Idea management software: What are the best tools for 2025?
Ideas are where innovation takes root. Each suggestion or insight represents an opportunity to create something valuable for your customers. But not every idea is equal — deciding which ones to pursue (and acting on them thoughtfully) is what truly drives innovation.
The right ideas, acted on at the right time, are what set exceptional product teams apart.
The challenge lies in managing the influx of suggestions you receive from customers and colleagues. Without the right platform, valuable ideas get lost in the noise. Spreadsheets, emails, and scattered tools often create more confusion than clarity. (Google Forms are a solid choice for gathering a few ideas, but not for managing feedback at scale.) A great idea management tool helps you cut through the clutter and focus on high-value ideas.
But how do you choose the right tool for your team? The best options go beyond organizing feedback — they reveal patterns, prioritize insights, and link ideas to your goals.
With the right idea management tool, you can confidently decide which ideas belong on your roadmap.
In this post, we will highlight tools to help you manage ideas effectively. Some are lightweight solutions for small teams, while others focus on specific feedback challenges. For a comprehensive way to connect customer feedback with your product strategy, Aha! Ideas is the standout choice.
If you are new here, we will start with some introductory topics before diving into the tools list. Feel free to skip ahead to any section that interests you:
What is idea management software?
Idea management software helps teams collect and organize product feedback in one place. Good tools do more than store ideas — they help you prioritize what matters most by showing how ideas align with your goals and highlighting trends to guide your decisions.
Explore idea management basics
Idea management vs. innovation management software
Idea management and innovation management software may sound similar — certainly, ideas fuel innovation. But there are important differences.
Idea management tools: Focus on gathering, organizing, and prioritizing feedback to improve products
Innovation management tools: Take a broader approach, providing a framework to connect high-level strategy with the processes needed to build and deliver new solutions
In the Aha! ecosystem, Aha! Ideas is our standalone idea management platform. For teams looking to manage the full scope of innovation, Aha! Roadmaps provides everything you need (and includes built-in idea management capabilities).
Learn more about Aha! Roadmaps
How does idea management software work?
Idea management software streamlines how teams capture and evaluate feedback. Some tools act as a simple repository for suggestions, whereas advanced tools enable prioritization, analysis, and action.
Naturally, Aha! Ideas is what we know best. It helps you move beyond collecting suggestions to deciding which ones are worth pursuing and connecting them to your product plans.
Explore how Aha! Ideas helps teams act on feedback
The best idea management software solutions
Now, let's get to the tools. The four included here represent a range of capabilities, from lightweight feedback systems to comprehensive platforms like Aha! Ideas that align ideas with strategy.
Aha! Ideas: Best for connecting feedback to product strategy
Overview: Aha! Ideas is a comprehensive idea management solution designed to help teams centralize feedback, prioritize insights, and tie ideas to strategy. It is ideal for teams that want to scale feedback management while driving measurable outcomes.
Key features:
Custom-branded ideas portals for collecting feedback from multiple audiences
Scorecards to evaluate and prioritize ideas based on business impact
Integration with Aha! Roadmaps to seamlessly connect ideas to product plans
AI-powered analysis to identify trends and uncover the most valuable opportunities (Aha! Ideas Advanced)
Dynamic forms and Salesforce integration to streamline idea submission and connect feedback to revenue (Aha! Ideas Advanced)
Use cases:
Centralizing and organizing customer and internal feedback in one system
Prioritizing ideas based on strategic value and potential revenue
Engaging customers through polls and discussions to gather and refine ideas
Ideal for: Product teams that need a powerful solution for managing ideas at scale and aligning feedback directly with product strategy
Run a successful Aha! Ideas trial
UserVoice: Best for basic feedback collection without strategic integration
Overview: UserVoice provides a straightforward way to collect and organize customer feedback through branded portals. It is a good choice for teams that want to give customers a voice, but do not require advanced tools for strategic planning or prioritization.
Key features:
Feedback portals for collecting ideas and votes
Simple reporting to view customer input trends
Prioritization tools to rank ideas based on votes, customer type, or revenue
Use cases:
Collecting customer feedback in a structured, branded environment
Providing a voting system for customers to highlight their priorities
Managing feature requests without complex workflows
Ideal for: Teams that need a basic tool for gathering and organizing feedback, but do not require deep analytics or integration into strategic planning
Canny: Best for lightweight idea tracking with voting
Overview: Canny is a simple tool for collecting customer feedback and identifying popular ideas through voting. It is best for smaller teams that want a quick and easy way to manage feature requests.
Key features:
Public voting boards to surface high-priority ideas
Basic tracking to organize customer input in one place
Slack and Intercom integrations for collecting feedback directly from conversations
Use cases:
Scoring and prioritizing feature requests based on customer votes
Engaging users by involving them in the decision-making process
Quickly setting up a lightweight feedback loop for small teams
Ideal for: Startups or small teams that need a straightforward tool for collecting feedback and making prioritization decisions without complexity
Trello: Best for small teams and generalists
Overview: Trello provides a flexible way to visually organize ideas and tasks, making it a good option for teams that want to brainstorm or track feedback with a less formal system.
Key features:
Kanban boards to organize ideas visually
Ability to drag and drop cards to move ideas between stages
Optional tools to enhance workflows (like voting)
Use cases:
Organizing brainstorming sessions visually
Tracking ideas through a basic workflow
Managing informal feedback collection
Ideal for: Teams that need a lightweight visual tool for organizing ideas without advanced feedback management capabilities
This visual was created using the product comparison chart template available in Aha! software.
Innovation starts with listening — and becomes real when you take action.
There is a lot to think about when evaluating idea management tools. Whichever tool you choose, the objective is to turn ideas into meaningful outcomes. So remember that gathering feedback is just the beginning. Progress depends on moving great ideas from concept to reality.
See how Aha! Ideas helps you gather feedback, prioritize what matters, and align ideas with your strategy. Try our idea management software — free for 30 days.