JetBrains issue tracker and project management tool with agile boards and helpdesk
Best Issue Tracking Software
Issue tracking software is a crucial tool for teams to systematically document, prioritize, and resolve problems that arise during project development or operations.
More about Issue Tracking Software
Key features include:
- Centralized repository for tracking issues, tasks, bugs, and challenges
- Prioritization and assignment of issues to respective team members
- Workflow management for efficient issue resolution
- Reporting and analytics for tracking progress and identifying trends
By providing a centralized platform for issue tracking, these solutions help teams avoid the risks of unresolved issues, duplicate efforts, and slower resolution times, which can lead to frustrated employees and poor customer satisfaction.
To qualify as an issue tracking solution, a product must:
- Offer a centralized system for documenting and tracking various types of issues, tasks, bugs, and challenges
- Provide tools for prioritizing and assigning issues to specific team members
- Support workflow management for efficient issue resolution processes
- Include reporting and analytics capabilities to monitor progress and identify trends
The primary value proposition of issue tracking software is to streamline and enhance the process of identifying, managing, and resolving issues, bugs, and challenges within project development, IT operations, customer service, and other operational contexts, ultimately improving team productivity, efficiency, and customer satisfaction.
Issue Tracking Software Compared
Compare the 10 most relevant Issue Tracking Software options on price, free trial and deployment.
| Product | Starting price | Free trial | Free plan | API | Deployment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Redmine Free, open source project management and issue tracking web application | Free | – | ✓ | ✓ | On Premises |
 MantisBT Free, open source web-based issue and bug tracking system | Free | – | ✓ | ✓ | On Premises |
 Linear Fast, keyboard-driven issue tracking and project management for software teams | $10 | – | ✓ | ✓ | Cloud Based |
 Shortcut Project management and issue tracking platform built for software development… | $8.50 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Cloud Based |
 GitLab Issues Built-in issue tracking and planning inside GitLab's DevSecOps platform | $29 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Cloud Based, On Premises, Hybrid |
 ClickUp All-in-one productivity platform for tasks, docs, goals, and team collaboration | $10 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Cloud Based |
 Backlog All-in-one project management, task tracking, and version control for software… | $35 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Cloud Based, On Premises |
 Bugzilla Free, open source web-based bug tracking system originally built by… | Free | – | ✓ | ✓ | On Premises |
 Zoho BugTracker Cloud-based bug and issue tracking software for software development teams | $3/user/month | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Cloud Based |
 GitHub Issues Integrated issue tracking and lightweight project planning built into GitHub | $4 | – | ✓ | ✓ | Cloud Based, On Premises |
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11 Best Issue Tracking Software Options
Showing 21 - 11 of 11 products
YouTrack is JetBrains' issue tracking and project management tool, combining agile Scrum and Kanban boards, customizable workflows written in JavaScript, built-in time tracking, and a knowledge base into a single platform. It also includes a Helpdesk module for handling support tickets from non-technical requesters alongside development issues.
YouTrack Cloud is free for teams of up to 10 users with the full feature set except a custom logo, and paid subscriptions for 11 or more users start around $4.50 per user per month on annual billing, dropping further as team size grows. A self-hosted YouTrack Server edition is also available, and a 14 day free trial covers up to 100 users with no credit card required.
Read YouTrack Reviews Explore additional details
Explore various Keka features, compare the pricing plans, and unlock the potential of seamless operations by selecting the right software for your business.
Features
View all YouTrack Features- Scrum and Kanban agile boards with swimlanes
- Customizable JavaScript workflow rules
- Built-in time tracking and reporting
- Helpdesk module for support ticket handling
- Knowledge base and articles
- Custom fields and issue templates
- Burndown charts and custom report builder
- AI Assistant with free usage credits
- REST API for integrations
- Self-hosted YouTrack Server option
Pricing
Paid Cloud (11+ users)
From $4.50/user/month
11+ users, billed annually (from $5.40/user/month billed monthly)
YouTrack Caters to
- StartUps
- SMEs
- Agencies
- Enterprises
Issue Tracking Software Buyer's Guide
Most Issue Tracking Software options look alike on a feature grid, so the useful comparison is how each handles your actual process. Below are the core capabilities, who benefits most, typical pricing, and what to test before committing.
What is Issue Tracking Software?
Issue Tracking Software helps teams help engineering teams build, test, review, ship, and maintain software. The real return is usually less rekeying and fewer version disputes rather than any single headline feature. The practical difference shows up in the awkward cases rather than the standard ones.
Key features to look for in Issue Tracking Software
Which of these matter depends on your process, but they are worth checking against any Issue Tracking Software shortlist.
- Pipeline or workflow automation
- Version control integration
- Automated testing and quality checks
- Code review and approval workflows
- Build artefacts and environment management
- Status visibility across branches and releases
- Rollback and release control
- Notifications into chat and issue trackers
Benefits of using Issue Tracking Software
Organisations running Issue Tracking Software that genuinely fits their workflow tend to see:
- Faster, more reliable releases
- Problems caught before they reach production
- Less manual work in the path to production
- Clear history of what shipped and when
- Consistent standards across the whole team
Who uses Issue Tracking Software?
Issue Tracking Software is used by software engineers, engineering managers, QA teams, and DevOps or platform engineers. What matters more than headcount is whether the product’s assumptions about your process are correct.
How to choose the right Issue Tracking Software
When comparing Issue Tracking Software, weigh these factors:
- How well it fits your existing version control and hosting
- Build minutes or job limits and what overage costs
- Whether self hosting is possible if you need it
- The quality of the integrations you depend on daily
- How much configuration is needed before it is useful
Narrow to a few options and test on your own data. The eventual daily users should run the trial, because their friction determines whether a rollout sticks.
How much does Issue Tracking Software cost?
Commonly per contributor or per user each month, sometimes with usage based build minutes on top. Open source and self hosted options exist in most of this category. Budget against where you expect to be, and read carefully which capabilities are gated above the tier you are quoted.
FAQs of Issue Tracking Software
Issue Tracking Software handles the day to day paperwork of software engineering work, keeping customer records, scheduling and payment in one place.
General tools need adapting to software engineering workflows and rarely cover the terminology or compliance involved, which is what Issue Tracking Software is built around.
Scale assumptions vary widely across Issue Tracking Software, so ask any vendor what a typical software engineering customer of theirs actually looks like.
Issue Tracking Software vendors differ on migration, so confirm the import path for your current software engineering records rather than assuming it is included.
Issue Tracking Software pricing is commonly per seat or per site and tiered by scale, so budget above what a general purpose software engineering tool would cost.
Trial Issue Tracking Software against real software engineering work rather than a vendor demo, and involve the staff who will use it daily.