8+ best daily standup tools for hassle-free meetings

Most teams are currently doing some form of standup meetings. Whether they’re sticking to the Agile principles or just need to keep their entire team updated regardless of the work methodology they’re using, daily standups are part of every team’s routine.

But most teams stick to classic standup meetings that can take hours and you still risk not going over everything. Instead, we’re focusing on 8+ core daily standup tools and adjacent helper apps to make for better standup meetings.

Features to consider when choosing a standup tool

Before jumping to the list of daily standup meeting apps, let’s have a brief look at what you need to pay attention to when choosing a tool:

 

• Consider your main goals and the features you need: Besides the obvious purpose of daily standup as a way of keeping up to date with new changes, you probably have some secondary goals you need help with. These include removing background noises during the actual meetings, running regular polls, scheduling meeting rooms easier, and more. There’s no tool on the market to do all of these at once so you’ll have to use multiple apps or their extensions.
• Check if your current video conferencing tool integrates with any of the standup tools: Zoom, for instance, has multiple apps for tools like Polly and Krisp, making it easier for you to use multiple solutions at the same time. Besides video conferencing tools, consider standup software that’s easy to connect to your core project management hub so you’ll keep everything in one place.

• Test the tool beforehand for ease of use: This point is easy to cross off your list as most of the apps below are super easy to use for any newbie. Opting for standup software with a low learning curve ensures you can onboard new hires with no extra training for standup tech.
• Budget: Commonly, standup meetings require more time investment than money expenses. That’s why the majority of the tools on this list come with a free version that covers small teams and basic features. Features worth paying for include extra security options, advanced goal tracking and reporting, and no limits to the number of meetings or users. 

Daily standup tools and other extensions to support your meetings

Polly – for quick and fun standups within Microsoft Teams

 

Getting everyone to share their feedback on a topic can extend a standup meeting unnecessarily. That’s where Polly comes in to allow you to ask a question participants can answer at any point during the meeting, quiz your team members, and even organize a trivia event. The tool integrates with popular solutions you might already be using like Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Slack and requires minimal setup to get started.

 

Sending questions before the start of a daily standup is a great way of filling in the time people have to wait for the meeting to start. You can also set your polls to anonymous for sensitive topics when you want to receive your team’s honest feedback. This is the perfect chance for you to get a better idea of your employee’s true feelings and maintain their well-being in the long term.

Krisp – to remove those pesky background noises

Background noises impact the quality of a meeting as they can cover up speakers and lead to misunderstandings during the standup meeting. You can automatically remove unwanted background sounds in real-time using Krisp. The tool requires virtually no setup as it makes use of over 2.5 thousand audio hours, 50,000 speakers, and 20,000 noise samples to instantly remove noises on both ends of a call.

 

You can also use Krisp’s noise cancelling features to record your meetings. The tool enhances the quality of your voice and removes acoustic and room echoes, making for a studio-like recording. No further edits are needed and you can always use Krisp for official podcast and video recordings as well.

Friday – if you need a complete team collaboration suite

With Friday you can create automated question prompts to send to your team daily. This is a good option if you want to only meet up face-to-face once a week but still need to keep track of what everyone’s doing on a daily basis. You can always connect Friday to Slack or Microsoft Teams so it’s easier for team members to fill in the answers.

 

Opting for Friday compared to other asynchronous standup tools will suit teams who need to keep their communication in one place. This app comes with loads of extra features that let you run your task and team management efforts from a common hub. Some of these are roadmapping, daily activity planner, multiple ways of maintaining a conversation, and other handy tools for all of your meetings including retrospectives and one-on-ones.

Range – for advanced standups and goal tracking

Ready to take your daily standups to the next level? Range adapts to both async and real-time meetings to help you send check-ins. Employees can also answer team building questions designed by experts and reflect on their mood. Focusing on non-work-related topics helps managers maintain a happy team and culture.

 

But Range is more than a simple standup tool as you can use it to keep track of your team’s goals. Setting hierarchical goals will keep your work organized and connected to company OKRs and individual goals. Tagging people to a goal ensures everyone’s getting the recognition they deserve, making it easier for L&D managers to monitor and create new development opportunities.

Yac or Standups – replace meetings with video snippets

 

Both Yac and Standups allow you to replace real-time meetings with async video or audio clips. This is a good pick for global teams working across multiple time zones or for small teams looking to make their daily standups more fun. If you can’t decide between the two options, keep in mind Yac is also used for demos and one-on-ones while Standups mimics social media lives [complete with fun reactions].

 

As a best practice, use such asynchronous communication tools only for daily standups and keep your weekly real-time calls to keep your team connected. Alternatively, use video clips to maintain face-to-face communication throughout the entire day. Just have employees record their questions, explanations, or feedback and send it to their teammates at the end of the day.

Status Hero – for asynchronous daily standup meetings

 

Status Hero works as a full suite for managing async standups. Your team can easily check in and managers receive a complete look at every person’s status. Status Hero integrates with your project management tools and pulls in activities for check-ins and under a real-time activity stream.

 

You’ll also receive real-time insights on participation, goals, blockers, and team mood on a single dashboard. The tool is intuitive to use so managers don’t have to put together the data to create their own reports. Status Hero is worth considering if you’re holding regular weekly standups but want a fun tool for daily updates.

Envoy – for standup meeting room scheduling within a hybrid work setting

 

Teams opting for a hybrid work model in the future will find that Envoy makes scheduling meeting rooms for standups a breeze. The tool ensures that rooms aren’t overcrowded and keeps track of booked rooms so you’ll know which need to be sanitized or optimized. The insights room usage and booking let you improve future choices on work safety, workplace design, and budget spending.

 

Work health concerns shouldn’t stop at meeting room bookings though. That’s why Envoy allows you to keep track of visitors, manage hybrid schedules, book desks, organize incoming deliveries, and more.

Jell, Geekbot, and Standuply – async daily standups in Slack

 

Think of these three tools for standups as extensions you can connect to Slack to make it extra easy for people to remember and send in their check-ins. Team members will receive daily reminders directly in their Slack inboxes while managers will also be able to access all information at a glance in the main tool.

 

Among the three, Standuply is a better choice if you want to move more of your meetings to Slack. This standup extension facilitates backlog grooming, retrospectives, planning poker, team polls, and more. In fact, it acts as a personal project management assistant that makes sure everything is updated.

 

You don’t have to use all of the above tools for effective daily standup meetings. Choose one tool for each goal you have and test out the tools for a couple of weeks to see if they’re being used regularly. For example, you can choose an advanced standup tool that lets you track goals like Friday or Status Hero for your daily meetings. Then, get Krisp to improve the quality of your calls and consider a solution like Envoy for when you’re returning to the office.