Hives.co alternative and Hives pricing compared for US companies

Brainstormer puts the AI on the review side and includes it on every plan. You describe the company, set 3 to 6 strategic goals and open a challenge such as "Where do we lose the most hours between a customer order and the shipment?" Employees submit a sentence or two. AI expands each idea into a problem, a proposed solution, a first step and a success measure, so reviewers compare complete proposals instead of one liners.

Every idea is scored on impact, cost, risk and strategic fit against your goals, with a short written rationale your reviewers can accept or overrule. On Business and Enterprise the goals carry weights, so a company that cares twice as much about margin as about speed sees that in the ranking. Duplicates are merged with all authors and votes kept, ideas are grouped into themes, and each idea moves through seven decision stages with who, when and why recorded.

When the challenge closes, the board report lists the ranked shortlist, the themes, how many ideas reached each stage and a recommendation. That is the document you take into the leadership meeting. See how it works for an employee suggestion program or a time boxed innovation challenge.

Hives.co is one of the few vendors in this category that publishes prices, and it shows them in four currencies. In US dollars, billed yearly, Core is $795 a month for 500 contributors, 2 managers, unlimited collections, custom workflows and SSO with Microsoft and Google. Pro is $1,695 a month and adds 10 managers, 10,000 contributors, 1,000 AI credits and custom branding. Enterprise is $2,295 a month with unlimited contributors, SAML, multiple hives and a personal customer success manager. Hives does not charge per user within those limits.

Brainstormer prices per company too. Team is $149 a month billed yearly ($1,788 a year) for up to 25 members. Business is $399 a month billed yearly ($4,788 a year) for up to 150 members, with weighted goals, the board report, the admin role and the decision trail CSV. Enterprise is $999 a month billed yearly ($11,988 a year) for up to 1,000 members. AI expansion and scoring are on all three.

Here is how the yearly bill compares. Up to 25 people: $1,788 on Brainstormer against $9,540 on Hives Core. Up to 150 people: $4,788 against $9,540. Between 151 and 500 people Hives Core is cheaper, $9,540 against $11,988 for Brainstormer Enterprise, as long as 2 managers and no AI credits are enough. If you need the Hives AI assistant, Pro is $20,340 a year. Above 1,000 people Brainstormer does not fit and Hives does. See every plan on the pricing page or how the category prices in idea management software pricing.

Be honest about the requirement before you switch. If frontline staff without company email must submit ideas, Hives lets anyone with the collection link or QR code take part, and Brainstormer invites members by email. If employees should submit from the Teams sidebar or Google Workspace, Hives integrates with both and Brainstormer does not. If IT requires single sign on, Hives includes Microsoft and Google SSO on every plan and SAML on Enterprise, and Brainstormer offers none.

Data residency is the other clear case. A company with European employees or a works council that requires EU hosting should take Hives seriously. And on price, a company of 200 to 500 people that only needs two managers pays less on Hives Core than on Brainstormer Enterprise. Brainstormer is the better fit when the program is under 150 people, when you want AI to expand and score every idea without a Pro upgrade, and when the bottleneck is turning ideas into a decision leadership will act on.

Brainstormer does not import ideas from other tools, so plan the move as a clean start rather than a migration. Export your collections from Hives and keep them as an archive. Pick the few open ideas leadership still cares about and enter them as the first ideas of a new challenge, so their authors see them carried forward.

Then set your goals, write one narrow challenge question with a deadline two to three weeks out, and invite people by email. The first challenge can be open the same day you sign up. If you are still comparing several vendors with published prices, the Ideawake alternative and Ideanote pricing pages cover two more, and the idea management software buyers guide lists the questions to ask each one.