TL;DR
BetterWorks is an OKR-first performance management platform built for enterprises that want cascading goals, calibration sessions, and continuous performance cycles. It's one of the most polished tools on the market for running structured goal management at scale.
Hatch (formerly Hatchproof) is behavioral performance intelligence for founders and CEOs. Instead of asking your team to update OKRs every quarter, Hatch reads the work itself — Slack, email, 1:1s, execution patterns — and surfaces performance signal without the cycle administration. If you've ever wondered whether your OKRs are actually predicting performance or just generating paperwork, Hatch is built for that question.
At a glance
| BetterWorks | Hatch | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | OKR + continuous performance management | Behavioral performance intelligence |
| Core mechanic | Cascading goals, calibration, review cycles | Signal from Slack, email, 1:1s, execution |
| Best for | Enterprises committed to OKR culture | Founders & CEOs running lean and scaling teams |
| Admin burden | High — requires HR to run calibration and cycles | Low — passive, no OKR cycles to administer |
| Primary metric | Goal completion, calibration distribution | Performance patterns, flight risk, team fit |
| Pricing | Starts ~$7/user/month, modular and multi-tier | Founder tier pricing — see Hatch pricing |
| Cycle cadence | Quarterly or annual | Continuous / real-time |
What is BetterWorks?
BetterWorks, founded in 2013, is one of the category-defining OKR and continuous performance management platforms. It's most often deployed at enterprises with dedicated People teams that want to run structured goal setting, cascading OKRs, check-ins, 1:1s, calibration sessions, and review cycles in a single platform.
Its standout strengths: goal cascading from company to team to individual, and a calibration module where managers propose ratings and HR facilitates calibration sessions with visual distribution curves. For organizations committed to running rigorous OKR and review cycles, BetterWorks is one of the most polished tools in the market. It holds a 4.3/5 rating on G2 across 200+ reviews.
What is Hatch?
Hatch is the behavioral performance platform for founders and CEOs. Instead of asking people to rate themselves, set quarterly OKRs, or sit through calibration sessions, Hatch reads the work itself — how people communicate, execute, decide, and collaborate — and turns that signal into flight-risk alerts, performance patterns, and hiring intelligence.
We call it Moneyball for companies. Traditional performance signals (reviews, surveys, goal completion rates) were never designed to predict who's actually winning. Hatch measures what actually does. It's built for founders running lean and scaling teams — the stage where every hire bends the trajectory and running a quarterly OKR cycle is overhead you don't have time for.
Key differences
1. OKRs vs. behavioral signal
BetterWorks is built on the premise that if you get goals right — cascading them cleanly from company to team to individual — performance follows. That works in organizations with the discipline to actually run OKR cycles and update them weekly. Many don't.
Hatch doesn't require a goal framework. It reads the behavioral exhaust from the work your team is already doing and surfaces who's executing, who's drifting, and who to bet on next — regardless of whether your OKRs are perfectly written or updated.
2. Calibration sessions vs. continuous signal
BetterWorks' calibration module is genuinely strong — managers propose ratings, HR facilitates calibration, visual distribution curves reduce bias. But it's a heavyweight process. You need People ops capacity to run it, and it happens on a cycle (usually quarterly or annually).
Hatch is continuous. You don't wait for the next calibration session to find out someone's struggling — you see the behavioral shift 60 days before the resignation letter.
3. Admin burden
Running BetterWorks well requires a dedicated People team. Setting up goal frameworks, nudging check-ins, facilitating calibration, managing review cycles — that's real work. For a founder-led 40-person team without a People ops hire, that overhead is real.
Hatch is passive. No cycles to administer. The signal surfaces itself from the tools your team already uses.
4. Who reads the data
BetterWorks is designed for HR and People leaders to administer and present upward. Hatch is designed for the founder or CEO to read directly, no intermediary required.
Who should use BetterWorks?
- Enterprises (500+ employees) with dedicated People teams
- Organizations committed to running OKR cycles with discipline
- Companies with board-level goal tracking expectations
- Teams that want visual calibration tooling for review season
- Businesses with the People ops capacity to drive platform adoption
Who should use Hatch?
- Founders and CEOs running lean (under 50) or scaling (50–200) teams
- Leaders who've tried OKR cycles and watched them slip by quarter two
- Teams without dedicated People ops to run calibration
- Companies that want real-time signal, not quarterly rollups
- Organizations where mis-hires and surprise departures cost more than goal completion rates
Can you use both?
In theory yes. A company running BetterWorks for structured OKR and calibration could layer Hatch on top for real-time behavioral signal between cycles. In practice, most founder-led teams we work with don't have the appetite for both. They pick one philosophy of performance: cycle-driven structure (BetterWorks) or continuous behavioral signal (Hatch).
FAQ
Is Hatch cheaper than BetterWorks?
BetterWorks pricing starts around $7 per user per month, with modular add-ons that push enterprise deployments into higher tiers. Hatch's founder tier is built for teams without a full People budget. For a 50-person team, total cost of ownership tends to favor Hatch when you factor in admin time, not just license fees.
Does Hatch support OKRs?
Hatch doesn't impose an OKR framework, but it will read execution signal against whatever goals you have. If your company uses OKRs informally (no cycle administration required), Hatch surfaces who's actually executing against them. If you need a full OKR administration platform with cascading, check-ins, and reporting workflows, BetterWorks is purpose-built for that.
What about calibration?
Hatch doesn't run calibration sessions. We believe behavioral signal is more accurate than manager-rated calibration — calibration reduces bias at the margins but still depends on manager observations, which are themselves biased. Hatch measures actual work patterns directly, eliminating the need for many calibration conversations in the first place.
Does Hatch integrate with Slack, email, and meeting tools?
Yes. Hatch pulls behavioral signal from the tools your team already uses — Slack, email, 1:1 transcripts, calendars, and wearables — with privacy controls at the individual and team level. See our Trust Center for details on data handling.
Will Hatch work for a 30-person startup?
Yes — Hatch is specifically built for founder-led teams from around 20 to 200 people. The stage where you still know most people by name but can't possibly track everyone's work. BetterWorks is typically overkill at that size.
The bottom line
BetterWorks is the right call if you're an enterprise with a dedicated People team, committed to running OKR cycles with calibration, and you need polished administration at scale.
Hatch is the right call if you're a founder or CEO who's watched OKR cycles slip, doesn't have People ops capacity, and wants real-time behavioral signal without the administration overhead.
Same category. Different philosophy. Same product, different door.
Book a Hatch demo to see what behavioral signal looks like for your team.
