Planning Poker

Overview

Planning Poker is a web-based estimation game for agile and Scrum teams planning sprint work. It suits groups that want to compare estimates anonymously, discuss differences and vote again in one shared session. Its Basic plan covers small games, while Jira workflows and larger groups require a paid plan.

Key features

Teams can import stories from Jira or add them during a game, then export estimates and notes to project management tools. Anonymous pointing helps keep one person’s estimate from anchoring the rest of the group. When votes differ, the team can discuss the gap and estimate again until it agrees—a useful structure for remote and in-person planning alike.

Basic includes four pointing scales, a customizable timer, an editable score average and printable results. Those controls make the free plan more than a bare voting room, but it is ad-supported and capped at five players per game. Paid plans remove ads, allow custom pointing scales, and support Jira integration and CSV or XML imports. They also support integration and imports or exports for Jira, TFS, VersionOne and other agile software, making them a better fit for teams that need to carry work into and out of their planning sessions.

Story, task and work-item information is encrypted in the database using AES-256-CBC with HMAC-SHA-512 authentication. User data is stored and processed in whole or in part in the United States. Deleting an account permanently removes the account, games, stories, Jira integrations and associated data from the maker’s database.

Pricing

New accounts start with a free 14-day trial of Pro. After that, the right plan depends chiefly on game size and whether the team needs paid integrations and imports.

Basic is the natural choice for a group of five or fewer that can work without Jira integration or paid import tools. Standard fits teams of up to 10 participants that need those capabilities; Pro raises the game limit to 50. Annual Standard costs $150 a year, equivalent to $12.50/mo as billed on the plans page, while annual Pro costs $498 a year, equivalent to $41.50/mo. Enterprise is for buyers who need purchasing flexibility or custom terms; pricing is custom.

Paid prices are charged per game organizer, so the organizer count matters when budgeting across a team. The free plan’s player cap and ads are its main trade-offs; the published plans do not offer a way to add Jira integration or custom scales without moving to paid service.

Platforms

Planning Poker runs on the web. The maker describes it for both remote and in-person agile teams, but no other platform is listed.

Who it's for

Choose Planning Poker if your team wants a repeatable sprint-estimation session with anonymous votes, a discussion round and another vote, especially if importing Jira stories or exporting estimates and notes would simplify planning. Basic is appropriate for small groups testing the workflow. Teams with more than five players, or those that need integrations and custom scales, should budget for Standard or Pro. It is a weaker fit if the team needs a different platform or expects its planning tool to handle larger games for free.

Pros and cons

• Pros: Anonymous estimates and repeat voting give teams a clear way to surface and resolve disagreement.
• Pros: The free plan has a timer, editable score average and printable results, not just voting.
• Pros: Paid plans accommodate up to 50 participants and support Jira plus CSV or XML imports.
• Cons: Basic stops at five players and includes ads, limiting its usefulness for larger teams.
• Cons: Jira integration, custom pointing scales and paid import tools require a subscription.
• Cons: Paid pricing is per game organizer, which can raise costs when multiple organizers need access.
• Cons: User data is processed in whole or in part in the United States, which may not suit every organization’s data requirements.

Alternatives

For a broader category comparison, see Project Estimation Software. Choose Buildxact instead if you need construction estimating on Android, iOS or the web: its free Go plan offers five complimentary credits, AI estimating, professional proposals and Home Depot material ordering.

STACK is another construction-oriented option, with Android, iOS, web and Windows support. Its free tier limits users to one active project per month, 300 plan pages, 50 measurements per project and one viewer seat. Trimble Quadri is worth considering when a free, read-only model viewer for web or Windows is the priority; Quadri Viewer supports viewing, commenting and measuring distances and areas.

Jestimate is a web-based freemium alternative with a free tier. Planning Poker Online is another web-based freemium option with a free trial. For an open-source option, consider PlanningPoker.live, whose entire codebase is public on GitHub; it is web-based and also has an extension, with no free trial. UltimatePlanningPoker is a free web alternative that includes backlog refinement and sprint retrospectives without requiring sign-up.

Trimble Viewpoint Vista is a paid ERP option with cloud-hosted and on-premises deployments; choose it only if those deployment choices fit the broader need better than a focused estimation game.

Verdict

Planning Poker is a strong fit for agile teams that want anonymous sprint estimates, structured discussion and story import/export in a single web workflow. Its free tier is useful for small groups, and paid tiers scale to 50 participants. Look elsewhere if a five-player free cap is too restrictive, or if per-organizer subscriptions and U.S.-based data processing do not fit your team.