk losing hours of thoughtful feedback to timeout bugs. Don't accept anonymity concerns that undermine honest feedback. Don't face surprise price increases at renewal. Blik protects your work, guarantees anonymity, and maintains transparent pricing.
Get Started with Blik€49/month managed hosting • Open source available on GitHub