Salesforce-native or connected gamification: which do you need?
If the work you want to reward is already recorded in Salesforce, a native app is enough, and it is the simpler choice: scoring runs inside your org on the records reps already update, and no data leaves your org. If you need to score activity in HubSpot or another system outside Salesforce, or the main goal is a TV broadcast with a rewards shop, a connected tool fits better.
What native and connected mean
Salesforce-native
The app is a managed package installed in your org from AppExchange. Its objects, code and screens live in Salesforce. Scoring reads each record where it is saved, and reps see their points on the record page and in Lightning.
Examples: Novigem, LevelEleven (sold by Ascent Cloud)
Connected
The app runs on the vendor's own platform. A connector reads your CRM, and the vendor's servers work out the scores and draw the boards. Reps use the vendor's web app, mobile app or TV screens. Because scoring happens outside the CRM, one board can combine several systems.
Examples: SalesScreen, Spinify
Both camps use the word native. SalesScreen calls its connectors “native integrations built in-house”, which means SalesScreen wrote the connector; the app itself still runs outside Salesforce. When a vendor says native, ask whether the app is installed in your org or connects to it.
What native means in Novigem
A managed package in your org
Novigem installs from AppExchange as a managed package. Rules, challenges, badges and the points ledger are custom objects in your own org. The package ships no remote site settings, named credentials or connected apps, so there is no outbound connection for your admin to approve.
Scoring runs on records the team already updates
Novigem ships Apex triggers on Opportunity, Lead, Task and Event. When a rep saves one of those records, the engine checks the active rules and writes the points in the same transaction as the save. Since version 1.8.0 any other standard or custom object can be scored too: register it in the admin settings and add one record-triggered Flow that calls the Evaluate Record with Novigem action.
No data leaves your org
Points, challenge progress, badges and coaching signals are stored as Salesforce records, under the backups, reporting and retention you already run. There is no second copy of your pipeline on a vendor server to list in a data inventory, or to chase for deletion when you cancel.
Permissions follow Salesforce
Access is three permission sets on your existing users: Novigem User for reps, Novigem Manager for team leads and Novigem Admin for whoever configures it. Teams are your Public Groups. Package code runs with sharing and user-mode queries, so the object and field access you already set still applies. There is no separate user list to keep in step with Salesforce.
The one optional piece outside the org is the wallboard for an office screen. You choose whether to install it. Each screen signs in as a Salesforce user, shows what that user is allowed to see, and nothing is stored on our side. The setup for extra objects is in Gamify a New Object.
How connected vendors describe Salesforce-based tools
Connected vendors write comparison pages about each other. On those pages, running through Salesforce is presented as the weakness.
“Proxy integrations through third parties. Often routed through larger platforms like Salesforce instead of direct connections. Adds latency and data limits to what you can pull.”
“Salesforce-only focus. Integration options are limited outside of Salesforce, restricting flexibility for teams using multiple tools.”
“Hoopla's Salesforce-centric model”
Quoted from each vendor's own page, checked 11 November 2026.
Both points are fair for a team that runs on several systems. For a team whose pipeline, activities and accounts already live in Salesforce, they read the other way round. “Routed through Salesforce” describes where the data already is, and an app inside the org reads it there with no connector in between. “Salesforce-only” is a real limit if you run a second CRM, and makes no difference if you do not.
Spinify's Hoopla page also says Hoopla was folded into Raydiant. Hoopla was sold to Raydiant in 2021 and then to Displai Systems in 2025; our Hoopla comparison has the details.
What connected tools do well
More than one CRM, or data outside the CRM
A connected tool scores whatever its connectors reach. Spinify's pricing page lists “Salesforce, HubSpot + 50 more” integrations, and SalesScreen names Salesforce, HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics, Pipedrive, Teams, Slack and Salesloft. If half the team works in HubSpot, or the numbers that matter sit in a dialler or a support desk that never writes back to Salesforce, one board across all of them is something a native app cannot give you.
The TV and the sales floor
Connected vendors built their products around the office screen. SalesScreen's Hoopla comparison describes “news flashes, walk-up songs, and videos broadcast to TVs and phones”, and Spinify's Business plan includes “unlimited TV displays”. Novigem has a wallboard for an office screen, but if the broadcast is the main thing you are buying, they offer more of it.
Rewards shops and gift cards
SalesScreen offers “a customizable reward shop, with automated gift card fulfillment” through a Tango Card integration, and Spinify's pricing lists “personalized reward stores”. Novigem has no rewards shop. If reps spending points on prizes is central to your plan, that decides it.
The limits of a native app, Novigem included
- It only sees Salesforce. Work done in HubSpot, Dynamics or a tool that never writes to Salesforce does not score.
- The behaviour has to be recorded first. A call made in a dialler earns points once it lands in Salesforce as a Task, and not before.
- Only Salesforce users can play. Points go to people with a Salesforce login and a Novigem licence, so colleagues outside Salesforce cannot be on the board.
- Records saved by an integration user or a data import are skipped unless that user has a Novigem licence and read access to rules. Plan for this if your activity arrives through a sync.
- Objects beyond Opportunity, Lead, Task and Event need one setup step each: a registration in the admin settings and one record-triggered Flow.
- There is no rewards shop, and the wallboard does less than tools that were built around the TV.
Native or connected: a short checklist
- Everything you want to reward is a Salesforce record, or can become one
- Your security or procurement team would rather not approve another platform holding CRM data
- Reps already spend the day in Salesforce and you want points where they work
- You want scores stored next to the records that earned them, in Salesforce reports
- Part of the team works in another CRM
- Activity that matters lives in tools that never write back to Salesforce
- People without a Salesforce login need to compete
- A TV broadcast or a rewards shop is the main reason you are buying
Four questions for any vendor
- 01Is the app installed in my org, or does it connect to it?
- 02Where is a copy of my CRM data stored, and in which region?
- 03Which Salesforce user does the connector run as, and what can that user read?
- 04How often does data move, and what happens to the copy when we cancel?
Questions about native and connected gamification
Do I need a Salesforce-native gamification app, or is an integration enough?
Is a Salesforce-native app better for regulated industries and data residency?
Does a 'native integration' mean the same as Salesforce-native?
When do points appear in a native app?
Can a native app score custom objects?
Does Novigem work with HubSpot?
Which sales gamification apps are Salesforce-native?
Comparing specific tools? LevelEleven, SalesScreen, Spinify, Ambition and Hoopla each have their own page.
Want the product view of native gamification? See how Novigem runs inside Salesforce.
Test native gamification on your own org
We define your KPIs, configure the rules on the records your team already uses, and measure the change against your baseline at week six. You only pay if you continue.