airfocus vs Dragonboat

airfocus and Dragonboat both target product portfolio management for larger organizations, but they emphasize different things: airfocus leans on AI-assisted…

Best for airfocus: Product teams inside larger organizations (airfocus is backed by Lucid Software) that want AI-assisted prioritization, portfolio roadmaps with dependency tracking, and the option to work through Claude or Copilot via airfocus's MCP server.
Best for Dragonboat: Enterprise product organizations that want a live semantic source of truth connecting strategy, intake, planning, and delivery tools, with SOC 2 certification and free read-only access for up to 100 users on the Starter plan.

At a Glance

 airfocusDragonboat
Primary categoryProduct ManagementProduct Management
RatingNot documentedNot documented
Pricing modelSubscriptionCustom / Contact Sales
Starting priceNot documentedCustom pricing (contact sales)
Free planNot documentedNot documented
Free trialNot documentedNot documented
PlatformsWebWeb
Team collaborationNot documentedNot documented
AI featuresYesYes
Public APIYesYes

Key Differences

AI Agent Architecture

airfocus: airfocus includes an AI agent for feedback triage, an insights agent on the Enterprise plan, and an MCP server that lets external tools like Claude and Copilot work with airfocus data.

Dragonboat: Dragonboat provides its own Ambient Agent that automatically tracks and reports across the product development lifecycle, plus a headless API and MCP access so AI agents can read and act on portfolio data directly.

The direction of AI integration differs: airfocus is built to be used by external AI assistants, while Dragonboat's Ambient Agent actively works inside the product lifecycle on its own.

Free / Entry-Level Access

airfocus: airfocus offers no free trial; evaluating the product requires booking a demo, and both the Professional and Enterprise plans are priced on request.

Dragonboat: Dragonboat's Starter plan includes free read-only and requestor access for up to 100 users, with paid access reserved for editors.

Free read-only access lowers the barrier for stakeholders across a large organization to view portfolio data without a full paid seat.

Security & Compliance Disclosure

airfocus: airfocus's security certifications are not documented in its public materials, though it does offer an EU-based hosting option.

Dragonboat: Dragonboat states it is SOC 2 certified and explicitly states customer data is not used for external model training.

Explicit SOC 2 certification and a stated AI training policy matter for enterprise security reviews and procurement.

Portfolio & Prioritization Scope

airfocus: airfocus covers OKRs, portfolio roadmaps with dependency tracking, customer feedback with a branded portal, and risk/drift detection.

Dragonboat: Dragonboat covers Strategies and Outcomes connecting OKRs to roadmaps, real-time impact analysis for ripple effects and risk, and centralized customer insights.

Both cover similar ground (OKRs, roadmaps, risk detection, customer insight), so the differentiator becomes execution details like AI depth and access model rather than feature checklist coverage.

Enterprise-Only Gating

airfocus: airfocus reserves Jira Server, Azure DevOps Server, and Salesforce integrations, plus SSO/SCIM and portal SSO, for its Enterprise tier only.

Dragonboat: Dragonboat reserves two-factor authentication, SSO, and a dedicated Customer Success Manager for its Enterprise tier only, while Starter includes core integrations with Jira, Azure DevOps, Asana, and Slack.

Knowing which security and integration features require the top tier avoids surprises during procurement.

Feature-by-Feature

AI & Automation

FeatureairfocusDragonboat
AI-powered prioritization/insights agentAvailableAvailable
Dedicated autonomous agent (lifecycle tracking)Not documentedAvailable
MCP server for external AI toolsAvailableAvailable
Headless API for AI agent accessNot documentedAvailable

Portfolio & Planning

FeatureairfocusDragonboat
OKRs and objectives trackingAvailableAvailable
Cross-product roadmaps with dependenciesAvailableAvailable
Real-time risk/impact detectionAvailableAvailable
Customer feedback portalAvailableNot documented

Pricing, Access & Compliance

FeatureairfocusDragonboat
Published pricingUnavailableUnavailable
Free trialUnavailableUnavailable
Free read-only/viewer accessNot documentedAvailable
SOC 2 certification statedNot documentedAvailable
SSO/SCIMAvailableAvailable

Pricing Compared

Starting price reflects the lowest paid tier, not the full cost for every team size or usage level.

airfocus

Professional — Contact sales monthly or annual
Enterprise — Contact sales monthly or annual

Dragonboat

Starter — Custom (contact sales) Custom
Enterprise — Custom (contact sales) Custom

Pros & Cons

airfocus

Pros

  • Combines roadmapping, prioritization, OKRs, and feedback in one connected system
  • Multiple roadmap view types for different stakeholder needs
  • Backed by Lucid Software's resources following the 2025 acquisition
  • EU hosting option for data residency requirements

Cons

  • Pricing is not publicly listed and requires contacting sales
  • Enterprise features like SSO and portfolio dashboards are gated to the higher tier
  • Transition following the Lucid acquisition may bring product changes over time

Dragonboat

Pros

  • Purpose-built for portfolio-level strategy, not just single-team roadmaps
  • AI Ambient Agent reduces manual status-update work by pulling data from delivery tools
  • Free read-only or requestor access for up to 100 users lowers the cost of broad stakeholder visibility
  • Strong support for complex, multi-level organizational hierarchies at the Enterprise tier

Cons

  • Pricing is not published and requires a sales conversation for both tiers
  • Advanced capabilities like predictive risk analysis are reserved for the Enterprise plan
  • Some deeper functionality is sold as separate paid Advanced Apps rather than included
  • Best suited to multi-team or multi-product organizations; may be more than a single small product team needs

Use Cases

Choose airfocus: Product teams inside larger organizations (airfocus is backed by Lucid Software) that want AI-assisted prioritization, portfolio roadmaps with dependency tracking, and the option to work through Claude or Copilot via airfocus's MCP server.
Choose Dragonboat: Enterprise product organizations that want a live semantic source of truth connecting strategy, intake, planning, and delivery tools, with SOC 2 certification and free read-only access for up to 100 users on the Starter plan.
Need both: There is no realistic scenario for using both together — they are direct competitors covering the same portfolio management and prioritization job, so a team would choose one, not run both in parallel.

airfocus

  • Product roadmapping — Build and share roadmaps across multiple view types for different audiences.
  • Portfolio management — Track dependencies and progress across multiple products and teams.
  • Customer feedback triage — Collect, organize, and act on customer feedback through a branded portal.

Dragonboat

  • Aligning multi-team roadmaps with strategy — A Chief Product Officer connects company-level objectives to every product team's roadmap in one shared view.
  • Automating portfolio status reporting — A product operations team uses the Ambient Agent to pull live status from Jira and Slack instead of manually compiling reports.
  • Prioritizing across business units — A large enterprise with several product lines uses portfolio trend analysis to spot dependencies and risks before they delay delivery.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do airfocus and Dragonboat publish pricing?

No, neither publishes pricing. Both airfocus's Professional/Enterprise plans and Dragonboat's Starter/Enterprise plans require contacting sales.

Can I try either tool for free?

Neither offers a traditional free trial. airfocus requires booking a demo. Dragonboat doesn't mention a free trial, but its Starter plan does include free read-only and requestor access for up to 100 users.

Which tool has more mature AI agent support?

Both offer MCP servers for connecting external AI tools like Claude and Copilot. Dragonboat additionally has its own Ambient Agent that autonomously tracks and reports across the product development lifecycle, plus a headless API specifically built for AI agent access.

Is either tool SOC 2 certified?

Dragonboat states it is SOC 2 certified and does not use customer data to train external models. SOC 2 status is not documented for airfocus, though it does offer an EU-based hosting option.

Who owns airfocus and Dragonboat?

airfocus is part of Lucid Software, a larger visual collaboration company. Dragonboat's ownership structure is not detailed in its public materials.

Which tool is better for organizations with many casual viewers?

Dragonboat's Starter plan explicitly includes free read-only and requestor access for up to 100 users, which suits organizations with many stakeholders who only need to view portfolio data. airfocus does not document an equivalent free viewer tier.

Read the full airfocus review · Read the full Dragonboat review