Comparison
Signedup or a full internal comms platform
The established platforms do a great deal, and are bought the way enterprise software is bought. This is for the team that needs one part of that, this quarter.
What the platforms actually give you
A great deal, and it is worth being clear about it. A modern internal communications platform will typically give you a way to compose and send branded email, a mobile app so that staff without a desk receive push notifications, an intranet or news feed, digital signage, surveys, translation, campaign planning, and analytics that tie all of it together. For an organisation of several thousand people with a communications function of several people, that integration is the product, and assembling the same thing from parts would be a worse idea.
They are also enterprise software, and are bought like it. Pricing is by quote rather than published, contracts are annual, and there is usually an implementation phase involving your IT department before anybody sends anything. None of that is a criticism: it is what serious software for large organisations looks like, and the alternative would be worse for the organisations that need it.
Who this page is actually for
The problem is what exists below that. A very large number of internal lists are run by one person who did not choose this job: an employee network chair, a site lead, somebody who volunteered for the departmental newsletter. They have a few hundred people, no budget line, and no realistic path to a procurement process that takes a quarter.
For them the choice has genuinely been a spreadsheet or nothing. That is the gap this fills, and it is why it is priced to be paid for on a card rather than through a purchase order.
Side by side
A suite against a single tool. The rows in the platform's favour are the honest majority.
| A full internal comms platform | Signedup | |
|---|---|---|
| Sends internal email | Yes, with templates and analytics | No |
| Employee app, intranet, digital signage | Typically yes | No |
| Cross-channel engagement reporting | Yes | No |
| Directory and HR system integration | Yes | Not yet |
| Single sign-on | Yes | Planned, not built |
| How it is bought | By quote, annual contract, through procurement | On a card, in about four minutes |
| Time to a working list | An implementation project | The same afternoon |
| People maintain their own record | Varies by platform and configuration | Yes, and it is the entire idea |
| Cost of colleagues who administer lists | Commonly per seat | Unlimited and free on every plan |
| Suits a communications team of one | Rarely, on cost alone | Yes, that is who it is for |
A full internal communications platform compared with Signedup
Sends internal email
- A full internal comms platform
- Yes, with templates and analytics
- Signedup
- No
Employee app, intranet, digital signage
- A full internal comms platform
- Typically yes
- Signedup
- No
Cross-channel engagement reporting
- A full internal comms platform
- Yes
- Signedup
- No
Directory and HR system integration
- A full internal comms platform
- Yes
- Signedup
- Not yet
Single sign-on
- A full internal comms platform
- Yes
- Signedup
- Planned, not built
How it is bought
- A full internal comms platform
- By quote, annual contract, through procurement
- Signedup
- On a card, in about four minutes
Time to a working list
- A full internal comms platform
- An implementation project
- Signedup
- The same afternoon
People maintain their own record
- A full internal comms platform
- Varies by platform and configuration
- Signedup
- Yes, and it is the entire idea
Cost of colleagues who administer lists
- A full internal comms platform
- Commonly per seat
- Signedup
- Unlimited and free on every plan
Suits a communications team of one
- A full internal comms platform
- Rarely, on cost alone
- Signedup
- Yes, that is who it is for
They are not mutually exclusive
Some organisations run both, and it is a sensible arrangement. The platform carries the organisation-wide programme: the leadership message, the mandatory notice, the app. The preference centre carries the long tail of optional, self-selecting audiences that a central team should not have to administer at all - the cycling group, the parents' network, the volunteering scheme, the site social committee.
That split has a practical benefit beyond tidiness. It keeps the optional traffic off the channel everybody must read, which is what preserves the authority of that channel for the day something urgent goes out on it.
Questions people ask
Is this a replacement for a platform like Staffbase or Poppulo?
No. Those are suites covering email, apps, intranets and analytics, and Signedup does one part of one of those things. If you need multichannel reach and cross-channel reporting, they are the right purchase and this is not a substitute for them.
Then why would an organisation that has one also use this?
For the optional, self-selecting audiences that a central team should not have to administer: interest groups, employee networks, site social committees. Letting those run themselves keeps them off the channel everybody is required to read, which is what keeps that channel worth reading.
Do you integrate with our HR system or directory?
Not today. Single sign-on and directory synchronisation are planned and are not built, and the comparison above says so rather than implying a roadmap item is a feature. Today people join by following a link or scanning a poster, or you import a list you already hold.
What does it cost, and can I see the price?
Yes, on the pricing page, without a call. It is priced on how many people are on your lists, colleagues who administer them are unlimited and free, and there is a thirty day trial that needs no card. That is a deliberate contrast: if you cannot see a price before speaking to somebody, you cannot plan.
We are a small organisation. Is a platform overkill for us?
Very possibly, but that is your judgement rather than ours. The question worth asking is how many channels you genuinely need to coordinate. If the honest answer is one, a suite is a lot of software to buy and to run.
Other comparisons
Signedup or a spreadsheet
The most common alternative, and where its one structural weakness is.
Signedup or an Outlook or Microsoft 365 distribution list
Accurate about employment, silent on preference.
Signedup or Mailchimp or another marketing email tool
Sending tools solve the other half. How the two work together.
Signedup or an intranet form
Already approved and already paid for. Why the list still goes stale.
The smaller answer, if that is what you need
30 days, no card, no implementation project, and a published price.