Amplon vs hoshin.app: an honest comparison

Credit first. Amplon markets itself as "the #1 Hoshin Kanri software" and "the only SaaS platform truly engineered around the X-matrix", and the product behind the claim is real: an interactive X-Matrix with native correlation mapping, vertical and horizontal cascading, KPI bowler charts, project charters with Gantt views, and a risk management matrix — a broad, method-complete Hoshin suite refined over years.

Their pricing model is genuinely clever: you pay per X-Matrix (three included on Standard, four on Enterprise, about €110/month per additional matrix), with unlimited users on every plan. For a large organization that wants everyone in the tool, no per-seat pricing is a strong argument. The company is EU-based (Finland), displays SOC 2 certification, and offers SSO via Microsoft Entra and Okta on its Enterprise tier.

This is the difference that will not age. As of mid-2026, Amplon documents no public API, no webhooks, and no MCP or agent capability on its site; its AI is an "AI Coach" writing assistant that helps phrase objectives inside the app. The matrix lives behind the login, maintained by humans.

hoshin.app was built the other way around: the X-Matrix is structured context that AI agents read and write through an MCP server — OAuth 2.1 with automatic client registration for claude.ai, Claude Desktop and Cursor, 11 tools and 9 guided prompts, every access scoped by role and audited. The built-in weekly_sync protocol lets an agent pull progress from Linear or Jira, update initiative statuses, flag strategy drift and prepare your weekly review agenda. If your operating assumption is that agents will do the maintenance work of strategy deployment, this is the layer that matters — and it cannot be retrofitted quickly onto a closed application.

You can verify the claim in two minutes without an account: our demo matrix (Mécanor, a fictional manufacturer) is publicly readable by any MCP client with the read-only token published in our llms.txt.

Amplon is sold through a demo call: no self-serve signup and no free trial are documented on their site, and onboarding is delivered 1:1 by their team. That model has upsides — you get an expert walking your team through the method — and a real cost: you cannot evaluate the product this afternoon, and neither can your consultant or your AI assistant recommend-and-configure it autonomously.

hoshin.app is self-serve end to end: free tier without a credit card, your team invited in minutes, and an agent connected over MCP the same day. For a method that lives or dies by adoption, we think the tool should be testable at the speed of curiosity.

Amplon includes project execution inside the platform: charters, Gantt timelines, per-user task management, resource reports. If you want strategy and project management in one tool, that is a point for Amplon — an honest point we concede.

hoshin.app deliberately refuses that scope. Initiatives carry an external_ref to the Linear project or Jira epic where execution actually happens, and agents bridge the two over MCP. Our doctrine: strategy, reviews and KPIs in the matrix; tasks, sprints and Gantt charts in the execution tool your teams already use. One object of truth per concern, no second backlog to keep in sync.

Amplon prices per matrix with unlimited users; the base subscription price is not published (only the ~€110/month per additional matrix is), and there is no free tier. hoshin.app prices per organization: free Solo tier — including a fully local, zero-infrastructure mode where your data never leaves your machine — then €89/month per organization with unlimited matrices, all published on the pricing page.

Both companies are European. hoshin.app hosts in the EU with strict multi-tenant isolation, hashed tokens and a full audit trail; the local mode removes hosting from the equation entirely. Amplon displays SOC 2 and offers dedicated infrastructure on Enterprise; its data residency is not detailed publicly.

Choose Amplon if you want vendor-led onboarding and training as part of the deal; if you want project portfolio management (Gantt, tasks, resources) inside the same tool rather than linked to Linear or Jira; if your teams need a Spanish or German interface; or if you simply prefer the longest-established specialist and have no requirement for API or agent access.

Choose hoshin.app if your AI assistants are part of how the company runs — the matrix becomes the strategic memory every agent shares; if you want to start free today and let the method prove itself before any sales conversation; if you run execution in Linear or Jira and want strategy linked to it, not duplicated; if you need a French interface or EU-hosted data with a local sovereign option; or if you run review cadences at multiple management levels and want them modeled in the tool, with a completeness score auditing the matrix continuously.