Jira alternatives for small teams

By Darko Bačić, founder of App Tube · 9 October 2026 · Facts checked 9 October 2026

Pick by what you need most. For sprints with little setup, Linear. For free time tracking on a tracker you can host yourself, YouTrack. For a board, epics and a timer in a phone and Mac app, devBoard. An epic is a big piece of work split into smaller tasks. We make devBoard. It is first on the list. We say where the others are better.

Why small teams leave Jira

The first reason is weight. A Capterra review from September 2026 says Jira pays off at scale. For a team of five, it slows things down, and its setup needs an owner.

The second reason is speed. One Hacker News comment calls Jira Cloud slow and buggy, with views that would not load. That company moved to Linear. Jira is not bad. It is big.

The short list

devBoard

devBoard is a tracker for freelancers and small dev teams. Free while in early access; paid plans will be one plain number, posted here first.

Pick it if

• You want epics, tasks and subtasks with nothing to set up first. A subtask is a step inside a task.
• You plan by releases, not sprints. A release is a named batch of work that ships together.
• You want a timer on each task. Jira logs time by hand, and timers usually come from paid add-ons.
• You want GitHub pull requests on the card. A pull request asks to merge code changes.

Skip it if

• You need a web version.
• You want to import your Jira tasks.
• You need docs, chat or automations in the same tool.
• You work on Windows or Linux. Those apps are not out yet.

Linear

Linear is an issue tracker for software teams, with projects, issues and repeating sprints.

Pick it if

• You want sprints without Jira's setup.
• You want a web app, plus apps for Mac and Windows.
• You want your Jira issues to come along. Linear imports them.

Skip it if

• You need time tracking. Teams add a tool like Harvest.
• You want to stay free past 250 issues.
• You run epics across many quarters. One reviewer found those weak. See Linear alternatives.

YouTrack

YouTrack is the issue tracker from JetBrains, with a knowledge base and a helpdesk built in.

Pick it if

• You want free time tracking, with timesheets and reports.
• You want to run it on your own server. That edition is free for up to ten users too.
• You want Gantt charts and your own rules, written in JavaScript.

Skip it if

• You want a desktop app. It runs on the web and on phones.
• You care about the phone app. One App Store reviewer calls it clunky and far behind the web.
• You want little to set up. See YouTrack alternatives.

Shortcut

Shortcut is a tracker for software teams, with stories, epics and sprints.

Pick it if

• You want epics and a roadmap without Jira's setup.
• You want docs on every plan.
• You are a startup with fewer than 50 people. Those get a year free.

Skip it if

• You need time tracking. Shortcut says it has none.
• You want phone or desktop apps. We could not confirm any.
• You want automations for free. They start on the Team plan. See Shortcut alternatives.

GitHub Projects

GitHub Projects puts your GitHub issues on a board, next to your code.

Pick it if

• Your code lives on GitHub, and you want a board at no extra cost.
• You want your own fields, such as a number for estimates.

Skip it if

• You need time tracking. Browser add-ons from Harvest or Clockify fill the gap.
• You want a desktop app. There is none for boards.
• You need a filter for "mine or unassigned". A user found the filters cannot do that. See GitHub Projects alternatives.

Plane

Plane is an open-source tracker in the style of Jira and Linear. Open source means anyone can read and run the code.

Pick it if

• You want to host it yourself. The Community Edition is free.
• You want sprints and a Gantt view on the free plan.
• You want your Jira work to come along. Plane imports it on every plan.

Skip it if

• You need time tracking for free. Work logs start on Pro.
• You want an easy install. Its forum shows install and upgrade problems.
• You want the new Windows app. It is not out yet. See Plane alternatives.

Who should stay on Jira

Stay if you are ten or more people and need set workflows, sprints and reports. Stay if someone on the team owns the setup. Stay if you want rules that run on their own, on every plan. Stay if you need advanced planning, which comes on Premium. devBoard vs Jira goes point by point.

How we chose

We looked for tools that fit a team of two to ten. We weighed setup time, dev features such as epics and pull request links, the apps, and the price. We make devBoard, so we put it first, and that is a bias. Other lists are on our alternatives page.

Moving off Jira

Four tools here import from Jira. Linear, Shortcut and Plane have Jira importers. YouTrack has an import wizard that keeps pulling from Jira. We did not find a Jira importer for GitHub Projects. devBoard has none either, so moving in is by hand. Moving from Jira shows the steps.