Windmill Pulse runs staff surveys as Slack chats and bills every seat

Windmill Pulse runs check-ins as Slack chats, and every invited person counts as a seat. The owner gets an AI summary by email, and answers can also leave through CSV files and Slack streaming. Anonymous removes the author’s name, but participation stays named. Data sits in the United States, and outside AI models handle what you submit.

By Ashish Manchanda Published 28 Oct 2026 Last updated 28 Oct 2026

Chat surveys in Slack, paid by the seat, with answers that travel

In one line

Windmill Pulse runs staff check-ins as Slack chats and summarises the answers with AI. You pay for every person you invite. Your data sits in the United States.

Buy it if

Your people already work in Slack and you want short, frequent check-ins. You are comfortable with outside AI providers handling what you submit.

Do not buy it if

You need invitations by email, as pulse invitations go by Slack. Outside Slack, people answer in a Dashboard built for desktop. You want a yearly survey that repeats on its own schedule. Under its terms, third-party AI models may use your Input, and Windmill has no control over how.

Price

The first 10 seats are free on the standard plan. Its help centre prices each extra seat at $10 per seat per month. Its pricing page prices each extra user at $12 per user per month. Billing is monthly and follows the number of seats.

The whole pulse runs in Slack and in Windy’s hands

From invitation to summary, a Windmill pulse lives in Slack and in the hands of its assistant, Windy. The owner types what they want to learn from the team, and can add, edit, reorder or delete questions. Question types include eNPS, which asks how likely people are to recommend working there.

When a run starts, Windy sends each participant a Slack direct message. The pulse also appears in their Windmill to-dos. In the chat, Windy asks each question word for word. It may ask up to two follow-up questions. It submits the response once every question is answered or skipped, without asking separate permission. Each run sends up to two automatic reminders to people who have not responded. People can instead answer in a web form in Windmill.

An owner can set a pulse to Platform only, so people answer only in Windmill. Windy then cannot save or submit answers. A person can still ask Windy to help them think through an answer.

The owner gets the result as an email report. It holds an AI summary of themes, key findings and suggested action items. Owners can also read results with Windy, which gives takeaways and compares groups. Results can be filtered and compared by job title, group and reporting line. A Pulse action plan skill gives Windy steps for a follow-up report with 3 to 5 actions with owners.

Your HR system is the base of Windmill and builds its org chart. Its HR system connections are read-only. They cover a dozen HR and payroll systems, including Workday, BambooHR and HiBob. Windmill’s own set-up runs in four steps and starts from connecting Slack. The Windmill team sends account invitations directly. Every customer gets a shared Slack channel with the team.

Outside AI tools can connect to Windmill. A link called MCP lets a connected AI tool create, test, update and send pulses, save responses and send nudges. It acts as the signed-in user and can read and change Windmill data. Data Windmill returns over MCP passes through the connected tool’s model. Decide who may connect such a tool.

For the wider market, read our employee engagement guide.

Reported reply rates, owner-only access and anonymous answers

Reply rates the vendor reports

Windmill reports an average response rate of 65% for its chat check-ins. It puts traditional pulse surveys at 5-15% response rates and conversational check-ins at 65% or more. It gives 90 seconds as the average time per chat. These are vendor figures, so ask for the rate at a customer with a workforce like yours.

Access follows the pulse owner

Owners always see every response to their own pulse, and each participant sees their own. Response sharing sets who else can read individual responses. With Visible to managers, each manager reads responses from people in their reporting line. Windy uses the access of the person asking and sees only the responses that person can see.

Anonymous answers carry no name

An anonymous pulse removes the author’s name from answers for every viewer. That includes owners, admins, managers, Windy and any AI tool connected through MCP. Windy and MCP apply the same smallest group on anonymous pulses. Before people start, the survey tells them who can see the results. Participation is a separate matter, and the limits below cover it.

A SOC 2 report on request

Windmill is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant. The full SOC 2 report is available on request from its support address. Read it before you sign.

Two customers with published results run check-ins through Windy

Both customers with published results are teams of roughly 30 to 50 people or more. Ask for a reference from a company with a workforce like yours.

A remote team runs standups with it

Cal.com is a fully remote team of 30+ people across 18 countries. It uses Windmill’s Pulse feature to run standups automatically.

Marqii moved to chat pulse checks

Marqii’s CEO reports 80% response rates after switching to pulse checks run by Windy. Marqii grew from 10 to over 50 employees, Windmill reported in February 2025.

Windmill reports over 100 customers, including Kalshi, Rho and Merge. It announced a $12M seed round led by Inspired Capital. It launched its performance reviews product in November 2025. It reports that Pulse has handled tens of thousands of conversations since launch.

Reach, answer routes, activity data, AI and the contract set the limits

Windmill Pulse has limits in five places. They are reach, where answers go, what it reads about your people, how AI handles your data, and the contract. Each group below makes one point.

Reach comes first. A pulse only works if people receive it, and Windmill reaches people through Slack.

Slack is the front door

Windy sends each pulse invitation as a Slack direct message, not an email. Only workspace members can be participants, and an invited person counts as a seat. A failed chat usually means the person has no mapped Slack account. A Platform only pulse lets people answer in Windmill instead. The Dashboard is optimised for desktop and is in English only. Mobile access is through Windy in Slack.

Windy picks each person’s language

Windy is multilingual. It picks each person’s language from past conversations and information from the company. The Dashboard stays in English. Ask which languages Windy answers in for your staff.

No yearly repeat

When a pulse is scheduled for later, the owner chooses one of four schedule types. There is no yearly recurrence option. A new-hire anniversary schedule sends a pulse for onboarding check-ins. On 29 September 2026 Windmill said it was expanding Pulse to support full engagement surveys. On the Insights tab, text questions show only a response count, and text insights are coming soon.

Answers can travel further than the Windmill screen. Anonymous, named and streamed answers each follow different routes.

Anonymous hides the name only

Windmill warns that anonymity removes the name but not the details. Participation is always named, so owners can see who responded and who did not. Windy and MCP can show who responded to an anonymous pulse, but not who gave which answer. The smallest group shown defaults to 3. Whoever sets up the pulse can choose 1 to 10 before launch. Windmill does not recommend values under 3.

Named or anonymous is final

Named or anonymous is fixed at launch and cannot be changed afterwards. Windmill recommends the named setting. Smaller groups often have fewer than 3 responses on an anonymous pulse, so managers see only a not-enough-responses message. Anonymous pulses are also left out of Pulse stats.

Answers travel outside Windmill

Owners get the full report with up to 50 responses in the email. Email addresses entered for the report get the AI summary of all responses, even without access in Windmill. Participants can withdraw a response, but emailed reports may still include it. Owners can download responses as a CSV with employee name and email, shown as Anonymous on anonymous pulses. Live streaming posts each named response to a Slack channel, where everyone sees the name and the full answer. Sharing can be widened after launch, and the change applies to existing responses.

Named answers reach 1:1 notes

Windy generates Catch Me Ups for manager-to-report 1:1s every Sunday. A Catch Me Up is an AI catch-up note. Windy makes them in both directions. One section, Recent Pulse Responses, gives one to three themes from a person’s recent pulse responses. It never includes anonymous responses. Ask who can read those themes and whether the section can be switched off.

Any member can create a pulse

Any member can create a pulse. Admin and HR Admin roles do not give access to other people’s pulses. Ask how HR learns which pulses are running and who owns each one.

Windmill also reads more than answers. Connected tools give it activity data about how people work together.

It collects work activity too

Windmill collects activity data from the tools you connect. Those tools include Slack, Google Workspace, GitHub, Jira and Linear. Windmill uses the data to help Windy understand collaboration patterns. After the Windmill app joins a Slack channel, it can sync messages and canvases from that channel as context. Connecting Slack does not by itself give Windmill access to channel messages. Windmill recommends automatic access to public channels.

A per-person network table

Organizational Health holds a per-person table of network metrics for every active member. It maps collaboration from connected work tools and does not show message content. It also ranks critical connectors, described as people whose departure would often fragment collaboration. Only people with organisation-wide Analytics access can open it. The Data Analyst role can view analytics for all employees.

Windmill points to leaving risk

Windmill counts “Who is at risk of leaving?” among the judgement calls leaders face. It adds that promotion cases, coaching recommendations and succession planning become possible once the collaboration graph exists. The graph is the map of who works with whom. Ask which of these uses are switched on for you.

Outside AI models and US hosting sit behind every answer. Windmill’s own documents give different pictures of what those models may do.

Outside AI models handle your Input

Its help centre puts zero data retention on across its AI providers. That means they keep none of the data. It adds that those providers do not train on customer data. Its terms put AI features under third-party model terms. Under them, your Input may be used by those third parties. Under its terms, Windmill has no control over how third-party AI models use Input. Ask which of your data counts as Input.

Windmill may train its own models

Windmill may use anonymised customer data to improve its own models. Customers can opt out of that use unless the contract sets the control. Under its terms, Windmill may not use Customer Data to train foundational or general-purpose AI models. It may train platform models on anonymised Customer Data or Aggregate Data. You also agree that Windmill may sell, transfer and otherwise exploit Aggregate Data.

Data is hosted in the United States

Windmill’s infrastructure runs in AWS data centres in the United States. Windmill operates its platform and servers in the United States. Windmill records AI inputs, outputs and tool activity as product telemetry, and admins can turn that off. Its data controls are on by default unless the contract sets them.

The vendor warns about AI output

Windmill warns that generative AI can yield unexpected outcomes. Under its terms, generated data and materials are not a substitute for legal or business advice. The Pulse action plan skill tells Windy not to present a small or incomplete sample as a company-wide conclusion. Windmill advises against using it as an autonomous employment decision-maker.

The contract leaves Windmill room to change terms. These are the clauses to read before you sign.

Fees and access can change

Under its terms, Windmill may add new or additional fees on notice, at any time. It may also change, suspend, discontinue or end access to all or part of the Platform. It may do this at any time, without prior notice or liability.

Liability and disputes

Windmill’s direct damages are limited to fees paid and payable in the three months before the claim. Disputes go to binding arbitration under the Federal Arbitration Act, and New York law governs the terms.

Sensitive Information

Under its terms, the Platform has not been designed to process or manage Sensitive Information. Sensitive Information includes biometric information, protected health information and special categories of data. Ask how a comment that holds health details is treated.

Two support promises

Its terms set support hours of 9 am to 5 pm Eastern time. They run Monday to Friday, excluding standard holidays. They offer a one business day email response promise. Its terms place the dedicated Slack channel outside the official support ticket method. That channel gets best-effort responses. Its help centre puts the shared Slack channel at under 24 hours, with a typical response time under 10 minutes.

Seat prices, renewal and what you can take when you leave

Windmill charges for people, not for surveys. It is priced by the number of seats set up. Inviting an employee counts as a seat even if they have not logged in. Billing is not usage based.

The standard plan includes 10 free seats, and some plans include a different number. Its help centre prices each additional seat at $10 per seat per month. Its pricing page puts each additional user after the first 10 at $12 per user per month. Its help centre’s example is 80 paid seats at $10, which is $800 a month. The same 80 seats at $12 would cost $960 a month.

Billing is monthly at the start of the period, through Stripe. Under its terms, the contract renews automatically for terms equal to the plan. To stop a renewal, the customer must give 30 days’ notice before the end of the term. Fees are non-refundable.

On leaving, its terms give the customer up to 30 days to retrieve Customer Data. After that, Windmill has no obligation to retain it. Its help centre gives a longer window. Windmill deletes all company data 60 days after the account closes. During those 60 days the customer can ask Windmill to export or immediately delete the data. Backups keep a copy for 30 more days after deletion. Windmill has no self-serve deletion API or setting to change the retention period. Owners can download pulse responses as a CSV from the Responses tab.

You could also run survey steps with agents built on your own systems. We have mapped what that looks like. The HR Agent Map

Twelve questions to put to Windmill before you sign

  1. Is an extra seat $10 or $12 per seat per month, and how many seats are free? Good answer: One figure in the order form, with the free seat count written beside it.
  2. Do invited people who never log in count as seats, and can unused seats come off the bill? Good answer: A written way to remove unused seats before the next monthly bill.
  3. What is the term length of our plan, and which date does the 30 days’ notice run back from? Good answer: A term length and a notice date in the order form.
  4. Which of our data counts as Input, and which outside AI providers may use it? Good answer: A written definition and a named provider list, with their terms attached.
  5. Can the order form set all its data controls, including the opt-out from model improvement? Good answer: Yes, with each control named and set in writing.
  6. If we have staff in the EU or UK, can their data stay in their region? Good answer: A named region for storage and for AI processing, or a clear no.
  7. How do we reach people with no Slack account, and what does each one cost? Good answer: A named route that works without Slack, with the seat cost stated.
  8. Who can read the themes from named pulses in a Catch Me Up, and can that section be switched off? Good answer: A named list of roles and a setting we control.
  9. Which support promise applies to us, the one in its terms or the one in its help centre? Good answer: The shorter promise, written into our order form.
  10. Can one pulse repeat once a year, and when does the full engagement survey ship? Good answer: A repeat we can test, or a dated release in writing.
  11. Do we have 30 days or 60 days to take our data, and in what file format? Good answer: One written deadline for export, one for deletion and a named file format.
  12. How does Windmill treat a comment that holds health details, given the Sensitive Information clause? Good answer: A written answer on what happens to that comment and who can read it.

Alternatives to Windmill, including buying nothing

These products go where Windmill stops on reach, data region and yearly surveys. Buying nothing is a fourth route with its own cost.

Nectar fits when people are away from Slack and a desk. Windmill sends pulse invitations as Slack messages, and outside Slack people answer in a Dashboard built for desktop. Nectar distributes surveys through email, SMS, Slack, Microsoft Teams and its Recognition feed. Nectar One needs no work email or desk. Surveys reach people by text, Slack, Teams or mobile app.

Culture Amp fits when data must sit outside the United States. Windmill’s infrastructure runs in AWS data centres in the United States. Culture Amp offers three data regions, which are US, EU and AU. The organisation elects which one to use. An account defaults to the US data centre when no preference is given.

WorkBuzz fits when a yearly survey is the main job. Windmill has no yearly recurrence option for a pulse. WorkBuzz’s Engage plan includes annual, pulse and ad hoc surveys. It also includes onboarding and exit surveys and action planning.

Buying nothing means giving up what Windy adds. You lose its follow-up questions in a chat, which may number up to two. You lose up to two automatic reminders per run. You also lose the AI summary with suggested actions. In return you avoid the terms above on fees, access, liability and AI providers. If your HR system already runs surveys, read our guide for HR system owners.

Sources Facts about Windmill come from its own help centre, website, terms and privacy policy. Facts about Nectar, Culture Amp and WorkBuzz come from their own sites. Where two Windmill documents differ, both figures appear. Every source was read on 27 October 2026.

https://help.gowindmill.com/features/pulse-surveys/index · Windmill help centre, Pulse Surveys overview · read 27 Oct 2026
https://help.gowindmill.com/features/pulse-surveys/create-a-pulse · Windmill help centre, create a pulse · read 27 Oct 2026
https://help.gowindmill.com/features/pulse-surveys/questions-and-question-types · Windmill help centre, question types · read 27 Oct 2026
https://help.gowindmill.com/features/pulse-surveys/scheduling-types · Windmill help centre, scheduling types · read 27 Oct 2026
https://help.gowindmill.com/features/pulse-surveys/launch-a-pulse · Windmill help centre, launch a pulse · read 27 Oct 2026
https://help.gowindmill.com/features/pulse-surveys/respond-to-a-pulse · Windmill help centre, respond to a pulse · read 27 Oct 2026
https://help.gowindmill.com/features/pulse-surveys/reminders · Windmill help centre, reminders · read 27 Oct 2026
https://help.gowindmill.com/features/pulse-surveys/named-and-anonymous-pulses · Windmill help centre, named and anonymous pulses · read 27 Oct 2026
https://help.gowindmill.com/features/pulse-surveys/anonymity-and-privacy · Windmill help centre, anonymity and privacy · read 27 Oct 2026
https://help.gowindmill.com/features/pulse-surveys/response-sharing · Windmill help centre, response sharing · read 27 Oct 2026
https://help.gowindmill.com/features/pulse-surveys/pulse-permissions · Windmill help centre, pulse permissions · read 27 Oct 2026
https://help.gowindmill.com/features/pulse-surveys/notifications · Windmill help centre, report emails · read 27 Oct 2026
https://help.gowindmill.com/features/pulse-surveys/live-response-streaming · Windmill help centre, live response streaming · read 27 Oct 2026
https://help.gowindmill.com/features/pulse-surveys/responses-runs-and-exports · Windmill help centre, responses, runs and exports · read 27 Oct 2026
https://help.gowindmill.com/features/pulse-surveys/filter-and-compare-results · Windmill help centre, filter and compare results · read 27 Oct 2026
https://help.gowindmill.com/features/pulse-surveys/ask-windy-about-results · Windmill help centre, ask Windy about results · read 27 Oct 2026
https://help.gowindmill.com/features/pulse-surveys/choose-participants · Windmill help centre, choose participants · read 27 Oct 2026
https://help.gowindmill.com/features/1-on-1s/index · Windmill help centre, 1:1s · read 27 Oct 2026
https://help.gowindmill.com/features/1-on-1s/catch-me-up · Windmill help centre, Catch Me Up · read 27 Oct 2026
https://help.gowindmill.com/features/performance-reviews/index · Windmill help centre, performance reviews · read 27 Oct 2026
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https://help.gowindmill.com/features/mcp · Windmill help centre, MCP server · read 27 Oct 2026
https://help.gowindmill.com/best-practices/skills/pulse-action-plan · Windmill help centre, Pulse action plan skill · read 27 Oct 2026
https://help.gowindmill.com/permissions-and-access · Windmill help centre, permissions and access · read 27 Oct 2026
https://help.gowindmill.com/getting-started/pricing · Windmill help centre, pricing · read 27 Oct 2026
https://help.gowindmill.com/getting-started/initial-setup · Windmill help centre, initial setup · read 27 Oct 2026
https://help.gowindmill.com/getting-started/using-the-windmill-dashboard · Windmill help centre, the Dashboard · read 27 Oct 2026
https://help.gowindmill.com/windy/language-preferences · Windmill help centre, Windy language preferences · read 27 Oct 2026
https://help.gowindmill.com/integrations/workday · Windmill help centre, Workday integration · read 27 Oct 2026
https://help.gowindmill.com/integrations/merge · Windmill help centre, HR system integrations · read 27 Oct 2026
https://help.gowindmill.com/integrations/integrations · Windmill help centre, integrations · read 27 Oct 2026
https://help.gowindmill.com/integrations/slack · Windmill help centre, Slack integration · read 27 Oct 2026
https://help.gowindmill.com/security/ai-data-usage · Windmill help centre, AI data usage · read 27 Oct 2026
https://help.gowindmill.com/security/data-privacy · Windmill help centre, data privacy · read 27 Oct 2026
https://help.gowindmill.com/security/pii · Windmill help centre, personal data stored · read 27 Oct 2026
https://help.gowindmill.com/security/security-compliance · Windmill help centre, security and compliance · read 27 Oct 2026
https://gowindmill.com/legal/terms-of-service/ · Windmill terms of service · read 27 Oct 2026
https://gowindmill.com/legal/privacy-policy/ · Windmill privacy policy · read 27 Oct 2026
https://gowindmill.com/pricing/ · Windmill pricing page · read 27 Oct 2026
https://gowindmill.com/features/pulse-surveys/ · Windmill Pulse product page · read 27 Oct 2026
https://gowindmill.com/science/ · Windmill How it Works page · read 27 Oct 2026
https://gowindmill.com/llms.txt · Windmill llms.txt file · read 27 Oct 2026
https://gowindmill.com/blog/introducing-agentic-engagement-surveys/ · Windmill post on agentic engagement surveys, 29 Sep 2026 · read 27 Oct 2026
https://gowindmill.com/blog/windmill-raises-12m-seed/ · Windmill seed funding announcement · read 27 Oct 2026
https://gowindmill.com/blog/one-size-fits-none-avi-goren/ · Windmill podcast page, February 2025 · read 27 Oct 2026
https://gowindmill.com/customers/stories/david-cal/ · Windmill customer story, Cal.com · read 27 Oct 2026
https://nectarhr.com/engage · Nectar Engage product page · read 27 Oct 2026
https://nectarhr.com/nectar-one · Nectar One product page and FAQ · read 27 Oct 2026
https://support.cultureamp.com/en/articles/14375357-understanding-data-centers-your-account-s-data-location · Culture Amp help centre, data centres and account data location · read 27 Oct 2026
https://workbuzz.com/platform/plans-pricing · WorkBuzz plans and pricing · read 27 Oct 2026