Jira is a popular project management tool for IT professionals by Atlassian. It has been used by teams for planning, bug tracking and agile project management.
To be fair, it is a fantastic tool but not all kinds of audiences find it convenient to use.
With simplicity becoming a norm, users unfamiliar with the platform may look for alternatives to Jira.
Reasons why users may prefer Jira alternatives
1. Absence of multiple assignees
One of the biggest reasons people look for alternatives is the absence of multiple assignees. Despite offering customizations, Jira doesn’t provide the option to add multiple assignees, which is what most organizations require.
2. Complex user interface
Even though Jira has tried to stay updated with newer tools, rather than improving workflow it has made the user interface tough to understand for users. It requires them to spend time learning how to work their way through the platform.
3. High Price
Jira offers a free plan and you can switch to a subscription model with $10/user/month up to 10 team members, but the charges don’t end here as a majority of upgrades are required to be in the Atlassian marketplace and charged separately.
Best Alternatives to Jira for Agile Project Management
In order to help you find alternatives to Jira, we have compiled the list of 15 best Jira Alternatives for agile project management.
1) ClickUp – One of the best Jira Alternatives
Pricing: Free/ $9/ month (premium)
It is a fantastic alternative to Jira and can be described as a tool to replace it all. According to the developers of ClickUp the tool has been developed in order to remove the chaos at work for a typical user. It has an intuitive interface with rich features and puts it ahead of other tools. Use it to manage your notes, reminders and calendars. With ClickUp, you can easily create and manage tasks easily.
Features:
- Use tags to organize work
- Create story points
- Get custom status for process management
- Offers list view, board and calendar view
- Ensure proper time tracking with due dates
Pros
- Simple UI to ensure unhindered workflow
- Rich in features to provide teams with the necessary tools to manage projects
- Collaborate with team members effectively and boost productivity
- Offers a free plan with unlimited users
Cons
- The steep learning curve for first-time users
- Doesn’t allow exporting to workspaces
2) Asana – Easy to use Jira alternative
Pricing: Free / €13.49/monthly (premium)
Undoubtedly one of the best Jira alternatives. Asana was founded by one of the co-founders of Facebook in 2008. It offers intuitive boards which are easy to use and over 100 integrations. Use it to bring all your requirements such as files, emails and tickets at a single place.
An interesting feature about Asana is the rainbow unicorn which hits the screen when you have completed a task.
Features:
- Manage documents with ease
- Ease to use interface
- Availability of Gantt Charts
- CRM reports.
- Collaboration features
- Comment on tasks and get reminders
- Time tracking and Portfolio management
Pros
- Simple and intuitive interface
- Easy to create tasks and assignments
- Get accurate cost estimates for projects
- Get free trial to build an understanding
Cons
- Difficult to disable email notifications
- Costly for smaller teams when compared with Jira
3) Axosoft – Plan tasks easily
Pricing: Free trial/ $126/month for 5 users
It is another fantastic tool for developers and delivers a number of features such as agile bug, incident tracking and project planning. From the initial steps to project completion, you can complete the entire process without any trouble. Using Axosoft, you can manage your projects efficiently and always track your work progress.
With the tool, structure your tasks easily and distribute assignments within your team.
Features:
- Availability of time tracker
- Project planning and Collaboration tools
- Track bugs
- Use Gantt charts and Kanban boards
Pros
- All in one solution for project management
- Saves you from bounding between different project management apps
- Super robust analytics reports
- Export data from excel sheets easily
Cons
- The interface can get messy
- Lacks in source code management
- High on price as compared to other alternatives
4) Proofhub – Ensure proper workflow with this Jira Alternative
Pricing: $45/month
Easy to use Jira alternative to help your team reach the same page. It comes with project discussions and integrated group chats for Uploading, storing, and sharing files easily.
Ensure proper workflow and customize them easily.
Features:
- Perform Project discussions easily
- Analysis reports, to-do list and tasks
- Kanban boards and Gantt charts
- Time and milestone tracking
- Customizable templates
Pros
- Collaboration features to make your team productive
- Get useful reports with proper time and cost estimates
- Straightforward interface
- Get customer support
Cons
Steep learning curve
Difficult to navigate user interface
5) Teamwork – One of the easiest to use Jira Alternatives
Pricing: Free/ $9/month (premium)
If Jira can’t provide a simple backlog, then Teamwork is a reasonable alternative. It allows you to manage team projects and schedules without any hassle so that you don’t miss any deadline again. The team can increase productivity using the tool and bring in greater clarity to the projects.
Features:
- Time tracking tool
- Use Gantt charts and Kanban boards
- Task history, calendar and SMS notifications
- Easy to use collaboration tools
- Customizable templates
- Milestone tracking
- Available on iOS and Android
Pros
- Excellent option of users jumping from one tool to another
- Enhance team communication
- Get access to project analytics and reports
Cons
Some features hidden in the submenus might be difficult to find & work upon
6) Wrike – Customize workflows with Gantt charts
Pricing: $9.80/ month
In case you’re overwhelmed while dealing with a number of tasks, try using Wrike. It is a tool to take care of all your project management needs and comes with simple features such as Gantt charts and enterprise-level security, auto-assignments, and more.
It also offers robust reports in order to monitor your team progress to receive valuable insights.
Wrike gives you the chance to fully customize workflows and empower your team to be productive.
Features:
- Custom dashboards
- Gantt charts
- Offers Enterprise security
- Workload view of resource management
- Time tracking and collaborative tools
- Milestone tracking
- Offers Jira-like kanban boards.
Pros
- Top-notch Jira like tool for mid-size and enterprise-level teams
- Rich features
- Customizable workflows
- Pleasant UI
- Offer free trial
Cons
- Steep learning curve
- Hard to manage collaboration tools
- Support teams can become unresponsive
7) Trello – Work easily with any team
Pricing: Free/ $12.50/month (premium)
Jira’s relative Trello is another free Jira alternative useful for agile software development. Trello is also owned by Atlassian.
The uniqueness of Trello is its simplicity and visibility. It allows you to add dates to any card created by you and empowers you to add calendar views over projects to finish projects on time.
Create boards, comment on issues with the simplified Trello tool.
Features:
- Gantt charts and Trello boards
- Organize using Tags, labels, and categories.
- Drag and drop features
- Collaboration tools
- Data filtering
- Time tracking and Milestone tracking.
- Pre-loaded Customizable templates.
Pros
- One of the best open-source Jira alternatives
- Simplistic UI
- Shorter learning curve
- Drag and drop workflows
- Automate repetitive task
Cons
- Clunky mobile version
8) Monday – Project management made easy with this Jira alternative
Pricing: $39
Next on the list is Monday and can be considered another outstanding alternative to Jira. No matter the size of your team, it has definitely something to offer to both small and big teams.
What makes it unique is the simple UI which is offered by this project management tool. Ease you work life and don’t run around in circles when using Monday. Create and organize your projects easily, drag & drop will help create a smoother experience.
Monday boasts of incredible collaboration features to bring everyone on the same page and give you a clear view of the team progress.
Features:
- Offers Kanban boards
- Time tracking
- Automated notifications
- Visual activity display
- Integrations
- Gantt charts
- Collaboration and Email tools
- Great tool for freelancers
Pros
- Customize your projects and a bird’s eye view of every task
- Offers team collaboration for an effortless and pleasant experience.
- Create and organize projects
Cons
- The hyperlinks can get lost when the data is imported
- UI can lag during the rush hours
- Mac version slow down a bit
9) Kanbanize – Customize your project dashboard quickly
Pricing: Free/ $120/month (premium)
Manage your Kanban projects effectively with Kanbanize. With a great interface, you won’t ever face the difficulty to navigate through the boards. You can also customize the board to enable it the way you like. The software offers flexibility and brings incredible visibility to the projects.
Features:
- Customize Kanban boards
- Swimlanes & Timelines
- Powerful analytics
- Milestone tracking
- Google Docs & Dropbox integration
- KPI monitoring
Pros
- Simple to use for effective communication
- Collaboration tools with tags, comments & more
- Intuitive UI and easy access features
- Get Free trial
Cons
- The interface may cause discomfort for some users
- Subtasks may be difficult to insert as compared to other tools
- No Gantt or Burndown charts
10) Assembla – Control your projects easily
Pricing: $10/month
An innovative alternative to Jira which is an excellent pick for developers. Loaded with a heap of features such as message boards, file sharing, phone, email & chat support to customize your workflow.
Managing your projects with Assemblia is easy and it is a great tool to control your projects.
Features:
- Bundle of features
- Review code
- Offers collaboration tools
- Repository management
- Multi-channel support
- Dropbox and Google Integration
Pros
- Innovative and smartly designed features
- See the direction where your project is moving
- Easy to use collaboration tools
Cons
You will be required to spend more time learning the tool
Great for the technical folks
11) Pivotal Tracker
Pricing: $12.50/month billed annually
Get a bird’s eye view with Pivotal Tracker and get the chance to clearly track every phase of a project. Track every single step of a project and document it easily. However, with a number of features, it can get overwhelming at first.
Features:
- Collaboration tools
- Story mapping
- Reports & Analytics available
- Notifications & Integrations
- File sharing
Pros
- Accelerate work process
- Customize your workflows
Cons
- Overwhelming user interface
12) Planless – AI-powered alternative to Jira
Pricing: Free/ $6/month (premium)
A great Jira alternative for project management. It leverages AI to automate tasks such as resource assigning, managing workload and work planning. Get Planless to help you track project progress and help team members struggling with any task.
Features:
- Offers timeline and list view
- Based on AI technology
- Collaborative tools
- Get integration
- Reports and analytics made easy
Pros
- Automate tedious workflows
- Pump productivity levels
- Empower your team to do more
- Well Priced
Cons
- Doesn’t offer a free version.
- No budget management tool
13) VivifyScrum – All in one project management tool
Pricing: Free/ $10/month (premium)
In case you love Jira but aren’t able to work due to its complex user interface, try VivifyScrum. The software is free to use and offers a simple UI with tons of features to manage your entire workflow.
Based on the Trello interface, it makes the tool easy to manage with the collaborative features being top-notch.
Get crystal clear clarity over project updates and deadlines.
Features:
- Offers Kanban & Scrum boards
- Drag & drop and edit with ease
- Collaboration tools
- Time tracking
- Integration facility
Pros
- Excellent for those looking for simplicity
- Incredible collaboration tools to enhance team communication
- Fantastic support team
Cons
- Difficult to work through secondary menus
- Kanban board aren’t flexible enough
14) Backlog – An agile project management tool
Pricing: $35/month
A backlog is an agile tool similar to Jira but the difference lies in the ease of usage. You can get access to a ton of features with Backlog without being bogged down by a complex UI.
With the clean interface by Backlog, you can focus on the main project and can break down your tasks into main tasks and sub-tasks.
Collaborate and tag your team members with Backlog. It offers bug tracking and code management making it the best for developers.
Features:
- Easy and simple to use
- Custom status
- Kanban board / Gantt charts
- Customized templates
- Collaboration tools
Pros
- One of the simplest alternatives to Jira
- Simple to use Backlog feature
- Bug tracker and code management system for developers
- Free trial
Cons
- Embedded pictures may get lost while sending an email
15) nTask – All in one Jira alternative
Pricing: $2.99/ month
It is all in one alternative to Jira which adheres to the agile methodologies. It is perfect for smaller teams and makes project management easier. The nTask tool offers all in one design with a straightforward interface so you don’t need a complex user interface.
Features:
- Simple design
- Collaborative tools
- Subtasks available
- Time tracking
- Gantt charts
Pros
- All in one tool for project management
- Easy of managing workflows
- Simple to use
Cons
Attachments of photos and documents can get troublesome
The BottomLine
Each tool has its own pros and cons. In case you are looking to try a free tool, try Trello as it has been made by the same company as Jira. You can start with its easy to use UI and get a hang of the tool.
If working on Kanban boards is something you prefer, try Kanbanize to help you create Kanban boards.
So, there you have it, folks, the best of Jira alternative for agile project management. Let us know your favourite one.