If you’re still tracking bugs in a spreadsheet, you might be creating unnecessary work for your team. Bug tracking software makes it quicker and easier for you to collaborate on tasks, set up automations to reduce manual work, integrate support tickets with QA test results, and much more.
Here, we’ll break down the basics of bug-tracking software, and share our top 10 picks for bug-tracking platforms in 2024.
Try monday devWhat is bug-tracking software?
Bug-tracking software is software that you can use to report, manage, and prioritize software bugs and problems.
Bug-tracking applications give software development and QA teams a centralized platform to collect, prioritize, assign, track, and resolve issues that they run into during software development and testing, or that their end-users uncover after the software is launched.
Why use software for bug tracking?
The benefit of tracking your bugs effectively should be clear:
- You create higher-quality software
- You’re able to prioritize major bugs and create a better user experience
- You improve your team’s collaboration and make sure that fewer bugs escape into production
Some development teams feel that they can handle bugs with a simple spreadsheet. However, there are some key advantages of using a purpose-built bug-tracking solution instead of Excel or Drive to manage your bugs:
- Centralized information—bug-tracking software gives you a single location for all your bug information, such as a description of the bugs, status updates, comments, and attachments.
- Guided workflows—you can use bug-tracking software to create customized workflows that match your development process, so you can make sure your bugs are handled consistently and efficiently.
- Automations—Many bug trackers include automation features, so you can cut down on repetitive tasks and send automated notifications when bugs are added or dealt with.
- Reporting—Most bug-tracking solutions also come with reporting features, which can help you keep an eye on key metrics, like how long it takes you to fix each bug.
- Integrations—Many bug-tracking tools will integrate with other development tools, like project management systems or version control software, so you avoid siloed data and make all the information easy to find.
If you’re ready to get all of these benefits, and more, why not try the bug tracking features in monday dev?
What to look for in bug-tracking software
When evaluating bug-tracking software, you should be looking out for the following:
- Ease of use—QA engineers and software teams are busy, so prioritize a bug tracker with an intuitive visual interface and a quick learning curve.
- Flexibility—You need a bug tracker that will adapt easily to your team’s preferred way of working. Look for customizable fields, views, and workflows.
- Collaboration tools—The whole point of using a bug-tracking application is to foster team collaboration, so keep an eye out for features like easy commenting, tagging, notifications, and task management.
- Searchability–Look for bug-tracking software with powerful search and filtering capabilities, so your team can quickly find specific bugs based on e.g. status, priority, or assignee.
- Project management—Check that the bug tracker will let you create multiple projects, file bugs or tickets in a specific project, and run reports by project.
Who uses bug-tracking software?
Bug-tracking software is typically when you’re building or testing software, so it’s primarily used by:
- Software developers, to view assigned issues, track progress, and update the status of bugs as they work on resolving them.
- Software testers and Quality Assurance (QA) engineers, to log bug reports (including steps to reproduce the issue and/or screenshots), track bugs, and collaborate with developers to verify that bugs are fixed.
- Project managers, to prioritize bugs, allocate tasks, and track the team’s overall progress
- Product owners or product managers, to monitor the status of reported bugs, prioritize bug fixes based on business impact, and make decisions about release timelines.
- Customer Support teams, to manage customer-reported issues.
Top 10 bug-tracking software options
Here are our picks for the top bug-tracking applications currently available on the market:
1. monday dev
Best for: Product and development teams who need a visual, flexible bug tracker
monday dev is a product development solution with exceptional bug-tracking tools. It lets you plan your product roadmap, oversee and monitor sprints, speed up development, and empower your team to exceed their goals.
monday dev key features
- Native integrations with the rest of the development stack, including Github, Gitlab, and Figma
- Sprint management—manage sprint ceremonies, track story points and monitor your progress in the same place
- Easy bug tracking—effectively report, track, and assign bugs
- Feature requests—integrate user requests and bugs in the same platform
- Sprint retrospectives—structure feedback for continuous process improvements
- Agile reporting tools
- Product roadmapping—map your product vision and, share it with stakeholders
Pros
- Easy to use, easy to set up, and with great customer support
- Powerful collaboration tools to help your testing team move faster
- Intuitive, visual interface
- Top-rated customer support
monday dev cons
- No forever free version
- Can have a learning curve
monday dev pricing
- Basic: From $9/seat/month (billed annually, minimum 3 seats at $27/month)
- Standard: From $12/seat/month (billed annually, minimum 3 seats at $36/month)
- Pro: From $20/seat/month (billed annually, minimum 3 seats at $60/month)
- Enterprise: Contact monday.com for a custom quote
2. Jira
Best for: DevOps teams
Jira is an Agile development and issue-tracking platform launched by Atlassian in 2002. Features include sprint planning, bug tracking, and collaboration tools.
Jira key features
- Bug tracking and reporting
- Scrum & Kanban views
- Extensive integrations, including GitHub
Jira pros
- Excellent task management and issue-tracking functionality
- Established solution with flexible set-up
- Handy automation features
Jira cons
- Can have a steep learning curve
- Specifically designed for Scrum teams
Jira pricing
- Free—for teams of up to 10, 2 GB file storage limit
- Standard—from $8.15/user/month (billed annually, for up to 50,000 users)
- Premium—from $16/user/month (billed annually)
- Enterprise—from $141,000/year (available only on annual billing, for a minimum of 801 users)
3. ClickUp
Best for: Teams that need extensive customization
ClickUp is an all-in-one project management platform that you can set up to use as a bug-tracking solution.
ClickUp key features
- Flexible views
- Custom intake forms
- Automated workflows
ClickUp pros
- Comprehensive free plan
- 24/7 customer support
- Extremely customizable for any workflow
ClickUp cons
- Steep learning curve
- Workflow configurations take time to set up
- Performance may be slow
ClickUp pricing
- Free—for individuals
- Unlimited—from $7/member/mo
- Business—from $12/member/mo
- Enterprise—Price available on application
Learn more in our ClickUp pricing guide.
4. GitHub
Best for: Development teams who want to collaborate on coding and track bugs in the same place
GitHub is an open-source platform that developers can use to manage code repositories, track issues and bugs, share knowledge, and collaborate on DevOps projects.
GitHub pros
- Great for version control
- Work with unlimited collaborators
- Robust documentation
GitHub cons
- Requires technical knowledge
- Challenging for non-tech users
GitHub pricing
- Free forever for unlimited public and private repositories
- Team: From $4 per user/mo
- Enterprise: From $21 per user/mo
5. Asana
Best for: Teams that need a bug tracker that’s also a versatile task management tool.
Asana is a task management tool that you can use to track bugs and collaborate with your team. It has a user-friendly interface, so it’s easy for you to manage, assign, and track bugs efficiently.
Asana pros
- User-friendly and easy to integrate into your existing tech stack
- Convenient if you’re already using it in other departments
- Can use to monitor connected sprints
Asana cons
- Built for task management, not specifically bug management
- More expensive than other competitors to Jira
- Geared for task rather than product management
Asana key features
- Done-for-you bug tracking template
- Custom fields
- Automatic notifications
- Bug tracking form
Asana pricing
- Personal–Asana’s free plan is for individuals or small teams
- Starter–From $10.99/user/mo
- Advanced–From $24.99/user/mo
- Enterprise and Enterprise +–Available on request
Check out our guide to Asana pricing to learn more.
6. BugHerd
Best for: Teams working on website testing and development
BugHerd is a bug-tracking tool that lets you spot bugs and pin feedback directly onto your web pages.
BugHerd key features
- Add markup to web page elements
- Kanban-style board to track feedback
- Visual point-and-click bug flagging
BugHerd pros
- Easy to use, even by non-technical users
- Visual, on-the-spot bug flagging
- Integrations with Slack, GitHub, and WordPress
BugHerd cons
- Only for web design
- Limited native integrations
- No free forever pricing plan
BugHerd pricing
- Standard—$33/mo
- Studio—$58/mo
- Premium—$109/mo
- Deluxe—$191/mo
- Enterprise—Available on request
- Additional seats—$6.60/user/mo
7. Bugzilla
Best for: Teams working in highly complex software environments
Bugzilla is a free, open-source bug-tracking software used by large tech companies like Mozilla and RedHat to handle complex development projects.
Bugzilla key features
- Advanced search
- Milestone tracking
- Track issues based on products and components
Bugzilla pros
- Free forever
- Powerful bug search capabilities
- Easy to scale across large development projects
Bugzilla cons
- Not useful for task management, only bug management
- Interface not particularly user-friendly
- Not a lot of support (it’s a free tool)
Bugzilla pricing
- Open source, free forever
8. Redmine
Best for: Technical DevOps teams who need advanced tracking capabilities.
Redmine is an open-source tool that gives software developers advanced bug-tracking features.
Redmine key features
- Project wikis and forums to keep essential DevOps data streamlined
- Time tracking and Gantt charts
- Role-based access control for team collaboration
Redmine pros
- Manage bugs across multiple projects
- Dynamic issue-tracking system
- Open source, free forever
Redmine cons
- Support is forum-based only
- For technical users only
Redmine pricing
- Free
9. GitLab
Best for: DevSecOps teams who need a comprehensive solution.
GitLab is an integrated software lifecycle management suite. It includes bug-tracking software, along with project planning, source code management, and CI/CD tools.
GitLab key features
- Integrated CI/CD
- Automated DevOps tools
- Extensive integrations
GitLab pros
- A comprehensive suite of development tools
- Extensive security features
- AI and automation features
GitLab cons
- High learning curve
- Interface isn’t particularly user-friendly
- May be too complex and comprehensive for small teams
GitLab pricing
- Free
- Premium–$29/user/month
- Ultimate–Price available on request
10. MantisBT
Best for: Teams that need an easy-to-use issue tracker with a simple interface
MantisBT is a free, open-source bug tracker with a very straightforward, user-friendly interface.
MantisBT key features
- Custom fields
- Email notifications
- Easy-to-use reporting
MantisBT pros
- Free and open-source
- User-friendly interface
- Can handle bugs from multiple projects
MantisBT cons
- May lack advanced features
- Interface is not very visually appealing
- Limited integrations
MantisBT pricing
- Free
How monday dev can help with bug tracking
If you’re looking for a user-friendly, highly visual way to track your bugs, look no further than monday dev. With our bugs queue board, you get:
- Centralized issue tracking , to keep an eye of any bugs, whether they’re being reported by customers, developers or QA testers
- Automations, to save you time and ensure no bug slips through the cracks by automatically turning support tickets into tasks that notify specific people.
- Collaboration abilities, so your team can come together to work on bugs more efficiently
- Powerful reporting features that make it easy to identify trends, spot opportunities for efficiency gains, and optimize your teams’ time-to-fix metrics.
Help your dev team out with our easy bug-tracking tools. Get started today!
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