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Project management software · head to head

ClickUp vs Jira

Mateus Rocha Written by Mateus Rocha · Edited by Sebastiaan Smits · Fact-checked by Priya Nandakumar · Published September 30, 2026 · Updated September 30, 2026

ClickUp is a general workspace that puts tasks, docs, goals and chat in one configurable product for any department. Jira is an issue and project tracker built for engineering organizations, with custom workflows, JQL and a large marketplace. Mixed business teams consolidating apps choose ClickUp; companies with several engineering teams and compliance obligations choose Jira.

Side by side

ClickUpJira
What it isConfigurable workspace for tasks, docs, goals and chatConfigurable issue and project tracking at scale
Best forTeams consolidating several work appsMulti-team engineering organizations
HeadquartersUnited StatesUnited States
Pricing modelPer user / monthPer user / month
PricingFree Forever plan, then per-user tiers; the Brain AI features are sold as a separate add-on.Free for up to ten users, then per-user Standard, Premium and Enterprise tiers; marketplace apps add their own per-user fees.
Free optionFree planFree plan
List price
as listed on September 30, 2026		$10 per user per month billed monthly, or $7 billed yearly (Unlimited)$7.91 per user per month (Standard, as listed on the pricing page for a 300-user site)
Place in our project management software ranking#1 of 12#9 of 12
Websiteclickup.comatlassian.com

Both are reviewed in full in Best Project Management Software in 2026. Position in that ranking can be paid for; the wording of a review or of this comparison cannot. Placement disclosure.

Which one to choose

Choose ClickUp if

you want operations, marketing and other teams in one workspace that replaces a task tracker and a wiki, and one person will own the workspace design.

ClickUp, #1 in the ranking · Visit ClickUp →

Choose Jira if

the work is software delivery across multiple teams that need scrum or kanban boards, custom issue types, precise backlog queries and release reporting that auditors can follow.

Jira, #9 in the ranking · Visit Jira →

Where they differ

Usefulness beyond engineering

ClickUp's spaces, folders and lists can model most structures an operations team needs, with docs, whiteboards, goals, dashboards and chat channels alongside the tasks. Jira is a poor match for non-technical teams, who tend to prefer something else. For a company that wants one tool across departments, ClickUp covers far more of the building.

Edge: ClickUp

Depth for software delivery

ClickUp is not empty here: it has sprints with points, burndown and velocity charts, and integrations that attach GitHub, GitLab and Bitbucket activity to tasks. Jira goes further, with custom workflows and issue types, JQL, cross-team planning and dependency management on Premium, and branches, commits, pull requests, builds and deployments shown on each work item. For engineering at scale, Jira is the fuller instrument.

Edge: Jira

The administration tax

Neither is light. ClickUp needs a named owner and written conventions, its layered permissions are easy to get wrong, and notifications must be tamed on day one. Jira's custom fields multiply, its workflows diverge, and administration becomes a part-time job. Large ClickUp workspaces can feel slow; Jira feels slow and cluttered too. Expect overhead either way.

Edge: even

What is included in the seat

ClickUp Unlimited is $7 per user per month billed yearly or $10 monthly, and bundles docs, native time tracking, goals and chat; Brain AI is a separate add-on listed at $9 per user. Jira is free for up to 10 users and lists Standard at $7.91 per user per month, but gaps are typically filled from the marketplace, where apps carry their own fees.

Edge: ClickUp

Tally: ClickUp 2, Jira 1, even 1.

When neither fits

Neither suits a small team that wants no configuration at all. A small engineering group gets a faster, more opinionated tracker in Linear, and a small non-technical company that prefers written async updates is better off with Basecamp.

See Linear and Basecamp among the 12 products in Best Project Management Software in 2026.

Questions and answers

Is ClickUp a realistic alternative to Jira for software teams?

For a small or mid-sized team, yes. ClickUp has sprints with points, burndown and velocity reporting, and its GitHub integration links commits, branches and pull requests to tasks and can change a task status from a commit message. Jira adds JQL, cross-team planning on Premium and build and deployment data.

Which costs less, ClickUp or Jira?

List prices are close. ClickUp Unlimited is $10 per user per month billed monthly or $7 billed yearly, and Business is $19 or $12. Jira lists Standard at $7.91 and Premium at $14.54 per user per month, and is free for up to 10 users. ClickUp's Free Forever plan has no member limit.

Can ClickUp or Jira be hosted on your own servers?

ClickUp states it is hosted entirely on Amazon Web Services, and Enterprise customers can choose a US, European or Asia Pacific region. Jira's self-managed Data Center edition is being wound down: Atlassian lists end of sale for new licenses on March 30, 2026 and end of life on March 28, 2029.

In which regions can ClickUp and Jira host a workspace?

ClickUp offers hosting in the United States, Ireland, Australia and Singapore, with the choice of region reserved for the Enterprise plan at no extra charge. Jira lists multi-region data residency from its Standard plan upward, so region choice arrives at a much lower tier with Jira.

Sources

Prices, plan limits and product facts on this page were checked against the vendors' own pages on September 30, 2026. Vendors change both without notice, so treat the figures as of that date.