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Pealboard and ZenHub
ZenHub and Pealboard start from the same idea. Read and write GitHub directly, rather than keeping a second copy of the issue in a database of your own. ZenHub does that for people who already hold a GitHub account. Pealboard does it for them, and for the portal customers who never will.
Which one fits your team?
ZenHub is a better fit if…
- Everyone who touches the work has a GitHub account and is comfortable in GitHub’s own interface.
- You want ZenHub’s paid AI features: suggested labels on Teams, acceptance criteria and workspace automations on Enterprise.
- A self-hosted or on-premises deployment, available on Enterprise, matters to you.
- Teams’ ceiling of 10 workspaces and 50 connected repositories suits you, or you are ready to pay for Enterprise to lift it.
Pealboard is a better fit if…
- Customers, partners and staff without a GitHub account can send requests and follow them.
- The people who plan and triage get a screen made for them instead of GitHub’s own.
- Connect every repository you have. There is no workspace count and no repository ceiling to plan around.
- You pay for the members who read and triage in Pealboard, not a rate across everyone connected to GitHub.
What ZenHub offers
Every line below comes from ZenHub’s own pages. Each footnote names the page and the date we read it.
- ZenHub’s own positioning is "Advanced project management that runs in GitHub, not beside it," and it says its "2-way GitHub integration means no syncing delays or data inconsistencies."[1]
- Free is "$0 per user /mo," capped at one workspace, 50 users, two connected repositories and 250 issues, with no AI features, no advanced reporting and no automations.[1]
- Teams is "$4.99 per user/mo" billed annually or "$7.50 per user/mo" monthly, for up to 10 workspaces, 50 users and 50 repositories, with unlimited issues. It adds AI-suggested labels and AI sprint review.[1]
- Enterprise lifts every ceiling Teams has and adds AI acceptance criteria, workspace automations, advanced reporting, a self-hosted or on-premises option and dedicated support, at a custom price.[1]
- No route for a person without a GitHub account was found on the features or product pages. Everyone taking part holds a GitHub account connected to the organization’s repositories.[3]
Side by side
| Pealboard | ZenHub |
|---|---|
| GitHub is the only database. There is no second system to sync with it, so nothing can drift out of step. | Positions itself as running "in GitHub, not beside it" with "2-way GitHub integration," but no marketing page documents whether that sync is real-time or polled, or how a conflicting write is resolved.[1] |
| Someone with no GitHub account and no Pealboard account sends a request in a portal. It becomes a GitHub issue. | No portal and no route for a person without a GitHub account was found on the features or product pages. Everyone taking part holds a GitHub account connected to the organization’s repositories.[3] |
| Free connects up to 3 repositories for up to 3 members, at $0. There is no cap on the number of issues. | Free is "$0 per user /mo," capped at 1 workspace, 50 users, 2 connected repositories and 250 issues, with no AI features, no advanced reporting and no automations.[1] |
| Team is $10 per member per month, or $8 billed annually, with unlimited members and unlimited repositories. | Teams is "$4.99 per user/mo" billed annually or "$7.50 per user/mo" monthly, still capped at 10 workspaces, 50 users and 50 repositories.[1] |
| Every plan gets the same product. Nothing is held back for a higher tier. | AI-suggested labels are Teams-only. AI acceptance criteria, workspace automations and advanced reporting are Enterprise-only.[1] |
What we could not check
We could not confirm these details on ZenHub’s own pages, so we make no claim about them either way.
- Whether ZenHub’s GitHub sync is real-time or polled, and how a conflicting write in both systems would be resolved. No marketing page documents the mechanism, and it was not otherwise verifiable.
Where we agree
ZenHub reads and writes GitHub directly instead of keeping a second database of your issues. That is where Pealboard starts too.
Pealboard carries the idea past the edge of GitHub. Issues and Projects stay the only place your work is stored, and you do not need a GitHub account to see it. A portal lets a customer, a partner or a colleague send a request and follow it without ever opening GitHub, and without a Pealboard seat.
Cancel Pealboard and every issue, comment, label, milestone and project field value is exactly where it was, because it never moved. Add a portal and someone who has never opened GitHub, and never will, can still send a request that becomes one of those issues.
Try it on your own repositories
The Free plan connects three repositories and needs no card. Nothing is imported. Nothing in GitHub changes.
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Sources
zenhub.com/pricing— the positioning line "Advanced project management that runs in GitHub, not beside it," the claim "2-way GitHub integration means no syncing delays or data inconsistencies," and the three tiers: Free at "$0 per user /mo" (1 workspace, 50 users, 2 connected repos, 250 issues, no AI features, no advanced reporting, no automations); Teams at "$4.99 per user/mo" annual or "$7.50 per user/mo" monthly (10 workspaces, 50 users, 50 repos, unlimited issues, AI-suggested labels, AI sprint review); Enterprise at a custom price (unlimited everything, AI acceptance criteria, workspace automations, advanced reporting, a self-hosted or on-premises option, dedicated support). Fetched 2026-09-09.zenhub.com— the home page; no route for a person without a GitHub account was found on it. Fetched 2026-09-09.zenhub.com/features and zenhub.com/product— the feature and product pages; no route for a person without a GitHub account was found on either, which is the basis for this report’s finding that ZenHub still requires every user to be a GitHub-account holder connected to the organization’s repositories. Fetched 2026-09-09.
Our notes are in platform/research/category-and-table-stakes.md and platform/research/portals-and-feedback-tools.md. ZenHub is a trademark of its owner. Pealboard is not affiliated with it.