Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Slack VS Jira

Compare Slack VS Jira and see what are their differences

Slack logo Slack

A messaging app for teams who see through the Earth!

Jira logo Jira

The #1 software development tool used by agile teams. Jira Software is built for every member of your software team to plan, track, and release great software.
  • Slack Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-18
  • Jira Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-09

Slack features and specs

  • Real-Time Communication
    Slack allows for instant messaging and real-time communication, which facilitates quick decision-making and immediate problem solving among team members.
  • Channel Organization
    Users can create channels for different teams, projects, or topics, keeping discussions organized and easy to follow.
  • Integration Capabilities
    Slack integrates with a variety of other tools and services, such as Google Drive, Trello, and GitHub, allowing seamless workflow management.
  • Search Functionality
    Slack’s powerful search feature makes it easy to find specific messages, files, or information within your team's communication history.
  • Custom Notifications
    Users can tailor their notification settings to minimize distractions while ensuring they stay informed about important discussions.
  • Cross-Platform Availability
    Slack is available on multiple platforms, including desktop, web, and mobile, ensuring that team members can stay connected from anywhere.

Possible disadvantages of Slack

  • Information Overload
    With constant streams of messages and notifications, Slack can sometimes lead to information overload, making it difficult for users to keep up.
  • Cost
    While Slack offers a free tier, many advanced features are only available in the paid plans, which can be costly for larger organizations.
  • Dependency on Internet
    Slack requires a stable internet connection, which can be a limitation for users in areas with unreliable or slow internet service.
  • Potential for Distraction
    The real-time nature of Slack can sometimes be distracting, pulling team members away from deep, focused work.
  • Privacy Concerns
    As with any digital communication tool, there are potential privacy and security concerns that organizations need to manage.
  • Scalability Issues
    Large teams or companies may find it challenging to manage and scale their usage of Slack effectively as the number of channels and conversations grows.

Jira features and specs

  • Robust Feature Set
    Jira offers a comprehensive suite of tools for project management, including issue tracking, agile reporting, and workflow automation, which can handle both small and large projects effectively.
  • Customizability
    Organizations can customize Jira extensively, tailoring workflows, fields, and issues to meet their specific requirements, which enhances productivity and alignment with business processes.
  • Integration Capabilities
    Jira integrates seamlessly with other Atlassian products like Confluence, Bitbucket, and more, as well as third-party tools such as GitHub and Slack, ensuring a connected and efficient workflow.
  • Agile Methodologies Support
    With built-in support for Scrum, Kanban, and other agile frameworks, Jira helps teams to manage their agile processes efficiently, offering features like sprint planning, backlog grooming, and burndown charts.
  • Strong Community and Support
    Jira has a large, active user community and extensive documentation, along with professional support options, which can be invaluable in troubleshooting and optimizing its use.
  • Comprehensive Task Management
    Jira Core provides a robust set of features for managing tasks and projects, including customizable workflows, forms, and dashboards, which are beneficial for tracking progress and enhancing productivity.
  • Integration with Other Atlassian Products
    It integrates seamlessly with other Atlassian tools like Confluence, Bitbucket, and Trello, enabling streamlined collaboration and improved visibility across teams.
  • Customizable and Flexible
    Jira Core allows a high degree of customization for workflows, task types, and notifications, making it adaptable to various business processes and team needs.
  • Scalability
    It supports scalability, which makes it suitable for both small-scale teams and large enterprises, evolving as the organization grows.
  • Strong Reporting Capabilities
    The software offers comprehensive reporting tools to gain insights into project progress and team performance, helping in making informed decisions.

Possible disadvantages of Jira

  • Complexity
    Due to its extensive feature set and customizability, Jira can be overly complex for new users or small teams, requiring a steep learning curve and potentially making simple tasks time-consuming.
  • Cost
    While Jira provides robust features, it comes at a cost. Subscription fees can be high, especially for larger teams or organizations requiring advanced capabilities.
  • Performance Issues
    On occasion, users might experience performance issues, particularly with large datasets, causing slowness and reduced efficiency in managing tasks.
  • Overhead
    Maintaining and configuring Jira can require significant administrative overhead, needing dedicated resources to manage its setup, customization, and updates.
  • User Interface Complexity
    While powerful, Jira's user interface can be overwhelming and cluttered, which may hinder usability and speed for those not already familiar with the platform.
  • Complexity for New Users
    Jira Core's wide range of features and customization options can be overwhelming for new users, leading to a steep learning curve.
  • High Configuration Overheads
    Setting up and configuring the software to fit specific project needs can be time-consuming, especially for teams without dedicated administrative resources.
  • Cost Considerations
    For smaller teams or organizations with limited budgets, the costs associated with Jira Core licenses and potential add-ons might be a constraint.
  • Limited by Internet Connectivity
    As a primarily cloud-based solution, its functionality can suffer in environments with poor or inconsistent internet connectivity.

Analysis of Jira

Overall verdict

  • Jira is generally considered a strong choice for organizations seeking a comprehensive and flexible project management tool, especially those in software development. However, it can be complex and may have a steep learning curve for new users, which can be a drawback for some teams.

Why this product is good

  • Jira by Atlassian is highly regarded due to its robust set of features tailored for software development and project management. It offers extensive customization options, effective tracking capabilities, and seamless integration with other tools, particularly within the Atlassian suite. Its flexibility allows teams to adapt workflows to suit their processes, making it a versatile option for various project management needs.

Recommended for

    Jira is recommended for software development teams, agile project management enthusiasts, companies that require detailed workflow customization, and organizations already using other Atlassian products seeking seamless integration.

Slack videos

Review: How & Why We Use Slack At Our Office

More videos:

  • Review - What is Slack?
  • Tutorial - Slack App Tutorial: How & Why We Use SLACK For Our Remote Team

Jira videos

Jira Core Walkthrough and Review

More videos:

  • Review - JIRA Core: Business Team Use Cases
  • Review - (2018) The NEW Jira Begins Now - Modern Software Development
  • Demo - JIRA in a Nutshell demo video
  • Review - (Re)Discover JIRA Core: Tricks That Make a BIG Difference - Atlassian Summit 2016

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Slack and Jira)
Communication
100 100%
0% 0
Project Management
40 40%
60% 60
Task Management
0 0%
100% 100
Group Chat & Notifications

User comments

Share your experience with using Slack and Jira. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Slack and Jira

Slack Reviews

  1. San93
    · Director at Polar credit ·
    Essential for Team Collaboration but Needs Better Notification Management

    Slack has transformed how we communicate at Polar Credit, making collaboration faster and more organized. The channel-based messaging, direct integrations with essential tools, and real-time notifications keep our teams connected, reducing reliance on long email threads. The search function is a major plus, helping retrieve past conversations and shared files effortlessly.

    🏁 Competitors: Discord
    👍 Pros:    Organized team communication through channels and threads|Seamless integrations with apps like google drive, trello, and zoom
    👎 Cons:    Initial setup and implementation take time|Limited message history on the free plan
  2. EllaSvensson
    · Marketing Manager at Freelancer ·
    A Must-Have for Teamwork

    Slack has completely transformed how our team works together. The channels keep conversations organized, and we never lose track of important discussions.

    It integrates with tools like Google Drive and Zoom, making collaboration effortless. Sharing files is easy, and the search feature saves so much time when finding old messages.

    Slack is simple, customizable, and keeps everyone connected—whether we’re in the office or remote. It’s the perfect tool for teamwork!

    🏁 Competitors: Discord, Microsoft Teams
  3. Khansa1103
    · Email marketer at Webflicky ·
    Best app for getting in touch with my colleagues

    Slack is best platform to be used for professional purposes. It helps me keep my professional and personal life separate.

    🏁 Competitors: Microsoft Teams
    👍 Pros:    Bulk messaging
    👎 Cons:    Sometimes the download is slow

Top 12 Online Collaboration Tools for Smart Working
Slack is a cloud-based app built to simplify communication and teamwork. As one of the essential team collaboration tools, it enhances communication and productivity within teams. It’s packed with features that help teams stay connected, collaborate, and stay on top of things. A standout feature is the ability to create channels—dedicated spaces for conversations around...
Source: niftypm.com
7 best Mattermost alternatives for secure business messaging
Slack has a mobile and desktop app that supports remote teams to communicate seamlessly. On Slack, you can send files, documents, images, and videos. with your teammates.
Source: www.rocket.chat
20 Telegram Alternatives to Chat With in 2024
Slack works more like a forum than Teams does – falling somewhere in between a forum and a chat software. It lets you organize discussions into different channels, as well as by thread. You can invite others into a thread by @mentioning them, and it lets you add lots of different types of content. Slack works really well for 1:1 audio meetings, “huddles,” that give you the...
Why we switched to Mattermost
Now, obviously core messaging functionality is critical. Mattermost is great there, but so is Slack. In fact, Slack features like third-party integrations and threaded messaging were missed greatly (thank you, Mattermost, for recently adding threaded messaging). So the relative parity between the solutions from a ‘speeds and feeds’ perspective was table stakes, but we...
Source: netfoundry.io
Microsoft Teams Vs Clariti: Which one should you choose?
The main reason behind the sudden rise of Teams is it is being offered at no added cost to Office 365 users. This strategy paid for Teams as it was able to increase its market share and overtake its potential rival Slack in no time. Though Microsoft is not earning any revenue (they may actually be losing money in selling Teams), they are able to sustain due to their deep...
Source: clariti.app

Jira Reviews

  1. Luminous Valentine
    my experience

    Jira may be extremely sluggish and require a large amount of memory on the client side.

    👍 Pros:    Affordable price|Affordable
    👎 Cons:    Super simple|Scalable

10 Best Canny Alternatives and Competitors in 2025
Jira is an issue-tracking tool that flags and tracks bugs, creates product roadmaps, and collects user insights. Beloved by SaaS companies and startups, it’s a great tool for gathering and analyzing what your customers say about your products. Plus, it highlights areas for improvement to target pressing issues instantly. ✍️
Source: clickup.com
25 Best Asana Alternatives & Competitors for Project Management in 2024
Jira is a bug-tracking and project software. Compared to Asana, it’s geared towards agile teams and technical power users. With advanced reporting options, including user workload, average issue age, and recently created issues, project managers can make informed decisions to plan smarter sprints.
Source: clickup.com
The 10 best Asana alternatives in 2024
Unlike Asana, Jira was built specifically for teams that use Scrum and Agile workflows. When you sign up, you'll answer a few questions about your preferred methodologies, project types, and deadlines. Then, Jira will suggest a project template and methodology to fit your team's needs.
Source: zapier.com
16 Best Asana Alternatives of 2024 (Free + Paid)
Jira is a software product of Atlassian and is often used for tracking issues in software development. But Jira has grown to be used outside of the IT segment for tracking a range of issues, tasks and work items. What it might lack in features is made up on the Atlassian Marketplace where many plugins can be purchased to extend the tool’s features.
The Ultimate List of 20 Best AI Work Management Tools
Atlassian Intelligence (preregistration): Jira leverages artificial intelligence to automate various tasks, including summarizing meeting minutes, answering questions, converting natural language queries into JQL or SQL, and offering instant assistance through virtual agents in Slack and Microsoft Teams, accelerating work and enhancing user experience.
Source: ppm.express

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Slack seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 223 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Slack mentions (223)

  • How to Build a Blog with Laravel (& Send Slack Notifications)
    In this tutorial, you will learn how to create a blog with Laravel and ButterCMS. Then, you’ll add integration into ButterCMS’ webhooks that will send notifications directly to your Slack channel of choice whenever a new post is published. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • 10 Must-Have AI Tools to Supercharge Your Software Development
    10. Slack AI and Microsoft Teams AI These platforms enhance team collaboration by offering intelligent insights, task reminders, and integration suggestions. Slack AI provides automated alerts and recommendations, improving communication and productivity. Microsoft Teams AI offers meeting summaries, suggested tasks, and automated workflows, making it a powerful tool for distributed teams. Both tools integrate with... - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • Empowering Open Source: The Role of Funding Workshops
    A thriving community is intertwined with sustainable funding. Workshops emphasize effective communication through platforms like Slack and Discord, as well as recognizing contributors to maintain engagement. For more strategies on building a sustainable community, consider exploring open source project sponsorship tips. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • Building a Slack Clone with Next.js and TailwindCSS - Part One
    In this three-part series, we will build a Slack clone—an app that helps teams stay in touch with instant messaging, video calls, and channels. We’ll build this application using React (Next.js), TailwindCSS, Prisma, and Stream SDKs. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • Best Status Page Software for Incident Communication
    Flexible Notification Options: Customers can subscribe to updates on specific components or services, avoiding unnecessary communication while staying GDPR-compliant. Notifications integrate seamlessly with tools like email, Slack, Microsoft Teams, and SMS. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
View more

Jira mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Jira yet. Tracking of Jira recommendations started around Mar 2021.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Slack and Jira, you can also consider the following products

Telegram - Telegram is a messaging app with a focus on speed and security. It’s superfast, simple and free.

Asana - Asana project management is an effort to re-imagine how we work together, through modern productivity software. Fast and versatile, Asana helps individuals and groups get more done.

Trello - Infinitely flexible. Incredibly easy to use. Great mobile apps. It's free. Trello keeps track of everything, from the big picture to the minute details.

Basecamp - A simple and elegant project management system.

Wrike - Wrike is a flexible, scalable, and easy-to-use collaborative work management software that helps high-performance teams organize and accomplish their work. Try it now.

Skype - Stay in touch with your family and friends for free on Skype. Download Skype today to chat and call on desktop and mobile.