TL;DR
Unily is an intranet platform and all-in-one employee experience platform designed to unify communications, knowledge, content management, and digital workplace execution, while Firstup is primarily an employee communications platform for orchestrating employee engagement through AI-driven comms journeys.
- Choose Unily if you want a unified employee experience platform that goes beyond simple employee communications into knowledge sharing, integrated experiences, governance, and long-term scalability.
- Choose Firstup if your primary goal is employee communications (especially email-heavy campaigns) and you do not need a full intranet solution foundation.
- If you expect your requirements to expand, validate SharePoint and Microsoft ecosystem integrations, governance, and cross-device user experience early, because “comms-only now” often turns into “platform sprawl later.”
Who this guide is for:
This guide is written for organizations with 1,000 employees or more, plus enterprise teams managing complex audiences and distributed workforces. At that scale, you typically need:
- scalability across multiple audiences, locations, and roles
- governance that can keep pace with publishing volume
- a consistent user experience across desktop and mobile app
- integrations that reduce app switching across Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, HR, and IT systems
If you’re below that range, the same evaluation framework still applies. You may just weight ease of use and time-to-value more heavily than deep extensibility.
Key takeaway
Before you shortlist, write down your top 5 answers employees need (policies, procedures, how-to guidance, and key resources), then run both platforms through the same demo script that forces proof on search, integrations, governance, notifications behavior, and cross-device personalization.
If AI is in scope, treat it the same way: ask vendors to show what the AI feature actually does in your environment, what data it uses, how it cites or traces sources (where relevant), and how it respects permissions.
Unily named a Leader in the 2025 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Intranet Packaged Solutions.
Most organizations start with a familiar problem: reach and employee engagement. Leaders want to know: Are employees seeing critical updates in real-time, and are they taking action? That often includes whether the platform provides built-in engagement tools to turn updates into two-way participation.
But many teams quickly realize internal communications is only one piece. In real deployments, the user experience breaks down when employees can’t:
- find policies and procedures fast (across different business apps)
- access tools and task management workflows in one place
- get a consistent experience across web and a mobile app
- receive the right notifications without overload
- avoid bouncing between multiple platforms like SharePoint, Slack (instant messaging), and other channels
A common rollout challenge is splitting the experience across two destinations: news and updates move to a new platform, while tools and resources stay elsewhere. Over time, employees may feel the experience is fragmented and harder to navigate.
The simplest way to frame the choice
Think of this decision as scope:
- Unily: best when the center of gravity is a complete employee experience platform and intranet solution, including intranet architecture, knowledge sharing, content management, search, governance, and deep integrations across the digital employee experience.
- Firstup: best when the center of gravity is communications orchestration (campaigns, channel recommendations, and employee journeys through a comms lens).
A practical lens for organizations with more than 1,000 employees: if your team is already juggling multiple tools (SharePoint plus an employee communications platform plus a separate mobile app), it’s worth testing whether your next purchase reduces complexity or adds another layer.
If you’re also comparing Staffbase, Workvivo, Simpplr, or a SharePoint-based intranet platform, the same question applies: do you need an employee communications platform first, or an intranet solution that can streamline the full employee experience?
How it works
Use this 7-step approach to evaluate both tools in a way that holds up in procurement and in real-world adoption.
1) List your top employee outcomes (not features)
Examples: “reduce time-to-find policy,” “increase frontline reach,” “improve retention,” “speed up onboarding,” “reduce tool sprawl,” “improve employee engagement with measurable dashboards.”
2) Map 3–5 “moments that matter” journeys
Include at least one journey that requires knowledge and tools, not just messaging. For example:
- “benefits change” + “submit a form” + “find the policy” + “ask HR in Slack”
- “IT outage” + “real-time notifications” + “task management checklist” + “confirmation”
3) Define audiences and targeting complexity
Multi-geo, multi-brand, frontline workers vs desk-based employees, role-based access, frontline teams and shift patterns, localization needs, and culture-building goals.
4) Audit your integration reality
HRIS, identity, collaboration, ticketing/service desk, CRM, and file repositories. For many organizations, the Microsoft ecosystem (SharePoint and Microsoft 365) is the anchor. Confirm how each platform connects, what content is searchable, and how permissions are handled.
5) Lock governance requirements early
Permissions, approvals, review lifecycles, content expiry, and content management guardrails for personalized content delivery at scale.
6) Run a demo that forces proof (not slides)
Include mobile + desktop parity, brand control, search refiners, and at least one real integration (SharePoint, Teams, Workday, ServiceNow).
If AI is part of your roadmap, add one more requirement: ask to see how AI-driven functionality behaves with your permission model and content sources. Unily has been developing Unily Futures as an AI roadmap for the intranet and EX layer. Treat it as something to validate in a real workflow, not a checkbox.
7) Score with a weighted rubric
Not every org needs everything, but you should be explicit about trade-offs: functionality, ease of use, learning curve, scalability, and total cost, and where each platform excels for your priority journeys.
Firstup vs Unily: who each platform is best for
|
If your priority is... |
Firstup tends to fit best when… |
Unily tends to fit best when… |
|
Analyst recognition |
Leader in Gartner |
|
|
Comms reach + orchestration |
You want an employee communications platform with comms campaigns, real-time notifications, and multi-channel content delivery. |
You want sophisticated internal communications plus a broader platform foundation so comms connects to knowledge sharing, tools, and governance. |
|
A true intranet home |
You’re not trying to replace a full intranet solution (or you’re comfortable pairing with another intranet platform). |
You want targeted homepages, deep IA, page building templates, and governance baked in as part of the intranet solution. |
|
Knowledge + search across systems |
Knowledge needs are light, and comms discovery is the main goal. |
You need enterprise-grade knowledge access (search + IA + lifecycle) across sources like SharePoint and other systems. |
|
Integrations + extensibility |
You can live with more limited extensibility, or you’ll solve gaps with additional tools. |
You need strong integration depth and custom functionality options (APIs, custom integrations, widgets, and scalable extensions). |
|
Cross-device personalization |
Mobile-first is key, but validate desktop/mobile parity carefully to reduce learning curve and confusion. |
You want a consistent, intuitive design across devices and audiences, including frontline workers and desk-based users. |
|
AI roadmap and governance |
You’re mainly optimizing comms outcomes and can treat AI as delivery optimization. |
You want AI capabilities to support findability and content freshness in the intranet layer, with governance and human control (as part of Unily Futures). |
What to validate in a demo
A feature list can look similar across platforms. The fastest way to find the real differences is to run a demo that mirrors your day-to-day workflows, with your content sources, your audience rules, and both desktop and mobile app experiences.
1) Intranet depth and information architecture
Some platforms are designed to act as a primary intranet solution (navigation, pages, templates, governance), while others are strongest as a communications layer that links out to other systems. In practice, this shows up when you try to bring tools, resources, and task pathways into the same place as the newsfeed.
Demos to run:
- Can you recreate your intranet navigation, quick links, and key task tiles in one experience (not just a page with links)?
- Can you tailor that experience by role, location, brand, and device without duplicating effort?
- Do approvals, review cycles, and expirations exist as configurable content management features, not manual process?
2) Search and knowledge access
Search is often where employee experience platforms either “click” or break down. It’s not only about returning results; it’s about whether employees can find the right answer quickly, trust it, and move to the next step.
Demos to run:
- Search for a policy PDF, a procedure, and a “how do I” task.
- Check whether search supports filters/refiners (role, location, content type) and whether you can promote authoritative results.
- Test search across the sources you actually rely on (files, HR content, service desk knowledge, SharePoint/Microsoft 365).
If AI is in scope, add one more test to ask the platform a common employee question and validate:
- does it respect permissions
- can it point back to source content (links or citations where possible), and
- does it guide the employee to a next action (not just a summary)?
3) Integrations and extensibility
Integrations determine whether the platform becomes a true “front door” or just another destination. The key isn’t the number of integrations listed; it’s how reliably they work in your environment and how much effort it takes to maintain them.
Demos to run:
- Pick one integration you care about (Workday, ServiceNow, Microsoft 365/SharePoint, Slack) and ask for a live walkthrough using realistic data.
- Ask what changes when HR attributes update (does targeting refresh automatically, and can admins verify it easily)?
- Clarify what’s available out-of-the-box vs what requires custom work (APIs, scripts, bespoke integrations), and where automation can reduce manual admin effort over time.
- Confirm how instant messaging tools (Slack/Teams) are supported for notifications and content delivery.
4) Brand, design, and cross-device consistency
A recurring customer pain point: limited ability to shape look and feel, plus frustration that desktop customization options does not carry into the mobile app experience.
Demos to run:
- Build one homepage section for web and confirm it behaves the same in mobile.
- Check what is configurable vs fixed (layout, navigation, components, templates).
- Validate ease of use for both frontline workers and desk-based employees to reduce learning curve and support needs.
5) Communications creation experience
If comms is your main use case, treat authoring UX as a first-class requirement. Competitor notes cite difficulty creating simple email comms and even needing to fall back to HTML.
Demos to run:
- Create a real email with images and formatting in the room.
- Time it, then test approvals, segmentation, and dashboards for performance.
- Confirm engagement features (social networking, comments, reactions, surveys) and whether they support culture-building goals.
Pitfalls and misconceptions
Misconception 1: “We only need comms.”
You might. But it’s worth sanity-checking the next 12 to 18 months, especially for organizations with around 1,000+ employees where platform sprawl can creep in fast. Many organizations start with an employee communications platform, then realize they need knowledge sharing, integrations, dashboards, and content management, which can lead to layering multiple tools.
Misconception 2: “AI-powered means the same thing everywhere.”
“AI-powered” can mean very different things depending on the platform. In some tools, AI focuses on optimizing internal communications, like improving targeting, timing, and content delivery to boost employee engagement. In others, it supports knowledge access and workflows, like helping employees find answers across sources, summarizing content, or guiding the next step in a task. The safest way to compare is to ask vendors to show what AI does today, what data it uses, and how it respects permissions and governance.
Misconception 3: “We can patch intranet gaps later.”
You can, but teams often feel the cost through:
- duplication (SharePoint for tools, another platform for newsfeed)
- inconsistent mobile accessibility and notifications behavior
- more admin overhead
- slower onboarding and lower retention due to fragmented user experience
Next steps
A simple shortlist recommendation:
Pick Unily if these are true:
- You want one platform for internal communications + intranet platform capabilities + knowledge sharing + integrations, with enterprise IA and governance.
- You need deep extensibility (APIs, bespoke integrations, widgets, custom experiences) and scalability as your organization grows past 1,000 employees.
- You’re optimizing for longer-term EX maturity, including AI readiness in the intranet layer (for example, through initiatives grouped under Unily Futures), while still prioritizing governance and clear proof in demos.
Pick Firstup if these are true:
- Your primary need is communications orchestration and you’re comfortable pairing it with SharePoint or an existing intranet solution.
- Your success metric is primarily reach, opens, notifications engagement, and campaign performance.
- You’ve validated ease of use for authors and support responsiveness in a live trial.
If you’re evaluating Firstup and Unily, keep it simple: build a one-page scorecard covering internal communications, knowledge sharing and search, governance, mobile app experience (including notifications), integrations (Microsoft 365/SharePoint plus key HR/IT systems), dashboards, and total pricing. Then run the same live demo script for both vendors and pilot with frontline and desk-based teams, choosing based on usability and measurable outcomes. If you’d like an extra benchmark, you can request a Unily demo and apply the same scorecard so the session stays comparable and decision-focused.
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