Feature request comparison

Bootstrapware Feedback vs Canny

Canny is the tool most people picture when they hear "feature request board." It ships a public roadmap portal, a changelog, priority scoring, integrations with Jira and Linear, and a centralized feedback inbox across channels. If that is what you are shopping for, Canny is a reasonable choice. It is not what Bootstrapware Feedback is.

Why teams evaluate Canny

Canny is typically evaluated when a team wants to give customers a publicly visible roadmap: a yourcompany.canny.io page that anonymous visitors can browse, vote on, and follow. That is Canny's primary product surface. The company built its brand on it.

Adjacent to that, Canny sells a changelog module, third-party integrations that push feedback into Jira/Linear, and priority scoring that weights feature requests by revenue. Teams that want those surfaces bundled together are in Canny's target market.

The relevant question for a Bootstrapware buyer is: do you actually need the public portal, the changelog, and the revenue weighting? Or do you need a widget inside the authenticated product and a place to triage the results?

What Bootstrapware Feedback does instead

Bootstrapware Feedback is a private in-app feedback board. You mount the @bootstrapware/feedback React component behind your auth gate. Your app asserts user.id. There is no public board URL for visitors. Moderation, status management, and optional webhooks are in the dashboard. Posts and votes stay on your backend (BYO $9.99) or on Bootstrapware (Hosted $19.99).

The changelog, public portal, revenue weighting, and Jira/Linear integration that justify Canny's pricing are explicitly out of scope. Bootstrapware sells the boring embed.

Pricing shape

Canny pricing is packaged around public-portal team seats and integrations. Verify their current plans directly. The entry paid plan often includes features (public board management, changelog, integrations) that go well beyond an embedded vote widget.

Bootstrapware Feedback lists Free (local/demo + test keys), BYO $9.99 / workspace / month (live board config; posts on your backend), and Hosted $19.99 / workspace / month (we store posts/votes). No seat tax. Stack discount with other Bootstrapware products.

Feature and fit table

When Canny wins

• You want a public-facing roadmap as a marketing or community surface
• You need a changelog next to the feature board on the same portal
• Priority scoring (revenue weighting) matters for your prioritisation workflow
• You are buying the full feedback suite: public collection, roadmap, changelog, integrations

When Bootstrapware wins

• You only need an embed in the authenticated product, not a public portal
• Your session already has user identity, with no separate end-user auth for the board
• You want BYO $9.99 or Hosted $19.99 without paying for a public-board feature suite you will not use
• You may keep posts on your own Postgres (BYO adapter)
• Stack discount with Bootstrapware Importer or other Bootstrapware products

Honest framing

Canny packaging changes. Verify their current plans on their site. Bootstrapware is not trying to replace Canny's public-roadmap product. It is the much smaller thing many bootstrapped SaaS products actually need: an embedded vote widget, host identity, and optional Hosted moderation.

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