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It's a split decision.
Choose Review Board for code, document and image reviews, especially if you need on-prem or air-gapped deployment. Its free Community plan and paid on-prem tiers suit teams that want control over hosting. Choose Graphite for a GitHub-centered workflow built around stacked pull requests, AI reviews and a merge queue. Graphite’s free Hobby plan is for personal account repos; team plans add capabilities at annual per-user prices. The right fit depends on whether you need broader review formats and deployment control or a focused GitHub workflow.
01Side by side
| Review Board | Graphite | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free on-prem; paid on-prem and per-user hosted plans. | Free Hobby; annual per-user team plans; custom Enterprise. |
| Free tier | Community offers free on-prem deployment. | Hobby covers personal repos, with limited Chat and AI Reviews. |
| Self-hosting | On-prem and air-gapped installs are available. | GitHub-synced workflow; self-hosting is not stated. |
| Integrations | Slack, Jira, Jenkins, Git, GitHub and GitLab. | GitHub sync and Slack notifications. |
| Deployment model | On-prem, air-gapped, cloud-hosted or managed infrastructure. | Hosted service synced with GitHub. |
| Platforms | Web, Linux and Docker. | Web, CLI and VS Code extension. |
| Limits and scaling | Seat and usage limits are not published. | Hobby limits AI features; Team includes unlimited Chat and AI Reviews. |
| CLI and install tooling | Installers and Docker containers support setup. | CLI manages stacked PRs; VS Code extension available. |
Review Board Choose Review Board if
- Choose Review Board if you review documents, designs or images alongside code.
- Choose Review Board if air-gapped or on-prem deployment is required.
- Choose Review Board if you want a free on-prem Community plan.
Graphite Choose Graphite if
- Choose Graphite if your team works in GitHub pull requests.
- Choose Graphite if you want stacked PRs and a merge queue.
- Choose Graphite if AI reviews and Chat belong in your PR workflow.
02Pricing at real usage
Review Board’s Community plan costs $0 for on-prem deployment; its seat and usage limits are not published. On-prem Plus costs $15 per user monthly or $12 per user per month when billed annually. Enterprise is $18 monthly or $15 annually per user. For hosted RBCommons, Basic costs $6 per user monthly and includes two integrations; Business costs $12 and includes 50. Both list a 30-day free trial, and annual hosted prices are not published.
Graphite’s Hobby plan is free for personal account repos, with limited Chat and AI Reviews. Starter costs $20 per user per month and Team $40, both with annual billing; the pricing page lists paid plans as 20% off annually, while monthly prices are not published. Enterprise pricing is custom. Graphite also advertises a 30-day free period with no credit card required. Review Board’s hosted cost grows by seats; Graphite’s team plans do too.
03API, SDKs and integration
Review Board is a web review system that connects to collaboration, CI, authentication, version-control and code-hosting services. Named integrations include Slack, Jira, Jenkins, Git, GitHub and GitLab. The product details do not specify a public API, SDKs, supported programming languages or protocols, so ask the vendor about automation and authentication requirements before building an integration.
Graphite syncs with GitHub and offers Slack notifications. Its CLI and VS Code extension support the stacked pull-request workflow; the web app provides a PR page, team inbox, Chat, AI review and merge queue. The product details do not specify public API or SDK options, language support or API documentation. For either tool, confirm the available endpoints, authentication model and supported version-control workflows with the vendor. Graphite is the more directly described fit for a GitHub-centered PR process; Review Board names a broader set of external integrations.
04Open source, self-hosting and lock-in
Review Board supports on-prem and air-gapped installs, including installers and Docker containers; cloud and managed hosting are also options. That gives teams a deployment path that keeps the review service within their own infrastructure. Graphite is presented as a hosted workflow synced with GitHub, and its product details do not state a self-hosting option.
Neither vendor’s product details identifies an open-source licence or describes data export and migration guarantees. Ask both vendors about licence terms, export formats, retention and migration support before standardizing on a platform. Graphite’s stacked PR workflow and GitHub sync tie its day-to-day use to that ecosystem. Review Board also integrates with external version-control and code-hosting services, while its on-prem option gives teams more control over where the service runs.
Questions people ask
Which is better for reviewing documents and images?
Review Board is the clearer fit. It supports reviews of source code, documents, designs and images, with image comparison views and document change tracking. Graphite’s listed workflow centers on GitHub pull requests, AI code review, stacked PRs and merge queues.
Does Graphite work with GitHub?
Yes. Graphite syncs with GitHub, and its workflow is built around pull requests. Its tools include a PR page, CLI, VS Code extension, team inbox and merge queue. The product details also list Slack notifications.
Which product has a free plan?
Both do. Review Board’s Community plan is free for on-prem deployment. Graphite’s free Hobby plan supports personal account repos and includes limited Chat and AI Reviews. Graphite also advertises a 30-day free period with no credit card required.
Can I self-host Graphite or Review Board?
Review Board supports on-prem and air-gapped deployment, including installers and Docker containers. Graphite’s product details describe a hosted service synced with GitHub but do not state a self-hosting option. Ask Graphite about deployment requirements if self-hosting is mandatory.