Plan Rabbit is an AI-first project management platform where you describe your project in plain language and the AI builds the complete execution structure — goals, tasks, teams, sprints, and reminders — automatically. You then manage everything through familiar views like Kanban boards, sprint timelines, and goal trees, with an AI copilot available on every task card.

How is Plan Rabbit different from Jira or Asana?

Traditional tools like Jira and Asana require you to manually create every project, task, and configuration. Plan Rabbit starts with a conversation — you describe your vision and AI builds the structure instantly. The AI stays active throughout your workflow: planning sprints, assigning work intelligently, and proactively flagging risks. It's the difference between configuring a tool and actually collaborating with one.

Which AI providers does Plan Rabbit support?

Plan Rabbit supports OpenAI, Anthropic (Claude), Google (Gemini), Groq, and Mistral. You bring your own API key, and you can configure different providers for different features — for example, use Claude for project planning and GPT-4o for task creation. This gives you full flexibility and cost control.

Can I use Plan Rabbit for free?

Yes. Plan Rabbit is free forever for personal use. You get 1 active project, all AI features with your own API keys (BYOK), Kanban boards, sprints, goal trees, reminders, and gamification. Paid plans add more projects, team seats, hosted AI credits, and collaboration features.

How does chat-first project creation work?

Simply open the Chat AI in your workspace and describe what you're building — for example, 'Launch a mobile app in Q3 with design, engineering, and marketing teams.' Plan Rabbit will guide you through a 9-step conversation to define goals, configure board columns, set sprint duration, assign roles, and create your backlog. The entire project structure is ready in minutes, not hours.

What project views are available?

Plan Rabbit offers four project modes: Kanban (drag-and-drop columns), Sprint (time-boxed agile cycles), Goal Tree (hierarchical outcomes), and Hybrid (mix of all modes). You can also view your personal task queue in 'My Tasks', see project overviews with stats and progress, and access a full activity feed.

Can I invite contractors or external collaborators?

Yes. You can invite guests as view-only members with automatic 90-day expiry — perfect for contractors, offshore teams, or temporary stakeholders. They can see the project without editing access, and their access expires automatically without any manual cleanup.

Plan Rabbit is built on Supabase (PostgreSQL) with row-level security and Supabase Auth. Your workspace data is isolated by workspace ID. AI requests are made directly with your own API keys, so your project content is never stored by AI providers beyond the scope of your own API agreement with them.

What is the best goal tracking software for small teams?

For teams of 5–50 running active projects, Plan Rabbit's Goal Trees provide the best goal tracking: AI generates the goal hierarchy from your project description, and progress rolls up automatically from task completion. No weekly manual updates, no separate tool. For teams that need goals tied to performance reviews, Lattice or Quantive are more appropriate.

What is the difference between OKRs and goal trees?

OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) are a goal-setting framework for organizational alignment — typically quarterly, cascaded from company to team to individual. Goal trees are a structural model for connecting project tasks to goals in real time. OKRs answer 'what are we trying to achieve this quarter?'; goal trees answer 'are the tasks we're doing this week actually advancing our goals?' Both are valuable; they serve different purposes.

Do I need a separate OKR tool if I use a PM tool?

Not for most teams under 100 people. Modern PM tools with built-in goal tracking (Plan Rabbit, ClickUp, Asana) cover the goal visibility and progress tracking that most teams need without a separate tool. Standalone OKR platforms add value when goals need to cascade formally across 10+ teams, feed into performance management systems, or generate board-level reports — use cases that typically emerge at 100+ people.

How does AI improve goal tracking?

AI improves goal tracking in three ways: (1) AI generates the goal hierarchy during project creation, so goals don't have to be defined manually after the fact; (2) automatic progress rollup from task completion eliminates the manual check-in burden; (3) proactive risk detection — AI flags when a goal is likely to miss target based on task completion rates and sprint velocity, before the quarter ends.

What is goal tree rollup in project management?

Goal tree rollup refers to the automatic propagation of progress data from tasks up through the goal hierarchy. When tasks linked to a sub-goal are completed, the sub-goal's progress updates automatically. When sub-goals progress, the parent goal updates. This means goal progress is always current without anyone needing to manually update a percentage or run a progress report.

Guides10 min readJune 21, 2026

Goal Tracking Software: OKRs, Goal Trees, and AI Progress Rollups (2026)

OKR tools and PM-native goal trees serve different needs. We break down the best goal tracking software in 2026, when to use each approach, and how AI-powered progress rollups eliminate the manual check-in overhead.

Plan Rabbit Editorial

Product & Research Team

goal tracking softwareOKR softwareAI goal trackingproject management goalsgoal trees

Key Takeaways

1Standalone OKR tools (Lattice, Ally/Quantive, Betterworks) are built for performance management and compensation cycles — not for connecting daily tasks to quarterly goals.
2PM-native goal trees connect tasks to goals automatically and provide real-time progress rollup — no manual check-ins required.
3The most common goal tracking failure mode is 'set and forget': goals are defined in Q1 and reviewed in Q4 without any midpoint visibility.
4AI-powered progress rollup in tools like Plan Rabbit calculates goal completion automatically from task completion percentages — eliminating the weekly manual update ritual.
5For most teams under 100 people, PM-native goal tracking in Plan Rabbit or ClickUp is more useful than a standalone OKR tool.

Goal tracking is one of the most persistently broken workflows in software teams. Companies invest significant time in quarterly OKR planning, carefully aligning objectives across teams and writing aspirational key results. Then execution begins, and the OKR document becomes a read-only artifact that gets reviewed at the end of the quarter with a mix of optimism and rationalization.

The failure mode isn't the goal-setting framework — OKRs work when the goals stay visible and connected to daily work. The failure mode is the disconnect: goals live in one tool (Notion, Confluence, a standalone OKR platform), tasks live in another (Jira, Asana, Linear), and the connection between 'we completed these tasks this sprint' and 'we made this much progress on this goal' requires manual work that no one has time to do.

Two Approaches to Goal Tracking in 2026

Standalone OKR tools vs PM-native goal trees
Dimension	Standalone OKR Tool	PM-Native Goal Tree
Primary use case	Performance management, compensation cycles, org-wide alignment	Connecting daily task work to team/project goals
Progress updates	Manual check-ins (weekly or monthly)	Automatic rollup from task completion
Integration with tasks	Limited — typically links to task tools but doesn't sync progress	Native — tasks roll up to goals in real time
AI capabilities	Limited — most tools have basic progress visualization	AI detects goal risk from task patterns, suggests prioritization
Best team size	50+ (where formal performance cycles make sense)	5–100+ (any team running active projects)
Examples	Lattice, Quantive (Ally), Betterworks, Perdoo	Plan Rabbit, ClickUp Goals, Asana Goals

PM-Native Goal Trees: How They Work

A goal tree is a hierarchy: top-level objective → sub-goals → tasks. The key property that makes them valuable is automatic progress rollup: when tasks at the bottom of the hierarchy complete, progress flows upward automatically without any human input. Complete 8 of 10 tasks linked to sub-goal A, and sub-goal A shows 80% progress. Sub-goal A at 80% updates the parent goal accordingly.

Objective: Launch Q3 marketing campaign · Progress: 67% (calculated automatically)
Sub-goal: Complete content assets · Progress: 90% (9 of 10 tasks complete)
Sub-goal: Set up paid media · Progress: 50% (3 of 6 tasks complete)
Sub-goal: Prepare launch event · Progress: 40% (2 of 5 tasks complete)

Why rollup matters

Manual progress updates are the graveyard of OKR initiatives. When updating goal progress requires a separate check-in ritual, it only happens when someone explicitly drives it — which means it doesn't happen consistently. Automatic rollup from task completion makes goal tracking a byproduct of execution rather than an additional workload on top of it.

Best Goal Tracking Tools in 2026

Editor's Choice — #1 Pick for 2026

Plan Rabbit (Goal Trees)

9.2/10

AI-generated goal hierarchy with automatic task rollup

Plan Rabbit's Goal Trees are the most tightly integrated goal tracking available in a PM tool. When you describe a project, the AI generates the goal hierarchy — top-level objectives, sub-goals, and the tasks that serve each — automatically. Progress rolls up from task completion without any manual input. Proactive insights flag when goal progress falls behind, surface which sub-goals are at risk based on task patterns, and identify which team members are blocked on high-priority goal work.

Pros

Goal hierarchy generated automatically during project setup
Real-time rollup from task completion — no manual check-ins
Proactive AI flags at-risk goals based on task patterns
Goal Trees visible alongside Kanban and Sprint views
Available on all plans including free personal tier

Cons

Not designed for formal performance management or compensation review
Less suitable for large-org OKR cascading across 20+ teams
No integrations with HRIS systems

Best for: Teams of 5–100 that want goal tracking connected to daily execution without a separate OKR tool

Pricing: Included in all Plan Rabbit plans (free personal tier available)

Quantive (formerly Ally.io)

8/10

Enterprise OKR platform with deep HR and performance integration

Quantive is the market leader in standalone OKR software and excels at the organizational use case: cascading objectives across departments, linking goals to compensation and performance reviews, and producing board-level reporting on strategic progress. It integrates with Jira, Asana, and Salesforce to pull progress data. Significant overkill for teams under 100 people.

Pros

Strong cascading OKR model for large organizations
Integration with HRIS systems for performance management
Board-level reporting and exec dashboards
Good Jira and Asana task sync

Cons

Expensive — enterprise pricing for a feature many teams get from their PM tool
Integration sync is imperfect — still requires some manual updates
Overkill for teams under 50

Best for: Enterprises (100+) with formal quarterly OKR cycles tied to performance management

Pricing: Custom enterprise pricing

ClickUp Goals

7.8/10

PM-native OKR tracking within the ClickUp ecosystem

ClickUp Goals provides target-based goal tracking linked to tasks and lists within ClickUp. You can set numeric, true/false, currency, or task-completion targets and link them to ClickUp tasks for progress tracking. It's a solid PM-native goal tracking solution for teams already using ClickUp, though the goal creation requires manual setup.

Pros

Integrated with ClickUp tasks — no separate tool
Multiple target types (number, percentage, currency)
Goal portfolios for grouping related goals
Included in paid ClickUp plans

Cons

Manual goal creation and linking — not AI-generated
Progress rollup requires explicit task-to-goal linking
Less intuitive than Plan Rabbit's automatic hierarchy

Best for: ClickUp users who want goal tracking without adding another tool

Pricing: Included in ClickUp Business ($12/user/month)

Asana Goals

7.6/10

Cross-portfolio goal tracking for enterprise team alignment

Asana Goals connects individual tasks and projects to team-level and company-level objectives. Portfolio management views let leadership see goal progress across multiple projects simultaneously. Smart Goals (AI-powered) can track progress automatically from project data. Requires Asana Advanced plan.

Pros

Portfolio view for multi-team goal visibility
Smart Goals with AI progress tracking
Strong for executive dashboards
Cross-project goal linking

Cons

Requires Asana Advanced plan ($24.99/user/month)
Goals are still linked manually — not auto-generated from project description
Complex setup for simple goal tracking needs

Best for: Asana enterprise users who need org-wide goal alignment across multiple teams

Pricing: Requires Asana Advanced ($24.99/user/month)

Lattice

7.4/10

Performance management platform with OKR tracking

Lattice is an HR and performance management platform that includes OKR tracking as one module. Its goal tracking is subordinate to its primary use case: performance reviews, 1:1 management, and employee engagement. If you need OKRs tied to compensation cycles and performance conversations, Lattice bundles both. If you need OKRs tied to project execution, Lattice is the wrong tool.

Pros

OKRs integrated with performance reviews
Strong employee engagement and 1:1 tooling
Good for HR-driven goal management
Manager view across all direct reports

Cons

Not connected to project execution — goal progress is manual
HR-first design — PM teams find it indirect
Expensive for the goal tracking component alone

Best for: People teams who need OKRs connected to performance management and compensation

Pricing: Custom pricing — typically $11+/person/month

OKRs vs Goal Trees: When to Use Which

OKR framework vs goal trees: decision guide
Use OKR platform when...	Use PM-native goal trees when...
Goals need to cascade from CEO to individual teams formally	Goals are project-level and need to stay connected to task execution
Progress updates must feed into performance reviews	Progress should update automatically from task completion
Board-level OKR reporting is required	Team-level goal visibility during sprint execution is the need
You have a dedicated Ops or HR team managing the process	There's no dedicated role for goal management — it needs to be zero-maintenance
Teams are 50+ with multiple layers of management	Teams are 5–50 running project execution without formal review cycles

Set goals that track themselves

Plan Rabbit builds your goal hierarchy from your project description and rolls up progress from task completion automatically. No weekly update ritual.

Key Takeaways

Two Approaches to Goal Tracking in 2026

PM-Native Goal Trees: How They Work

Best Goal Tracking Tools in 2026

Plan Rabbit (Goal Trees)

Quantive (formerly Ally.io)

ClickUp Goals

Asana Goals

Lattice

OKRs vs Goal Trees: When to Use Which

Set goals that track themselves

Frequently Asked Questions