Jira excels as a specialized project management and issue tracking tool with superior agile features and broader third-party integrations, while Azure DevOps provides an integrated end-to-end CI/CD pipeline with source control, testing, and deployment built-in, making it more cost-effective for teams already in the Microsoft ecosystem.
Jira vs Azure DevOps — Side-by-side comparison on A Versus B
Choose Jira if your team prioritizes flexible agile project management, needs extensive third-party integrations, or uses non-Microsoft tools—it's the industry standard for sprint planning and issue tracking. Choose Azure DevOps if you're invested in the Microsoft ecosystem (Windows, C#, SQL Server), need an all-in-one platform combining planning with built-in CI/CD, testing, and deployment, or want lower total cost of ownership with fewer tools to manage.
Enterprise project management platform with advanced agile workflows, reporting, and automation.
Microsoft's integrated platform offering version control, CI/CD pipelines, testing, and project management in one suite.
Structured comparison data for Jira vs Azure DevOps with 145 attributes.
Advanced Agile Features (Sprint Velocity Tracking)
Jira vs Azure DevOps — Attribute Category Vocabulary
Taxonomy of attribute categories used to classify comparison data for Jira vs Azure DevOps.
Which tool is cheaper for a 50-person engineering team?
Azure DevOps at $6/user/month = $300/month ($3,600/year). Jira at $10/user/month (average) = $500/month ($6,000/year). Azure DevOps saves approximately $2,400 annually for this team size. However, if you factor in the cost of adding separate CI/CD tools to Jira (Jenkins, GitLab Runner), the savings increase significantly in Azure DevOps's favor.
Can I use Jira with Azure DevOps repositories?
Yes, but not natively. You can integrate Jira with Azure Repos through third-party tools like Atlassian Marketplace integrations or webhook configurations. However, this adds complexity. Azure DevOps provides seamless integration between its planning tools and Git repos out-of-the-box.
Which platform is better for CI/CD automation?
Azure DevOps's native Azure Pipelines are superior for continuous integration and deployment. They're built into the platform with no additional tools needed. Jira requires external tools like Jenkins, GitHub Actions, or GitLab CI. If CI/CD is critical, Azure DevOps eliminates a tool dependency.
Does Jira have better reporting than Azure DevOps?
Jira offers more agile-specific reports (velocity charts, burndown, cumulative flow diagrams, and customizable dashboards). Azure DevOps provides solid reporting but less granular agile metrics. For sprint analytics and forecasting, Jira has the edge. For deployment and build metrics, Azure DevOps is stronger.
Which is better if we use both GitHub and Azure?
Jira integrates seamlessly with GitHub through its Marketplace. Azure DevOps also works with GitHub (though Azure Repos is native). If you're committed to GitHub for source control, Jira may feel lighter-weight. If you're standardizing on Microsoft services, Azure DevOps keeps everything under one roof and reduces authentication complexity.