A public roadmap does three things: it shows users you have direction, it reduces repetitive "when is X coming?" support tickets, and it creates buy-in from users who can see their requests are planned.
The trap most teams fall into is treating the roadmap as a separate tool from the feedback board. They're not separate — they're the same workflow. A feature goes from "requested" to "planned" to "shipped", and the right tool tracks that journey in one place.
What a public roadmap should show
Not everything belongs on a public roadmap. The right items are those where user awareness creates value:
- Planned features — things you're committed to building but haven't started yet. This preempts support tickets ("Is X on the roadmap?") and lets users plan around your releases.
- In-progress work — things currently being built. Signals momentum.
- Recently shipped — a rolling window of what just launched. Connects your roadmap to your changelog.
What doesn't belong: internal technical debt, exploratory spikes, items you're not confident about. Publishing something and then removing it erodes more trust than not publishing it.
The best public roadmap tools in 2026
- —Kanban view (Planned / In Progress / Done)
- —Integrated with feedback board voting
- —Voter MRR visibility
- —NPS alongside roadmap
- —Also includes changelog, testimonials, status page
- —Strong roadmap + feedback integration
- —Custom statuses
- —Jira/Linear/GitHub sync
- —Advanced segmentation (Enterprise)
- —Clean roadmap views
- —Good feedback-to-roadmap workflow
- —Changelog included
- —Simple public roadmap
- —Basic voting
- —Limited integrations
- —Free
- —Integrates with your repo issues
- —Not designed for external users
How roadmap and feedback work together in ShipPulse
The ShipPulse feedback board and roadmap share the same data. When a feedback post moves to "Planned", it appears on the public roadmap automatically. When it ships, every voter gets notified and the item moves to "Done" — no double-entry.
This also means your Voter MRR data informs your roadmap directly. You can see, at a glance, which planned items have the highest revenue-weighted demand — so you're not just sequencing by gut feel.
Should your roadmap be fully public?
For most SaaS products: yes, with some caveats. Public roadmaps work best when:
- You're willing to close the loop when items ship or get declined
- You don't have competitive concerns about revealing your direction
- Your users are engaged enough to care what's planned
If you're pre-PMF and changing direction frequently, a public roadmap can create more liability than value — users will hold you to things you haven't committed to. In that case, use the board for collection but keep the roadmap internal until you're more confident in your direction.