Is your product roadmap still scattered across slide decks, spreadsheets, and sticky notes? Then it’s not quite serving its purpose. A product roadmap is a shared source of truth for your vision, goals, strategies, and priorities. And using product roadmap tools makes it easy to plan your product’s future.

These tools allow you to create and share your plan of action with cross-functional teams so everyone’s on the same page. While product managers use them to communicate priorities and track progress, developers rely on them to understand how their initiatives align with overarching business objectives. In a nutshell, they help streamline your product decisions.

In this article, we’ll walk you through our top picks for product roadmap tools, so you can choose the right solution for your team.

What are the key features of product roadmapping tools?

The ideal product roadmap tool will fit your team’s budget, needs, and size like a glove. That said, there are a few must-have features for any product roadmapping tool. These include:

1. Roadmap views: From Gantt charts and Kanban boards to timelines, you should be able to visualize your product strategy in a way that works best for your team.
2. Collaboration: Features like commenting, voting, and sharing allow seamless collaboration among team members, stakeholders, and customers.
3. Prioritization: You should be able to prioritize features based on importance, urgency, and alignment with business goals.
4. Integration: Easy integration with project management software, CRM platforms, and other tools in your tech stack helps streamline workflows and speeds up adoption.
5. Reporting and analytics: The selected tool should allow you to track progress, visualize data, and gain insights into your product development process.

5 Best product roadmap tools for SaaS

Can’t decide which product roadmap tool to select for your team? We’ll look at our top picks and dig deeper into their features and pricing. We’ll also see what real users have to say and compare their benefits and drawbacks to help you make an informed decision.

1. Wrike: Best for flexible work management

G2 overall rating: 4.2 ⭐

Wrike is a work management platform that offers robust product roadmapping capabilities and project management features. You get various tools to design, streamline, and scale your processes and optimize resource allocation.

With Wrike, you can choose your preferred roadmap view from different options, such as Gantt charts, Kanban boards, calendars, lists, and tables.

Its dynamic request forms are a standout feature that simplifies the process of creating new projects and seeking help from other team members. And for real-time collaboration, you can use “@” mentions to tag team members to different tasks, folders, and projects.

Plus, customizable dashboards and workflows let you tailor the platform to your team’s specific needs.

Price

Wrike’s forever-free plan offers basic project and task management features. With paid plans starting at $10 per user per month, it’s pricier than other platforms with similar offerings.

Keep in mind that Wrike only allows you to purchase seats in groups of 5 or 10, which can exacerbate your expenses. Plus, you’ll have to contact your Wrike representative to add more than 15 users to any plan.

However, the good thing is that all paid plans include a 14-day free trial and collaborator invites that can be used for external stakeholders who need limited access.

Wrike: Pros and cons

Wrike user reviews

“An up-and-coming project management tool that can be used for much more than just project management.”

Rating: 4/5

Zach P., an engineering technician manager at a mid-market company, praises Wrike’s flexibility. “Whether that be tracking a project, implementing a ticket request system, setting up notifications based on internal data systems, or keeping track of inventory!” he remarks.

However, Zach does mention that Wrike comes with a steep learning curve due to “each feature having its nuances.”

Wrike works best for organizations looking to create a single source of truth for all initiatives related to a project.

2. Aha!: Best for visually stunning roadmaps

G2 overall rating: 4.4 ⭐

Aha! Roadmaps is a purpose-built roadmap solution for product managers. It’s a part of aha.io’s suite of tools that cover all the needs of product teams, from ideation to development.

Aha! Roadmaps facilitates intuitive roadmapping with pre-built, customizable templates. Sharing your roadmap is just as easy, and all changes are automatically updated. You also have the option to define goals and tie your strategies back to them.

Then there’s the custom-branded ideas portal, which allows you to crowdsource ideas and collect customer feedback. You can even rank them and identify high-value ideas. Additionally, its product value scorecards make it easy to prioritize features objectively and establish the direction of development.

Coordinating releases is a breeze, too, with Gantt charts and delivery risk alerts.

Price

Pricing starts at $59 per user per month and includes a 30-day free trial. It includes other products, such as Aha! Ideas Essentials and Aha! Whiteboards Essentials.

Aha!: Pros and cons

Aha! user reviews

“AHA! Provides Comprehensive Powerful Tools”

Rating: 3.5/5

Jill S., who works at a small business, is a fan of Aha!’s comprehensive suite of tools and calls it “a powerful ally for product managers looking to deliver streamlined and well-coordinated product strategies.” It’s easy to customize the platform according to your workflow, and the customer support is excellent.

However, the initial setup is complex and time-consuming, particularly when you want to align it with your existing operational dynamics.

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3. Jira Product Discovery: Best for agile product teams using Jira for software development

G2 overall rating: 4.3 ⭐

Jira Product Discovery is a part of the larger Jira suite, which includes a comprehensive set of software development tools. The platform integrates with several Atlassian products, including Jira Software and Confluence, making it ideal for teams already using these tools.

Jira Product Discovery offers several options to capture customer insights, including user interviews, feature requests, and feedback from third-party tools. Linking these insights with your product ideas is just as easy, and you can even filter and sort ideas to show only what needs immediate attention.

The platform also supports multiple prioritization frameworks, so you can select what works best for your team. The customizability can be overwhelming for beginners, though.

While creating and sharing roadmaps is a breeze, what’s even easier is customer feedback management. You can collect and manage feedback from internal and external stakeholders via comments, emoji reactions, and votes. However, visualization options aren’t as extensive as other roadmapping tools.

Price

The free plan lets you add up to 3 users (called creators) and 35,000 contributors (who need limited permissions). The Standard plan starts at $10 per creator per month and comes with a 14-day free trial.

The Premium tier, which starts at $25 per creator per month, offers more control, storage, and visibility into your product (through admin insights). However, the plan is only available as an upgrade to Standard plan users, and you’ll have to join a waitlist.

Jira Product Discovery: Pros and cons

Jira Product Discovery user reviews

“Streamline Workflows and Project Management with JIRA”

Rating: 3.5/5

Nathan M., a senior product solutions analyst at a mid-market organization, is an active Jira user. He remarks that Jira is customizable, intuitive, and user-friendly. He also likes that Jira integrates with development tools like GitHub. “Jira software provides a centralized solution for product lifecycle management, agile development including Kanban or Scrum frameworks,” adds Nathan.

What Nathan dislikes, though, is that the platform becomes sluggish when handling large data sets. Additionally, the onboarding experience and mobile solution leave much to be desired.

Despite these shortcomings, Jira Product Discovery is a good fit for organizations that need a single platform to manage the entire product lifecycle.

4. Confluence: Best for knowledge management

G2 overall rating: 4.1 ⭐

Confluence is a team workspace tool that lets users create and capture ideas and collaborate on projects. While primarily built as a knowledge management solution, it offers a decent set of features for product roadmapping, too.

This tool lets you keep all stakeholders on the same page, literally! It lets you capture product ideas and insights in the form of documents without any monotony of text as it’s possible to add various visual elements, such as graphs, images, and videos.

Confluence’s collaborative features power up your product management efforts. You can invite team members to edit a document in real time or share your feedback with “@” mentions. To brainstorm ideas and finalize your plan of action, it offers Whiteboards with diagrams and flowcharts.

The comprehensive set of pre-built templates helps you get started in minutes. However, there’s little variety in terms of visualizing your roadmaps.

Price

Confluence offers a free plan for up to 10 users. Pricing for paid plans is based on your team size and whether you opt for monthly or annual subscriptions. While annual plans are cheaper than paying per month, you’re billed for the plan that best matches your user count. This means you risk paying for seats you don’t actually need.

Confluence: Pros and cons

Confluence user reviews

“Confluence is Convoluted but can be Complexly Powerful”

Rating: 3.5/5

Rodolfo C., a commercial support analyst at an enterprise, is a fan of Confluence’s pre-built templates and integrations. “We often use MIRO and Draw.io integrations to quickly access dashboards and flowcharts. We use it daily to provide details and training info to new hires, as well as clarification for doubts on processes and products owned by the company,” he explains.

However, he remarks that the interface isn’t easy to use, and you might have to “dig around a bit” to find important tools and integrations.

5. ProductPlan: Best for ease of use in roadmap planning

G2 overall rating: 4.4 ⭐

ProductPlan is a dedicated product roadmap tool known for its ease of use and visual clarity. It’s best suited for small teams and startups that don’t have extensive analytics or integration needs.

ProductPlan’s standout feature is its drag-and-drop editor, which makes creating roadmaps a cakewalk. Customizable templates add further flexibility and let you design roadmaps according to industry best practices.

What makes it even better is the ability to switch between different layouts, such as timelines, lists, and tables, with a single click. Likewise, you can set filters to create and share custom views tailored to your audience’s preferences.

It also offers collaborative features in the form of comments and “@” mentions, much like Wrike and Confluence. However, the lack of integrations and analytics leaves much to be desired.

Price

ProductPlan’s pricing details aren’t available on the website. However, the support center mentions that pricing for a single Editor license starts at $49 per month (billed annually). You can add as many viewers as you want for free. Monthly subscriptions aren’t available, though.

ProductPlan: Pros and cons

ProductPlan reviews

“Great roadmap tool”

Rating: 4.5/5

A verified G2 user in Information Technology and Services has good things to say about ProductPlan’s ease of use and intuitiveness. Additionally, they mention that the support team is always available with proper resources and training.

The existing feature set, however, is limited. “The limited ability to customize roadmaps, the hiding of standardized legends when not in use, the inability to standardize lanes, and the fact that some of the “description” fields in the roadmap bars/containers are simple text boxes that could easily be updated for a more dynamic experience,” they add.

While ProductPlan comes across as an easy-to-use tool, its simplicity can be a constraint for teams handling complex projects.

How do you choose the “right” product roadmap tool?

Before you spend your precious dollars on a paid plan, consider whether the roadmapping tool is a good fit for your team’s needs.

We’ve outlined a set of qualifying questions you should ask before making the final decision.

1. How will you bring your roadmap to life?

Does your team prefer visual timelines for project planning and tracking? Or would they be happier working with Kanban boards? The product roadmap software you select should offer different visualization options tailored to your team’s needs.

Aha! Roadmaps, for instance, supports different layouts, making it a versatile choice for cross-functional teams.

2. How will the roadmap tool connect with your existing tools?

Nothing is more painstaking than using a platform that doesn’t integrate with your tech stack. Consider the tools you’re already using and check whether your product roadmap tool will integrate with them. If you use Atlassian’s products, a roadmapping tool from the same suite, such as Jira Product Discovery or Confluence, is a smart choice.

3. How will you rank and organize your features?

Some roadmapping solutions offer scorecards to rank features based on their impact. Others support multiple prioritization frameworks, so you can choose your preferred option.

With ProductPlan, for instance, you get custom scoring models and visualization matrices for organizing features according to importance. Keep your team’s prioritization needs in mind when evaluating different product roadmap solutions.

4. How will you foster teamwork and communication?

Look for a solution that simplifies collaboration through commenting, feedback loops, and shared workspaces. Case in point—Confluence offers a collaborative workspace where teams can share roadmaps, comment on features, tag each other, and more.

BONUS: Use our product roadmap tool decision matrix

Here’s a handy resource to help you identify the right product roadmap software:

Driving product vision with roadmapping tools

There’s a roadmap tool out there for every SaaS team, and this list gives you a glimpse into the top five platforms for businesses with different requirements. For example, while Aha! Roadmaps is ideal for teams that prioritize visual clarity, Jira Product Discovery is a better choice if you already use Jira’s suite of tools. ProductPlan, on the other hand, comes with diverse prioritization capabilities.

Ultimately, it’s up to you to consider your business goals and team preferences and choose a tool that aligns with them.

But things don’t end there. Feedback plays a key role in product roadmapping as it provides insights into user expectations and pain points. You can accordingly prioritize development efforts and features to create a product that resonates with your audience. And this calls for a platform that provides superior customer feedback collection features. Userpilot ticks all the right boxes with its range of surveys and advanced analytics. Book your Userpilot demo today to see it in action.

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