GitLab vs Jira Align comparison

GitLab and Atlassian are both solutions in the Enterprise Agile Planning Tools category. GitLab is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.6, while Atlassian is ranked #3 with an average rating of 7.8. GitLab holds a 30.8% mindshare in EAP, compared to Atlassian’s 4.9% mindshare. Additionally, 97% of GitLab users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Atlassian users who would recommend it.

GitLab

Read 82 GitLab reviews

10,877 Views
8,811 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

Jira Align

Read 41 Jira Align reviews

2,575 Views
1,589 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

GitLab

Jira Align

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 18, 2024

GitLab and Jira Align compete in the software development and project management category. GitLab has the advantage due to its strong focus on code repositories and DevOps solutions.

Features: GitLab emphasizes code repositories, seamless code merging, and a powerful CI/CD integration system, providing comprehensive DevOps control. Jira Align focuses on agile processes by aligning business and IT strategy, offering detailed planning and reporting tools for large organizational needs.

Room for Improvement: GitLab could improve its AWS integrations, leadership metrics, and documentation. Jira Align requires better integration with Jira, intuitive features, and customization for diverse needs.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: GitLab uses Public Cloud for deployment, offering open-source flexibility, though its support might be inconsistent for free users. Jira Align is enterprise-focused with reliable support, but feedback suggests potential gaps in long-term support.

Pricing and ROI: GitLab offers a free version along with paid tiers that vary in pricing, reaching $99 per user/month for the Ultimate tier. This is justified by extensive features enhancing DevOps processes. Jira Align is priced higher and might be costly for SMEs but provides value for larger corporations with its strategic planning capabilities.

To learn more, read our detailed GitLab vs. Jira Align Report (Updated: January 2025).

Buyer's Guide

GitLab vs. Jira Align

January 2025

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Helped 837,501 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

GitLab

Ranking in Enterprise Agile Planning Tools

2nd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Security Tools (8th), Build Automation (1st), Release Automation (2nd), Static Application Security Testing (SAST) (8th), Rapid Application Development Software (12th), Software Composition Analysis (SCA) (5th), Fuzz Testing Tools (2nd), DevSecOps (3rd)

Jira Align

Ranking in Enterprise Agile Planning Tools

3rd

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites (9th), Value Stream Management Software (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Enterprise Agile Planning Tools category, the mindshare of GitLab is 30.8%, up from 29.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Jira Align is 4.9%, down from 5.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Enterprise Agile Planning Tools

Featured Reviews

Gaurav Chandel

AWS DevOps/ Site Reliability Engineer at Tata Consultancy

Boosted productivity with automated pipelines and seamless collaboration

There are some challenges with repository file management as GitLab may struggle to manage larger files. Improvements could be made regarding size management and file partitioning. Also, the UI has remained the same for a couple of years and could benefit from an update with AI features and better customization.

Read full review

ShyiamaKishun

Senior Manager, Technology & Delivery at S&R TECHNOLOGY

Has a straightforward setup process and efficient project management features .

Jira Align supports program increment planning by facilitating the planning aspect, including team setup, dependency management, and defining the layout for each step or stage in a project. The platform aids in breaking down targets into parts, aligning with Agile principles, and ensuring a structured layout. The most impactful feature of Jira Align for project management lies in its capabilities related to planning and setting up projects. The platform visually understands targets, offering a clear and detailed layout. We can determine when to speed up the process or access the project. We can address the issues related to planning and development efficiently. It is a great product to use, aiding in project planning and alignment. I recommend it to others and rate it a ten out of ten.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"A user friendly solution."

"GitLab's best features are maintenance, branch integration, and development infrastructure."

"For us, Gitlab's most valuable feature is the integration with Cypress. We're using Cypress as an automation tool, so we're using GitLab as a tool for running in parallel."

"Their CI/CD engine is very mature. It's very comprehensive and flexible, and compared to other projects, I believe that GitLab is number one right now from that perspective."

"GitLab has better support, and its features are superior compared to Jenkins."

"I have had no problem with the stability of the solution."

"This product is always evolving, and they listen to the customers."

"The most valuable feature of GitLab is its security."

More GitLab pros

"I found Confluence most valuable."

"Velocity and reporting provide good visibility, burndown charts, and particularly velocity measurement."

"Jira Align's most valuable features are the roadmap, the program board, and the reports."

"Jira Align has been quite a helpful tool for us because, without it, we would be juggling with all our story points or our backlog items, which would be difficult to manage."

"Align enables the capture of all capabilities."

"Jira Align is an easy-to-use and user-friendly solution."

"Being able to do PI planning using the program levels is most valuable. I find that the program-level reporting is most useful."

"The tool helps us with better tracking across various departments. Jira Align is highly valuable for organizations due to its flexibility. With my experience as an administrator, I can attest that it can be tailored to meet the diverse needs of any organization. It helps to eliminate the mess created by Excel spreadsheets."

More Jira Align pros

Cons

"The integration and storage capabilities could be better."

"There is room for improvement in GitLab Agents."

"Based on what I know so far, its integration with Kubernetes is not so good. We have to develop many things to make it work. We have to acquire third-party components to work with Kubernetes."

"When deploying the solution on cloud and the CI/CD pipeline, we have to define the steps and it becomes confusing."

"The only thing our company is really waiting on in terms of features is the development of metrics."

"We would like to generate document pages from the sources."

"I don't really like the new Kubernetes integration because it is pretty focused on the on-premise environment, but we're in a hybrid environment."

"GitLab should enhance its GitOps capability as they are currently using FluxCD, however, Argo CD is better and offers more features. GitLab should work on improving their user interface for GitOps as it is lagging behind."

More GitLab cons

"Maybe some of the terms and the connectivity could be improved."

"One area where Jira Align could improve is in its licensing model. There was a significant change in the licensing module about six months ago, which resulted in increased costs for customers like us. This change wasn't communicated clearly, and it made it challenging for companies to adopt Jira Align without facing higher expenses. In terms of features, I would like to see improved workflows in the next release, as that would greatly benefit our organization."

"There is no linkage between the Jira records and the overarching schedule. We maintain the overarching schedule in Microsoft Project, and there is no linkage back and forth with the Jira tasks. They are independent of each other."

"Someone who is new to Jira or doesn't have many years of working experience in Jira Align gets easily lost because everything looks the same in the product."

"The initial setup was a little bit complex."

"Jira Align should reduce the many information fields we need to provide while closing defects."

"It would be helpful if they had something for capacity planning that was simpler to understand."

"I would like to see Jira Align merge and integrate better with Jira as a whole. A lot of the time, the data from Jira won't map very well into Jira Align."

More Jira Align cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This is an open-source solution."

"GitLab is a free solution to use."

"I'm not aware of the licensing costs because those were covered by the customer."

"I'm not sure if they have some kind of discount. I've been negotiating with them on prices before, and I believe they weren't too happy to give discounts, but list prices are $19 per user, per month for Premium and $99 per user, per month for Ultimate. So, the difference between Premium and Ultimate is a bit bigger, and in most companies, you need to build some type of business case."

"In total, I believe we have more than 300 licenses spread over about 100 users, though I can't comment on the costs involved."

"We are currently using the open-source version."

"Regarding pricing, I would rate GitLab as moderately priced, maybe around a seven or eight out of ten. It could be more flexible for clients but generally offers good value."

"GitLab is an open-source solution."

More GitLab pricing and cost advice

"At our company, we were concerned about the cost of Jira Align, which is expensive"

"Jira Align is an expensive solution."

"I would rate this solution a nine out of ten for pricing. The price of the solution depends on the number of people using it and the projects you are working on."

"The pricing and licensing costs are rated lower, around six mainly due to significant increases in licensing costs that were not well-received by users."

"The software is very good, but the price is expensive. Our licensing costs are on a monthly basis, but there are no additional costs to the standard license fees."

"The license for Jira Align is priced fairly."

"My company pays approximately 399 USD per month for the solution."

"Jira Align's pricing is reasonable."

More Jira Align pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

29%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

28%

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about GitLab?

I find the features and version control history to be most valuable for our development workflow. These aspects provide us with a clear view of changes and help us manage requests efficiently.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for GitLab?

The pricing of GitLab is reasonable, aligning with what I consider to be average compared to competitors.

See all answers

What needs improvement with GitLab?

There are missing search features, particularly when searching repositories or applying filters. Additionally, I have encountered issues with the deployment of CI/CD pipelines, especially dealing w...

See all answers

What do you like most about Jira Align?

I joined the company because they had a large project, and as a startup company, they needed to scale up efficiently. My task was to review the current baseline, assess the team's capabilities, and...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Jira Align?

The platform's communication features could be more robust for better team integration.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Jira Align?

We use Jira Align for business strategies, collaboration, and reporting. The solution allows us to manage the various products and features delivered on that platform.

See all answers

Comparisons

Microsoft Azure DevOps vs GitLab

Compared 35% of the time

GitHub CoPilot vs GitLab

Compared 9% of the time

SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) vs GitLab

Compared 9% of the time

AWS CodePipeline vs GitLab

Compared 6% of the time

Tekton vs GitLab

Compared 5% of the time

More GitLab Competitors

OpenText ValueEdge vs Jira Align

Compared 46% of the time

ServiceNow Strategic Portfolio Management vs Jira Align

Compared 21% of the time

Rally Software vs Jira Align

Compared 5% of the time

Planview AgilePlace vs Jira Align

Compared 5% of the time

Microsoft Azure DevOps vs Jira Align

Compared 5% of the time

More Jira Align Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

GitLab

February 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Jira Align

February 2025

Download Jira Align product report

Also Known As

Fuzzit

AgileCraft

Overview

GitLab is a complete DevOps platform that enables teams to collaborate and deliver software faster.

It provides a single application for the entire DevOps lifecycle, from planning and development to testing, deployment, and monitoring.

With GitLab, teams can streamline their workflows, automate processes, and improve productivity.

GitLab

Jira Align is a cloud-based agile planning tool designed to help enterprises visualize, manage, and carry out large-scale software and IT projects. Jira Align’s features are designed to align the activities of your company’s development team with the overall goals of the organization by helping you achieve the following results:

Connect and coordinate enterprise-level business teams.
Make your entire enterprise’s work visible to drive and improve business outcomes.
Improve product quality with a fully aligned organization.
Shorten delivery cycles by increasing operational efficiency.

With Jira Align’s integration with Jira Software, businesses can simplify governing large-scale software development efforts by translating their strategy and goals into the technical execution and delivery of work.

Jira Align uses the aggregated data from Jira Software to produce reports on every aspect of the development process. Product stakeholders are granted immediate visibility into the progress that has been made and can easily identify delays and their causes.

The solution also assists in budget planning by assigning expenses to various work items and giving management real-time insights into ongoing expenditures and performance against set budgets.

Jira Align Features

Some of the top features and benefits of using Jira Align include:

Strategy management: Jira Align provides a clear visualization of where your enterprise is holding via strategic snapshots. The snapshot helps guide teams throughout the product. With the snapshot in view, it becomes easier to see and track the goals your company wants to carry out.

Progress monitoring: View a progress bar that provides indication of the level of completeness of your projects. The interface is populated with live data, which assists with planning and execution reporting.

Reporting and metrics: Jira Align creates valuable insights using the aggregated data it collects, ensuring that changes are tracked across teams and results are made visible early on in the process. These metrics allow managers to quickly determine what actions need to be taken.

Scalability: Jira Align is designed to work within organizations with hundreds of technical staff members and it can scale to support tens of thousands of users.

Backlogs and workflows: Effectively manage your work utilizing backlogs and workflow boards.

Customizable dashboard: Lay out key data points to help management keep tabs on important items. Easily make decisions based on active live consolidated data along with forecasting, risk tracking reports, and more. To help lower risks, Jira Align provides you with a visualization of program cross dependencies. It also displays a comprehensive view of resource utilization across projects, and highlights inefficiencies so that they can be resolved quickly.

Reviews from Real Users

Jira Align stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Two major ones are its program-level planning options and its reporting capabilities.

A project manager at a consultancy notes, “I like how things can be sorted out, and it shows the different objectives one can do. You could also create a team view that would allow your team to see work outcomes. Jira Align also helps with the reporting, because we can export data to Excel or another format.”

Atlassian

Sample Customers

1. NASA 2. IBM 3. Sony 4. Alibaba 5. CERN 6. Siemens 7. Volkswagen 8. ING 9. Ticketmaster 10. SpaceX 11. Adobe 12. Intuit 13. Autodesk 14. Rakuten 15. Unity Technologies 16. Pandora 17. Electronic Arts 18. Nordstrom 19. Verizon 20. Comcast 21. Philips 22. Deutsche Telekom 23. Orange 24. Fujitsu 25. Ericsson 26. Nokia 27. General Electric 28. Cisco 29. Accenture 30. Deloitte 31. PwC 32. KPMG

Anthem, nielsen, Homeland Security, NCR, dimension data

Buyer's Guide

GitLab vs. Jira Align

January 2025

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