Jira vs ClickUp: Which Tool is Better for Project Management?

In the market for a project management tool and looking to compare ClickUp vs Jira? Both of these software apps offer powerful features and capabilities, but they are designed with different users in mind. 

So, which should you choose? Before making any big decisions, let’s thoughtfully compare Jira vs ClickUp based on features, performance, collaboration capabilities, customization options, scalability, and cost. 

By evaluating each product through identified criteria it will be easier for you to make an informed decision about your next project management solution.

Let's dive in!

What is ClickUp

ClickUp is an all-in-one project management tool and productivity app designed for all users. This software offers over a hundred customizable features to help you manage projects and delegate tasks, making it a great alternative to Jira work management. ClickUp's powerful features allow teams to collaborate and work together all in one place to achieve project completion and success. 

Best Features

• Choose from 15+ custom views including Gantt Chart, Timeline, and Chat view
• Add a single or multiple assignees to a task 
• Track tasks and project progress with custom statuses
• Create and save custom automation to streamline workflow

Limitations

• Learning curve due to amount of available features 
• No Table view in the mobile app, yet

Pricing

• Free: Free forever
• Unlimited: $5 per user per month
• Business: $12 per user per month
• Business Plus: $19 per user per month
• Enterprise: Contact sales

User Ratings

G2: 4.7/5 (4800+ reviews)

Capterra: 4.7/5 (3100+ reviews)

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“ClickUp is an incredibly flexible platform that truly revolutionized how I worked. The ability to customize the system to fit my workflows was a major selling point when I first looked into it and something that has been invaluable ever since. It offers me the unique opportunity to choose from a range of pre-made tasks, processes and boards or create my own - allowing me unlimited freedom in designing how I want to get things done.

“The flexibility of ClickUp also allows for collaboration between different members of the team without any hassle. Every user can have their own customized view and share what they’re working on with others so everyone is always on the same page. This makes communication much more efficient, as well as reduces errors through shared knowledge about which tasks are assigned where and by whom.” - Xavier W., Director

What is Jira

Jira is a powerful bug tracking and project management software. It offers tools to help software teams sketch out a roadmap for big and complex projects. Teams who are looking to follow a scrum, kanban, or the agile project management framework can find support from Jira. Unlike , Jira provides each user with access to comprehensive agile reporting to give them actionable insights to how each team performs during each sprint.

Best Features

• Support for Scrum, Kanban, and any framework in between
• Intuitive interface makes it easier for agile teams to access the tool
• Customizable workflows, reports, and boards

Limitations

• Lack of collaboration tools to communicate with your team
• Software can be clunky and slow 

Pricing

• Free for 10 users
• Standard: $7.75 per user
• Premium $15.25 per user
• Enterprise: Contact sales for pricing

“Jira helps organize the engineering team to be on top of their tasks every sprint and to have transparency into what everyone is working on at a given point in time. It is also a great platform to integrate with many other parts of the tech stack such as Slack, Bitbucket, Confluence.” - Pedro D., Product Manager

ClickUp vs Jira in the Community

When looking for reliable information about ClickUp vs Jira, it is important to include resources from the community. This is because the community perspective offers a unique view on each of these tools, as members are unbiased and have likely used both options themselves. 

Using the G2 Grid for project management software comparison is also a great way to quickly evaluate the two tools and make an informed decision. G2Crowd sources from a diverse set of user reviews to create this measurement to help potential customers compare different solutions side-by-side. 

As you can see, ClickUp scores very well and is in the leader category while Jira is more middle of the road. 

Depending on your use case, you may want to consider these scores and rankings as they are a very good reflection of current user satisfaction and indication of future potential. 

ClickUp vs Jira on Reddit

What better way to really get a feel for a tool than reading through what users on the internet are candidly sharing? Check out some Reddit posts on both tools. 

ClickUp Reddit Review

"What I like about ClickUp is its flexibility. Certainly it is not going to tick all the boxes. But it brings a solid suite of features. For me, it is fantastic that lists are flexible and support custom fields. There's various ways to display your tasks - Gantt chart, Kanban, tabular etc. You can reference ClickUp Docs as well - think of it like a simplified MS Word but being able to reference your tasks. I use it for my personal projects, for a list of books I want to read, for tracking gift ideas, for managing more complex personal side projects etc." - via Reddit

Jira Reddit Review

“This is like asking people if they’ve had good experience with C++. You’re going to get a range of answers from great to terrible. People’s experience with Jira will depend on how it was implemented, managed, and respected within the company. There are many great examples of Jira being used successfully, and there are plenty of bad examples of Jira being abused as part of failed management systems. Personally, I prefer something more basic for most teams without dedicated project managers. Jira is a power tool with hundreds of options that can make your life worse in the wrong hands.” - via Reddit

Now, onto our honest opinions on different categories of comparison between Jira and ClickUp.

Usability and Feature Comparison

ClickUp's Usability and Features

ClickUp is known for its intuitive and user-friendly interface. Its drag-and-drop capabilities allows users to easily use the tool and the Home feature displays all your tasks in one place. There are over 15+ custom views available for anyone, from individual contributors to executives, to see work from their point of view. 

Besides the standard project management tools such as Gantt charts, Kanban boards, and Sprints, ClickUp also offers a variety of unique features such as the screen recording Clip feature. Record your screen and attach it directly to ClickUp tasks, saving you from having to use other screen recording apps such as Loom. 

Its whiteboards are an incredibly useful and versatile tool that allows users to visualize concepts, brainstorm ideas, and plan out entire projects. You can create an unlimited number of boards that can be viewed by anyone with access. The boards are also customizable, allowing users and guests to add text, images, notes, and more.

The sheer multitude of ClickUp features does make it a bit difficult and overwhelming for beginners. This can be compensated by being able to turn on and off different ClickApps so you can choose which features you want enabled for your team to eliminate overwhelm.

Sandra D, a digital marketing specialist says: “As a Scrum Master, I feel that ClickUp is a marvelous tool for any Agile marketing teams out there. We have biweekly sprint planning sessions, and using ClickUp makes getting through them a breeze. Custom views can be created at all levels -- for an individual list (we use these to separate business lines within our team), for an entire folder (which we use for a view of all the areas of our team). At the folder level, during grooming, I filter by all items due in the coming two weeks and then we can go through them and groom them. ClickUp allows for custom fields so that any details that are relevant across the board on a task can be filled in. This allows us to keep tasks organized by their values in the custom fields.”

Jira's Usability and Features

Jira is an incredibly useful project management tool that enables teams to stay organized, track progress on tasks, and collaborate effectively. It's designed specifically for agile teams looking to quickly develop products with the flexibility to adjust direction as needed.

The most common usability issue is that to get Jira set up, you'll need to either have a consultant help build workflows or encounter a steep learning curve to get it implemented.  

The core features of the Jira software include customizable workflows, flexible work organization options such as boards and sprints, real-time project tracking, and reporting tools. There are also numerous plug-ins that can be used to integrate with other popular software solutions like Slack, Salesforce, and Zendesk. With Jira's vast library of add-ons, you'll be able to find many important features a fit for your team's needs.

Jack D., web developer says the following: “The user interface of Jira is very intuitive and familiar to what many already know from standard office suites such as Microsoft or Google. Despite this, it also contains enough advanced features for software engineers or development teams to benefit significantly from its use. This combination of both essential functions is excellent for novices with more complex options making Jira an appealing tool even in business environments. I strongly feel that Jira's user experience needs to be improved substantially to remain competitive. “

Collaborative Capabilities Comparison

ClickUp's Collaborative Capabilities

ClickUp's collaboration features make it an ideal choice for distributed teams and remote work. Its wide range of features allows users to communicate quickly and effectively, no matter where they are located. For example, you can assign tasks to team members, comment on tasks and projects, @mention teammates and assign comments to them, and create task lists that can be shared with contractors and clients outside of your team. 

ClickUp's Chat View is also an incredibly useful feature that allows users to communicate and brainstorm easily in a specific List or Folder without having to switch between different applications. There's also an in-built Calendar feature that syncs with Google and Outlook calendars to help team members decide on important dates and team meetings. 

Its broad range of features makes it a great choice for any team looking to get organized and collaborate more effectively. 

Reema D., an associate director says: “The best parts about ClickUp are the potential for collaboration and the visual ability to watch tasks go through stages of completion. My team uses ClickUp primarily for candidate tracking and hiring. Through ClickUp, my team can share candidates, track contact logs, view resumes through their attachment upload feature, make notes, and move the candidate through the hiring process. “

Jira's Collaborative Capabilities

Jira makes it easy to stay in sync with team members, no matter where they are located. With its built-in chat function and integration with popular messaging apps like Slack, you can keep everyone informed of progress on tasks or changes in the project's direction quickly and effectively.

Compared to other tools, Jira stands out for its ability to coordinate tasks between engineering teams and other departments in an organization. Its intuitive interface allows engineers to quickly see who has responsibility for a specific project and what tasks are due. 

Holly M., Omnichannel Ordering Performance Manager, says this about Jira's collaboration features: “Jira is relatively easy to use to make projects, sprints and create a backlog of issues to be completed. Easy to collaborate with tech teams and link issues together that are associated.”

Customization and Scalability Comparison

ClickUp's Customization and Scalability

ClickUp is highly customizable and can be tailored to fit the specific needs of any organization or individual. It is designed to accommodate a diverse range of users, including neurodiverse users. For example, users can customize their view with different filters and sorting options, such as due date, assignee, priority and tags. 

Its scalability is enabled by the multi-dimensional structure - for instance, ClickUp’s organizational hierarchy allows users to structure their workspace in whatever way works best for them. ClickUp also offers extensive reporting capabilities which can be adjusted depending on the size of an organization. For example, businesses can customize reports to track specific metrics, such as project progress, total time tracked or employee workload. 

This makes it a great solution for organizations of all different sizes and types that are looking for an intuitive yet powerful project management tool. 

Dimitrije C., Head of Audio agrees: “I think ClickUp is very good at making large-scale processes visible to a large number of teams and people, and for me, it's been a massive improvement compared to a few project management solutions we've used previously in that aspect, especially since we started remote work. I don't know how I'd be able to keep up with the work of other departments in my company if I didn't have the flexible options of ClickUp, for following only the tasks which are relevant for my team and me.”

Jira's Customization and Scalability

Jira is a versatile and customizable platform that can easily be adapted to meet the needs of your team. With a robust set of APIs, developers can easily create custom applications and integrations to get the most out of their Jira instance. From software development teams to customer support departments, Jira is an invaluable tool for streamlining processes and keeping projects organized.

Teams can customize their workflow via drag-and-drop tools, quickly build custom reports and dashboards to track progress, and collect powerful analytics for insights into their data. 

For larger dev teams and organizations, Jira provides advanced features such as flexible access levels, multiple project templates, and automated workflows for streamlined collaboration across the organization.

Liam M., VP of Product Management raves: “Without a doubt, Jira's best feature is the ability to customize it to your organization. Jira helps our company stay aligned on all projects and work in the pipeline, ensuring everyone is rowing in the same direction. [The tool] feels like a solid partner that can scale infinitely as our company grows, so we don't have to worry about 'outgrowing' it.”

Cost Comparison

ClickUp's Pricing

By offering several plans, ranging from the free Forever Free plan to the Enterprise Plan, ClickUp has something for everyone. The Forever Free plan is perfect for small teams who need basic project management capabilities and don’t require the comprehensive feature set of a premium plan. For those looking for an even more advanced project management solution, the Unlimited Plan and Business Plan provide access to powerful features such as Gantt charts, timelines and workload management.

ClickUp's Enterprise Plan is the ideal choice for more complex organizations. It is designed to meet even the most demanding needs, from HIPAA compliance and whitelabeling to custom integrations and dedicated support. 

Here's Allan G., a project manager: “[ClickUp] allows me to treat my business like software. I can adapt procedures so that orders flow through our company naturally. It can work like a manual ERP if you set it up correctly. I love that you can really do whatever you want, all for a very low price.”

Jira's Pricing

When it comes to pricing, Jira is on the steeper side. Depending on the version, the cost of Jira ranges from $10 - $50 per user per month. But, it's also worth noting that Jira offers discounts for non-profits, educational institutions, and more. 

Jira also offers a free version which allows up to 10 users to use the service at no cost. This includes basic features such as task customization, time tracking, and reporting. However, the free version does not offer more advanced features like Agile project planning or Integration with other services. 

For a more enterprise organization, you can upgrade to higher plans that also include access to advanced features like Jira Service Management and integration with other services. 

Pratik J., software engineer mentions about pricing: “It is a bit more expensive than other similar tools, but if you have a large number of users in your company or project, the price will definitely be worth it for sure.”

Jira vs ClickUp: Bottom Line

Choose ClickUp if:

• You need a solution that scales as your company grows
• You're looking for features beyond project management
• You're not intimidated by a software with tons of features

Choose Jira if:

• Your main use case is software development and the rest of the company doesn't need project management
• You need to integrate with CI/CD tools for the software development lifecycle
• You're looking for more robust reporting and statistical capabilities