FeedBear

What is FeedBear

FeedBear is a software tool designed to help businesses collect, manage, and act on customer feedback. Its main purpose is to provide a central place where users can submit ideas, report bugs, and request new features. This helps product teams understand what users want and prioritize their work more effectively. The platform allows companies to create feedback boards, a public product roadmap, and a changelog to keep customers informed about progress and new releases. FeedBear is built as a simple and intuitive solution, aiming to be set up in minutes without complex configurations. It is a modern SaaS product focused on improving communication between a company and its user base.

FeedBear Features

FeedBear offers a set of focused features to manage the entire feedback lifecycle.

• Feedback Boards: Create an unlimited number of boards to organize feedback. You can have separate boards for feature requests, bug reports, or different products. This keeps all ideas neatly categorized.
• Idea Management: Users can submit new ideas, add comments, and vote for existing suggestions. This voting system helps you easily identify the most popular requests. The tool also suggests similar ideas to users to prevent duplicate entries.
• Public Roadmap: Share your product development plans with your customers. You can show what you are currently working on, what is planned for the future, and what has been completed. This transparency builds trust and keeps users engaged.
• Changelog: Announce product updates, new features, and bug fixes in a clear and attractive way. This ensures users are aware of improvements and helps increase the adoption of new features.
• Customization: You can customize the look of your feedback portal to match your brand. This includes adding your logo, using your brand colors, and hosting it on your own custom domain (e.g., feedback.yourcompany.com).
• Automatic Email Notifications: The system automatically sends email updates to users who submitted or voted for an idea when its status changes. This closes the feedback loop without manual effort.
• Embeddable Widget: Add a feedback widget directly to your website or web application. This makes it very easy for users to share feedback without leaving your app.

FeedBear Pricing Plans

FeedBear offers a straightforward pricing model. Instead of multiple tiers with different feature limitations, it provides a single, comprehensive plan for a flat monthly fee. This plan includes access for the entire team and all features, such as unlimited feedback boards, roadmaps, and changelogs. This simple approach makes it easy for businesses of any size to get started without worrying about complex pricing tiers. An annual subscription option is also available, which typically includes a discount, offering two months free.

FeedBear Free Plan

FeedBear does not offer a permanent free plan. However, it provides a 14-day free trial that gives full access to all its features. You do not need a credit card to sign up for the trial. This allows you to test the platform completely, set up your boards, and see if it fits your needs before committing to a paid subscription. After the trial period ends, you will need to upgrade to a paid plan to continue using the service.

How to use FeedBear

Getting started with FeedBear is designed to be quick and easy.

1. Sign Up: Begin by signing up for the 14-day free trial on their website.
2. Create a Project: A project is your main workspace, usually for one brand or company. Here, you can customize the branding with your logo and colors.
3. Set Up Boards: Create one or more feedback boards. For example, you can make a board for 'Feature Requests' and another for 'Bug Reports'.
4. Invite Users: Share the link to your feedback portal with your customers. You can also embed the feedback widget on your website to collect ideas directly from your app.
5. Manage Feedback: As users submit ideas and vote, you can review the suggestions. You can merge duplicate ideas and update the status of each post (e.g., 'Planned', 'In Progress', 'Completed').
6. Build Your Roadmap: Add prioritized ideas to your public roadmap to show users what you are working on.
7. Announce Updates: When you release a new feature, use the changelog to announce it. This automatically notifies relevant users and keeps everyone informed.

Pros and Cons of FeedBear

Pros:

• Simplicity and Ease of Use: The user interface is clean and intuitive, making it easy for both admins and users to navigate.
• Fast Setup: You can have a fully functional feedback portal running in just a few minutes.
• All-in-One Solution: It combines feedback collection, a public roadmap, and a changelog in one tool.
• Flat-Rate Pricing: The simple pricing model is predictable and includes the whole team, which is great for budget planning.
• Good Customization: Offers solid branding options, including custom domain support.

Cons:

• Limited Advanced Features: May lack some of the deeper analytics and complex workflow automation found in more enterprise-focused tools.
• No Free Plan: There is no perpetual free plan, which might be a drawback for very small projects or startups with no budget.
• Basic Mobile Support: Support for mobile apps is primarily through linking to a webview, which may not be ideal for all mobile-first products.

FeedBear integrations

FeedBear connects with other popular tools to streamline your workflow.

• Intercom: You can capture feedback from your Intercom conversations and send it directly to a FeedBear board.
• Slack: Receive notifications in your Slack channels for new feedback posts and comments, keeping your team updated in real time.
• Zapier: Use Zapier to connect FeedBear with thousands of other applications. This allows you to create custom automations, such as creating a task in your project management tool when a new idea is submitted.

FeedBear Alternatives

Here are some popular alternatives to FeedBear:

• Canny: A very similar tool that is also popular for feedback management. Canny often has more advanced features like user segmentation but typically comes at a higher price point.
• UserVoice: One of the oldest and most established feedback platforms. It is geared towards large enterprises and offers a very extensive feature set, but it is significantly more complex and expensive.
• Productboard: A comprehensive product management platform. It includes feedback collection but also has advanced features for roadmapping, prioritization, and linking feedback to product objectives. It is more than just a feedback tool.
• Nolt: A lightweight and simple alternative. Nolt is known for its clean design and simplicity, making it a good choice for teams who need a basic and elegant feedback board without many extra features.

FeedBear API

Yes, FeedBear provides a REST API for developers who want to build custom integrations or automate processes. The API allows you to programmatically interact with your feedback data, such as retrieving ideas, comments, and user information.

To get an API key, you typically need to log in to your FeedBear account and navigate to your project settings, where you can generate a key. This key is used to authenticate your API requests.

Here is a general example of how you might use the API with cURL to fetch ideas from a board:

curl -X GET 'https://api.feedbear.com/v1/ideas' \
-H 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json'

For detailed documentation, you should visit the developer section on the FeedBear website or contact their support.

FeedBear Affiliate program

There is no publicly available information about a formal affiliate program offered by FeedBear. Companies that do not advertise an affiliate program are sometimes open to partnerships or referral agreements. If you are interested in promoting FeedBear, it is best to contact their support team directly. You can email them to ask about any potential partner programs, referral commissions, or opportunities to become an influencer for their brand.