Best Free Planning Poker Tools — Honest 2026 Comparison
TL;DR — Key takeaways
- For a free, no-sign-up tool that works async and supports multiple decks, poker but for planning is the lightest option in this list.
- PlanningPoker.com is the most established name, with deep Jira integration on its paid tiers.
- Parabol is the strongest pick if you want estimation bundled with retrospectives and other agile ceremonies.
- PlanITPoker and Scrumpoker-online.org are long-running free options with slightly dated interfaces.
- Every tool here has a genuinely free way to run a session — the differences are sign-up friction, integrations, and how estimation fits into a wider workflow.
The best free planning poker tool depends on what "free" needs to include for you: no account at all, no per-user limits, or no paywall in front of integrations. This comparison covers five tools that can all run a real estimation session for $0, and is honest about where each one wins — including where ours doesn't.
Feature sets and pricing change; this page reflects the tools as of July 2026, and we link each tool so you can verify the current state.
What makes a good planning poker tool?
A good planning poker tool does one thing reliably — private simultaneous voting with a clean reveal — and then stays out of the way. Beyond that core, the criteria that actually separate the options:
- Price and limits. Is the free tier a trial, a capped version, or the actual product?
- Sign-up friction. Can your whole team vote without creating accounts? For a ritual you run with occasional guests (a designer, a stakeholder), account walls hurt.
- Async support. Can people vote at different times, or does the room assume everyone is present? This matters enormously for distributed teams — see our async planning poker guide.
- Deck options. Fibonacci, modified Fibonacci, t-shirt sizes, powers of two — teams differ, and the right deck shouldn't require a different tool.
- Integrations. Jira/Linear import matters to some teams and is dead weight to others.
- Open source. Some organizations require auditable or self-hostable tooling.
Comparison table
| Tool | Free | Sign-up required | Async-friendly | Real-time | Decks | Open source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| poker but for planning | Yes — everything | No | Yes | Yes | Fibonacci, modified Fibonacci, t-shirt, powers of two | No |
| PlanningPoker.com | Free tier (limited) | Yes | Partially | Yes | Multiple, customizable on paid tiers | No |
| PlanITPoker | Yes | Optional | Partially | Yes | Several standard scales | No |
| Scrumpoker-online.org | Yes | No | Partially | Yes | Standard scales | No |
| Parabol | Free tier (up to a team limit) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Customizable | Yes |
"Partially" async means the room stays open and votes persist, but the tool is designed around a live session rather than a voting window.
The tools, one by one
poker but for planning
poker but for planning (this site) is a free planning poker tool with no accounts and no paywall: create a room, share the link, vote. It supports Fibonacci, modified Fibonacci, t-shirt, and powers-of-two decks, works for both live sessions and async voting windows, and shows vote statistics on reveal. It deliberately has no integrations or story-import features — if you want Jira sync or a backlog inside the tool, one of the options below fits better. Best for: teams that want zero-friction estimation and nothing else.
PlanningPoker.com
PlanningPoker.com is the most established tool in this space — it has operated under the obvious domain name for well over a decade and is many teams' default. The free tier runs real sessions with a limited number of players and games; paid tiers add Jira integration, custom decks, and story management. Accounts are required to host. Best for: teams already managing their backlog in Jira who want estimation wired into it and don't mind paying for that.
PlanITPoker
PlanITPoker is a long-running free tool that handles the essentials well: rooms, several standard scales, story lists, and CSV import. Hosts create an account, but players can typically join with just a name. The interface shows its age, and development activity is modest — but it's free and it works. Best for: teams that want a free tool with basic story management built in.
Scrumpoker-online.org
Scrumpoker-online.org is a free, no-registration tool similar in spirit to ours: create a room, share a link, vote. It supports the common scales and keeps the session simple. It's ad-supported and the UI is functional rather than polished. Best for: quick, no-commitment sessions where anyone can join instantly.
Parabol
Parabol is the different animal in this list: a full agile-meetings platform — retrospectives, standups, and sprint poker — rather than a dedicated estimation tool. It's open source, integrates with Jira, GitHub, and GitLab, and its free tier covers small teams across all meeting types. The cost of the breadth is weight: accounts, workspaces, and more product than a team that only wants estimation will use. Best for: teams that want retros and estimation in one place, or an open-source platform they can self-host.
Which should you choose?
Match the tool to the shape of your need:
- A one-off or recurring estimate with zero setup → poker but for planning or Scrumpoker-online.org. No accounts, share a link, done.
- A distributed team estimating across time zones → poker but for planning, whose rooms work as async voting windows, or Parabol.
- Estimation embedded in a Jira-centric workflow → PlanningPoker.com (paid) or Parabol.
- An open-source requirement → Parabol, the only tool in this list you can audit and self-host.
- Free with light story management → PlanITPoker.
If your team is still deciding how to estimate — not just where — start with our guides to planning poker itself and story points.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a completely free planning poker tool?
Yes — several. poker but for planning and Scrumpoker-online.org are fully free with no accounts at all, and PlanITPoker is free with an account for the host. "Free tiers" of commercial tools (PlanningPoker.com, Parabol) also run real sessions but cap players, games, or team size.
What's the best planning poker tool for remote teams?
For remote teams the deciding factors are link-based joining (no account walls for guests) and async support for time-zone spread. poker but for planning was built around exactly those two constraints; Parabol is the strongest alternative if you also want retrospectives and standups in the same tool.
Do I need to sign up to use planning poker online?
Not necessarily. poker but for planning and Scrumpoker-online.org require no registration from anyone — the room link is the only credential. PlanITPoker requires an account only for the host, while PlanningPoker.com and Parabol require accounts to organize sessions.