GitHub Issues vs Jira
We give GitHub Issues and Jira the same GPA: 3.8 out of 4.0. GitHub Issues grades higher on value for money. Jira grades higher on ease of use. They get the same grade on the free plan, features and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
GitHub Issues
Issue tracking and project planning built into GitHub
Jira
Issue and project tracking for software and business teams
How we grade them
| 3.8GPAGitHub IssuesExcellent | 3.8GPAJiraExcellent | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | AIssues isn't sold on its own. It's part of every GitHub plan, and Team is $4 a user a month for the whole platform, about half what's typical here. Enterprise starts at $21, for single sign-on and the self-hosted server. | BStandard is $9.05 a user a month on monthly billing, about typical for project tools, and it rises to $9.70 on October 13, 2026. Annual billing is about 17% less, but it's sold in fixed tiers like 10, 15 or 25 users, not seat by seat. |
| Free plan and trial | AGitHub Free includes Issues and Projects for individuals and organizations, with unlimited public and private repositories. Most teams could plan here and never pay. Support on Free is community only. | AFree for up to 10 users, with 2 GB of file storage and community support. A small team could stay here for good. Automation is the thin part, at 150 steps for the whole subscription. |
| Features | AIssues with sub-issues, dependencies, labels and milestones. Projects adds table, board and roadmap views, custom fields, week-by-week iterations, built-in automations and charts, including a burn-up chart. A project stops at 50 fields. | ABoards, lists, a timeline and a calendar, workflows each team shapes itself, bug tracking tied to Bitbucket and GitHub, rule-based automation and Rovo AI. The Marketplace lists more than 3,000 integrations. Advanced planning needs Premium. |
| Ease of use | BThere's no App Store rating on record for it, so a B is as high as we go. If you already work in GitHub there's nothing new to sign up for, and every mouse action has a keyboard shortcut or command. | A4.7 from about 40,600 App Store ratings, which earns the A. Someone does have to decide your team's statuses and steps, mind, because the workflows are yours to define. |
| Platforms and integrations | AWeb, iPhone and Android, plus the GitHub CLI if you'd rather stay in the terminal. There's a GraphQL API, and GitHub Actions for automating whatever the built-in workflows don't cover. | AWeb, iPhone and Android. It connects to Bitbucket, GitHub, Jenkins and Slack, and to AI coding tools like GitHub Copilot, Claude and Cursor. There's an API too, and the Marketplace for everything else. |
| Best for | teams whose code already lives on GitHub | software teams tracking bugs and releases |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: GitHub Issues and Jira. How we grade
Where they differ
- GitHub Issues starts at $4 per user / month (GitHub Team). Jira starts at $9.05 per user / month, billed monthly (Standard, 1 to 100 users).
- GitHub Issues also covers Markdown.
- Jira also covers tasks.
At a glance
| GitHub Issues | Jira | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $4 per user / month (GitHub Team) | $9.05 per user / month, billed monthly (Standard, 1 to 100 users) |
| Free plan | GitHub Free includes Issues and Projects for individuals and organizations, with unlimited public and private repositories and community support. | Free plan for up to 10 users: 2 GB of file storage, 150 automation steps per subscription and community support. |
| Free trial | 30-day free trial of GitHub Enterprise | From the Free plan, Standard can be tried free for 14 days and Premium for 30 days. |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | GitHub, Inc. | Atlassian |
| Price read from | github.com | atlassian.com |
| Checked | Oct 5, 2026 | Oct 9, 2026 |
Who each one suits
GitHub Issues
- Software teams that already host their code on GitHub
- Open source projects taking bug reports and feature requests in public
- Developers who like to plan from the terminal or the keyboard
Jira
- Software teams tracking bugs and development work
- Teams of up to 10 that can stay on the Free plan
- Organizations that already use other Atlassian tools
- Nonprofits and open source projects that qualify for free licenses
Worth knowing
GitHub Issues
- Issues is not sold on its own: it is part of every GitHub plan, and paid plans are priced per user for the whole platform.
- Every issue lives in a repository, so planning across repositories and teams runs through GitHub Projects.
- A project is limited to 50 fields, counting built-in metadata and custom fields.
- SAML single sign-on, SCIM provisioning and self-hosted Enterprise Server need the Enterprise plan, from $21 per user / month.
Jira
- New list prices take effect October 13, 2026: Standard rises to $9.70 and Premium to $19.60 per user / month on monthly billing.
- The Free plan stops at 10 users and 2 GB of file storage.
- Annual billing is sold in fixed user tiers such as 10, 15, 25, 50 and 100 users rather than per individual seat.
- Sandbox, release tracks, advanced planning and an uptime SLA are only on Premium and Enterprise.
Key features
GitHub Issues
- Issues and sub-issues
- Issues track bugs, features and ideas. Sub-issues break larger work into a hierarchy with progress indicators, and dependencies mark which issues block others.
- Tables, boards and roadmaps
- GitHub Projects shows issues and pull requests as a table, a kanban board or a timeline-style roadmap, with saved views that filter, sort, slice and group.
- Custom fields and iterations
- A project takes up to 50 fields, including date, number, single-select and text fields and an iteration field for planning work week by week.
- Built-in automations
- Built-in workflows set fields, archive items and add issues from a repository automatically. The GraphQL API and GitHub Actions allow further automation.
- Insights and charts
- Current and historical charts are built from the items in a project, including a default burn-up chart that shows completed work against what is left.
- Mobile, CLI and keyboard access
- Issues can be created and managed in the iOS and Android apps and from the GitHub CLI, and every mouse action has a keyboard shortcut or command.
Jira
- Boards, lists, timeline and calendar
- Projects are broken down into work items that can be tracked on boards, in lists, on a timeline or on a calendar.
- Customizable workflows
- Each team can define its own workflow of statuses and steps and connect it to the other tools in its stack.
- Bug and issue tracking
- Teams log bugs as work items and follow them through to resolution, with connections to code hosts such as Bitbucket and GitHub.
- Automation
- Rule-based automation is metered in steps: 150 per subscription on Free, 400 per user a month on Standard and 750 on Premium.
- Plans and goals
- Plans connect work across several teams, and goals tie work items to wider priorities. Advanced planning is part of Premium and Enterprise.
- Rovo AI and Marketplace apps
- Rovo AI helps with reporting, automations and routine project work. The Atlassian Marketplace lists more than 3,000 integrations.
Plans
GitHub Issues
Free$0
GitHub plan for individuals and organizations. Includes Issues and Projects, unlimited public and private repositories and community support.
Team$4
per user / month
GitHub plan that adds repository rules, required reviewers, code owners, 3,000 CI/CD minutes a month and web-based support. Includes Issues and Projects.
Enterprise$21
per user / month, starting price
Adds SAML single sign-on, SCIM provisioning, enterprise accounts, data residency and the self-hosted Enterprise Server option.
Jira
Free$0
Up to 10 users, 2 GB of file storage, 150 automation steps per subscription and community support.
Standard$9.05
per user / month, billed monthly (1 to 100 users)
250 GB of file storage, 400 automation steps per user a month and support during local business hours.
Premium$18.30
per user / month, billed monthly (1 to 100 users)
Unlimited storage, advanced planning, sandbox and release tracks, 750 automation steps per user a month and a 99.9% uptime SLA.
Enterprise$166,000
per year for 1,000 users, annual contract only
Up to 150 sites, a 99.95% uptime SLA, Atlassian Guard Standard included and 24/7 Enterprise support.
Ways to pay less
GitHub Issues
- Nonprofit
Free Team plan for verified nonprofits
GitHub for Nonprofits gives verified 501(c)(3) or equivalent organizations a free GitHub Team plan with unlimited users, or 25% off GitHub Enterprise Cloud.
- Startups
$10,000 in credits for eligible startups
GitHub for Startups gives partner-affiliated startups with outside funding up to Series B, and new to GitHub Enterprise, $10,000 in credits valid for up to 12 months.
- Education
Free developer tools for students and teachers
GitHub's pricing page says students and teachers get free access to developer tools through GitHub Education, for the school year and beyond.
Jira
- Annual discount
About 17% less on annual billing
Standard is listed at $900 a year for 10 users, against $9.05 per user / month on monthly billing. Annual plans are sold in fixed user tiers.
- Nonprofit
Free Jira for nonprofits with up to 25 users
Atlassian's nonprofit page offers eligible nonprofits 100% off Jira, Confluence and Loom for up to 25 users, and 50-100% off its apps more broadly.
- Education
50% off for academic institutions
Atlassian's licensing page lists academic licenses at 50% off Jira Standard, Premium and Enterprise, and classroom licenses for students and teachers at 75% off Standard and Premium.
- Other savings
Free Standard plan for open source projects
Atlassian's licensing page lists Jira Standard at 100% off for qualifying open source projects.
