FeatureBoard vs the field
Boards that orchestrate coding agents are now a category: Cline Kanban, 8090's Software Factory, the community-maintained Vibe Kanban, and Nimbalyst's visual workspace. Here's where each one is coming from — and why FeatureBoard's answer is a markdown file on your disk, a 205-tool MCP surface, and a business model that doesn't depend on hosting your data.
FeatureBoard
Backlog, sprints, CRM, evals — 205 MCP tools over plain markdown you own. Free for personal & public work; commercial use is $9.99/seat/mo (or $99.99/yr), so the tool's future doesn't hinge on an unproven hosted model.
Cline Kanban
Parallel agent execution over git worktrees. Strong at running sessions, not long-lived backlog management (sprints, ADRs, drift audits).
8090 Software Factory
Hosted SDLC control plane with compliance audit trails for regulated industries. Heavy, cloud-native, priced for large organizations.
Vibe Kanban
Proved the category, then Bloop shut down (April 2026) when the mostly-free user base wouldn't fund it. Lives on as volunteer-maintained open source, now fully local.
Nimbalyst
Open-source visual workspace for Claude Code, Codex & OpenCode: session kanban, visual markdown/mockup editors, inline diffs. An execution workspace — team collaboration is coming, pricing still unannounced.
Feature by feature
| Dimension | FeatureBoard | Cline Kanban | 8090 | Vibe Kanban | Nimbalyst |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Board data | Plain markdown files you own — diffable, git-friendly, portable. | Git worktrees + app-managed local state per card. | Cloud-native workspace with markdown export. | Local SQLite-backed board (cloud sync removed post-shutdown). | Local desktop app; docs/tasks editable as markdown, MIT-licensed. |
| Local-first | Entirely local, zero telemetry; two explicit opt-in outbound calls. | Local worktrees & terminals. | Hosted SaaS control plane. | Fully local, community-maintained. | Local app, BYO AI access (subscription, API key, or local models). |
| Runs inside Claude/Cowork | Yes — the board renders as a Cowork artifact from get_board. |
No — separate browser app. | No — hosted web platform. | No — separate app. | No — separate desktop app (with mobile companion). |
| Tool surface | 205 MCP tools: board, sprints, CRM, media, site, evals, licensing. | Execution-focused UI. | Requirements → work orders pipeline. | Orchestration UI. | Editors + session manager + MCP server support. |
| Token budgeting & model tiering | cap:/model: labels, estimate_work, plan_budget, daily_plan auto-tiering. |
Per-session usage bars; manual backend choice. | Usage-based billing, not planning. | Not documented. | Per-session agent choice; no backlog-wide budgeting documented. |
| Eval / drift harness | drift_* tools score Done tickets against the shipped code, with confidence intervals. |
Diff review per card. | Compliance audit trails. | Not documented. | Inline diff review before accepting changes. |
| Business model | Free personal/public · 24h commercial trial · $9.99/seat/mo · $99.99/seat/yr self-serve. Commercially backed, no hosted dependency. | Free research preview. | $200/user/mo + usage; enterprise from $1M/yr. | Free — company behind it shut down 4/2026. | Free/MIT individuals; Teams plan pricing TBA. |
The sales pitch, honestly
Two of the five names in this table are free because nobody has to fund them sustainably: Vibe Kanban's company is gone, and Nimbalyst hasn't priced its Teams plan yet. FeatureBoard is free where free makes sense (personal and public work) and paid where it doesn't ($9.99/seat/mo or $99.99/seat/yr for commercial use) — which is exactly why it can keep shipping. And because the board is markdown on your disk, even if you stop paying, you keep everything.
Buy FeatureBoard — $9.99/seat/moCompetitor products move fast — verify current claims on their own sites. FeatureBoard claims are
sourced from this repo's own docs (docs/TOOLS.md, docs/compliance/PRIVACY.md,
COMMERCIAL-LICENSE.md). Full write-up: docs/COMPARISON.md in the repository.