Introduction to OKR Software Tools
Most companies are now moving towards objective-driven business and validating them with measurable outcomes. Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) have emerged as a powerful framework to help teams align efforts, track progress, and achieve ambitious goals. With the growing adoption of the OKR framework, there is also a strong sense of need for software to support the implementation.
While understanding the OKR framework is pretty simple, monitoring them and managing them becomes difficult if you go with any free tools like Excel, sticky notes, and papers. OKRs come up with different aspects to it:
- What are the Objectives?
- What are its key results?
- Who / which team is owning it?
- Linking of objectives with work items and initiatives
- Calculating the progress manually
It becomes tedious and chaotic to manage all these aspects with a simple tool. We will need software / tools to effectively manage these aspects and make it a smooth implementation/adoption. This blog mainly focuses on:
- What are some of the best OKR software available?
- What are the benefits of Objectives and Key Results software?
- What do you need to consider before shortlisting an OKR tool?
- What are some of the best OKR tools available in the market?
Best OKR Tools and Software Solutions
OKR tools help people, teams, and organizations to set and track their goals. From defining the objectives, automated progress tracking, and linking to other tools to linking tasks to the objectives, tools make it easier and become the single source of truth for everyone in the organization. Here are a few ways in which OKR tools can help teams:
- All OKRs in single place and good UI to view them
- Linking of OKRs to Initiatives
- Automated progress tracking and dashboards
- User-friendly filters and sorting options
- Integration capability with other tools
- Report generation
- Live tracking and monitoring
Let’s take a look at some of the best OKR tools in the market.
Profit.Co / Profit Apps Inc
Profit.Co is a very powerful OKR tool that helps in setting up, and tracking OKRs. While Profit.co is a project management tool, it also offers robust OKR managing features and may be a good fit for your teams.
Key Features – Create and view OKRs, Alignment with company level OKRs, real-time dashboard, customizable templates, performance tracker, and feedback system
Limitations – May require a learning curve, features are limited
Price – Free up to 5 users, post that it is $9 per user per month
Ratings and Reviews – Some of the reviews include, “Great customer service”, “Profit.co and OKRs are winning combination for our team”
ClickUp
ClickUp is a project management tool that provides readily available OKR templates along with other features like task management, spreadsheets, and whiteboards.
Key Features – Customisable OKR templates, ease of use, Tags, filters, strong integration with other tools
Limitations – Some basic features are missing, and templates sometimes take time to load
Price – Free plan with basic features and paid plan at $5 per month
Ratings and Reviews – Some of the reviews include, “Incredibly easy to use”, “Easy to use, intuitiveness, collaboration and teamwork is best with ClickUp””
Weekdone
Using Objectives and Key Results, Weekdone provides the structure you need to set and manage goals throughout the company. OKRs are always visible and top-of-mind so employees know what is expected of them as they start planning their weekly activities.
Key Features – Team, Company and individual level OKRs, Integration with other tools, Messaging integration, Action items creation, confidence levels, feedback for OKRs
Limitations – Limited integrations, Level of customization, some teams find it expensive
Price – Free plan with basic features and paid plan at $80 for 10 users
Ratings and Reviews – Some of the reviews include, “Weekdone simplifies your life”, “Best tool for planning weekly tasks and track objectives”
Asana
Asana is a popular project management tool designed to help teams organize, track and manage their work. From creating projects to align with their business objectives, assigning key results to teams till tracking progress, it provides a wide range of features.
Key Features – Centralised goal planning, real time goal progress, AI powered goal writing, Custom reports, filters, powerful data integration to other apps
Limitations – Some basic features are missing, involves little bit of learning curve
Price – Free plan for 10 users, Starter plan for $10.99 for 500 seats per month, advanced plan $24.99 for 500 seats per month, and enterprise plan.
Ratings and Reviews – Some of the reviews include, “Best tool for remote company”, “Productivity at its finest”
Mooncamp
OKR software for modern businesses. Provides agile tools like OKRs and check ins and is highly customizable based on the company needs.
Key Features – Team level, individual level OKRs, Feedback mechanism, Confidence levels on OKR, Action item creation, Strategy map, Vision statement
Limitations – Mobile app performance has issues, Lacks usability
Price – Essential plan $6 per month per user, Professional plan $10 per month per user, Enterprise plan
Ratings and Reviews – Some of the reviews include, “Streamlined OKR and cross departmental alignment in the organization”, “Best OKR tools for startups”
15Five
15Five is a very powerful performance management system. It also provides a good platform where team level and individual level OKRs can be created and monitored
Key Features – Company level, individual level OKRs,Real time tracking, Parent child OKRs, Self reviews, Customisable templates, Export functionality
Limitations – Poor customer support, Limited features
Price – Engage plan $4 per month per user, Perform plan $10 per month per user, Total perform $16 per user per month, Transform plan $99 per user per month
Ratings and Reviews – Some of the reviews include, Setting the bar for employee experience”
Betterworks
Betterworks provides continuous performance management to help employees easily set goals/OKRs and give ongoing feedback. It seamlessly connects the performance process – goals/OKRs, check-in conversations, peer feedback and reviews
Key Features – Company level, team level and individual level OKRs, Confidence levels, messaging integration, Goal setting, Action item creation, API integrations
Limitations – Navigation difficulty, Limited features , column customization
Price – Custom Quotes will be provided by Betterworks
Ratings and Reviews – “Builds goal setting skills and monitors progress which keeps me focussed”, “Great product, good customer service and innovation”
Lattice
Lattice is another powerful Objective and Key result software which helps organizations in creating objectives , linking tasks, collaborating and tracking real time progress made.
Key Features – Company level, team level and individual level OKRs, Real time tracking, Confidence levels, action item creation , linking of tasks, integration with other apps
Limitations – Navigation difficulty, Missing functionalities
Price – OKRs and goals $8 per person per month, OKR and performance management $11 per month per person
Ratings and Reviews – Some of the reviews include, “Amazing customer support and product that grows with you”, “Great multi feature system for performance”
Trello
Trello is a powerful project management tool which is used widely in the industry. While it also offers objectives and key results software in the form of templates. Because of its Kanban nature, it becomes easy for the users to make full use of it. Each column represents an objective in the template while cards in the columns represent the key results.
Key Features – Multiple views of OKRs, Powerful integration capabilities, pre defined templates, ease of use
Limitations – Real time progress tracking, can be used as an alternative
Price – Free version, Standard plan $5 per user per month, Premium plan $100 per user per month
Ratings and Reviews – Some of the reviews include, “All things in one place”, “The best option to track tasks”
Quantive
Quantive is a strategy execution platform and an OKR tool, as an OKR platform it integrates strategic business planning, progress into daily operations.
Key Features – Company level, team level and individual level OKRs, Confidence level, Feedbacks, Messaging integrations, real time progress tracking, Mindmapping, Action item creation
Limitations – Involves learning curve, Missing features, Poor usability
Price – Contact them for pricing
Ratings and Reviews – Some of the reviews include, “Great way to start OKRs with your team”, “ New OKR tools for me and my clients”
Leapsome
Yet another Objective and key result tool to create, track and collaborate on goals. It is known for its usability and customization options provided.
Key Features – Flexible to any goal setting models, Sharing and requesting feedback on goals, Auto progress update reminders, Individual goal progress, Linking of individual goals with company goals, real time dashboards, parent child linking to action items
Limitations – Feedback issues, navigation difficulty, Involves learning curve
Price – Contact them for pricing
Ratings and Reviews – Some of the reviews include, “Perfect tool for sharing anonymous feedback and performance tracking”, “ Great agile tools with customer support”
Workboard
Workboard is an intuitive OKR software that helps businesses align OKRs with work items, streamline business reviews and drive growth focussed execution.
Key Features – Team, Company and individual level OKRs, Integration with other tools, Messaging integration, Action items creation, confidence levels, feedback for OKRs
Limitations – Connectivity issues and slow loading
Price – Contact Workboard for pricing
Ratings and Reviews – Some of the reviews include, “Great software for tracking OKRs”, “ Helps your team deliver value that matter faster”
Monday.com
With easy-to-use building blocks like dashboards, automations, and integrations, teams are empowered to customize their ideal workflow in one workspace. This OKR platform is flexible and by design, customizable to fit any business needs, and easily scales with the organization as it grows.
Key Features – Customizable OKR boards setup, Linking of parent child OKRs, action item / initiatives creation, customisable dashboards
Limitations – Learning curve involved, Limited features
Price – Basic Plan $9 per month for 4 seats, Standard plan $12 for 3 seats, Pro plan $19 for 3 seats, Enterprise plan
Ratings and Reviews – Some of the reviews include, “Versatile project management tool”, “ Cornerstone of cross functional teams”
Peoplebox Inc
Peoplebox is an OKR software that can easily be integrated into your existing workflow or tools. It can serve as a single place where company level to individual level OKRs can be created, tracked and monitored.
Key Features – Company / Individual and team level goals setting, 1 on 1s, reviews, Strong integration capabilities with other tools
Limitations – Poor usability, Limited features
Price – Professional $7 per user per month, Premium $15 per user per month
Ratings and Reviews – Some of the reviews include, “Peoplebox is the best OKR tool”, “ Number 1 tools for OKR and performance tracking”
What should I consider before investing in OKR software?
There are several OKR tools in the market because of growing adoption of the framework. Not all tools will suit your business because of differences in business goals, team dynamics and maturity, financial aspects. OKR tool which is used mostly may not be affordable. Or the affordable tool may not have the best features. In this case how do we decide? Here are a few factors to consider before going ahead with any objective and key result tool:
- Ease of Use / Intuitiveness – A user friendly tool will definitely create a pathway for quick adoption.
- Basic Features – Goal setting, Assigning goals to owners/ teams, Linking of action items, confidence levels, Automated dashboards, reminders, Linking of OKRs are a few basic features that should be enough to start with.
- Costing – Tools purchased should not become an overhead and push the organization to stop using it. They should solve the purpose. Choose a tool with bare minimum features which suits your budget
- Integration capabilities with your tools – Choose a tool which can easily be setup in your environment and suites of apps teams use day in day out.
- Automated reporting and Analytics – Effective and automated reporting is very much needed for making data driven decisions. Check for tools that give you adequate reporting options which best suits your interest.
- Customer Support – Certain tools need a learning curve or even hand holding. Choose a tool which gives options of training, coaching and best customer support.
Can OKR consultants provide insights about OKR implementation required or not?
Absolutely!! Consultants who are SMEs play a crucial role in helping organizations successfully implement the OKR framework. Their expertise and experience can guide companies through the various stages of OKR adoption, from planning to execution and ongoing improvement. As an OKR consulting firm, below are several ways we can assist organizations with OKR implementation:
- Assessing Organizational Readiness – Consultants begin by evaluating whether the organization is ready to implement OKRs. They assess the company’s culture, goals, and existing processes to determine if OKRs will be a good fit and how to tailor the framework to the organization’s needs
- Providing Expertise and Best Practices – Consultants bring specialized knowledge and experience from working with other organizations. They help in understanding the fundamental concepts of OKRs., avoid common pitfalls and mistakes, implement industry best practices for setting, tracking, and reviewing OKRs
- Aligning OKRs with Strategic Goals – Consultants work with leadership to ensure that OKRs align with the company’s overall mission and strategic objectives by defining measurable outcomes
- Providing OKR Workshops – Consultants often conduct OKR workshops to educate teams and guide them through the process of creating their own objectives and key results
- Customizing OKR Tools and Processes – Different organizations have different needs when it comes to tracking and managing OKRs. Consultants help in choosing or in customizing the right OKR management tools or software
- Ensuring Buy-in from Leadership and Teams – Coaching leadership on how to become expert of the OKR process, facilitating communication about the benefits of OKRs to all levels of the organization all come under a consultant’s forte of expertise
- Scaling OKRs as the Organization Grows – Consultants help organizations scale OKRs from small teams or departments to the entire companies and also adjust and refine the OKR framework to suit more complex organizational structures
Conclusion
Top 14 OKR tools along with their features, pricing, features and limitations are mentioned in the blog but the most important aspect is the selection of appropriate tools based on the needs of the project and the team.
Objective and Key results tools ensure smooth adoption of the framework itself. Tools selected must promote and drive the teams to create OKRs, help them collaborate with constant automated dashboards, be transparent and give feedback on the OKRs and also express confidence.
OKR tools are the information radiators that should be customisable and flexible based on the team’s / company’s needs. There is no one perfect tool which all the organizations usel. The right fit comes into picture based on the organization needs, culture and the usage, your environment and the maturity of the team.
With this our blog on “Top 14 Best OKR software solutions for 2024” comes to an end. We hope this helped. Please reach out to Benzne OKR Consulting team at “consult@benzne.com” for any feedback or suggestions.
Frequently Asked Questions About Top 14 Best OKR Software Solutions :
1. What Objectives and Key Results software does Google use?
Google developed its own OKR software instead of using 3rd party tools. They built their own custom workflow, views, advanced tracking systems which best suits their business, scale and maturity. All other software OKR and OKR tools available in the market were later built taking inspiration from the framework
2. What are the top companies using OKRs?
OKR adoption has increased tremendously in the past few years. While Google developed the framework taking inspiration from them, companies like Linkedin, Intel, Microsoft, Twitter, Spotify, Uber, Amazon all adopted the framework. But the OKR framework is not limited to huge companies, even small scale and mid scale companies across domains and services are not moving towards OKRs.
3. What is better than OKR?
While OKRs is mostly used as a framework for businesses and most of the organizations are adopting it, there are other frameworks which are used based on the business. Some of them include:
- SMART goals
- Key Performance Indicators
- Balanced Scorecard
- V2MOM ( Vision, Value, Method, Obstacles and Measures )
- 4DX ( 4 Disciplines of Execution )
- Hoshin Kanri
- Management by Objectives
4. What is the success rate of OKR?
Success rate of OKR depends on various factors like awareness of the framework, how it is implemented, level of buy-in from leadership, strategic alignment with the objectives. OKRs can improve alignment, focus, transparency, and performance when it is implemented effectively if not, it may not deliver the results which are needed
5. What makes OKRs strong?
OKRs is one of the powerful frameworks which are being used by most of the companies, there are several reasons as to why it is being adopted so much. Some of them include:
- Helps bring clarity and focus within the organization
- Aligns and helps teams prioritize their activities
- OKRs promotes measurable outcomes
- It brings in the sense of accountability within the teams
- Helps in data driven decision making
