Jira vs GitHub Issues & Projects

From $8 per user/month (Standard, indicative)

Free tier available

The base price is reasonable; the cost comes from Marketplace apps, which frequently exceed the Jira licence itself.

Effectively free — you are already paying for GitHub, and Issues adds nothing.

Free for up to 10 users with core features.

Unlimited issues on public and private repositories at no cost.

Category standard

Atlassian · since 2002

Category standard

GitHub (Microsoft) · since 2009

• Configurable enough to model almost any process, including regulated workflows.
• The largest integration ecosystem in the category by a wide margin.
• Universal familiarity — new hires already know it.

• Zero additional cost and zero additional integration to maintain.
• Automatic linking between commits, pull requests and issues.
• Issue forms enforce the reproduction detail that makes bugs actionable.

• Configurability reliably degrades into slow, over-customised instances nobody wants to own.
• Performance on large instances is a recurring complaint.
• Marketplace app costs compound quickly.

• No native severity/priority model — you build it from labels.
• Reporting is weak; there is no real analytics layer.
• Poor fit for non-technical reporters who do not have GitHub accounts.

Organisations that need process flexibility and integration breadth above all else.

Engineering-led teams already on GitHub who want one fewer tool.