Parabol review (2026): is the free plan enough?
Retrospectives, standups and sprint poker for agile teams
Black Friday: is there a Parabol sale?
Parabol report card
Good · out of 4.0 · graded Nov 13, 2026
Best for retros, standups and sprint poker in one app
Parabol runs retrospectives, standups, check-ins and sprint poker, live or asynchronously, with 90-plus templates and AI summaries. The free Starter plan covers 2 teams and 10 meetings a month, and Team costs $8 per active user, with SSO and SCIM held for Enterprise.
Who Parabol is for
- Fits if your agile team wants retros, standups and poker in one app
- Works for small groups, since the free plan allows unlimited users
Who Parabol is not for
- 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
Why Parabol gets a 2.6
Five grades, each with its reason. The GPA is their average: an A is 4 points, an F is none.
- CValue for money$8 per active user a month, which is the category's middle, and it rises with how many people take part.
- BFree plan and trialStarter 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.
- BFeaturesRetros, 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.
- CEase of useNo store rating on record. You choose templates and set up teams before the first meeting.
- BPlatforms and integrationsWeb only, but it connects to Jira, GitHub, GitLab, Linear, Azure DevOps, Slack, Teams and Mattermost.
What these grades rest on. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Parabol's own pages on 13 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. How we review and grade.
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<a href="https://toolgpa.com/tools/parabol#review"><img src="https://toolgpa.com/badge/parabol.svg" alt="Parabol: 2.6 GPA on ToolGPA" width="196" height="56"></a>Where Parabol stands among whiteboard and mind map tools
Parabol's GPA of 2.6 is higher than 58 of the 98 other whiteboard and mind map tools we grade, and level with 16.
It stands best on features (B, above 77 of 98) and worst on ease of use (C, above 1).
Its paid plans start at $8 a month for each person, against a middle price of $8 for the category: 34 of the 69 others that charge start lower.
On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.7 out of 4. 6 tools score higher and cost less.
Each grade against the category
Every bar is all 99 whiteboard and mind map tools we grade, cut by the letter each got. Parabol’s own letter is outlined.
- CValue for moneyAbove 11 of 98, level with 47
- BFree plan and trialAbove 71 of 98, level with 11
- BFeaturesAbove 77 of 98, level with 17
- CEase of useAbove 1 of 98, level with 77
- BPlatforms and integrationsAbove 35 of 98, level with 55
Price against what you get
Each dot is one of 88 whiteboard and mind map tools. Further left costs less, and higher up scores better on features, ease of use and platforms. Point at a dot to see which tool it is.
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
Keep Parabol, or make your own?
Keep it
The plain part of Parabol you could make: templates and tasks. What surrounds it you could not. The 4 things listed below take a company, not a weekend.
It costs $96 a year. Parabol is open source, so there is a third way: take its code and run it yourself.
What you could make
- Templates and tasks: an app builder makes these well.
What you could not
- Several people working in it at the same moment.
- It plugs into other products, Jira, GitHub and GitLab among them.
- AI features, unless you pay a model provider for each request yourself.
- The depth: we grade its features B, which means it covers the whole job.
What this rests on. Parabol’s listing: what it does, where it runs, what it plugs into and what it costs. It is a judgement about the kind of software this is. We have not built a replacement for it, and making your own means looking after it too. How we decide, and every tool’s verdict.
What is Parabol?
Parabol is a meeting tool for agile teams that runs retrospectives, standups, check-ins and sprint poker, either live or asynchronously. It ships with more than 90 meeting templates, adds AI discussion prompts and summaries, and has a Team Health check built in. The vendor lists its code as open source.
Worth knowing
- 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.
Key features
- 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.
Parabol pricing
As of Nov 13, 2026, Parabol has a free plan, and paid plans start at $8 per active user / month.
- Starts at
- $8 per active user / month
- Free plan
- Starter: up to 2 teams, 10 meetings per month, unlimited users and 30 days of meeting history.
- Free trial
- None listed
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | $0 | Up to 2 teams, 10 meetings per month, 30 days of history, 2 custom templates and 3 AI retrospective summaries. |
| Team | $8per active user / month, billed monthly | Unlimited teams, meetings, history and custom templates, private teams, Team Health, AI summaries and icebreakers. |
| Enterprise | Custom | Annual contract with user tiers, SAML SSO, SCIM, org admin role, uptime SLA and optional on-prem or single-tenant hosting. |
Read from parabol.co on Nov 13, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Parabol before you buy.
Works with
Parabol alternatives
- Parabol vs Retrium
Free trial · from $39/mo
- Parabol vs EasyRetro
Free plan · from $23/mo
- Parabol vs Miro
Free plan · from $8/mo
- Parabol vs Mural
Free plan · from $9.99/mo
- Parabol vs Stormboard
Free plan · from $8.33/mo
Common questions
Does Parabol have an Android app?
No Android app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 13, 2026. Parabol is listed for Web.
Does Parabol have an iPhone app?
No iPhone app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 13, 2026. Parabol is listed for Web.
Is Parabol open source?
Yes. Parabol is open source, according to its own site.
Sources for this page
The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 13, 2026.