- **[AdeptDev](https://www.adeptdev.io)** — web developers / founders. Kanban board connected to GitHub webhooks and Vercel deployments. $10/month flat. - **Linear** — clean, fast issue tracking with native GitHub integration. Free up to 250 issues. - **Jira** — deep customization and Agile reporting for large engineering orgs. - **Shortcut** — developer-focused with more structure than GitHub Projects. - **Plane** — open source, self-hosted, free with no user limits. - **ClickUp** — all-in-one for mixed teams needing more than a task board. - **ZenHub** — lives inside GitHub as a browser extension. Most native feel. - **Notion** — docs and tasks in one place for knowledge-heavy teams.

## Why Teams Look for GitHub Projects Alternatives GitHub Projects is free, lives where your code lives, and requires zero setup. For small teams and open source projects, it works well. But it has real limits. No sprint velocity or burndown charts. No deployment tracking. No analytics. No workspace separation for managing multiple products. The automation rules are basic compared to dedicated PM tools. And once your team includes non-developer stakeholders who need dashboards and reporting, GitHub Projects stops being enough. Adoption of GitHub Projects rose by 20% in 2025 as more teams looked to keep workflows natively within GitHub. ([source](https://get.assembla.com/blog/top-github-alternatives/)) That growth also means more teams hitting those limits. If you're here, you've probably hit one of them.

## Quick Comparison: Best GitHub Projects Alternatives in 2026 | Tool | Best for | Pricing | |---|---|---| | [AdeptDev](https://adeptdev.io) | Web developers / Founders | $10/mo flat | | [Linear](https://linear.app) | Fast, clean issue tracking | Free / $8/user/mo | | [Jira](https://atlassian.com/software/jira) | Large engineering orgs | Free to 10 / $7.91/user/mo | | [Shortcut](https://shortcut.com) | Dev-focused, structured Agile | Free / $8.50/user/mo | | [Plane](https://plane.so) | Open source, self-hosted | Free / $6/user/mo cloud | | [ClickUp](https://clickup.com) | All-in-one for mixed teams | Free / $7/user/mo | | [ZenHub](https://zenhub.com) | GitHub-native, lives in GitHub UI | Free / $12.50/user/mo | | [Notion](https://notion.so) | Docs and tasks together | Free / $10/user/mo |

## 1. AdeptDev: Best GitHub Projects Alternative for Web Developers ![AdeptDev](https://vyoyxwhjtxsktvvpxdvj.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/blog_images/www.adeptdev.io_.png) **AdeptDev is the natural step up from GitHub Projects for web developers and founders who want more than a basic task board.** GitHub Projects connects to your issues and PRs. AdeptDev connects to your issues, PRs, Vercel deployments, and analytics — all in one workspace. The biggest gap GitHub Projects leaves open is deployment visibility. You finish a task, push the code, and then open a separate Vercel tab to see if the build went through. AdeptDev closes that gap. Build status lives next to the task that caused the work. You see it succeed or fail without switching tabs. **Why AdeptDev beats GitHub Projects for active product teams:** GitHub Projects' automation rules move cards when events happen in GitHub. AdeptDev does that too — via webhooks that fire on push, PR open, or issue close. But AdeptDev adds two things GitHub Projects can never have: Vercel deployment status in the same workspace, and product analytics from PostHog or Google Analytics alongside your tasks. For teams actively shipping a web product, that unified view is worth far more than staying inside GitHub. **Main features:** - Two Kanban boards: Roadmap (features) and Bug Tracker (GitHub Issues) - GitHub webhook integration — tasks move automatically on code events - Vercel deployment tracking — build status and logs in the same workspace - PostHog and Google Analytics integration - Multiple workspaces per organization for managing separate products | | | |---|---| | **Pros** | **Built for** | | Flat $10/month — no per-user scaling | Web developers and technical founders | | Deployment visibility without tab switching | Products built on GitHub and Vercel | | Tasks move automatically from GitHub events | Teams who want less context switching | | Analytics alongside tasks and deploys | Solo devs and small teams up to 10 | | 7-day free trial, full access | Founders managing their own product | **Pricing:** $10/month flat after a 7-day free trial. Try it at [adeptdev.io](https://adeptdev.io).

## 2. Linear: Best for Fast, Clean Issue Tracking ![Linear](https://vyoyxwhjtxsktvvpxdvj.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/blog_images/linear.app_.png) **Linear is the best GitHub Projects alternative for engineering teams that have outgrown GitHub's basic boards and want something faster and more structured.** Where GitHub Projects is functional but plain, Linear is keyboard-driven, opinionated, and loads in under 100 milliseconds. **Why Linear beats GitHub Projects for growing engineering teams:** GitHub Projects has no sprint planning, no velocity tracking, no cycle analytics, and no roadmap view beyond a basic timeline. Linear has all of these out of the box — plus a native GitHub integration that automatically links branches, commits, and PRs to issues without any configuration. The free tier covers 2 teams and 250 issues. For teams actively shipping, that cap arrives faster than expected. **Main features:** - Sub-100ms UI, keyboard-first interface - Cycles (sprints), initiatives, and backlog management - Native GitHub integration — branches and PRs link automatically - Roadmap and timeline views - AI-powered issue creation and triage | | | |---|---| | **Pros** | **Cons** | | Fastest UI of any PM tool | 250-issue cap on free tier | | Native GitHub integration | No Vercel or deployment tracking | | Sprint planning and velocity built in | Per-user pricing compounds at scale | | No configuration before first use | Engineering-only mental model | | Strong roadmapping features | No analytics integration | **Pricing:** Free (250 issues, 2 teams). Basic $8/user/month. Business $14/user/month.

## 3. Jira: Best for Large Engineering Organizations ![Jira](https://vyoyxwhjtxsktvvpxdvj.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/blog_images/jira.png) **Jira is the right GitHub Projects alternative when your organization has outgrown every lightweight tool and needs enterprise-grade Agile at scale.** GitHub Projects doesn't do custom workflows, detailed velocity reporting, or multi-team dependency management. Jira does all of these, at the cost of significant setup complexity. **When Jira makes sense over GitHub Projects:** If your engineering team has grown past 30 to 50 people, has compliance requirements, or needs deep cross-team portfolio management, Jira's breadth justifies the overhead. For smaller teams, it rarely does. **Main features:** - Custom issue types, workflows, and permission schemes - Advanced roadmaps for cross-team planning - 3,000+ Marketplace integrations - Full Scrum and Kanban support - Enterprise compliance and audit trails | | | |---|---| | **Pros** | **Cons** | | Handles any workflow complexity | 2 to 3 week learning curve | | Best enterprise compliance features | Requires a dedicated admin | | Scales to thousands of engineers | True cost is 2 to 3x base with add-ons | | Deep Atlassian ecosystem | No deployment tracking | | 3,000+ Marketplace integrations | UI significantly slower than alternatives | **Pricing:** Free up to 10 users. Standard $7.91/user/month. Premium $15.25/user/month.

## 4. Shortcut: Best Developer-Focused GitHub Projects Alternative ![Shortcut](https://vyoyxwhjtxsktvvpxdvj.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/blog_images/www.shortcut.com_.png) **Shortcut is the best GitHub Projects alternative for developer teams that want more structure than GitHub's basic boards without Jira's complexity.** It keeps the developer-first focus while adding epics, milestones, sprint planning, and configurable workflows. **Why Shortcut lands between GitHub Projects and Jira:** GitHub Projects gives you a flat board. Shortcut gives you a full hierarchy: Milestones, Epics, Stories, and Tasks. That structure makes it significantly easier to manage a growing product backlog without losing track of where things stand. The free plan covers up to 10 users with no issue cap — more practical than Linear's 250-issue limit and better than Jira's feature-gated free tier. **Main features:** - Milestones, Epics, Stories, and Tasks hierarchy - Custom workflows per team - Native GitHub integration — commits and PRs sync automatically - Sprint planning with configurable lengths - Velocity tracking and reporting | | | |---|---| | **Pros** | **Cons** | | More structure than GitHub Projects | No Vercel or deployment tracking | | Free up to 10 users, no issue cap | Per-user pricing at scale | | Native GitHub integration | Smaller community than Jira or Linear | | Faster to adopt than Jira | No analytics integration | | Custom workflows per team | Less AI investment than competitors | **Pricing:** Free up to 10 users. Team $8.50/user/month. Business $12/user/month.

## 5. Plane: Best Open Source GitHub Projects Alternative ![Plane](https://vyoyxwhjtxsktvvpxdvj.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/blog_images/plane.so_.png) **Plane is the best GitHub Projects alternative for teams that want full data ownership, self-hosting, and Jira-level features at zero recurring cost.** It is the most feature-complete open source project management tool available in 2026. **Why Plane is the only real self-hosted GitHub Projects replacement:** GitHub Projects is free but cloud-only — your data lives on GitHub's servers. Plane self-hosted gives you issues, cycles (sprints), modules (epics), Gantt charts, roadmaps, time tracking, and a workspace Wiki on your own infrastructure. Over 40,000 GitHub stars and active development through 2026 signal this is not an abandoned project. For teams in regulated industries or those with data residency requirements, Plane is the only credible open source option at this feature depth. **Main features:** - Issues, cycles, modules, Gantt charts, and Wiki - Time tracking on Pro plan - GitHub integration - Self-hosted Community Edition, unlimited users - Multiple workspace views: Kanban, list, calendar, spreadsheet | | | |---|---| | **Pros** | **Cons** | | Free self-hosted, no user limits | Self-hosting adds infrastructure overhead | | Full data ownership and control | Some features less polished than Linear | | Pro cloud at $6/user/month | No Vercel deployment tracking | | Time tracking and Wiki included | Setup requires technical knowledge | | Active development, 40,000+ GitHub stars | No analytics integration | **Pricing:** Free self-hosted. Pro cloud $6/user/month. Business $13/user/month.

## 6. ClickUp: Best All-In-One GitHub Projects Alternative ![ClickUp](https://vyoyxwhjtxsktvvpxdvj.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/blog_images/clickup.png) **ClickUp is the best GitHub Projects alternative for teams that need more than a developer task board — docs, goals, time tracking, and dashboards alongside engineering work.** Where GitHub Projects is deliberately minimal, ClickUp is deliberately comprehensive. **Why ClickUp wins for mixed teams:** GitHub Projects has no docs, no goals, no time tracking, and no dashboards. ClickUp has all of these in its free plan alongside unlimited tasks and unlimited members. For a startup where marketing, product, and engineering need to share one tool, ClickUp replaces several tools at once. The trade-off: ClickUp's flexibility requires setup. New users spend 2 to 4 weeks reaching proficiency. And core features like Goals and Workload management are gated behind the $12/user/month Business plan. **Main features:** - Tasks, docs, goals, time tracking, and dashboards - Sprint management with story points - Kanban, list, Gantt, and calendar views - 1,000+ integrations including GitHub and Slack - AI features for task generation and summaries | | | |---|---| | **Pros** | **Cons** | | Most generous free plan on this list | 2 to 4 week learning curve | | Replaces multiple tools at once | Core features gated behind Business plan | | Unlimited tasks and members free | GitHub integration is shallow | | Good for non-technical team members | Slower UI than Linear | | Wide integration library | No deployment tracking | **Pricing:** Free. Unlimited $7/user/month. Business $12/user/month.

## 7. ZenHub: Most GitHub-Native Alternative ![ZenHub](https://vyoyxwhjtxsktvvpxdvj.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/blog_images/github.com_.png) **ZenHub is the most GitHub-native GitHub Projects alternative — it delivers sprint planning, roadmaps, burndown charts, and multi-repo boards directly inside the GitHub interface.** If you want to stay in GitHub but need more than GitHub Projects provides, ZenHub is the most natural path. **When ZenHub makes sense:** ZenHub extends GitHub rather than replacing it. Issues remain GitHub issues. The ZenHub layer adds sprint planning, velocity tracking, burndown charts, and Epics on top — accessible via a Chrome, Firefox, or Edge extension without ever leaving github.com. For pure engineering teams allergic to switching tools, this is the minimal-disruption upgrade. The trade-off is the delivery mechanism. ZenHub requires a browser extension. Team members without the extension see standard GitHub. Mixed browser environments create inconsistency. **Main features:** - Sprint planning and velocity tracking inside GitHub - Burndown charts and release reports - Epics and multi-repo workspaces - Roadmap view inside GitHub - AI-powered sprint planning with Thor | | | |---|---| | **Pros** | **Cons** | | Lives entirely inside GitHub | Requires browser extension for all users | | Sprint planning without leaving GitHub | No Vercel or deployment tracking | | Burndown charts and velocity reports | Per-user pricing | | Multi-repo workspace support | Browser compatibility dependency | | AI sprint assistant (Thor) | Less polished than standalone PM tools | **Pricing:** Free tier available. Paid plans from $12.50/user/month.

## 8. Notion: Best for Docs-First Teams ![Notion](https://vyoyxwhjtxsktvvpxdvj.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/blog_images/www.notion.com_.png) **Notion is the best GitHub Projects alternative for teams whose work centers on documentation, specs, and written processes alongside task management.** GitHub Projects has no docs at all. Notion puts tasks and docs in the same workspace. **When Notion makes more sense than GitHub Projects:** If your team writes more than it sprints — product specs, investor updates, meeting notes, internal wikis — Notion gives you task management as a database view inside the same tool where all of that writing lives. The free plan is genuinely useful for individuals. Team plans start at $10/user/month. The honest limitation: Notion's task management is not code-aware. No automation from GitHub events, no deployment tracking. If your board needs to update when you push code, Notion requires manual updates every time. **Main features:** - Kanban database views for task management - Linked databases across pages and workspaces - Collaborative docs and wikis - AI agent on Business plan for multi-step workflows - Template library for common workflows | | | |---|---| | **Pros** | **Cons** | | Tasks and docs in one place | No GitHub automation or webhook integration | | Already in most teams' stacks | Board falls behind without manual updates | | Flexible database views | No Vercel or deployment tracking | | Replaces separate docs tool | Not purpose-built for developer workflows | | Free plan useful for individuals | No sprint velocity or burndown charts | **Pricing:** Free (personal). Plus $10/user/month. Business $15/user/month.

## How to Choose the Right GitHub Projects Alternative **One question cuts through: what is GitHub Projects not doing for you?** **You want deployment visibility alongside your tasks:** AdeptDev. The only tool here that connects your Kanban board to Vercel deployment status and GitHub events in one workspace. **You need sprint planning and velocity tracking:** Linear or ZenHub. Linear is the cleaner standalone tool. ZenHub stays inside GitHub. **You want to stay inside GitHub but need more:** ZenHub. Delivers sprints, burndowns, and Epics without leaving github.com. **Your team has outgrown engineering-only tooling:** ClickUp or Notion. Both handle workflows beyond software development. **You need open source and data ownership:** Plane. Self-hosted, free, and the most feature-complete open source option here. **Your team has grown past 50 engineers with compliance needs:** Jira. The complexity is finally worth it at that scale.

## Wrap Up GitHub Projects is a good starting point. It is free, lives in GitHub, and requires no setup. But it was built for simplicity, not for teams actively shipping a product who need deployment visibility, sprint analytics, and cross-product workspace management. The right alternative depends on what you have hit first. If it is deployment tracking, AdeptDev. If it is sprint planning, Linear. If it is staying in GitHub, ZenHub. If it is team-wide adoption beyond engineering, ClickUp. If you are a web developer or founder who wants GitHub integration, Vercel deployment tracking, and analytics in one workspace, check out [AdeptDev](https://adeptdev.io). Free for 7 days.

## What is the best GitHub Projects alternative for web developers? AdeptDev is the strongest GitHub Projects alternative for web developers building their own products. GitHub Projects connects to your issues and PRs. AdeptDev adds Vercel deployment tracking and product analytics in the same workspace — so you can see build status and feature performance alongside your tasks without switching tabs. At $10/month flat it costs the same for a team of 10 as for a solo developer. ZenHub is a strong alternative if you want to stay inside GitHub and need sprint planning and burndown charts. Linear is the best standalone alternative for pure issue tracking. ## Is there a free GitHub Projects alternative? GitHub Projects itself is free and the most obvious starting point. Beyond that, Plane self-hosted is free with no user limits — the Community Edition gives you issues, sprints, epics, and Gantt charts on your own infrastructure. Linear is free up to 250 issues and 2 teams. ClickUp's free plan includes unlimited tasks and unlimited members. Notion is free for individual use. ZenHub has a free tier with basic features. AdeptDev offers a 7-day free trial with full access at $10/month after that. ## What does GitHub Projects lack compared to dedicated PM tools? GitHub Projects lacks sprint velocity tracking and burndown charts, deployment pipeline visibility, product analytics, cross-product workspace management, time tracking, and docs. It also has no concept of a deployment — when you push code and your build succeeds or fails, GitHub Projects has no way to surface that alongside your tasks. For teams actively shipping a web product who need to see deployment status, measure feature performance, and plan sprints with velocity data, these gaps are significant enough to justify a dedicated tool. ## How does ZenHub compare to GitHub Projects? ZenHub extends GitHub Projects rather than replacing it. It delivers sprint planning, velocity tracking, burndown charts, Epics, and multi-repo workspaces directly inside the GitHub interface via a browser extension. If GitHub Projects feels too basic but you do not want to leave github.com, ZenHub is the most natural upgrade path. The trade-off is the browser extension requirement — all team members need it installed to see the ZenHub layer. Teams with mixed browser environments or members who resist installing extensions may find the inconsistency frustrating. ## What is the best GitHub Projects alternative for sprint planning? Linear is the best standalone GitHub Projects alternative for sprint planning — it has cycles (sprints), backlog prioritization, velocity tracking, and roadmaps built in with a clean, fast interface. ZenHub is the best option if you want sprint planning without leaving GitHub. Shortcut is a strong middle ground: developer-focused with configurable sprint lengths and a Milestones-Epics-Stories hierarchy. Jira is the most powerful for complex multi-team sprint planning at enterprise scale, but the setup overhead is significant for smaller teams. ## Should I use GitHub Projects or Linear? GitHub Projects if you need free, have a small team, and want your task board inside GitHub without any additional tooling cost. Linear if your team needs sprint planning, velocity tracking, roadmaps, and a faster more polished interface, and you are comfortable with per-user pricing at $8/user/month. The 250-issue free tier on Linear is a real constraint for active projects — most teams hit it within weeks. If you need deployment tracking and analytics alongside task management, neither covers that gap. AdeptDev is the tool built specifically for that combined workflow. ## What GitHub Projects alternative has the best GitHub integration? ZenHub has the most native GitHub integration — it lives inside the GitHub interface itself, so issues remain GitHub issues and all project management happens on top of the same data. AdeptDev has the deepest webhook-based integration — tasks move automatically when you push code, open a PR, or close an issue, and Vercel deployment status surfaces in the same workspace. Linear has a strong native integration that links branches, commits, and PRs to issues automatically. GitHub Projects, by definition, has native integration since it is built into GitHub.