Jira users are a diverse bunch. Some use Jira Software Cloud for Agile project management and software development projects. You might find them tracking bugs, doing spring planning, or managing a backlog. Then there's Team Service Management, the folks who use the platform for IT purposes—things like coordinating incident responses and managing changes for internal and external clients.
For all its uses, though, Jira isn't the only platform in town. Depending on the use case (and budget), there are a number of Jira alternatives for you to consider.
Zapier has done extensive head-to-head comparisons of Jira and other related apps to help you make the best choice to fit your specific needs. Here's how they stack up.
The best Jira alternatives
Zoho Sprints for DevOps work management
Aha! For product development
ServiceNow for ITSM
Trello for small teams who love Kanban
Zendesk for customer support
Asana for project management
What is Jira?
Jira is made up of two distinct products:
Jira Software Cloud is a project management platform geared toward development teams, and its strength is in Agile and Scrum project management. Product management and development teams use it for issue and bug tracking and other product development tasks. It comes with reporting features like burndown charts, velocity charts, and control charts, and you can automate your development workflows for better efficiency.
Jira Service Management is an IT service management (ITSM) tool. IT teams use it to log, track, and resolve IT incidents or handle service requests. It allows you to create and maintain a service catalog and/or a knowledge base with articles, FAQs, and other documentation for your end users. You can also generate custom reports or use a central dashboard to monitor your team's performance and customer satisfaction. And just like with Jira Software Cloud, there's automation to make this work run even more easily.
What to look for in a Jira alternative
There are a lot of Jira alternatives on the market that are purpose-built for specific use cases, such as product development or IT service management. That specificity alone might be all you need in a Jira alternative. Beyond that, I focused on Jira alternatives that checked these boxes:
Scalability. As your team grows, these tools should be able to handle more users and projects without impacting performance or usability.
Collaboration and communication. The best Jira alternative should also be able to help you work across teams, allowing you to do things like manage relationships between tasks, assign tasks, and chat with coworkers from any department.
Customizability. Every team's process is unique, so the best Jira alternative should be flexible enough to support your workflows and specific project requirements.
Pricing. Jira alternatives should offer transparent and flexible pricing plans that align with your team's size and budget. At a minimum, they should offer either a free trial/plan or tiered options.
AI functionality. The best Jira alternatives offer built-in AI functionality to help streamline processes like task management, resource allocation, and project forecasting.
The best Jira alternatives at a glance
Best for | Pricing | More or less expensive than Jira? | |
|---|---|---|---|
DevOps work management | From $1/user/month (billed annually) for 12 to 100 users | Less | |
Product development | From $9/user/month, but pricing varies by product | More | |
IT Service Management (ITSM) | Custom | More | |
Small teams using Kanban | Free plan available; paid plans from $5/user/month | Less | |
Customer support | From $55/agent/month (billed annually) | More | |
Project management | Free plan available; paid plans from $10.99/user/month (billed annually) | More |
The best Jira alternative for DevOps work management
Zoho Sprints
Zoho Sprints pros:
Extremely convenient, dynamic task management structure
Affordably priced
Zoho Sprints cons:
Not very versatile beyond Agile dev teams
Not as feature-rich as more comprehensive tools
If you're looking for an alternative to Jira Software Cloud, Zoho Sprints is tailor-made for Agile dev teams. It has the richest, most dynamic task management capabilities of any Agile app on the market. The dashboard centers on work item listings: sort tasks, create checklists, update statuses, leave comments and tag other team members, attach files—the list goes on.
Then there are the views: you can change them up to sprints, epics, releases, timesheets, and meetings. You can also head to a Kanban-style board that automatically updates as you work in other modules. The report module includes auto-generated visualizations by points like velocity, burndown, burnup, latency, and process time.
Zoho Sprints also lets you import your data directly from Jira (as well as Zoho Projects or a file). And DevOps users will appreciate integrations with CI/CD tools like GitLab, Jenkins, and Azure to add even more automation, AI, and accessibility perks across dev tasks. Plus, Zapier has a Zoho Sprints integration that helps you automate tasks across third-party apps. Here are some examples to get you started.
Create new issues in JIRA from new user stories created in Zoho Sprints
Create new issues in JIRA from new tasks created in Zoho Sprints
Create new issues in JIRA from new bugs created in Zoho Sprints
Zapier is the leader in workflow automation—integrating with thousands of apps from partners like Google, Salesforce, and Microsoft. Use interfaces, data tables, and logic to build secure, automated systems for your business-critical workflows across your organization's technology stack. Learn more.
Zoho Sprints pricing: Paid plans start at $1/user/month (billed annually) for 12 to 100 users.
Read more: The best Agile project management software and tools
The best Jira alternative for product development
Aha!
Aha! pros:
Rich AI for product ideation use cases
Distinct dashboards for multiple facets of the product lifecycle
Aha! cons:
Use case is fairly limited to product dev
Pricing is by product and fairly steep
Aha! is the Jira alternative on this list with the most specialized use case: it's purpose-built for Agile product development teams.
Aha! projects break down into releases and features to track rollout processes across assignees and deadlines. You can drill down into features to edit basic elements like phases, set goals, assign initiatives, apply tags, and note values, or access additional tabs for requirements, comments, tasks, and related records.
And unique to Aha!, there are additional dashboards for creating listings for ideas, strategies, knowledge bases, and product roadmaps. Suffice it to say this is the one app that lets you set values and make assignable assets out of every facet of the product development life cycle.
Aha! also gets big points for AI functionality. Other apps might have integrated generative AI, which is cool but not that unique these days. Aha!'s AI Ideas feature instead applies AI to assist specifically with the Ideas portal to do things like create idea forms, translate copy across the portal, optimize data synchronization with linked CRMs, enrich contact lists, and (maybe most interestingly) find patterns in customer feedback to apply to feature updates.
When you use Zapier's Aha! Integration, you can automatically do things like ensure the product roadmap elements Aha! tracks—for example, vision, strategies, and execution—get to Aha! and are sent to the other apps you use. Here are a few examples to get you started.
Create ideas in Aha! from new discussions in Vanilla Forums
Create Aha! ideas for new activity on a Trello card
Aha! pricing: Pricing varies by product; lowest pricing starts at $9/user/month.
The best Jira alternative for ITSM
ServiceNow
ServiceNow pros:
Gold standard in terms of available features, software quality, and utility
Offers a wide range of automations
ServiceNow cons:
Pricing is less viable for smaller teams
Complex to implement with a notoriously long rollout phase
If you're debating between Jira and one of its competitors to support your IT service management needs, first consider the scale and scope of your enterprise.
For small- to medium-sized businesses looking to get your ITSM off the ground simply and quickly, Jira is a sound choice. Its base platform supports basic ticketing with a relatively low barrier to entry, both in terms of start-up costs and training.
But if you're looking for a Jira alternative that offers a more robust platform that connects your entire organization, consider ServiceNow. Widely seen as the gold standard for ITSM, ServiceNow will likely take longer and cost more to roll out, but the end result is functionality that many find worth that time and money.
In addition to the available features and utilities, ServiceNow provides users with App Engine Studio, a low- to no-code collaboration and app-building platform that gives you a level of customization that, unless you have coding experience, Jira simply can't. ServiceNow also offers powerful AI functionality that's more narrowly focused than Jira on IT and service needs. With it, you can use AI to summarize documents, gain real-time issue insights, automate agent responses, and source existing knowledge.
For an all-inclusive tool that's rich in functionality, ServiceNow is more than a viable alternative to Jira for your ITSM needs. And you can do even more by connecting ServiceNow to Zapier, so you can make it work with the rest of your tech stack. Here are some ideas to get you started.
Create new ServiceNow records by adding Slack reactions to messages
Create records in ServiceNow for every new task in Asana projects
Create new ServiceNow records from new Slack messages
ServiceNow pricing: Custom (definitely more expensive than Jira).
Read more: Jira vs. ServiceNow
A Jira alternative for small teams that love Kanban
Trello
Trello pros:
Kanban boards are incredibly simple to use
Generous free plan
Trello cons:
No ability to assign tasks to individual team members
Bare-bones built-in reporting functionality; Power-Ups available for more robust reporting
Kanban boards are a popular staple in project management, and they can help small teams streamline their workflows and boost efficiency. Jira effectively supports this approach, particularly for teams using Agile methodologies. But Trello—which is owned by Atlassian, the same parent company as Jira—is the gold standard when it comes to Kanban. If Kanban isn't your jam, skip to another Jira alternative.
While the Kanban approach gives your boards a bit of structure, Trello, for the most part, doesn't automatically provide a huge amount of structure. But it's simple and quick to use, even by non-technical members, and offers drag-and-drop functionality. Jira also offers Kanban boards, but the approach is more structured.
In terms of AI features, Jira and Trello share the same AI features (Atlassian Intelligence), which makes sense since they're both Atlassian products. The reporting functionality in Trello is less robust than what you'll find in Jira, but if you're looking for a more flexible, method-agnostic project planning platform that's simple to use, Trello is a solid choice.
If you pick Trello, you can do even more with it by connecting it to Zapier. Learn more about how to automate Trello, or get started with one of these templates.
Create new Trello cards from new Google Calendar events
Create Trello cards from new Google Forms responses
Trello pricing: Free plan available; paid plans from $5/user/month (billed annually).
Read more: Trello vs. Jira
The best Jira alternative for customer support
Zendesk
Zendesk pros:
User-friendly interface makes it easy to process and resolve issues
Nicely integrated generative AI features
Zendesk cons:
No free plan available
Limited automation templates
Customer support is something you can't afford to get wrong, which is why the choice of customer support platforms can feel like a huge decision.
While Jira is best suited for IT support teams, Zendesk is a better solution for external customer support teams—particularly those looking for a more user-friendly ticketing solution. It brings together support requests from email, chat, social media, and more in a single dashboard.
You can also set up a bot to automatically reply to customers, complete with customizable automations and triggers. Though the interface for creating these automation rules isn't the most user-friendly, Zendesk gets bonus points here for making these AI agents available at all pricing tiers, while Jira makes you upgrade to at least the Premium tier, which is over double the price of Zendesk Support Team.
Zendesk also features a robust knowledge base, which makes it easier to use for help desk beginners, and can also provide users with self-service support to reduce workloads. And like Jira, Zendesk provides extensive reporting and analytics tools to track key metrics and provide insights into agent performance.
You can connect Zendesk to all the other apps you use with Zapier's Zendesk integrations. Read more about how to automate Zendesk, or try one of these pre-made workflows.
Create Zendesk tickets from new Google Forms responses
Create a new Zendesk ticket automatically every week
Zendesk for Service pricing: Paid plans from $19/agent/month (billed annually).
Read more: Zendesk vs. Jira
The best Jira alternative for project management
Asana
Asana pros:
Intuitive interface, making it easier to use
Not designed for issue tracking
Asana cons:
Dashboards are less customizable than Jira
Limited app marketplace (but Zapier integration allows you to connect with thousands of other apps)
If you're hunting for a project management tool geared toward developers, Jira is definitely a go-to. But if you're ok using something less purpose-built, Asana is a solid Jira alternative.
At this point, Asana is synonymous with project management. It's capable of supporting everything from marketing and design to product management and event planning.
Asana requires minimal training to get started, and features sharper, more robust project boards and views. It also has better reporting capabilities, with separate dashboards for general reporting and tasks, giving you easier access to the data that's most useful for you. And the reports themselves, whether pre-built or custom, are easy to use and dynamically designed.
Asana also offers Asana Intelligence—an integrated AI assistant that can help you generate status updates, give you insights into projects, and automate workflows. It's not much different from what Atlassian Intelligence (for Jira) has to offer. Still, if you're looking for a Jira alternative, it's good to know that Asana packs the same AI punch.
When you use Zapier's Asana integration, you can also connect Asana with thousands of other apps—allowing you to automate even more of your workflows across multiple platforms. Learn more about how to automate Asana, or check out these templates for inspiration.
Create new Asana tasks from new Google Calendar events
Add new Google Calendar appointments to an Asana task list
Asana pricing: Free plan available; paid plans from $10.99/user/month (billed annually); more expensive than Jira.
Read more: Asana vs. Jira
For more general-purpose project management tools, check out these lists:
Which Jira alternative should you use?
First, make sure you do need a Jira alternative. Jira is a pretty robust platform, and it's purpose-built for specific teams, so start by poking around all its features. But if you know Jira isn't for you, figure out what you're using it for—ITSM, project management, Kanban, or customer support—and then use the list above to pick the right app for your use case.
Related reading:
AI in engineering: Transforming the way software engineers work
How to drive customer value with collaborative product development
This article was originally published in October 2023 by Toby Peterson. The most recent update was in January 2025.
