Top 17 Canny.io Alternatives for SaaS Companies

Dayana Mayfield profile image

By Dayana Mayfield

Last updated on Wed Oct 04 2023


A great Canny.io alternative should cost less while making it easy to collect feedback from your users, share your roadmap, and announce product updates on your changelog.

And ideally, such an alternative would cost less too.

In this list, we’ve got many alternatives for you to consider. For each option, we showcase key features and their subscription pricing.

Customer acquisition costs 5 times more than retention on average. So clearly, it’s crucial that you collect user feedback, and implement the right ideas for your strategic vision.

Today’s software customers want to have direct access to the product teams building the software they use. And the easiest way to close the feedback loop is to collect feedback with an idea board. This saves time for everyone involved.

Why hunt for a Canny.io alternative?

These are the top reasons why entrepreneurs, product managers, and CX professions seek out an alternative to Canny.io

Expensive pricing

Canny's most affordable paid plan is $400 per month or $360 per month when paid annually. You can get unlimited feedback submissions for less than half that amount with many of the tools on our list. However, Canny does offer a free plan that offers 2 boards, 1 roadmap, and 1 integration.

Solution: Get all the same features for a fraction of the cost with Frill.

Noticeable branding on the free plan

Critics of Canny.io say that the company doesn’t listen to feedback and won’t remove the “powered by Canny.io” link on their Growth Plan. So, you might be looking for an alternative with no visible branding.

Solution: Customize your feedback portal on a low-cost plan with Frill.

Quantitative feedback

Maybe you're looking to condense your NPS and CSAT score ratings into the same platform that you use for feature requests? Canny doesn't offer dedicated features for these ratings, but you can add them as custom fields, so you would create an NPS question and add the numbers 1 - 10 as response options.

Solution: Choose Mopinion or Informizely to get both quantitative and qualitative feedback in one place with pre-built solutions for NPS and CSAT score ratings.

Product or QA management

Small teams might be interested in getting more of their work under one roof. Maybe you're hoping for something similar to Canny but with QA testing features, user acceptance testing, user onboarding, or comprehensive product management. Canny does offer product management features like a public roadmap and changelog, but it doesn't offer features for testing or onboarding.

Solution: Try ProductBoard, Pendo, or Usersnap to manage more of your product and release workflow in one place.

Which Canny.io alternatives are free?

Canny offers a free plan that gives you 2 idea boards, 1 roadmap, and 1 integration, but it doesn't offer user segmentation or a custom domain.

Free customer research tools are hard to find. Frill is an affordable Canny.io alternative. It includes up to 50 ideas on the ideas board at a time, for just $25 per month. You can have unlimited users and storage, so the only limit is the number of ideas.

You also get the roadmap feature and the in-app widget for collecting user feedback.

These Canny alternatives offer a free plan:

  • Hellonext

  • Pendo

  • Trello

Top Canny.io alternatives

Whether you’re looking for simpler features at lower prices, or a more complex user feedback tool, there’s a tool on this list of alternatives that meets your needs.

1. Frill.co

Frill > Feedback Board > Ideas

Frill is an easy-to-use customer feedback tool for SaaS companies looking for better UX and pricing than Canny.io. Notoriously, Canny has complicated and frustrating UX. Frill was built to solve this problem. It lets your customers add ideas and upvote them so you know what to prioritize.

Features:

  • One-click Canny Import

  • Customer feedback idea board

  • Idea upvoting and commenting

  • Roadmap for customer viewing and commenting

  • Product announcements

  • Changelog

  • Website widget

  • Feature prioritization matrix

Pros:

  • Simple to migrate from Canny.

  • Great UX for you and your users

  • Easy to customize your feedback portal with your main brand color

  • Single sign-on for users

  • All integrations are included on all plans

  • Integrates with Jira, Trello, Zendesk, Intercom, and more

  • Integrates with Zapier

  • Affordable pricing for unlimited ideas

  • Embed the widget in your product

Cons:

  • Not designed for other product management use cases

Pricing:

Frill's Startup plan is just $25 per month, making it a great alternative to Canny. The Business plan costs $49 per month for unlimited tracked ideas.

Reviews:

Frill has 4.7 stars out of 26 reviews on Capterra and 4.8 stars out of 23 reviews on G2.

Final Verdict:

If you're looking for an affordable Canny alternative that offers unlimited ideas at a low cost, you can't go wrong with Frill.


2. Hellonext

Hellonext

Hellonext is a feedback management tool that helps you gather and prioritize feature requests. It also has a changelog and feature roadmap.

Features:

  • Feedback boards

  • Feature roadmap

  • Changelog

  • Knowledge base

Pros:

  • Integrations with Slack, Zapier, Zendesk, and more

  • Ability to merge duplicate posts

  • Can embed the widget in your product

Cons:

  • Not intended for other product management use cases

  • Knowledge base might not be robust enough for most SaaS companies

Pricing:

Hellonext does offer a free plan with basic features and use of one integration. Their lowest cost paid plan is $49 per month, which gives you access to up to three integrations.

Reviews:

Hellonext doesn't have any reviews on Capterra, but is rated 5.0 stars out of 2 reviews on G2.

Final Verdict:

Compared to Canny, you'll get more features at a lower cost. However, Frill offers access to all features for just $149 per month, but Hellonext requires custom enterprise plans to unlock advanced features.


3. Nolt

Nolt

Nolt’s primary feature is its feedback boards, which are a collaborative place for user requests. Your users can upvote ideas to help you prioritize what to build.

Features:

  • Feedback idea boards

  • Roadmap

  • Voting

Pros:

  • Integrates with Jira, Trello, Slack, Discord, and more

  • Single sign-on for users

  • Custom branding

Cons:

  • No changelog or announcements feature

  • Does not integrate with Zapier

Pricing:

Nolt charges $25 per month per board.

Reviews:

Nolt has 4.9 stars out of 44 reviews on Capterra and 5.0 stars out of 16 reviews on G2.

Final Verdict:

Nolt is a decent option for SaaS companies on a budget, but because there isn't a changelog, you'll need a separate tool. You might as well choose an option on this list that gives you everything in one place.


4. ProductBoard

ProductBoard

Features:

  • Feedback idea boards

  • Prioritization analytics

  • Roadmaps

  • Ability to create different feedback portals for multiple audiences

Pros:

  • Public and private roadmaps

  • Capture ideas from multiple channels

  • Offers lots of integrations and custom APIs

Cons:

  • Unnecessarily complicated for small product teams just looking to manage feedback

  • The per-user pricing structure gets expensive quickly

Pricing:

ProductBoard’s Essentials plan is $20 per user per month, meaning large teams will have a heftier bill. However, with its analytics features, it might be a better fit for enterprise customers anyways.

Reviews:

ProductBoard has 4.7 stars out of 144 reviews on Capterra and 4.3 stars out of 226 reviews on G2.

Final Verdict:

If you're looking to streamline communication and planning between product managers, this tool might be a fit for you. But if gathering ideas from customers is your number one use case, you can choose something simpler.


5. Upvoty

Upvoty

Upvoty is a feedback management tool that helps you get feedback from a board with a custom domain as well as a widget embedded in your product.

Features:

  • Feedback boards

  • Website widgets

  • Roadmap

  • Changelog

Pros:

  • Single sign-on for users

  • Custom CSS to really stylize your feedback portal

  • Ability to merge posts

  • Vote on behalf of users

Cons:

  • No feature prioritization

  • Overly simple roadmapping feature isn't robust enough for large product teams

  • User-based pricing in expensive

Pricing:

With their Super Power plan, you can get 5 boards for up to 1,500 customers for $39 per month.

Reviews:

Upvoty has 5.0 stars out of 7 reviews on Capterra and 1.6 stars out of 4 reviews on G2.

Final Verdict:

Because of the user-based pricing, Upvoty could get expensive for businesses with more than a few thousand users, so if you don't plan to grow your user base too much, this platform could be a fit and allow you to keep your expenses low.


6. Pendo

pendo

Pendo is a more robust software compared to some of the other Canny.io alternatives on our list. Not just for feedback, it also helps with onboarding. It includes product analytics, customer sentiment surveys, and in-app walkthroughs for onboarding and feature adoption. In terms of price, you might be better off buying separate feedback and onboarding tools.

Features:

  • Product analytics

  • Feedback collection

  • Roadmaps

  • User onboarding via in-app guides and messages

  • Mobile app analytics

Pros:

  • Offers more product management features under one roof

  • Professional services team is available for training and implementation

Cons:

  • User guide features aren't robust enough to replace a user-onboarding tool like Chameleon

  • Product analytics features aren't up to par with Mixpanel (the gold standard)

Pricing:

The tool is certainly designed for enterprise companies and does not display pricing on the website, so you can assume that it’s hundreds of dollars per month.

Reviews:

Pendo has 4.5 stars out of 212 reviews on Capterra and 4.4 stars out of 1,310 reviews on G2.

Final Verdict:

On the one hand, Pendo offers features outside of the realm of feedback to help you streamline more of your product management work in one place. But, that brings us to the "jack of all trades, master of one issue." Most SaaS companies will be better off using separate tools for feedback management, customer support, and user onboarding.


7. UserVoice

Uservoice

UserVoice is a feedback management system for SaaS companies. It allows you to collect feedback from multiple sources. The platform is ideal for large enterprise SaaS companies that want to collect and manage feedback not only from customers but also from their internal teams.

Features:

  • Feedback portal

  • Ability to collect feedback from Slack, feedback widget, and API

  • Feedback analysis

  • Roadmap

  • Internal status updates

Pros:

  • Helps you prioritize features

  • Offers analytics on the submitted feedback

  • Intended for collaboration between product, marketing, engineering, sales, and customer success

Cons:

  • No changelog or announcements feature

  • No affordable subscriptions for small businesses

Pricing:

The Essentials plan costs $699 per month when billed annually and only covers up to 200 users giving feedback. The Premium plan costs $1399 and covers up to 5000 users offering feedback.

Reviews:

UserVoice has 4.2 stars out of 69 reviews on Capterra and 4.5 stars out of 230 reviews on G2.

Final Verdict:

If you're looking to create alignment around your roadmap and product launch communications between multiple teams, this platform could be a fit for you. Otherwise, choose a Canny alternative with lower pricing.


8. Savio

Savio

Savio is a tool for tracking feature requests from different sources such as your help desk, team communication tool, and other platforms.

Features:

  • Collect feature requests from multiple sources

  • Prioritize feature requests

  • Email customers who requested features when shipped

Pros:

  • Integrations with Slack, Zendesk, Intercom and more

  • Zapier integration

  • Feedback inbox for categorizing new feedback

  • Save customer data along with feedback to provide context

Cons:

  • No public roadmap

  • No changelog or announcements feature

  • Per user pricing can get expensive

  • No free plan

Pricing:

Savio's lowest-priced plan is $39 per month and offers one roadmap and three integrations. Additional users are $23 per month.

Reviews:

Savio has 5.0 stars out of 1 review on Capterra and 4.8 stars out of 5 reviews on G2.

Final Verdict:

Savio is great if you're looking to wrangle feature requests from different channels. However, it doesn't offer an idea board, public roadmap, or changelog so you won't be able to create a portal for communication between your product team and your users.


9. Usersnap

Usersnap

With Usersnap, you can collect customer feedback in the form of screenshot bug reports and experience ratings. The product combines customer-driven QA and customer-driven product design. However, it is more useful for QA than its feedback use case.

Features:

  • In-app feature request collection

  • Feedback button and menu

  • Visual bug ticket screenshots

  • Qualitative and quantitative surveys

  • Feedback analytics

  • User acceptance testing

Pros:

  • Offers quality assurance and product management features in one place

  • Great for small teams looking to centralize their release workflow

Cons:

Pricing:

Usersnap’s most popular plan is $79 per month and it includes up to 10 users, 3 feedback projects, and unlimited customers.

Reviews:

Usersnap has 4.7 stars out of 47 reviews on Capterra and 4.5 stars out of 62 reviews on G2.

Final Verdict:

If you want to combine QA testing with user feedback, this is the Canny alternative for you. Keep in mind you'll need a separate solution for your changelog tool.


10. Qualaroo

qualaroo

Qualaroo is a platform for user research and customer feedback. The product includes feedback collection for websites and web-based apps, as well as exit surveys. While it can be used by SaaS companies, it’s also a fit for ecommerce brands and marketplaces.

Features:

  • Website visitor targeting for feedback requests

  • Surveys with 10 question types

  • Exit surveys

  • In-app feedback widgets

Pros:

  • Works for any type of business (B2B and B2C)

  • Can be used for feedback on products, websites, UX, and more

  • Advanced segmenting

Cons:

  • Not designed for SaaS

  • No public roadmap

  • No feature upvoting

  • No changelog or announcements

Pricing:

Qualaroo charges based on the number of website page views you have. The premium plan costs $0.0016 per pageview per month.

Reviews:

Qualaroo has 4.7 stars out of 21 reviews on Capterra and 4.4 stars out of 44 reviews on G2.

Final Verdict:

Qualaroo on its own isn't a complete replacement for Canny, but you could combine it with another Canny alternative, which you would use as your product feedback board, and rely on Qualaroo for exit and churn surveys.


11. UserReport

userreport

UserReport is a tool for collecting feedback via surveys and Net Promoter Score. You can use the widget to ask your users anything, not just NPS. The product can be use by SaaS companies but is more so designed for digital publishers.

Features:

  • Feedback widget with polls for any questions

  • Gauging NPS

  • Feedback surveys

Pros:

  • Can be used for all sorts of surveys (not just product feedback)

  • Can be used for any industry or website type

  • Includes demographic information along with responses

Cons:

  • Not designed for SaaS

  • No public roadmap

  • No feature upvoting

  • No changelog or announcements

Pricing:

UserReport does allow you to sign up for free to start trying it out, but they don’t have a free plan. Their pricing is not publicly available on their website.

Reviews:

UserReport has 4.5 stars out of 2 reviews on Capterra and 4.5 stars out of 1 review on G2.

Final Verdict:

For B2C tech and media companies, the demographics data is reason enough to choose UserReport as your Canny alternative. But if you're hoping for a public roadmap and announcement log, look elsewhere.


12. Saber Feedback

saber-feedback

Saber Feedback is a straight-forward, affordable solution for adding feedback forms to your website or web app.

Features:

  • Feedback forms

  • Customizable form fields

  • User bug screenshot submissions

Pros:

  • Feedback forms can be triggered based on behavior

  • Can be used to drive feedback for specific features and elements

Cons:

  • No changelog or announcements feature

  • No public roadmaps

  • No feature upvoting

  • Doesn't integrate with Intercom or Zapier

  • Not ideal for open-ended feature requests

Pricing:

There's no free plan, but on the Bootstrap plan, for $49 per month, you get unlimited feedback on three different forms.

Reviews:

Saber Feedback doesn't have reviews on Capterra, G2, or other major review platforms.

Final Verdict:

If you're looking for a way to gather feedback on very specific parts of your product, Saber Feedback is a good fit. You can set up triggers for certain behaviors or elements.


13. Informizely

Informizely

Informizely is an enterprise-grade solution that allows you to collect qualitative and quantitative feedback on your products and digital experiences.

Features:

  • Exit intent surveys

  • In-app embedded surveys

  • NPS, CES, and CSAT score collection

  • Email surveys

Pros:

  • Allows you to collect feedback passively on your website (with a widget) and actively (via email)

  • Can be used by product, CX, and marketing teams

Cons:

  • No feature request portal

  • No public roadmaps

  • No feature upvoting

  • No changelog or announcement feature

Pricing:

For $85 per month, the Lite plan offers 250 monthly responses. Or, choose the Standard plan for $169 per month and get up to 2500 responses.

Reviews:

Informizely has 5.0 stars out of 1 review on Capterra and 4.6 stars out of 8 reviews on G2.

Final Verdict:

If you have a high volume of users and are looking for more quantitative feedback, Informizely could be a good fit for you. The pricing is reasonable, and it can be used by multiple teams at your company.


14. Mopinion

mopinion

Mopinion makes it easy to embed feedback widgets on your website, web app, or mobile app.

Features:

  • Email surveys

  • Feedback widget

  • NPS and CSAT score collection

  • Rating scales

  • Multiple choice questions

  • Open-ended text feedback

Pros:

  • Can be used in any industry

  • Allows you to collect feedback from multiple channels and in different formats

  • Offers goal completion rate tracking

Cons:

  • No public roadmaps

  • No feature upvoting

  • No changelog or announcement tool

Pricing:

The basic plan costs €259 per month and gives you access to most features.

Reviews:

Mopinion has 4.2 stars out of 19 reviews on Capterra and 4.1 stars out of 28 reviews on G2.

Final Verdict:

If you're looking for a Canny alternative because you want to collect feedback in more ways than just a feature idea board, Mopinion might be the right option for you.


15. Feedbackify

feedbackify

If you're looking to lower your expenses, Feedbackify is a great low-priced option.

Features:

  • NPS score ratings

  • Open-ended text submissions

  • Feedback button that opens up a widget

Pros:

  • Can be configured in minutes

  • Mobile responsive

  • Customizable forms

Cons:

  • Not designed for SaaS companies

  • No pubic roadmaps

  • No changelog or announcement tool

  • Not intended for use in native mobile apps

Pricing:

There's only one plan, and it offers all of their features and unlimited feedback submissions for $19 per month.

Reviews:

There are no reviews for Feedbackify on Capterra or G2.

Final Verdict:

If you're just looking for feedback and you don't care about Canny's public roadmap or changelog features, then this alternative will save you a ton of money.


16. SurveySparrow

surveysparrow

SurveySparrow is a robust enterprise solution that can be used for all types of feedback, from customers and employees.

Features:

  • Email surveys

  • NPS score collection

  • Mobile-app feedback

  • Chatbot for collecting website feedback

  • Exit-intent surveys

Pros:

  • Dozens of integrations

  • Can be used to collect feedback from multiple segments and channels

  • Works for every industry and team

  • Predictive analytics for making sense of high-volume survey responses

Cons:

  • No feature idea board

  • No feature upvoting

  • No public roadmaps

  • No changelog or announcement tool

Pricing:

SurveySparrow offers mostly custom pricing. An Enterprise plan with up to 50,000 responses per month costs $499 per month.

Reviews:

SurveySparrow has 4.4 stars out of 81 reviews on Capterra and 4.4 stars out of 1,894 reviews on G2.

Final Verdict:

If you're looking to collect multiple types of feedback (not just feature suggestions), the flexibility and power of this platform could be what you're looking for.


17. Trello

trello-socialbee

Trello is a project management tool that's not intended to capture customer feedback, but as this SocialBee roadmap shows, it can be used as part of your feedback management strategy.

Features:

  • Kanban boards

  • Public visibility

  • Can use thumbs ups for feature voting

  • Card comments

Pros:

  • Free for most use cases

  • You can enable or disable editing and submissions by users

Cons:

  • You'll need a separate tool for a changelog

  • Messy workflow that spreads idea management all over the place

Pricing:

You get up to 10 boards for free or pay $5 per user per month for unlimited boards.

Reviews:

Trello has 4.5 stars out of 22,867 reviews on Capterra and 4.4 stars out of 13,395 reviews on G2.

Final Verdict:

If you want unlimited ideas on a board for free, Trello is your best bet. Just keep in mind you'll need to cobble together other free solutions to replace everything Canny provides.


How to choose the right Canny alternative section

Which Canny alternative is right for you? That all depends on your business!

Below, we offer tips, essential features, and platforms to consider for different types of companies.

The best Canny alternative for consumer brands

Consumer brands with a high volume of customers need to choose a Canny alternative that offers user segmentation. This way, you'll be able to collect feedback from the right types of audiences and segments. You should also choose something with customer satisfaction ratings so you can gather quantitative feedback, making it easier to identify issues and trends.

Essential features for consumer brands:

  • Website feedback collection

  • User segmentation

  • NPS and or CSAT ratings

Best feedback platforms to consider:

  • Qualaroo

  • Informizely

  • Mopinion

The best Canny alternative for SaaS companies

It’s time to choose the right feedback tool for your SaaS company. The top features you’ll need are a feedback board to collect ideas, a widget so you can get feedback inside of your web-based app, a roadmap so you can communicate with customers and not have to answer every question one by one, and a changelog so you can show customers exactly what was updated.

Essential features for SaaS companies:

  • Tool feedback and feature request board

  • Public roadmap

  • Changelog

Best feedback platforms to consider:

  • Frill

  • Hellonext

  • Nolt

The best Canny alternative for mobile apps

If you're searching for a Canny alternative for your mobile app, you'll want to choose a platform that lets you install a feedback widget inside of your app so customers can give you feedback directly.

Essential features for mobile apps:

  • Native, in-app feedback

  • User segmentation

  • NPS and or CSAT ratings

Best feedback platforms to consider:

  • Pendo

  • Mopinion

  • SurveySparrow

The best Canny alternative for startups

Startups need important customer feedback features without a hefty price. Look for a solution that lets you not only collect feedback but also communicate your roadmap to customers. This way you can show customers what you're working on and improve your sign-up and retention rates.

Essential features for startups:

  • Customer feedback collection

  • Minimal portal branding on the free plan, or custom branding

  • Public roadmap to communicate upcoming features

Best feedback platforms to consider:

  • Frill

  • Feedbackify

  • Hellonext

Frequently asked questions about Canny alternatives

We've got answers to the top FAQs.

Which Canny alternatives are free?

Hellonext, Pendo, and Trello are the best Canny alternatives that offer a free plan. Hellonext is the most similar to Canny, while Pendo offers product analytics and Trello is a kanban board solution that can be used to collect customer feedback.

Which Canny alternatives offer low-cost plans?

Frill, Nolt, Hellonext, Feedbackify, Saber Feedback, ProductBoard, and Upvoty all have subscription options under $50 per month, allowing you to collect feedback from your customers for far less than Canny's lowest-cost paid plan, which is $400 per month.

What are the most important things to look for in a Canny alternative?

The most essential features to look for are user feedback boards, public roadmaps, and changelog software. To get more great features for your money, also look for an alternative that gives you a custom domain and custom branding for your feedback portal, as well as access to all integrations.

Frill offers access to all 10 of our platform integrations on all plans (ranging from $25 to $149 per month), whereas Canny only gives you access to one integration on their free plan and you have to pay $400 per month to unlock more.

Check out our Canny comparison page to see how our $25 plan stacks up against Canny's $400 plan.

Sign up for Frill, the customer feedback platform with amazing UX for you and your users. Sign up now.



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