Alignlee vs PlanningPoker.com
Comparison as of October 2026, based on PlanningPoker.com's public website. Plans and features change; check www.planningpoker.com before you decide.
PlanningPoker.com is an account-based estimation tool built around a prepared story list: you register, set up a game, import or type your stories, and a dealer runs the session. Alignlee is a no-account room: you type a name, share a 6-character code, and estimate whatever the team puts in front of it. If you want imports, a dealer workflow and a CSV of results, PlanningPoker.com fits. If you want zero setup and no limit on who can join, Alignlee fits.
The voting ritual is the same in both. The difference is everything around the vote: who needs an account, how many players a plan allows, and how stories get in and out of the tool.
Who should pick which
Pick Alignlee if
- Guests, contractors or client stakeholders join and you don't want anyone creating an account.
- Your group is bigger than the player limit of a free plan, or the number of people changes from week to week.
- You want each voter's confidence to weigh the result, not just the card value.
- You're fine copying issue keys in and typing points back into your tracker.
Pick PlanningPoker.com if
- You want to import a backlog from Jira (XML) or CSV before the meeting and export results afterwards.
- You need custom decks or adjustable timers.
- You prefer anonymous voting, where the team sees the spread but not who voted what.
- You want accounts so the same dealer can come back to saved games.
Alignlee vs PlanningPoker.com: feature comparison
| Feature | Alignlee | PlanningPoker.com |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free. No paid tiers, no trial, no feature limits. | Free and paid plans. Prices are on their plans page, which we couldn't read; check their site. |
| Signup required | No. Enter a name; others join with a link or 6-character room code. | The homepage "Start a Game" button leads to registration. |
| Participant limits | No cap. | Their help center lists up to 5 players on the free plan, 10 on Standard and 50 on PRO. That article was last updated in 2017, so check current plans. |
| Decks | Fibonacci, modified Fibonacci, T-shirt (each with ?). No custom decks. | Predefined scales including T-shirt sizes; custom decks via a Deck Builder (paid, per their help center). |
| Spectator mode | Yes. Spectators can't vote and are excluded from the vote math. | Yes. Players can switch themselves to spectator; dealers can switch anyone. |
| Integrations | None. No Jira sync, no Slack app. Paste issue keys in, type points back. | Jira import (XML) and export (CSV) by file. Their help center says this needs the PRO plan. |
| Export | Meeting minutes as a Markdown (.md) file. No CSV. | CSV of the game's story list from the results view. |
| Confidence voting | Yes. 0-100% slider on every vote; confidence-weighted estimate. | Not advertised. |
| Timers | No round timer. Rounds auto-advance 2 minutes after reveal (cancellable). | Customizable timers. |
| Anonymous voting | No. Votes are shown with names after reveal. | Advertised on their homepage. |
What PlanningPoker.com does better
Backlog in, results out
You can prepare a game from a Jira XML export or a CSV, reorder and edit stories in advance, then download a CSV at the end and import it into Jira. Alignlee has no import at all; you add each round's title as you go.
Custom decks and timers
If your team uses a scale that isn't Fibonacci, modified Fibonacci or T-shirt sizes, PlanningPoker.com's Deck Builder covers it. Alignlee's three decks are fixed, and it has no countdown timer.
Anonymous voting
Some teams want to see the spread without names, especially where seniority makes people reluctant to disagree. Alignlee always shows names after the reveal.
Switching from PlanningPoker.com to Alignlee
Both tools are session-based, so there is no data to migrate. The change is mostly to your prep routine: instead of importing a story file, keep the issue keys in a list and paste one per round.
- Before the meeting: list the stories (with issue keys) in your tracker or a doc, in priority order.
- Create a room, pick the deck you used before, and share the link in the meeting chat. Nobody registers.
- For each story, enter the issue key and title as the round, vote, and talk through the outliers.
- Before ending the meeting, export the meeting minutes (.md). Type the agreed points into Jira from that file.
- If you relied on a 5-player free plan, invite the testers, designers or stakeholders you used to leave out; product owners can join as spectators.
The player limit question
Player caps are the most common reason teams look past PlanningPoker.com. A typical Scrum team of six developers, a tester and a product owner is already past a 5-player free plan, and adding a designer for one story means choosing who sits out. PlanningPoker.com's paid plans raise the cap; Alignlee doesn't have one. If your team is small and stable and you want the import/export workflow, the cap may never matter to you.
What you get with Alignlee
Alignlee is free planning poker with no accounts and no participant cap. Votes stay hidden until half the voters are in, then reveal automatically with names. Every vote has a confidence slider, and the result is a confidence-weighted estimate. Spectators can watch without voting. Rooms last 24 hours, and you can export meeting minutes as Markdown. It does not integrate with Jira or Slack and has no custom decks. The full feature list is in our planning poker guide.
FAQ
Is PlanningPoker.com free?
It has a free plan and paid plans. Its help center describes the free plan as allowing up to 5 players, with paid tiers for more, but that article dates from 2017, so check their plans page for current limits and prices. Alignlee is free with no paid tiers.
Can Alignlee import stories from Jira like PlanningPoker.com?
No. Alignlee has no Jira integration or file import. Paste the issue key and title into each round, then type the agreed points back into Jira, using the exported Markdown meeting minutes as your record.
Does PlanningPoker.com have a spectator mode?
Yes. According to its help center, players can switch themselves to spectator mode and dealers can switch anyone. Alignlee also has spectator mode: tick 'Join as spectator' and you are excluded from the vote math.
Which is better for a large team?
If you need more than a handful of players and don't want to pay, Alignlee has no participant cap. If you need imports, exports and custom decks for a large group, compare PlanningPoker.com's paid plans.
What we couldn't confirm
We didn't want to guess. These points weren't clear from PlanningPoker.com's public pages:
- Current prices and plan names (their plans page loads with JavaScript and we could not read it).
- Whether invited players need their own account to join a game.
- Whether the 5 / 10 / 50 player limits from the 2017 help article still apply.
Sources
- PlanningPoker.com homepage
- PlanningPoker.com: What features come with paid accounts?
- PlanningPoker.com: How does import/export with Jira work
- PlanningPoker.com: Spectator mode