Jira review (2023): Pricing, features, pros & cons

Business owners understand the importance of effective project management. However, with so many options, knowing which software is right for your company can be overwhelming. Jira is one possibility to consider.

SEE: Hiring kit: Project manager (TechRepublic Premium)

Its unique features and capabilities make Jira the perfect choice for businesses to streamline their project management processes and achieve their goals. Other project management tools are available, but many without the same level of flexibility and customization as Jira.

Jump to:

• Pricing
• Key features of Jira
• Pros and Cons
• If Jira isn’t ideal for you, check out these alternatives
• Review methodology

Pricing

Jira offers a range of free and paid plans to suit the needs of different teams and organizations.

Free plan

The free plan includes the following:

• Up to 10 users.
• 2GB of file storage.
• Atlassian Community support.
• A maximum of 100 emails daily.
• Agile boards for scrum and kanban, allowing you to break large projects into manageable pieces.

Standard plan

Jira’s Standard plan is $7.75 per user each month and includes the following:

• Up to 35,000 users.
• 250GB of file storage.
• Advanced permissions.
• Roles.
• Permission sharing between company-managed projects.
• Audit logs for tracking significant changes and powerful Agile boards.

The Standard plan is suitable for team collaboration and those with less complex project management requirements.

Premium plan

Jira Software Premium is $15.25 per user monthly and includes:

• Unlimited storage.
• 24/7 Premium support.
• 99% uptime service-level agreement guaranteed.
• Project archiving to reduce clutter and stay current.
• Sandbox and release tracks, allowing you to test and experiment with projects before they go live.
• Advanced roadmaps, allowing managers to view projects better.

The Premium plan is ideal for large organizations with multiple teams and complex projects.

Enterprise plan

The Enterprise plan’s pricing is available when you contact the sales team. It includes advanced features, such as:

• Unlimited product instances.
• Centralized per-user licensing.
• Enterprise-grade security and governance controls.
• Unlimited users and sites.
• Atlassian Enterprise Advocates for ongoing support.

Jira’s Enterprise plan is ideal for large organizations with complex requirements, such as multiple projects, teams and locations.

Key features of Jira

Dashboards and reports

Figure A

At least 39% of businesses use data to find opportunities and make informed decisions. You can use Jira’s dashboards and reports to gather real-time insights into a project’s progress and adjust accordingly (Figure A). Create over 15 reports for every project stage to help you visualize trends, such as sprints, versions, epics and issues.

Issue tracking

Jira’s issue tracking is a powerful tool that helps teams manage tasks, bugs and other issues in a centralized location. You can create problems, assign them to team members, and set priorities and due dates.

The issue-tracking feature also provides transparency and visibility into your team’s work. You can view the status of issues at any time and create custom dashboards and reports to track progress. You’ll also get live updates on new tasks, changes or comments.

Software integration

Jira software integrates with over 3,000 tools your team needs to complete their work, including Slack, Microsoft, Google, Zoom and more. Jira also has a cloud family of applications, including Jira Software, Jira Service Management and Jira Work Management, which you can use on the same site. Additionally, the Jira Cloud integration for Excel lets users push data into a spreadsheet.

Agile development

Jira was designed to use Agile methodologies for planning, tracking and managing projects and software development. It is an iterative approach that allows teams to break their tasks into smaller chunks. It also enables employees to adjust quickly and adapt to changes.

Additionally, Jira provides templates for kanban and scrum frameworks, allowing teams to choose the best approach for their project.

Roadmaps

Figure B

Jira’s roadmaps let you plan, track, release and report on work (Figure B). It provides a Gantt chart view of data from one team in a single project, with customizable options to view the name and status, plus dependencies between tasks.

Roadmaps enable you to align your project to company objectives while promoting accountability and communication. You can also export your roadmaps in a PDF or CSV format for easy sharing.

Role assignments

Role assignments allow you to manage user access and permissions for products easily. It enables you to assign users to groups, project roles and applications. This feature is handy for businesses with multiple projects, as it allows for keeping track of configurations and avoiding potential conflicts. Jira enables you to assign permissions via group control, create new projects, fields and users, and change workflow.

Jira Pros and Cons

If Jira isn’t ideal for you, check out these alternatives

Jira is a popular project management tool but is one of many available. Here are three of Jira’s main competitors and some key ways they differ.

Trello

Trello is a visual, card-based project management tool often used by small teams and individuals. Unlike Jira, Trello is designed to be simple and intuitive, focusing on visual organization and collaboration.

Trello is also more affordable than Jira, with a free version that offers basic functionality and paid plans that are more affordable than Jira’s pricing.

Check out our more in-depth comparison of Jira and Trello.

Asana

Asana is a cloud-based project management tool designed to help teams track and manage their work. Like Jira, Asana offers a range of features and customization options, but it is generally considered more user-friendly and accessible.

Asana also offers better customer support, with a dedicated team and a range of resources and tutorials to help users get started.

Check out our more in-depth comparison of Jira and Asana.

Basecamp

Basecamp is a project management tool designed to help teams communicate, collaborate and stay organized. Unlike Jira, Basecamp is not specifically designed for software development but can be useful for various projects and teams.

Basecamp is known for its simplicity and ease of use, with a focus on communication and collaboration. However, it may not be as customizable or feature-rich as Jira, making it less suitable for larger or more complex projects.

Check out our more in-depth comparison of Basecamp and Trello.

Who is Jira best for?

Jira is best suited for technical teams and organizations looking for a comprehensive solution to manage software development projects. It provides teams with various features, including tracking bugs, managing releases and versions, and integrating with other development tools. Plus, with its highly customizable workflows and Agile methodology support, businesses can tailor Jira to their project management needs.

Overall, its customizability, range of features and real-time visibility is why many businesses choose Jira. This project management software allows them to manage their projects more effectively and significantly increase productivity.

Review methodology

We evaluated Jira by looking at online resources, such as the Jira Software Evaluator Resources page. We also examined the success criteria for Jira before and after using it to measure parameters such as productivity, transparency and availability of additional features.

Read next: The 10 best project management software and tools (TechRepublic)

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