13 Best Jira Alternatives to Try in 2023 (Free and Paid)

Last updated on March 4th, 2023 at 01:53 am

Finding the right project management tool can be a daunting task, especially if you are looking for a Jira alternative. It is one of the most popular tools on the market, but its complexity and lack of features can make it difficult for users to navigate. 

Fortunately, there are plenty of options available that provide numerous benefits such as lower costs, time tracking, to-do lists, superior flexibility, comprehensive issue tracking, and team collaboration. 

ClickUp

ClickUp is an all-in-one productivity tool that offers features and integrations similar to Jira, such as customizable Spaces and Views. Its killer feature is ClickApps, which allows users to fully customize their Spaces.

To help users understand the app, ClickUp offers a wide range of templates and onboarding videos. 

ClickUp is a strong competitor offering complete customization with simple statuses, custom notifications, tags, color themes, and more. It also supports multiple platforms for tasks, documents, goals, and chat.

ClickUp Features

• It allows users to assign comments
• Multiple assignees
• Custom statuses 
• List view
• Board view
• Box view
• Gantt Chart
• Calendar
• Table
• Embed view for better organization
• templates for faster task creation and tracking of progress
• Drag and Drop tasks
• Due Dates
• Notepad and Goals/Sprints for software development teams

ClickUp pricing

FREEBIE ALERT! 

Clickup has a free version. Pricing starts as follows: 

Unlimited Plan: $5 per member per month if paid yearly, $9/month paid monthly

Business Plan: $12 per member per month if paid yearly, $19/month paid monthly

Business Plus Plan: $19 per member per month if paid yearly, $29/month paid monthly

Enterprise Plan: Contact them. 

monday.com

Monday.com is a Work OS software that provides an intuitive and customizable dashboard to help teams manage their projects more efficiently. It offers easy-to-use automation, real-time notifications, app integrations, data visualization, and comprehensive analytics.

With its user-friendly interface featuring animations, pop-up text, and color schemes, Monday.com is an ideal alternative to Jira for task management, dependency tracking, and app integrations.

With Monday.com’s powerful tools and features, teams can easily track progress on projects in real-time while automating mundane tasks to save time and effort. This makes it easier for teams to collaborate effectively and stay organized no matter how complex the project may be.

monday.com Features

• Unlimited docs
• Templates 
• 5 GB storage
• Reporting and analytics
• Chart view

monday.com Pricing

Individual Plan: FREE! 

Basic Plan: $8/seat/month yearly, $10/seat/month paid monthly

Standard Plan: $10/seat/month yearly, $12/seat/month paid monthly 

Pro Plan: $16/seat/month paid yearly, $20/seat/month paid monthly

Enterprise Plan: Call them. 

Zoho Sprints

Zoho Sprints is an Agile project management software that helps teams stay organized and build great products. This platform gives you the ability to write down user stories, assign estimations, hold agile meetings, and track hours worked via timesheets.

Zoho Sprints also provides features such as automatic time capture, customizable templates, AES-256 encryption, export reports in XLS or CSV, and more. Additionally, Zoho Sprint is a feature-rich CRM that enables users to manage tasks and deals efficiently by providing surveys and analytics built around the customer journey.

Zoho Sprints Features

• Task management
• Time tracking
• Project feed
• Team chat
• Scrum Board
• Epic Management
• Timesheet Management
• Agile Reports
• Scrum Meetings
• Project and Sprint Dashboard
• Project Feed and Activity Stream
• iOS and Android Mobile App

Zoho Sprints Pricing

Starter Plan: $1/user/month paid yearly, not available in monthly

Elite Plan: $2.50/user/month paid yearly, $3/user/month paid monthly

Premier Plan: $5/user/month paid yearly, $6/user/month paid monthly

Basecamp

Basecamp is an effective project management software that allows for efficient delegation of tasks and monitoring of progress, even if your team is located in different time zones.

It is a simple-to-use, no-code platform for teams across different departments to collaborate on projects. There are action templates, group chat, notification via email, built-in time tracking, the ability to assign priority levels to tasks, and generates data reports. This makes it easy for teams to stay organized and on top of their projects.

With its user-friendly interface and wide range of features, Basecamp is an excellent choice for a Jira alternative. 

Basecamp Features

• Custom branding 
• Templates
• Group chat
• Inbox notification
• Time tracking that is built-in
• Tasks can be assigned prioritization levels
• Data report generation
• Integration with third-party apps like Slack or Dropbox

Basecamp Pricing

Basecamp has a FREE trial. After that, expect to pay $11 per user per month. 

Even better? Expect to pay only for those who work in your organization. All the clients, contractors and other outside people? Free. 

Backlog

Backlog is an online project management tool designed for developers. It provides a simple user interface that allows you to host your code securely in the cloud with private repositories. With Backlog, you can easily keep track of tasks, receive push notifications, attach files, and more.

Backlog also provides powerful collaboration tools such as discussion boards and comment threads so teams can easily communicate with each other. It also has an integrated chat feature that allows users to quickly message each other without having to leave the platform. With its robust features and affordable pricing plans, Backlog is an excellent choice for any team looking for an efficient way to manage their projects.

The free plan offers basic features such as task tracking and file attachments, while the paid plan includes additional features like private repositories and push notifications. With the starter package starting at $35/month, Backlog is a great choice for small teams looking for an efficient development workflow. It also offers integration with other popular tools such as GitHub and Slack, allowing you to manage your projects from one place.

Backlog Features

• Up to 100GB storage
• Board
• Subtasking
• Gantt charts
• Burndown chart
• Issue templates

Backlog Pricing

The pricing starts from $35 per month for up to 30 users, making it an affordable alternative to Jira.

Free Plan: Freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Starter Plan: $35/month, $350/year

Standard Plan: $100/month, $1000/year

Premium Plan: $175/month, $1750/year

Pivotal Tracker – Product planning and management tool

Pivotal Tracker is an agile project management tool that helps software development teams collaborate more effectively. It provides a single view of the entire project, allowing users to easily search and focus on specific tasks. It also offers features such as release management and third-party tools & built-in integrations.

Pivotal Tracker Features

• Notifications

• Mentions and following
• API
•  Tasks
• File sharing
• Integrations with Slack, Jira, and Zendesk, among many, many others. 

Pivotal Tracker Pricing

Pivotal Tracker offers a free trial and a free package. Pricing is as follows.

Free Plan: Freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Startup Plan: $10/month flat rate

Standard Plan: $6.50 per person per month

Enterprise Plan: Contact them for details.

Bugzilla – Open source tracking system

Bugzilla is a free, open-source bug-tracking tool created by the Mozilla foundation. It offers powerful search capabilities, a customizable user interface, and integrated email capabilities.

Bugzilla is a great choice for organizations looking for a free bug-tracking system that can be easily customized to meet their specific needs. The tool also provides access control features so that users can restrict access to certain areas of the system.

Additionally, it has optimized database performance and integrated email capabilities which make it easier to track bugs and collaborate with team members.

Bugzilla allows administrators to look up the starting state of new issues and configure which transitions require comments – something not available in JIRA.

Bugzilla Features

• Advanced Search Capabilities
• Email Notifications 
• Bug Lists in Multiple Formats
• Scheduled Reports 
• Reports and Charts
• Duplicate Bug Detection
• File/Modify Bugs By Email
• Time Tracking
• Private Attachments and Comments
• Move Bugs Between Installations
• Save and Share Searches

Bugzilla Pricing

FREEBIE ALERT! FREEBIE ALERT! IT’S FREE, TOTALLY FREE! 

Asana

Asana, a well-known JIRA alternative, is used to focus on tasks and projects needed for business growth. It can handle whatever task you give it, whether it be staying organized, staying on track, or meeting deadlines.

Using Asana’s project management software, you can easily track the status of any project and stay up-to-date on its progress in real-time, so that you are able to make sure strategic initiatives stay on track and provide detailed reports. This also helps you efficiently organize and manage workflows, projects, etc., so that you can stay on top of your team’s progress.

With its user-friendly interface and powerful features such as task automation and real-time updates, Asana is an excellent choice for managing projects online without relying on email.

Asana Features

• Priorities, deadlines, tasks, and detail sharing all in one place
• Kanban boards
• Sync Asana to all your devices, desktop, and mobile
• 100+ integrations
• Reporting and analytics

Asana Pricing

Basic Plan: FREE!

Premium Plan: $10.99 per user, per month billed annually/$13.49 billed monthly

Business Plan: $24.99 per user, per month billed annually/$30.49 billed monthly

Trello

Trello is a productive project management tool created to help teams collaborate and stay organized. Its interactive yet lightweight structure makes it simple to use and its user interface offers an efficient way to monitor projects. Trello’s intuitive interface conveniently gives users the freedom to organize and prioritize processes in whatever way they find best.

However, it doesn’t have all the same features as Jira software.

Although it won’t have advanced features like story points or issue tracking, you can use the boards to make backlogs, plan a sprint, or organize the next iteration.

For a smaller software team who wants to manage numerous projects, switching to Trello instead of Jira could be beneficial due to the reasonable cost.

A great aspect of Trello is its power-ups that allow you to include burndown charts or Gantt charts.

Start off with the features required, then add more as your business expands; no need to purchase them beforehand.

Trello Features

• Power-ups, such as Gantt charts, Jira integration, Google Sheets integration, Microsoft Teams, and much more. 
• You can automate almost any action in Trello. 
• Pre-built templates, templates, templates! 

Trello Pricing

Free Plan: Free, what else? 

Standard Plan: $5/month paid yearly, $6/month paid monthly.

Premium Plan: $10/month paid yearly, $12.50/month paid monthly.

Enterprise Plan: $17.50/month, $210 billed yearly per user.

Kanbanize

Kanbanize is another well-known agile project management program. It helps teams organize important projects and tasks by utilizing simple kanban boards.

It has customizable Work In Progress limits, filters, role-based access, and fields so you can have a personalized view of work task progress.

Utilize kanban boards to create distinct customized workflows, or use the timeline workflow function for a change of pace.

It can help you monitor the time you spend on tasks or projects and track your performance through analytics.

The user-friendly boards and integrated business rules make it easy to visualize and automate complex workflows. It also has native apps for iOS and Android so you can access your projects from anywhere. With Kanbanize, you can easily track progress on tasks, assign tasks to team members, set deadlines, create reports, monitor performance metrics, and much more.

Kanbanize Features

• Unlimited users
• Custom views and workflows
• Unlimited projects

Kanbanize Pricing

$149/month billed annually, $179/month billed monthly. 

Wrike

Wrike is a powerful project management software that offers a variety of features to help teams collaborate and stay organized. It provides multiple database views with admin features for managing permissions, allowing users to customize their project view permissions.

With Wrike, teams can collaborate in real-time and allow the public to view their progress, so everyone is informed.

This cloud-based collaboration software is suitable for teams that use either the waterfall or agile methods, as well as other project management models.

Wrike allows customizable workflows and helps you increase productivity by providing Gantt charts, delivering detailed reports, and enabling your team to track progress.

Wrike Features

• Assigned Comments
• Multiple Assignees
• Custom Statuses
• Gantt Chart
• Templates Drag and Drop tasks
• Due Dates 

Wrike pricing

Wrike offers a free trial with no credit card. If you decide to go for a paid plan, expect to pay: 

Free Plan: FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Team Plan: $9.80 per user per month

Business Plan: $24.80 per user per month

Enterprise Plan: Contact them

Pinnacle Plan: Contact them

Axosoft

Axosoft, now acquired by GitKraken, is a Scrum, bug tracking, and project management tool that provides Agile teams with the tools they need to stay organized and on track.

It offers features such as flexible workflow customization, automated business rules and analytics, and integrations with popular tools for the easy sharing of information. This makes it an ideal choice for teams looking to streamline their processes and ensure that tasks are completed in a timely manner.

Axosoft Features

• Drag and drop
• Workflow management 
• Daily Scrum
• Integrations with Slack, GitHub, and Zendesk, among many others. 

Axosoft Pricing

Axosoft offers a free trial. Axosoft’s pricing varies on the number of team members you have. 

For example, expect to pay $105/month paid yearly or $126 paid monthly with 5 team members. This starts at 5 team members and ends at 2000.

VivifyScrum

VivifyScrum is an Agile project management tool that helps teams to manage their projects with ease. It offers a range of features such as Scrum and Kanban boards, task & issue template creation, burndown chart, assigned comments, time tracking and team management.

With VivifyScrum, teams can easily keep track of their progress and ensure that tasks are completed on time.

VivifyScrum Features

• Scrum board
• Agile board
• Manage projects
• Kanban
• Invoicing
• Real-time reporting and analytics

VivifyScrum Pricing

VivifyScrum offers a 7-day free trial. After that: 

Starter Plan: (up to 10 members) $96/year for the whole team

Standard Plan: (11-50 members)$4.80 per user per month billed annually

Growth Plan: (51-100 members) $4 per user per month billed annually

Enterprise Plan: (100+ members) Contact them

Why Look for a Jira Alternative?

When it comes to project management software, Jira is a popular choice for many teams. However, the software can be hard to learn, with costly plans for larger teams. This has led many companies to look for an alternative that offers more features at a lower cost.

1. Steep Learning Curve

Jira is a project management software that has become increasingly popular in recent years. However, it is not for everyone.

It has a steep learning curve and is not suitable for all users. It was designed primarily for software development teams, so those who are not familiar with the software may find it difficult to use. 

The user interface is also quite complex, which can make it difficult to navigate and understand how to use the features effectively.

Additionally, some users have reported that the program can be slow or unreliable at times. For these reasons, Jira may not be the best choice for those who do not have experience with project management software or who are unfamiliar with programming languages.

2. No multiple assignees

The lack of multiple assignees on tasks in Jira can be a major hindrance to efficient project management.

When there are multiple people working on a task, it is important to have an accurate record of who is responsible for what. Without the ability to assign multiple people to a task, teams must resort to making one person the official assignee and adding the other team members as watchers.

This leads to two separate lists: the official Jira assignee and the actual team who is working on the issues.

This can be inefficient and messy, as it requires extra steps for team members to keep track of who is responsible for what.

It also makes it difficult for managers or supervisors to quickly assess who is working on what tasks, as they must look at both lists separately.

Additionally, this system does not allow for easy reassignment of tasks if someone leaves or becomes unavailable; instead, all watchers must be removed and a new assignee added manually. All these factors make it difficult for

3. Migration

Jira is one of the most popular project management tools out there, but migrating from Jira to another platform can be difficult. The knowledge base pages and Atlassian Jira Marketplace only offer solutions for importing into Jira, not exporting. This means that users have to manually export their data in order to migrate it to another platform.

Furthermore, Atlassian is now forcing users to migrate to their cloud products as they are discontinuing their server products. This means that users who are still using the server version of Jira will need to find a new project management tool and migrate all of their data over before the end of 2021. This can be a daunting task for many users, as it requires them to learn a new system and transfer all of their data over without any errors or omissions.

4. Pricing

Jira’s cloud pricing is expensive when compared to other project management software, making it difficult for businesses to justify the cost. The free plan has many drawbacks, such as limited users and storage space, and the standard plan ($7/user per month) offers limited features. This makes it hard for businesses to get the most out of their investment in Jira.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Jira is a powerful project management tool but it has its drawbacks. It can be slow and unreliable at times, lacks the ability to assign multiple people to tasks, and is expensive when compared to other project management software.

For those looking for an alternative to Jira, there are many options available that offer similar features at a lower cost. These alternatives may not have all the bells and whistles that Jira has, but it can take a less of a chomp out of the wallet and budget. 

In addition, you need to consider the factors about your team. 

• What is the preferred project management methodology? 
• How does your team communicate? 
• What are the essential features that are absolutely needed as opposed to the features that are just nice to have? 
• What about migration preferences? 

Keep these in mind when choosing your Jira alternative. 

What are your favorite Jira alternatives? Which do you recommend? Let us know in the comments. 

Author Bio

Dani Lehmer is the Founder and Head Honcho of Dani Digs In.

She is a Quality Assurance Analyst and blogger whose natural curiosity allows her
to dig in (pun intended) to help people build their businesses and satiate curiosity
in regard to data science, analysis, and crypto.

Connect with Dani on LinkedIn.