15 Best Jira Alternatives & Competitors for Agile Teams in 2024

Atlassian’s Jira is a project management software and bug-tracking tool agile teams use for collaboration and task management.

While Jira is a popular project management tool, it often requires extensive setup or customization. In 2021, it introduced a Work Management feature to address some gaps, yet it still struggles to facilitate cross-team collaboration between technical groups and other stakeholders.

For example, Jira’s search and filtering systems could be more intuitive. Plus, its subscription costs keep increasing without any tangible value addition. If those who have used the Jira software are honest, they’ll admit it’s clunky and testify that using it daily is somewhat frustrating.

Jira was built with only software development teams in mind.

I’ve used Jira and faced these shortcomings myself. This led me, along with the team here at ClickUp, to look for Jira alternatives.After considerable research, we’ve put together a list of the 15 best Jira alternatives, including paid and free project management software.

I’ll walk you through each tool and its key features, talking through different project management use cases to help you decide the best option.

Let’s get started.

15 Best Jira Alternatives for Agile Teams in 2024

• What You Should Look for in Jira Alternatives
• The Best Jira Alternatives & Competitors at Glance
• 15 Best Jira Alternatives & Competitors for Agile Teams in 2024
  • 1. ClickUp – Best for customized project management
  • 2. Asana – Best for streamlining task and project workflows
  • 3. Monday.com – Best for workflow automation with a strong focus on usability
  • 4. Smartsheet – Best for merging spreadsheets with project management
  • 5. Taskade – Best for real-time workspace for tasks, notes, and video collaboration
  • 6. Zendesk – Best for integrating customer service into project management
  • 7. Wrike – Best for accommodating complex projects
  • 8. Notion – Best for managing content-centric workflows
  • 9. ProofHub – Best for all-in-one project planning
  • 10. Assembla – Best for integrating version control
  • 11. Pivotal Tracker – Best for agile software development & real-time collaboration
  • 12. Bugzilla – Best for managing software builds
  • 13. Hygger – Best for prioritizing and managing projects
  • 14. Backlog by Nulab – Best for issue tracking
  • 15. Bitrix24 – Best for communication
• Navigate Your Options and Choose a Jira Alternative Wisely

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What You Should Look for in Jira Alternatives

• Agile and Scrum support: If your team follows Agile methodologies, the Jira alternatives should support relevant frameworks such as Scrum or Kanban. Look for features like backlogs, sprint planning tools, and burndown charts that help manage and track the progress of Agile projects
• Project planning and scheduling: The agile project management tool should offer robust project planning and scheduling features, such as project tracking, the ability to create and manage tasks, add project dependencies and deadlines, etc. 
• Task management: Choose Jira alternatives with task management features, including adding multiple assignees, comments as action items, and multiple views to improve team productivity. The better project management tools will also give you customizable subtasks to surface the right information and custom fields and statuses to build clear workflows so that important information does not fall through the cracks
• Collaboration and communication: The best Jira alternative would also give you team communication features such as real-time chat, commenting, tagging, file sharing, and shareable screen recordings. This is even more crucial if any of your teams work remotely 
• Advanced reporting and analysis: Look for Jira alternatives with detailed analytics and reporting features that provide insights into agile project health, team performance, team collaboration, and resource allocation, enabling you to make informed decisions quickly
• Scalability: The chosen Jira alternative should be able to handle an increasing number of users and unlimited projects without a significant drop in performance or usability as your team grows 
• User-friendly interface: A steep learning curve can hinder adoption and productivity. The Jira alternatives you’re considering should provide the necessary project management features with straightforward, logical navigation and onboarding support. This will allow smooth integration into your team’s daily operations
• Customization and flexibility: I’d also recommend checking if the Jira alternative tools you’re shortlisting allow you to personalize your dashboards, workflows, and reports to fit your project management style 
• Robust integration capabilities: For smooth and error-free data flow between systems, the Jira alternatives must integrate with other tools your development teams use. The integration should make all necessary information and functionalities accessible within a single environment

Read more: Jira integrations to supercharge your productivity 

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The Best Jira Alternatives & Competitors at Glance

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15 Best Jira Alternatives & Competitors for Agile Teams in 2024

1. ClickUp – Best for customized project management

Get Started with ClickUp

ClickUp’s Project Management Software tops the list as it caters to the entire spectrum of organizational needs, building cohesive workflows adaptable to various business scenarios. Yes, your PMO and engineering teams will love it, but so will teams in functions like marketing, finance, and talent management.

This makes it not just an alternative to Jira but a potentially superior choice for integrating a wide range of functions under one roof.

ClickUp for Software Teams surprised me with the array of features it offers.

I’ve found that using ClickUp Whiteboards to sketch out ideas or concepts and then immediately turn them into tasks is incredibly easy in ClickUp. It’s such a smooth transition from planning to action. This kind of thing in Jira would need you to involve other tools, which can slow things down.

My team and I often use Whiteboards or Mind Maps to reflect on what’s working and what’s not, which really helps us keep refining our processes. It’s much less rigid than Jira, where setting up a similar feedback process feels a lot more structured and less flexible.

The ClickUp Gantt Chart View also helps visualize project timelines and dependencies more intuitively.

Unlike Jira, which might require extra plugins or setup for Gantt charts, ClickUp includes these features right out of the box, fully customizable to meet different project needs. Given how we use Gantt charts all the time, I’d prefer Jira alternatives that make them easy.

In addition, I find that tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) is simple with ClickUp. With ClickUp Goals, I can set team and individual objectives with measurable targets and automatic progress tracking. This ensures all team members see how their efforts contribute to the bigger picture.

ClickUp suits Agile teams very well with its customizable Agile dashboards that give real-time insights into sprints and make tracking progress against goals much easier.

We also frequently use Sprint reporting with ClickUp. The platform helps me summarize our sprint activities effectively, highlighting both our achievements and areas for improvement. This feedback helps us refine our approach for future sprint planning, fostering continuous improvement.

The native GitHub integration in ClickUp stands out for our development teams. It links our task management directly with our code repositories, allowing us to track commits, pull requests, and branches right from ClickUp. It significantly reduces the need to switch between tools.

ClickUp’s no-code automation has been a major relief by cutting down on repetitive tasks. Setting up automations for routine processes like task assignments and status updates means that I can focus more on high-value activities.

My favorite thing about ClickUp, though, is ClickUp Brain, the versatile AI assistant.  It’s become an essential part of my project management toolkit as it integrates my entire digital workspace, enhancing how I manage everything from documents to communication.

Our entire team uses ClickUp Brain’s AI writing assistant to create product briefs, brainstorm ideas for upcoming meetings, take and summarize notes, and create detailed progress and bug-tracking reports.

ClickUp Brain allows me to generate drafts quickly, which I can then personalize. The AI can craft and edit text based on my prompts or from a selection of over 100 role-based prompts. Additionally, it helps me write better by checking grammar and spelling, swiftly replying to messages, and even transcribing audio files, improving my productivity by almost 10X.

ClickUp also has 1000+ pre-built templates for agile teams. We often use is ClickUp’s Bug and Issue Tracking Template, which has advanced features for complex software development needs involving cross-functional teams. 

Downloads This Template

Rather than depending on spreadsheets or multiple threads across Slack or emails, this centralized template gives you a bird’s eye view of bugs, issues, and defects and their current status. 

For our team, ClickUp covers all the bases of project management, from strategy and planning all the way to reporting. It allows teams from different departments to collaborate, build, and ship products faster. I’ve seen firsthand how it just makes us all so much more productive.

Also read: Our detailed comparison of ClickUp vs. Jira

ClickUp best features

• Project management: Easily automate backlogs, tailor agile workflows to your methods, and align tasks with goals through visual roadmaps; plus, its built-in time-tracking feature is a major advantage over tools like Jira that lack this natively. If you choose the Business plan you’ll get even more granular time tracking and timesheets
• Brainstorming: Use ClickUp Whiteboards to make user and journey mapping easier, collaborate with your remote and on-site teams over a virtual whiteboard during the research and design phase of the software development, and assign tasks to team members right from the Whiteboards
• Goal tracking: Whether you’re launching products to the market or managing releases, use ClickUp Goals to set measurable targets, track progress, stay on track, and hit your goals within the set timelines 
• Customizable views to visualize progress and timelines: Get a 360-degree view of what’s happening in your project, including the tasks, lists, and deadlines, with ClickUp’s Gantt Chart View. This feature isn’t included in Jira’s free version. ClickUp offers 60 free Gantt chart views in its free plan. You can also use ClickUp’s Kanban Boards for a broader perspective and visual progress tracking
• Pre-built templates for the software team: ClickUp offers customizable templates to start with pre-built workflows for your agile scrum process, including bug report templates and templates for sprint planning  

ClickUp limitations

• ClickUp Brain is only available on paid plans
• Not all ClickUp features are available on mobile (yet!)

ClickUp pricing

• Free Forever (Best for personal use, includes unlimited free users and unlimited tasks)
• Unlimited: $7 per month per user (Ideal for small teams)
• Business: $12 per month per user (Suitable for mid-sized teams)
• Enterprise: Custom pricing 
• ClickUp Brain: Add to any of the paid plans for $7 per Workspace user per month

2. Asana – Best for streamlining task and project workflows

When you think of Jira alternatives for project management, Asana is one of the tools that comes to mind. It’s recognized for its user-friendly interface and robust features that help teams organize, track, and manage their work efficiently.

In comparison to Jira, Asana is simpler to use. While the former has more advanced features and integrations and tends to position itself for DevOps teams, the latter provides more utility as a task manager.

I’ve used Asana to create tasks and add them to folders, filter them using labels, and assign responsibilities and due dates. I also found the process of integrating relevant apps and setting up automatic rules straight from the board pretty straightforward.

Asana is based on a Work Graph® data model that maps out project components—tasks, subtasks, project objectives, deadlines, and dependencies—to showcase how all the workpieces align with bigger business outcomes.

If your work specifically demands cross-department collaboration, you’ll like how Asana captures the relationship between your team’s work, the information about that work, and the people doing the work.

While setting up a new project, I could break it all down into individual tasks, each with its specific deadline.

The Timeline then displayed these tasks along a chronological axis, with clear markers for dependencies. If one task got delayed, the effect on subsequent tasks was immediately known.

This is similar to the Timeline View in ClickUp but with one very significant difference. ClickUp lets you include sub-tasks in the Timeline View (you get to choose); Asana doesn’t allow sub-tasks in the Timeline.

This level of visibility contrasts sharply with Jira’s more complex setup, often seen as overkill for non-developer teams.

Read more: A day in the life of a software developer 

Asana + ClickUp integration

ClickUp integrates with Asana through Zapier. When a task is newly tagged in Asana, a corresponding task is created in ClickUp.

This helps maintain synchronized workflows across diverse platforms without manual updates, minimizing the risk of oversight and poor communication between departments or stakeholders who may prefer specific tools. It’ll also make migration from Asana super smooth.

Asana best features

• Draft project updates quickly with time-saving automation
• Build custom dashboards using templates from its library; select different chart styles, from burnup charts to simple line graphs
• Get quick answers and summaries of your projects with Asana Intelligence, the new AI assistant
• Give team members the access they need while keeping specific information off limits with permission levels and admin controls

Asana limitations

• The Admin console is challenging to navigate for offboarding a user with admin/billing access, often requiring workaround methods to access the platform
• The Gantt chart view isn’t available in the free version
• Asana Intelligence is only available with paid plans 
• 24/7 support is only available with the Enterprise plan

Here’s what a Redditor has to say about Asana:

Asana pricing

• Personal: $0, free forever (Ideal for individuals and small teams)
• Starter: $13.49 per month per user (Ideal for growing teams)
• Advanced: $30.49 per month per user (For companies that juggle a portfolio of goals across departments)

3. Monday.com – Best for workflow automation with a strong focus on usability

Monday.com is a customizable Work OS that transforms how teams collaborate on projects across sales, marketing, product development, IT, HR, and operations.

Building blocks like boards, views, automation, and integrations let software teams design workflows, track progress, and analyze results dynamically.

Monday.com is adaptable and comes with Scrum and Kanban boards, so you can manage and track multiple projects at once without getting lost in the details.

Its built-in file management also simplifies collaborating and centralizes key files in one place. I found that everything on Monday.com was placed carefully, and I could instinctively know how to use it.

On the other hand, Jira is not as versatile or user-friendly, and there’s a learning curve involved. For example, I could set up an automation to update task assignments as project statuses change. However, similar updates for project visibility in Jira required manual intervention.

A specific feature of Monday.com that stood out for me was ‘work docs,’ which lets project members co-edit in real time, instantly share comments, and drag and drop text as a checklist to reflect the project’s current state. 

Yes, it’s similar to Google Docs for file sharing and file storage, and instead of switching platforms, I could work on Monday.com.

Plus, even though I could enter text and see what others were working on simultaneously, the undo function only ‘undid’ my work instead of the latest additions to the doc, which removes the fear of deleting a critical input made by someone else.

If you need help managing IT requests, system updates, and troubleshooting issues but don’t want the complexity of Jira, I suggest you use Monday.com as your agile tool. However, keep in mind that they haven’t (yet) added AI, which today feels like a lost opportunity.

Monday.com + ClickUp integration

ClickUp integrates with Monday.com through Zapier. Besides creating a new task to be automatically mirrored in ClickUp and vice versa, you can generate comprehensive reports by pulling data from both tools to get a unified view of project status and team performance. It automates repetitive tasks such as reporting updated project progress. 

Monday.com best features

• Use templates and tools tailored for agile workflows, including feature requests, roadmap planning, sprint management, bug tracking, and sprint retrospectives
• Organize all client, vendor, or campaign-related data, including notes, email threads, and attachments, making them easy to find
• Create workflows for any part of your work and department needs with no-code building blocks

Monday.com limitations

• Minor automation or actions can rapidly deplete the allotted number on the Pro plan, potentially freezing the account
• No AI assistant, even for paid plans
• Basic features such as a functional timeline with start/end dates necessitate separate apps, each incurring additional costs

Monday.com pricing

• Free: $0, free forever (Ideal for individual use)
• Basic: $12 per seat per month (Ideal for small teams) 
• Standard: $14 per seat per month (A popular option for those who want to use all the paid features)
• Pro: $24 per seat per month
• Enterprise: Custom pricing (Suitable if you want exclusive features, including tailored onboarding)

4. Smartsheet – Best for merging spreadsheets with project management

An enterprise work management platform, Smartsheet helps capture and track your tasks, resources, and schedules with a rich set of views, reports, and dashboards for project visibility.

Where does Smartsheet differ from other Jira alternatives as a project management tool for software teams, you ask? It combines spreadsheets with visual timelines and portfolio management. It can perform complicated computations, such as project costs, and easily link data across multiple sheets.

I also found that Smartsheet has native digital asset management capabilities, with detailed analytics for asset performance—a missing feature in Jira. 

Another Smartsheet feature worth mentioning is WorkApps, which lets you build no-code apps from task templates or directly from forms, sheets, or external content like Google Docs or Tableau dashboards.

Read more: Software engineering trends of 2024 

With Smartsheet, I could create distinct roles for project managers and assignees to manage how my different team members interact with project data.

For instance, I created a role for project managers to edit the entire project plan and view the metrics dashboard and a separate one for the assignees, which hid the metrics dashboard and only allowed them to edit a report that displayed their assigned work.

For industries such as healthcare, government agencies, and financial institutions where data transparency is of utmost importance, Smartsheet is one of the better Jira alternatives.

Smartsheet best features

• Own and govern your encryption keys to configure, rotate, and revoke access to your company data, whenever required through Amazon Web Services Key Management System (AWS KMS)
• Collate and filter sheet data to highlight key details for easy sharing, exporting, or dashboard integration
• Create personalized PDFs, prepare contracts, automate form processes, and sign documents within the platform

Smartsheet limitations

• Difficulties with integration due to licensing models affect the use of other platforms like BI, Salesforce, and PSCloud
• They’ve launched an AI assistant to analyze data and generate formulas, but it is only available in the Enterprise plan
• The current need to use and then re-save a sheet as a template is cumbersome—a feature to edit and apply changes universally to a “type” of the sheet would be beneficial

Smartsheet pricing

• Free: $0 per month per user (Ideal for freelance project managers) 
• Pro: $9 per month per user (Ideal for teams that want unlimited views)
• Business: $32 per month per user (Ideal for businesses that want unlimited free editors)
• Enterprise: Custom pricing (Suitable if you want enterprise-grade security with ultimate control plan)

Also read: 20 Smartsheet alternatives you can consider today

5. Taskade – Best for real-time workspace for tasks, notes, and video collaboration

Taskade is an AI-powered remote workspace designed to improve productivity and collaboration across any team.

The platform features a unique set of AI agents that can be customized and trained to automate repetitive tasks, such as managing schedules, conducting user persona research, drafting emails, and brainstorming content ideas.

While Jira offers many software development tools for tasks like in-depth project tracking and bug resolution, Taskade isn’t far behind.

For example, when we tried this tool at ClickUp, we could manage an entire operational framework—from daily stand-ups to complex product development sprints—with its real-time collaboration features.

Plus, its customizable templates provide a level of flexibility that Jira’s structured and often rigid setup just doesn’t offer. Taskade’s ‘Instant Demo’ is a unique feature that I particularly used to quickly set up a sample project environment, showing how to add tasks, assign roles, and update statuses. 

This interactive demo helps new users understand the workflow and see how their contributions fit into the larger project structure.

In particular, sales teams can use this feature to show new team members how to set up initial contact with prospects, follow-up, negotiate, and close tasks.

Unlike the other Jira alternatives in this list, which are mainly for project management, Taskade is a productivity platform—a unified workspace for tasks, communication, and notes. Personally, I find this all-in-one approach efficient as it streamlines our workflows and keeps everything we need in one accessible place.

Taskade best features

• Integrate 200+ apps for a seamless workflow across different tools, including GitHub and GitLab for software development and Figma
• Brainstorm, outline, and map out anything for your tasks and notes with an AI writing and task assistant
• Use customizable templates for SOPs, project sprints, and content calendars that align with your brand persona and tone of voice

Taskade limitations

• It offers less flexibility in creating custom databases, tables, pages, and advanced workflows and may, therefore, not meet the specific needs of all users
• It lacks advanced options like adding images and videos or creating complex tables

If you’re wondering which platform to use between Taskade vs. ClickUp, this Reddit review gives a clear distinction between the two: 

Taskade pricing

• Free: $0 (Ideal for users getting started with project management)
• Taskade Pro: $8 per month per user (Ideal for companies that want access to premium features and unlimited AI)
• Taskade for Teams: $16 per month per user (Perfect for teams that want to collaborate across unlimited workspaces)

6. Zendesk – Best for integrating customer service into project management

Zendesk is primarily known as customer service software and a help desk solution rather than a traditional project management tool. However, let’s not dismiss it, as it does offer features that can be adapted to support project management tasks.

Unlike Jira, which is focused on project and issue tracking, Zendesk’s ticketing system consolidates queries and updates from various communication channels, such as email, live chat, social media, and phone calls, into a single platform.

If you’re a software company, these 360-degree insights on all customer interactions can inform your product iterations. This is a workflow integration that Jira’s project-centric approach doesn’t readily support.

When I led multiple development teams in an agency, I regularly used the agent workspace to manage client interactions. When a client raised a query, it appeared in the unified workspace, and I could review each message or communication received one after the other.

This feature is important in businesses where time is of the essence when responding to customers. Additionally, I could link these interactions to relevant project tickets or tasks, ensuring continuity and traceability.

Would I choose Zendesk from among all other Jira alternatives? Like most things in life, it depends! If I run a large organization that only needs something to support CX and doesn’t mind paying a premium for it, I might. Zendesk’s more desirable features are only included in the paid plans (which can be expensive), so smaller organizations might prefer other tools.

Zendesk + ClickUp integration

ClickUp integrates with Zendesk and helps you manage your inbox by quickly creating, linking, and switching between tasks in ClickUp and tickets in Zendesk. You can add ticket information to your ClickUp tasks, assign owners, and set due dates from Zendesk.

Creating or linking a ticket to a task automatically adds a link back to your ClickUp task. Moreover, you can attach any number of ClickUp tasks to a ticket in Zendesk for easy reference to task status and ID.

Zendesk best features

• From schedule adherence to resolution time, see exactly how your team performs; use the findings to fix service problems before they blow up 
• Automatically update task statuses, send notifications, or assign tasks based on specific criteria to streamline project management
• Collaborate with team members on tickets by adding internal notes and simplifying information sharing within the team

Zendesk limitations

• Using Zendesk as the primary customer database requires additional efforts to keep user data synchronized with other systems, complicating the management of multiple contact records per user
• Basic AI agents are available with all paid plans, but the more helpful advanced AI add-on is only available in the Professional and Enterprise plans (and is rather expensive at $50 per agent per month)

Zendesk pricing

• Suite Team: $69 per agent per month (Designed for advanced functionality in customer service)
• Suite Growth: $115 per agent per month (Suitable for managing increasing customer service demands)
• Suite Professional: $149 per agent per month (Ideal for meeting basic customer requirements)
• Suite Enterprise: Custom pricing  (When you have specific customer support needs)

Also read: The most useful Zendesk integrations you can pick

7. Wrike – Best for accommodating complex projects

Wrike provides extensive project management features that cater to various professional needs.

Not only does Wrike have a detailed task management system, but it also stands out for its reports, which are considerably more comprehensive than what’s typically available through Jira. It’s definitely among the Jira alternatives I’d consider.

Additionally, Wrike comes with built-in time tracking, while Jira requires integrations with external tools such as Everhour and Harvest. A standout feature that can save you tons of time is Wrike’s AI for project managers.

When I initiated a new project on the platform, the AI suggested tasks based on historical data and project parameters.

I could review these suggestions, adjust them as needed, and approve them to populate the project plan. This AI feature that they call Wrike Work Intelligence is helpful if you’re looking to speed up your project planning phase without overlooking or forgetting the necessary tasks that your team has to undertake.

Wrike + ClickUp integration

ClickUp integrates with Wrike, allowing you to transition to ClickUp smoothly and hassle-free. 

Wrike best features

• Set up rules, triggers, and auto-approvals for time-consuming manual tasks, such as changing deadlines and sending reminder alerts
• Automatically share in-context information with chosen approvers and use forms to simplify the sign-off request process
• Replicate everyday tasks like time-off and reference requests with Blueprints, which are task templates for new work items
• Generate and summarize content, predict risk, get task suggestions, and build automation with AI

Wrike limitations

• Wrike has limited storage capacity, which poses challenges for projects involving large files, such as video production and publishing; this limitation restricts the ability to proof and review large video files directly within the platform
• The vastness of Wrike’s features can be overwhelming for new users

Wrike pricing

• Free: $0 per month per user
• Team: $9.80 per month per user (Ideal for small to medium-sized teams)
• Business: $24.80 per month per user (Suitable for medium to large organizations)
• Enterprise: Custom pricing 
• Pinnacle:  Custom pricing (Apt for companies seeking Jira alternatives with advanced customization)

Not keen on Wrike? Here are 15 Wrike alternatives to try

8. Notion – Best for managing content-centric workflows

Next on my list of Jira alternatives is Notion, a productivity and note-taking application. It offers tools for planning, organizing, and collaborating on work and personal projects within a single platform. You can build your custom dashboard and add task lists, timelines, progress trackers, and team member assignments.

Notion excels as a collaborative documentation tool for service management. It enables teams to create and share project-related documents such as meeting minutes, FAQs, and best practices in a joint project wiki.

I found that the biggest difference between Notion and Jira was that:

What particularly impressed me on the platform was Notion AI. When I began a new document, I immediately tapped into its AI-powered templates, which covered a range of needs—from drafting SOPs to doing SWOT analysis.

I could select the template that best suited my needs and start fleshing out details within a few minutes, saving me time and effort instead of creating them from scratch. 

This feature is especially beneficial when facing Notion’s overwhelming versatility. If you feel swamped, simply starting with a template can ease the burden. The assistant guides you through the process interactively, making it less daunting.

If you’re a part of the creator economy or a small design agency that juggles multiple clients, Notion’s project management functionality is ideal for you. You can create separate pages for each project or client to store objectives, brand guidelines, and timelines.

Notion best features

• Create and maintain a flexible and interconnected wiki system within your workspace; organize company knowledge, documentation, and processes
• Create new tasks or transform line items into scheduled tasks, add checkboxes to bulleted lists, create Kanban boards, and change ideas into pending actions 
• Use Notion AI to parse large datasets for insights, autofill documents with action items, generate summaries and insights from content and brainstorm ideas for content and campaigns

Notion limitations

• The ‘markup’ feature needs to be more fully enabled to enhance the editing and annotation capabilities within the design portfolios
• Tables in Notion are not user-friendly, and I struggled to format or work with complex data 

Notion pricing

• Free: $0, free forever
• Plus: $10 per month per user (Perfect for small teams to plan and get organized)
• Business: $18 per month per user (Suitable for companies using Notion to connect several tools and teams)
• Enterprise: Custom pricing 

Add Notion AI add-on to your workspace for $8 per month per user.

Also read: We compared Notion AI vs. ClickUp AI to help you choose

9. ProofHub – Best for all-in-one project planning

Proofhub has features that simplify task management, collaboration, and project tracking. It gives you a consolidated view of tasks, goals, and progress.

On using ProofHub, I found it stands out from many Jira alternatives with additional tools like task lists, timesheets, and in-app chat. Its resource management and proofing features are valuable for teams requiring feedback and approvals on creative work.

On the other hand, Jira has task lists typically managed within the context of issues or tickets. Timesheets aren’t a native feature, although they’re available in Jira Software with the Tempo add-on. Moreover, Jira doesn’t have a built-in chat feature; discussions can only happen as comments on issues, which makes communication tedious.

In addition, ProofHub’s ‘Announcements’ feature is helpful for keeping all project stakeholders informed and engaged. For example, I could create separate channels for ‘Development Updates,’ ‘Marketing Launches,’ and ‘Project Milestones.’

The software also allowed me to create a targeted announcement whenever a critical update or piece of information needed widespread attention (for example, a change in project scope).

I liked that I could schedule automated announcements for regular updates, such as weekly progress or daily tips—for instance, reminders about weekly meetings or project submission deadlines could be set to go out at specific times each week.

ProofHub encourages teams to interact with the announcements by asking questions or providing feedback directly in the comment section of each post. This helps build an engaging two-way communication stream.

In my opinion, this is one of the better Jira alternatives for teams that work on highly collaborative projects, such as marketing campaigns and events.

ProofHub best features

• Create multiple versions of the same document, share each version with team members and external stakeholders, and store all version histories securely on the platform for future reference
• View and modify existing tasks or add new ones with the Table view that gives you a spreadsheet-style experience
• Track all user actions with the ProofHub activity log; see what has happened in different accounts in real-time

ProofHub limitations

• ProofHub does not natively generate invoices for logged time, relying instead on integrations with external platforms like Freshbooks and Quickbooks for this function
• The Gantt chart is difficult to set up and use effectively, leading to increased time spent trying to make it work as needed

Here’s what a G2 review has to say about ProofHub: 

ProofHub pricing

• Essential: $50 per month
• Ultimate Control: $99 per month (Suitable for remote work management with a special demand for custom access roles)

Both packages involve flat pricing and no per-user fee.

Also read: 10 great alternatives to ProofHub

10. Assembla – Best for integrating version control

Next up on our list of possible Jira alternatives is Assembla. It is a cloud-based solution that offers web-based version control and source code management (SCM) software. It makes product development easier by integrating project management and SCM, catering to software development teams.

Besides facilitating task tracking, issue management, and project coordination with a centralized ticketing system, Assembla helps manage projects visually with card walls and boards that update automatically.

Using the tool made me realize it’s apt for dev teams that prioritize efficient code management, collaboration, and collaborative software development in their projects.

You don’t want a complicated tool like Jira? Not a problem. 

Assembla has many native, built-in features that you’ll find useful.

For example, it has powerful version control features, so you can efficiently manage code repositories. Assembla also supports Git, SVN, and Perforce.

But this isn’t the case with Jira. You need to integrate the software with Git repositories using plugins like Bitbucket or GitHub to link commits, branches, and pull requests directly to issues in Jira. Similarly, plugins are available to integrate Jira with SVN and Perforce repositories. However, Jira’s price increases with more plugins.

On Assembla, I could see how easy it is to organize projects into spaces that serve as dedicated workspaces for teams. Each space can have its tools, repositories, and members, so my team could manage multiple projects simultaneously while keeping them separate and organized.

There’s also a provision for tracking tasks, bugs, and issues within projects. I could create, assign, prioritize, and track tickets through custom workflows, ensuring that work was managed efficiently and transparently.

Another reason why we included it in our list of Jira alternatives is that Assembla offers multiple views with Gantt, Scrum, Waterfall, and Kanban boards, so software development teams can handle their tickets how they prefer.

Assembla best features

• Visualize your projects and team member dependencies with common Agile methodologies like Kanban, Scrum, Gantt, Waterfall, Kanban, and SAFe framework 
• Use the built-in wiki and documentation feature to build and maintain project documentation, knowledge bases, and user guides
• Set important dates for a group of major tasks in various phases of project execution via Milestones

Assembla limitations

• Not enough support for document search, command line tools, and scripting for CI/CD pipelines
• The platform does not offer sufficient options for quickly organizing views, resulting in a cluttered interface for both individual users and teams
• No AI assistance yet

Assembla pricing

• Assembla Cloud: $21 per month per user billed annually (Suitable for teams that require a cloud-based version control system without custom deployments)
• Assembla Enterprise: Custom pricing (Suitable for larger organizations with specific security, compliance, or integration needs)

11. Pivotal Tracker – Best for agile software development & real-time collaboration

Pivotal Tracker is a project management tool you can consider among Jira alternatives for managing agile software development projects. It facilitates collaboration by providing a shared view of project priorities and aiding in task prioritization.

Unlike Jira, it features backlog lists and hotfixes, automatically calculates your team’s velocity, and predicts project completion dates. I found that its interface revolves around the concept of ‘stories’ that progress through various stages of development.

One key feature of Pivotal Tracker is its guided tracker tool, which breaks down work into manageable portions so you can plan iterations. This approach suits teams adhering closely to Agile principles.

When setting up a project in Pivotal Tracker, I started by creating user stories. Each story represented a capability or a business requirement. I detailed what needed to be done, why it was necessary, and any acceptance criteria that defined when the story was completed.

I liked using the drag-and-drop interface to adjust team priorities as needed.  I also got the option to automatically group stories into iterations based on estimates and our team’s velocity. 

This would help you plan your work in manageable chunks and set realistic expectations for your accomplishments in each iteration. If you’re a product team, this tool feature will give you greater control over code quality, as you can continuously improve with an iterative process.

Pivotal Tracker best features

• Find what you need with Boolean search, which can handle complex queries involving multiple conditions
• Drag and drop mock-ups, slides, and other files from your computer, or attach them from Google Drive for easy sharing
• Take a close look at project health through iterations, epics, releases, and more, with reports designed to share insights at the cellular level

Pivotal Tracker limitations

• Pivotal Tracker is not ideally suited for Kanban-style management due to its lack of native support for viewing tickets as swimlanes, forcing teams to use workarounds like labels and custom views
• In scenarios with large sprint workloads, the vertical listing of tickets can become excessively long, making it difficult to manage and view
• There is no AI integration yet, which to me was a huge disappointment

Pivotal Tracker pricing

• Free: $0 (Ideal if you have up to five users and collaborators for a project)
• Enterprise: Custom pricing 

Read more: 10 alternatives to Pivotal Tracker

12. Bugzilla – Best for managing software builds

Bugzilla, by Mozilla Foundation, is an open-source tool for managing the software development process, particularly bug tracking. While it’s a bug tracking tool, Bugzilla also has agile project management capabilities that make it one of the possible Jira alternatives you could look at. 

Unlike Jira, which was originally designed for bug tracking but has since evolved into a comprehensive project management tool, Bugzilla focuses exclusively on bug tracking and offers features like advanced query capabilities, email notifications, and customizable bug fields.

One key feature of Bugzilla is its powerful search facility, which enables the creation of specific and detailed queries. In addition to a basic Google-like bug search, you can perform time-based searches and other precise queries.

I also liked the detail with which I could report bugs in Bugzilla, including steps to reproduce, environment information, and relevant screenshots.

I could categorize and prioritize bugs based on type and severity, ensuring critical issues receive immediate attention. Tracking the progress of each task, from being assigned to resolution, was also easy.

If I were a project leader in a software development team, I’d definitely use Bugzilla to reduce the likelihood of unresolved or recurring bugs impacting the final product. It supports various operating systems like Windows, UNIX, etc.

Bugzilla best features

• Get a colorful view of any patch associated with a bug with Patch Viewer; integrate it with Bonsai, CVS, and LXR to get more insights
• Stay informed about updates to your team from Bugzilla with the ‘Watch’ feature
• Save all your searches in the footer of every page for future use
• Schedule emailed bug reports at your preferred frequency

Bugzilla limitations

• The user experience is not intuitive, complicating navigation and ticket management
• While images can be attached easily, the platform does not support attaching videos, which limits the types of media that can be shared and documented
• I hope they introduce some AI features someday

Here’s what a Redditor has to say about Bugzilla and its bug reports: 

Bugzilla pricing

The tool is free of cost.

Also read: Bug-tracking tools you can use instead of Bugzilla

13. Hygger – Best for prioritizing and managing projects

Hygger is an agile project management tool that uses Kanban boards and Gantt charts for modern teams. It is a good option for teams that are looking for simpler Jira alternatives.

Unlike Jira’s overwhelming customization options, which are handy if you want to tailor almost every aspect of your workflow, Hygger strikes a balance by offering essential features without unnecessary complexity.

Picture a high-pressure product launch with tight deadlines and multiple stakeholders involved. By utilizing Hygger’s prioritization tools, you can just focus on what truly matters.

The Eisenhower Box, for instance, helped me categorize all our project tasks into four quadrants—urgent and important, important but not urgent, urgent but not important, and neither urgent nor important.

This feature brought much clarity and focus, as I could distinguish between tasks that demanded immediate attention and those that could be scheduled for later. Naturally, it helped minimize stress and maximize productivity.

Hygger also offers an option for running sprints on the platform with story points/hours estimation, burndown charts, velocity, and other metrics.

Since Hygger integrates with popular tools like Slack and Google Drive, my team was able to communicate and share files smoothly. This makes it a good tool for running marketing campaigns and product development projects.

Hygger best features

• Use swimlanes to highlight the most critical tasks on the board and quickly address blockers 
• Receive advanced reports about project costs, team performance, and overall progress
• Stay in constant touch with your team members through two-way comments, push notifications, and document sharing

Hygger limitations

• The platform lacks options for adding custom text areas within tasks; more fields like hypothesis, acceptance criteria, solution, and considerations would be beneficial for diverse use cases
• The mobile app doesn’t support sprint boards, which could be essential for certain types of teams

Hygger pricing

• Free
• Standard: $9 per month per user
• Enterprise: $18 per month per user (Ideal for large teams requiring advanced project management capabilities)

Also read: How Hygger compares with ClickUp

14. Backlog by Nulab – Best for issue tracking

Backlog is another all-in-one software development project management tool we would include among worthy Jira alternatives. It combines project management, bug and issue tracking, and version control in one place.

One of Backlog’s highlights is its integrated code repository, supporting both Git and Subversion code management. You can view code changes alongside relevant project tasks, which helps create transparency in workflows. I loved that it lets you log problems via email.

In projects with multiple software development teams, referencing tasks directly in commit messages keeps all stakeholders updated on progress without separate tracking systems.

When we tried Backlog, not only could we effortlessly notify the right people about updates, but we also had the option to standardize issue creation with customizable templates. So you won’t have to create SOPs and guidelines for issue resolution.

Given the critical nature of software development and the need to protect intellectual property, managing workspace access is crucial. Fortunately, Backlog has robust access control capabilities in place, which proved immensely reassuring for our team.

Backlog offers another feature that Jira doesn’t have—an integrated wiki. This way, you can create and maintain project documentation within the same platform. The wiki supports Markdown formatting, providing flexibility and ease of use for creating rich content.

Overall, I suggest using Backlog as a Jira alternative if you’re looking for a high level of transparency and efficiency in your software development processes.

Backlog best features

• Plan and schedule tasks, identify potential bottlenecks, and track progress over time with Gantt charts
• Quickly convert emails into actionable tasks or issues within Backlog without leaving your email client
• Create and configure workflow stages, transitions, and statuses to match your team’s unique processes and methodologies

Backlog limitations

• User management settings are too complex
• Custom fields and templates can only be set at the project level, not for the entire organization
• Custom notifications, such as alerts for unchanged ticket status after a specified period, cannot be set up
• They don’t have AI for even basic things like automation

Backlog pricing

• Free: $0 per month (Up to 10 users) (Ideal for small projects)
• Starter: $35 per month (Up to 30 users) (Apt for growing teams)
• Standard: $100 per month (Unlimited users) (Suitable for mid-sized companies)
• Premium: $175 per month (Unlimited users and projects) (Perfect for larger companies)

15. Bitrix24 – Best for communication

Bitrix24 is much more than a project management tool. We included it in this list of Jira alternatives since it integrates features including CRM, task and project management, time tracking, attendance management, communication tools (such as video conferencing and chat), and website-building capabilities.

Bitrix24 is a social enterprise platform preferred by businesses that manage all operations of different departments within a single platform. 

For starters, the live chat feature proves invaluable in product development and marketing. It enables real-time communication, providing updates and receiving feedback directly connected to the project tasks. This immediate feedback loop and task adjustment ensures no requirement is overlooked.

One feature that I found quite compelling was Bitrix24’s social intranet. It includes personalized profiles, likes, and comments, building a collaborative team culture where team members can engage in discussions directly linked to project tasks.

This feature kept everyone informed on our team and boosted morale by celebrating milestones and achievements.

I feel that by consolidating all aspects of complex project management and communication, Bitrix24 significantly reduces the friction associated with coordinating complex projects, making it a top choice for dynamic and interactive project environments.

Bitrix24 best features

• Create four task roles: the person who assigned the task, the person it was assigned to (assignee), those helping the assignee (participants), and those who need to be in the loop (observers)
• Summarize every comment under every task to understand what it’s about and its current status using CoPilot, Bitrix24’s AI assistant
• Easily set up an online meeting from a chat, task, calendar event, or even a lead or a deal in Bitrix24 CRM

Bitrix24 limitations

• Useful help articles and customer support are only available on certain paid packages, limiting access for users on lower-tier plans
• The messaging system integrates with WhatsApp but functions more like a call center app; chats close automatically after a period of inactivity, and reopening a conversation with the same person is not possible

Bitrix24 pricing

• Basic: $61 per organization per month (Ideal for small businesses)
• Standard: $124 per organization per month (Suitable for medium-sized businesses)
• Professional: $249 per organization per month (Ideal for larger businesses requiring advanced project management and integration features)
• Enterprise: $499 per organization per month (Aimed at large enterprises needing high-level customization, security, and support)

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Navigate Your Options and Choose a Jira Alternative Wisely

Each of the Jira alternatives here, in its own way, can effectively manage your projects. However, the key to selecting the right agile project management tool lies in understanding your specific needs, such as:

• What types of visualizations and reporting are you looking for?
• What kind of roles and permissions do you want for your team?
• Which teams are going to use the project management software? 
• How extensively do you need to integrate with other tools and services?

These are crucial considerations because investing in a project management tool is a significant commitment for your business.

The wrong choice can disrupt your operations and be costly. So, I encourage you to do a thorough research on Jira alternatives. Take advantage of free trials or explore free plans to make an informed decision that aligns with your project needs.

Or, you can skip the search and choose ClickUp. No, seriously.

ClickUp’s Project Management Software has the right features to help you standardize and scale project management best practices as you want.

To start experiencing its benefits right away, sign up for ClickUp for free.

Everything you need to stay organized and get work done.

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