Clear Retro vs SmartRetro
Clear Retro
clearretro.comSmartRetro
smartretro.aiSide by side
| Figure | Clear Retro | SmartRetro |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $49/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 4 |
| Spec score · Retrospective Software | 7.9 (#11) | 7.4 (#25) |
| Integrations | The maker identifies Gemini AI and Google Cloud Platform (Firebase) for storage, but lists no other integrations on the pages reviewed. | The site names Slack, GitHub, and Linear for source signals; its pricing page lists Slack and Linear action-item exports on paid plans. |
| Purpose | Clear Retro is a real-time agile retrospective tool designed for developers and remote engineering teams. | SmartRetro is an online retrospective tool for product and engineering teams that turns team reflection into owned action items and tracks recurring issues. |
| Support | The Community Edition includes priority community support. | The pricing page lists community and documentation for plans, with dedicated support on Enterprise. |
Plans
In their own words
Clear Retro
Clear Retro is a free web tool for live Agile retrospectives, designed by developers for developers and remote engineering teams. WebSocket synchronization updates teammates’ boards without refreshes, while guest access lets participants join without logging in. Focus Mode blurs cards during writing to reduce groupthink and social bias. Teams can prioritize issues with numerical votes from 0 to 5, then use Gemini AI to categorize and semantically group cards. Templates include Start, Stop, Continue; Mad, Sad, Glad; 4Ls; Lean Coffee; and Sailboat. The tool supports action tracking and exports PDF and Excel reports with AI-generated summaries and sentiment analysis. Its Community Edition costs nothing and includes unlimited boards, members, and history, plus all current features. Clear Retro identifies Gemini AI and Google Cloud Platform (Firebase) for storage, says data is encrypted in transit and at rest, and says retrospective data is not used to train Google’s public AI models.
SmartRetro
SmartRetro is a web-based retrospective tool for product and engineering teams, aimed at engineering groups at AI-adopting companies. It offers formats such as Start / Stop / Continue and Glad / Sad / Mad, with card grouping and voting. The product says it detects themes that recur across retrospectives to preserve team memory. Action items can be assigned an owner and status, and unfinished work returns automatically in the next retro. The site names Slack, GitHub, and Linear as sources for signals; paid plans list Slack and Linear exports for action items. AI clustering and summaries require a customer-provided LLM key, and the customer pays the model provider separately. SmartRetro says its integrations do not store source code or read direct messages, and organization-scoped data is encrypted in transit and at rest. The product is in closed beta, with beta access free. The Free plan permits one active team, three retros monthly, three members, 30-day retention, and five action items per team. Team is $49 a month billed annually; Pro is $99 a month billed annually.