7 Best Donut for Slack Alternatives (Updated for 2026)

Slack is one of the most widely used workplace communication platforms. It’s where teams collaborate, share updates, and keep work moving.

But while Slack is great for communication, it isn’t designed to automatically build connection, celebrate milestones, onboard new hires, or run structured people programs. As teams grow and become more distributed, those gaps become more obvious.

That’s where Slack apps come in.

One of the most established apps in this category is Donut. Known for its coffee chat introductions and virtual watercooler prompts, Donut helped popularise connection programs inside Slack.

In this guide, we’ll take a closer look at Donut and explore 7 alternatives that can help you strengthen connection, recognition, and engagement directly inside Slack.

What is Donut for Slack?

Donut is a Slack-first employee engagement platform best known for its automated coffee chat introductions. It popularised the “virtual watercooler” concept and later expanded into broader connection programs and lightweight people workflows.

Today, Donut supports introductions, watercooler prompts, birthday and anniversary celebrations, onboarding journeys, and peer recognition.

🤩 Pros

• Strong 1:1 coffee chat pairing through its Intros feature

• Watercooler prompts to spark casual channel conversations

• Birthday and work anniversary announcements

• Journeys feature for onboarding-style message sequences

• Well-known and widely adopted in Slack ecosystems

😭 Cons

• Expensive as your team grows, with pricing increasing alongside headcount

• Key features like peer recognition locked behind higher tiers

• Primarily centred around introductions and prompts rather than broader engagement or learning workflows

• Video events rely on Gatheround rather than being fully Slack-native

• Can feel limited if you want celebrations, connection, training, and feedback all in one system

7 Donut For Slack Alternatives

1. Doozy

Doozy is a Slack-first people operations platform designed to help teams automate introductions, celebrations, onboarding, training, and feedback — all without leaving Slack.

Rather than focusing on just coffee chats or just trivia, Doozy combines structured connection with practical HR workflows. It’s built for People and L&D teams who want to run repeatable programs directly inside Slack, while still keeping engagement high.

Pros

• Doozy Roulette for automated 1:1, trio, or group introductions

• Birthday and work anniversary celebrations with digital signing cards

• Custom cards for farewells, congratulations, and other milestones

• Shoutouts for peer recognition via slash command

• Tracks for onboarding and multi-step training workflows

• Quizzes with scoring, reminders, and completion tracking

• Polls and multi-question surveys, including eNPS-style feedback

• Built-in analytics to measure participation across features

• Optional video rooms for live sessions and socials

• HRIS integrations for automatic data sync

Cons

• Designed exclusively for Slack workspaces

• Broader feature set than simple pairing tools, so best suited for teams that want structured programs rather than just casual chats

Try Doozy for free →

2. Shuffl.ai

Shuffl.ai focuses on connecting teammates through introductions and structured prompts.

It includes three main features: bios and intros, group activities, and feedback sharing.

Pros

• Encourages personal connections through profiles and interests

• Simple and lightweight

• Free tier available

Cons

• Activities typically require Zoom or Google Meet

• Limited interactive content inside Slack

• Fewer structured games compared to some alternatives

Pricing starts at $50 per month for up to 50 members.

Visit Shuffl.ai →

3. Watercoolertrivia

Watercooler Trivia delivers weekly quizzes directly into Slack channels.

After a four week free trial, pricing is $1 per participant per month.

Pros

• Fresh trivia questions every week

• Affordable for small teams

• Easy to run

Cons

• Limited to trivia format

• Engagement happens only weekly

• No broader engagement features

Best for teams that simply want light trivia without additional social features.

Visit Watercooler Trivia →

4. Springworks Trivia

Springworks Trivia offers quizzes, icebreakers, and virtual team activities. It also includes a web platform for more advanced sessions.

Pros

• Wide range of quizzes and activities

• Web based tools such as whiteboards

• Engagement reporting

Cons

• Activities are mostly text based

• Limited transparency on quiz categories before installing

Suitable for teams that want structured trivia sessions with analytics.

Visit Springworks Trivia →

5. Twine

Twine focuses on video meetups and onboarding support. It prompts teammates to schedule video calls using its web platform.

Pros

• Easy setup

• Free Slack app

• Pricing starts at $25 per host

Cons

• No interactive features within Slack

• No built in games or icebreakers

• Relies on external video calls

Twine is a good option if your primary goal is facilitating recurring video meetups.

Visit Twine →

6. Snack

Snack organizes low-effort one-on-one video meetings with icebreakers that can help your team or conference build a better rapport. The app is currently not approved at the time of writing this article (Nov/22).

🤩 Pros

• You can automate scheduling your meetings with teammates in Slack

• Topical icebreakers for the meetings

😭 Cons

• The Slack App is currently not approved

• No regular content updates

Visit Snack →

7. bored.social

bored.social offers trivia, icebreakers, and casual games for Slack teams. It currently operates in beta.

Pros

• Variety of quizzes and games

• Includes web based game experiences

• Free during beta

Cons

• Product and pricing may change

• Limited customization

• Not focused exclusively on workplace engagement

A decent option for teams that want casual gaming elements in Slack.

Visit bored.social →

Choosing the Right Donut Alternative

There are many ways to build connection inside Slack.

Some tools focus purely on introductions. Others specialize in trivia. A few combine celebrations, games, and automated engagement into a single experience.

If your goal is to:

• Celebrate milestones automatically

• Run daily engagement without manual effort

• Keep everything inside Slack

• Avoid juggling multiple tools

An all in one solution may be the better fit.

If you want to explore a platform designed specifically to connect and celebrate teams inside Slack, you can try Doozy and get set up in minutes.

We think Doozy is the best way to onboard, train and celebrate teams in Slack. Give us a try for free and you'll be up and running in a matter of minutes. Try for free.