Jira Software Reviews

“all issues in one hub”

Pros

Having one place to track issues, requests, tasks and everything else is easily the biggest reason this tool is so valuable. Updating items, CC'ing others, monitoring progress, managing SLAs and handling follow-ups can all be done in the same system. On the reporting side, it also gives a clear view of what's already been completed and what still needs attention.

Cons

One thing I'd really like to see is the ability to submit a ticket by email, using a dedicated IT address so the exact issue can be captured directly. A Slack integration would also be really useful whenever something comes up and needs to be logged somewhere.

“affordable and user-friendly setup”

Pros

Running it in the cloud has been a budget-friendly option for our small team and it's very simple to use right out of the box. The server side met the security requirements we needed for our healthcare organization and our IT team was able to get a SQL instance set up without much work.

Cons

The cloud version isn't HIPAA compliant which is a limitation for us. There are also times when updates take a little while to propagate so testing has to wait.

“handy docs with useful tagging”

Pros

Keeping documentation organized across the company is very easy and the platform is simple to use. The tagging system is especially useful and something I really enjoy.

Cons

It would be better with more feature enhancements and additional keyboard shortcuts. Also, user information should be saved properly.

“agile tracking that clicks”

Pros

Using this across the business has been a really great way to keep track of work in agile teams. The interface is very easy so people in different departments can pick it up quickly and start using it without much trouble.

Cons

Kanban boards can be a little buggy at times although overall they still work well and are mostly a positive part of the platform. It's also better suited to agile workflows so it may not be the best fit for other project management styles.

“flexible setup but extremely slow”

Pros

The system is highly configurable and pulling reports or other information out of it is pretty easy.

Cons

At the same time, it's extremely slow and tedious to work with especially when entering tickets or using it as a developer.

“organized workflow in one place”

Pros

I like how everything is in one place, it helps me stay organized and keep all of my work together. It's also really convenient to be able to look back at previous edits and review past changes whenever I need to.

Cons

Overall, I'm very satisfied with the product. My only real issue is that it can be a bit slow to load from time to time.

“clean agile boards and setup”

Pros

One thing I really appreciated was being able to start with a free trial and test the features firsthand with no pressure attached. Having access to a sandbox environment made it possible to explore the platform properly, understand its limits and see how it could realistically bring value to my organization. Getting started and gaining access was fast and easy. The different permission levels are well thought out too which helps keep things organized and maintain accurate information. A big plus for me was the UI. It's clean, minimal and easy to navigate so I could explore and learn the system without needing much training. I was responsible for setting up a few projects and boards for my teams and I was able to handle that in a largely self-service way. Creating and managing backlogs and sprints was also one of my favorite parts because it supports Agile project management and software development practices really well. The way initiatives, epics, stories and tasks are structured fits nicely with Agile hierarchy and methodology. I also like how quickly I can get a high-level view of tasks before drilling into the details. Features like assigning owners, adding labels, estimating with story points, using description fields, attachments, comments and integrating with other tools all make the experience more user-friendly. The Kanban board view inside the Active Sprints section is especially helpful because it gives a very clear picture of progress at a glance.

Cons

One of the first tough points I noticed was how boards are managed within each project. There's no standard naming convention built in for projects and boards and that can create a lot of confusion. I've had to manually enforce naming rules and train people to follow them just to keep things consistent. Another frustration is with attached Lucidchart diagrams or embedded documents inside tasks or epics, they don't update in real time and sometimes not even after refreshing. That creates a real risk of people working from outdated information and making decisions based on the wrong context. Search is also one of the weaker areas. The results often aren't very accurate and sometimes it doesn't seem to search metadata properly so you need to remember the exact term to find a task. On top of that, it can return far too many results while the filtering and sorting options feel confusing and not very simple. I'm also not convinced by the way projects and boards are structured. A single project can contain multiple boards but they all share one backlog which doesn't make much sense to me. You also can't run multiple sprints across different boards and because of that, the distinction between projects and boards feels unclear. It's missing some useful automation as well especially when it comes to moving tasks between statuses after completion. The workflows feel suboptimal and often don't behave the way they should. Reporting is another area that feels pretty weak overall.

“reliable issue tracking companion”

Pros

Keeping track of issues with this tool has been really helpful. It makes managing work much simpler especially when assigning tasks, bugs and feature requests to other teams.

Cons

there's nothing notable to complain about at this point. I've been using it for over two years and still haven't run into any real issues. Overall, it's been a very dependable tracking tool.

“awkward mobile app and hidden settings”

Pros

Having plenty of customizable stages for an issue is a real plus. One feature I especially appreciate is that tickets update automatically whenever code gets added in Bitbucket.

Cons

Notifications are limited to a small icon so they barely get noticed. On top of that, the mobile app is practically unusable, I honestly can't tell whether it's the UX or something else causing it. Project settings are also hard to locate and the overall experience feels clunky.

“great for teams”

Pros

After switching to Agile or even scaling up with SAFe Agile, this tool really helps make the whole agile journey much simpler.

Cons

Getting used to the software's philosophy can be challenging if Agile methodology is new to you but once you understand it, it feels like a dream come true.

“helpful project organizer”

Pros

This has been a really powerful tool for managing projects and tasks. The workflow is simple to keep organized and it's especially helpful during meetings when we're reviewing progress.

Cons

One frustrating part is how often the UI changes since that ends up confusing a lot of users. The page speed has also slowed down quite a bit and at times it becomes hard to use. Going back to older versions actually makes it feel faster.

“flexible ticketing system”

Pros

The ticketing setup is really comprehensive and comes with a wide range of customizable options and the APIs have been very useful as well.

Cons

At times, the board management side can be confusing and it leaves me wondering how to get to my board in a more easy way.

“strong planning tools”

Pros

Our team mostly uses Jira Software and Confluence and the sprint planning and Gantt chart features have been really useful. Task management is quite powerful and the structure also makes it possible to handle more complex project setups.

Cons

The pricing model is pretty confusing. Can it do a certain feature? Usually yes but only if you pay an extra $1 per user each month. On top of that, figuring out which add-on you actually need is frustrating. Jira Software also only supports one level of item nesting which makes task planning feel tedious.

“tracks work effectively”

Pros

Pretty much every day, I use this software multiple times because we need to monitor each activity and it does a really good job of keeping track of the work along with its progress.

Cons

Worst part is reviewing code after checking it in since it takes quite a while before the changes actually show up.

“built for scrum teams”

Pros

Running Scrum projects with this tool works well because it covers the core features a team actually needs. It supports multiple teams and each one can keep its own sprint cycle and backlog which is really useful. You can create epics, stories, tasks and subtasks so breaking larger features into smaller, manageable pieces feels organized. It also lets you log and monitor bug reports, estimate timelines with story points and follow sprint progress through workflow columns like To Do, Blocked, In Progress, In Validation, In Review and Done. On top of that, comments and email notifications make it practical for keeping communication tied directly to tickets and stories.

Cons

One area that could be better is the user interface since it can feel confusing at times. Actions that should be easy, like closing one sprint and starting the next, can end up being more complicated than expected especially when some stories or tickets are still in progress. It also doesn't handle partial carryover estimation very well because items seem to either roll over completely or be marked as finished, with little middle ground. Another issue is that certain ticket actions appear differently depending on which view you are using which makes the experience less consistent. After creating a story or ticket, it can also be surprisingly difficult to track it down later if you forgot to assign labels such as the sprint or team.

“improves work visibility”

Pros

The task board, sprint planning and backlog tools have been really valuable for my team. Before we started using it, we didn't have any great way to track work and now the task board makes it much easier to visualize progress and stay on top of everything.

Cons

I'd still love to see more customization for notifications and the notification menu. It also doesn't have a dark mode in the cloud version which feels like a pretty standard feature these days.

“secure and reliable”

Pros

Packed with features, secure and consistently reliable. It also has a few great integrations that make it a good fit for development teams.

Cons

When we tried using it for the marketing team, it was really frustrating to work with, slow and far from simple. We ended up moving to Asana because it was much simpler to use.

“feature-rich solution”

Pros

It comes across as a very capable piece of software, with a strong feature set and a setup that is fairly manageable once you get into it.

Cons

We actually came across it through our Trello account after Atlassian acquired Trello. At the time, we were using a different service desk platform but this one appeared to include everything we needed and supposedly at no cost. That was the impression, anyway. We selected the plan meant for small teams which fits us and it was advertised and still is, as "Always free for 3 agents." The pricing page also prominently highlights "Free" and shows a big "$0" at the top. Getting everything configured took a while and importing our tickets was far from easy so we needed support which was not easy to access. After that, there was still a learning curve especially with no phone support on the free plan and we ended up putting a lot of hours into it. Things worked fine for about two or three months and then out of nowhere we got an email saying payment was due and that our account would be cancelled if we did not pay. That was a real shock. When we contacted them, we were told we had been placed on a temporary free plan, basically a trial and that payment was required after around three months. We explained that we had signed up based on the "free" plan being advertised but the support person simply repeated the same point and came across as blunt and unhelpful. We then checked the Atlassian Plans and Pricing page again because we assumed we must have overlooked some fine print but we had not. They were still clearly advertising "$0" and "Always free for 3 agents," with no mention anywhere on that page of it being a free trial.

“everything in one place”

Pros

Having the entire project managed within a single system has been extremely convenient for me. It helps compare engineers' logged hours against project costs, supports weekly work prioritization and fits perfectly with our scrum process. I also appreciate how well it integrates with tools we already use, such as Slack and xMatters.

Cons

There are still some bugs that force us to refresh the page especially when clicking on estimates, actuals and completed work from the board views. The query language also needs improvement around wildcard support. We automate integrations with Jira for projects and have to create and manage tickets for other teams so we need more precise summary-based filtering to make that process work properly.

“great for task management”

Pros

Managing tasks, planning work, estimating complexity, assigning responsibilities and tracking progress all work very well with this platform. I find it easy to use and the pricing is more competitive than many alternatives I've evaluated.

Cons

Although the platform offers a lot of flexibility, I still run into situations where customization feels somewhat limited. I also find navigation a bit awkward when managing multiple tasks and the way projects or tasks are linked together could be improved.