SmartRetro

What SmartRetro is

SmartRetro is a web-based retrospective tool for product and engineering teams, with an emphasis on carrying discussion into owned work and spotting issues that recur between cycles. Teams can run structured formats such as Start / Stop / Continue or Glad / Sad / Mad, group cards, and vote. SmartRetro says it detects repeated themes across retrospectives and preserves team context from one cycle to the next. Action items can be assigned an owner and status; unfinished items automatically return in the next retro. The site names Slack, GitHub, and Linear as sources for team signals, while paid plans include Slack and Linear action-item exports. AI clustering and summaries require a customer-provided LLM key, and customers pay 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. Its Free plan provides one active team, three retros per month, three members, 30-day data retention, and five action items per team. Team costs $49 a month billed annually; Pro costs $99 a month billed annually. Enterprise is custom-priced.

Who it suits

SmartRetro suits product and engineering teams, particularly engineering groups at companies adopting AI, that want structured retrospectives and tracked follow-through. Teams needing more than one active team or longer retention may prefer a paid plan.

Limits

The Free plan allows one active team, three retros per month, three members, 30-day data retention, and five action items per team. Team, at $49 a month billed annually, has one active team per billing unit, 90-day retention, and 200 daily AI analyses; Pro, at $99 a month billed annually, allows up to 10 active teams, 90-day retention, and 1,000 daily AI analyses. AI model-provider costs are separate.

Getting started

1. Visit https://smartretro.ai/.
2. Request access to the closed beta, which SmartRetro offers free.
3. Use the web platform to create a retrospective with a structured format.
4. Group cards and vote, then assign owners and statuses to action items.
5. Connect Slack, GitHub, or Linear for source signals, if relevant.
6. Provide your own LLM key to use AI clustering or summaries.

Verdict

Choose SmartRetro if your team wants a structured retrospective process that carries action items into the next cycle and tracks recurring themes. Look at paid plans if the Free plan's team, retro, action-item, or retention limits do not fit; account separately for model-provider costs when using AI features.