9 BEST JIRA Alternatives in 2025

JIRA is a Project and defect management tracking tools such as JIRA are used for Agile project management. Using JIRA for personal use is good and it is one of the finest tools, but it does have a few drawbacks. This tool may be too complex for beginners, lack some advanvced tools, and in-built testing may seem limited.

Hence, after researching 30+ best JIRA alternatives with over 90+ hours of in-depth analysis, I have compiled a list of the top tools, including both free and paid options. Read the full article to discover exclusive and credible options. Read more…

Best JIRA Alternatives Tools (Free & Paid)

Name	Zoho Projects	SpiraPlan	Monday.com	SmartSheet
Features	✔️ Easy-to-use interface. ✔️ Built-in time timer to expedite client billing.	✔️ SpiraPlan’s program management ✔️ SpiraPlan’s Agile and DevOps	✔️ Manage everything in one workspace ✔️ Set up in minutes	✔️ It provides customizable templates. ✔️ Helps you to simplify budget and planning.
Price	Free Forever Plan	30 Days Free Trial	Free Forever Plan	30 Days Free Trial
Review/Rating	4.8	4.7	4.5	4.4
Link	Visit Website	Visit Website	Visit Website	Visit Website

1) Zoho Projects

I reviewed Zoho Projects as part of my search for JIRA alternatives and noticed that it is available in the cloud, making it a superior choice for project management. With 3 million users worldwide, it allows teams to handle work assignments, scheduling, and budgeting effectively. In my experience, Zoho Projects is great for fostering collaboration and communication between teams and clients.

Zoho Projects is a comprehensive project management solution with mobile compatibility across iOS, Android, and iPad. I could integrate it with Zoho apps, Google, and Microsoft, offering automation features like Blueprint and workflow rules. With a built-in timer, users can track work hours, while interactive communication tools help with team discussions. Its resource charts make sure of balanced work distribution, and the drag-and-drop functionality on Kanban simplifies task updates.

Features:

• User Interface: I found out that this tool provides an intuitive user interface with drag-and-drop functionalities, which allows me to easily manage tasks.
• Task Tracking: It offers simple task tracking through task lists and subtasks, which help you keep projects organized and on track.
• Customization Options: You get a wide range of customization options, including custom fields, views, and statuses, which is perfect for teams with different requirements.
• Dashboard: The comprehensive dashboard offered me detailed reports of project progress and performance indicators, which helped me monitor success.
• Report Exporting: Exporting reports is easy, with options available in CSV, XLS, or PDF format, which provides flexibility in data management.
• Project Templates: It offers several prebuilt templates for different use cases such as security testing, software and website development, manufacturing, construction, and more.
• Time Tracking: Its time tracking allows you to log hours spent on tasks and projects, making it a great option for billing and time management.
• Platform Support: I could use it on the Web, Android, iOS, and iPad, which helped me manage projects across multiple devices.

Pricing:

• Price: Plans start at $4/user/month, billed annually. 10-day free trial on a paid plan. No credit card is required.
• Free Trial: Lifetime free Basic plan for up to 3 users.

Visit Zoho Projects >>

Lifetime Free Plan

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2) SpiraPlan by Inflectra

I explored SpiraPlan, Inflectra’s program portfolio management system, and liked its built-in modules for QA, project management, and DevOps. Its built-in modules are ideal for teams of all sizes, and it offers flexibility with both on-premise and cloud options, including AWS and private servers. In my experience, SpiraPlan stands out as a superior choice among JIRA alternatives, especially against Atlassian’s Jira with its plugins.

Established in 2006, SpiraPlan by Inflectra is a comprehensive project management tool with AES-256 encryption. It facilitates various project views, offers drag-and-drop functionality, and has a slew of integrations, including Android Studio and TFS. This JIRA alternative caters to diverse project statuses, and it emphasizes planning, scheduling, tracking, and quality assurance.

Features:

• Program Management: I could efficiently manage projects with SpiraPlan, which allowed me to have complete control over resources, risks, and tasks.
• Agile & DevOps Integration: Based on my experience, SpiraPlan’s Agile tools are great for streamlining test management and Git integration. It comes with a data synchronization plugin, and you can also associate each Azure DevOps pipeline with its related project and release it in SpiraTest.
• Requirements Traceability: SpiraPlan makes sure you get complete requirements traceability, from product inception through release planning and project baseline.
• Team Collaboration: SpiraPlan supports effective team collaboration through document sharing, content management, workflow management, and instant messaging.
• Customization: I could customize SpiraPlan’s interface and functionalities to perfectly align with specific project requirements and workflows.
• Real-Time Notifications: SpiraPlan provides real-time notifications, which keep you updated on project progress and key changes as they happen.
• Customer Support: SpiraPlan offers comprehensive customer support through Phone, Email, and contact forms, ensuring all inquiries are addressed.
• Supported Platforms: I found it compatible with Android and iOS platforms, which gives mobile users accessibility and flexibility.

Pricing:

• Price: Plans start at $67.33 per concurrent user per month.
• Free Trial: 30-day free trial (No credit card required).

Visit SpiraPlan >>

30-Days Free Trial

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3) Monday.com

Monday.com is a top choice among JIRA alternatives, and it provides a simple color-coded interface.  It helped me with its user-friendly mobile app to manage tasks on the go and offered flexible workflows that are easily customizable.

Monday.com is a versatile project management tool founded in 2014. It offers features like AES-256 encryption, visualization views, and integrations with popular apps like Slack, Zoom, and Outlook. With a free plan catering to 2 users with 5GB storage, it also provides instant notifications, custom report generation, and pre-built templates for various industries. The platform emphasizes collaboration, automation, and analytics. Hence, it offers comprehensive project status updates and advanced security measures.

Features:

• Team Collaboration: It allowed me to collaborate with my team in one shared workspace, which enhanced our overall productivity. You can also bring your team together, anywhere and anytime, with its seamless communication across locations.
• Timeline Management: You get a colored interface and options to sync timelines with the calendar, which keeps your projects organized.
• Customizable Workflows: I could customize workflows to meet specific project requirements, which made the process more efficient.
• Task Automation: It helped me automate repetitive tasks such as status updates, notifications, and task assignments to save time.
• Performance Reporting: Monday.com can generate detailed reports on project performance, team productivity, and task completion for better insights.
• Customer Support: It provides customer support via a contact form, ensuring assistance is available when needed.
• Platform Compatibility: I could run it on platforms such as Windows, Mac, iPhone, Android, and the web.

Pricing:

• Price: Plans start at $9 per seat/month. 18% discount on yearly payments.
• Free Trial: Lifetime free Basic plan up to 2 seats (No Credit Card Required).

Visit Monday.com >>

Lifetime Free Basic Plan

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4) SmartSheet

Smartsheet is a spreadsheet-based project management tool that I tested during my evaluation of the JIRA alternative. It is ideal for businesses with multiple projects, managing workflows, and improving team collaboration. Smartsheet also helped me automate actions through simple rules, which makes it a great option for streamlining tasks.

It is a versatile project management tool that was established in 2000. This enhances productivity through automated workflows, multiple view options like Gantt and Grid, and robust AES-256 encryption. As per my review, it has custom reporting, seamless integration with platforms like Slack and Salesforce, and pre-built templates for various sectors. Its notifications are instant, and its free plan grants 500 MB of storage. This tool also supports a broad range of industries with diverse status indicators, from “hold” to “complete,” and emphasizes a user-driven, collaborative environment.

Features:

• Security & User Management: I could securely manage my team and project with its single sign-on, which ensures efficient user management. 
• Custom Solution Building: It provides a custom solution-building tool to effectively meet your unique project management needs. Customization can be done from scratch or used to enhance existing software. 
• Customizable Templates: It offers customizable templates to streamline and standardize your project workflows quickly and efficiently.
• Integration: I could seamlessly connect it to my enterprise ecosystem, which made sure that it integrates with my existing tools and systems to leverage the workflow. It integrates with Slack, DocuSign, Google Docs, Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Dropbox, Adobe Creative Cloud, etc.
• Budget & Planning Simplification: It helped me simplify budget and planning tasks, which made complex financial management more manageable.
• Analytics & Reporting: Smatsheet offers powerful analytics and reporting features to provide valuable insights into your projects.

Pricing:

• Price: Plans start at $9 a month per member. 29% discount on yearly payments.
• Free Trial: 30-day free trial (No Credit Card Required).

Visit SmartSheet >>

30-Day Free Trial

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5) ClickUp

ClickUp is a remarkable JIRA Alternative tool that helped me manage my tasks, documents, chat, and goals with ease. I particularly appreciate how it allows me to assign comments to tasks and resolve them effortlessly.

ClickUp, founded in 2017, is a dynamic project management platform offering AES-256 and 2FA encryption. Users can visualize tasks using diverse views, utilize features like drag-and-drop, and integrate with platforms such as Slack and GitHub. With a free plan that has unlimited users and a range of pre-built templates, it emphasizes automation, proofing, and goal-setting.

Features:

• Project Planning: Its timelines helped me plan visually; hence, it was easier to track my project’s progress and schedule effectively. Its AI-powered productivity also offers a solution that is personalized for your role.
• Collaboration Tools: I could collaborate on documents and images with proofing and annotation tools, which made team reviews seamless. It also has calendar integration, which helped me sync tasks with Google Calendar and align project deadlines and personal schedules seamlessly.
• Task Assignment: I could easily create tasks with detailed descriptions and assign them to my team members. 
• Templates: You can utilize pre-built templates or create your own for tasks, workflows, and projects, saving time on setup.
• Customer Support: I received customer support via email, chat, and contact form, which offered help when needed.
• Supported Platforms: It is compatible with Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, and the web, offering flexibility in how you work.

Pricing:

• Price: Plans start at $7 a month. 30% discount on yearly payments.
• Free Trial: Lifetime free Basic plan (No Credit Card Required).

Visit ClickUp >>

Lifetime Free Basic Plan

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6) Teamwork

Teamwork is amazing for managing tasks since it helps teams increase productivity as per my evaluation. This tool is one of the best JIRA alternatives as it helped me minimize unnecessary meetings and complete projects faster.

Teamwork is an integrated project management tool that offers varied views like Table, Kanban, and List. With a free plan accommodating 5 users and 100 MB of storage, it streamlines tasks through drag-and-drop, custom reports, and time tracking. Teamwork smoothly integrates with apps like Slack and Google Drive and offers templates tailored for fields like marketing and engineering, all while tracking project statuses like ‘active’ and ‘completed’.

Features:

• Task Organization: You can organize tasks using subtasks, due dates, and assignees, allowing you to streamline project workflows effectively.
• Goal Setting: I could use it to turn my goals into small, achievable tasks, which made sure I progressed in a smarter way and avoided overwhelming the team.
• Project Visualization: You can visualize project timelines and dependencies with interactive Gantt charts to better manage and anticipate project milestones.
• Progress Tracking: Teamwork allowed me to efficiently track team progress, which helped us stay on course and meet deadlines. It also helped me track every minute of the project’s time and make estimations.
• Workload Management: It allows you to monitor team capacity to balance workloads, which helps you avoid burnout and maintain consistent productivity.

Pricing:

• Price: Plans start at $10.99 per user/month, billed yearly with a 30-day free trial (No credit card required)
• Free Trial: 30-day free trial

Visit Teamwork >>

30-Day Free Trial

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7) Asana

Asana offers one of the best project management solutions as a JIRA alternative. It is great for those who seek a free tool. Asana helps you replace emails and other apps in corporate chats. I could access it on Android and iOS, and it provided me with support through chat and forms.

Asana, founded in 2008, is a comprehensive project management tool that allows efficient team collaboration. It helps you with task creation, tracking, and visualization through views like List, Board, and Timeline. With a free plan offering 100 MB storage for a user, it boasts advanced features like custom reporting, time tracking, and seamless integrations with apps like Slack and Salesforce. Tailored templates for various departments, from marketing to IT, further enhance its versatility.

Features:

• Live Activity Feed: It displays real-time updates on a live activity feed, making sure that I stay informed of project progress.
• Project and Task Management: This feature handles all aspects of project and task management and helps streamline your team’s workflow efficiently.
• Utilizes Multiple Project Views: I could access a variety of views, such as list, board, calendar, timeline, and Gantt, which are great options for handling different project needs. 
• External Project View Permissions: It grants project view permissions for external parties, making it a great option for client collaboration.
• Dedicated Inbox: You get a dedicated and automatically updated inbox, which allows you to stay organized and avoid missing important messages.
• Multiple Workspaces Management: This service efficiently manages multiple workspaces, which made sure that my team can switch between projects seamlessly without losing focus.
• Team Pages for Conversations: It stores all team conversations on dedicated pages, helping you keep important discussions organized and accessible.
• Advanced Reporting: You can create custom dashboards and charts for real-time project insights, which is essential for making informed decisions.
• Collaboration Tools: These tools facilitate sharing files, leaving comments, and communicating within the platform, making teamwork one of the easiest tasks.

Pricing:

• Price: Plans start at $10.99 per user/month, billed annually
• Free Trial: Lifetime free Basic plan

Download Link: https://asana.com/

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8) Blossom

While conducting my evaluation, I discovered that Blossom is a reliable JIRA alternative. It is perfect for teams that need to manage their workflows clearly. The Kanban principles it follows are essential for improving team processes. I could also use it to analyze cycle time and resource use effectively.

Blossom is a streamlined project management tool that emphasizes visualization with its Kanban view. Its free plan appeals to individual users and facilitates drag-and-drop, time tracking, and charts. With integration capabilities spanning from GitHub to Trello, Blossom offers templates and statuses for effective project oversight. Hence it makes sure that you get lightweight operations and analytical insights.

Features:

• Stand-Up Meetings: It offers a daily stand-up meeting, which allowed me to enhance my team’s communication and maintain alignment. You can add Kanban boards to the meeting for easy visualization, use group chat tools, and more.
• Performance Analytics: You can gain essential insights into team performance and project progress to ensure successful outcomes. It also offers email digests that show all the current reports on the project.
• Progress Tracking: You can get real-time updates on project status and task completion to track progress effectively. It also identifies roadblocks and bottlenecks to enhance the workflow.
• Custom Workflows: I could adapt and create custom workflows that are tailored to meet specific project requirements.
• Notifications & Alerts: You can stay informed with timely notifications and alerts that help you avoid missing deadlines.

Pricing:

• Price: Request a quote from sales
• Free Trial: 14-day free trial

Download link: https://blossom.co/

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9) Redmine

I tested Redmine during my research for a JIRA open-source alternative tool and noticed that its basic version is open-source and works on any machine. It is a top choice as a JIRA competitor, especially since it supports Ruby. Although the installation might take longer, I found out that it runs smoothly once complete, which is great for consistent performance.

Established in 2006, Redmine is a versatile project management platform known for its Gantt chart, calendar features, and per-project wikis and forums. With AES-256 encryption, it offers a range of project visualization options, including Calendar and Kanban views. I also received functionalities such as drag-and-drop, time tracking, and seamless integration with platforms like GitLab and Trello. Additionally, its flexibility extends to multiple databases, LDAP authentication, and custom fields, ensuring efficient project oversight from start to finish.

Features:

• Database Support: Redmine offers support for multiple databases, making it one of the best versatile tools. It supports MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite and more.
• Issue Tracking: It offers an efficient issue-tracking system, which allows me to manage issues smoothly. This tracking tool lets you define different issues and track them separately, such as bugs, feature defects, etc.
• Role-Based Access: Redmine supports flexible role-based access control that can help you manage permissions effectively across your team.
• Project Tracking: Redmine allows tracking of multiple projects simultaneously. Thus, making it a great option for managing complex tasks.
• Project Visualization: Its features, like the Gantt chart and calendar, help you visualize project timelines and schedules clearly.
• Notifications: Redmine provided me with web feeds and e-mail notifications. Hence, I was informed about project updates in real time.

Pricing:

• Price: Open-source tool.

Download Link: http://www.redmine.org/

What is Jira?

JIRA is an issue-tracking product and a project management software developed by the Australian Company Atlassian, commonly used for bug tracking, workflow management, and issue tracking. This tool is entirely based on these three aspects and is widely used in software development and software testing. You can learn basics to advanced techniques with this JIRA Tutorial for Beginners.

Why look for a JIRA alternative?

JIRA is a good tool for personal use and one of the finest issue-tracking tools. However, it does have its fair share of drawbacks. Jira has a very expensive price tag, a complicated interface, and doesn’t support multiple assignees. Alternatives to JIRA provide innumerable benefits, ranging from a lower comparable cost.

Verdict:

When I explored alternatives to JIRA, I focused on tools that offer a balance between robust project management features and user-friendly interfaces. I also looked for platforms that enhance collaboration and streamline workflows. The following tools stood out to me with their reliable and advanced features, which gives tough competition to JIRA:

• Zoho Projects: A comprehensive, customizable project management tool that integrates seamlessly with other Zoho apps and is suitable for all team sizes. Thus making it a great choice for people needing tailored workflows.
• SpiraPlan: I would recommend it for users who are seeking a robust solution with excellent Agile tools and extensive integration options. Overall, this tool offers reliable and secure project management.
• Monday.com: It is a user-friendly, versatile platform that offers excellent workflow customization and reliable collaboration so that teams can remain updated at all times.