Parabol
7.3Open-source agile meetings for retros, poker, standups and check-ins
Parabol is an open-source agile meeting platform spanning retrospectives, sprint poker, async standups, team check-ins and lightweight team health, with deep backlog sync to Jira, GitHub, GitLab, Azure DevOps and Linear and AI-assisted grouping, summaries, icebreakers and discussion prompts.
Full review →
SprintRetro
4.4Free sprint retros, embedded in Jira
SprintRetro is a free Atlassian Forge app from Agile Pulse that runs sprint retrospectives directly inside Jira Cloud. It pulls live sprint metrics (velocity, predictability, scope change, carryover, cycle time) into a collaborative retro board and — since a mid-2026 expansion — adds an infinite whiteboard, anonymous team-health pulse checks, timers, and an AI facilitator, alongside templates, anonymous voting, action items that carry over between retros, GIFs, kudos, polls, and icebreakers. A separate paid Pro listing exists for advanced features.
Full review →Summary
Parabol scores 7.3 overall and is best for distributed agile teams that want one open-source tool for retros, poker, standups and lightweight team health. It offers a free tier.
SprintRetro scores 4.4 overall and is best for scrum teams already living in Jira Cloud who want a no-cost, no-friction sprint retro tool with sprint metrics baked in. It offers a free tier.
Parabol leads on ease of use, retro toolkit, fun factor, AI & insights, integrations, open platform and enterprise-grade. SprintRetro leads on value.
Across our eight scoring dimensions, Parabol edges ahead with an overall score of 7.3. That said, the right pick depends on your team — see the dimension-by-dimension breakdown below.
Scores compared
| Detail | Parabol | SprintRetro |
|---|---|---|
| Category | All-in-One Agile | Retrospectives |
| Team size | Any | Small |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Free limit | Unlimited users, 2 teams, 10 meetings/month, 30-day history, 2 custom templates | Free for unlimited users on a Jira instance (free app listing) |
| Starting price | $8/user/mo | Free |
| Est. 3 teams × 8 people | $192/mo | Free (within free tier) |
| Enterprise | Yes | No |
| Founded | 2015 | — |
| HQ | Remote | Waterlooville, United Kingdom |
| Data residency | United States · European Union · Self-hosted | — |
| Languages | English only | English only |
| Export formats | — | |
| Features | 43 | 21 |
| Integrations | 7 | 1 |
Feature & integration comparison
Side-by-side checklist across features, integrations and security. Hover a note for details.
| Capability | Parabol | SprintRetro |
|---|---|---|
| Features | ||
| AI Summaries | ✓ | ✓note |
| AI grouping/clustering | ✓ | ✓note |
| AI action items | — | ✓note |
| Action tracking | ✓ | ✓ |
| Team Insights | ✓ | — |
| Polling | ✓note | ✓ |
| Action dashboard | ✓ | — |
| Custom templates | ✓note | ✓ |
| Anonymous input | ✓ | ✓ |
| Independent voting | ✓ | ✓ |
| Async mode | ✓ | — |
| Agile Estimations | ✓ | — |
| Health Checks | ✓note | ✓note |
| Team Kudos | ✓ | ✓ |
| Whiteboard | — | ✓ |
| Integrations | ||
| Asana | — | — |
| Azure DevOps | ✓ | — |
| Basecamp | — | — |
| ClickUp | — | — |
| Confluence | — | — |
| GitHub | ✓ | — |
| GitLab | ✓ | — |
| Jira | ✓ | ✓ |
| Linear | ✓ | — |
| Microsoft Teams | ✓ | — |
| Monday.com | — | — |
| Notion | — | — |
| Shortcut | — | — |
| Slack | ✓ | — |
| Trello | — | — |
| Security & Privacy | ||
| SOC 2 | ✓ | — |
| GDPR | ✓ | ✓ |
| SSO / SAML | ✓note | — |
| SCIM provisioning | ✓note | — |
| ISO 27001 | — | — |
| On-premises | ✓note | — |
| Public API | ✓ | — |
| Webhooks | ✓ | — |
| MCP server | — | — |
Parabol — pros
- + Open source (AGPL-3.0) with self-host and on-prem options
- + 40+ retro templates plus poker, standups, check-ins and team health in one tool
- + Strong backlog write-back to Jira, GitHub, GitLab, Azure DevOps and Linear
- + AI summaries, suggested groupings and discussion prompts that surface real themes
- + Anonymous reflections and lightweight team health check built in
Parabol — cons
- − Free tier capped at 10 meetings/month and 30-day history
- − No native whiteboard, presentation mode or screen-share mode
- − Health-check is a single emoji poll — no custom radars or trend dashboards
- − SSO, SCIM, audit-grade controls and uptime SLA gated to Enterprise
- − No Confluence, Trello or multi-language support
SprintRetro — pros
- + Genuinely free with unlimited users on your Jira instance (free app listing)
- + Pulls <strong>real sprint metrics</strong> (velocity, predictability, scope change, carryover, cycle time) into the retro context
- + Built on Atlassian Forge — runs entirely inside Jira Cloud, no external data egress
- + Expanded fast: now adds an infinite whiteboard, timers, anonymous team-health pulse checks, and an AI facilitator
- + Action items carry over automatically into the next retro for follow-up
SprintRetro — cons
- − Jira Cloud only — no Slack, Teams, GitHub, Linear, Confluence, or standalone web app
- − AI facilitation is thin and may be gated behind the paid <strong>Pro</strong> listing (~$210/yr for 25 Jira users) — the feature split between free and Pro isn't clearly documented
- − No async mode, presentation mode, drag-and-drop grouping, or scheduled/recurring retros
- − No SSO, SCIM, SOC 2, audit logs, or cross-team reporting
- − Young product (launched Sept 2025); ~682 free-app installs — fine for one team, less proven at scale
Keep comparing
Other Parabol comparisons
Other SprintRetro comparisons
Not sure which to pick? Read our guide on how to choose a retrospective tool.