Four different things get sold as OKR tools: a template in a sheet or doc, dedicated OKR software, an OKR module inside a bigger suite, and a single-purpose scorer. They fix different failures, and picking the wrong kind is the most common and most expensive mistake in this category. Name the failure first and the choice usually makes itself.
If you already know you want dedicated software and just need to compare products, that is OKR software for small teams. If you are still writing your first set, start with how to write OKRs →
If your team does not run OKRs specifically and you want the wider category, that is goal management software →
The four kinds
A template: sheet, doc or printable
Free, instant, and enough for one or two quarters. It holds the writing perfectly well. What it cannot do is remind anybody it exists, which is where most of them die around week six.
Dedicated OKR software
Built around the shape of an objective with key results underneath, with scoring at the close. Worth paying for once the failure is happening after the kickoff rather than during it.
An OKR module inside a bigger suite
Goals bolted onto a project tool or an HR platform. Convenient if you already pay for the suite. The risk is that goals become a tab nobody opens, next to the tab everybody opens.
A calculator or scorer
Single-purpose: work out a key result score at the close. Useful once a quarter, not a system. Ours is free and needs no account.
The fourth kind is the cheapest thing on this page to try: our OKR score calculator works out a key result score from a baseline, a target and today's number, and rolls key results into an objective. No account, nothing to install.
Which failure are you actually solving?
Four symptoms, four different answers. Teams usually shop for the second one when the cause is the first.
The writing is the problem
Objectives read like tasks, key results have no baseline, nobody agrees what done means. A tool will not fix this. A template plus one hour of arguing will.
The twelve weeks are the problem
The kickoff was good and by week six nobody has opened the file. This is what dedicated software is actually for, and the only symptom that justifies paying.
The close is the problem
The quarter ends and nothing happens. No score, no conversation, the next set gets written from scratch. Look for scoring that rolls up, not a percentage bar.
Alignment is the problem
Two teams are working on things that quietly cancel out. You need each goal to name the one above it, and an outsider to be able to read that chain.
Open last quarter's goals. If the numbers in them were last touched in the first three weeks, your failure is tracking and software is a reasonable answer. If they were updated all the way through and the goals still turned out to be the wrong ones, no tool in this category will help, and the problem is that you set too many.
Two kinds you can stop considering
Anything that needs an implementation project
If getting started involves a consultant, a workshop or a data model, the product was built for a company with a planning department. A team of twelve should run its first cycle in an afternoon.
Anything that ties a key result to pay
The moment a number decides somebody's bonus it stops being an estimate and becomes a negotiation. Tools that market OKRs as a performance-review input are solving a different problem, and they will corrupt your numbers.
How to choose, in four moves
Name the failure first, in one sentence
Writing, tracking, closing or alignment. Say it out loud before you open a single pricing page. Most teams shop for the wrong one because tracking is the visible symptom and writing was the cause.
Run one cycle on the free version of that kind
A template if the failure is writing, a free tier of real software if it is tracking. One quarter is enough to know. Buying before a full cycle means buying on a guess.
Check the pricing model, not the headline price
Per seat with a five-licence minimum costs a six-person team more than the sticker suggests, and grows every time you hire. Flat pricing by team size does not. This gap is usually larger than the difference between any two feature lists.
Decide what you will stop doing
A tool that runs alongside the old spreadsheet is a second place for goals to live, which is worse than one bad place. Kill the sheet in week one or do not start.
Celorly is the second kind, built for the twelve weeks rather than the kickoff: objectives with two to four key results, a baseline and a target on each, updates that take seconds, and a scoring screen at the close that rolls key results into the objective. It prices flat by team size rather than per seat, and nothing in it connects a key result to anybody's pay. Free while it is just you. See what Celorly does →
OKR tools: quick answers
What are OKR tools?+
Anything used to hold objectives and key results through a quarter. In practice they fall into four kinds: templates in a sheet or document, dedicated OKR software, an OKR module inside a larger project or HR suite, and single-purpose calculators that score key results at the close. They solve different problems and cost between nothing and several thousand a year.
Do we need an OKR tool, or is a spreadsheet enough?+
A spreadsheet is enough while the failure is in the writing, and it is enough for a first cycle in almost every case. It stops being enough when the pattern is that the kickoff goes well and by week six nobody has opened the file, because a sheet cannot ask anybody for an update. Run one quarter on a sheet before paying for anything.
How much do OKR tools cost?+
Templates are free. Dedicated software is usually priced per user per month, commonly around 7 to 12 euros or dollars, and several vendors set a minimum of five paid licences, so small teams pay for seats they do not use. A few products price flat by team size instead. Enterprise platforms are quoted by sales rather than published.
Can we use a project management tool for OKRs?+
You can, and the usual result is a board full of completed tasks sitting under a key result that has not moved. Project tools track work; OKRs track outcomes. If you use one for both, decide explicitly which screen is the source of truth for the number, or the two will disagree by week eight.