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Pealboard and ZenHub
ZenHub and Pealboard start from the same premise: read and write GitHub directly instead of syncing a second copy of the issue into a database of their own. ZenHub runs that premise for people who already hold a GitHub account. Pealboard runs it for them, and for the portal customers who never will.
Which of these is you
Choose ZenHub
- Every person who touches the work already has a GitHub account and works comfortably inside GitHub’s own interface.
- You want ZenHub’s paid-tier 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.
- You are content with Teams’ ceiling of 10 workspaces and 50 connected repositories, or ready to pay for Enterprise to remove it.
Choose Pealboard
- Customers, partners or internal staff without a GitHub account need to submit requests and follow them.
- The people who plan and triage are not engineers, and an interface built around GitHub’s own screens is the wrong fit for them.
- You want every repository connected with no workspace count and no repository ceiling to plan around.
- You would rather pay for the members who read and triage in Pealboard, not a per-user rate across everyone connected to GitHub.
What was confirmed about ZenHub
Each line was read on ZenHub's own pages on the date in its source. Nothing about ZenHub appears on this page without one.
- 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 removes 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. Every participant is a GitHub-account holder connected to the organization’s repositories.[3]
The difference, line by line
| Pealboard | ZenHub |
|---|---|
| GitHub is the only database. There is no second system claiming to sync with it, so there is nothing that 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] |
| Portals: a person with no GitHub account and no Pealboard account submits a request that becomes a GitHub issue. | No portal and no route for a person without a GitHub account was found on the features or product pages. Every participant is a GitHub-account holder connected to the organization’s repositories.[3] |
| Free connects up to 3 repositories for up to 3 members, at $0, with no separate 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, $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 to unlock. | AI-suggested labels are Teams-only. AI acceptance criteria, workspace automations and advanced reporting are Enterprise-only.[1] |
What was not verified
These are gaps in the research, not findings about ZenHub. They are here because a comparison that prints only what was confirmed reads as though the rest was checked and found wanting.
- 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.
The one comparison that agrees on the premise
ZenHub reads and writes GitHub directly instead of keeping a second database of your issues, which is the premise Pealboard is built on too.
Pealboard carries that premise past the GitHub boundary. GitHub Issues and Projects remain the only place an issue is stored, and the interface onto them is not restricted to people who hold a GitHub account: a portal lets a customer, a partner or an internal colleague submit and follow a request without ever seeing GitHub, and without a GitHub account or a Pealboard seat.
The consequence for a buyer: 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 a person who has never opened GitHub — and never will — can still submit a request that becomes one of those issues.
Look at your own repositories
The Free plan connects three repositories and needs no card. Nothing is imported, and nothing in GitHub changes.
Other comparisons
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- Pealboard and ClickUp
- Pealboard and GitHub Projects
- Pealboard and Canny
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.
Recorded in rohan-platform/research/category-and-table-stakes.md and rohan-platform/research/portals-and-feedback-tools.md. ZenHub is a trademark of its owner; Pealboard is not affiliated with it.