Guides / Comparisons

Jira Alternatives: 7 Issue Trackers and PM Tools Compared

The best Jira alternatives compared: Linear, GitHub Issues, Shortcut, ClickUp, Asana, Trello and a custom tracker. Pricing as of Sept 2026 and fit.

Mythex Team · 2026-09-29 · 6 min read

The best Jira alternatives are Linear for a focused issue tracker; GitHub Issues and Projects if your code already lives on GitHub; Shortcut for software teams that want sprints and roadmaps without Jira's weight; ClickUp for engineering and non-engineering work in one tool; Asana for cross-team project management; and Trello for simple boards. Jira itself remains a highly configurable option for large organisations, so switch only when its complexity or cost is a real problem.

What Jira offers today

As of September 2026, Jira offers:

• Free: free forever for up to 10 users, 2 GB of storage, community support.
• Standard and Premium: priced per user. Atlassian's pricing page lists Standard at $7.91 and Premium at $14.54 per user per month; what you pay depends on your user count and billing cycle, so use its calculator.
• Enterprise: custom, up to 150 sites.

Views include backlog, list, board, timeline, calendar and summary. Atlassian says every paid plan includes AI agents, and its pricing page lists Rovo search, chat and agents among Jira's features.

Why teams look for Jira alternatives

1. Complexity. Jira can be configured almost any way, which means someone has to configure it.
2. Speed and focus. Some teams want an issue tracker that feels lighter and faster day to day.
3. Tools in one place. Teams on GitHub may prefer tracking work next to their code.
4. Non-engineering teams. Marketing and operations teams can find a software-first tool awkward.
5. Cost. Per-user pricing grows with the team.

Jira alternatives at a glance

How we compared

We compared the publicly stated features, limits and prices on each vendor's own website as of September 2026. We did not do hands-on testing, and we left out anything we couldn't confirm on the vendors' own pages. Prices are in US dollars. Jira's per-user price varies with team size, so treat the listed figures as a starting point.

Linear: focused issue tracking

Linear is an issue tracker built for product and engineering teams, with cycles, initiatives, an agent platform and MCP access.

• Pricing (as of September 2026): Free with unlimited members, 2 teams and 250 issues. Basic is $10 per user/month billed yearly (5 teams, unlimited issues and uploads, admin roles). Business is $16 billed yearly (unlimited teams, private teams, Triage Intelligence, Linear Insights, Linear Asks, Zendesk and Intercom integrations). Enterprise is custom, with SAML and SCIM.
• Strengths: focused on software work, with issues, projects and cycles; unlimited members on every plan; Triage Intelligence on Business.
• Limits: the Free plan's 250-issue cap fills quickly; it's built for product teams rather than company-wide project management. Linear marks some AI features, such as coding sessions and Loops, as needing AI credits.
• Pick it if you're a product and engineering team that wants a lighter tool than Jira.

GitHub Issues and Projects: tracking next to your code

GitHub includes Issues (for bugs and requests) and Projects (boards and tables with custom fields like iteration, priority and story points) on all plans.

• Pricing (as of September 2026): Issues and Projects are included on GitHub Free. Team is $4 per user/month; Enterprise starts at $21.
• Strengths: no extra tool; issues link directly to pull requests, commits and releases; sub-issues and project insights for tracking progress.
• Limits: built for people who work in GitHub; less friendly for non-technical teammates.
• Pick it if your team already lives on GitHub. New to it? Read what is GitHub.

Shortcut: sprints and roadmaps for software teams

Shortcut is project management built for software teams, with stories, epics, iterations, roadmaps and docs.

• Pricing (as of September 2026, billed yearly): Free for up to 10 users (Kanban, roadmap, reports, iterations, docs, GitHub, Slack and Figma integrations). Team is $8.50 per user/month; Business is $12 with unlimited teams and workflows, objectives and advanced custom fields. Enterprise is custom. A 14-day free trial of full access is offered.
• Strengths: a generous free plan for small teams; sprint planning and roadmaps without heavy setup.
• Limits: the Team plan caps you at 5 teams and 5 workflows.
• Pick it if you want Jira-style agile planning with less configuration.

ClickUp: engineering and everyone else

ClickUp combines tasks, docs, whiteboards, sprints and dashboards.

• Pricing (as of September 2026): Free Forever (60 MB storage, sprint management, kanban boards). Unlimited is $7 per user/month billed yearly ($10 monthly); Business is $12 yearly ($19 monthly) with 5,000 automations a month and sprint points and reporting. Enterprise is custom.
• Strengths: one tool for engineering and non-engineering teams; many views.
• Limits: a lot of features to learn; the free plan's storage is small.
• Pick it if you want to move the whole company, not just engineering, off Jira.

Asana: cross-team project management

Asana is better for projects that span teams than for bug tracking.

• Pricing (as of September 2026): Personal free for one or two people; Starter $10.99 per user/month billed annually; Advanced $24.99; Enterprise via sales.
• Strengths: timelines, Gantt, dashboards, unlimited automations and free guests from Starter; portfolios and goals on Advanced.
• Limits: not designed around code, sprints and bug workflows the way Jira, Linear and Shortcut are.
• Pick it if Jira is being used mostly by non-engineering teams. See Trello vs Asana and Asana vs monday.

Trello: simple boards

Trello, also an Atlassian product, is the simplest option here.

• Pricing (as of September 2026): Free for up to 10 collaborators per Workspace (10 boards); Standard $5 per user/month billed annually; Premium $10; Enterprise $17.50.
• Strengths: anyone can use it immediately; cheap.
• Limits: built around boards rather than backlogs and sprints; timeline and dashboard views need Premium.
• Pick it if your team only needs a board.

A custom tracker: when your workflow is unusual

Some teams track work that isn't quite software development: field jobs, production runs, client requests with a specific approval chain. Jira can be configured for these, but it takes effort.

A simple custom tracker is another route. With an AI app builder like Mythex, you describe the tracker in chat; an AI agent writes the code, adds a database when needed, and publishes it. There are no per-seat fees, and on Pro you can export the code. You'd maintain it yourself, though, and you won't get the integrations and years of polish that Jira, Linear or ClickUp have. For standard software work, a ready-made tracker is the better choice. See how to build a task management app and how to build a project management tool.

Before you switch

1. Export your issues. Check the new tool's importer and what it carries over: comments, attachments, links, custom fields.
2. Simplify workflows first. Moving is a good moment to cut statuses and fields nobody uses.
3. Check integrations. Make sure your Git host, CI and chat tools connect.
4. Pilot with one team before moving everyone.

Our verdict

• Linear for product and engineering teams that want a focused tracker.
• GitHub Issues and Projects if your code is on GitHub and you want one less tool.
• Shortcut for agile planning with a generous free tier.
• ClickUp to put the whole company in one tool.
• Asana for cross-team projects rather than bug tracking.
• Trello for simple boards.
• Stay on Jira if you're a large organisation that relies on its configurability and Atlassian's ecosystem.

Weighing a custom build more broadly? Read build vs buy software for small business.