# Kona Reviews **Vendor:** Kona **Category:** [Project Management Tools Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/project-management-tools) **Average Rating:** 4.8/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 14 ## About Kona Kona is a well-being and burnout platform for people-first teams. ## Kona Reviews ### 1. Great tool for connecting with a remote team **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Hamish M. | Senior Software Engineer, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 26, 2023 **What do you like best about Kona?** I lead a Growth Engineering team at Buffer. We've used Kona for the last six months, and I've found it very helpful for connecting us as a team. We've got a full spread from Australia to Europe to North America, so it's difficult for us to meet on the same call. Kona has been great as a way to check in and connect. We can read each other's status, react, and respond. It's nice that it's not about work. We do status updates and work together on project management tools, but Kona is where we can share how we do in our daily lives. That openness that Kona has created with our team and that vulnerability to share your feelings has been great for me as a manager. It's improved our one-on-ones, interactions, and culture as a team. **What do you dislike about Kona?** Sometimes figuring out the right schedule is hard. I've had my team say the daily check-ins can feel like "too much" and I saw some engagement dip over time, so I'm still tweaking to find the best setup for us. **What problems is Kona solving and how is that benefiting you?** Kona creates a space for my team to talk about how they're feeling, even if it's just to share that they're having a "low" day. It helps me keep a pulse on my team, which can be hard as a fully remote manager, even with regular 1:1s. ### 2. Kona is the best team engagement tool I've ever used **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** David O. | Founder, CEO, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 25, 2022 **What do you like best about Kona?** The Red-Yellow-Green daily check-ins make me doubly prepared for 1-1s as I can see at a glance how my team has been doing in and outside of work. Can’t recommend Kona enough. **What do you dislike about Kona?** Nothing I can think of as it stands today, and I'm typically quite critical when it comes to choosing software to roll out in my company. An area for improvement in the future would be more integrations, but I believe this is already on the roadmap. **What problems is Kona solving and how is that benefiting you?** Kona takes psychological safety in the workplace very seriously. Kona helps to promote transparency across my team by surfacing issues before they get too big to resolve. I manage a globally distributed team of five. Kona helps me build the most psychologically safe environment for my team to do their best work. It's great to get a pulse check on how each person is feeling daily, whilst notifying me of potential team burnout. The best thing about Kona is the smart notifications it sends once it senses you or your team need help! Simply put, it's by far the best engagement tool I've ever used. ### 3. My go-to tool for monitoring team health and burnout **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Laura Z. | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 14, 2023 **What do you like best about Kona?** Kona gives me daily pulse what's happening with my team, their mental health, and their capacity to do their best work. In a remote environment, this is extremely critical as I can't get this information like you would in an office setting--observing them in the office, chatting with them between meetings or focus hours, etc. Having the regular morning check-in always ensures that I keep the team top of mind in my approach for my work as their manager as I begin my day as well. **What do you dislike about Kona?** There's not much I dislike. So this is reaching. I think the most challenging part of Kona is its reliance on its integration with Slack. Sometimes this is good. It means things like check-ins are happening on a tool we already use regularly and are familiar with. But some of the newer features get missed by the team, because they aren't in the habit of checking their messages from Apps on the platform vs. checking messages that are directly in the channels they interact with on a regular basis. **What problems is Kona solving and how is that benefiting you?** Kona helps me lead my team with empathy and establish deeper relationships with and between them while working remotely. This in turn ensures that it's easier for each member to assume positive intent about our actions with other, provides us context for when someone might be having an off day, and gives us opportunities to support each other on days where we may be struggling. Last but not least, Kona helps me anticipate when a member of my team may be experiencing burnout and allows me to proactively address that with them before it becomes a critical problem. ### 4. Kona is a fantastic tool to have in your toolbox **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Kim R. | Principal People Partner, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 08, 2023 **What do you like best about Kona?** What I find really valuable about Kona is that it gives you that daily or weekly spot check, and it puts it right there in Slack so you can easily see the emotional experience people are having. It's valuable to know what kind of headspace people are in day to day; it's valuable insight if I’m going into a meeting with someone or when I'm checking in with the team. **What do you dislike about Kona?** Honestly, nothing right now. The team is super responsive if things are buggy (occasionally, not often), and has been awesome at implementing features or improvements that we've recommended. **What problems is Kona solving and how is that benefiting you?** We're a fully distributed team, located in 70 countries around the world, so it can be hard to get a sense of the "vibe" or emotional experience our employees are having on a day to day basis. Kona helps us better understand what people are experiencing, how they're feeling, and how the company can better support them. ### 5. Using Kona to manage my team's overall wellness and helping them manage their own wellness **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Richard G. | Director Support, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 07, 2023 **What do you like best about Kona?** Kona is always evolving and adding new features (fairly quickly) by listening to the market and their end users. It's helping me as a manager manage my team and helping my team stay engaged and aware of their own mental health. **What do you dislike about Kona?** Nothing to be honest. For myself though as a manager I think it could be helpful to understand when to use the web app dashboard vs. solely remaining in slack. What's in the dashboard that isn't in slack? **What problems is Kona solving and how is that benefiting you?** It's solving day to day management of my team from an overall mental health awareness standpoint. Something that is often overlooked since we're all so focused on day to day operations and the "work". ### 6. Kona is a straightforward but powerful tool for connecting teams **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Hailley G. | Public Relations Manager, Public Relations and Communications, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 09, 2023 **What do you like best about Kona?** I love how simple it is to do a daily check in across the team, and yet how powerful it can be to have everyone be aligned. I'm also in awe of how wonderful their Kona app is at sending along suggestions when a teammate isn't doing great. Kona is helping our fully remote team feel more connected every day. **What do you dislike about Kona?** There really isn't anything that comes to mind! **What problems is Kona solving and how is that benefiting you?** Kona assists with daily check ins for our fully remote team and helping managers keep a better pulse on whether the team or a specific teammate might be having a more difficult time and could be at risk of burnout. ### 7. Kona is a necessity for remote work **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Software | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 01, 2023 **What do you like best about Kona?** In a remote work environment, it's easy to miss out on nonverbal cues and organic touchpoints that help you understand how those on your team are doing. Kona bridges that gap by inviting genuine conversation, encouraging check-ins, and providing actionable data and helpful strategies. **What do you dislike about Kona?** Kona is only as good as the team that uses it and the data flowing in and out. If you aren't able to implement the necessary change management to get your team to check in regularly, foster conversation, and promote use of management tools, you won't get as much value from it. **What problems is Kona solving and how is that benefiting you?** Kona allows us to be intentional about building a culture of connectedness while remote. For my team, that means understanding how they can best show up for each other each day. For me, that's having a pulse on trends in team engagement over time. I know exactly where we excel and where we can improve, which ultimately leads to greater employee satisfaction. ### 8. Effective workflow with Kona **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Amit K. | Manager, Mining & Metals, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 25, 2023 **What do you like best about Kona?** I used Kona Software while I was in Tata Steel. And helped me in my work experience. I like about its interface that makes managing tasks and projects a boom for me. The customizable features allow me to adjust to my needs, helping my project on track. This is my personal experience **What do you dislike about Kona?** As per my opinion I don't have dislike but thought tool need in slack intrigation **What problems is Kona solving and how is that benefiting you?** It's slove my problem like making the workflow more easy understandable. The interactive visual tools enhance team collaboration, enabling us to tackle challenges without any problem. ### 9. Love Kona! **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Software | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 15, 2023 **What do you like best about Kona?** Our distributed team spans from Missouri to Nigeria, through to London and Copenhagen. Kona is helping us connect on a daily basis and support each other when life or work is not quite going the way we want it to go. It is a great way to share how we feel, embed transparency in the team and build trust, even though we're sitting thousands of kilometers away from each other. Kona allows everybody in the team to support or acknowledge someone else's updates and only takes 5 seconds every day (literally!) which is why it is widely adopted in the team. Kona participates to better mental health, inclusion, and belonging in our team. I can't think of not having Kona in any team I would work with! **What do you dislike about Kona?** There is nothing that we dislike. The team is great to work with, resources are super insightful, the app works well. **What problems is Kona solving and how is that benefiting you?** As a distributed team Kona helps building trust and connection, essential to enabling critical conversations. Kona is enabling remote leadership to keep an eye on their team members health and well being, as well as for the team to rally and provide support to one another, ### 10. Connect with Team using KONA! **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Astha A. | Analyst, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 03, 2023 **What do you like best about Kona?** With today's Work From Home and Hybrid working culture Kona has allowed us to keep engaged with our team on a constant basis. It has proved to be really helpful! **What do you dislike about Kona?** Had used Kona is my firm, and I was very satisfied with it. Nothing to be disappointed about! **What problems is Kona solving and how is that benefiting you?** Kona has been really helpful to manage the team and cater to the Work From Home and Hybrid working culture. Using Kona, we kept engaged with our team. With no time, Kona had become a habit! ### 11. Great tool for connecting **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Financial Services | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 27, 2023 **What do you like best about Kona?** Having regular check-ins with peers so we can see how everyone is doing. It allows us to lean on each other more as a team. **What do you dislike about Kona?** Sometimes the AI is slightly off, which isn't a significant deterrent. With time, I'd love to see more transparent and in-depth insights on the dashboard. **What problems is Kona solving and how is that benefiting you?** Daily check-ins as a manager while collecting that data to spot correlations to help make effective decisions as a people manager. ### 12. Kona helps our team stay connected in a remote environment **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Laura Z. | Director, Product Design, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 21, 2022 **What do you like best about Kona?** Kona is not like other status update tools. Kona updates are focused on how we're doing as humans. It helps the team stay connected as people first, work second. Bonding as a team in a fully remote work culture can be incredibly difficult. Kona turns it into a daily habit and ritual for my team. We're all responsible for and at liberty to care for and check in on each other. As the team's manager, it provides me insights around team health -- who might be moving toward burnout or who's in a groove and might be able to help others out. I'm also able to glean some insights on how psychologically safe the team is feeling at any given moment. **What do you dislike about Kona?** There's nothing I particularly dislike. I think there's a lot of room for improvement in the automated data and insights the tool surfaces. If I were to pick on one thing, it can be a little challenging to onboard the tool and get it set up in Slack channels. The team is always super responsive though when I need help on getting settings fixed or reconfigured though. **What problems is Kona solving and how is that benefiting you?** It helps me be a more holistic manager for my team. I'm not just asking them to report on work to me (or each other) all the time. I can care for them as people first and then we can work through the work together as a team. Other benefits include helping my team weather a relatively tough year of change at our company mostly intact (low attrition for my team) and I believe our use of Kona has also contributed to positive performance reviews for both myself and my team. ### 13. Kona is a great tool to build team connections and help us help each other as teammates. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Nic R. | Head of Engineering, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 23, 2022 **What do you like best about Kona?** Kona integrates with Slack, making it incredibly easy to use. The notifications and reminders are very helpful. I get a ton of value out of the reminders before each 1:1 meeting, and my team often uses the check-ins as a way to help each other out. **What do you dislike about Kona?** Sometimes the tool can be a bit buggy, but the team is usually quick to fix the bugs. They're very hands-on and helpful whenever we have issues. The tool is a bit limited in features today, but it still delivers a ton of value. **What problems is Kona solving and how is that benefiting you?** Kona helps us build better relationships across the team and between individuals, which helps us engage and retain our team members better than before. We see strong ROI because most other tools don't focus on the areas that Kona does. ### 14. The anchor of our teams culture. **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Financial Services | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 30, 2022 **What do you like best about Kona?** The fact that it is daily and takes a little bit of work - requires me to think separately about culture, and think about how I am doing every day. It means I can see each day how my team is doing. **What do you dislike about Kona?** The product is simple to use and I think it could have more features. However I am not sure yet if this is a feature or a bug. It is highly effective though, so i am not sure if making changes would be an improvement. **Recommendations to others considering Kona:** Make certain to be deliberate making sure the team uses the tool every day for the first month, to build a habit. **What problems is Kona solving and how is that benefiting you?** Checking in with my team, making sure I know how people are doing well. Realized the importance of being aware of when people are down 10-15% one day, which can become 30-40% with a few days. Ordinarily, I wouldn't normally see that until it would get worse. Whereas now I can spot problems before they impact my team. ## Kona Discussions - [What is Kona used for?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-kona-used-for) - [View Kona pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/kona/reviews?section=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-05-16+02%3A59%3A27+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=11309e42-3e77-41a0-9900-a2b384a7c9d1&secure%5Btoken%5D=47be13bb1a05daf97f1473df2b96d4e3c2a0490db00f79ba1cd4a03de9478f28&format=llm_user) ## Top Kona Alternatives - [Gmelius](https://www.g2.com/products/gmelius/reviews) - 4.4/5.0 (756 reviews) - [Zoho Sprints](https://www.g2.com/products/zoho-sprints/reviews) - 4.5/5.0 (176 reviews) - [Reclaim.ai](https://www.g2.com/products/reclaim-ai/reviews) - 4.8/5.0 (138 reviews)