Canny

Overview

Canny is an enterprise-grade customer feedback management platform that combines feedback collection, voting systems, public roadmapping, and AI-powered automation. It helps product teams collect, organize, prioritize, and act on customer feedback through data-driven insights and transparent communication.

Core Functionality

Feedback Collection & Organization

Public and private feedback boards
Customers submit feature requests, bugs, ideas
Automatic feedback capture from integrations (Zendesk, Help Scout, Gong)
AI-powered deduplication (merges similar requests)
Source tracking (know where feedback came from)
Topic organization and grouping

Voting & Prioritization

Customers vote on feature requests
Prioritization based on vote count
Custom prioritization formulas (impact + effort)
Weight factors by user segment or revenue
Identify highest-demand features automatically
Transparent feature demand visibility

Roadmap Management

Public and private roadmaps
Drag-and-drop feature organization
Status tracking (Planned, In Progress, Completed, Considering)
Integration with Jira, Asana, ClickUp
Link feedback items directly to roadmap
Changelog publishing for release notes

Advanced Features

AI Autopilot

Automated Feedback Processing

Auto-capture from conversations (Zendesk, Help Scout, Gong)
AI-powered auto-grouping (assigns requests to topics)
Automatic deduplication (consolidates identical requests)
AI comment summaries (extracts key info from threads)
Automated clarifying questions (gathers deeper context)
Reduces manual feedback processing by ~80%

Customer Segmentation

Advanced Analytics by User Segment

Segment feedback by MRR (monthly recurring revenue)
View by plan type, user role, company size
Identify which segments want which features
Prioritize high-value customer requests
Data integration with CRM (HubSpot, Salesforce)
Revenue impact analysis

Analytics & Insights

Data-Driven Decision Making

Which features have most votes
Trending topics and themes
Customer sentiment tracking
Competitor mentions detection
Regional feedback patterns
Time-series feedback trends
Engagement metrics per board

Integrations

Customer Support Platforms

Zendesk (auto-capture feedback)
Help Scout (automatic capture)
Gong (AI conversation analysis)
Intercom (in-product feedback widget)

Project Management

Jira (sync roadmap to development)
Asana (feature tracking)
ClickUp (task management)
Linear (issue tracking)

CRM & Data

Salesforce (customer segmentation)
HubSpot (contact enrichment)
Segment (data enrichment)
Slack (notifications, updates)

GitHub Integration

Link feedback to GitHub issues
Auto-update Canny when issues close
Sync status between platforms
Create issues directly from feedback

Workflow Example

Customer feedback submission: User votes on feature request
AI processes: Auto-deduplicates, groups, summarizes
Team reviews: Segmentation shows it’s high-value customers
Prioritization: Formula scores high impact, low effort
Roadmap: Feature added to “Planned” on public roadmap
Development: Linked to Jira ticket
Progress: Status updated to “In Progress”
Release: Feature ships
Changelog: Published with link to original requests
Notification: Customers who voted get notified

Pricing

Free Plan

100 active posts/month (very limited)
1 feedback board
1 roadmap
No integrations
Best for: Evaluation only

Starter ( $99/ m o n t h or$ 948/year)

Unlimited posts
3 feedback boards
1 public roadmap
2 integrations
Custom domain
AI autopilot (limited)
Best for: Small teams, early-stage

Growth ( $399/ m o n t h or$ 3,588/year)

Everything in Starter
5 admin seats
User segmentation
Private boards
5 integrations
AI autopilot (full)
Advanced analytics
Best for: Scaling teams (10-100 people)

Business (Custom pricing)

Unlimited everything
Enterprise integrations
SOC2 compliance
Dedicated support
Custom features
Best for: Enterprise, regulated industries

Cost Analysis

Example Team of 10

Starter plan: $99/ m o n t h \times 12 =$ 1,188/year
Growth plan (needed for segmentation): $399/ m o n t h \times 12 =$ 4,788/year
Annual cost: $1,188-4,788

Comparison with alternatives:

Fider: $29 - 59/ m o n t h ($ 348-708/year) ✅ Much cheaper
Featurebase: $49 - 119/ m o n t h ($ 588-1,428/year) ✅ Cheaper
StatusPage: $50 - 300/ m o n t h ($ 600-3,600/year) ~ Similar

Strengths

AI Autopilot: Significantly reduces manual work
Integrated ecosystem: Everything needed in one platform
Roadmap transparency: Keeps customers engaged
Customer segmentation: Prioritize by revenue/value
Auto-deduplication: Consolidates duplicate requests
GitHub integration: Works with development tools
Change tracking: Changelog connects feedback to releases
Enterprise-ready: SOC2, compliance, support
Mature platform: 50,000+ companies using
Analytics: Deep insights into feedback trends

Limitations

Pricing

Expensive ($99-399+/month)
Free plan severely limited
Growth plan jumps from $99 t o$ 399
No self-hosting (cloud-only)

Feature Limitations

English language only
Inflexible prioritization formula
No changelog popups
No bulk editing
Limited customization vs self-hosted

Scaling

Works best for SaaS and startups
Can feel constraining at massive scale
Limited to feedback boards/voting approach

Ideal Use Cases

Perfect For:

SaaS companies with paying customers
Teams needing transparent roadmap
High-value customer feedback prioritization
AI-powered feedback automation
Companies with existing Zendesk/Help Scout setup
Teams needing ROI-driven feature prioritization
Enterprise requiring compliance/security

Not Ideal For:

Budget-constrained startups (use Fider)
Companies wanting self-hosting (use Fider)
Internal-only feedback (use Slack)
Bug tracking only (use GitHub Issues)
Simple feedback collection (use Typeform)

Comparison with Alternatives

Feature	Canny	Fider	Featurebase
Price	$99+/mo	$29/mo	$49/mo
AI Features	✅ Autopilot	❌ No	⚠️ Limited
Integrations	✅ 20+	⚠️ Few	✅ Good
Segmentation	✅ Yes	❌ No	⚠️ Limited
Roadmap	✅ Full	⚠️ Basic	✅ Yes
Self-Host	❌ No	✅ Yes	❌ No
GitHub Integration	✅ Yes	⚠️ Via API	⚠️ Limited
Mobile	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Enterprise Ready	✅ Yes	❌ No	⚠️ Growing
Multi-language	❌ English	✅ 10+	✅ 5+

Getting Started

Sign up at canny.io
Create feedback board (choose public or private)
Customize branding (logo, colors, domain)
Invite customers (email, link, embed)
Set up integrations (GitHub, Jira, Slack, etc.)
Create roadmap (add example features)
Promote to users (email, docs, in-product)
Monitor feedback (watch votes and trends)

Best Practices

Board Setup

Create separate boards per product area
Use clear, descriptive categories
Set realistic roadmap expectations
Communicate update frequency

Engagement

Respond to new feature requests within 48 hours
Acknowledge high-vote features
Update roadmap monthly
Close feature loop with changelog notifications

Data Management

Use segmentation to identify VIP requests
Monitor competitor mentions
Track sentiment trends
Export insights for strategy meetings

Automation

Enable AI Autopilot for busy teams
Set up Slack notifications for high-vote items
Auto-sync with Jira/GitHub
Create automated status updates

Key Metrics

Success Indicators

Active users participating
Number of feature requests per month
Average vote count per request
Roadmap completion rate
Time to implementation (feedback→shipped)
Customer satisfaction with roadmap
Feature adoption after shipping

Typical Usage

50,000+ registered companies
1 million+ product updates sent
15 million+ feedback items captured

ROI & Benefits

Hard ROI

Reduced feature churn (build what users want)
Faster feature adoption (users helped shape it)
Lower support burden (roadmap reduces questions)
Higher customer retention

Soft ROI

Increased customer satisfaction
Improved product-market fit
Better stakeholder alignment
Transparent communication with users
Community engagement

Common Pitfalls

Over-committing to feedback

Don’t promise everything on roadmap
Mark features “Considering” if uncertain
Be realistic about timelines

Ignoring negative feedback

Engage with critical comments
Address concerns thoughtfully
Thank users even if declining request

Neglecting updates

Roadmap stagnation loses credibility
Update monthly minimum
Communicate delays proactively

Not using segmentation

Don’t miss that high-value customers want X
Use segmentation to weight decisions
Combine voting with revenue impact

When to Upgrade from Free Plan

Move to Starter when:

Over 100 feature requests/month
Need custom domain
Want integrations
Ready to make roadmap public

Move to Growth when:

200+ feature requests/month
Multiple teams using Canny
Need customer segmentation
Using Jira/GitHub extensively

Migration from Canny

If outgrowing Canny:

To Fider: Easy export, preserves all data
Custom portal: Use GitHub API for features
Hybrid: Keep Canny + add custom layer

Workflow Integration

With Zendesk

Auto-capture feedback from tickets
AI deduplicates and groups
Team reviews in Canny
Updates Zendesk with roadmap status

With GitHub

Link feedback to issues
Auto-update when issues close
Roadmap syncs to GitHub Projects
Developers see customer demand

With Slack

Daily summary of new feedback
High-vote alerts
Status update notifications
Team discussion integration

Enterprise Features

Business Plan Includes

SOC2 Type II compliance
Unlimited custom integrations
Priority support (2hr response)
Single sign-on (SSO)
Advanced security controls
Dedicated customer success manager
Custom SLAs

Data & Privacy

Hosting: US-based servers
Encryption: TLS in transit
Backup: Daily automated backups
Retention: Indefinite unless deleted
Compliance: SOC2 (Business plan)
GDPR: Compliant with data deletion

Success Stories

Typical metrics from Canny customers:

40% reduction in feature churn
60% improvement in roadmap credibility
3x faster feature implementation
50%+ increase in customer satisfaction

Explorer