TrustRadius: an HG Insights company

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Firstup

    Score9.1 out of 10
    N/AFirstup (formerly Dynamic Signal & SocialChorus, merged in 2021) offers an Employee Communication and Engagement Platform that aims to create a connected, inclusive, and engaged workforce where people feel valued and empowered to be their best. Firstup can be used to generate UGC, enabling employees to share on-brand content with their social networks​, and keep employees engaged with gamification (e.g. leaderboards, competitions, etc.), and through making their thoughts known through surveys…N/A

    Higher Logic Vanilla

    Score5.5 out of 10
    N/AHigher Logic Vanilla is a customizable and themable forum software. It can be used for support communities, Q&A Communities and more. There are numerous integrations, including SSO, and connectors to popular software such as Mailchimp, WordPress, Zendesk and Salesforce.N/A
    Pricing
    FirstupHigher Logic Vanilla
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Essential
    Contact sales team
    Corporate
    Contact sales team
    Enterprise
    Contact sales team
    Enterprise Plus
    Contact sales team
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    FirstupHigher Logic Vanilla
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    YesYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeRequiredNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
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    FirstupHigher Logic Vanilla
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    Workplace from Meta (discontinued)
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    Score8.9 out of 10
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    Workvivo
    Score9.4 out of 10
    Khoros Communities
    Score8.2 out of 10
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    Verint Community
    Score10 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    FirstupHigher Logic Vanilla
    Likelihood to Recommend
    7.7
    (16 ratings)
    9.0
    (10 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    FirstupHigher Logic Vanilla
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Firstup (Dynamic Signal + SocialChorus)
    Firstup is a well-suited solution for companies that would like to spread brand awareness and get employees to be their number one ambassadors. Employees like to share/brag about the company they work for so why not use them as a driving force in spreading brand awareness!
    Incentivized
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    Higher Logic
    For companies that want to customize almost anything and make the forum look like your site, Vanilla Forums is the one for you. Customization and automation of the data via the API with other systems is more than possible and they serve to be great as a hosting provider, dealing with all the upgrades, deployments and maintenance and threat management well. I would say they might be less turn key for a small application but the fact they have an open source community, the ability to find help and information can lower the barrier of entry for most.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Firstup (Dynamic Signal + SocialChorus)
    • Intuitive, easy-to-use templates for posts, newsletters and email notifications.
    • Consistent upgrades and innovation that keeps the tool current with other apps.
    • Flexibility on how users can use the tool (i.e. comments, sharing photos, etc.) This decision is left to each organization, individually.
    Read full review
    Higher Logic
    • Gamification: The ability to incentivise community members to get involved with ranks and badges is one of the main reasons that we purchased the tool.
    • Support: The Vanilla support team are incredible, often responding to issues very late at night and proactively fixing issues as soon as they occur.
    • Customisation: Vanilla can be completely styled with css allowing us to match it to the branding of the rest of our website.
    Incentivized
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    Cons
    Firstup (Dynamic Signal + SocialChorus)
    • We'd love to see a calendar added that would show key upcoming dates.
    • It would be awesome if the Message feature had a drop-down directory you could scroll through vs. requiring you to type a few letters before the potential names came up.
    Incentivized
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    Higher Logic
    • There are some features I wish Vanilla would implement that could improve ease of use in our specific community, but some of the ideas we have are not necessarily something that would benefit all of the forums that Vanilla works with.
    • In the past, we've had issues with releases breaking some of our specific site features they built for us, but this has improved drastically recently.
    Incentivized
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    Usability
    Firstup (Dynamic Signal + SocialChorus)
    No answers on this topic
    Higher Logic
    It is very intuitive and simple to operate. Our customers immediately came up with the curve and began contributing content.
    Incentivized
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    Support Rating
    Firstup (Dynamic Signal + SocialChorus)
    No answers on this topic
    Higher Logic
    They did an amazing job transferring our content from GetSatisfaction. We had almost 100% success in the transfer of 8 years worth of content.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Firstup (Dynamic Signal + SocialChorus)
    I can't really answer this as the platform was already in place when I took my current role.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Higher Logic
    From a footprint standpoint, Vanilla has less technical bloat than vbulletin or InVision, and it outdoes Lithium as far as features and service go. The bloat of other services and ability to use new ways of engaging communities such as through Reactions are part of the reason Vanilla was selected. However, the features are better on a couple more seasoned platforms and more equipped to deal with issues and technical problems.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Firstup (Dynamic Signal + SocialChorus)
    • We look at the earned media revenue tool that Firstup has, and we have earned media of over $4000 most months. Amazing!
    • We have been recognized by peers, clients, and partner agents who say they always see our Hilldrup news pop up on social media!
    • Marketing has been able to control the voice of the brand while amplifying the message to new audiences - amazing!
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Higher Logic
    • Increased uptime and overall speed in the forum (compared to our previous phpbb solution)
    • Increased usage by users which resulted in a higher pages/session in a short amount of time
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Higher Logic Vanilla Screenshots

    Screenshot of Looks great on any device, including desktop, tablet or mobile device.Screenshot of We offer over 60 plugins that can add functionality to your community.Screenshot of Many different themes to choose from, which you can further customize as you like.Screenshot of You have full access to edit HTML and CSS of your theme, to make any changes you need.