Retrospective Tools

Mural vs RetroTool

A side-by-side look at scores, pricing, features and integrations to help you pick the right retrospective tool.

Mural logo

Mural

6.6

Visual collaboration whiteboard with a mature facilitation toolkit and AI-assisted sessions

Mural is a long-established visual collaboration platform — an infinite canvas with sticky notes, anonymous voting, timers, Private Mode, hundreds of workshop templates (eight of them retro-specific), AI clustering, summary and emotional-tone classification, and a Facilitation Superpowers toolkit (Outline, Timer, Voting, Private Mode) refined for over a decade. Best-in-class enterprise posture: SSO, SCIM, SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001, GDPR and NA/EU/APAC data residency.

Full review →
RetroTool logo

RetroTool

3.2

Anonymous online retrospectives, no login required

RetroTool is a low-friction online retrospective board built by NY/Poland software agency u2i as a side project. Free anonymous retros run from a unique URL with no signup; paid tiers add private boards, team management and longer retention. The product still works, but the site shows no shipped activity in years.

Full review →

Summary

Mural scores 6.6 overall and is best for workshop-heavy teams (design, product, agile coaching) that want a polished facilitation canvas with strong retro templates and enterprise-grade controls. It offers a free tier.

RetroTool scores 3.2 overall and is best for small or ad-hoc teams who want a free, no-signup retro board with secret voting and a few standard templates — provided you're comfortable using a tool that hasn't shipped visible updates in years. It offers a free tier.

Mural leads on retro toolkit, fun factor, AI & insights, integrations, open platform and enterprise-grade. RetroTool leads on ease of use and value.

Across our eight scoring dimensions, Mural edges ahead with an overall score of 6.6. That said, the right pick depends on your team — see the dimension-by-dimension breakdown below.

Scores compared

Mural
Ease of Use7.0
Retro Toolkit5.0
Value5.0
Fun Factor6.5
AI & Insights5.5
Integrations7.5
Open Platform7.0
Enterprise-grade9.0
RetroTool
Ease of Use7.5
Retro Toolkit4.0
Value9.0
Fun Factor3.0
AI & Insights0.0
Integrations0.0
Open Platform1.0
Enterprise-grade1.0
DetailMuralRetroTool
CategoryWhiteboardRetrospectives
Team sizeMid-marketSmall
Free tierYesYes
Free limitUnlimited murals but only the 3 most recently created stay editable (older go view-only); unlimited members and visitors; no Mural AIAnonymous boards; unlimited cards, columns, action points and participants; 3 basic templates; secret voting, dot-vote limits, timer, grouping, action points; Markdown export; 12-month retention
Starting price$9.99/user/mo$10/team/mo ($100/team/yr billed annually)
Est. 3 teams × 8 people$240/mo billed annually$30/mo (Individual — 3 teams x $10/team, unlimited members per team; $25/mo billed annually)
EnterpriseYesNo
Founded2011
HQSan Francisco, USPoland
Data residencyUnited States · European Union · Asia-Pacific
Languages9 (English, Spanish, German, …)English only
Export formatsImage · PDF · PowerPoint · HTML · CSVMarkdown · Confluence
Features3918
Integrations80

Feature & integration comparison

Side-by-side checklist across features, integrations and security. Hover a note for details.

CapabilityMuralRetroTool
Features
AI Summaries
AI grouping/clustering
AI action items
Action trackingnote
Team Insights
Pollingnote
Action dashboardnote
Custom templatesnote
Anonymous inputnotenote
Independent voting
Async mode
Agile Estimationsnote
Health Checks
Team Kudos
Whiteboard
Integrations
Asananote
Azure DevOpsnote
Basecamp
ClickUp
Confluence
GitHubnote
GitLab
Jiranote
Linear
Microsoft Teams
Monday.com
Notionnote
Shortcut
Slack
Trello
Security & Privacy
SOC 2
GDPRnote
SSO / SAMLnote
SCIM provisioningnote
ISO 27001
On-premises
Public API
Webhooks
MCP servernote

Mural — pros

  • + Mature facilitation toolkit — Outline, Timer, Voting, Private Mode — refined over 10+ years
  • + Anonymous where it counts: votes hide who voted, and Private Mode can keep sticky authors hidden even after reveal
  • + Best-in-class enterprise posture: SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, SSO/SAML, SCIM, NA/EU/APAC residency
  • + Two-way Jira and Azure DevOps sync via interactive work-item cards turns sticky notes into tracked issues
  • + Polished UX, especially for facilitators running synchronous workshops

Mural — cons

  • Per-seat pricing: a 24-person org pays ~$240/mo on the Team+ tier (annual), well above retro-native tools at that headcount
  • No native health checks, mood tracking or longitudinal team-pulse
  • No recurring retros, action carryover or cross-team rollup — facilitators rebuild structure each sprint
  • AI (clustering, summary, tone Classify) helps inside a session but doesn't track trends across retros
  • SSO/SAML needs the $17.99/user/mo Business tier; SCIM, audit logs and data residency are Enterprise-only

RetroTool — pros

  • + Genuinely free anonymous retros with no account required
  • + Three-click setup — unique URL, share, run
  • + Zero-knowledge encryption with custom passwords on Company plan
  • + Per-team flat pricing ($10 or $20/team/mo, 15%+ off annually) with <em>unlimited members per team</em>, not per-seat

RetroTool — cons

  • <strong>Apparently dormant</strong>: blog stopped in March 2022, no changelog or release notes, legal docs unchanged since August 2020
  • No native integrations with Jira, Slack, Teams or any agile-stack tool
  • No AI features (clustering, summary, action extraction, sentiment)
  • No health checks, recurring retros, or cross-team reporting
  • Most templates, image cards, named participants, private invite-only boards and zero-knowledge encryption are all behind paid tiers
  • Not SOC 2; no SSO/SCIM/audit logs for enterprise buyers

Keep comparing

Not sure which to pick? Read our guide on how to choose a retrospective tool.