How to choose the right public roadmap tool for your product roadmap
Last updated 16th May 2026
There is a temptation to keep your product roadmap private and closely guarded. The fear is that revealing what you are working on gives competitors the chance to copy and overtake you. But this is an outdated way of thinking. Forward-leaning, product-led companies are seeing real benefits from sharing their roadmaps publicly — building trust with existing users, reducing churn by giving users a stake in what gets built, and generating word of mouth with prospective customers who can see that the product is actively evolving.
Why should I have a public roadmap?
A public roadmap serves three distinct purposes that are hard to achieve any other way:
- Managing expectations — users who can see what is planned stop asking about it in support tickets. They know it is coming. This alone can meaningfully reduce inbound support volume for growing products.
- Building trust and transparency — a public roadmap signals that your team is organized, communicative, and committed to improving the product. It is a meaningful differentiator when users are evaluating you against competitors.
- Generating engagement and feedback — a roadmap that lets users vote on priorities or submit their own ideas transforms a one-way announcement into a two-way conversation. The signal you get from that conversation directly improves your prioritization.
Great examples of public roadmaps
To inspire you when setting up your own public roadmap, here are a few well-executed examples.
Buffer
Buffer has long used Trello to share their public roadmap — one of the earlier examples of a consumer-facing company being fully transparent about what they are building. Their approach is notable for the clear status columns that make it easy to see where a feature is in the development pipeline at a glance.
Buffer's public roadmap — an early example of radical product transparency
Wise
Wise (formerly TransferWise) opened up their product roadmap to millions of customers, organizing it into Now, Next, and Later across their teams. Their approach demonstrates that a public roadmap works at scale — even for a fintech company with a complex, regulation-sensitive product.
We can create a rich ongoing dialogue with our customers on what we are building next and why; get their feedback on what we should be developing next and input into our priorities.
Wise's public roadmap, organized by Now / Next / Later across product teams
The StoryGraph
The StoryGraph — the book tracking app that helps readers find their next book based on mood and themes — uses Noora for their public roadmap. Their experience shows how a community-driven feedback approach can work especially well for products with a passionate, invested user base.
What we particularly love to see is when the users develop ideas amongst themselves, without any involvement from the team. It's wonderful to see how different people's minds work and which areas are most important or painful for them as they use our product.
The StoryGraph's public roadmap, powered by Noora
What to look for in a public roadmap tool
When choosing a public roadmap tool, prioritize something that requires minimal ongoing maintenance. An out-of-date roadmap is worse than no roadmap — it signals disorganization and breaks trust. Beyond that, two features separate good roadmap tools from great ones:
- Feature voting — your roadmap should be a two-way conversation. Users should be able to vote on items you have planned, and ideally submit new ideas that you can then promote to the roadmap if they gain traction. This gives you a continuous, structured signal about what your user base actually cares about.
- Automated notifications when features ship — when you move something to Shipped, every user who voted for it should receive an automatic notification. This closes the feedback loop without any manual work and creates a powerful retention moment at exactly the right time.
Public roadmap tools to consider
Trello
Trello is a free kanban board that many teams use as a quick way to publish a public roadmap. The main limitations are that users need a Trello account to interact with the board, there is no native voting mechanism, and gathering new ideas requires a messy "Suggestions" card with open comments. It works well as a starting point, but quickly becomes limiting as your user base grows and you want structured feedback.
Canny
Canny is a well-established feature voting and roadmap tool used by 50,000+ companies. It offers a clean interface and now includes AI-powered feedback triage (Autopilot) on all plans. Pricing starts at $19/month with a free plan available for small teams. Like Noora, it supports user voting and automated notifications when features ship.
Noora
Noora is a dedicated product feedback management tool designed to handle the full lifecycle: collecting feature requests, organizing them on a public roadmap, and notifying users automatically when something ships. Your users do not need to create a separate account — anonymous feedback and seamless SSO integration both work out of the box. Noora also bundles a changelog tool so your roadmap and release notes live in one place. Learn more about Noora's public roadmap feature.
How to set up a public roadmap
Step 1. Define your roadmap structure
Your roadmap should make the flow of features clear at a glance. Choose a status structure that reflects how your team actually works. Common options:
- Now / Next / Later — the simplest and most universally understood
- Planned / In Progress / Shipped — shows the complete lifecycle
- Q1 / Q2 / Q3 / Q4 — works well for teams with quarterly planning cycles
Step 2. Write roadmap items for your users, not your engineers
The descriptions on your public roadmap should be written in the language of user value, not technical implementation. Instead of Refactor authentication module, write Sign in with Google and Apple — faster, no new passwords to remember. This is an opportunity to do the work of product marketing while you build.
Step 3. Share it and invite participation
Once your roadmap is live, share it where your users already are: post a link in your app's navigation or footer, announce it in your product newsletter, and share it with your team on Slack so everyone is aligned. The roadmap becomes more valuable the more people know about it — both internally and externally.
Frequently asked questions
Will sharing my roadmap publicly give competitors an advantage?
Rarely. Your competitive advantage is execution speed and user relationships, not secrecy about what you plan to build. The trust and engagement benefits of a public roadmap almost always outweigh the risk of competitors seeing your priorities — especially because competitors who copy your roadmap still have to build and ship it, while you are already doing so.
What if my roadmap changes frequently?
Roadmaps change — that is normal. The best public roadmaps are explicit about this: they include a note that priorities may shift based on new information. Users generally accept this well as long as you communicate changes proactively. An out-of-date, abandoned roadmap is far more damaging than an honest one that evolves.
Should my roadmap show exact dates?
For most teams, date-based roadmaps create more problems than they solve — you end up managing expectations around shipping dates rather than focusing on shipping quality. Status-based roadmaps (Now / Next / Later, or In Progress / Planned / Shipped) are more resilient and still give users a clear sense of priority without locking you into hard commitments.