If you need deep specialisation in a single category, the dedicated platforms typically have more depth than Athena. Workhuman and Bonusly have richer recognition mechanics (monetary rewards, points marketplaces, analytics dashboards) than the Athena Noticeboard's Kudos category. PowerDMS has deeper document-lifecycle management (multi-stage approval, version control, audit trails) than Athena's Policy Pulse. Confluence has a larger plugin ecosystem than Athena's Knowledge Base.
If you've already bought enterprise contracts that you can't unwind, Athena coexists with existing tools. It doesn't force a rip-and-replace. Many organisations adopt Athena alongside their existing recognition or policy platform and selectively retire the standalone tool as renewals come up.
If your team is genuinely tiny (under 10 users), even the per-user SaaS pricing might still be cheaper than Athena's £290/month flat fee at that scale. The bundled-economics argument lands hardest at 25+ users and crosses into “no-brainer” territory by 100 users.