IdeaBoardz
2.9Free shared brainstorming boards
IdeaBoardz is a long-standing free brainstorming and retrospective board: pick 1-10 sections, name them yourself, share the URL, add ideas anonymously, upvote, and export to PDF or Excel. The app still works and is still in daily use, but development stopped years ago — the public source repository's last feature commits date to April 2020 and the Terms have not been revised since.
Full review →
Metro Retro
3.0Rebranded twice — Metro Retro became Ludi, now Spreo; the playful retro whiteboard lives on
Metro Retro was a fun, freeform online whiteboard built for sprint retrospectives, known for its playful templates, timer and engagement features. The product has since been renamed twice by its maker, Deqo Software Limited: to Ludi on 4 August 2025, then to Spreo on 1 July 2026 after a trademark cease-and-desist. The metroretro.io domain now 301-redirects straight to spreo.io. If you are searching for Metro Retro, the product you want is Spreo; the original Metro Retro brand and domain are no longer maintained.
Full review →Summary
IdeaBoardz scores 2.9 overall and is best for throwaway retros and quick distributed brainstorms when nobody wants to sign up. It offers a free tier.
Metro Retro scores 3.0 overall and is best for searchers who remember Metro Retro and need to know where it went — the product now ships as <strong>Spreo</strong>. Go there, or to a dedicated retro platform, instead. It offers custom pricing.
IdeaBoardz leads on ease of use, value and open platform. Metro Retro leads on retro toolkit, fun factor, integrations and enterprise-grade.
Across our eight scoring dimensions, Metro Retro edges ahead with an overall score of 3.0. That said, the right pick depends on your team — see the dimension-by-dimension breakdown below.
Scores compared
| Detail | IdeaBoardz | Metro Retro |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Retrospectives | Whiteboard |
| Team size | Small | Small |
| Free tier | Yes | No |
| Free limit | Fully free, no paid tier | |
| Starting price | Free | Free |
| Est. 3 teams × 8 people | Free (no paid tier) | N/A — brand retired; see the Spreo listing |
| Enterprise | No | No |
| Founded | 2010 | — |
| HQ | Pune, India | United Kingdom |
| Data residency | — | — |
| Languages | English only | English only |
| Export formats | PDF · Excel | PDF · CSV · HTML · Markdown · JSON · Jira |
| Features | 9 | 7 |
| Integrations | 0 | 0 |
Feature & integration comparison
Side-by-side checklist across features, integrations and security. Hover a note for details.
| Capability | IdeaBoardz | Metro Retro |
|---|---|---|
| Features | ||
| AI Summaries | — | — |
| AI grouping/clustering | — | — |
| AI action items | — | — |
| Action tracking | — | — |
| Team Insights | — | — |
| Polling | — | — |
| Action dashboard | — | — |
| Custom templates | ✓note | — |
| Anonymous input | ✓ | — |
| Independent voting | ✓ | ✓ |
| Async mode | ✓ | — |
| Agile Estimations | — | — |
| Health Checks | — | — |
| 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 | — | — |
| SCIM provisioning | — | — |
| ISO 27001 | — | — |
| On-premises | — | — |
| Public API | ✓note | — |
| Webhooks | — | — |
| MCP server | — | — |
IdeaBoardz — pros
- + Genuinely free — no paywall, no paid tier, no trial clock
- + No signup required to participate — just share the URL
- + 1-10 free-text sections build Start/Stop/Continue, 4Ls or Six Thinking Hats by hand
- + Drag one sticky onto another to merge them; the votes are added together
- + PDF and Excel export on every board, plus a working phone view
IdeaBoardz — cons
- − No templates at all — the only format choice is how many sections you want
- − No timer, no phases, no action items, no grouping beyond merging two stickies into one
- − Unlimited anonymous upvotes with no per-person vote budget
- − Zero integrations, no SSO, no SOC 2 and no published privacy policy — the URL is the only access control
- − No product work since April 2020; support is a Gmail address and a Twitter handle
Metro Retro — pros
- + The product you remember still exists — it now ships as Spreo (Metro Retro → Ludi, 4 Aug 2025 → Spreo, 1 Jul 2026)
- + The vendor says accounts, boards, data and workflows carried through both renames, and old links redirect
- + Carried its playful templates, session timer and icebreakers into the rebrand
- + Freeform whiteboard canvas that's friendly for engagement-first retros
Metro Retro — cons
- − The Metro Retro brand and metroretro.io domain are retired — the domain 301-redirects straight to spreo.io
- − Two name changes in under a year (Metro Retro → Ludi → Spreo) leave stranded searchers chasing a moving target; bookmarks, runbooks and SSO configs all need updating
- − No standalone free tier under the new brand — a 30-day trial, then paid
- − The old domain isn't a clean redirect everywhere: metroretro.io/pricing returns a stale Spreo <em>Non-prod environment</em> stub instead of forwarding (checked 3 Aug 2026)
Keep comparing
Other IdeaBoardz comparisons
Other Metro Retro comparisons
Not sure which to pick? Read our guide on how to choose a retrospective tool.