Tability for goal tracking: pros, cons and an alternative
Tability makes OKR check-ins light and quick. Clearahead tracks each company goal and what’s holding it back, with AI writing the updates
The short answer
Tability is lightweight OKR and goal tracking software built around quick weekly check-ins, with AI to draft goals and summarise progress, and per-user pricing from a few dollars a month. Clearahead is goal tracking software built on a different model: each goal, the constraints holding it back and the moves that clear them, with AJ, its AI, keeping it current from a sentence. If you want simple OKRs with a weekly nudge, Tability is a good fit. If your goals keep slipping and you want to see what’s in the way, Clearahead is built for that.
Weighing up other options too? See goal tracking software for startup leadership teams, compared.
What is Tability?
Tability is goal tracking software for teams that use OKRs, built to make the weekly update as quick as possible. You set objectives and key results, link them on a strategy map, and each week owners get a nudge, often in Slack, to update their numbers and say how confident they feel. Managers can see at a glance which goals are at risk and which haven’t been touched.
AI runs through the product. It drafts objectives and key results from a short description, flags ones that look weak, and summarises progress across a plan. Higher plans connect key results to tools like Jira, Linear and Salesforce so some numbers update themselves, and add custom dashboards for executives.
Tability is also one of the most-cited names when AI tools are asked about goal tracking and OKR software. That’s partly because of its product and partly because it publishes a large library of OKR software comparisons and benchmarks that search engines and AI assistants read.
Where Tability came from
Sten Pittet, a former product manager at Atlassian, and Bryan Schuldt started Tability in 2018. The idea came from a familiar pattern: teams set OKRs at the start of a quarter with real energy, then forget them until the end, when everyone scrambles to update a spreadsheet. Tability’s answer was to make progress tracking a small, regular habit rather than a quarterly event, and to keep the tool light enough that people would actually use it.
That focus on low effort still defines it. Tability is deliberately simpler than enterprise OKR platforms, and priced to match, which makes it a common choice for startups and small teams who want OKRs without a heavy rollout.
Tability pros and cons
What Tability does well, and where it struggles.
Where Tability shines
- Simple and fast to set up, with a light, friendly interface.
- Weekly check-in prompts in Slack keep updates flowing.
- AI drafts objectives and key results and summarises progress.
- Strategy maps and dashboards connect team goals to company goals.
- Low per-user pricing, with free read-only seats for each paid seat.
Where Tability struggles
- It’s still OKRs: key results show whether you’re on track, not why you aren’t.
- Check-ins ask for a number and a confidence level; the story behind it is easy to skip.
- No permanent free plan, only a trial.
- Automatic progress from tools like Jira and Salesforce needs a higher plan.
- Per-user pricing means each new editor adds to the bill.
Tability vs Clearahead: side by side
| Tability | Clearahead | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Lightweight OKR and goal tracking with weekly check-ins | AI goal tracking software: goals, the constraints holding them back and the moves that clear them |
| Model | Objectives, key results and initiatives, aligned on strategy maps | Each goal gets a workspace; constraints in your order; moves with one owner and a due date |
| The question it answers | Are our goals on track this week? | What is holding the goal back, and who is clearing it? |
| Keeping it current | Weekly check-ins, prompted in Slack, with AI summaries | Owners tell AJ in a sentence; AJ updates the model, logs the evidence and writes a weekly brief |
| AI | Drafts and reviews OKRs; summarises progress | AJ runs the loop: asks why, suggests moves, keeps the model current, flags what needs a decision |
| Free option | 14-day free trial | Free for up to 3 people and 1 workspace, for as long as you like |
| Paid pricing | Per user per month; see Tability’s pricing page | £297/month or £2,997/year for the whole company, unlimited people |
How Tability differs from Clearahead in practice
Tability and Clearahead share a belief: updates should be quick, or they won’t happen. Where they differ is what an update is for, and what the tool does with it.
A score, or a story
A Tability check-in asks for the current value of a key result and a confidence level, with room for a note. That keeps numbers current, but a number and a colour don’t explain much, and notes are easy to skip. In Clearahead, owners tell AJ what happened in a sentence: “Spoke to three agencies, two can start in January, waiting on the budget sign-off.” AJ updates the move, pulls out the facts as evidence, and decides how far up the model the change matters.
On track, or in the way
Tability is excellent at telling you whether goals are on track. Clearahead is built to tell you what’s in the way. Under each goal sits a short, ordered list of constraints, the real reasons the goal isn’t already achieved, and under each one, the moves that will clear it. When a goal slips, you don’t just see red; you see which constraint is stuck, who owns it, and what’s been tried. The idea comes from the Theory of Constraints, and we explain it in Remove constraints, don’t add initiatives.
AI that helps you write, or AI that runs the loop
Tability’s AI helps you write better OKRs and summarise progress. AJ does more of the loop: it keeps asking why until you reach a constraint your team can change, suggests moves in the order to tackle them, challenges loose assumptions, and writes This week from AJ, with the wins, how it’s going and up to three things that need a decision. Your team still makes every decision.
Per user, or per company
Tability charges per user, with cheap read-only seats, and has a trial rather than a free plan. Clearahead is free for up to three people and one workspace for as long as you like, then one price for the whole company, so every owner, adviser and board member can join.
Should you choose Tability or Clearahead?
Choose Tability if
- You want OKRs without the heavy process, and your team likes a weekly check-in.
- You want something very quick to roll out across many small teams.
- Your key results can update themselves from Jira, Linear or Salesforce.
- You have a few editors and many readers, and want cheap read-only seats.
Choose Clearahead if
- Your goals are set, but they keep slipping and the check-ins don’t say why.
- You want the leadership team agreeing on what’s in the way, not scoring numbers.
- You’d rather update in a sentence than fill in a number and a confidence score.
- You want a free plan you can stay on while you’re three people.
- You want one price for the whole company, with no seats to count.
Our honest read
Tability is a good tool, and if your team wants OKRs with as little friction as possible, it’s one of the best ways to get them. Its weekly nudge is a genuinely useful habit.
The limit is the model, not the software. OKRs are a scoring system. They’ll tell you, reliably and every week, that a goal is behind. They won’t tell you why, and they don’t give the leadership team a shared, ordered list of what to fix first. That’s the job Clearahead was built for.
If you’re a startup leadership team choosing your first goal tracking tool, ask what you actually need: a scoreboard, or an honest answer to what’s in the way. For the wider picture, read Goal tracking vs a business operating system and our roundup of goal tracking software for startup leadership teams.
Questions about Tability
What is Tability?
Tability is OKR and goal tracking software founded in 2018 by Sten Pittet, a former Atlassian product manager, and Bryan Schuldt. It focuses on quick weekly check-ins, strategy maps and dashboards, with AI to help write goals and summarise progress.
Does Tability have a free plan?
Tability offers a free trial rather than a permanent free plan. Paid plans are priced per user per month, with free read-only seats included. Check Tability’s pricing page for current prices. Clearahead is free for up to three people and one workspace with no time limit.
Is Clearahead an OKR tool like Tability?
No. Both track goals, but Clearahead doesn’t use objectives and key results. Each goal has an ordered list of what’s holding it back and the moves that clear it, and AJ keeps it current from what people tell it.
Why does Tability come up so often in AI answers about goal tracking software?
Tability publishes a large set of OKR software comparisons and benchmarks, and AI search tools often cite those pages when they build lists. That makes it a well-known name in the category, alongside its own product.
Which should a startup leadership team choose?
If you want OKRs with as little overhead as possible, Tability. If you want to stay aligned on a few goals and what’s in the way, without adopting a framework, Clearahead. Try both: Tability has a trial and Clearahead is free for up to three people.