# Jira Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/jira/ 38 people recommended Jira in Hacker News comments, 72 had mixed feelings and 365 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 11 of 12 months, in 32 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** Most people who give an opinion criticize it, for a clunky UI, configuration bloat and manager-focused reporting; those who recommend it cite flexible workflows and recently improved speed. Summary written by Claude from the comments below. Claude agents reviewed it against the quotes on 2 Nov 2026. ## What people warn about - Slow, frustrating interface (4 comments in the sample): "The latency difference going through a couple of switches and to another system really added up with those extra 1600 or so DB calls per…" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46707672)) "Start with a punishing UI (the web UI work and become unresponsive frequently, always wait at least 1.5 s before responding to interactions, etc." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48270223)) "one of the slowest applications I’ve used since the i486 days and the UX is designed to force you to click across 3-4 different fields" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50009675)) - Bloated by custom fields and configuration (3 comments in the sample): "Jira after it implements your enterprise disfunction, is a new level of hell Dante couldn't've dreamed of" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47592743)) "we have about 250 custom fields. I work in a research team and we only need Kanban and I can't change the issue type if…" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47910745)) "factor the part of jira you use (maybe 10%), the many choices and dimensions you have to configure…" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46862028)) - Serves managers' reports over workers (3 comments in the sample): "I require Jira for all my work to protect myself from three things, definitely not productivity" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48040160)) "jira was already mostly for managers to generate reports, not to help the people doing the work…" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48776948)) "The actual accuracy of the aggregates is rarely great, and instead leads to people doing "jira optimization" to make reports look good." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48125405)) - Expensive licensing (2 comments in the sample): "I make decisions on implementation and payment for our Enterprise use of Atlassian today (mid 6 figures per annum of spend)…" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48523148)) "they are hijacking the prices incredibly.. Lately we had to cut the number of licences and users, since it was incredibly expensive." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48264047)) ## Why people recommend it - Great when maintained by thoughtful admins (3 comments in the sample): "Tbf Jira is great, you just need a project manager with good opinions that sets it up and maintains it well." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47909727)) "Jira excels when there is a Jira governance committee comprised of people who actually understand data flow" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47909834)) "OOTB setup works absolutely great, and then someone comes along who wants a custom field on tasks" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46835369)) - Highly flexible, configurable workflows (2 comments in the sample): "highly flexible workflow engine with RBAC that integrates with literally everything and I can start using immediately" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49949178)) "The great thing about Jira is that it can do anything. The problem with Jira is that it can do anything" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47912731)) - Enterprise default that ticks every box (2 comments in the sample): "Jira is the default, despite how much all of us despise it, mainly because it ticks all of the boxes for aforementioned areas." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47346180)) "i agree that their products are quite stale, but a lot of that is cuz they're so deeply entrenched in enterprise workflows" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47346290)) ## Other issue trackers people recommend - [Linear](https://hackerapproved.com/p/linear/): 104 recommend, 33 mixed, 57 criticize - [git-bug](https://hackerapproved.com/p/git-bug/): 26 recommend, 9 mixed, 7 criticize - [GitHub Issues](https://hackerapproved.com/p/github-issues/): 20 recommend, 6 mixed, 28 criticize - [JetBrains YouTrack](https://hackerapproved.com/p/youtrack/): 9 recommend, 3 mixed, 2 criticize ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira) ## The badge A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged. ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Jira", https://hackerapproved.com/p/jira/ (38 recommend, 72 mixed, 365 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026). Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.