Free Slack Birthday Bots: What the Free Plans Actually Cover

Compare BirthdayBot, Billy, and Ricotta's published free birthday options with Slack's built-in reminders. Check celebration limits, team-size caps, and trial terms.

By Kelasa team · November 9, 2026

Yes, there are free ways to remember birthdays in Slack. Slack's own reminders cost no extra app subscription but require someone to manage the dates and send greetings. BirthdayBot, Billy, and Ricotta also advertise free birthday-bot plans, with very different limits: annual celebration volume, team size, or available content. A free trial is not the same as a continuing free tier. The comparison below uses the vendors' public pages checked on November 9, 2026; confirm the terms in the signup flow before entering real employee dates.[1][2][3][4]

First decide whether you need a bot

For a handful of opted-in birthdays, a coordinator can set a private reminder in Slack, check a restricted list, and post a greeting only when the person wants one. Slack documents personal reminders and /remind [#channel] [what] [when] for channel reminders; these are available on all plans.[1] A reminder does not maintain an employee birthday roster or write a personalized annual greeting for you. Slack's documented repeat examples are by day, not a confirmed yearly birthday recurrence. Our no-bot birthday reminder guide compares a one-off reminder with a private recurring calendar.

Do not confuse native reminders with Workflow Builder: Slack says creating workflows is a paid-plan feature by default, subject to admin restrictions.[5] A scheduled generic workflow prompt is not automatically a date-aware birthday announcement; our Workflow Builder guide explains the distinction.

Published free options at a glance

| Option | What its publisher says is free | Important limit or ongoing task | | --- | --- | --- | | Native Slack reminders | Personal and channel reminders on all Slack plans[1] | Someone maintains consent and dates, checks the reminder, and writes the greeting; no verified annual /remind cadence | | BirthdayBot | Free plan with birthday reminders and 15 automated birthday celebrations per year[2] | The cap is celebrations per year, not 15 members; work-anniversary celebrations are listed under Standard | | Billy (BuddiesHR) | Free forever under 10 employees, according to its current Billy page and pricing page[3] | Verify how the vendor counts employees and what happens on reaching the threshold | | Ricotta Birthday Bot | Its birthday-product page lists a Free Plan for 10 users with the Classic Content Pack[4] | The same page advertises a 30-day trial and paid tiers; confirm the continuing free-plan terms and any pack restrictions before installing |

These are published terms, not tested entitlements. We have not installed these apps, checked checkout screens, or tested message delivery. Limits and feature packaging may change; use each linked official page as the starting point for your own verification. Ricotta also markets a separate games/trivia product, so check the birthday-bot page rather than assuming its games pricing applies.[4]

BirthdayBot: a celebration-count cap

BirthdayBot's official pricing page calls its Free tier free forever and specifies 15 automated birthday celebrations annually. It lists birthday reminders on Free, with work-anniversary and new-hire celebrations under Standard.[2] For a team with more than 15 birthdays to celebrate in a year, that annual count matters even if the team is small. Ask which events consume the allowance, when it resets, and what happens after the last free celebration. Do not infer unlimited announcements from the word “free.”

Billy: a small-team threshold

The current Billy product page says “Free forever under 10 employees” and identifies Slack and Microsoft Teams as supported destinations.[3] BuddiesHR pricing likewise lists a free under-10-users tier and describes birthday messages, work-anniversary messages, opt-out, date collection, and weekend management for the Billy app. These are vendor claims, not our hands-on results. If your workspace is close to the threshold, ask whether it counts all workspace employees or only participating people before relying on the free tier. Its 30-day trial for paid usage is a separate offer.[3]

Ricotta: check the birthday-specific free tier

Ricotta's Birthday Bot for Slack page lists a free plan for 10 users with a Classic Content Pack; premium content packs require a paid plan. The same page promotes a 30-day trial, paid tiers, and birthday and work-anniversary announcements.[4] The page does not make every transition between trial and free tier clear. Before committing dates, check what remains available after the trial, how “10 users” is counted, and whether your desired schedule, channel, and opt-out settings are in the continuing free plan. Do not apply the separate Ricotta Trivia free tier to this birthday product.

Which approach fits your team?

No app and a few dates: use a personal Slack reminder and a restricted, opted-in roster. Review reminders when a teammate leaves or opts out. Start with our guide to tracking employee birthdays, including consent and roster access.
A limited number of automated greetings each year: inspect BirthdayBot's per-year cap and test what happens near it before inviting the whole team.[2]
A team below a published size threshold: compare Billy's employee-count rule and Ricotta's user rule with your actual workspace, not just the people whose birthdays you know.[3][4]
A growing team: calculate the cost after the free cap or trial ends and compare the features you actually need. A zero-dollar entry point alone is not a reliable long-term selection criterion.

Regardless of product, ask employees whether they want a public greeting, inspect the app's requested permissions, decide who maintains the date list, and test a fictional date in a private channel. For a date-aware workflow without an off-the-shelf bot, our automation guide describes the extra operational work. These are recommendations to test, not tests Kelasa performed.

Where does Kelasa fit?

This article is published by Kelasa, which offers BirthdayBot; it is not an independent ranking of competitors. Explore Kelasa's BirthdayBot overview if a daily digest for birthdays and work anniversaries, with a selected channel and workspace time zone, matches your needs. The current landing page does not publish pricing or a free-plan promise, so we cannot call Kelasa a free birthday bot or include it as a verified free tier here. Compare its actual setup and commercial terms before deciding.

Sources and editorial limits

Vendor terms were checked against public pages on November 9, 2026. No app was installed, no Slack reminder or workflow was tested, and no screenshots, reliability ratings, customer reviews, or Kelasa price claims are asserted here. Recheck plan terms before purchase or installation.