Jira vs Redmine
A source-aware comparison of pricing, documented capabilities and workflow fit.
Short answer
- Price: not directly comparable — Jira is from $8/user/mo, Redmine is pricing not verified.
- How to start: Jira is from $8/user/mo, Redmine is pricing not verified.
- Where they differ: only Redmine has open source / self-hostable.
These lines are generated from the pricing we track, not from a paid placement. How we score tools.
What Jira is
Jira is the industry standard for professional software teams worldwide using Agile methodologies. Built by Atlassian, it flawlessly tracks every step of the software lifecycle (planning, coding, testing, release). It offers deep tools for Scrum and Kanban and is unmatched in bug tracking and workflow customization. For a professional engineering team, Jira is not just an option—it is a necessity for managing complex builds.
What Redmine is
Redmine is an open-source project management and issue tracking application that has run reliably for over a decade.
Side by side
What Jira is built to do
- Scrum & Kanban
- World-class tools for sprint planning and backlog management.
- Advanced Roadmaps
- Plan future projects and team capacity over the long term.
- JQL Querying
- Search through thousands of tasks by writing your own custom queries.
- Automation Engine
- Trigger task updates based on developer actions like pushing code.
Choose Jira if
- Software Engineers, Product Owners, and QA Teams.
Choose Redmine if
- Organisations that want issue tracking without licence costs.
Evidence and freshness
Where a claim on this page comes from a vendor page, it is linked here.
Redmine
Open source, free — vendor page verified · reviewed 2026-09-03
Jira: pros & cons
- Dev Focused: Offers the exact workflows and terminology that engineers need.
- Infinite Customization: Define exactly what every button and status does in detail.
- Advanced Reporting: The best in the market for burndown charts and velocity tracking.
- Ecosystem: Works as a unified system with Bitbucket, GitHub, and Confluence.
- Difficult Setup: Configuring initial settings can require a dedicated 'Jira Admin.'
- Complex UI: Can be intimidating and confusing for non-technical team members.
- Speed: Page loads can be slow for massive enterprise-level projects.
Redmine: pros & cons
- Free and self-hostable with no seat limits
- Plugin ecosystem covers most needs
- Stable and predictable
- Interface looks its age
- Plugins vary in quality and maintenance
- Ruby stack needs someone to maintain it
Our verdict on Jira
The world's most powerful tool for managing professional software development processes.
Our verdict on Redmine
Unfashionable and still working. If the dated interface is acceptable, it costs nothing but hosting.