Aligning the key elements of customer needs and product vision is crucial. Product releases must strike a fine balance between both. However, the most thoughtfully planned release could go unnoticed without clear and detailed release notes. Writing great product release notes is an art, but release notes software can simplify the process.
This tool lets you record and share details about a product release by leveraging features like centralized documentation and collaboration. It streamlines communication, saves time, and ensures everyone, including key stakeholders, is on the same page.
Weighing the pros and cons of various tools to choose the most feature-rich one that best suits your product management team is not easy, especially with so many options in the market.
Here is a list of the best release notes software to help you choose the one that works for you.
10 Best Release Notes Software in 2024
Summarize this article for me pleaseWhat Should You Look for In Release Notes Software?
Release notes software is an invaluable tool for a product management team to help them document the latest software updates, new features, bug fixes, feature enhancements, and more. It ensures everyone on the team is updated on new software product changes.
When choosing a release notes software, consider the following features before making an investment:
- User-friendly interface: Get a release notes tool with an intuitive dashboard and feature accessibility that allows easy navigation and data documentation
- Automated notifications: Look for tools that send automated platform and email notifications of key changes to team members and stakeholders
- Optimized release note management: Opt for software that automates the creation, management, and distribution of release notes
- Feedback collection: Choose software that enables gathering user feedback to facilitate continuous progress and user satisfaction with the product
- Integrations: Ensure compatibility with third-party platforms to improve communication and collaboration
- Customization options: Seek a release notes tool with customizable features to tailor the release notes process and templates to your team’s specific needs
- Collaboration tools: Prioritize platforms that offer robust collaboration tools to help you improve teamwork and streamline communication
Also Read: Essential templates for product managers
Summarize this article for me pleaseThe 10 Best Release Notes Software to Use in 2024
Here’s our carefully made list of the most impactful product release notes software that every product team must check out:
1. ClickUp
ClickUp is a powerful tool for managing projects, improving work efficiency, and helping teams stay organized. This release notes software solution consolidates various activities for a development team, from handling tasks to enabling streamlined communication and collaboration.
ClickUp’s project management solution for software teams provides seamless management from planning, prioritizing, and designing the product to releasing it and reporting on projects.
One of the standout features of this product is its capability to offer extensive integrations (over 1000 and counting) that help streamline collaboration and enhance productivity across teams and users.
Development teams looking to streamline their release note process can use the dedicated ClickUp Release Notes Template to communicate effectively with customers, partners, and stakeholders about product updates. This template provides a clear and concise way to summarize changes, improvements, and more.
This fully customizable Docs template gives you the same structure that ClickUp’s product teams use to create and share release notes internally and externally.
Create a project for each release note and assign time-bound tasks to specific owners. Brainstorm content ideas for the release note, and craft it yourself or take help from the integrated AI Writer for Work. It can automatically create the perfect release notes based on the talking points and tone you want to incorporate. You can then use the rich text editor in Docs to format the note and add helpful metadata as annotations.
With version tracking, built-in spelling and grammar checks, and AI on standby should you need help improving sentences, release notes are no longer an effort to produce.
Apart from automating technical documentation by creating release notes with ClickUp, teams can also use other core features to increase workforce productivity.
ClickUp best features
- Note down meeting discussions, work on development project plans, and create requirement docs with ClickUp Docs. Edit files together with colleagues in real time with advanced editing features and maintain visual updates to keep everyone in the loop
- Access a range of ClickUp Templates and choose the ones that suit your team’s requirements. They offer pre-defined structures for various project types, tasks, or documents like release notes. Eliminate the need to build everything from scratch with customizable templates—save time and effort
- Improve team collaboration, brainstorm ideas together, and annotate them, regardless of geographical barriers, with ClickUp Whiteboards. Consolidate all your team’s creativity on an interactive canvas
- Structure development projects and strategize concepts easily with ClickUp Mind Maps. Establish connections between the ideas and the tasks by using drag-and-drop features. Create new workflows, adjust existing ones, and enhance project organization
- Increase productivity and streamline workflows for your development team by automating redundant and regular tasks. Choose from a range of pre-built ClickUp Automation or customize them to simplify routine tasks, optimize project handovers, and more
- Gain a comprehensive overview of development tasks and projects with ClickUp’s adaptable Kanban Boards. Effortlessly manage tasks through drag-and-drop functionality, customize sorting and filtering, and optimize your Kanban framework for seamless project management
ClickUp limitations
- Users may find the interface confusing during the initial days
ClickUp pricing
- Free Forever
- Unlimited: $7/month per user
- Business: $12/month per user
- Enterprise: Contact for pricing
- ClickUp Brain: Add to any paid plan for $5 per Workspace member per month
ClickUp ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.7/5 (4,000+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (9000+ reviews)
2. GitHub Releases
GitHub Releases simplifies the launch and distribution of new software products for developers. It enables coders to write product release notes and share them effortlessly. This tool also allows version tracking, change management, and attachment of release notes and assets.
Using GitHub Releases, your team can write release notes manually or generate them using a default template via automation. Although typically stored as text files sans images, this may seem daunting for non-developer stakeholders.
Nevertheless, it’s a great tool for facilitating collaboration among team members and receiving release notes updates. It maintains a detailed project history, making it a good option for developers for release management.
GitHub Releases best features
- Collaborate with multiple people on a project
- Discover and analyze code vulnerabilities using reporting and tracking tools
- Leverage robust version control for streamlined documentation
- Automate the process of developing, testing, and launching a product
GitHub Releases limitations
- Does not include explanatory images in release notes, making it hard for non-technical users to comprehend everything
- Lacks a proper formal release note writing structure
GitHub Releases pricing
Releases are included in your main GitHub plan. Pricing for GitHub is as follows:
- Free Forever
- Team: $4/month per user
- Enterprise: $21/month per user
GitHub Releases ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.7/5 (2,000+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.8/5 (5000+ reviews)
3. Jira
Jira is a highly customizable tool that’s a favorite among developers. It’s notable in the industry for including features to create release notes, organize and assign tasks, and support teams staying in sync. In Jira, a release is also known as a version.
Additionally, Jira offers other robust capabilities for developers, like tracking, reporting, and analytics. These tools help you gain insights into the software product development process, monitor progress, and make changes, if needed, to the new product
Jira has a user-friendly interface and includes visual aids (screenshots, code snippets, and explanations) in its release notes to help you not get lost along the way. And the best part? It keeps you updated with email notifications of release right within the app itself.
Jira best features
- Create release notes in various formats
- Incorporate supporting documents with the release notes
- Work in parallel with colleagues on various projects and releases
- Handle everything hassle-free—from creation to distribution of release notes
Jira limitations
- Doesn’t support sharing configurations between development projects
- Can be slow and unresponsive at times
- Customization of the user interface is not always possible
Jira pricing
- Free Forever
- Standard: $7.16/month per user
- Premium: $12.48/month per user
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
Jira ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.3/5 (5,000+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (14000+ reviews)
Also read: 10 Best AI Tools for Note-Taking in 2024
4. Confluence
Confluence can be used for creating various types of content, including engaging release notes.
You can also add multimedia and other dynamic content to make your work attention-grabbing and professional. Share Office docs, images, PDFs, and more with advanced collaboration tools.
For streamlined file management, Confluence lets you customize templates, access instant previews, enable automated versioning, execute full-text search, and even pin comments.
The release notes in Confluence follow a typical bullet-oriented approach, highlighting key points and linking to relevant information whenever possible.
But the interesting part is that the release notes include a ‘more details’ section. When you click it, you get insights into the thought process, the minute details that tell what happened in the background.
Confluence best features
- Collaborate and share ideas with teammates using a whiteboard
- Leverage version control to manage content as needed
- Organize large volumes of documents and access them all in one place
- Use the wide range of templates and macros to speed up your work
- Protect documents with customizable access control and permissions
Confluence limitations
- Exporting documents such as PDFs can be glitchy
- Text-based search doesn’t work optimally
Confluence pricing
- Free Forever
- Standard: $4.89/month per user
- Premium: $8.97/month per user
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
Confluence ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.1/5 (3,000+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (3000+ reviews)
5. GitLab Releases
GitLab facilitates the creation and monitoring of releases, along with release notes, either through its user interface or by defining release tasks within a CI pipeline. This system effortlessly generates markdown-formatted release notes, summarizing all changes between the previous and current releases.
It is a comprehensive DevOps platform that allows coders to seamlessly navigate through all project tasks—from initial product planning and source code management to ongoing tracking and security measures.
GitLab equips your team to develop a quality software product by enabling collaboration among all members throughout all development phases, which is a significant convenience.
GitLab Releases best features
- Use reporting, tracking, task management, and collaboration features to increase productivity
- Automate building and testing code via multiple third-party integrations
- Apply release version controls to keep specific releases restricted to authorized persons
GitLab Releases limitations
- Does not include many crucial features in the free plan
- Late response by the support team, as mentioned by some users
- Interface is confusing and slow for users who are not familiar with version control
GitLab Releases pricing
- Free Forever
- Premium: $29/month
- Ultimate: Contact for pricing
GitLab Releases ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.5/5 (800+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (1000+ reviews)
6. Bitbucket
Bitbucket is a platform designed for software teams to manage code effectively in a structured manner. Its core functionalities were developed to facilitate team collaboration and integrations, increase security, ensure scalability, and support multi-language.
A crucial functionality of the Bitbucket tool is Git Changelog. It automates the generation of release notes from the Bitbucket server. It is AI-powered, which makes analyzing software updates a piece of cake.
It extracts critical product development-related data, such as bug fixes, performance enhancements, and functional adjustments, and compiles them into insightful release notes for all users.
Also read: How to Write a Good Bug Report
Bitbucket best features
- Secure unlimited code using private storage
- Detect bugs in code using Jira integration
- Leverage robust security features to keep information protected
- Trigger email notifications when a release is created
Bitbucket limitations
- Doesn’t have a very intuitive user interface
- Notification functionality is not very streamlined
Bitbucket pricing
- Free Forever
- Standard: Custom pricing
- Premium: Custom pricing
Bitbucket ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.4/5 (900+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (1000+ reviews)
7. Trello
Trello, which is primarily known for seamless project management, uses a Kanban board modality that allows users to create project boards, task lists, and cards to monitor progress (start to end) effectively.
It has a user-friendly interface, supports collaboration among team members brilliantly, and keeps everything organized, whether managing tasks, handling projects, or workflows. Plus, it offers many other useful features like task assignments, due dates, labels, and comments.
When it comes to writing a release note, Trello has a Notes and Docs power-up feature, which is AI-powered. Users can leverage it to create detailed release notes by adding files, images, tables, and more.
What’s best about Trello’s release notes is you can easily create them all inside your Trello cards on boards. This means you don’t have to deal with the hassle of switching tools.
Trello best features
- Create and manage multiple task lists easily with drag-and-drop functionality
- Share release notes with others using shared and public Boards
- Track tasks and avoid delays using the deadline functionality in Trello cards
- Attach images, links, and videos in Trello cards to enhance readability and understanding of tasks
- Export release notes in PDF and other formats
Trello limitations
- Critical features such as timelines and calendars are not included in the free version
- Lacks reporting and time-tracking tools
Trello pricing
- Free Forever
- Standard: $6/month per user
- Premium: $12.50/month per user
- Enterprise: $17.50/month per user
Trello ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.4/5 (13,000+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (23,000+ reviews)
8. Asana
Asana is another great tool for developers to consider when writing release notes. The tool helps teams connect beyond geographical boundaries and carry out their work, managing everything from day-to-day tasks to bigger projects, all in one place.
Asana does not have a native release generator, but you can use AI prompts to create AI-generated task summaries and descriptions and plug them into a combined release notes document.
With the Asana for Slack integration, the task summaries can help teams stay updated right in Slack. This lets them have a brief overview of task progress (feature updates, bug fixes, etc.) without leaving their Slack workspace.
Asana best features
- Streamline work processes using multiple integrations
- Collaborate and communicate with teammates in real time
- Track tasks of every user on the board to be updated
- Create AI-generated task summaries for release notes
Asana limitations
- Does not include built-in time-tracking functionality
- No native release notes creation tool
- Hard to customize, as stated by some users
- Has limited customer support
Asana pricing
- Free Forever
- Starter: $13.49/month per user
- Advanced: $30.49/month per user
- Enterprise: Contact for pricing
- Enterprise+: Contact for pricing
Asana ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.3/5 (9,000+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (12,000+ reviews)
9. Google Docs
Google Docs, part of Google Workspace, is yet another versatile platform to add to our list of tools for creating release notes. It enables seamless collaboration for your team in real time.
With features like text formatting, embedded links, and images, developers can effectively communicate new features, product enhancements, or bug fixes in their product release notes.
The Google Docs release notes template simplifies the writing process by organizing information under categories, ensuring clarity. Developers can customize the template to meet specific project needs by adjusting titles, categories, and descriptions.
Another crucial capability of Google Docs is controlling version history. It’s a smart feature that enables users to track previous and current changes and even switch to older versions as often as necessary.
Google Docs best features
- Collaborate with teammates in real time and edit docs with feature-rich editing tools
- Autosave your work without worrying about losing content
- Set access controls and permissions to customize document access
Google Docs limitations
- A limited number of templates to choose from
- Unless you specifically enable offline access, the documents only work online
- No desktop app
Google Docs pricing
- Free Forever (Also included in the Google Workspace plans)
Google Docs ratings and reviews
- G2: N/A
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (28000+ reviews)
10. Microsoft Word
Microsoft Word is a key part of the Microsoft Office suite and is widely recognized as a top-notch word-processing software. It is also the last addition to our list of release notes software.
The primary purpose of this software is to help users create, edit, and format text documents accurately. So, when it comes to writing detailed product release notes, MS Word is known to do a decent job. The software’s formatting options can structure release notes effectively by incorporating elements like headings, bullet points, and tables.
Although MS Word lacks built-in release notes templates, users can download templates online and customize them manually to suit specific needs. This can be viewed as a downside of using MS Word to create release notes, as it makes users do all the heavy lifting.
However, it offers other notable features to compensate, such as tracking changes, commenting, and version history. Additionally, MS Word’s integration with the other tools of the Microsoft Office suite allows seamless collaboration and sharing of documents.
Microsoft Word best features
- Format and edit text easily with advanced editing capabilities
- Use various templates to write different types of content
- Get started easily with its simple user interface
Microsoft Word limitations
- Causes formatting issues when docs from other word processing tools are accessed in MS Word
- No auto-saving functionality
- Data loss reported by many users due to glitches or abrupt closing of docs
- Though free to start with, it eventually becomes an expensive tool
Microsoft Word pricing
- One-time-purchase: $159.99
Microsoft Word ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.7/5 (1,000+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (2000+ reviews)
Looking for inspiration? Here are some excellent release notes examples for you!
Summarize this article for me pleaseMake ClickUp Your Go-to Release Notes Software
We covered the ten best tools for creating engaging release notes. To help you with your research, we highlighted some of their core features, limitations, and relevance based on trusted ratings from review platforms.
However, evaluating each tool for its merit and determining whether it meets your team’s needs could be exhausting and time-consuming.
Wish to skip that? Try ClickUp!
ClickUp is an all-in-one product development and management platform. It helps in software development, managing projects, writing release notes, marketing, and more.
With ClickUp, there’s no need to worry about paying for unnecessary tools just to generate release notes.
Sign up on ClickUp for free to streamline tasks and increase productivity!
Everything you need to stay organized and get work done.
