GitHub Projects alternatives in 2027, by price

The alternatives to GitHub Projects are Zenhub, Linear, Plane, Shortcut and Jira, and the question that splits them is where your issues live afterwards. Zenhub works on the issues already in your GitHub repositories. Linear, Plane, Shortcut and Jira are separate trackers, so leaving means moving into another store. If the real complaint is speed rather than missing planning features, Gitsu is a client for GitHub Projects itself.

We make Gitsu, so it appears here with its limits stated. Each tool gets the same four questions: what it is, what it costs, whether it keeps your work in GitHub, and who it suits. The order is not a ranking. Prices below were read from each vendor's pricing page on 14 November 2026.

What are the alternatives to GitHub Projects, and what do they cost?

GitHub's Team plan price covers more than Projects, since it bundles repository features, so it is not a cost of planning alone. Zenhub's monthly billing is $7.50 per user.

Why do teams look for a GitHub Projects alternative?

GitHub Projects is the board, table and roadmap layer built into GitHub, included on every plan, Free among them, with no extra charge. Its advantage is that it is already there: every repository has Issues, and there is no new login, no new bill and nothing to migrate. It has a Roadmap layout and per-view configuration, and it stays the place to configure projects, use GitHub's workflows and settings, or check a board occasionally.

Teams leave it for one of two reasons, and the reason decides the alternative. The first is the planning half: our August 2026 research found roadmap views exist only within one project, with no org-wide timeline, and sub-issue dependencies are not drawn on it. Zenhub, Linear, Shortcut and Jira sell that half. The second is the daily-use half: a slow, low-density interface with no keyboard model. A client like Gitsu fixes that half and does not touch the planning one.

What does Zenhub offer?

Zenhub is project management built into GitHub. It adds sprints, epics, roadmaps and velocity reports on top of your existing GitHub issues.

• Price: Free allows 1 workspace, 2 connected repositories and 250 issues, and includes automated sprint planning and velocity reports. Teams is $4.99 per user per month billed yearly ($7.50 monthly), with up to 50 repositories and 5,000 issues. A 14-day Teams trial is available. See Zenhub's pricing.
• GitHub-native: yes. It works on the issues in your repositories and adds its own planning layer.
• Best for: teams that plan in sprints and report on progress, where everyone will use it.

Gitsu supports planning with priorities, estimates, existing iterations and a single-project roadmap, but has no automatic sprint rollover or velocity report. The Zenhub alternatives page covers the tools teams compare when leaving it.

What does Linear offer?

Linear is a fast, keyboard-first planning tool with cycles, a triage inbox and an MCP server. It keeps work in its own cloud and can sync with GitHub.

• Price: Free lists 250 issues, 2 teams and unlimited members. Basic is $10 per user per month and Business is $16, both billed yearly, on Linear's pricing page. The free-plan guide separates the documented limit from workspace behavior.
• GitHub-native: no. It has its own store with GitHub sync. Some teams keep public GitHub issues and a private Linear, and pay for it in broken syncs and two sources of truth.
• Best for: teams that want a dedicated planning system and will move to it together.

The trade-offs are in Linear vs GitHub Issues, and the Linear alternatives comparison covers the tools for teams leaving Linear.

What does Plane offer?

Plane is an open-source project tool with cycles, modules and several layouts, often described as an open-source Linear. It wins teams that need self-hosting, data residency or heavy customisation.

• Price: Free covers up to 12 users. Pro is $6 per seat per month and Business $13, both billed annually, on Plane's pricing page. The same plans are offered for cloud, self-hosted and air-gapped deployments; self-hosting moves the bill from seats to servers.
• GitHub-native: no. Work lives in Plane, on your server or in its cloud. Its pricing page lists a GitHub integration, which we did not test.
• Best for: teams that need to control where their data lives, or want to change the tool itself.

What does Shortcut offer?

Shortcut is a tracker built around stories, epics, iterations and objectives, with Docs for specs alongside the work.

• Price: Free covers up to 10 users, one team and one workspace. Team is $8.50 per user per month billed yearly ($10 monthly) and Business is $12 yearly ($16 monthly), on Shortcut's pricing page. Its page lists an MCP server and a GitHub integration.
• GitHub-native: no. Work lives in Shortcut.
• Best for: teams of up to 10 who want a dedicated tracker with a larger free allowance than Linear's 250 issues.

What does Jira offer?

Jira is Atlassian's work tracker, with custom workflows, sprints and JQL search. It wins when the process needs enforcing, or when people outside engineering plan in the same tool.

• Price: Free covers up to 10 users with 2 GB of storage. Standard is listed at $8.48 per user per month on Atlassian's pricing page; annual plans are charged by user tier, so price your own headcount there.
• GitHub-native: no. Work lives in Atlassian's cloud, and a team on GitHub pays for both.
• Best for: larger organisations that want configurable workflows and reporting more than speed. The Jira comparison goes into detail.

What does Gitsu offer?

Gitsu is a client for GitHub Projects: a macOS app and a web app that read and write your GitHub boards directly. It adds a keyboard model, nested AND/OR filters, bulk edit and a controlled path for coding agents, and keeps GitHub as the system of record. It is the alternative for teams that want a different way to work in GitHub Projects, not a different tracker. Gitsu persists a local board cache on your Mac or in your browser; edits go back to GitHub.

• Price: the web app is free with no card. A paid subscription adds the desktop app, its agents and MCP access. Pro is billed per person, and a Team buys Seats by GitHub username, starting at two; current prices are on Gitsu's pricing page.
• GitHub-native: yes. Every edit is an ordinary change to your GitHub project.
• Best for: developers and small teams who triage and update GitHub issues regularly, work a backlog from the keyboard, or want desktop coding agents connected to that board. One person can adopt it first while teammates keep using github.com.

Gitsu supports planning through priorities, estimates, existing iteration fields, saved views and a single-project roadmap. It has no automatic sprint rollover, burndown reports or triage inbox. It shows one project at a time and loads at most 2,000 items per project. Check those limits against your board; the GitHub comparison explains how to use Gitsu alongside github.com.

Which GitHub Projects alternative should you choose?

Choose by which half of GitHub Projects is failing you.

• Sprint automation and velocity reports on your GitHub issues: Zenhub.
• A dedicated planning tool, with the whole team moving off GitHub issues: Linear.
• Open source or self-hosting: Plane.
• A small team that wants a free dedicated tracker: Shortcut.
• Enforced workflows or non-engineers planning alongside: Jira.
• Daily triage, nested filters, keyboard controls and bulk edits on the boards you already have, with desktop agents as a paid option: Gitsu. Open one project in the free web app, apply a filter you use for triage and try a bulk edit before paying for anything.
• Project administration, workflows and settings, or occasional board checks: GitHub's own UI, which stays available alongside Gitsu.

To try Gitsu on your own boards, follow getting started with the Gitsu Web App.