Introduction
In the software development life cycle, managing issues is important in improving a project’s quality and timely delivery. These tools also make collaboration easier for everyone involved, from developers to project managers.
With the global issue-tracking software market projected to reach 634.92 million US dollars by 2031, selecting a suitable tracking tool for your organization has become an integral part of increasing productivity and timely issue resolution. Here are the 12 best issue-tracking software options for 2025 that can help your team stay on top of project challenges.
What is Issue Tracking in Software Development?
Issue tracking in software development involves identifying, describing, and managing software bugs and feature requests. By combining all issues related to a project in one place, teams can manage priorities effectively and track progress on each item more efficiently.
Bugs and issues are an inevitable part of any software, whether it’s in active development or already in production. While simple issues might be resolved quickly through direct communication, critical bugs may require input from multiple team members, making manual tracking time-consuming and error-prone.
This is where issue-tracking software comes in. It helps automate the entire process, allowing teams to record, distribute, prioritize, and solve problems in a structured manner, which has a positive effect on the accuracy and efficiency of the project workflow.
Key Benefits of Using Issue-Tracking Tools for Project Management and Development
- Improved efficiency: Allows teams to detect and resolve recurring bugs faster and more consistently.
- Improved collaboration: Allows team members to make updates and communicate in real time.
- Centralized information: Maintaining issues in a single place makes reviewing past issues and documenting solutions straightforward.
- Smarter prioritization: Allow teams to prioritize tasks based on urgency and impact.
- Informed decision-making: Managers gain insights into team performance and issue progress.
What Should You Look for in Issue Tracking Software?
When selecting issue-tracking software, consider the following:
- Ease of use: It should be intuitive to the end users, whether they are technical or not.
- Customization Options: It should provide options to customize workflows, dashboards, and issue types.
- Integrations: Ensure the software integrates seamlessly with tools your team already uses.
- Reporting and Analytics: It should have effective monitoring and bottleneck identification features.
- Pricing: Look for a tool that fits your budget. Check for flexible pricing options, such as add-ons or integration packages.
Best 12 Issue Tracking Software Solutions in 2025
1. Jira
Jira is a product of the Australian company Atlassian that was first created in 2002 for the purpose of bug tracking. Over the years, it has evolved into a comprehensive project management application that is equipped with various advanced features and integrations. Over 300K companies have integrated Jira as their issue-tracking and project-management tool.
Key Features:
- Advanced workflow customization.
- Extensive integration ecosystem.
- Comprehensive reporting and analytics.
- Agile/Scrum support built-in.
- Essential security and compliance support from Atlassian Cloud.
Drawbacks:
- Steep learning curve.
- High cost for larger teams.
- Complex setup and management.
Pricing:
Jira has four pricing plans, including a free plan. The free pricing plan is for up to 10 members and has some limitations.
2. YouTrack
YouTrack, developed by JetBrains, is used by 100K+ teams as their project management and issue-tracking solution. The main benefit of YouTrack is its compatibility with JetBrains IDEs and other JetBrains tools.
Key Features:
- Powerful search queries.
- Agile boards and time tracking.
- Custom workflows.
- Knowledge base integration.
- Offers AI-assisted writing tools (grammar, spelling, and punctuation checks) and content summarization.
Drawbacks:
- Limited integrations compared to other tools.
- Steep learning curve for advanced features.
- Complexity in customization for some workflows.
Pricing:
YouTrack also offers a free plan for up to 10 users and a billing plan that will charge less per user as the number of users increases. Prices can be calculated using the YouTrack billing calculator.
3. GitHub Issues
Issues is a built-in feature within GitHub repositories that serves as a powerful tool for tracking, managing, and discussing issues, bugs, feature requests, and other project-related tasks. While GitHub doesn’t release specific figures on the number of users actively using GitHub Projects, it’s clear that a significant portion of its 100+ million user base leverages this feature.
Key Features:
- Native GitHub integration.
- Project boards.
- Markdown support.
- Ability to search for issues globally in all public repositories.
- Labels and milestones.
Drawbacks:
- Limited project management capabilities.
- Basic reporting and analytics.
- Features are mostly limited to GitHub’s ecosystem.
Pricing:
Free for public repositories, and there is no specific price plan. GitHub has pricing plans that combine all of its tools.
For more details on GitHub Issues, check on this documentation.
4. ClickUp
ClickUp positions itself as an all-in-one productivity platform rather than just a bug-tracking solution. It can be easily integrated with tools like GitHub, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Workspace, and 1000+ other apps.
Key Features:
- Markdown support, embedded images, and file attachments.
- Integrates with third-party tools like Marker.io for bug reporting.
- Customizable templates for consistent bug reporting.
- Built-in time estimation and tracking.
- Offers AI-assisted features, such as generating bug reports and summaries.
Drawbacks:
- Overwhelming feature set for new users.
- Occasional performance issues with large projects.
- Limited customization in the free version.
Here is an example of issue tracking in ClickUp:
Pricing:
There are four pricing plans. The Business plan is the most popular.
- Free: Basic features for personal use
- Unlimited: $7 per user per month(annual billing)
- Business: $12 per user per month (annual billing)
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
5. Trello
Trello, which was also developed by Atlassian, is a visual collaboration tool based on the Kanban methodology. It’s known for its intuitive interface and card-based organization system. Although Trello is not primarily designed as a bug-tracking tool, it’s widely used for this purpose due to its flexibility and ease of use.
Key Features:
- Simple, visual Kanban style boards.
- Intuitive drag and drop interface.
- Butler automation for repetitive tasks.
- Power-ups for extended functionality.
- Easy team collaboration.
- Offers mobile access through iOS and Android apps.
Drawbacks:
- Limited functionality for complex projects.
- Basic reporting capabilities.
- Feature limitations in the free plan.
Pricing:
There are four pricing plans for Trello.
- Free: Basic features
- Standard: $5 per user per month (annual billing)
- Premium: $10 per user per month (annual billing)
Enterprise: $17.50 per user per month (annual billing)
6. Monday.com
Monday.com is a visual work management solution recommended for bug tracking. Currently, the company serves more than 225,000 customers in over 200 industries. This platform has an easy drag-and-drop interface as well as ready-made templates that can be altered for use in bug tracking and reporting.
Key features:
- Integrations with stack, including Github, Gitlab, and Figma.
- Manages sprint ceremonies, tracks story points, and monitors your progress in the same place.
- Structures feedback for continuous process improvements.
- Allows you to map your product vision and share it with stakeholders.
Drawbacks:
- Limited features in the free plan.
- Overwhelming customization options.
- Expensive for small teams needing advanced features.
Pricing:
There are five pricing plans, including a free plan.
- Basic: From $9 per seat per month (billed annually, minimum three seats at $27 per month)
- Standard: From $12 per seat per month (billed annually, minimum three seats at $36 per month)
- Pro: From $20 per seat per month (billed annually, minimum three seats at $60 per month)
Enterprise: Contact monday.com for a custom quote
7. Bugzilla
Bugzilla is a classic issue tracker software tool developed by Mozilla and has been around for many years. It’s open source, highly customizable, and offers a wide range of features for tracking and managing bugs. By 2025, over 43K companies had started using Bugzilla as a testing and QA tool.
Key Features:
- Powerful search capabilities for efficient bug finding.
- Tailorable workflows to fit specific project needs.
- Automatic updates on bug status changes.
- Visualizes and manages relationships between bugs.
- Monitors effort spent on bug resolution.
- Robust security measures to protect sensitive data.
- Generates insightful reports for data-driven decision-making.
Drawbacks:
- Outdated user interface.
- Limited third-party integrations.
- Requires technical skills for customization.
Pricing:
Open source and freely available for anyone to use.
8. Easy Redmine
Easy Redmine is a project management and issue-tracking app built as an enhanced version of the open-source Redmine platform. More than 1,000 companies worldwide trust Redmine as their issue-tracking software.
Key Features:
- Provides agile boards (Kanban and Scrum) with a drag-and-drop interface for visual task management.
- Efficient tracking of time, workload, and budgets for optimal resource allocation.
- Real-time metrics and customizable dashboards for quick project insights.
- Offers a Knowledge Base feature, which includes a built-in wiki for document sharing and team communication.
Drawbacks:
- Higher cost for advanced features and larger teams.
- Steep learning curve.
- Limited mobile functionality compared to other tools.
Pricing:
There are five pricing plans, including a free plan, Essentials, Business, Platform, and Enterprise. The Business plan is the most popular.
9. Linear
Linear is one of the best issue tracker software designed for high-performance software teams. Unlike traditional project management tools, Linear focuses on speed, keyboard shortcuts, and a minimalist interface.
Key Features:
- Create detailed tickets with markdown support, custom fields, and rich formatting.
- Filter issues by any property, including status, assignee, labels, and custom fields.
- Save and share custom issue views across the team.
- Update multiple issues simultaneously for efficient project management.
- Define and track custom data points specific to your team’s needs.
Drawbacks:
- Limited customization options.
- Fewer integrations.
- Advanced features are restricted to paid plans.
Pricing:
Linear has a free pricing plan for up to 2 teams with unlimited team members for up to 250 issues. Paid plans start from $8 per month.
- Basic: $8 per month
- Business: $12 per month
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
10. Shortcut
Shortcut is an intuitive project management interface with additional features like bug-tracking, which is especially ideal for software teams. It integrates with several tools like GitHub and Slack and supports systems like Zendesk to auto-submit bugs.
Key Features
- Can design custom fields like ‘Severity’ or ‘Priority’ to categorize and rate the bugs.
- Uses Epics to group related Stories, providing a structured approach to task management.
- Allows to create and associate related actions, such as Stories and Epics
Drawbacks:
- Limited customization options for workflows.
- Fewer third-party integrations compared to similar tools.
- Higher cost for advanced features and larger teams.
Pricing
Shortcut has four price plans, including the free plan. The other plans are Team, Business, and Enterprise.
- Free plan: smaller teams (with basic features)
- Team: $8.50 per month
- Business: $12 per month
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
11. MantisBT
MantisBT (Mantis Bug Tracker) is an issue-tracking tool that is also used for project management due to its customizability. You can host MantisBT on your own servers at no cost.
Key Features:
- Allows for configurable workflows by enabling the customization of issue status, priorities, and categories.
- Changes, updates, and comments on issues send email notifications to the users.
- Enforces the principle of least privilege when assigning permissions at the role level.
- Provides visual reports and graphical data to track trends in bug occurrences, issue resolution times, and other key metrics.
- Offers a plugin system that enables organizations to extend functionality and integrate third-party tools.
- Can operate more than one project at a time.
Drawbacks:
- Basic, outdated UI.
- Fewer modern integrations.
- Customization requires technical expertise.
Pricing
- Free and open-source.
- Hosting and custom configurations can incur additional costs if they are done on a large scale.
12. Sentry
Sentry is a powerful application monitoring tool designed to help developers identify, analyze, and resolve errors across the entire software stack in real time. With support for both frontend and backend environments, Sentry provides comprehensive visibility into application performance and error tracking. Sentry has over 1 million developers and 80,000 organizations as customers.
Key Features:
- Automatically gathers exceptions and prepares comprehensive reports on crashes and bugs.
- Delivers performance metrics of your applications in real-time and provides insight into areas that need improvement.
- Includes stack traces with context on user actions and related API calls to help pinpoint the root cause of errors.
- Release-tracking feature highlights any errors introduced by a specific deployment.
- Integrates with Slack, GitHub, Jira, and other tools.
- Has automatic issue assignment based on previous data to quickly assign issues to relevant team members.
Drawbacks:
- Limited to error and performance tracking.
- High cost for advanced plans.
- Technical interface challenging for non-developers.
Pricing:
Sentry has four pricing plans, including the Free Developer plan. The other plans are Team, Business and Enterprise.
- Free: For smaller teams (with basic features)
- Team: $26 per month
- Business: $80 per month
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
How to Choose the Best Issue Tracking Software for Your Team
Choosing the best issue tracking tool for your requirements can significantly impact your team’s efficiency and productivity. Here are some good options based on different team needs:
- Jira and Monday.com are great for teams needing detailed tracking and customizable workflows, along with agile tools and many integrations.
- Linear works well for teams that want a fast, easy-to-use tool with a minimalist design to speed up their work.
- Sentry is ideal for software teams that need to monitor performance and errors across the whole tech stack in real time.
- Trello and ClickUp are perfect for teams that want a visual, Kanban-style setup with lots of customization options.
- Bugzilla and MantisBT are good choices for teams wanting free, open-source tools that they can customize and host themselves.
However, the final decision is yours. You need to compare the features and drawbacks of each of these tools and select the best one that compliments your requirements.