If you’re currently experiencing the side effects of using Jira, then this list is for you. 👀
We’ve done the work for you and put together a list of 15 of the best Jira alternatives for project management and task tracking.
Each solution has its own strengths, so you can find the one that fits your project and budget needs. Our list includes cloud-based solutions, open source solutions, self-hosted solutions, classic workflow tools, and more. Read on to discover the perfect fit for your team!
Read on to find the best Jira alternative for your team.
This Article Contains:
What is Jira?
Atlassian’s Jira is certainly a valuable tool. This agile project management software empowers your group to communicate through basic channels with ease.
Read our full review of Jira here.
Jira software:
- Integrates with external systems
- Provides an overview of team activity
- Lets you establish permission settings
- Lets you complete scrum projects
- Allows you to customize important workflows
- Incident investigation for release management
- Provides bug tracking features
- You can even add innumerable custom fields.
There’s no doubt Jira is quite a flexible project management tool.
However, looking for Jira alternatives is prudent for a number of reasons.
What Features to Look for in a Jira Alternative?
When looking for a Jira alternative, there are several key features you should consider. Here are some features to look for:
Project Planning and Scheduling: A good Jira alternative should offer robust project planning and scheduling tools. This includes the ability to create and manage tasks, set deadlines, allocate resources, and track progress.
Collaboration and Communication: Look for features that facilitate collaboration and communication within your team. This can include features like commenting, @mention functionality, file sharing, and real-time messaging.
Agile Methodology Support: If you follow agile project management methodologies, it’s important to choose a Jira alternative that supports agile practices. Look for features such as kanban boards, scrum boards, backlog management, and burndown charts.
Customization Options: Flexibility is key when choosing a project management tool. Look for a Jira alternative that allows you to customize workflows, fields, and dashboards to match your team’s specific needs.
Integration Capabilities: Consider the integration capabilities of the Jira alternative with other tools and software that your team uses. Look for integrations with popular tools like Slack, GitHub, Zendesk, and others.
Reporting and Analytics: A good project management tool should provide comprehensive reporting and analytics features. Look for options to generate customizable reports, track team performance, and gain insights into project progress.
User-Friendly Interface: The ease of use is an important factor when choosing a Jira alternative. Look for a tool that has a clean and intuitive interface, making it easy for your team members to navigate and use effectively.
15 Best Jira Alternatives in 2023
1. ClickUp
Get ready to streamline your workflow, boost productivity, and unify your teams under one roof with ClickUp—the ultimate Jira alternative.
ClickUp is not just a Jira alternative—it’s an all-in-one project management tool and the ultimate team collaboration solution for engineers and a game-changer for your entire organization. 🤝
With its flexibility, advanced features, and user-friendly interface, ClickUp empowers product and development teams to adopt an agile mindset, streamline workflows, collaborate effectively, and ship faster than ever before. And as an organization, ClickUp can help you make better business decisions, scale operations, and achieve all your business goals. ⚡️
Let’s take a deeper look into what exactly makes ClickUp the superior choice over Jira. 👀
| ClickUp | Jira |
|---|---|
| 1. All-in-one project management solution with advanced features | 1. Need add-ons to add project management functionality |
| 2. Affordable plans with feature-rich free plan that includes custom views, Docs, and more—no hidden costs | 2. Added expenses due to the need for add-ons |
| 3. User-friendly interface with flexible features—no coding needed | 3. Complex and rigid user interface with a steep learning curve, especially for non-technical users and teams |
| 4. Dashboards with real-time reporting that provide a high-level overview of all your work at a glance and improve project visibility across teams, stakeholders, and executives | 4. Lacks real-time reporting features, which often keeps teams and leadership in the dark about important project updates |
Now that you’ve learned what makes ClickUp the smarter choice over Jira, let’s chat about how ClickUp can help your product, QA, and development teams!
- Improve the process from ideation to execution: Capture everything on one page, build a proof of concept, get feedback, and create tasks from their working model with ClickUp Whiteboards; use this guide to ClickUp Whiteboards to get started
- Track project progress with ease: Use the built-in and robust Gantt chart view or your choice of custom work views in ClickUp to improve your agile software development and track project progress, and assigned comments, a simple yet effective communication tool to move work forward without delays
- Effectively communicate updates and improve project visibility for all: Easily build a custom Dashboard with real-time reporting for any business scenario with widgets, such as agile burndown charts, pie charts, and more, to get a high-level overview of your work across your Workspace or use ClickUp Docs to publish release notes and share big updates with your organization
- Monitor and track KPIs alongside your work: Track KPIs and stay on track to hit your goals with clear timelines, measurable targets, and automatic progress tracking with ClickUp Goals
- Speed up feedback loops and enhance team collaboration: Streamline the feedback process and give Agile teams a platform to conduct retrospectives with Whiteboards or Mind Maps
- Organize your work with a robust and structured Hierarchy system: Organize your work with a robust Hierarchy structure that allows teams to customize Spaces, Folders, Lists, and even colors to help differentiate projects
But here’s the best part: ClickUp isn’t just limited to engineering and technical teams. It’s an all-in-one solution that caters to various departments and teams within your organization.
With ClickUp, you can centralize your work, enhance communication, and achieve greater efficiency across all teams. Whether it’s for your marketing, design, HR, product, development, or any other team, ClickUp can be customized to fit your unique needs.
So say goodbye to fragmented tools and complicated processes. 👋 Simply use ClickApps to customize any part of ClickUp according to your needs, complex workflows, and personal preferences.
This type of versatility and flexibility allows for effortless adoption across different teams, fostering seamless collaboration and boosting productivity throughout your entire organization.
Not to mention, teams across the organizations can finally work together all under one roof and work the way they need to without disrupting other teams’ workflows. 😌
ClickUp key features
- Fully customizable platform: Customize every part of ClickUp and configure it to fit your needs with Custom Fields, custom statuses, ClickApps, and more
- Over 15 custom views: Choose from over 15 ways to view your work, including Timeline, Board, Gantt chart, Whiteboards, and even a Form view to use to capture customer feedback
- Drag and drop functionality: Easily and quickly make changes across your ClickUp Workspace. Simply drag and drop items with no technical skills needed
- Automation capabilities: Speed up any processes with pre-built automation and set up custom recipes with ClickUp automation—no coding needed
- Integration capabilities: Connect ClickUp to over 1,000 work tools to consolidate your apps and streamline your workflow
- Available across all devices: Available for desktop, mobile (Android and iOS app), voice, and browser platforms
- Affordable pricing plans: Get more advanced and flexible features and stay within budget with ClickUp
- Templates for every team and use case: Choose from over 1,000 templates for every use case and team, including software development templates
Pricing
- Free Forever: Feature-rich free plan
- Unlimited: $7 per month/user
- Business: $12 per month/user
- Enterprise: Contact for pricing
Customer ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.7 out of 5 (7,000+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7 out of 5 (3,600+ reviews)
2. Binfire
Binfire is a comprehensive project management tool that your engineering and software team can use.
It provides task management features, a kanban board, an interactive Gantt chart, etc. It also includes the full set of collaboration features needed to manage small and large projects.
Binfire creates a virtual office where team members can work remotely and collaborate with each other effectively. It has been used for project collaboration for large remote teams on three continents.
Most of the engineering team working on Binfire’s projects are located in multiple locations. For this reason, remote work and team collaboration are embedded in Binfire’s genes.
Binfire key features
- Workspace management
- Personal dashboard
- Workspace calendar
- Interactive whiteboard
- Project template
- Project status report
- Interactive Gantt chart
- Activity stream
- Burndown chart
Binfire pricing
Binfire has no free plans, and the paid plans start from $6.50/ user per month.
Binfire customer ratings
- Capterra: 4.8/5 (20+ reviews)
- G2: 4.1/5 (10+ reviews)
3. Basecamp
Basecamp is quite effective at steering those with different roles toward a common goal.
This will work if your team has been shoehorned into Jira, even though you’re not a developer or handling bug tracking and issue tracking.
If you’re looking for software that helps your group finish a project together, this may be the software for you. It provides a pay-as-you-go pricing model without any sort of contract.
There’s an annual package for those who desire the system’s full range of features.
The cost is not based on the number of users, so you can involve as many people as necessary.
Jump right in, and you’ll find that Basecamp allows delegation of tasks in an efficient manner and monitoring of progress with ease.
It doesn’t matter if your team is located in different time zones.
Basecamp allows for remote project management that dramatically improves your project management team’s work agility and productivity.
Looking for Basecamp alternatives? Check out these top 10 Basecamp alternatives!
Basecamp key features
- Messaging platform
- Universal search
- One hub for documents and file sharing
- Simple task management (great for to-do lists)
- Automatic check-in questions for standups
- A portal for clients and customers to view tasks and communicate
- Group chat & direct messages
- Task reporting
Basecamp pricing
Basecamp has a free personal plan, and the paid plan costs $99/month for unlimited users.
Basecamp customer ratings
- Capterra: 4.3/5 (9,000+ reviews)
- G2: 4.1/5 (4,600+ reviews)
Thinking of choosing Basecamp?
Why not first take a look at how Basecamp compares to ClickUp?
4. Pivotal Tracker
If you’re looking specifically for agile project management tools, then consider Pivotal Tracker. Your team will get a shared look at priorities to help everyone decide which task to tackle next.
Pivotal Tracker is one of the main Jira competitors, and presents backlog lists, features, and hotfixes to help your team pick and choose what to work on next. You’ll also see how fast your agile software development team is working, with a team velocity calculated by story points completed in each iteration.
Pivotal Tracker even helps you plan your iterations with its guided tracker tool that lets you break off manageable amounts of work.
Pivotal Tracker key features
- Story points
- Estimate and prioritize work together
- Automated consistency tracker
- Workspaces for managing multiple projects
- Dashboard reporting for time and trends
Pivotal Tracker pricing
Pivotal Tracker is free for up to five users. The paid plans for more users start at a $10 monthly flat rate.
Pivotal Tracker customer rating
- Capterra: 4.3/5 (110+ reviews)
- G2: 4.1/5 (90+ reviews)
Check out these Pivotal Tracker alternatives!
Before you move forward with this tool, check out our Pivotal Tracker and ClickUp comparison to see how much more ClickUp can offer you!
5. Asana
Asana has emerged as quite the popular project management tool for good reason.
One of the many Jira-similar tools, it facilitates communication and collaboration across the entire project management team.
Asana features include multiple workspaces, the ability to add assignees and attachments to tasks, task tracking, real-time collaboration, and the ability to comment on tasks.
Users can even see their co-workers’ tasks and priorities to boot. This is the type of transparency every organization and an agile project needs.
You can even track progress of projects and tasks from an array of devices and browsers.
There’s no need to rely on third-party apps or email for corporate communications when you have Asana running.
Let your team take advantage of Asana, and you’ll find it streamlines workflows, facilitates task management, and improves diverse aspects of project management. Asana even provides a savvy tech team that can be contacted through numerous methods.
Want a closer look at how Asana stacks up against Jira?
Asana key features:
- Multiple workspaces
- High-level activity feed
- Attachments for easy reference
- Calendar view
- Real-time chat and collaboration for every task
- Project permissions
- Custom fields
- Board view for agile project management
Asana pricing
Asana offers a free plan. Their paid plans start from $10.99/user per month.
Asana customer ratings
- Capterra: 4.4/5 (10,000+ reviews)
- G2: 4.3/5 (8,200+ reviews)
Compare Asana against more tools!
6. Shortcut
Shortcut (formerly Clubhouse) has emerged as a very popular Jira alternative because of its simple, intuitive interface while still speaking Jira’s language, if that makes sense.
In other words, you’ll get the smart functionality of Jira without its cluttered and outdated user interface.
Everything starts with a story, where you can add tickets, bugs, or a chore to form your story.
It also has lots of easily digestible charts for burndowns, estimates, and more.
Shortcut key features
- User-friendly interface
- Stories for collaboration and documentation
- Reporting dashboards
- Progress reports
- Extensive API that also lets you create open source projects
- Integrations for Github, Bitbucket, Slack and more
- New knowledge base feature in beta
Shortcut pricing
Clubhouse offers a free plan. Their paid plans start at $8.50/user per month.
Shortcut customer ratings
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (300+ reviews)
- G2: 4.3/5 (130+ reviews)
7. Trello
If you need a simpler board view than Jira but like the cards and status updates, then maybe you can try Trello.
Interestingly enough, Trello is also owned by Atlassian, the same company that owns Jira.
But it’s not quite Jira Lite.
You won’t get complex things like story points or issue tracking, but you can set up different boards for backlogs, your sprint, or the next iteration.
Switching to Trello from Jira may be good for a smaller software development team that wants to manage multiple projects at a fair price.
What’s nice about Trello are their power-ups that let you add burndown charts or a Gantt chart.
You can add the features you need without paying for them at the beginning. It grows as you grow.
All of this in an intuitive interface that won’t kill your spirit!
The major problem with Trello?
It locks you into that board view without considering how lists or a time view may be better for some users. Also, cards can get quite crowded if you have any comments, making something like ClickUp a better choice for that.
Don’t believe us? Learn about top Trello alternatives and see why you should choose ClickUp over Trello.
Trello key features
- Tags, labels, and categories
- Drag and drop cards
- Progress charts
- Set reminders
- Kanban board view
- Assign tasks
- Lots of integrations
Trello pricing
Trello pricing ranges from free to $10/user per month.
Trello customer ratings
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (90,000+ reviews)
- G2: 4.4/5 (11,500+ reviews)
Compare Trello and ClickUp & Trello and Asana!
8. ProofHub
If you’re looking for a Jira alternative that gives you added flexibility in managing your teams and projects, ProofHub is a good option.
It lets you stay in ultimate control of your teams, tasks, projects, and communications by providing you with a central source of truth. You get the flexibility in task management with simple to-do lists, agile workflows, and kanban boards.
There are also Gantt charts to help in project planning. The in-built chat app works great to bring all your office communications in one place. It also has an online proofing tool that simplifies the review and feedback sharing process.
You get a dedicated space for real-time discussions and custom reports to better project and resource management.
ProofHub also integrates with third-party apps like Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, and Box to give you a central place to access all your data.
One of the best things about this agile project management software is its easy-to-use interface that makes onboarding smooth. There’s no learning curve, and you can get used to it in no time.
ProofHub key features
- To-do lists
- Custom workflows and kanban boards
- Gantt charts
- File management
- Time tracking
- Online discussions for teams and clients
- Advanced search for quick finds
- Announcements to recognize good work
ProofHub pricing
Simple, no per-user pricing. The Ultimate Control plan with unlimited users and projects available at $89/month (billed annually).
ProofHub customer ratings
- Capterra: 4.4/5 (40+ reviews)
- G2: 4.5/5 (35+ reviews)
9. Kanbanize
Kanbanize is another popular agile project management tool. It lets teams visualize key initiatives and break them down into work items by combining easy-to-use kanban boards.
It provides Work In Progress limits, filters, role-based access, and custom fields, so you and your teams can effortlessly visualize work the way you want.
Use their kanban boards to create different custom workflows or the timeline workflow feature to switch it up.
It also lets you track time to see hours spent on tasks or projects along with analytics to monitor performance.
Kanbanize key features
- Custom workflow analytics to measure performance
- Timeline planner to create roadmaps
- Create and manage multiple workflows
- Visualize performance and progress with cumulative flow diagrams, cycle time heatmaps, etc.
- Set no-code automations
- Card links to create work relationships
Kanbanize pricing
Kanbanize has a standard plan that costs $149/month.
Kanbanize customer ratings
- Capterra: 4.8/5 (90+ reviews)
- G2: 4/5 (10+ reviews)
10. Notion
Notion is a free Jira alternative. This project management and collaboration tool let you take notes, create documents, manage projects, create tasks, employ the kanban method, etc., all from one place.
If you want to go a step further, it can be a good CRM tool too.
At first glance, it’s pretty simple and easy to use. Yet, some users have found it a bit intimidating solely because of the numerous ways you can use it.
Is Notion what you need? Check out some Notion alternatives and compare Notion to OneNote to find out!
Notion key features
- Multiple database views including list, boards, table, calendar, etc
- Admin features to manage permissions
- Public view to make your notion document publicly accessible
- Real-time collaboration on pages and database
- Tons of templates for HR, design, project management, etc.
Notion pricing
Notion’s personal plan is free. The paid plans range from $4/month to $8/user per month.
Notion customer ratings
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (300+ reviews)
- G2: 4.5/5 (180+ reviews)
See how ClickUp does in comparison to Notion.
11. Wrike
Wrike is a Jira-like project management tool for mid-sized and enterprise-level teams that helps simplify planning, gain visibility, and streamline workflow.
It’s cloud-based collaboration software suitable for any team using the waterfall, agile, or any other project management model.
From Gantt charts to delivering robust reports to monitor team progress, Wrike lets you fully customize your workflow and empower your team members to be more productive.
Wrike key features
- Customizable dashboards
- Workload charts for resource management
- Support Time tracking
- Has team collaboration and budgeting features
- Organized dashboards in a single view with drag and drop functionality
- Easily builds various reports using in-built templates
Wrike pricing
Wrike offers a free plan, and the paid plans start at $9.80/user per month.
Wrike customer ratings
- Capterra: 4.2/5 (1,660+ reviews)
- G2: 4.2/5 (1,400+ reviews)
However, before you go ahead and sign up for this tool, compare Wrike with ClickUp to see how much more ClickUp can offer!
12. Bitrix24
Bitrix24 is a social enterprise platform that combines project management, CRM, and communication into one place.
Whether you run a small team or a large one, Bitrix24 makes task management easy and collaboration smooth.
At the same time, you can track performance with detailed task management metrics.
It’s pretty flexible as well, so different departments can use Bitrix24, such as sales and marketing, management, HR, legal, customer service, etc.
Want to know more about Bitrix24? Check out our comprehensive Bitrix24 review.
Bitrix24 key features
- Offers intranet, chat, video conferencing, calendars, workspaces, tasks, and internal communication features
- Manage system with attendance management, work reports, workflow automation
- Advanced document management system
- Supports work time tracking
- Offers numerous responsive templates
Bitrix24 pricing
Bitrix24 has paid plans starting from $24/ month for two users. They also offer a free plan.
Bitrix24 customer ratings
- Capterra: 4/5 (450+ reviews)
- G2: 4.1/5 (350+ reviews)
13. Linear
Linear is an issue tracking tool made for software development teams. Linear is easy to use and helps teams plan their projects to make better decisions and execute faster.
Linear has automatic workflows that work with Git integrations to create a high-performance routine. Linear is best for smaller teams who’s projects don’t require extensive tracking.
Linear key features
- Automated workflows
- Git integrations
- Custom views
- Advanced filters
- Powerful search capabilities
Linear pricing
Linear offers a free plan, and their paid plans start at $8.00/user per month.
Linear customer ratings
- Product Hunt: 4.5/5 (50+ reviews)
14. Backlog by Nulab
Backlog is a project management tool that focuses on prioritizing and tracking work. Backlog has a user friendly interface that development teams use improve team collaboration.
Backlog key features
- Git hosting & private Git repository
- Gantt charts
- Wikis
- Custom fields
- Bug reporting templates
Backlog pricing
Backlog plans start at $29.17/ month for up to 30 users and go up to $145.83/ month for unlimited users.
Backlog customer ratings
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (70+ reviews)
- G2: 4.5/5 (150+ reviews)
15. Monday.com
Monday.com is often considered as a flexible alternative to Jira for agile businesses. It’s known for being user-friendly and suitable for various types of teams and industries. Monday.com offers features that make work management easier, allowing users to customize and view reports effortlessly.
Monday.com key features
- Open API architecture
- Native integrations
- Detailed Reporting
Monday.com pricing
Monday’s free plans start at $8/month per user for the basic plan.
Monday.com customer ratings
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (70+ reviews)
- G2: 4.7/5 (8000+ reviews)
Why Look for a Jira Alternative?
1. Hard to learn and not meant for all
Take a moment to consider the massive onboarding effort required to learn this nuanced project management software.
The learning curve is steep, to say the least.
If those who have used the Jira software are honest, they’ll admit the software is clunky. They’ll also testify that using this program on a daily basis is somewhat frustrating.
And to top it off, it’s not meant for all.
Jira was built with only software development teams in mind.
As a result, there will be a significant disconnect when others use a different program and expect compatibility with a project management team that relies on Jira. Additionally, Jira is quite pricey, and you’ll see why so many are looking for alternatives to the software.
2. Outdated interface
The program has plenty of inefficiencies and often proves overly complex.
Project management teams that have tried the customization options find the process to be cumbersome. Those looking for a way to enhance productivity will find Jira’s user experience design unnecessarily complex.
It takes considerable time and effort to figure out how to use this interface efficiently.
3. No multiple assignees
Furthermore, when tasks require more than one person, Jira’s weaknesses really stand out.
The software does not permit multiple assignees.
In practice, people become watchers on the task, chipping in their comments and working on issues. However, this is messy and inefficient because you end up with two lists: the official Jira assigned person and then the actual team working on the issues.
4. Migrating to another app isn’t easy
If you want to move on from Jira to another free project management software, things might just turn a bit complicated.
You see, “complicated” is Jira’s middle name.
Why?
Just try to explore their knowledge base pages to find an exporting solution. It’ll only show importing solutions, no exporting.
Or it’ll send you to the Atlassian Jira Marketplace, where you get apps for Atlassian products. There too, you’ll find plugins that help migrate from other apps to Jira, not the other way around. 😨
And to make things worse, they’re now forcing you to migrate to cloud since they’re saying bye-bye to their server products!
5. Pricing isn’t flexible
Jira’s pricing is a real deal-breaker.
- It’s expensive when compared to several easier, much better project management software, which implies it can become even more costly as your team grows
- The free plan has many drawbacks like no capacity planning, automation limited to one project, and basic dependency management
And even when you upgrade from the free plan to the standard plan ($7/user per month), there’s hardly any difference. You’ll have the same site limit of one, automations limited to a single project, and basic features remain the same.
ClickUp: The Best Jira Alternative for Your Team
Jira is one of the most complicated project management tools around, rivaling only Microsoft Project (or Microsoft Planner) in its complexity.
Try ClickUp today and take control of your tasks!
Our intuitive interface makes it easy to manage projects and teams of any size. Plus, our advanced features let you customize workflows, automate processes, and track performance like never before. So get started!
If you want to choose one of the best Jira alternatives available, try ClickUp for free today!
Join the conversation
Comments for this post are currently closed.
I switched from JIRA to clickup and am in love with the multitask toolbar! Makes my job a lot easier...
We're so happy you're loving the platform, Karen! Please reach out to help@clickup if any questions come to mind, we're always happy to help :)
ClickUp is just easy to use and full of features. I love the agile release cycles, knowing the products roadmap, your customer support, its not overly complex like JIRA but still is pretty powerful
Coming from a long time JIRA user - ClickUp is (refreshingly) simple yet still effective. Well done ClickUp team
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