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Donut Review

Donut is an AI-powered Slack and Teams application designed to automate employee experience programs, facilitating informal connections and introductions among team members.

shipped Sep 19, 2026image-generationfreemium
Domain rating74
image-generationproductivityautomation
Donut — product screenshot

Why it matters

1Facilitates over 10 million introductions for more than 20,000 teams.
2Integrates directly with Slack and Microsoft Teams.
3Offers a freemium pricing model.
4Supports automated programs for onboarding, mentorship, and recognition.

Specs

API Available

Yes, public API

overview

What is Donut?

Donut is an AI-powered employee experience tool that enables organizations to automate employee experience programs. It facilitates informal connections, virtual coffee chats, and introductions among team members through automated 1:1 pairings within Slack and Microsoft Teams. The platform supports various initiatives, including onboarding, mentorship, training, and recognition, aiming to design, automate, and scale employee engagement and collaboration workflows.

features

Key Features of Donut

Donut provides a suite of features designed to enhance employee engagement and streamline HR processes through automation and AI-driven functionalities. These features are primarily delivered via integrations with communication platforms like Slack and Microsoft Teams.

  • AI-powered 1:1 pairings for informal connections and introductions.
  • Donut Journeys for automating onboarding, mentorship, and training programs.
  • Donut Channels for structured group interactions and discussions.
  • Gatheround by Donut for interactive live video sessions.
  • Donut Shoutouts for peer-to-peer recognition with points and a Rewards Store.
  • Watercooler for posting conversation prompts to spark discussions.
  • Celebrations for automating birthday and work anniversary messages.
  • Team Pulse (beta) for monitoring channel engagement.
  • Integration with HRIS and ATS platforms for automated enrollment and data synchronization.

use cases

Who Should Use Donut?

Donut is designed for organizations seeking to enhance employee experience, foster connection, and automate people programs within their existing communication infrastructure. It is particularly beneficial for remote, hybrid, and distributed teams.

  • HR Professionals & People Operations Teams: To automate onboarding, mentorship, and training programs, reducing administrative overhead.
  • Team Leaders & Managers: To facilitate informal connections and collaboration within their teams, especially in remote or hybrid settings.
  • Organizations with High Growth: To scale employee engagement and recognition initiatives efficiently across a growing workforce.
  • Companies Using Slack or Microsoft Teams: To integrate employee experience programs directly into their daily communication workflows.
  • Teams Focused on Culture & Belonging: To foster a sense of community and improve cross-functional collaboration through automated introductions and social prompts.

how to use

How to Use Donut

Donut integrates directly into Slack and Microsoft Teams workspaces, allowing administrators to configure and launch various employee experience programs. Users interact with Donut through automated messages and prompts within their communication channels.

  • 1Install the Donut application from the Slack App Directory or Microsoft Teams App Store.
  • 2Configure Intros by setting pairing frequencies, types (e.g., random, cross-team), and integration with meeting platforms like Zoom or Google Meet.
  • 3Design Journeys using prebuilt templates for onboarding, mentorship, or training, customizing message sequences and tasks.
  • 4Set up Celebrations by uploading dates or integrating with HRIS to automate birthday and anniversary announcements.
  • 5Enable Shoutouts to allow peer-to-peer recognition within Slack channels, including a customizable Rewards Store.
  • 6Utilize Watercooler to schedule conversation prompts in channels to encourage team discussions.

pricing

Donut Pricing & Plans

Donut operates on a freemium model, offering a free tier with core functionalities and paid plans for expanded features and larger teams. Specific pricing details for paid tiers are not publicly disclosed in the provided data, but the platform includes free digital rewards on all plans as of July 2026.

  • Freemium: Free access with core features for smaller teams.

Pros

  • +Automates a wide range of employee experience programs, including onboarding, mentorship, and recognition.
  • +Deep integration with Slack and Microsoft Teams for seamless workflow incorporation.
  • +Facilitates over 10 million introductions, demonstrating proven effectiveness in fostering connections.
  • +Offers AI-powered features like mentorship matching and prompt generation.
  • +Provides peer-to-peer recognition with a customizable Rewards Store and leaderboard.
  • +Regularly updated with new features and enhancements, such as Shoutouts in Slack App Home and Journey Folders.

Cons

  • Pricing concerns have been noted by some users, particularly for larger organizations.
  • Specific pricing details for paid tiers are not readily available in the provided information.
  • The 'Team Pulse' feature is currently in beta, indicating potential for ongoing development and changes.

Policies

Pricing Page

View Pricing

Similar Tools

Donut vs Competitors

Donut differentiates itself in the employee experience market by offering a comprehensive suite of automated programs beyond simple introductions, integrating deeply with popular communication platforms.

1
CoffeePals

Automates virtual coffee chats with customizable matching settings and integrates with Outlook for scheduling.

CoffeePals focuses heavily on the coffee chat aspect and scheduling, potentially offering less extensive broader employee experience programs like Donut's onboarding or mentorship features.

2
Alfy (by BuddiesHR)

Offers recurring coffee chats with weighted randomness to avoid repeats and balances seniority, and provides conversation starters.

While similar in core function, Alfy's pricing is very transparent and low-cost for small teams, and it emphasizes weighted randomness for better pairings. Donut might offer more extensive program management features beyond just coffee chats.

3
VirtualCoffee by Trivia

Provides ice-breaker questions to kickstart conversations and can be installed at an organization level.

VirtualCoffee focuses strongly on breaking the ice and casual conversations, which is a subset of Donut's broader employee experience automation. Donut might offer more comprehensive features for structured programs like mentorship or onboarding.

4
slack-meetups

A self-hostable Slack bot that randomly pairs users for 1:1 meetups, offering full control over the implementation.

This is a DIY solution requiring technical expertise for setup and maintenance, unlike Donut which is a hosted SaaS product. It offers core matching functionality but lacks Donut's polished UI, broader program support (onboarding, mentorship), and direct customer support.

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