Retrospective Tools

Kollabe vs Parabol

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

Kollabe logo

Kollabe

6.9

Agile meetings made easy — retros, standups and planning poker

Kollabe began life as a planning poker tool and now runs estimation, sprint retrospectives and icebreakers from one workspace. The retro board is deeper than its marketing suggests — drag-to-group with optional AI clustering, dot voting configurable per board or per column, a phase timer with audio alerts, a guided workflow with auto-advance, and action items carrying owner, due date, priority and a link back to the feedback card. Exports run to PDF, CSV, JSON, Markdown, HTML, JPEG and Confluence, with action items pushed to Jira, GitHub or Linear. Billing is flat per team space rather than per seat. There are no recurring retros, no health-check instrument and no compliance certifications.

Full review →
Parabol logo

Parabol

7.4

Open-source agile meetings for retros, poker, standups and check-ins

Parabol is an open-source agile meeting platform spanning retrospectives, sprint poker, team check-ins and recurring team health checks, with deep backlog sync to Jira, GitHub, GitLab, Azure DevOps and Linear, recurring meeting series, Zoom and Google Meet transcript capture, a scoped GraphQL API, and a built-in knowledge base (Pages) that auto-publishes every meeting summary and runs AI queries across past retros.

Full review →

Summary

Kollabe scores 6.9 overall and is best for small to mid-size agile teams running retros and planning poker who want one cheap, playful tool — and don't need health checks, recurring retros or a compliance story. It offers a free tier.

Parabol scores 7.4 overall and is best for distributed agile teams that want one open-source tool for retros, poker and team health checks. It offers a free tier.

Kollabe leads on value, fun factor and open platform. Parabol leads on retro toolkit, AI & insights, integrations and enterprise-grade.

Across our eight scoring dimensions, Parabol edges ahead with an overall score of 7.4. That said, the right pick depends on your team — see the dimension-by-dimension breakdown below.

Scores compared

Kollabe
Ease of Use8.5
Retro Toolkit7.5
Value8.0
Fun Factor8.5
AI & Insights7.5
Integrations6.0
Open Platform6.0
Enterprise-grade3.0
Parabol
Ease of Use8.5
Retro Toolkit9.0
Value5.0
Fun Factor7.0
AI & Insights8.0
Integrations9.0
Open Platform5.0
Enterprise-grade8.0
DetailKollabeParabol
CategoryRetrospectivesAll-in-One Agile
Team sizeSmallAny
Free tierYesYes
Free limit10 participants per meeting, 4 retrospectives/month, 7-day board history, 1 survey per board; no AI, exports, API or MCPUnlimited users, 2 teams, 10 meetings/month, 30-day history, 2 custom templates, 3 AI retro summaries per team
Starting price$29/mo per space (unlimited members)$8/active user/mo
Est. 3 teams × 8 people$87/mo (3 Premium spaces × $29; each space allows unlimited members)$192/mo
EnterpriseYesYes
Founded20232015
HQSydney, AustraliaRemote (San Diego, CA)
Data residencyAustraliaUnited States · European Union · Self-hosted
Languages6 (English, German, Spanish, …)English only
Export formatsCSV · PDF · Markdown · Image · JSON · HTML · Confluence · JiraCSV · Email
Features5254
Integrations58

Feature & integration comparison

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

CapabilityKollabeParabol
Features
Custom templates✓✓note
Anonymous input✓✓
Health Checks✓note✓note
Action tracking✓✓
Async mode✓✓
Whiteboard✓note—
Independent voting✓✓
Polling✓—
Icebreaker games✓note—
Agile Estimations✓✓
Team Kudos✓—
AI grouping/clustering✓✓note
AI action items✓—
AI Summaries✓✓note
Team Insights✓✓note
In-meeting AI assistant——
Action dashboard✓✓
Integrations
Asana——
Azure DevOps✓note✓
Basecamp——
ClickUp——
Confluence✓note✓note
GitHub✓✓
GitLab—✓
Jira✓✓
Linear✓✓
Microsoft Teams—✓
Monday.com——
Notion——
Shortcut——
Slack—✓
Trello——
Security & Privacy
SOC 2—✓
GDPR—✓
SSO / SAML✓note✓note
SCIM provisioning—✓note
ISO 27001——
On-premises—✓note
Public API✓note✓
Webhooks—✓note
MCP server✓note—

Kollabe — pros

  • + Flat per-space pricing — $29/mo buys unlimited members, so three teams of eight cost $87/mo total
  • + Deeper retro board than the marketing implies: drag-to-group plus AI clustering, dot voting per board or per column, a phase timer with audio alerts, and a guided workflow that auto-advances when everyone marks ready
  • + Action items carry owner, due date, priority, comments and a link back to the feedback card — and push one-click to Jira, GitHub or Linear
  • + Official OAuth MCP server (vendor states 46 tools) and a documented REST API on every paid plan; exports to PDF, CSV, JSON, Markdown, HTML, JPEG and Confluence
  • + Unusually playful: synchronised meeting music, AI-generated backgrounds, kudos with confetti, drawings and stickers, and a 1,100-strong themed template library

Kollabe — cons

  • − No recurring or scheduled retros — every session is created by hand — and no Slack or Microsoft Teams integration for retros
  • − No survey-based health check: a Spotify-style board template, a handful of 1–5 pulse polls, and a Team Health score in the paid weekly Insights report that is computed from activity (engagement, action follow-through, blockers, kudos) rather than from asking the team
  • − Both paid tiers cap a space at <strong>5 facilitators/admins</strong> however many members it has; lifting it means an Enterprise contract
  • − No SOC 2, ISO 27001 or published GDPR posture; core data is hosted in Australia with no EU or US option, and AI features send content to OpenAI and Groq. SSO and SLAs are Enterprise contact-sales
  • − A one-person company whose founder is also building a second product, and no product update has shipped since 31 May 2026

Parabol — pros

  • + Open source (AGPL-3.0) with Docker/Kubernetes self-host, on-prem and air-gapped deployment, plus a DoD Iron Bank hardened container (IL4 via Platform One, IL5 via Arcus)
  • + 40+ meeting templates plus poker, check-ins and team health in one tool
  • + Strong backlog write-back to Jira, GitHub, GitLab, Azure DevOps and Linear
  • + CSV export of reflections, groups, votes and threads, and a public GraphQL API with scoped personal access tokens, both on <em>every</em> plan
  • + Recurring retro series with a real recurrence rule and Google Calendar sync, plus an opt-in facilitator rotation queue

Parabol — cons

  • − Free Starter capped at 2 teams, 10 meetings/month, 30-day history and 3 AI summaries per team; AI grouping and Team Health need the paid Team tier
  • − No native whiteboard, presentation mode or screen-share mode
  • − Team Health, as of Oct 2026: 5 Likert questions per check across 5 fixed categories, trend limited to the last five checks in one series (no standalone history view), org-wide reporting still "coming soon", no export of health scores
  • − Webhooks stop at Mattermost/MS Teams notification URLs — no general event subscriptions and no MCP server
  • − English-only UI; no Trello, Asana, ClickUp or Notion integration

Keep comparing

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