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Comparison · PM

Plane vs Hive

A side-by-side editorial comparison of Plane and Hive — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.

Plane vs Hive: at a glance

FeaturePlaneHive
SectorPMCollab, PM
Velocity score7.56.3
Sparks · 30d20
Top themespql, custom-roles, plane-ai, enterprise-permissionsproject management, workflow automation, admin controls, dashboard analytics
Last editorial update2d ago15h ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is Plane?

Plane is climbing the enterprise ladder — custom roles and granular permissions — while bolting Plane AI into the editor.

Plane is on a roughly fortnightly cloud changelog cadence. Two structural moves stand out. The April 25 release redesigned the permissions system into a two-layer access model with per-resource overrides, a new Workspace Admin role, and custom roles for Enterprise. The May 15 release deepened the data and AI surface: PQL in Dashboards, URL-based media embeds in the editor, Gantt for Teamspace, customer requests on work items, bulk-copy across projects, and Plane AI editing pages. The changelog source duplicates each release into multiple scraped entries.

Read the full Plane trajectory →

What is Hive?

Hive ships weekly polish across admin control, dashboards, and mobile parity — no headline bets.

Hive is in a steady release cadence, shipping every Friday through May with small, user-visible improvements across project views, workflow automations, dashboards, chat, and the mobile app. The work is concentrated on admin control surfaces — default home pages, timesheet reminders, preserved chat history, mobile workflow visibility — and on giving power users more flexible filtering and aggregation in views and dashboards.

Read the full Hive trajectory →

Plane vs Hive: editorial side-by-side

Plane logo7.5

Plane is climbing the enterprise ladder — custom roles and granular permissions — while bolting Plane AI into the editor.

◆ Current state

Plane is on a roughly fortnightly cloud changelog cadence. Two structural moves stand out. The April 25 release redesigned the permissions system into a two-layer access model with per-resource overrides, a new Workspace Admin role, and custom roles for Enterprise. The May 15 release deepened the data and AI surface: PQL in Dashboards, URL-based media embeds in the editor, Gantt for Teamspace, customer requests on work items, bulk-copy across projects, and Plane AI editing pages. The changelog source duplicates each release into multiple scraped entries.

◆ Where it's heading

Plane is moving up-market in two coordinated directions: enterprise-grade access control (custom roles, granular permissions, soon almost certainly audit logs and SCIM) and a data/AI analyst layer grafted onto the tracker (PQL as the query language for dashboards and work-item search, Plane AI taking write-actions). The intent looks like a head-on competitive position against Linear and Jira at the enterprise tier rather than the friendlier-alternative role Plane occupied earlier.

◆ Prediction

Expect SCIM, SAML refinements, or admin audit logs to follow the custom-roles redesign as the rest of the enterprise checklist. On the AI side, Plane AI write-actions extend from pages to work items themselves — bulk edits, generated descriptions, or automation rules driven from the chat.

Hive logo
Hive
COLLABPM
6.3

Hive ships weekly polish across admin control, dashboards, and mobile parity — no headline bets.

◆ Current state

Hive is in a steady release cadence, shipping every Friday through May with small, user-visible improvements across project views, workflow automations, dashboards, chat, and the mobile app. The work is concentrated on admin control surfaces — default home pages, timesheet reminders, preserved chat history, mobile workflow visibility — and on giving power users more flexible filtering and aggregation in views and dashboards.

◆ Where it's heading

The pattern suggests a maturity phase: closing gaps that show up in larger team rollouts rather than chasing a new category. Mobile is being pulled toward feature parity with the web app, and dashboards keep gaining analytical primitives like median aggregation and activity filtering. There is no agentic or AI-led move in the visible window, which is notable given how aggressively peers in collaboration are repositioning around that.

◆ Prediction

Expect the next batch to continue extending mobile parity to Workflow editing or triggering, and to add more dashboard primitives such as additional aggregations or shared dashboard templates. A reactive AI surface is increasingly overdue given the competitive pressure.

Plane alternatives

Other PM products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Tap any card for the full editorial trajectory or compare directly with Plane.

See all Plane alternatives →

Hive alternatives

Other PM products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Tap any card for the full editorial trajectory or compare directly with Hive.

See all Hive alternatives →

Recent activity from Plane and Hive

Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.

  1. 1d agoHiveNew Flexible filters for List and Kanban views
  2. 1d agoHiveNew Set a default Home page for your workspace
  3. 1d agoHiveNew Timesheet reminders in Workflows
  4. 1d agoHiveNew Workspace Activity filtering in Dashboards
  5. 8d agoPlaneEmbed media in the editor, PQL in Dashboards, and more | May 15, 2026
  6. 8d agoHiveCustomizable sidebar colors and contrast options
  7. 8d agoHiveNew File preview enhancements in chat
  8. 28d agoPlaneCustom roles, granular access control, and a redesigned permissions system | Apr 25, 2026
  9. 28d agoPlaneCustom roles, granular access control, and a redesigned permissions system | Apr 25, 2026
  10. 1mo agoPlaneGroup pages in Collections, view Initiatives as boards, and more | April 15, 2026
  11. 1mo agoPlaneGroup pages in Collections, view Initiatives as boards, and more
  12. 1mo agoPlaneGroup pages in Collections, view Initiatives as boards, and more | April 15, 2026

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Plane and Hive?

They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Plane is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 7.5 vs 6.3), with 2 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.

Is Plane better than Hive?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Plane is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 7.5 vs 6.3), with 2 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other PM products to evaluate alongside.

What are the best alternatives to Plane?

Top Plane alternatives in PM are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Plane alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/plane for the full list with editorial commentary on each.

What are the best alternatives to Hive?

Top Hive alternatives in PM are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Hive alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/hive for the full list with editorial commentary on each.