Unsure whether to choose Azure DevOps or Atlassian Jira? You've come to the right place.
If you are evaluating issue tracking tools, you will likely find Azure DevOps and Jira on your shortlist. Both tools are highly popular and are used by thousands of software development teams across the globe.
But which tool should you choose for your business? In this article, we will take a closer look at both Azure DevOps and Jira and examine their strengths and weaknesses to help you make the right decision for your company.
Azure DevOps and Jira compared
Azure DevOps, a Microsoft product, offers a suite of development tools for supporting software project management. Jira, developed by Atlassian, is widely recognized for its issue tracking and Agile project management capabilities.
The main difference between Azure DevOps and Jira lies in their core focus and integration capabilities. Azure DevOps is geared more towards a complete DevOps lifecycle, integrating project management with a suite of development tools. Jira, on the other hand, focuses primarily on project management, with a strong emphasis on issue tracking and Agile methodology.
Try a lightweight alternative to Azure DevOps and Jira
To make the most informed decision, let's first dive deeper into what Azure DevOps and Jira have to offer, taking into account their strengths, limitations, notable features, pricing, and user reviews. We will also have a look at other alternatives you may want to consider.
- Azure DevOps
- Jira
- Other alternatives
Azure DevOps
Pricing: Starting from $6/user/month
Rating on Capterra: 4.4/5
Azure DevOps, part of Microsoft's extensive software offerings, is a robust platform designed to cater to the entire software development lifecycle. It consists of Azure Boards for project planning and tracking, Azure Repos for version control, Azure Pipelines for continuous integration and delivery, Azure Test Plans for test management, and Azure Artifacts for package management. This integration of various tools under one umbrella makes it a one-stop solution for teams seeking to streamline their development process.
Azure DevOps seamlessly integrates with various Microsoft products, making it a strong choice for teams already using the Microsoft ecosystem.
However, this comprehensive nature also brings a level of complexity, which might be challenging for teams looking for simpler solutions. The platform is highly customizable and can be tailored to various project needs, but this flexibility requires a certain level of expertise to configure and manage effectively.
Why you might prefer Azure DevOps over Jira:
Azure DevOps offers a complete suite of tools that cover the entire software development lifecycle, from planning and coding to testing and deployment.
If your team is already using Microsoft products like Azure cloud services, Office 365, or Visual Studio, Azure DevOps integrates seamlessly with these tools
Azure DevOps excels in its CI/CD capabilities, offering robust tools for automating the software deployment process.
What users say about Azure DevOps:
"DevOps is a suite of products, all in one. What we used before were several products that were all installed internally (maintenance nightmare). It's a lot easier to maintain and learn how to use just one product."
Jira
Pricing: Free, advanced features starting from $7.75/user/month
Rating on Capterra: 4.5/5
Jira is primarily known for its capabilities in Agile project management and issue tracking. It stands out for its flexibility and adaptability to different project management methodologies, such as Scrum and Kanban. Jira's feature set includes detailed reporting, custom workflows, and a broad range of issue types. This focus on Agile methodologies makes it a preferred choice for software development teams, but it's also versatile enough to be used in non-IT contexts.
Jira's marketplace, with its vast array of plugins and integrations, allows teams to extend its functionality, tailoring the tool to their specific needs. While it excels in project management, Jira does not natively cover the entire software development lifecycle like Azure DevOps.
Jira's interface and multitude of features, while powerful, can be overwhelming for new users, and setting up the tool to fit specific workflows can be time-consuming. Nevertheless, for teams deeply invested in Agile methodologies and looking for extensive customization options, Jira is a compelling choice.
Why you might prefer Jira over Azure DevOps:
Jira offers a wide range of specialized features for Agile project management, including velocity charts, Scrum tracking, and more.
Jira can be customized in a more granular way and comes with an extensive ecosystem of add-ons.
Atlassian offers a wide range of complementary products, including Confluence and BitBucket, all of which are tightly integrated with Jira.
What users say about Jira:
"It's the gold standard in the software development industry. It's more robust than Asana or Trello, and it's less convoluted than the Microsoft product. Jira is flexible and powerful. It's got all the tools you need to organize highly complex tasks and workflows, even in multi-team environments. I'd highly suggest it, but it may be overkill for things that are simpler than product development."
Looking for more tools similar to Jira? Check out this list of Jira alternatives.
Other alternatives
It should be mentioned that your options are not limited to just Azure DevOps and Jira, and there are many other great project management and issue tracking tools.
For example, if you are looking for a more lightweight and modern alternative to Azure DevOps and Jira, consider Nuclino. The interface of Nuclino is clean and distraction-free, without any clunky menus and rarely-used options. It works right out of the box and requires almost no configuration, so your team can be productive from day one.
Nuclino stands out thanks to how it brings structured data and long-form content together — like Jira and Confluence in one. Every Nuclino item is a collaborative document where you can add notes, create to-do lists, embed files, and more, managing and simultaneously documenting your projects in one place.
You can use comments to exchange feedback directly in Nuclino and preserve the context of every decision.
But project management is just one of the many things you can do with Nuclino. It's a unified workspace where you can build your internal knowledge base or team wiki, collaborate on internal documentation, take meeting minutes, onboard employees, and more. Nuclino works like a collective brain, allowing you to bring all your team's work together in one place and collaborate without the chaos of files and folders, context switching, or silos.
Azure DevOps vs Jira: So which is better?
Ultimately, the choice between Jira and AzureDevOps depends largely on your team's needs and existing software ecosystem. Azure DevOps is a robust choice for teams needing a comprehensive suite of development tools integrated with project management, particularly those already using Microsoft products. Jira, however, stands out for teams focused on Agile project management and looking for a highly customizable tool. For teams seeking a simpler, more straightforward tool, Nuclino presents itself as an efficient and user-friendly alternative.
We hope this article has made your decision a little easier and recommend you take all three tools for a spin.
