BirthdayBot vs Billy for Slack: A Practical Comparison

BirthdayBot and Billy both publish Slack birthday and work-anniversary automation, but their free limits and billing rules differ. BirthdayBot's pricing page says 15 automated birthday celebrations per year on Free, while its getting-started guide says 30; confirm the real allowance before relying on either number. Billy advertises free use below 10 counted seats. On paid plans, BirthdayBot counts people with a recorded birthday or hire date, while Billy counts the eligible people in its configured channels. Choose based on your actual roster and scheduling needs, not a generic winner label. This is a documentation-based comparison checked November 11, 2026; we did not install either app.[1][2][5]

Quick comparison

| Decision point | BirthdayBot | Billy by BuddiesHR | | --- | --- | --- | | Free entry | Pricing page says 15 automated birthday celebrations per year; getting-started guide says 30. Reminders included; verify the conflicting cap[1] | Advertises free forever below 10 counted seats[2][5] | | Paid billing | Tiered by active users with a recorded birthday or work anniversary; Standard and Pro tiers[1] | One-app plan priced per counted seat, with monthly and annual billing choices[2][5] | | Work anniversaries | Listed on Standard and Pro, not Free[1] | Listed among Billy's one-app features[2] | | Date collection | BirthdayBot lists birthday-file import on its pricing comparison[1] | Billy documents automatic requests to members, Excel import, manual prompts, and direct edits[3] | | Weekend dates | BirthdayBot lists weekend birthday management on its plan comparison; confirm the exact rule in setup[1] | Actual-day posting by default; documented Friday, Monday, weekly, or monthly alternatives[4] | | Additional scope | BirthdayBot lists gift cards, custom celebrations, Kudos, and a web app, with plan-specific limits[1] | Billy's product page describes custom recurring events and Slack and Microsoft Teams support[2] |

These are vendor-published capabilities, not a head-to-head delivery test or a guarantee of availability in your workspace. The vendors' plan pages and onboarding screens are the authority for the tier you would actually buy.

Birthday announcements and date collection

Both vendors describe automated celebrations in a selected Slack channel.[1][2] BirthdayBot's pricing matrix lists birthday-file import and celebration channels, but does not by itself prove that it reads dates from Slack profiles automatically. Billy's date-collection documentation is more explicit: an admin can enable direct requests to members, import an Excel template, prompt people manually, or edit their dates. Its automatic collection sends follow-ups to people with missing dates, so review the communication and consent experience before enabling it.[3]

If you already maintain an opted-in list, check how each import handles missing dates and opt-outs using fictional records first. If you do not want a bot contacting colleagues for their dates, ask Billy about disabling automatic collection. Our private birthday collection checklist is useful whichever app you select.

Reminders, weekends, and channels

BirthdayBot's feature matrix lists private reminders, weekend birthday management, and celebration channels on its Free, Standard, and Pro tiers. Its Pro tier lists separate time zones for celebration channels. Those entries establish that settings exist, but not that your preferred Friday/Monday or holiday policy works exactly as you expect; confirm those controls before migrating dates.[1]

Billy's weekend and frequency guide says it posts on the actual date by default, including Saturdays and Sundays. Admins can move celebrations to Friday or Monday, or group them into weekly or monthly posts; the guide also discusses public-holiday behavior.[4] Billy's pricing page lists private and multiple channels, reminders, and customizable messages.[2] If a workday-only announcement is non-negotiable, this documented scheduling choice is a good reason to evaluate Billy closely. Our weekend birthday policy guide helps choose a team rule before configuring an app.

Work anniversaries and extras

BirthdayBot places work-anniversary and new-hire celebrations under Standard, while its Free plan is focused on birthday celebrations and reminders.[1] Billy's one-app plan lists work anniversaries, custom events, GIF templates, and editable messages.[2] Conversely, BirthdayBot's pricing matrix lists gift cards, custom celebrations, Kudos, a web app, and Pro branding options, subject to specific plan limits.[1] Do not buy for a long extras list if your only requirement is a respectful birthday announcement. For the manual alternative, see our work-anniversary reminder guide.

Pricing: compare the counting rule first

BirthdayBot's official pricing page defines an active user as someone whose birthday or work anniversary is on record and announced; a person with both dates counts once. Its free birthday-celebration allowance is a yearly event cap, not a team-size cap. Its own pages conflict: the current pricing page says 15 annually, but the getting-started guide says 30. Ask BirthdayBot which cap applies now. The paid Standard and Pro prices change by active-user band and billing period.[1]

BuddiesHR's pricing page advertises free use under 10 seats and a one-app price per employee, with a discount for annual billing.[2] Its Billy seat guide clarifies the count: if any Billy channel is set to “All workspace members,” every eligible workspace member counts; otherwise it counts unique members of Billy channels. Bots, guests, and deactivated members do not count. A person without a recorded birthday can still count if they are in scope.[5] Compare your actual eligible channel members with BirthdayBot's recorded-date count. Billy's free threshold may help a small team with many celebrations; neither vendor is necessarily cheaper for a particular workspace. Check a current checkout or quote, trial expiration, and taxes. Our free birthday-bot comparison covers the free options in more detail.

Which should you choose?

• Choose a BirthdayBot trial to investigate if billing for recorded dates and its published recognition or gifting features matter more than the rest of the workspace size. Verify the relevant Standard/Pro entitlements in your account.[1]
• Evaluate Billy closely if you need documented Friday/Monday or grouped-post scheduling, explicit date-request controls, Microsoft Teams support, or its advertised under-10-seat free threshold.[2][3][4][5]
• Use neither yet if you want a human to approve every public greeting. A restricted, opted-in roster and a coordinator reminder may suit a small team; see our no-bot guide.

Disclosure: Kelasa publishes this comparison and offers its own BirthdayBot product. We have not installed BirthdayBot or Billy, tested Slack delivery, confirmed checkout entitlements, or taken original screenshots. For a broader selection including Kelasa, see our BirthdayBot alternatives guide. If your team prefers a daily birthday-and-anniversary digest, explore Kelasa's BirthdayBot overview and verify its current setup and commercial terms; the public overview does not establish a free tier, privacy controls, or weekend-shifting behavior.

Sources

• [1] BirthdayBot pricing and feature comparison
• [2] Billy product overview and BuddiesHR pricing
• [3] Billy: collecting birthdays and work anniversaries
• [4] Billy: weekends, holidays, and grouped posts
• [5] Billy: how seats are counted; BirthdayBot getting-started guide (the latter conflicts with the pricing page's free-celebration cap)

Official vendor pages checked November 11, 2026. Pricing, terms, and features can change; verify them with the providers before installing or paying. This article is an editorial comparison based on those pages, not a hands-on evaluation or a reliability ranking.