Parabol
7.6Open-source agile meetings for retros, poker, standups and check-ins
Parabol is an <strong>open-source agile meeting platform</strong> 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 →
TeleRetro
6.7Agile retros you'll love
TeleRetro is a remote-first retrospective tool built around team engagement — animated GIF reactions, icebreaker games, music, planning poker and a clean facilitation flow. It now pairs retros with a Pulse Survey module for tracking team health between sessions, aimed at small to mid-size agile teams who want retros that feel lively rather than mechanical.
Full review →Summary
Parabol scores 7.6 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.
TeleRetro scores 6.7 overall and is best for remote and hybrid agile teams who prioritise engagement and fun alongside a solid retrospective facilitation workflow. It offers a free tier.
Parabol leads on retro toolkit, AI & insights, integrations and enterprise-grade. TeleRetro leads on ease of use, value and fun factor.
Across our seven scoring dimensions, Parabol edges ahead with an overall score of 7.6. That said, the right pick depends on your team — see the dimension-by-dimension breakdown below.
Scores compared
| Detail | Parabol | TeleRetro |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | 1 team, 3 retros, 14-day retro access, 1 pulse survey, limited AI Retro Bot access |
| Starting price | $8/user/mo | £26/mo |
| Est. 3 teams × 8 people | $192/mo | £72/mo (~$91/mo) on the Business plan (3 teams) |
| Enterprise | Yes | Yes |
| Founded | 2015 | 2020 |
| HQ | Remote | UK |
| Data residency | United States · European Union · Self-hosted | — |
| Languages | English only | 14 (English, German, Spanish, …) |
| Features | 43 | 38 |
| Integrations | 7 | 7 |
Feature & integration comparison
Side-by-side checklist across features, integrations and security. Hover a note for details.
| Capability | Parabol | TeleRetro |
|---|---|---|
| Features | ||
| AI Summaries | ✓ | — |
| AI grouping/clustering | ✓ | — |
| AI action items | — | — |
| 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 | ✓ | ✓ note |
| Basecamp | — | — |
| ClickUp | — | — |
| Confluence | — | — |
| GitHub | ✓ | ✓ note |
| GitLab | ✓ | — |
| Jira | ✓ | ✓ |
| Linear | ✓ | — |
| Microsoft Teams | ✓ | ✓ |
| Monday.com | — | — |
| Notion | — | ✓ note |
| Shortcut | — | — |
| Slack | ✓ | ✓ |
| Trello | — | ✓ note |
| Security & Privacy | ||
| SOC 2 | ✓ | — |
| GDPR | ✓ | ✓ |
| SSO / SAML | ✓ note | ✓ note |
| SCIM provisioning | ✓ note | — |
| ISO 27001 | — | — |
| On-premises | ✓ note | — |
| Public API | ✓ | ✓ note |
| Webhooks | ✓ | — |
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
TeleRetro — pros
- + Standout engagement features — GIF reactions, music and icebreaker games make retros genuinely enjoyable
- + Clean, low-friction facilitation flow with timer, voting, grouping and action items in one place
- + Pulse Surveys now track team health between retros, with a cross-team dashboard on the Business plan
- + Async mode and action carry-over keep distributed teams aligned between sprints
- + AI Retro Bot spins up a custom retro format from any topic in seconds
TeleRetro — cons
- − AI is limited to format and icebreaker generation — no board summary, clustering, action extraction or sentiment
- − Native integrations stop at Jira, Slack and Teams; Trello, GitHub and Azure DevOps run through Zapier
- − No SCIM, audit logs or SOC 2; SSO (Okta/Azure AD) is Enterprise-plan only
- − Health/pulse module is lighter than dedicated health-check tools — no team radars or psych-safety models
- − Annual-only discount and per-team pricing add up beyond a handful of teams