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Jira pros and cons

Vendor: Atlassian

4.1 out of 5

276 reviews
91% willing to recommend

Pros & Cons summary

Jira offers a robust agile framework supporting sprint management, ticketing, and task handling, ideal for IT departments. Customization features enhance task management despite a lack of hierarchical levels for complex cases. Adaptable to Scrum and Kanban, Jira integrates with Atlassian tools, though integration can be complex. Reporting, traceability features help project managers, but additional add-ons may be needed. Managing permissions remains challenging for broader management beyond administrators.

Buyer's Guide

Get pricing advice, tips, use cases and valuable features from real users of this product.

Prominent pros & cons

PROS

Jira's agile framework effectively supports sprint management, ticketing, and task handling, making it suitable for IT departments.

The tool's customization features, including workflow design and automation, greatly enhance task management and process oversight.

Its integration capabilities with other Atlassian tools like Bitbucket and Confluence provide extensive collaboration and project management benefits.

Jira's adaptability to various methodologies like Scrum and Kanban ensures it meets diverse project management needs across organizations.

Reporting and traceability features assist project managers in monitoring progress, planning sprints, and managing resources efficiently.

CONS

Jira lacks multiple levels of hierarchy, limiting the ability to manage stories and epics effectively for complex use cases.

Changing workflows in Jira can lead to historical data loss, impacting reporting and tracking capabilities.

Built-in features for tracking and reporting in Jira are insufficient, often requiring additional add-ons for necessary functionalities.

Integrations with other platforms and tools are complex and often inadequate, causing disruptions in data flow and collaboration.

Managing permissions and user roles in Jira is challenging, as visibility is typically limited to administrators, lacking the necessary flexibility for broader management.

Jira Pros review quotes

Info Sec Consultant at Size 41 Digital

Jun 1, 2017

Perfect for keeping track of large amounts of bugs, tasks queries and releases for fixes.

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MM

Partner at a manufacturing company with 501-1,000 employees

May 29, 2017

The configurable workflows and boards make it easy for us to execute and oversee our own unique process.

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Agile Coach & Sr. Project Manager at a retailer with 10,001+ employees

Jun 5, 2017

The adaptability of the Scrum and Kanban boards for other uses, with careful use of the customization features.

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Manager, Live Production at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Jul 6, 2017

I found it super useful, as it is customizable for different teams and users.

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Test Manager

Jul 31, 2017

One of the valuable features is traceability from requirements to test cases.

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Technical QA Lead in HPE NGA Synchronizer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

Sep 18, 2017

For QA, the most interesting for me are boards, backlog, and filters.

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Technical Writer at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees

Dec 12, 2017

JIRA stores history of changes, which helps a lot to track who, when, and why the issue was modified.

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QA Automation at a tech vendor with 501-1,000 employees

Jan 28, 2018

The ability to change and rewrite tasks is valuable. You can add a lot of columns, change the owners and the change the components.

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Sr. QA Manager with 501-1,000 employees

Feb 2, 2018

It gave us control over all test artifacts in one place, along with easy traceability, mapping between stories, bugs, test cases, and test cycles.

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Fachbereichsleiter with 10,001+ employees

Mar 22, 2018

It helps me to use virtual Scrum boards across four locations, three time zones, and to plan my work. It fully supports the Scrum approach, and the Agile way of working, and it has Agile thinking behind it..

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Jira Cons review quotes

Info Sec Consultant at Size 41 Digital

Jun 1, 2017

There's been the odd amount of JIRA downtime (not self hosted) and sometimes tickets that can't be accessed.

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MM

Partner at a manufacturing company with 501-1,000 employees

May 29, 2017

There are some minor quirks, such as zero-point stories not appearing in the portfolio scope.

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Agile Coach & Sr. Project Manager at a retailer with 10,001+ employees

Jun 5, 2017

Ease of administration and customization. It is really clunky in this area.

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Free Report: Jira Reviews and More

Learn what your peers think about Jira. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2025.

879,477 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Manager, Live Production at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Jul 6, 2017

The following definitely need improvement: UI, speed, and mobile app functionality.

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Test Manager

Jul 31, 2017

I would like to see test execution modules.

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Technical QA Lead in HPE NGA Synchronizer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

Sep 18, 2017

Grid: It is really strange that there is no possibility to edit an item in the grid. You need to go inside, and even then, not all items are editable, so you need to switch to edit mode. That's too many clicks and switches.

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Technical Writer at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees

Dec 12, 2017

I would love to have more features to make nice documents, like Release Notes or a feature overview, right from JIRA.

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QA Automation at a tech vendor with 501-1,000 employees

Jan 28, 2018

I would like to see it connecting to Git. That could be useful. We use it for Stash, but I think there is one for Git also. I don't know if it's a plug-in that exists already, but that could be nice.

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Sr. QA Manager with 501-1,000 employees

Feb 2, 2018

It should have its own repository for test case creation, so that one does not have to resort to third-party tools and plugins.

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Fachbereichsleiter with 10,001+ employees

Mar 22, 2018

I struggle with Epics, how they are implemented in JIRA, because they don't work like any other Story, I see a list of Epics, but although I can order them, there are some mismatches with how the Epics are used compared to what Scrum expects, or what Story mapping expects an Epic to be.

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Product Categories

Product Categories

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Product Categories

Product Categories

Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites

Application Requirements Management

Project Management Software

Popular Comparisons

Popular Comparisons

Microsoft Azure DevOps vs Jira

IBM DOORS vs Jira

monday.com vs Jira

OpenText Application Quality Management vs Jira

Codebeamer vs Jira

Freshservice vs Jira

Jama Connect vs Jira

Polarion ALM vs Jira

Rally Software vs Jira

OpenText Software Delivery Management vs Jira

Polarion Requirements vs Jira

Jira Align vs Jira

Broadcom Clarity vs Jira

See all alternatives

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