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Short answer
Jira is our top pick among the 7 issue tracking tools we ranked, scoring 87/100. Paid plans start at $9.70/user/mo.
Jira (87/100): best overall for scaling engineering teams.
Linear (86/100): best for fast-moving product teams.
YouTrack (85/100): best value, with every feature on every plan.
GitHub Issues (84/100): best for teams whose code is already on GitHub.
Azure Boards (83/100): best for Microsoft and Azure DevOps shops.
An issue tracker is where engineering teams log bugs, plan sprints and see what ships next. The tools here all handle the basics, so the differences are in the limits: how many users the free plan covers (5 to 10, or no cap with an issue limit), where sprints, roadmaps and reporting start, and whether you're already paying for one inside GitHub, GitLab or Azure DevOps.
We scored seven issue trackers on six weighted criteria. For each one we list the free plan, the entry paid price and the plan where planning, insights and SAML SSO start.
The shortlist
1Jira Best overall for scaling engineering teams87/100Review
2Linear Best for fast-moving product teams86/100Review
3YouTrack Best value, with every feature on every plan85/100Review
Teams running the whole DevOps cycle in one platform
Free plan + trial
$29/user/mo
4.5/5
79/100
Starting prices are the cheapest paid plan on each vendor's pricing page on Nov 2, 2026. Jira's prices are Atlassian's list prices effective Oct 13, 2026 (monthly rate for 1 to 100 users; annual plans are priced by user tier). Linear's prices are billed yearly. YouTrack's $4.50 is the annual rate before volume discounts, for 11 or more users. Shortcut's page doesn't label its default billing period and says yearly billing saves up to 25%. GitLab Premium is billed annually. GitHub and Azure DevOps bill per user per month. G2 lists Azure DevOps's tracker as Azure Boards.
Jira is Atlassian's issue and project tracker for software teams. The free plan covers 10 users and 2 GB of storage; Standard ($9.70 per user monthly) adds 250 GB and 1,700 automation rule runs a month; Premium ($19.60) adds advanced planning, a sandbox, unlimited storage, a 99.9% uptime SLA and 24/7 support.
Who it's best for
Engineering organizations with several teams that need configurable workflows, permissions and cross-team planning.
Why it made the shortlist
It has the deepest workflow, permission and planning options here, and its free plan covers a full team of 10.
Strengths
Free plan for 10 users
Advanced planning, sandbox and 99.9% uptime SLA on Premium
Annual pricing drops to $950 a year for 10 users on Standard
Watch-outs
List prices rose on Oct 13, 2026 (Standard $9.05 to $9.70 per user monthly)
Premium costs about twice Standard
More configuration than lighter tools
Skip it if: You're a small team that wants a fast, opinionated tracker with little setup.
Linear is an issue tracker built around cycles (1- to 8-week sprints where unfinished issues roll over automatically) and projects. Free covers 2 teams and 250 issues; Basic ($10 per user billed yearly) removes the issue limit and allows 5 teams; Business ($16) adds Insights, Linear Asks, guest accounts and triage rules.
Who it's best for
Startups and product engineering teams that want a fast, keyboard-driven tracker with sensible defaults.
Why it made the shortlist
It's the easiest tracker here to adopt, with automatic sprint rollover and agent features available from the free plan.
Strengths
Cycles roll unfinished issues over automatically
Unlimited members on every plan, including Free
Rated 4.6/5 on G2, the second highest here
Watch-outs
Free plan stops at 250 issues
Insights need Business ($16); dashboards, SAML and audit log need Enterprise
Monthly prices aren't listed on the pricing page
Skip it if: You need heavily customized workflows and permissions per project.
YouTrack is JetBrains' issue tracker and project management tool, with agile boards, a knowledge base and a helpdesk. It's free for up to 10 users; paid Cloud plans start at $4.50 per user a month billed annually ($5.40 monthly), and every plan includes the full feature set and AI Assistance at no extra cost.
Who it's best for
Teams that want Jira-style depth without per-plan feature gates, especially those already using JetBrains IDEs.
Why it made the shortlist
It's the cheapest full-featured paid tracker here, and its free plan for 10 users isn't stripped down.
Strengths
Full feature set on every plan, including free
25 users cost $1,350 a year billed annually
Built-in helpdesk free for 3 agents
Watch-outs
Paid plans start at 11 users
Fewer third-party integrations than Jira or GitHub
Smallest G2 review base here (60 reviews)
Skip it if: Your code lives in GitHub and you want issues next to pull requests.
GitHub Issues and Projects are GitHub's built-in tracking tools, included on every plan. Projects offers table, board and roadmap layouts, iteration fields, built-in workflows and charts. GitHub Team ($4 per user a month) adds protected branches and required reviewers for private repositories; Enterprise ($21) adds SAML SSO and the audit log API.
Who it's best for
Engineering teams that already host code on GitHub and want issues linked to pull requests without a second tool.
Why it made the shortlist
Issues sit next to the code at no extra cost, and it has the highest G2 rating among these seven.
Strengths
Issues and Projects included on the Free plan
Rated 4.7/5 on G2
Roadmap layout and iteration fields in Projects
Watch-outs
Fewer workflow and permission controls than Jira
Projects allow up to 50 fields
SAML SSO needs Enterprise ($21)
Skip it if: Non-engineering teams will file and track most of the work.
Azure Boards is the work-tracking part of Azure DevOps Services, with backlogs, sprint planning, Kanban and scrum boards, and dashboards. The Basic plan is $6 per user a month with the first 5 users free, and it includes Azure Pipelines (1,800 free minutes a month on one Microsoft-hosted job) and Repos.
Who it's best for
Teams building on Microsoft's stack, or companies that want boards, repos and pipelines from one vendor.
Why it made the shortlist
It combines backlogs, sprints and dashboards with repos and pipelines for $6 a user, and the first 5 users are free.
Strengths
First 5 users free
Backlogs, sprints and dashboards included
Links GitHub commits and pull requests to work items
Watch-outs
Interface is heavier than Linear or GitHub
Basic + Test Plans is $52 per user a month
Skip it if: You don't use Microsoft tools and want a tracker that stands on its own.
Shortcut (formerly Clubhouse) is an issue tracker with stories, epics, iterations and docs. Free covers 10 users and 1 team; Team ($8.50 per user) allows up to 5 teams and adds automations; Business ($12) adds objectives and key results, the metrics dashboard and advanced custom fields, with SAML SSO as an add-on.
Who it's best for
Small and mid-size product teams that want iterations, epics and docs in one simple tool.
Why it made the shortlist
Its free plan covers 10 users with iterations, docs and reports, and paid plans stay below Linear's.
Strengths
Free plan for 10 users with iterations and docs
Free read-only Observer seats on paid plans
14-day trial without a card
Watch-outs
Automations need Team; metrics dashboard needs Business
SAML SSO is an add-on on Business
No pro-rated refunds on cancellation
Skip it if: You need deep cross-team portfolio planning.
GitLab is a DevOps platform with source control, CI/CD and issue tracking in one app. Free covers 5 users per top-level group, 400 compute minutes and 10 GiB of storage; Premium ($29 per user billed annually) adds epics, 10,000 compute minutes and 500 GiB, plus 12 GitLab Duo AI credits per user a month for a limited time.
Who it's best for
Teams that want code, pipelines, security scanning and issues in a single platform.
Why it made the shortlist
Issues, merge requests and pipelines share one data model, so planning links directly to builds and deploys.
Strengths
Issues, CI/CD and code in one platform
10,000 compute minutes on Premium
Rated 4.5/5 on G2 across 902 reviews
Watch-outs
Epics need Premium ($29 per user)
Free plan caps a group at 5 users
Most expensive entry price here if you only need tracking
Skip it if: You only need an issue tracker and already host code elsewhere.
Issue tracking software is where software teams log bugs, feature requests and tasks as issues, then assign, prioritize and move them through a workflow until they ship. Most trackers add sprint or cycle planning, links to commits and pull requests, and reports on how much work gets done each sprint.
Key features to look for
Issues and custom workflows. Bugs, stories and tasks with statuses, priorities, assignees and custom fields.
Backlogs and sprints. A ranked backlog and time-boxed sprints or cycles to plan the next batch of work.
Boards and roadmaps. Kanban boards for daily work and timeline views for epics and releases.
Git integration. Commits, branches and pull requests linked to issues, often closing them automatically.
Reports and automation. Velocity and burndown charts, plus rules that update issues when something changes.
How much issue tracking software costs
Among the 7 issue tracking tools we ranked, published entry prices start at $4/user/mo (GitHub Issues) and go up to $29/user/mo (GitLab). Units differ by vendor (per user, per agent, per contact tier or flat), so compare at your own team size. Free plans: Jira, Linear, YouTrack, GitHub Issues, Azure Boards, Shortcut, GitLab.
Entry prices from each vendor's pricing page, as shown in the comparison table above. Higher tiers usually add automation, reporting and admin controls.
Other issue tracking tools to consider
These tools didn't make our ranked shortlist but are worth a look for specific needs. We haven't scored them.
monday dev: Software development product from monday.com for sprints, roadmaps and bugs.
Zoho Sprints: Agile project management from Zoho with backlogs, sprints and Scrum boards.
ClickUp: Work management platform with tasks, docs and sprints for many team types.
Asana: Work management platform for projects, goals and cross-team workflows.
How we scored issue tracking software
Each tool gets a 0 to 5 rating on every criterion. We weight the ratings below, convert the total to a score out of 100, and only rank tools that score 70 or higher. Open any tool's Score breakdown to see its ratings. Full process on our methodology page.
Issue tracking & workflows25%
Agile planning20%
Dev integrations & automation15%
Reporting10%
Ease of use15%
Price & value15%
How to choose issue tracking software
Check what you already pay for. GitHub includes Issues and Projects on every plan, and Azure DevOps includes Boards in Basic with the first 5 users free. A separate tracker has to beat a tool you already have.
Size the free plan against your team. Jira, YouTrack and Shortcut cover 10 users, Azure DevOps 5 and GitLab 5 per group; Linear has no user cap but stops at 250 issues.
Price annual tiers, not just the monthly rate. Jira Standard is $9.70 per user monthly but $950 a year for 10 users on an annual plan; YouTrack drops from $5.40 to $4.50 billed annually.
Find where planning and reporting start. Jira's advanced planning is on Premium, Linear's Insights on Business and Shortcut's metrics dashboard on Business. YouTrack includes everything on every plan.
Ask when SAML SSO arrives. It's on Enterprise for Linear and GitHub ($21), an add-on on Shortcut Business, and part of Atlassian Guard, included with Jira Enterprise.
Issue tracking FAQ
What is the best issue tracking software?
Jira scores highest in our ranking at 87/100 for teams that need configurable workflows and cross-team planning. Linear (86/100) is the easiest to adopt, and YouTrack (85/100) is the best value at $4.50 per user billed annually.
What is the best free issue tracker?
Jira, YouTrack and Shortcut all have free plans for 10 users; YouTrack's includes every feature. GitHub includes Issues and Projects on its Free plan, Azure DevOps is free for the first 5 users, and Linear's free plan has unlimited members but a 250-issue limit.
How much does Jira cost?
From Oct 13, 2026, Jira Standard lists at $9.70 per user per month for 1 to 100 users on monthly billing, and Premium at $19.60. Annual plans are priced by user tier: $950 a year for 10 users or $2,450 for 25 users on Standard. The free plan covers 10 users.
Do I need a separate issue tracker if I use GitHub or GitLab?
Not always. GitHub Issues and Projects are free on every plan, with boards, roadmaps and iteration fields. GitLab's free plan includes issues for 5 users per group, but epics need Premium at $29 per user. Teams usually add Jira, Linear or YouTrack when they need more planning, reporting or non-engineering users.