- What is PingCadence?
- PingCadence is a status-collection tool for project managers. It reads tasks, owners and dates from your plan, emails each owner a short check-in on a schedule you set, collects their answers, and shows you a roll-up of what is on track and what is slipping.
- Does PingCadence change my project plan automatically?
- No. When someone reports they are not on track they propose their own new start, end or duration. You then choose to apply it to your tracker, edit it by hand, or reject it. Nothing is written back without your explicit action.
- Do I have to approve emails before they go out?
- By default, yes. Every batch of check-ins waits in a review screen where you can edit the recipients and add up to three extra questions per person, then approve and send. Once you trust a plan's setup, you can turn on automatic sending for that plan: check-ins then go out at the scheduled time to everyone on its Who gets asked list, and you get an email listing who was asked.
- Can PingCadence remind people who haven't answered?
- Yes. Click Remind on the plan page at any time, or turn on automatic reminders in the plan's schedule: every one to seven days, up to five times, only to people who haven't answered, on weekdays (and any weekend day your schedule runs on), and only until the answers are due. Nobody gets more than one email a day.
- Do the people I check in with need an account?
- No. Each recipient gets a private link in the email and answers on one page: on track, hard to say, or not on track, plus an optional comment. They never sign up or install anything.
- Which tools does PingCadence work with?
- Today: Microsoft Excel & CSV, Microsoft Project, monday.com, Asana, Jira, Wrike, Trello, ClickUp and Microsoft Planner. Planned: Smartsheet. An Excel or CSV export works as a bridge for any tracker in the meantime.
- Can I use a Microsoft Project (.mpp) file?
- Yes. PingCadence can't open .mpp files directly, so in Project choose File → Save As and pick XML Format (*.xml), then upload that. The XML keeps your task hierarchy, resources with their email addresses, % complete and your saved baseline. An Excel export works as well, though it usually has no email addresses. Re-upload the file whenever the schedule changes; baselines are kept.
- Will emails come from me or from a no-reply address?
- From you. PingCadence sends through your own Outlook (Microsoft 365) or Gmail (Google Workspace) account, so replies and recognition are better than a generic bot address. It can send mail only; it can't read your inbox.
- Can I get a summary report on demand?
- Yes. Generate a report at any time that shows every task, its latest status, proposed date changes, who has not responded and the comments people left, and download it as a PDF or CSV, or print it.
- How is this different from a stand-up bot like Geekbot?
- Stand-up bots ask generic questions in Slack or Teams. PingCadence is tied to your plan: it shows each person their baseline dates, asks about their specific tasks, captures a proposed new date when they slip, and gives you a decision queue.
- Is my data safe?
- Data is stored in a managed Postgres database with row-level security so each project manager only sees their own plans. Tracker tokens are stored server-side only and are never sent to the browser.
- How much does it cost?
- There is a free tier (one active plan, up to 10 people, manual check-ins). Pro is $29 per project manager per month and adds the automatic cadence, tracker write-back, reminders and report export; Team is $80 a month for up to three PMs, then $20 per extra PM. Pricing is per project manager, never per person asked. The first 5 teams get Pro free for 30 days and half price after that.