Tability vs Cascade: How to choose the best OKR platform

Companies that define, track, and measure their goals can outperform their competition by adapting to change faster. The Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) framework is a game-changer for this. By setting clear objectives, companies can focus their efforts, helping teams prioritise tasks and resources with precision. Tracking these objectives through specific, measurable key results empowers companies to optimise strategies, respond swiftly to change, and continuously improve.

However, just using OKRs is only half the battle. To really make the most of them, you need a dedicated OKR platform that simplifies the process, eliminates friction, and helps your team achieve their goals efficiently.

We've previously compared how Tability stacks up against Microsoft Viva Goals, Notion, Asana, and ClickUp for OKR management. This time, we're putting Tability head-to-head with Cascade. We'll explore their core features, pricing structures, integration capabilities, and user ratings and reviews. We aim to provide a comprehensive comparison, giving you the insights needed to confidently choose the OKR platform that best fits your team's needs.

What is Tability?

Tability is an AI-powered OKR platform that helps teams hit their goals more efficiently. It aligns individual and team goals with the organisation's big-picture objectives, boosting transparency, accountability, and collaboration. With Tability, teams of all sizes can focus on their top priorities and easily track progress towards their business outcomes.

Even though Tability is built around the OKRs methodology, it’s flexible enough to work with other goal-setting frameworks. So, no matter how your team likes to set goals, Tability has you covered.

Pros:

• Purpose-built for OKRs and goal tracking, offering a streamlined and focused experience.
• Easy to set up and use with minimal configuration required.
• Feature-rich.
• Affordable and scalable.
• Free read-only seats.

Cons:

• Tability is not suitable for teams needing a broader range of HR tools. 

Tability is ideal for:

• Teams of all sizes seeking an intuitive, adaptable, and scalable platform for setting and tracking their goals and key performance indicators (KPIs).
• Teams that want to align their goals with organisational objectives while fostering transparency and accountability.
• Organisations aiming to fuel their growth through strategic projects and performance tracking.
• Teams that want a tool specifically designed for OKRs rather than adapting a general strategy or project management tool. 

What is Cascade?

Cascade is a strategy execution platform designed primarily for enterprises. It centralises strategic planning, execution, and tracking.

Pros:

• Cascade enables the centralisation of strategy components across departments, facilitating easier reviews and reporting.
• Supports different goal frameworks—like Balanced Scorecard, OGSM and OKRs—that cater to different organisational needs.

Cons:

• Can be relatively expensive.
• The broad array of features can overwhelm users who are primarily interested in setting and tracking OKRs, making it harder to navigate and utilise the platform efficiently.
• Teams that want to quickly set up and track OKRs might find the initial training and onboarding process time-consuming.

Cascade is ideal for:

• Large enterprises needing comprehensive strategic planning and execution tools.

Feature comparison

When you're comparing Tability and Cascade for managing OKRs, it's important to understand their unique purposes and specialisations.

Tability makes managing OKRs easy. It provides a straightforward, user-friendly solution designed to track goals with minimal setup. This is a good option for teams that want a dedicated platform for OKRs.

Cascade is an enterprise strategy execution platform built to help organisations efficiently manage and execute their strategic plans using a bottom-up meets top-down approach. 

Both platforms boast an array of different features and functionalities, which we’ve distilled in the table below.

Ratings and reviews

Checking out user ratings and reviews is important when picking an OKR platform because they give you a real sense of how well it works. You can see what other people like or dislike about it and learn about any common problems. Reviews also show how good the customer support is and how easily it integrates with other tools. This real-world feedback helps you choose a platform that’s likely to work well for your needs.

G2.com ratings 

G2.com is a popular online platform where users can discover, compare, and review business software and services. It offers real user reviews and ratings, which help businesses make informed decisions about the tools they need. 

Here’s a look at the ratings and reviews for Tability and Cascade:

Tability rating (111 reviews) = 4.7/5

Cascade rating (209 reviews) = 4.7/5

G2.com user reviews

To keep things fair, we’ve taken the most recent review for each platform and included these below. 

Tability

What users like about Tability

• Ease of use: Users like how quickly they can get up and running with their OKRs.
• User interface: The UI is intuitive, making it easy for users to navigate and use.
• Progress tracking: Tability makes it simple for users to check the status of their OKRs without getting bogged down in details. 

What users dislike about Tability

• Missing features: Some users note that Tability lacks certain features they would find valuable. However, the reviews do not specify which features are missing from the platform.

Cascade

What users like about Cascade

• Support and implementation: Users praise the Cascade team's support, highlighting their patience and knowledge during implementation.
• Reporting: Easy to generate reports for Board members, management meetings etc.
• Customisable and flexible: Users can set up team dashboards to display relevant metrics and progress indicators tailored to their specific needs.

What users dislike about Cascade

• Learning curve: Some users find it overly complex for simpler needs, especially for things like tracking initiative progress.
• Missing features: While Cascade is highly flexible, some users note that it lacks specific features, although these missing features are not always specified.
• Usability: Some users say various dashboard views are limited, and it can be difficult to export data into other formats, such as Excel.

Pricing

When choosing an OKR platform, it's important to think about the pricing. You'll want something that fits your budget and has the features you need. Different platforms can have vastly different prices, so it's important to consider if you're getting good value. It's also important to find a solution that can grow with your business without being too costly.

Tability and Cascade have different pricing plans, so it's important to understand them to make the right choice for your organisation. We've compared the pricing plans of both platforms and created a hypothetical pricing scenario. This will help you figure out which platform gives you the best value for your money.

Tability pricing

Tability offers three different pricing options:

• Basic (US $4 per user per month)
• Plus (US $5 per user per month)
• Premium (US $8 per user per month)

Tability includes a 14-day free trial (no credit card required) and is billed monthly. All prices include tax.

Cascade pricing

Cascade's website has limited pricing information—you must contact them for a quote for anything outside the free plan. 

• Free (for up to 4 users, with limited features)
• Essentials (no pricing listed)
• Enterprise+ (no pricing listed)

We did some digging and found that the Cascade Essentials plan is US $24 per user per month. 

Pricing scenario

Imagine you have a team of 50 people, and you're searching for an OKR platform that fits your budget. Tability offers three affordable pricing options:

• Basic: $4 per user per month
• Plus: $5 per user per month
• Premium: $8 per user per month

So, if you go for Tability’s Plus Plan, which is a great mix of features and value, your team of 50 will only have to pay $250 per month. Now, when we look at Cascade's pricing, they do have a free plan, but it's limited in features and only allows up to four users. The cheapest plan for 50 or more users is the Essentials plan, which costs $24 per user per month, totalling $1200. With Tability, you'd be saving $950 per month, which is a pretty big deal.

Integrations

Integrations are important because they enable you to link your OKR platform with other systems and apps your team already uses. This means you don't have to keep switching between different tools (known as context switching), which saves time and avoids disruptions. 

Integrations ensure that all of your data is synchronised across different platforms, providing you with the most current and accurate information for tracking progress and making informed decisions. Integrations also allow you to automate specific tasks, reducing manual effort and enabling you to concentrate on what is most important.

Here’s a chart comparing the integrations of Tability and Cascade…

It’s important to note that Tability and Cascade are two very different tools, so it’s difficult to compare integrations like for like. What might be a helpful integration on one platform won’t necessarily be on the other. 

Help me choose the best OKR platform

Choosing the right OKR platform is a crucial step in ensuring your team's success. But the process can be overwhelming. Here are some key steps you can take to find what's right for you:

Step 1: Assess your organisation's requirements

If your main objective is to efficiently manage OKRs with minimal setup, Tability is tailored for this purpose. It offers AI-powered goal-setting, progress tracking, and a wide array of OKR templates for various business functions, making it easy to get started and stay on track.

For those requiring a robust enterprise strategy tool, Cascade might be the better choice. It’s designed to handle complex strategic initiatives, providing a comprehensive solution for large organisations needing to centralise and manage their overall strategy.

Step 2: Check out user ratings and reviews

Reviewing user ratings and feedback is essential to gauge satisfaction levels and identify common pain points. Platforms like G2, Capterra, and Trustpilot offer valuable insights into user experiences. Look for customer success stories and testimonials to see how each platform has been effectively implemented at other organisations. This will help you understand the real-world benefits and potential challenges of each OKR tool, ensuring you make an informed decision.

Step 3: Look at your existing tools

Check how well each OKR platform works with the tools you already use. Pick a platform that can easily fit into your current workflows without causing too much disruption. A solid integration will save time and ensure consistency across your team's processes.

Step 4: Review pricing

Keep in mind the cost per user for each OKR platform and see how it fits your budget. Also, think about the cost of scaling as your team gets bigger. Tability has an affordable pricing structure that stays cost-effective as you add more users, making it a great option for growing organisations.

Step 5: Consider the user experience and learning curve

When selecting an OKR platform, it's important to take into account the user experience and learning curve. A platform with a user-friendly interface and easy navigation can help your team onboard quickly. It's also advisable to review the available resources for each platform, such as tutorials, guides, and customer support, as these will assist you in maximising the platform's benefits.

Recap

Tability is an AI-powered OKR platform that assists teams in setting, tracking, and achieving their goals. It enhances transparency and accountability while enabling teams to align their efforts with the organisation's strategic objectives. Tability is ideal for teams of all sizes seeking an intuitive, affordable, and scalable platform for setting and tracking their goals and key performance indicators (KPIs). 

Tability is specifically designed for managing OKRs. It offers a user-friendly interface that allows you to start tracking goals immediately without a complicated setup process. This makes it an excellent choice for teams looking for a straightforward and efficient OKR solution.

Cascade is an enterprise strategy execution platform that centralises strategic planning, execution, and tracking. It is ideal for large organisations that need a comprehensive tool to manage complex strategic initiatives across multiple departments.

Cascade is not purpose-built for managing OKRs but can support this and other frameworks.

Your choice will ultimately depend on your team’s specific needs, preferences, and goals. Consider factors such as your primary focus, ease of adoption, integration requirements, and scalability. The right platform should not only manage OKRs effectively but also empower your team to set ambitious goals, maintain alignment, and achieve extraordinary results.

Still not sure which is best for you? This flowchart might make it easier…

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