Parabol vs Retrium (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Parabol grades higher than Retrium: 2.6 against 2.2 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Parabol grades higher on the free plan and features. They get the same grade on value for money, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Parabol
Retrospectives, standups and sprint poker for agile teams
Retrium
Facilitated sprint retrospectives for agile teams
Which one is for you
Pick Parabol if
- Fits if your agile team wants retros, standups and poker in one app
- Works for small groups, since the free plan allows unlimited users
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay free: 2 teams, 10 meetings a month and 30 days of history
- Pricey if many people join, as Team is billed per active user
- Skip it if you need SAML SSO, SCIM or Jira Data Center, all Enterprise only
- Watch out: no desktop or mobile apps are listed on the pages we read
Pick Retrium if
- Fits if you're a scrum master running regular sprint retros
- Works for remote teams that follow up actions in Jira
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you run many teams, as each team room costs separately
- Skip it if you want a free plan, because there's only a 30-day trial
- Watch out: the Business card shows $715 a year per room while the table shows $59 a month
- Watch out: the Slack app is labelled beta and Jira Cloud is the only tracker listed
How we grade them
| 2.6GPAParabolGood | 2.2GPARetriumFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | C$8 per active user a month, which is the category's middle, and it rises with how many people take part. | C$39 a month per team room, about $8 a head for a team of five, which is the category's middle. Business is $59 per room. |
| Free plan and trial | BStarter is free for up to 2 teams, 10 meetings a month and unlimited users, with 30 days of history. One team could live on it. | CA 30-day trial of the retrospective formats, and the page doesn't say a card is needed to start. Nothing free after it. |
| Features | BRetros, standups, sprint poker, Team Health checks and AI prompts, plus links to the backlog tools. Nothing in the listing shows a gap in the meeting job. | CGuided steps, anonymous input, many formats, action plans and room history. It does the retro job fully, but it's a smaller job, and pricing is per room. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. You choose templates and set up teams before the first meeting. | CNo store rating on record. You set up team rooms and invite people before the first retro. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, but it connects to Jira, GitHub, GitLab, Linear, Azure DevOps, Slack, Teams and Mattermost. | BWeb only, but it connects to Jira Cloud and Slack, which is in beta. |
| Best for | retros, standups and sprint poker in one app | guided agile retrospectives |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Parabol and Retrium. How we grade
Price against what you get
Parabol starts at $8 a month for each person and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Retrium starts at $39 a month and scores 2.3.
Parabol scores higher and starts $31 a month lower. Of the other whiteboard and mind map tools on the chart, 6 score higher than Parabol for less, and 28 score higher than Retrium for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Parabol is open source, according to its own site.
At a glance
| Parabol | Retrium | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Starts at | $8 per active user / month | $39 per team room / month |
| Free plan | Starter: up to 2 teams, 10 meetings per month, unlimited users and 30 days of meeting history. | None |
| Free trial | None listed | 30-day free trial of all retrospective templates |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Parabol | Retrium |
| Price read from | parabol.co | retrium.com |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Parabol
- The free Starter plan is limited to 2 teams and 10 meetings per month, with 30 days of history.
- The Team plan is priced per active user per month, so the bill moves with how many people take part.
- SAML SSO, SCIM and the Jira Data Center and self-managed GitLab integrations are Enterprise only.
- Parabol runs in a browser; the pages read list no desktop or mobile apps.
Retrium
- Pricing is per team room, so a company running many teams pays for each room separately.
- There is no free plan; access beyond the 30-day trial needs a paid Team plan.
- The Business card shows $715 per team room per year while the comparison table shows $59 per month; confirm with the vendor.
- The Slack app is labeled beta and the only task-tracker integration listed is Jira Cloud.
Key features
Parabol
- Retrospectives
- Teams add anonymous suggestions, group them, vote and create tasks as they go, with discussion threads that document the conversation.
- Other meeting formats
- Standups, team check-ins and sprint poker run in the same app, and more than 90 meeting templates are included.
- Team Health checks
- Recurring, research-backed health checks with anonymous answers and trends. The vendor lists it on the Team and Enterprise plans.
- AI assistance
- AI discussion prompts and related discussions are on every plan; meeting summaries, group suggestions and icebreakers are on the paid plans.
- Backlog and chat integrations
- Tasks can be sent to Jira, GitHub, GitLab, Linear or Azure DevOps, and meeting reminders and summaries can go to Slack, Microsoft Teams or Mattermost.
Retrium
- Guided facilitation
- The app moves a team through gathering feedback, grouping it into themes, voting and deciding what to do, so everyone follows the same stage together.
- Retrospective formats
- A library of formats including Start, Stop, Continue, What Went Well, Mad Sad Glad and Lean Coffee, plus the option to create your own format.
- Private, anonymous input
- Team members brainstorm privately first, and comments are anonymous, which the vendor presents as a way to encourage open feedback.
- Action plans
- Action items come out of each retrospective and can be tracked, with a Jira Cloud connection to assign users and due dates in Jira.
- Team rooms and history
- Each team has a room that stores its retrospective history, with private rooms available for teams that want to keep discussions to themselves.
Plans
Parabol
Starter$0
Up to 2 teams, 10 meetings per month, 30 days of history, 2 custom templates and 3 AI retrospective summaries.
Team$8
per active user / month, billed monthly
Unlimited teams, meetings, history and custom templates, private teams, Team Health, AI summaries and icebreakers.
EnterpriseCustom
Annual contract with user tiers, SAML SSO, SCIM, org admin role, uptime SLA and optional on-prem or single-tenant hosting.
Retrium
Team$39
per team room / month, billed monthly or annually
Unlimited retrospectives and users, all retrospective activities and the Jira Cloud integration.
Business$59
per team room / month, billed annually
Adds annual invoicing, volume discounts, priority support, SOC audit and SIG Lite access and SAML SSO setup. The plan card shows $715 per year.
EnterpriseCustom
For 25 or more teams: training session, dedicated customer success manager, custom contract and security review.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Parabol or Retrium?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Parabol starts at $8 per active user / month, and Retrium starts at $39 per team room / month. One is priced for each person and the other is not, so which costs less depends on how many of you use it.
Which has a free plan, Parabol or Retrium?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Parabol has a free plan. Retrium does not, though it has a free trial.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.