Jira from Atlassian is one of several businesses’ most popular project management tools. It boasts over 30 million customers worldwide and is designed to support agile teams to plan, build, track progress, log issues, and more. No wonder the company and software are huge, but there is still a demand for Jira alternatives. Regardless of your reasons for seeking Jira alternatives, whether it’s low cost, more intuitive interface, different board setups, different types of reporting, open API, or integration with your current tools and apps, we have covered everything in this article.
What is the best Jira alternative?
Here are the top alternatives to Jira as a project management tool:
Paid tools alternative to Jira
- Monday.com
- Nifty
- Wrike
- Smartsheet
- Basecamp
Free tools alternative to Jira
- Asana
- Clickup
- Trello
- Teamwork
- Airtable
Why is there a need for an alternative?
Jira is one of the best tools for agile management. It features Scrum, Kanban, and Roadmaps, making it even more desirable. Despite all the amazing functionalities, Jira has its shortcomings too.
Here are some reasons why one may consider alternatives:
- Interface – Jira’s interface is a little complex compared to other project management tools.
- Focused on IT teams – Jira is more focused on IT teams. A non-IT team member will find it difficult to understand complex terms like stories and epics in Jira.
- Pricing – Since Jira targets a particular use case and does it very well, it charges a huge amount for its uniqueness. Yet, over the years, several other project management tools developed which cater to features that were once only catered to by Jira.
Best Jira Alternatives (Paid & Free)
Monday.com
When it comes to overall functionality, it’s hard to beat Monday.com. The user interface, features list, unique presentation, and simplicity are offered in a unique proprietary board system that’s easy to learn and visually appealing. Using the board system, you can manage your tasks, monitor team workloads, and create project budgets. It can even beat Jira on price, with a starting price of $8/month per user.
Nifty
Nifty is a collaboration hub that offers visual project management, so teams clearly understand their workflows. Its project-oriented discussions, milestones, tasks, docs, and files keep project members and stakeholders aligned on project objectives. The pricing starts at $39 per month, billed annually.
Wrike
Wrike is a project management tool that offers many features in the realm of task management, like spreadsheet view, sub-tasks, milestones, and task dependencies. This makes tracking tasks extremely easy. It is a cloud-based collaboration software that is used across any business. It is suitable for any team that uses waterfall, Agile, or other models. The pricing is similar to Jira, with its starting cost of $9.80/month per user.
Smartsheet
Smartsheet is a cloud-based spreadsheet-like app highly regarded for its file sharing, collaborative and project management features. Management teams can use the platform to manage and track various tasks. This includes real-time tracking, workflow automation, content management, activity scheduling, logging, etc. Apart from its base capabilities, the platform is also known for its integration support. It integrates with platforms like Salesforce, Dropbox, and Zapier, among many other popular third-party integrations. The pricing starts at $7/month per user, which is less than Jira.
Basecamp
Basecamp is an all-in-one workspace for remote teams and helps them to maintain work-life balance by pausing notifications. With the activity view, you can see everything in one place. You can get into a group chat and discuss important projects. It is simple and easy to use. Managing team members and onboarding new members is smooth.
Asana
Asana has the best workload management features mostly due to its visual nature and simplicity. Everything about this tool is designed for project managers and team members. Asana takes a different approach by creating tracking graphs and warning notifications in the event of overages, preventing worker burnout.
Asana is also a fantastic collaboration tool that offers several forms of task management, including Gantt charts, Kanban boards, and task lists. The only feature that Asana lacks compared to Jira is reporting. Pricing remains almost similar to Jira, with its cheapest option starting at $10.99/month per user billed annually. It also offers its basic plan free forever.
Clickup
Clickup is an all-in-one solution for tasks, goals, documents, and chat. It is a customizable solution and offers functionalities for process management, task management, time management, etc. It is supported in many modern browsers like iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, Linux, etc. It offers a free plan forever. When it comes to paid plans, its unlimited plan costs $5/month per user, and the business plan costs $9/month per user for annual billing.
Trello
Trello is the best Kanban project management software on the market. It is simple, easy to understand, visually appealing, and extremely useful, considering its narrow focus. It is primarily used for task management and collaboration, which means it lacks certain financial management features like invoicing and budget reporting. Pricing is less than Jira, with its cheapest option available at $5/month per user. It comes with a free plan as well.
Teamwork
Teamwork has a powerful user interface and manages its processes in a friendly environment. It helps to forecast expenses, set priorities, and analyze the risk of how the project is progressing. Teamwork supports email and SMS notifications along with reminders. When it comes to pricing, it comes with a free plan for up to 5 users, and the paid plan starts at $9.99/month per user.
Airtable
Airtable is the most visually appealing project management software on the market today based on its use of interesting colors & images to contextualize & categorize projects and tasks throughout the project life cycle. It offers several different task management options, including Kanban boards, task lists, project schedules, and its own proprietary gallery view. It also allows you to create budgeting tables using its own templates which Jira lacks. Regarding pricing, it has a free plan for individuals and small teams of up to 5 users, and the paid plan starts at $10/month per user.
Key Takeaways
Choosing the most suitable project management tool is one of the important decisions for your business. You may have to find the perfect match by trial and error at the initial stage. But once you find one, everything will be worth it. We have covered 10 Jira alternatives in this article and hope you find the best alternative based on your business needs.