Name: Loach
Rating: 4.8 (24 reviews)
Author: Loach

You are a startup and need to steer your company in the right direction. You've decided to implement OKRs (Objectives and Key Results). Once you have defined your OKRs, the next step is to find a reliable tool to help you manage them effectively.

Budgeting for software can be challenging for startups. Fortunately, there are several free OKR software options available.

In this article, we'll explore various free tools for managing your OKRs that your company can use even as it grows. We'll discuss each tool's pros and cons, guide you in getting started, and—importantly—explain when free tools stop being enough.

3 Free OKR Tools

If you're looking for OKR tools that remain free even as your business grows, the following three options are the best. They enable you to manage your OKRs in one place for everyone to see.

1. Google Sheets / Excel

Spreadsheets like Google Sheets or Excel offer robust features for creating custom OKR tracking sheets. You can set up a sheet with columns for Objectives, Key Results, owners, deadlines, and progress status. Use conditional formatting and data validation to visualize progress and ensure data consistency.

Pros:

✅ Widely accessible and familiar
✅ Allows extensive customization
✅ No need for additional software when using Google Workspace or Microsoft Office 365
✅ Free forever

Cons:

❌ Requires manual updates, which can be time-consuming
❌ Lacks automated features and centralized communication
❌ Can become hard to manage as the team and number of OKRs grow
❌ No guidance on what to work on—just stores data

Getting Started: Use a basic OKR template and customize it according to your needs. Get a free template here.

2. Notion

Notion is a versatile tool that combines notes, databases, and task management into one platform. For OKR management, you can create pages for each Objective and use tables to list and track Key Results. Notion's flexibility allows you to link different pages and databases, making it easy to organize and navigate your OKRs.

Pros:

✅ Highly customizable and flexible
✅ Easy real-time collaboration with team members
✅ Supports integration with other tools through APIs
✅ Good for documentation alongside OKRs

Cons:

❌ Customization can be overwhelming for new users
❌ Lacks automated features like reminders and progress tracking
❌ Some features require a paid subscription
❌ No planning guidance—just a place to store OKRs

Getting Started: Start with free templates, or create your dashboard from scratch.

3. Trello

Trello uses boards, lists, and cards to organize tasks, making it a simple and intuitive tool for managing OKRs. You can create a board for OKRs with lists for each Objective and cards for Key Results. Use labels, due dates, and checklists to track progress and assign tasks.

Pros:

✅ Simple and intuitive visual layout
✅ Easy setup and use
✅ Can integrate with other tools and add-ons
✅ Good for visual thinkers

Cons:

❌ Not explicitly designed for OKRs—lacks analytics and automation
❌ Customization may be required to fit the OKR framework
❌ The free version has limitations
❌ Doesn't connect OKRs to daily priorities

Getting Started: Use Trello's templates or create a custom board to organize your OKRs.

When Free Tools Fail: The Planning Gap

Here's what most guides about free OKR tools won't tell you: Free tools are great for tracking. But they fail at planning.

What You Get With Free Tools

✅ A place to write down OKRs ✅ Progress tracking (manual updates) ✅ Basic dashboards or views ✅ Collaboration features

What You DON'T Get

❌ Guidance on breaking down OKRs into weekly work ❌ Weekly planning automation ❌ Connection between goals and daily tasks ❌ Team actually using it consistently

The Planning Gap

This is the planning gap—and it's why many teams fail at OKRs even with free tools.

Your team might have beautiful OKRs stored in Notion or a spreadsheet. But Monday morning comes, and nobody knows what to actually work on to achieve those goals.

The Real Cost of "Free"

Free tools have hidden costs:

Time spent on manual updates: Someone has to chase team members for updates, copy data between tools, and maintain the system. This adds up to hours per week.

Low adoption rates: Tools that don't add value get abandoned. If your OKR spreadsheet just sits there between quarterly reviews, it's not helping.

Failed OKRs: The ultimate cost. If your team doesn't achieve their goals because the tool didn't help them plan and execute, the "free" tool was actually very expensive.

Signs You've Outgrown Free OKR Tools

How do you know when it's time to graduate from spreadsheets and free tools? Watch for these signs:

1. "What Should I Work On?" Questions

If your team asks "what should I work on?" every Monday morning—even though you have OKRs—your tool isn't helping them plan.

2. OKRs Sitting in Spreadsheets While Work Happens Elsewhere

When OKRs live in one tool but actual work happens in Slack, email, and other project tools, there's a disconnect. The OKRs become documentation rather than drivers.

3. Quarterly Reviews With Surprised Results

If you reach the end of the quarter and discover you're way behind on OKRs, your tracking was too infrequent. And if you don't know why you're behind, your planning was non-existent.

4. More Time Updating Tools Than Planning Work

When the administrative overhead of your OKR system exceeds the value it provides, something is wrong.

The Test

Ask yourself: Does my team use our OKR tool every week to decide what to work on? Or do they only look at it during quarterly reviews?

If it's the latter, the tool is failing—regardless of whether it's free or paid.

Limitations of Free Tools (Detailed)

Because these tools are built for generic use cases rather than specifically for OKRs, they come with some limitations:

Lack of Automation

One of the main drawbacks of using general-purpose tools is the absence of automated features such as check-in reminders and progress tracking. You need to assign someone to check everyone's progress and manually follow up if needed, which can be time-consuming and inconsistent.

Limited Analytics and Reporting

These tools do not offer built-in analytics and detailed reporting specific to OKRs. While you can manually create reports, the process can be labor-intensive and lacks real-time insights.

Scalability Issues

As your team grows, the limitations become more apparent. A spreadsheet can quickly become unwieldy when getting a quick overview of all the team OKRs. Maintaining consistency across multiple users when updating key results weekly is also hard.

Multiple Tools for OKRs and Initiatives

Managing OKRs and the initiatives to achieve them often requires multiple tools. While OKRs might be tracked in a spreadsheet, the specific tasks might be managed in a separate project management tool. It's hard to track which initiatives belong to which OKRs, and you must constantly switch between tools.

No Planning Guidance

Most critically: free tools store OKRs but don't help you plan how to achieve them. There's no decomposition of quarterly goals into weekly work. No AI guidance to break down abstract objectives. No weekly planning workflow that connects goals to tasks.

When to Invest in OKR Planning Software

Free tools work well when:

You're just starting with OKRs and need to experiment
Your team is very small (under 5 people)
Someone has time to maintain the system manually
You're primarily using OKRs for documentation, not execution

It's time to invest in dedicated OKR software when:

Your team is growing and coordination is harder
Manual updates are taking too much time
OKRs aren't driving weekly behavior
You need your team to actually achieve goals, not just track them

The Affordable Alternative: Flat-Rate OKR Software

Here's a common misconception: dedicated OKR software is expensive.

Let's do the math:

Most OKR software: €8-15 per user per month

For a 15-person team: €120-225/month
For a 30-person team: €240-450/month
And the bill grows every time you add someone

Loach: Free for up to 5 users, then €2.99/user/month

For a 5-person team: €0/month (free!)
For a 15-person team: €29.90/month
One of the most affordable dedicated OKR tools available

The Real Comparison

At €2.99/user, Loach costs a fraction of what enterprise tools charge—while providing planning features that free tools can't match. Start free with up to 5 users.

What You Get With Planning-Focused OKR Software

Unlike free tools, dedicated OKR planning software helps you:

Break down quarterly OKRs into weekly focus areas (AI-guided)
See what matters every Monday morning
Connect initiatives to Key Results
Track progress automatically with check-in reminders
Keep teams aligned without endless meetings

OKR Overview

Migration Guide: From Spreadsheets to Loach

Ready to graduate from free tools? Here's how to migrate in about 2 hours:

Step 1: Export Your Current OKRs (15 minutes)

List all active Objectives and Key Results
Note current progress percentages
Identify who owns each Key Result

Step 2: Set Up Your New System (30 minutes)

Create your company and team structure
Import Objectives and Key Results
Assign ownership

Step 3: Decompose Into Weekly Focus (1 hour)

Use AI-guided decomposition to break down each Key Result
Identify monthly milestones
Define first week's priorities

Step 4: Brief Your Team (15 minutes)

Show them where to find their weekly focus
Explain the check-in process
Set expectations for weekly planning

What to Bring, What to Leave Behind

Bring:

Active Objectives and Key Results
Current progress data
Ownership assignments

Leave behind:

Outdated or abandoned OKRs
Overly complex tracking formulas
The manual update burden

FAQs

Q: Are free OKR tools good enough for startups?

Free tools can work for very early-stage startups (under 5 people) who are just experimenting with OKRs. But once you need your team to actually execute on OKRs consistently, you'll need planning features that free tools don't offer.

Q: What's the biggest limitation of free OKR tools?

The planning gap. Free tools store OKRs but don't help you break them down into weekly work. Your team ends up with beautiful quarterly goals but no idea what to work on Monday morning.

Q: When should we switch from free to paid OKR software?

When your team asks "what should I work on?" despite having OKRs, when OKRs sit unused between quarterly reviews, or when manual updates are taking too much time.

Q: Isn't dedicated OKR software expensive?

Not necessarily. While some tools charge €8-15/user, Loach offers a free tier for up to 5 users and then just €2.99/user after that—making it one of the most affordable dedicated OKR tools available.

Q: Can I use Notion/Trello and still succeed with OKRs?

Yes, if you're disciplined about weekly planning. The tool itself is less important than the habit of connecting OKRs to weekly work. But purpose-built tools make this much easier.

Conclusion

Free OKR tools have their place—especially for startups just getting started with the framework. Spreadsheets, Notion, and Trello can all store and track OKRs effectively.

But storing OKRs isn't the hard part. Planning how to achieve them is.

Free tools excel at tracking. They fail at planning. And without planning, OKRs become documents that "collect dust" between quarterly reviews.

When you're ready to move from tracking to execution—from storing goals to achieving them—look for OKR software that helps you:

Break down quarterly goals into weekly work
Know what to focus on every Monday
Connect daily tasks to strategic objectives
Actually achieve your OKRs, not just track them

The right tool isn't necessarily the most expensive one. It's the one that helps your team execute.

Related resources:

What Are OKRs? — Complete introduction to OKR fundamentals
OKR Software Guide — Planning vs tracking tools explained
OKRs for Startups — Implementing OKRs without enterprise complexity

Ready to move beyond tracking? Try Loach free →