The best Jira alternatives for 2026

Most “best Jira alternatives” posts are the same eleven logos with the same one-line descriptions, none of them checked against the vendor’s actual current pricing page. This one only covers four tools, chosen because they cover genuinely different trade-offs — and every number below was checked against each vendor’s pricing page directly, not carried over from an older post.

If you want the full point-by-point case for leaving Jira specifically, see our dedicated Jira comparison. This post is about what to switch to.

Linear

Built for software and product teams who want speed and almost no configuration surface. The free plan is unusually generous on members — unlimited people, capped at 250 issues and 2 teams instead of a headcount limit. Paid tiers are Basic at $10/user/month and Business at $16/user/month, both billed yearly.

What you don’t get: there is no time tracking anywhere in Linear’s plans, at any tier. If estimates, logged time and estimated-versus-actual reporting matter to how your team runs sprints, Linear will not do it natively. SAML/SCIM and audit-log-grade admin controls are also gated to a custom-priced Enterprise tier, not the $16 Business plan.

Choose Linear if: you are a pure engineering team, you value interface speed over feature breadth, and you don’t need time tracking. We wrote a full Sprint Guage vs Linear comparison if that’s the decision you’re actually weighing.

ClickUp

The opposite instinct from Linear — ClickUp tries to cover project management, docs, chat and goals in one product. The Free Forever plan includes Kanban boards and sprint management, but time tracking only appears once you upgrade to the Unlimited plan, at $7/user/month billed yearly ($10 billed monthly). Business is $12/user/month yearly ($19 monthly) and adds sprint points reporting and Google SSO. Audit log and SAML SSO are Enterprise-only, same as Linear.

Choose ClickUp if: you want one tool for project management and general team collaboration, and you don’t mind a steeper learning curve in exchange for more surface area.

Shortcut

Shortcut’s free plan is the most complete of the four covered here — it includes Kanban boards, a roadmap view, reports, and sprints (branded “Iterations”), plus GitHub, Slack and Figma integrations, at $0. The Team plan is $8.50/user/month, and Business is $12/user/month, both billed yearly, mainly adding automations and unlimited workflow customisation.

Choose Shortcut if: you want Jira-adjacent structure (epics, iterations, a real roadmap view) without Jira’s configuration overhead, and a genuinely usable free tier matters.

Sprint Guage

Ours, so judge the framing accordingly. No free plan — every organisation starts on a 14-day trial, then Pro at $5/user/month or Business at $10/user/month, both with a 3-seat minimum. Where we differ from the three above: time tracking is included on the cheapest paid tier, not gated behind a higher one, and the audit log, custom roles and org-wide enforced 2FA that the other three reserve for a custom-priced Enterprise plan are included on our $10/user/month Business tier.

What you don’t get: no free plan, no AI-agent or deep code-intelligence features like Linear’s, and a smaller integration list than ClickUp’s. If those are load-bearing for your team, one of the other three is the better fit — see our full feature list before deciding either way.

How to actually choose

• Time tracking is a hard requirement: Linear is out. ClickUp works from its Unlimited tier up; Sprint Guage includes it from its cheapest paid tier.
• You need a real free tier: Shortcut’s is the most complete, followed by ClickUp’s and Linear’s. Sprint Guage has none — a 14-day trial instead.
• You want audit logs and SSO without an Enterprise sales call: Sprint Guage includes both at $10/user/month; the other three gate them behind custom-priced Enterprise plans.
• You want the broadest possible feature surface: ClickUp.
• You want the fastest, most minimal interface and don’t need time tracking: Linear.

Whichever you pick, run it on a real project before committing — a two-week trial on your actual backlog tells you more than any comparison post, including this one. If you want to see how a Jira migration specifically plays out, start with our guide to exporting Jira projects to CSV.