Best Project Management (2025)

Issue tracking and project planning tools for dev teams.

🧊Nice Pick

Linear

Jira's minimalist cousin. All the issue tracking, none of the bloat.

Full Rankings

Jira's minimalist cousin. All the issue tracking, none of the bloat.

Pros

  • +Lightning fast
  • +Beautiful design
  • +Keyboard-first
  • +Great GitHub integration
  • +Blazing-fast interface with extensive keyboard shortcuts
  • +Seamless integrations with GitHub, GitLab, and Slack
  • +Clean, distraction-free UI that boosts productivity

Cons

  • -Pricey for large teams
  • -Less customizable than Jira
  • -Limited advanced reporting features compared to enterprise tools
  • -Can feel too simplistic for complex project management needs

Built into GitHub. No context switching if you're already there.

Pros

  • +Free with GitHub
  • +Tight code integration
  • +Good enough for small teams

Cons

  • -Limited features
  • -Basic reporting
  • -Not standalone
Compare:vs Linear

The enterprise default. Powerful but bloated.

Pros

  • +Extremely customizable
  • +Enterprise-grade
  • +Integrates with everything

Cons

  • -Slow
  • -Complex UI
  • -Expensive at scale

For teams that aren't all engineers.

Pros

  • +Non-dev friendly
  • +Good for cross-functional teams
  • +Nice timeline view

Cons

  • -Less dev-focused
  • -Can get expensive

Tries to do everything. Sometimes succeeds.

Pros

  • +Feature-rich
  • +Good free tier
  • +Highly customizable

Cons

  • -Can be overwhelming
  • -Performance issues
  • -Too many features

The digital sticky note board that somehow became a corporate staple. Simple, visual, and occasionally too simple for its own good.

Pros

  • +Intuitive drag-and-drop interface that anyone can pick up in minutes
  • +Great for visual task tracking with Kanban boards
  • +Free tier is surprisingly generous for small teams
  • +Integrates well with other tools like Slack and Google Drive

Cons

  • -Scales poorly for complex projects—good luck managing dependencies
  • -Power-ups (add-ons) can get expensive and feel like band-aids

Head-to-head comparisons

Missing a tool?

Email nice@nicepick.dev and I'll add it to the rankings.