Top 10 Bug Tracking Software Comparison
By Amanda Reyes | Published: Current Year Analysis | Category: Bug Tracking Software
About Bug Tracking Software
Bug tracking software provides a systematic way for development and QA teams to report, track, prioritize, assign, and manage software defects or 'bugs' throughout the development lifecycle. It facilitates communication and ensures issues are resolved efficiently.
Scoring Criteria
- → Ease of Use
- → Bug Tracking Features
- → Integration Capabilities
- → Customization Options
- → Reporting & Analytics
- → Value for Money
The Best Bug Tracking Software
#10
MantisBT
By MantisBT Team
An established, open-source, web-based bug tracking system known for its simplicity and ease of use.
Platforms & Use Cases
Platforms: Web
Best For: Bug Tracking, Issue Management, Open Source Projects
Key Features
- ✓Email Notifications: Configurable alerts for bug updates and assignments. (Medium)
- ✓Custom Fields: Add specific fields relevant to your bug tracking needs. (Medium)
- ✓Role-Based Access Control: Define user permissions for different project roles. (Medium)
- ✓Simple Interface: Relatively straightforward UI compared to other complex systems. (Medium)
- ✓Plugin Support: Extend functionality through various available plugins. (Medium)
Scorecard (Overall: 6.5 / 10.0)
Pricing
Open Source
Contact Vendor
- Core bug tracking
- Requires self-hosting
- Community support
Limitations: Requires technical setup, Basic reporting built-in
MantisHub (Hosted)
$4.95 / Monthly per user (starting)
- Hosted solution
- Automatic updates
- Email support
Limitations: Tiered pricing based on users/features
Pros
- + Free and open-source (self-hosted)
- + Simple and easy to get started with
- + Hosted option available (MantisHub)
- + Mature and stable platform
Cons
- - Dated user interface
- - Limited built-in reporting
- - Fewer integrations than modern SaaS tools
- - Self-hosted requires maintenance
Verdict
"A good choice for teams looking for a simple, free (self-hosted), or affordable (hosted) dedicated bug tracker without the complexity of larger systems."
#9
Redmine
By Jean-Philippe Lang
A flexible, open-source project management and issue tracking web application with multi-project support.
Platforms & Use Cases
Platforms: Web
Best For: Project Management, Issue Tracking, Bug Tracking, Open Source Projects
Key Features
- ✓Multi-Project Support: Manage multiple projects with configurable roles and permissions. (High)
- ✓Custom Fields: Add custom fields to issues, time entries, projects, and users. (Medium)
- ✓Gantt Charts & Calendar: Visualize project timelines and deadlines. (Medium)
- ✓Integrated Wiki & Forums: Built-in documentation and discussion tools per project. (Medium)
- ✓Time Tracking: Log time spent on issues. (Medium)
Scorecard (Overall: 7.0 / 10.0)
Pricing
Open Source
Contact Vendor
- Full feature set
- Requires self-hosting
- Community support
Limitations: Requires technical skills for setup and maintenance, UI is dated
Pros
- + Free and open-source
- + Flexible project management capabilities
- + Supports multiple projects
- + Includes time tracking and wikis
Cons
- - Requires self-hosting and maintenance
- - User interface is less modern
- - Can be complex to configure
- - Community support based
Verdict
"A solid, free alternative for technically capable teams needing a combined project management and bug tracking solution they can host themselves."
#8
Zoho BugTracker
By Zoho Corporation
A dedicated bug tracking tool that is part of the larger Zoho ecosystem, offering solid features for managing software defects.
Platforms & Use Cases
Platforms: Web, iOS, Android
Best For: Bug Tracking, Issue Management, Software Development, QA Teams
Key Features
- ✓Custom Views & Statuses: Tailor the bug tracking workflow and how bugs are displayed. (Medium)
- ✓Business Rules Automation: Automate actions based on bug criteria or events. (Medium)
- ✓Time Tracking: Log time spent on resolving specific bugs. (Medium)
- ✓SLA Management: Define and track Service Level Agreements for bug resolution times. (High)
- ✓Reporting & Dashboards: Generate reports on bug metrics, user workload, and SLA adherence. (Medium)
Scorecard (Overall: 7.7 / 10.0)
Pricing
Free
Contact Vendor
- 1 Project
- Up to 3 users
- Basic bug tracking features
- 500 MB storage
Limitations: Limited users and storage, No custom fields or SLAs
Standard
$3.00 / Monthly per user (annual billing)
- Unlimited projects
- Custom fields & statuses
- Email notifications
- Basic reporting
Limitations: Limited storage per user
Premium
$8.00 / Monthly per user (annual billing)
- Advanced reporting
- Time tracking
- SLA management
- Business rules
Limitations: Higher cost
Pros
- + Affordable pricing
- + Good set of core bug tracking features
- + Includes SLA management
- + Integrates well with other Zoho products
Cons
- - User interface feels slightly dated compared to newest tools
- - Integration outside the Zoho ecosystem is less extensive than Jira
- - Free plan is quite limited
Verdict
"A cost-effective and capable bug tracker, particularly appealing for teams already invested in the Zoho software suite or those needing strong SLA features."
#7
Asana
By Asana, Inc.
A popular project management tool that can be adapted for bug tracking workflows, focusing on team collaboration and task visibility.
Platforms & Use Cases
Platforms: Web, iOS, Android
Best For: Project Management, Task Coordination, Marketing Campaigns, Bug Tracking (adapted)
Key Features
- ✓Multiple Project Views: List, Board, Timeline, Calendar views for tasks/bugs. (High)
- ✓Custom Fields: Add specific fields needed for bug reports (e.g., Priority, Severity, Browser). (Medium)
- ✓Automation Rules: Automate task assignment, status updates, etc. (Medium)
- ✓Task Dependencies: Mark bugs as blocking or blocked by other tasks. (Medium)
- ✓Reporting Dashboards: Track progress and metrics across projects. (Medium)
Scorecard (Overall: 7.3 / 10.0)
Pricing
Basic
Contact Vendor
- Unlimited tasks, projects, messages
- List, Board, Calendar views
- Up to 15 users
Limitations: Limited reporting, No custom fields, No timeline view
Premium
$10.99 / Monthly per user
- Timeline view
- Workflow Builder (automation)
- Unlimited dashboards
- Custom fields
Limitations: No advanced integrations
Business
$24.99 / Monthly per user
- Portfolios
- Goals
- Workload management
- Advanced integrations (Salesforce, Adobe Creative Cloud)
Limitations: Higher cost
Pros
- + Very user-friendly interface
- + Strong collaboration features
- + Good for managing bugs alongside other project tasks
- + Flexible views
Cons
- - Not specifically designed for bug tracking, lacks some dedicated features (e.g., advanced bug lifecycle states)
- - Can get expensive for large teams needing advanced features
Verdict
"Best suited for teams already using Asana for project management who want a simple way to incorporate bug tracking into their existing workflows."
#6
Backlog
By Nulab
An all-in-one project management and bug tracking tool with built-in Git and SVN repositories.
Platforms & Use Cases
Platforms: Web, iOS, Android
Best For: Software Development, Bug Tracking, Project Management, Version Control Hosting
Key Features
- ✓Integrated Version Control: Host Git and SVN repositories directly within the platform. (High)
- ✓Bug Tracking Templates: Specific issue types and fields oriented towards bug tracking. (Medium)
- ✓Kanban Boards: Visualize workflow for bug resolution. (Medium)
- ✓Wikis: Integrated documentation and knowledge base. (Medium)
- ✓Burndown Charts: Track progress on resolving bugs or completing tasks. (Medium)
Scorecard (Overall: 7.0 / 10.0)
Pricing
Free
Contact Vendor
- 1 Project
- 10 Users
- Basic issue tracking
Limitations: 100 MB storage
Starter
$35.00 / Monthly (flat)
- 5 Projects
- 30 Users
- 1 GB storage
- Gantt Charts
Limitations: Limited projects
Standard
$100.00 / Monthly (flat)
- 100 Projects
- Unlimited Users
- 100 GB storage
- SVN & Git
Limitations: No custom fields
Premium
$175.00 / Monthly (flat)
- Unlimited Projects
- Unlimited Users
- Unlimited storage
- Custom fields
- Attribute restrictions
Limitations: Higher cost
Pros
- + Simple and clean user interface
- + Integrated version control is convenient
- + Flat-rate pricing can be cost-effective
- + Good for teams wanting integrated code and issue management
Cons
- - Fewer features and integrations than Jira or ClickUp
- - Limited customization on lower tiers
- - Reporting is somewhat basic
Verdict
"A solid choice for development teams looking for a straightforward bug tracker combined with project management and integrated code repositories."
#5
Sentry
By Sentry
Application monitoring platform focused on error tracking and performance monitoring, automatically capturing bugs in production.
Platforms & Use Cases
Platforms: Web, Integrates with various SDKs (Python, JS, Ruby, etc.)
Best For: Error Monitoring, Performance Monitoring, Production Bug Detection, Release Health
Key Features
- ✓Automatic Error Capture: SDKs automatically report errors and exceptions from applications. (High)
- ✓Stack Traces & Context: Provides detailed debugging information (breadcrumbs, device info, etc.). (High)
- ✓Release Tracking: Correlates errors with specific application releases. (High)
- ✓Alerting Rules: Configurable alerts for new or regressed errors. (Medium)
- ✓Issue Grouping: Intelligently groups similar errors into single issues. (High)
Scorecard (Overall: 7.5 / 10.0)
Pricing
Developer (Free)
Contact Vendor
- Real-time error tracking
- Basic alerting
- Limited event volume
Limitations: Single user, Data retention limits
Team
$26.00 / Monthly (starting price)
- Higher event volume
- More integrations
- Basic analytics
- Cross-project issues
Limitations: Usage-based pricing
Business
$80.00 / Monthly (starting price)
- Advanced analytics
- Longer data retention
- More frequent data ingestion
Limitations: Usage-based pricing
Pros
- + Excellent for automatically catching production errors
- + Rich context for debugging
- + Tracks release health effectively
- + Wide range of SDK support
Cons
- - Not a traditional manual bug reporting tool
- - Primarily focused on code-level errors
- - Can become expensive with high event volume
Verdict
"Essential for development teams focused on production stability, automatically identifying and providing context for code errors rather than manual bug reports."
#4
ClickUp
By ClickUp
An all-in-one productivity platform offering highly customizable task management, including bug tracking features.
Platforms & Use Cases
Platforms: Web, Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android
Best For: Project Management, Task Management, Bug Tracking, Collaboration
Key Features
- ✓Custom Fields & Statuses: Extremely flexible customization for tracking bug details. (High)
- ✓Multiple Views: View bugs in List, Board, Calendar, Gantt, and other formats. (High)
- ✓Automations: Automate repetitive tasks in the bug tracking process. (Medium)
- ✓Reporting Dashboards: Build custom dashboards to track bug metrics. (Medium)
- ✓Integrated Docs & Whiteboards: Keep bug-related documentation within the platform. (Medium)
Scorecard (Overall: 8.2 / 10.0)
Pricing
Free Forever
Contact Vendor
- Unlimited tasks
- Unlimited members
- Multiple views
- Real-time chat
Limitations: Limited storage (100MB), Limited automations/month
Unlimited
$7.00 / Monthly per user
- Unlimited storage
- Unlimited integrations
- Dashboards
- Custom fields
Limitations: Limited automations usage
Business
$12.00 / Monthly per user
- Advanced automations
- Advanced time tracking
- Custom exporting
- Workload management
Limitations: Geared towards mid-sized teams
Enterprise
$-1.00 / Contact vendor
- Custom permissions
- SSO
- Dedicated support
- HIPAA compliance
Limitations: Custom pricing
Pros
- + Highly customizable
- + Generous free tier
- + All-in-one platform potential
- + Multiple ways to visualize data
Cons
- - Can feel overwhelming due to the sheer number of features
- - Performance can sometimes lag
- - Steeper learning curve for advanced customization
Verdict
"A powerful and highly flexible option for teams who want to manage bugs alongside all other project tasks in a single, customizable platform."
#3
Linear
By Linear
A modern, fast, and opinionated issue tracker designed for high-performance software teams.
Platforms & Use Cases
Platforms: Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android
Best For: Software Development, Startups, Product Teams, Issue Tracking
Key Features
- ✓Keyboard-First Interface: Optimized for speed with extensive keyboard shortcuts. (High)
- ✓Cycles & Roadmaps: Built-in sprint planning (Cycles) and high-level planning (Roadmaps). (High)
- ✓Automated Workflows: Triage automation and automatic issue closing/linking. (Medium)
- ✓GitHub/GitLab Integration: Deep integration with version control systems. (High)
- ✓Fast Performance: Designed for responsiveness and minimal latency. (High)
Scorecard (Overall: 7.7 / 10.0)
Pricing
Free
Contact Vendor
- Unlimited members
- Core issue tracking
- Cycles & Roadmaps
Limitations: Limited file storage, Basic history
Standard
$10.00 / Monthly per user
- Unlimited teams
- Advanced reporting
- GitHub/GitLab automation
- Custom workflows
Limitations: Standard support
Plus
$18.00 / Monthly per user
- SAML SSO
- Advanced security
- Priority support
- Audit logs
Limitations: Higher cost
Pros
- + Extremely fast and responsive UI
- + Excellent keyboard navigation
- + Opinionated design simplifies workflows
- + Good Git integration
Cons
- - Less customizable than Jira
- - Opinionated approach might not suit all teams
- - Reporting is less extensive than some competitors
Verdict
"Ideal for modern software teams prioritizing speed, efficiency, and a streamlined workflow, especially those tightly integrated with GitHub or GitLab."
#2
Bugzilla
By Mozilla Foundation
A venerable, open-source, web-based bug tracking system known for its power and flexibility.
Platforms & Use Cases
Platforms: Web
Best For: Open Source Projects, Enterprise Bug Management, Quality Assurance
Key Features
- ✓Advanced Search: Detailed search options to pinpoint specific bugs. (High)
- ✓Custom Fields & Workflows: Tailor bug tracking fields and status transitions. (Medium)
- ✓Email Notifications: Configurable notifications for bug updates. (Medium)
- ✓Reporting Capabilities: Generate reports on bug trends and statistics. (Medium)
- ✓User Permissions: Granular control over user access and actions. (High)
Scorecard (Overall: 7.3 / 10.0)
Pricing
Open Source
Contact Vendor
- Full feature set
- Requires self-hosting
Limitations: Requires technical expertise for setup and maintenance
Pros
- + Completely free and open-source
- + Powerful and proven bug tracking features
- + Highly customizable if you have the technical skills
- + Strong user permission system
Cons
- - Outdated user interface
- - Steep learning curve
- - Requires self-hosting and maintenance
- - Limited native integrations compared to modern SaaS tools
Verdict
"An excellent, free option for organizations with the technical resources to host and manage it, offering powerful core bug tracking functionality."
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#1
Jira Software
By Atlassian
Industry-standard issue and project tracking software for agile teams, highly configurable for bug tracking.
Platforms & Use Cases
Platforms: Web, iOS, Android
Best For: Agile Development, Software Teams, Enterprise Project Management, Bug Tracking
Key Features
- ✓Customizable Workflows: Define unique processes for bug lifecycle management. (High)
- ✓Advanced Search (JQL): Powerful query language to find specific issues. (High)
- ✓Reporting Dashboards: Visualize bug trends, team performance, and project status. (High)
- ✓Scrum & Kanban Boards: Integrates bug tracking within agile development frameworks. (High)
- ✓Extensive Integrations: Connects with numerous development tools and third-party apps via Atlassian Marketplace. (High)
Scorecard (Overall: 8.5 / 10.0)
Pricing
Free
Contact Vendor
- Up to 10 users
- Scrum & Kanban boards
- Backlog
- Basic reporting
Limitations: 2 GB storage, Community support
Standard
$7.75 / Monthly per user
- Up to 35,000 users
- Advanced permissions
- Audit logs
Limitations: 250 GB storage
Premium
$15.25 / Monthly per user
- Advanced roadmaps
- Project archiving
- Guaranteed uptime SLA
Limitations: Unlimited storage
Pros
- + Highly customizable workflows
- + Powerful integration ecosystem
- + Scalable for large teams and enterprises
- + Strong reporting capabilities
Cons
- - Can be complex to configure
- - User interface can feel cluttered
- - Pricing can escalate quickly for larger teams
Verdict
"The go-to choice for many software teams needing robust, configurable bug tracking integrated deeply into the development lifecycle, especially within the Atlassian ecosystem."
Final Thoughts
The bug tracking software landscape offers diverse options, from industry-standard powerhouses like Jira to streamlined modern tools like Linear, flexible all-in-one platforms like ClickUp, and robust open-source solutions like Bugzilla and Redmine. The best choice depends heavily on team size, technical expertise, existing toolchains, budget, and specific workflow requirements. Specialized tools like Sentry focus on automated error capture, while others like Asana adapt general project management for bug tracking.