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Jira

Jira is Atlassian's issue-tracking and sprint-planning tool, built around highly customizable workflows, boards (Scrum and Kanban), and its own query language (JQL) for slicing large backlogs. It's the #2 most-used collaboration tool in software development, reported in roughly 46.4% of developer surveys. Larger engineering organizations reach for it because it scales to hundreds of teams with fine-grained permissions, custom fields, and workflow states that most lightweight boards can't match.

Quick facts
Type: Issue tracking and agile sprint/board management (Scrum + Kanban)
Made by: Atlassian
Cost: Freemium — free for up to 10 users; paid Standard/Premium/Enterprise tiers scale to large orgs with advanced permissions and reporting
Best for: Mid-size to large engineering teams running structured Scrum or Kanban processes
Primary use case: Tracking issues, epics, and sprints with deeply customizable workflows across many teams

Jump to: Example Getting started Best for

Example

JQL (Jira Query Language) lets you build precise, saved searches across issues — far more powerful than clicking through filters manually.

project = "PROJ"
AND issuetype = Bug
AND status NOT IN ("Done", "Closed")
AND priority IN (High, Highest)
AND assignee = currentUser()
ORDER BY priority DESC, created ASC

Getting started

Sign up free at atlassian.com/software/jira, create a project, choose a Scrum or Kanban template, and start adding issues.

# create an issue via the Jira REST API
curl -X POST \
  -u [email protected]:api_token \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data '{
    "fields": {
      "project": {"key": "PROJ"},
      "summary": "Fix login redirect bug",
      "issuetype": {"name": "Bug"}
    }
  }' \
  https://your-domain.atlassian.net/rest/api/3/issue

Best for: Teams running formal Scrum or Kanban processes at scale, where custom workflows, fine-grained permissions, and powerful JQL search matter more than simplicity — especially organizations with many interdependent teams.