Best Donut Alternatives for Microsoft Teams in 2026

Donut runs in Microsoft Teams, but only one part of it. On Teams, Donut does Intros, the automatic coffee chat pairing it is known for. The rest of Donut is listed only for Slack. That means Watercooler prompts, Celebrations, Shoutouts and Journeys onboarding. So a Teams company comparing "Donut alternatives" is usually asking one of two questions. Is there a better pairing tool for Teams? Or what covers the jobs Donut does not do on Teams?

This guide answers both, with what each tool does inside Teams and what it costs, checked on October 19, 2026.

Quick answer. Keep Donut or use CoffeePals if you want coffee chat pairing in Teams. CoffeePals is the more complete Teams-first program. Use Halftime if one working team needs a daily shared ritual instead of pairs. Use Teamflect or Bonusly for recognition, Polly for polls, Water Cooler Trivia for a weekly quiz, and Mentimeter for live meetings.

What Donut does on Microsoft Teams, and what it leaves out

Donut's pricing page lists one plan for Microsoft Teams, Teams Free, at $0. It covers automatic pairing, unlimited Intros, Outlook calendar scheduling and custom frequency. Donut's help center describes Intros for Teams as live and free for early adopters, and says Teams pricing is not available yet.

Everything else Donut sells is listed under its Slack plans.

Donut does not publish a side-by-side Teams and Slack comparison. The table above comes from reading which plan lists which feature on Donut's pricing page and its Microsoft Teams FAQ. Check both if you are deciding today, because Donut may add Teams features later.

If pairing is the whole job, Donut on Teams is free and worth trying first. If you bought Donut on Slack for the channel energy, the prompts and the celebrations, those do not come across to Teams.

Best Donut alternatives for Microsoft Teams at a glance

How we checked these tools

We read each vendor's official pricing page and Microsoft Teams page on October 19, 2026, and compared the tools by the job they do, how they run inside Teams, whether they connect pairs or the whole team, and what a team of 15 would pay. Where a vendor's page left something unclear, such as whether a price is monthly or annual, we say so instead of guessing.

Halftime is our product. Its section says where it is the wrong choice, the same as every other tool here.

Several older "Donut for Teams" lists recommend Coffeeno, LEAD.bot and fikaTime. When we checked, all three domains pointed to domain-for-sale pages, so they are not included here.

Before the list, what problem are you solving?

"Engagement" covers too many jobs, which is why Donut alternatives lists feel random. Pick the job first.

• People across the company do not know each other. You want coffee chat pairing. Donut, CoffeePals or Random Coffee.
• One working team feels quiet. You want a shared ritual the whole team joins. Halftime.
• Good work goes unnoticed. You want recognition. Teamflect, Bonusly or Kudos.
• Managers need answers. You want polls and pulse checks. Polly.
• A meeting needs energy. You want live interaction. Mentimeter.

A pairing tool will not replace a poll, and a poll will not give the team something to play together. Many Teams companies end up with two tools, one for pairs and one for the whole team.

1. Halftime, best for a daily whole-team ritual

Best for. Remote and hybrid teams on Microsoft Teams that already work together but only talk about tasks.

Halftime is not a coffee chat tool. It covers the job Donut's Watercooler does on Slack, which Donut does not offer on Teams. Every workday, Halftime posts a two-minute game to your Teams channel. Teammates play in the browser whenever they have a gap, and the results come back to the channel. Over the week the team builds up a leaderboard, records and a weekly champion, which gives the channel something to talk about that is not a status update.

The games run in the browser, so nobody installs anything on a locked-down work laptop. Teams carries the opening reminder and the results through a Teams Workflows webhook, which is the posting method Microsoft now recommends.

Good fit when.

• The whole team should share the same moment, not just two people.
• You want connection without another meeting or a host.
• People are spread across time zones and need to join async.
• You want scores, records and weekly champions, not just a prompt.

Not ideal when. Your goal is cross-company introductions. Halftime does not pair people. Use Donut or CoffeePals for that.

Pricing. Free for teams of up to six, with a daily puzzle, icebreaker and joke. Every game is free for 30 days with no card. After that, Pro is $39 a month flat for the whole team, up to 20 players, so adding someone never changes the bill. See Halftime for Microsoft Teams or the Halftime vs Donut comparison.

2. CoffeePals, best for Teams coffee chat programs

Best for. People teams that want a fuller coffee chat program than Donut offers on Teams.

CoffeePals is the most commonly recommended Teams-first pairing app. It runs as a bot in Microsoft Teams, and also on Slack. Beyond random pairing it covers onboarding pals, mentorship circles and cross-department connection programs, which is the closest thing in Teams to Donut's Slack-only Journeys.

Good fit when.

• 1:1 matching is the behavior you want.
• People Ops owns the program and wants more than one type of pairing.
• New hires need a structured buddy.

Not ideal when. You have already run pairings and the team still feels flat. Switching pairing tools does not change the format.

Pricing. Free Starter plan for up to 24 active users. Pro is $49 a month billed annually ($59 monthly) and Max is $79 billed annually ($99 monthly), both for 1-25 users, with prices rising by user band. See CoffeePals pricing or Halftime vs CoffeePals.

3. Random Coffee, best for simple pairing on a budget

Best for. Small companies that want plain random pairing in Teams without a full people program.

Random Coffee does one thing. It matches people for a chat on a schedule, through Microsoft Teams, Slack or email. If Donut's Teams app feels too limited or you want email as a fallback for people who live outside Teams, it is the simplest swap.

Good fit when. You want random 1:1 introductions and nothing else.

Not ideal when. You need onboarding flows, recognition or anything for the whole team.

Pricing. A free plan covers one program with up to 20 users per session. Pro starts at $19 a month for 1-25 users and rises by user band. The page does not say whether that is the monthly or the annual rate, so confirm on Random Coffee's pricing page.

4. Donut, best when pairing is the whole job

Best for. Teams companies that want free, automatic coffee chat Intros.

If all you need is pairing, Donut on Teams is free and it is the name everyone knows. Install it from the Teams app store, pick a channel and a frequency, and it will pair people and help them book a time in Outlook.

Good fit when. You want cross-company introductions and nothing more.

Not ideal when. You expected the rest of Donut. Watercooler prompts, Celebrations, Shoutouts and Journeys are listed for Slack only. It also connects people in pairs, so it will not give one working team a shared moment.

Pricing. Teams Free, $0. On Slack, Donut is free for Intros with up to 24 users per round in one channel. Standard is $74 a month and Premium $119 a month billed annually, scaling with the number of people in Donut channels. See the Halftime vs Donut comparison.

5. Polly, best for polls and pulse checks

Best for. Managers who need answers, feedback or quick votes inside Teams.

Polly is a native Teams app for polls, surveys, quizzes and pulse checks. It is a different answer to the engagement problem. Instead of connecting people, it asks them something. That is useful when managers need signal, and less useful when the team already has survey fatigue.

One detail matters for Donut shoppers. Polly sells a Pairings add-on on its Slack pricing page, but it does not appear on the Teams pricing page, so do not count on Polly for coffee chats in Teams.

Pricing. Free plan available. Pro is $19 a month per license, billed annually at $228 a year. See Polly's Teams pricing or Halftime vs Polly.

6. Water Cooler Trivia, best for a weekly quiz

Best for. Teams that like trivia and are happy with a weekly cadence.

Water Cooler Trivia sends a weekly quiz through a Teams app, Slack or email. People answer during the week, results come back, and the channel gets something to argue about. It is low-admin, which is its main strength.

Good fit when. Trivia is culturally safe in your team and once a week is enough.

Not ideal when. You want daily variety or formats other than trivia.

Pricing. There is no free plan, only a 4-week trial. Pricing is flat by team size. $10 a month for up to 10 people, $25 for 11-25, $50 for 26-50, $100 for 51-100, with 25% off annual billing. See Halftime vs Water Cooler Trivia.

7. Teamflect, best for recognition built into Teams

Best for. Teams-first companies that want recognition and feedback without leaving Teams.

Teamflect is built inside Microsoft Teams, which is its whole pitch. It covers recognition, feedback and performance tools such as goals and 1:1s. For a Donut Slack customer moving to Teams, it is one way to replace Shoutouts, though it brings a lot more product than recognition alone.

Good fit when. Recognition and performance conversations should live in the same Teams tool.

Not ideal when. You want a light, social habit. It is a performance product first.

Pricing. Free Starter plan for up to 10 users. Paid plans are per user. Essential is $7 to $9 per user per month and Professional $11 to $14, depending on billing period. The page shows both prices without labelling them, so confirm on Teamflect's pricing page.

8. Bonusly, best for points-based rewards

Best for. Companies that want peer recognition tied to real rewards.

Bonusly works in Microsoft Teams and Slack. Employees give each other small amounts of points with a public message, and points convert into rewards. It is the most direct replacement for Donut Shoutouts if you want recognition to carry a small reward.

Good fit when. Recognition should be peer-to-peer and visible, with something tangible behind it.

Not ideal when. You do not want to run a rewards budget.

Pricing. Free for up to 8 users. The Team plan is $3 per user per month. Bonusly's page says all plans are billed annually while also showing a monthly price, so check Bonusly's pricing page for your terms.

9. Mentimeter, best for live meetings

Best for. Hosts who want live polls, Q&A and word clouds inside a Teams meeting.

Mentimeter has an in-meeting Teams app for scheduled meetings on desktop. It makes a live session more interactive. It does not help between meetings, which is where most remote teams lose touch.

Pricing. Free plan with limits. Basic is $11.99 per presenter per month billed yearly, and Pro $24.99 per presenter per month billed yearly. See Halftime vs Mentimeter.

Other tools worth knowing

• Kudos. Recognition and rewards with a Microsoft Teams integration. Pricing is by quote only.
• Assembly. Recognition with a Teams app, from $3 per user per month billed yearly. Admins install it, and it needs a public channel using the Posts layout.
• HeyTaco. Playful peer recognition in Teams and Slack, from $3 per user per month after a 30-day trial.
• Alfy by BuddiesHR. A Teams app that pairs groups of two to five people. We could not verify its current pricing.
• Viva Engage. Microsoft's own communities and announcements tool. It has polls and praise, but no pairing or games, so it does not replace Donut.

What a 15-person team would pay

Per-user and flat pricing look similar on a pricing page and very different on an invoice. Here is the same 15-person team on each paid plan, using the list prices above.

Per-user tools get more expensive every time you hire. Flat-priced tools only change when you cross a size band.

Recommendation by use case

Pairs and teams are different jobs

Many companies end up with two tools. A pairing tool introduces people across the company. A team ritual gives each working team a reason to talk every day.

On Slack, Donut tried to do both with Intros and Watercooler. On Teams, it only does the first. If your team already knows each other and the channel is quiet, another round of pairings is unlikely to fix that. A shared daily moment usually will.

That is the job Halftime is built for. One two-minute game every workday, posted to your Teams channel, played in the browser, with results the whole team can react to.

For the Slack version of this comparison, read Donut for Slack alternatives. For the wider category, read best Microsoft Teams engagement tools.

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If your team runs on Microsoft Teams, start a 30-day Halftime team pilot. Your channel gets a daily two-minute game with browser play, leaderboards and weekly champions. No card required.