Best Jira Alternatives in 2026: Open-Source and Hosted Tools for Agile Teams

Linear, Plane and OpenProject cover most of what software teams want from a Jira replacement: a fast hosted tracker, an open-source tracker you can self-host, and a fuller project-management suite with Gantt charts and time tracking. Each makes a different trade between breadth, setup effort and cost.

Jira is used for software, IT and marketing work alike, so the right Jira alternatives depend on which of those you do. Enlisted compares eleven tools below in three loose groups (lightweight trackers, full project-management suites and self-hosted options), then shows which suit scrum. The table carries live licence, self-hosting, pricing and GitHub data.

Why people look for Jira alternatives

Jira is Atlassian's project and issue tracking tool, used by software, marketing, IT and operations teams to plan, track and release work. It combines boards, timelines and agile workflows with AI features, templates for many team types, service management templates and integration with Confluence and other Atlassian tools. Common reasons for comparing it with something else:

• Per-user pricing. Enlisted lists a free plan for small teams, then paid plans charged per user per month, so the cost grows with headcount.
• Closed source. You cannot inspect or fork the code. Atlassian's own hosting guide describes Jira Cloud as its recommended option and says the self-managed Data Center edition is being phased out, with an end-of-life date in March 2029, so that self-hosted route has an end date.
• Breadth. One product spans software delivery, service management and general project work. A team that only needs a backlog, a board and sprints may find that more configuration than it wants.
• Ecosystem pull. Enlisted lists integration with Confluence and other Atlassian tools among its features. Teams that do not use them get less from that part.

How we picked

Every tool here tracks work through tickets, boards or tasks and supports team planning, which is the core of Jira. Open-source entries needed a visible licence, recent GitHub activity and a route to self-hosting, while hosted entries are described by their published pricing model and free plan. Enlisted's self-hosting column counts open-source apps, so commercial tools that also sell a self-managed edition, such as YouTrack and Azure DevOps, are called out in their sections instead. The descriptions come from the catalogue and vendor documentation, not from first-hand testing. See how Enlisted ranks tools.

1. Linear: best fast, opinionated issue tracker for software teams

Linear is a hosted product development system for planning and building software, with issue tracking, projects, company-level initiatives and built-in AI agents. Where Jira offers broad configuration across many team types, Linear is aimed squarely at software and product teams, with a personal inbox, a "my issues" view and an activity history on every issue.

Engineering teams use it for sprints and releases, product managers for roadmaps, and newer features let teams assign work to AI agents. It is closed source and cannot be self-hosted. The free plan has limits on teams and issues, and paid plans are charged per user.

• Best for: software and product teams that want a focused, fast tracker and are happy with a hosted service.
• Watch out for: it is aimed at software work, so marketing or operations projects fit less naturally, and there is no self-hosted edition.

2. Plane: best open-source Jira alternative for self-hosting

Plane is an open-source project management platform for issues, sprint cycles, roadmaps, docs and triage, positioned as an alternative to Jira, Linear, Monday and ClickUp. Jira is a hosted product you rent. Plane is software you can run yourself under AGPL-3.0, or use as Plane Cloud.

It has kanban boards, a triage flow for incoming work and built-in docs and wikis, with Docker-based installation guides for self-hosting. A free plan covers small teams, paid plans are charged per seat, and paid plans have a trial.

• Best for: small teams moving off Jira, and organisations that need project data on their own servers.
• Watch out for: self-hosting means you run upgrades and backups, and AGPL-3.0 has network copyleft terms if you modify and host it for others.

3. OpenProject: best open-source suite with agile boards and Gantt charts

OpenProject is open-source project management software for agile planning, Gantt charts, issue tracking and time tracking, positioned as a Jira alternative. It covers more of classic project management than a pure issue tracker: roadmaps and release planning, time tracking, cost reporting and budgets, wikis, forums and meeting minutes.

Agile boards support Kanban and Scrum, and bug tracking is built in. The Community edition is free under GPL-3.0, paid Enterprise plans are charged per user, and there is a free trial and a hosted option.

• Best for: teams that mix agile delivery with schedules, budgets and reporting, such as agencies and internal IT.
• Watch out for: it is broader than a lightweight tracker, and the paid Enterprise plans add features the Community edition lacks.

4. Shortcut: best for engineering teams that want sprints in a lighter tool

Shortcut is a hosted project management tool for software teams and their AI agents, with kanban boards, backlogs, sprints, roadmaps, objectives, docs and automations. Enlisted lists teams moving off Jira or Trello among its use cases.

It has an API for custom integrations and a free tier for small teams, with a full-access trial and paid per-user plans. It is closed source and hosted only.

• Best for: engineering and product teams that want sprints, roadmaps and docs without Jira's configuration surface.
• Watch out for: no self-hosted version, and the free tier is limited to small teams.

5. YouTrack: best for agile teams that want cloud or self-hosted from one vendor

YouTrack is JetBrains' issue tracker and project management tool, offering agile boards, configurable workflows and its own query language for searching issues. A built-in knowledge base and customer support ticket handling extend it beyond bug tracking.

JetBrains offers YouTrack both as a cloud service and as a server you host yourself, and a free plan for small teams, so you can choose where it runs. It is closed source, which is why Enlisted's self-hosting column shows it as not self-hostable.

• Best for: software teams that want agile boards and a query language for issues, with the choice of cloud or their own server.
• Watch out for: paid plans apply beyond the free tier, and the self-hosted server means you handle upgrades and backups yourself.

6. Azure DevOps: best when code, boards and pipelines should live together

Azure DevOps is Microsoft's suite for source repositories, work boards, build and release pipelines, test plans and package feeds. Jira tracks the work, while Azure DevOps puts the work items next to Git repositories with pull requests and YAML or visual pipelines, so the plan and the code share one place.

It is offered as a hosted service and as a self-managed server, and Enlisted lists a free option. It is closed source.

• Best for: Microsoft-centric teams that want repositories, boards and CI/CD from one vendor.
• Watch out for: it is a development toolchain, not a lightweight tracker, so teams that only want boards may find it heavier than they need.

7. ClickUp: best all-in-one workspace for mixed teams

ClickUp is an all-in-one work platform that combines tasks, docs, goals, chat, whiteboards and AI in a single app. It also has time tracking and sprints, so agile teams can plan in it, and a free plan with unlimited tasks and members.

Paid plans are charged per user, with higher tiers quoted through sales. It is closed source, hosted only, and suits teams that want to consolidate several work apps.

• Best for: teams that want tasks, docs and goals together, and cross-functional groups who use sprints alongside other work.
• Watch out for: if complexity is your complaint about Jira, ClickUp's breadth of features may feel similar, so check the views you would actually use.

8. Asana: best for cross-functional project work outside engineering

Asana is a work management platform where teams and AI agents plan, automate and track projects, tasks and shared goals. It is general-purpose rather than an issue tracker, with automation, service and client management products and app integrations.

It has a free Personal plan for very small teams, with paid plans charged per user. It is closed source and hosted only. See the Asana alternatives page if you want to compare it with others.

• Best for: marketing, operations and creative teams that need cross-team visibility.
• Watch out for: software teams that live in backlogs and releases may prefer a purpose-built issue tracker.

9. Trello: best simple Kanban for small teams

Trello is a visual task tool built on boards, lists and cards, with an inbox for capturing tasks from email and Slack, a calendar-synced planner, automation and Power-Ups for connecting other apps. It is a lighter option when the real need is a shared board.

It is free for small workspaces and charges per user on paid plans, and Premium has a trial. Closed source and hosted only. The Trello alternatives page lists other boards.

• Best for: small teams and non-software work that map naturally to cards on a board.
• Watch out for: boards and cards are the core, so check how far Power-Ups and automation go for backlogs, sprints and release tracking before relying on it.

10. Leantime: best open-source tool for teams without a dedicated project manager

Leantime is an open-source project management system for people who are not professional project managers, combining strategy, planning and execution. It describes an ADHD-friendly design and offers Kanban, Gantt, table, list and calendar views, plus sprints, milestones and time tracking.

Goals and metrics tracking, idea boards, strategy canvases, wikis, LDAP and OIDC single sign-on, plugins and an API round it out. The self-hosted Community Edition is free under AGPL-3.0, and a hosted Pro plan is charged per user with a trial.

• Best for: small teams planning projects without a specialist, and groups who want strategy and tasks in one tool.
• Watch out for: it is broader than a developer-style issue tracker, so teams that want deep issue workflows may prefer Plane or Redmine.

11. Redmine: best long-running self-hosted tracker with repository links

Redmine is a flexible, self-hostable project management web application built on Ruby on Rails, with issue tracking, wikis, Gantt charts and time tracking. The catalogue describes it as free and open source under the GNU GPL v2.

It supports multiple projects with role-based access control, per-project wikis and forums, custom fields, and integration with Git, Subversion and Mercurial, plus LDAP authentication. There is no vendor-hosted option in Enlisted's data, so you run it yourself.

• Best for: IT and engineering teams that want a configurable tracker on their own server with repository integration.
• Watch out for: you maintain the Rails application and its upgrades yourself.

Other options worth a look

• Kanban boards: Planka, WeKan, Kanboard and Kaneo are self-hostable boards. Kaneo adds list, calendar and Gantt views and a GitHub integration.
• Agile suites: ZenTao covers Scrum, Waterfall and Kanban with bug tracking built in, and Taiga is listed on Enlisted as its Python backend, so check the project's own docs for the full install.
• Enterprise and specialist: Wrike and Smartsheet target larger organisations, and Aha! is for product roadmapping.
• Task managers: Vikunja is a self-hostable to-do and project manager, and Focalboard is a self-hosted board that Enlisted lists as an alternative to Trello, Notion and Asana.

For documentation that sits next to tickets, see the Notion alternatives guide, and for a wider view of task apps read best productivity apps.

Which Jira alternative should you choose?

The full Jira alternatives list on Enlisted goes beyond these picks, and the project management category is the wider view.

Which Jira alternatives suit agile and scrum teams?

Several of these tools model sprints directly. Plane has sprint cycles, Shortcut has sprints and roadmaps, Linear is built for teams planning sprints and releases, and OpenProject supports Scrum and Kanban boards. YouTrack offers agile boards for sprint planning, Leantime includes sprints and milestones, and ZenTao runs Scrum projects with bug tracking in the same system.

If your team practises Kanban rather than scrum, Trello, Planka, WeKan and Kanboard are simpler fits, and most of the larger tools above also offer board views. Kanban tools usually stop short of sprint planning, backlogs and release tracking, which is the line to check before you migrate.

Before you migrate

Write down how Jira is configured today: workflow states, custom fields, permissions, automation rules and any Confluence links. Replacements rarely map those one to one, and the simplest moves are teams that use only the core ticket fields. Check each tool's own importer documentation before you commit, and run a small pilot project first. If you choose a self-hosted tool, name an owner for upgrades and backups before the pilot starts.