The picks
- Lattice — Best for growth-stage companies wanting integrated performance management
- Spidergap — Best standalone dedicated 360 tool (no HRIS required)
- Culture Amp — Best for enterprise teams with complex competency models
- Google Forms — Best free DIY option
- SurveyMonkey — Best budget option with more polish
#1 Pick
Lattice is the default choice for mid-market companies (50-1000 employees) that want 360 feedback as part of a larger performance system. Goals, reviews, engagement surveys, 1:1s, and 360s all live in one place. Your data connects. Your employees don’t have to learn five different tools.
The 360 module itself is solid. You can customize competency frameworks, control who gives feedback to whom, and set different visibility levels for different audiences. Managers see aggregated results. Employees see what you decide they should see. HR sees everything.
Why I picked this
Lattice’s real strength is the integration. 360 feedback doesn’t exist in a vacuum—it feeds into self-assessments, goal-setting, and development plans. When your 360 results live alongside your OKRs and performance reviews, you get a complete picture instead of scattered data points.
The UI is clean. Your employees will actually use it without complaining. That matters more than you’d think—360 feedback only works if people complete the surveys. Lattice makes the experience painless enough that response rates stay high.
The reporting is strong. You can track feedback trends over time, compare results across teams, and identify areas for improvement at both individual and organizational levels.
The tradeoff: Lattice requires a sales call and a $4,000 minimum annual commitment. You can’t just sign up and start running 360s tomorrow. And if all you need is occasional 360 assessments, you’re paying for a lot of platform you won’t use.
The honest answer: Lattice is overkill if you just want to run 360s. It’s the right call when you want 360s as part of a complete performance management system.
Key features for 360 feedback
- Customizable competencies — Build your own framework or use templates
- Flexible visibility settings — Control who sees what (manager, employee, HR)
- Multi-rater workflows — Peers, managers, direct reports, cross-functional partners
- Development planning — Connect 360 insights to growth goals
- Trend tracking — See how feedback changes over review cycles
Skip this if…
- You just need standalone 360 assessments—you’re overpaying for platform features
- Your budget is under $4,000/year—Lattice won’t negotiate below the minimum
- You want to start today—the sales process takes time
- You already have an HRIS with performance features—you’ll have overlap
#2 Pick
Spidergap does one thing well: 360-degree feedback. Nothing else. No HRIS features, no goal tracking, no engagement surveys. Just 360s.
This makes it the obvious choice if you already have an HR platform and just need to bolt on 360 feedback capabilities. Over 3,000 organizations in 134 countries use it. The pay-per-assessment model means you’re not locked into a subscription you won’t use.
Why I picked this
Spidergap’s focus shows in the product. The questionnaire builder is flexible—you can create custom competency frameworks or start from their validated templates. The reports are detailed and actionable, not just data dumps.
The anonymity controls are thoughtful. You can require minimum response thresholds before showing results (so feedback from a team of two doesn’t reveal who said what). You can set different anonymity levels for different rater groups. These details matter when you’re asking people to give honest feedback about their colleagues.
The first assessment is free with no credit card required. You can actually try it before committing anything. That’s rare.
ISO 27001 and GDPR compliant. Your data stays secure, and you can tell European colleagues the tool meets their requirements.
The honest answer: Spidergap won’t replace your HRIS. It won’t track OKRs. It won’t run engagement surveys. If you need those things, look elsewhere. But if you need 360s done right without platform lock-in, this is it.
Key features for 360 feedback
- Pay-per-assessment — No wasted subscription fees
- Validated questionnaire templates — Start fast with proven frameworks
- Anonymity safeguards — Minimum response thresholds, configurable visibility
- Self-service reporting — Employees access their own results
- Coaching integration — Export results for development conversations
Skip this if…
- You want 360s integrated with performance reviews—Spidergap is standalone only
- You need real-time continuous feedback—this is built for periodic assessments
- You want one platform for all HR—look at Lattice or your existing HRIS
- Your team is under 10 people—360s don’t work well at small scale
#3 Pick
Culture Amp is the enterprise play. Deep analytics, sophisticated competency frameworks, industry benchmarking. When your 1,500-person company needs to understand how your engineering managers compare to industry peers—and slice that data by tenure, location, and department—Culture Amp delivers.
Three tiers: Self-starter (25-200 employees), Standard (200-1000), Enterprise (1000+). The feature set scales with company size and complexity.
Why I picked this
Culture Amp’s strength is analytics depth. The 360 results don’t just tell you what people said—they tell you what it means in context. How does this manager compare to other managers at similar companies? Which competencies most predict team performance in your organization? What patterns appear across your leadership team?
The competency framework builder is powerful. You can model complex multi-level competencies, weight different behaviors, and create role-specific variations. If you have a sophisticated L&D team that cares about this stuff, they’ll appreciate the flexibility.
The benchmarking data is genuine. Culture Amp has enough customers that the comparisons are statistically meaningful, not just marketing fluff.
The tradeoff: You’re paying enterprise prices for enterprise features. Self-starter tier starts around $9/user/month, but Enterprise can run $43k-74k annually for 1000+ employees. If you don’t need the analytics depth, you’re overpaying.
Fair warning: Culture Amp is a platform sale. Expect a multi-week procurement process with demos, security reviews, and contract negotiations. This isn’t a tool you spin up in an afternoon.
Key features for 360 feedback
- Industry benchmarking — Compare results to peer companies
- Advanced analytics — Slice data by any employee attribute
- Competency modeling — Build sophisticated multi-level frameworks
- Science-backed methodology — Templates designed by I/O psychologists
- Action planning — Convert insights to tracked development goals
Skip this if…
- You’re under 200 employees—the complexity isn’t worth it
- You need quick implementation—Culture Amp has a learning curve
- Budget is tight—enterprise pricing reflects enterprise features
- You just want simple 360s—too much tool for basic needs
Honorable mentions
#4
Google Forms
- Completely free
- No per-user pricing
- Manual compilation required
Google Forms is the scrappy option for teams that don’t want to pay for dedicated 360 software. Create a form, add your questions, send it out. Results land in a spreadsheet. Someone on your team compiles them manually.
The Feedback 360 add-on for Google Sheets adds basic automation—form distribution, reminders, report generation—while staying in Google Workspace. Worth installing if you’re running more than a handful of assessments.
For guidance on what questions to ask and how to structure competencies, AIHR’s free 360 guide walks through the methodology, not just the mechanics.
Choose this if: You’re under 30 people, running 360s once or twice a year, and someone has time to wrangle spreadsheets. Zero cost beats paying $4k+ for software you’ll barely use.
Skip it if: You need anonymity guarantees. With small teams, it’s obvious who said what. No minimum response thresholds. No audit trails. HR and legal may not love this approach.
#5
SurveyMonkey
- Free tier available (limited)
- From $25/month for Team Advantage
- Better analytics than Google Forms
SurveyMonkey sits between free Google Forms and expensive dedicated 360 tools. The interface is more polished. The analytics are better. You get basic skip logic and branching. It looks more professional when you send it to employees.
The free tier works for very basic use, but you’ll hit limits fast (10 questions, 40 responses per survey). Team Advantage at $25/month removes most restrictions and adds collaboration features.
Still not purpose-built for 360s—you’re using a general survey tool. No competency frameworks, no automated multi-rater workflows, no development planning integration. But for occasional assessments at small companies, it works.
Choose this if: You want something more polished than Google Forms without the commitment of dedicated 360 software. Good middle ground for teams of 20-75.
Skip it if: You need real 360 features like anonymity thresholds, calibration, or trend tracking. At that point, Spidergap’s pay-per-assessment model may cost less than fighting SurveyMonkey’s limitations.
How to choose
Choose Lattice if you’re building a complete performance management system and want 360s integrated with goals, reviews, and engagement. The $4k minimum makes sense for 50+ employee companies investing in their people stack.
Choose Spidergap if you already have an HRIS and just need to add 360 capabilities. The pay-per-assessment model means no wasted subscription. Best for periodic assessments at mid-sized companies.
Choose Culture Amp if you’re an enterprise team that needs sophisticated analytics, industry benchmarking, and complex competency frameworks. Worth the premium if you’ll actually use the depth.
Choose Google Forms if you’re a small team running occasional 360s and don’t want to pay for software. Free, flexible, but requires manual work and lacks anonymity safeguards.
Choose SurveyMonkey if you want something more polished than Google Forms but aren’t ready for dedicated 360 software. Good middle ground for teams of 20-75.
Already have an HR platform with performance features? Check if your existing HR tool includes 360 capabilities before adding another system. Many HRIS platforms offer 360s as add-ons.
The decision tree:
- Need 360s integrated with full performance management? → Lattice (mid-market) or Culture Amp (enterprise)
- Just need standalone 360 assessments? → Spidergap
- Small team, tight budget? → Google Forms (free) or SurveyMonkey (cheap)
- Under 20 employees? → Consider if 360s make sense at your scale—self-assessments may be enough
What is 360-degree feedback?
360-degree feedback collects input about an employee’s performance from multiple perspectives: managers, peers, direct reports, and sometimes external partners. Unlike traditional top-down reviews where only your manager rates you, 360s give a fuller picture by incorporating viewpoints from everyone you work with.
The “360” refers to the full circle of feedback—from above (manager), beside (peers), and below (direct reports). Some organizations add self-assessment and external feedback to complete the picture.
360s work best for:
- Leadership development and coaching
- Identifying blind spots in self-perception
- Building feedback culture
- Calibrating how employees rate themselves against how others see them
They don’t replace performance reviews. They supplement them with richer data about how someone shows up across different working relationships.