Both Wrike and Jira are popular project management tools for Agile-based companies and teams. But how do they compare to each other? In our blog, we will discuss the different pros and cons of Wrike and Jira while making some critical comparisons to help you choose the best project management tool for your team.
Wrike vs Jira, let’s get started!
Wrike: The All-Rounder
Founded in 2006, Wrike is a cloud-based project management tool that helps teams manage and keep track of all the activities within their project. It consolidates the majority of your project management needs from start to end, including features such as resource management tools, real-time dashboards and time tracking features. It promotes itself as an Agile-fit solution with its inclusions of in-built Kanban boards, story mapping tools and custom workflows. With its relatively simple interface and pricing packages, Wrike has quickly become one of the most prominent tools in the project management space.
Wrike Benefits
- Wrike allows you to manage all project-related activities like resource management, schedule management and more on a single platform.
- While they are known for their easy-to-use in-built Kanban boards, Wrike also offers Gantt charts to suit any style of project and team.
- Wrike makes task management easy by allowing users to easily input descriptions, dependencies and comments.
Wrike Disadvantages
- Wrike does not have its own in-built messaging system. It uses a comment and mentioning system within the application. Users will still need to depend on a third-party communication service like Microsoft Teams to facilitate their communication needs.
- Wrike requires some time to fully learn and adapt too. While having many features is great, finding and using them to their full capabilities will take time.
- Wrike integrations can be restrictive. Depending on your payment tier and the third-party add-ons, it might require you to have to set up another account with Zapier to properly connect services.
Jira: The Go-To Tool for Developers
Launch by Atlassian in 2002, Jira started off as a bug-tracking program and has since evolved into a full-fledge cloud-based project management tool that caters to the specific needs of software developers. With its Agile-based sprint format, particularly geared to Scrum management, and specific tools like Kanban boards and story mapping that make it so popular amongst developers and teams that use Agile methodologies.
Jira Benefits
- Jira is specifically geared to the need of Agile teams with Scrum and Kanban boards, highly customizable workflows and bug management tools to facilitate on-demand deployment.
- Jira’s integrations with other external data sources and applications are much more flexible and plentiful than Wrikes.
- Jira has advanced reporting tools that can drill down different projects, epics, sprints, and issues. From epic reports, velocity charts and release burndowns, any Agile will be able to create the specific reports they need.
Jira Disadvantages
- Jira’s user interface is known to be quite clunky and confusing for users. While the tools may be amazing, setting up the tools is not as easy or seamless as it could be.
- Set up time is intensive and requires a steep learning curve. While high customisation is one of its selling points, it also makes it very important to set up your project and processes properly. This also requires investing time and effort in training up new users to be able to fully use the tool.
- Jira’s free version is limited to 10 users.
Wrike vs Jira: A Side by Side Comparison
While we have given you a great introduction to both tools, the best way to make an objective opinion is to conduct a side by side comparison of critical features within the tools. In this section, we compare five different features – its project management capabilities, accessibility and interface, integrations, pricing and support services.
Wrike vs Jira: Project Management Capabilities
Before listing off project management features, it is important to first ask what type of project you are running and what methodology you are applying. Waterfall projects have very different processes and requirements from Scrum-based projects.
Wrike is a well-rounded project management tool that can cater to both Agile and Waterfall style projects with both Kanban boards and Gantt chart features available. It also integrates other functions such as resource management, budgeting and more into a single platform. However, Wrike does not specifically facilitate Scrum-based processes.
On the other hand, Jira is specifically geared to Agile-based projects, particularly Scrum. From all the advanced reporting features to the project roadmaps and customizable workflows, Jira is one of the most intuitive platforms for teams using Agile methodologies. However, it quickly becomes useless for other types of methodologies as features like their Gantt chart is not fully fleshed out.
Wrike vs Jira: Accessibility and Interface
From a purely visual perspective, Jira takes the lead over Wrike with its clean look and streamlined colour palette compared to Wrike’s rather monotonous grey and green format. While Wrike’s interface may also suffer from the sheer amount functions and features available, Jira also suffers slightly with early set-up processes that require very specific configuration so as to not encounter bugs. Overall, the user experience for both tools is pleasant but not without their misgivings.
In terms of accessibility, both tools are available in desktop and mobile forms. However, while Wrike is available in 8 languages, Jira is available in 22 languages, further widening their range of accessibility with global users and customers.
Wrike vs Jira: Integrations
Integrations are a critical feature of any effective project management tool. Most teams are using multiple apps or tools to facilitate all their project needs – from communication to resource management to financing and more. Being able to seamlessly integrate your tools together prevents issues like data gaps and improves overall efficiency.
Both Wrike and Jira have extensive integration capabilities. Wrike is able to integrate with over 400+ data sources along with its own API to allow for third-party user integrations, while Jira offers a staggering 3,000 software integrations, add-ons and more. Jira also takes the win in this category as it is less restrictive than Wrike’s integrations as certain prominent services like Salesforce can only be integrated through their premium subscriptions.
Have a full look at Wrike and Jira’s integration lists to make sure your important apps and services can connect with your new tool.
Wrike vs Jira: Pricing
Wrike and Jira both have free and paid options for their services. However, it is important to pay attention to the specific capacities and limitations of each package.
Wrike’s free version offers unlimited users but it is limited to 2GB storage per account. Jira’s free version only allows a maximum of 10 users as well as 2GB storage per account. Once you start venturing in their paid packages, Wrike’s cheapest option starts at $9.80/ month per user while Jira starts at $7.50/month per user. As mentioned above, Wrike’s full integrations are only available in certain packages, so make sure to properly check their websites for all the details.
Wrike vs Jira: App support services
As a Software-as-a-Service product, both Jira and Wrike need to be contactable by users to help address issues and handle inquiries. Wrike offers 24/7 support through multiple channels such as email, help centre chatbots, a dedicated phone line and other workspace chat functions.
Jira also offers all of the above support services but they are limited depending on your subscription level. At the free level, users can only tap into community forums and general FAQ pages, a standard plan subscription gives you 9-5 support while only the premium plan offers 24/7 support.
Wrike vs Jira Conclusion
So, which one is better, you ask? We say you might not be asking the right question. Instead, ask ‘which is best for me and my team?’. There is no one-size-fits-all or golden ticket project management tool that can suit every team.
We believe that Wrike might be the better option for your team if you want a more holistic project management tool that can cater towards Agile methodologies while also having the capability to be scalable onto an enterprise level.
We believe Jira is best suited for smaller teams that require very specific Agile or Scrum-based processes and tools. If you are a team of software developers, it is hard to beat the advanced features offered by Jira.
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