Project ManagementJira Review: 2022 Features & Pricing

Jira Review: 2022 Features & Pricing

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Some of the biggest names, such as Airbnb, eBay, and Spotify, use Jira for their project management needs. Is it the right fit for your software development team? We’ll help you decide by discussing Jira’s features, pros and cons, and pricing.

Jira Features

While Atlassian has developed several products under the “Jira” label, that four-letter name often refers to Jira Software. It is used mostly by Agile software development teams to plan sprints, prioritize work, delegate tasks, and enhance transparency amongst workers.

Jira does this via a long list of features, including bug tracking, custom workflows, Scrum and Kanban boards, Agile reporting, and roadmaps. Some of Jira’s other highlights include advanced permissions, project roles and archiving, audit logs, and thousands of app integrations.

Jira Project Management Dashboard

Jira Project Management Pros for Software Developers

Below is a list of Jira Project Management pros for software developers and programmers.

Makes Bug Tracking Simple

Jira was primarily created to help software development teams track bugs. As such, this is one of its strongest points.

Developers can use Jira to pinpoint, track, and record bugs with ease. They can also analyze all problems in the backlog, giving them the ability to prioritize and address issues without complication or causing roadblocks.

Plenty of Tools for Agile and Scrum Project Management

Jira was developed with Agile and Scrum project management in mind. Your team can see real-time progress and visualize workflows with its Scrum and Kanban boards. Multiple project views, such as story points and user stories, are supported, as are Agile sprints.

If a project manager seeks a solution that lets them know which tasks are on target and which are behind schedule, Jira gives them that power.

Easy to Customize

Jira has several features that can be customized to your team’s unique needs, such as workflows, Scrum boards, filters, and more. And since it integrates with over 3,000 third-party apps, you can extend its functionality even further.

Robust Reporting

Project managers will love Jira’s extensive selection of Agile reports that offer real-time insight into their team’s efficiency. You get over 10 right out of the box, including sprint reports, version reports, burndown charts, burnup charts, and cumulative flow diagrams.

Top-Notch Security

You’ll gain some much-needed peace of mind knowing your data is safe and secure when using Jira. AES 256 encryption is used for servers with user data, while all data is covered by TLS 1.2+ encryption. In addition, Jira complies with GDPR, SOC 2, SOC 3, PCI DSS, and more, plus it lets admins create custom roles for team member access.

Can Be Used by Various Departments

Was Jira made with software development teams in mind? Sure, but that does not mean that other parts of your organization cannot make use of its impressive set of features. For example, you can use Jira to:

  • Measure the performance of your operations.
  • Create custom workflows to streamline your human resources department’s hiring process.
  • Plan product launches for your marketing team.
  • And much more.

Read: Asana versus Jira

Jira Cons

Here are some of the cons of working with Jira if you are a developer or development team.

Collaboration

One of Jira’s possible limitations is its lack of tools for team collaboration. Yes, it does have Kanban and Scrum boards, but if collaboration is a point of emphasis, you’ll need to use other Atlassian offerings like Trello or Confluence, or integrate a third-party app like Slack.

All that being said, this is hardly a con, as the problem is easily rectified by adding a plugin or integrating a third-party app.

Lack of Timeline Views

Timeline views can show which tasks and subtasks are linked together. This gives project managers the ability to adjust schedules on the fly should one task fall behind.

While many project management software offerings come with timeline views or Gantt charts, Jira does not. To get such functionality, you’ll need to take the extra step of going to the Atlassian Marketplace and connecting a Gantt chart app to Jira. Again, there is an easy remedy for this if you don’t mind taking a few minutes to integrate an offering from the Atlassian Marketplace.

Atlassian Marketplace

Too Technical for Beginners

If you’re a software engineer or developer, Jira should be easy to use. But if you want employees in other departments to pick it up, they may find the setup and user interface a bit challenging to understand at first. Make sure they receive training and have a little extra time to ramp-up.

Read: Zoho Projects versus Jira

Jira Project Management Pricing

Jira is offered via various pricing plans made to fit different budgets and team sizes. You can opt for monthly or annual billing. The benefit of annual billing is that it can yield two months of free service, which is ideal if you’re looking for a long-term solution.</p.

Jira has a free plan for as many as 10 users, plus a no-cost seven-day trial. As you can expect, the free plan lacks all of the bells and whistles that many teams would need, so to enjoy project roles, advanced permissions, audit logs, and so forth, you will need to at least pay for the Standard package, which averages out to around $7 per user per month.

If you need advanced features for a large organization, the Premium package will be your best bet. It averages to around $14 per user per month. Lastly, there is an Enterprise option for even larger organizations. To see pricing for this option, you will need to contact Jira and speak to a member of their sales team.

It is also worth mentioning that the more users your plan has passed a certain point, the more affordable it becomes. For instance, once you hit 200 users, the per person cost drops to $6.50 and $12 for the Standard and Premium packages, respectively. Jira can support up to 10,000 users.

Is Jira expensive compared to other project management tools? Not at all, as some of its competitors cost as much as $45 per user per month, which is well beyond Jira’s rates.

As for support, free users can turn to community forums. Standard users get local support from 9 am to 5 pm, while Premium and Enterprise users get 24/7 assistance.

Read more Jira Project Management Software reviews.

Alternatives to Jira Project Management

Looking for other PM solutions or alternatives to Jira? Check out some of the project management roundups below to find a different PM tool:

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