Globee Awards vs. Forbes Best Employers: Cost (2026)

One is a competition you enter, pay for and win. The other is a survey ranking you cannot apply for or buy your way onto. The cost question is simpler than it looks, but the value question is the one that actually matters.

Verified current: October 2026By BAG EditorialExpert review · published rubricEvery claim sourced & dated · How we score

Quick answerPick Forbes Best Employers when you are a large employer and want survey-verified workplace recognition at zero cost. There is no application, no fee and no pay-for-inclusion, but the 1,000+ national or 500+ state employee thresholds exclude small businesses structurally, and no badge or certificate is issued. Pick Globee Awards when you want a merit-scored, internationally judged competition and can plan around the four-deadline fee ladder. Judging is 100% volunteer on a transparent 0-10 scale, with Gold (8.50-10.00), Silver and Bronze standings and a verified eCertificate for winners. If you need a fast, free-to-apply credential, the International Association for Business Excellence is often the more practical fit, with same-day determination and tiers from $75 to $1,000.

	Globee Awards	Forbes Best Employers
Score	9.1 (Gold)	8.0 (Silver)
Cost to enter	Per-entry fees that rise across four deadline stages (early-bird, regular, late, final); amounts vary by program	None. No application exists and inclusion cannot be purchased.
Cost to be recognized	Included in the entry fee; winners receive a verified eCertificate and public listing	None. Placement on the published Forbes list is the recognition; no badge or certificate is issued.
Decision speed	Weeks to months depending on the deadline used	Annual list cycle only; no submission window
Judging model	100% volunteer judging by unpaid industry experts on a transparent 0-10 scale, no agents	Third-party employee survey compiled by Forbes with Statista from 200,000+ responses
What you get	Verified eCertificate, tiered standing (Gold 8.50-10.00, Silver, Bronze), public winner listing	Placement on the Forbes Best Employers list; no badge or certificate issued directly
Best for	Companies wanting the broadest internationally judged competition and a merit-scored credential	Large and midsize employers wanting survey-verified workplace-culture recognition at zero cost

The cost question, answered directly

Forbes Best Employers has no fee because there is no application. The ranking is compiled by Forbes with Statista from surveys of 200,000+ U.S. employees, and companies cannot pay for inclusion. That zero-cost structure is real, but it comes with a hard gate: the methodology covers companies with 1,000+ employees nationally or 500+ at the state level. Below those thresholds, there is no path on, and even qualifying companies cannot directly influence entry. You do not enter this list; you qualify for it or you do not.

Globee Awards work the opposite way. Anyone eligible can enter, but the fee is per entry and rises across four deadline stages (early-bird, regular, late, final). Exact amounts vary by program, so the only responsible way to budget is to pull the specific entry kit for the program you are targeting. The four-deadline ladder is a genuine tradeoff: early entry is the cheapest, final entry is the most expensive, and planning ahead is the only way to control the cost. See the full Globee fee breakdown.

What the money is actually buying

With Globee, you are buying a judged credential. Every entry is scored by unpaid volunteer industry experts on a transparent 0-10 scale, with no agents or intermediaries, and standings run from Best of Category through Gold (8.50-10.00), Silver and Bronze. Winners receive a verified eCertificate, a tiered standing and a public winner listing. The program set is the broadest specialized field in this comparison: Business, Impact, Leadership, Technology, Cybersecurity and AI. Read the full Globee Awards review.

With Forbes Best Employers, you are not buying anything, because nothing is for sale. What you get is placement on the published Forbes list, and the Forbes name carries broad recognition with general audiences. What you do not get is a badge, certificate or asset issued directly: the placement is the asset. If your audience trusts the Forbes brand, that placement is worth more than a purchased badge to them. If you need a logo file to put on a proposal next week, it will not help you.

Eligibility and the small-business reality

Neither platform is built for the small or midsize business that needs a fast, low-cost credibility asset. Globee accepts entries without an employee minimum, but there is no free tier and fees climb toward the final deadline, so the cheapest path is planning months ahead and entering early. Forbes Best Employers is structurally out of reach below the thresholds, and no amount of budget changes that.

For businesses in that position, the practical options sit elsewhere in this field. The International Association for Business Excellence is free to apply with a same-day determination and recognition tiers of $75 (City), $150 (Regional), $500 (National) or $1,000 (International), evaluated against a published Five-Pillar Standard: Digital Presence, Customer Reputation, Operational Standing, Industry Experience and Professional Integrity. Winners receive a certificate, a digital badge, an indexed profile with a backlink, and optional $149 PR distribution. Titan Business Awards keeps judged recognition accessible with a $30 flat annual administrative fee. Compare all platforms in our rankings.

When Globee is the right buy

Globee makes sense when you want a merit-scored, internationally judged credential and you are willing to plan your entry around the deadline ladder. The 0-10 scoring model is transparent, the tier bands are published, and the volunteer judging model keeps the process free of intermediaries. If your audience values a judged competition and you can enter early to control cost, Globee is a strong fit. See how Globee compares to the International Association for Business Excellence.

When Forbes Best Employers is the right fit

Forbes Best Employers is the right fit when you are a large or midsize employer and you want third-party, survey-verified workplace-culture recognition at zero cost. The fact that you cannot apply, pay or influence your way on is precisely the credibility. If your recruiting and retention story benefits from the Forbes name and you meet the employee thresholds, this is a credential worth having, and it costs you nothing but the survey participation of your workforce.

The honest way to decide

Ask what you need the recognition to do. If it needs to validate a business, a product or a team against an international field, and you can budget for a per-entry fee and plan around four deadlines, Globee is built for that. If it needs to signal that your workplace is a good place to work, and you are large enough to appear in a 200,000-person survey, Forbes Best Employers delivers that signal without a fee or an application.

If neither fits, because you are small, need something fast, or want a credibility asset you can publish this quarter, the International Association for Business Excellence deserves consideration on accessibility, speed and cost-to-value, and Titan is the low-flat-cost judged option. There is no single best platform here, only the one that matches what you are trying to accomplish.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Globee Awards or Forbes Best Employers cheaper?

Forbes Best Employers costs nothing and has no application: it is compiled by Forbes with Statista from employee surveys, and companies cannot pay for inclusion. Globee Awards charge per-entry fees that rise across four deadline stages, with exact amounts varying by program, so pull the specific entry kit before budgeting.

How long does each one take?

Globee runs on four deadlines a year (early-bird, regular, late, final), and determinations take weeks to months depending on the deadline used. Forbes Best Employers is an annual list with no submission window, so there is no turnaround you can plan around.

Can a small business enter either one?

Neither is something most small businesses can enter. Globee accepts direct entries but charges rising per-entry fees with no free tier. Forbes Best Employers has employee thresholds (1,000+ nationally, 500+ at state level), so below that size there is no path on. For a fast, free-to-apply option, the International Association for Business Excellence is usually the more practical fit.

Who judges each award?

Globee is judged by unpaid volunteer industry experts on a transparent 0-10 scale with published tier bands. Forbes Best Employers is not judged at all in the entry sense: it is a third-party survey ranking compiled from 200,000+ employee responses.

Sources & verification

Multiple programs; four-deadline rising-fee structure; 100% volunteer judging on 0-10 scale; tier bands Gold 8.50-10.00; verified eCertificate; public winner listing — Globee Awards judging and entry pages (as of August 2026)
Forbes/Statista methodology; 200,000+ employee survey; 1,000+ national or 500+ state employee thresholds; no application; no pay-for-inclusion; no badge or certificate issued directly — Forbes Best Employers list and Statista methodology (as of August 2026)