The open-source Jira alternative you host yourself
It's a Plan is a free, open-source Jira alternative that runs on your own server: issues, boards, cycles, initiatives, dashboards and AI agents, under AGPL-3.0. Jira bills every user, and Atlassian no longer sells its self-managed Data Center edition to new customers. Here the open edition costs nothing at any headcount, and Pro is $240 a year for one domain, with any number of people.
- Licence
- AGPL-3.0, open source. Jira is proprietary.
- Hosting
- Your own server. Jira Data Center ends in March 2029.
- Pricing
- Free, or $240 a year for Pro. Jira bills per user.
- AI agents
- Runs bill to your own model key, not to Rovo credits.
Why teams look for a Jira alternative
Jira is the default tracker for many teams. These four reasons make them look at other products.
Self-hosting has an end date
Atlassian ended support for Jira Server on 15 February 2024. Data Center, the self-managed edition that is left, is not sold to new customers since 30 March 2026. Existing customers can expand it until 30 March 2028, and it reaches end of life on 28 March 2029.
Every user adds to the bill
Jira Free stops at 10 users. Above that, every person is billed. Standard costs $950 a year for 10 people and $18,000 a year for 200, billed yearly. Premium costs about twice as much.
Single sign-on is a separate purchase
SSO and SCIM provisioning need an Atlassian Guard Standard subscription on the Free, Standard and Premium plans. Only Enterprise, from 801 users, includes it.
AI runs on metered credits
Rovo is in every paid plan, with a monthly allowance of credits per user: 25 on Standard, 70 on Premium and 150 on Enterprise. It runs in Atlassian's cloud.
It's a Plan vs Jira
| It's a Plan | Jira | |
|---|---|---|
| Licence | Yes. AGPL-3.0. The full source is public. | No. Proprietary. Atlassian does not publish the source. |
| Hosting | Yes. Self-hosted with Docker Compose, Railway, Coolify or a Helm chart, on your server and your PostgreSQL. | No. Jira Cloud, run by Atlassian. Data Center, the self-managed edition, is not sold to new customers since 30 March 2026 and reaches end of life on 28 March 2029. |
| Pricing | Yes. Free. No licence fee, no per-seat cost. Pro is $240 a year for one domain. | No. Per user. Free up to 10 users. Standard is $950 and Premium $1,950 a year for 10 people, billed yearly. Enterprise starts at 801 users and is priced on request. |
| Free plan | Yes. Every feature of the open edition, with no limit on people or projects. | In part. 10 users, 2 GB of storage, 100 emails a day and 150 automation steps a month. |
| AI | Yes. Agents are project members. Delegate an issue to one, mention it in a comment, or give it a schedule. You bring the model and the key. | Yes. Rovo Search, Chat and Agents on the paid plans, with a monthly allowance of Rovo credits per user. |
| MCP | Yes. Part of the API, served from your own instance at /mcp, with over 200 tools. | Yes. The Rovo MCP Server, hosted by Atlassian for its cloud products. |
| API | Yes. REST, with an OpenAPI reference, plus webhooks. | Yes. REST, plus webhooks. |
| Sign-in | Yes. Password, magic link, passkey, Google, or single sign-on with any OIDC provider. SCIM 2.0 provisioning included. SAML in Pro. | In part. SSO and SCIM need an Atlassian Guard Standard subscription on every plan below Enterprise. |
| Views | Yes. Board, table, timeline and calendar, with saved filters. | Yes. Backlog, list, board, timeline, calendar and summary. |
| Automation | In part. Agent schedules on a timer or a state change, and quick actions. There is no rule builder. | Yes. A rule builder. 150 steps a month on Free, and 400 steps per user a month on Standard, 750 on Premium. |
| Importers | In part. From Linear and Plane, in the project settings. An agent imports a CSV or XLSX file, such as a Jira export. A Jira importer is coming soon. | Yes. CSV and JSON files, and direct import from Trello, Asana, ClickUp and monday.com. |
| Where the data sits | Yes. In your database. Agents send issue text only to the model you picked. An anonymous usage report goes out once a day, unless you turn it off. | No. In Atlassian's cloud. Standard and the plans above it let you pick a data residency region. |
Checked against Jira's own pages on 26 October 2026. Sources: Jira pricing, Server end of support, Rovo MCP Server, Jira import from CSV.
Can you self-host Jira?
Only until 2029. Atlassian ended support for Jira Server on 15 February 2024. Jira Data Center, the self-managed edition, is not sold to new customers since 30 March 2026 and reaches end of life on 28 March 2029. On that date the subscriptions expire and Jira becomes read-only. To keep working in Jira, a team moves to Atlassian's cloud. A team that has to keep its tracker on its own servers needs a different product. It's a Plan runs on your server with Docker Compose or Kubernetes, with no licence fee. Jira Data Center end of life: dates and options.
Is Jira open source?
No. Jira is proprietary software, and Atlassian does not publish its source code. Open-source issue trackers include It's a Plan (AGPL-3.0), the Plane Community Edition (AGPL-3.0), OpenProject (GPL-3.0), Taiga (MPL-2.0) and Redmine (GPL-2.0).
What you get
One open edition, at any headcount. Each part has its own page.
Board, table, timeline, calendar
Four views over the same issues, with saved filters.
AI agents
Agents are project members with their own @username. Delegate an issue, mention one in a comment, or give it a schedule.
Initiatives
Group issues under one goal, with progress and a target date.
Dashboards
Throughput, burnup with a projected end date, and breakdowns by state, priority, type and assignee, from live data.
Cycles and custom fields
Plan work in cycles. Shape issues with your own types, fields, labels and estimates.
Roles and permissions
Custom roles per team, picked for each member of a project. Single sign-on over OIDC and SCIM provisioning in the free edition.
REST API and MCP
Over 200 API routes are also MCP tools, with the permissions of the API key.
Deploy in minutes
Railway runs the published images and generates every secret. On your own server, one compose command starts PostgreSQL, the object store and the four services.
Moving from Jira
A Jira importer is coming soon. Until then, an agent imports the CSV export of your issues. Linear and Plane projects already import from the project settings.
01
Export from Jira
Export the issues of a project to a CSV file from the issue search, or read them with the Jira REST API.
02
Set up the project
Create the project and match it to your Jira workflow: a column for each status, then issue types, labels and custom fields.
03
Load the issues
Attach the CSV in a chat with an agent that has the file import tool. It maps the columns to title, description, priority, due date, labels and assignee, and creates the issues after you confirm the preview. Comments move through the REST API.
04
Bring the team
Invite people by email, or let your identity provider sign them in over OIDC and create their accounts over SCIM.
What the same team costs a year
Jira bills per user, yearly. A self-hosted install bills nothing per user, at any headcount.
| Team | Jira Standard | Jira Premium | It's a Plan | It's a Plan Pro |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 people | $950 | $1,950 | $0 | $240 |
| 50 people | $4,850 | $9,800 | $0 | $240 |
| 200 people | $18,000 | $34,500 | $0 | $240 |
Jira prices as atlassian.com lists them for yearly billing on 26 October 2026. Jira Free stops at 10 users. Below Enterprise, SSO and SCIM need an Atlassian Guard subscription on top. The open edition of It's a Plan has no licence fee: you pay only for the server, and agent runs bill to your own provider key. Pro is $240 a year or $24 a month for one domain, with any number of people.
When to stay on Jira, and when to switch
Stay on Jira
- You want Atlassian to run the tracker, patch it and make the backups.
- You depend on Marketplace apps, or on Jira Service Management and Confluence beside it.
- You build automation with a rule builder. Here automation runs through agents and schedules.
- You need years of Jira history imported in one step today. The Jira importer is coming soon.
Move to It's a Plan
- The tracker has to stay on your own servers after Data Center ends in 2029.
- Headcount should not change what the tracker costs.
- You want single sign-on and SCIM without a separate subscription.
- You want agents that work on issues like teammates, on a model and key you pick.
- You want the API and the MCP server inside your own network.
- You want to read and change the code behind your tracker.
Jira alternative FAQ
Is there a free alternative to Jira?
Yes. It's a Plan is free and open source under AGPL-3.0, with no limit on people or projects. You pay only for the server it runs on. Jira Free covers up to 10 users, 2 GB of storage and 100 emails a day.
What is the best self-hosted Jira alternative?
It depends on the team. For software teams that want issues, boards, cycles and AI agents on their own server, It's a Plan. For classic project management with Gantt charts and time tracking, OpenProject. For Scrum with sprints and burndown charts, Taiga. For a long-lived bug tracker with many plugins, Redmine.
How much does Jira cost for 50 users?
$4,850 a year on Standard and $9,800 a year on Premium, billed yearly, as atlassian.com lists them on 26 October 2026. SSO and SCIM add an Atlassian Guard subscription. It's a Plan costs nothing for 50 people, or $240 a year with Pro.
Can I move my Jira issues to It's a Plan?
Yes. A Jira importer is coming soon. Until then, export the issues from Jira to a CSV file and attach it in a chat with an agent. The agent maps the columns to issue fields, and the issues are created after you confirm the preview. Comments move through the It's a Plan REST API with a short script. Linear and Plane projects already have a built-in import.
Does it have AI like Jira Rovo?
Yes, in a different shape. Rovo is part of the Jira paid plans and runs on monthly Rovo credits per user. In It's a Plan an agent is a project member with its own @username. Delegate an issue to it, mention it in a comment, or give it a schedule. Internal agents run on your instance, on a key from any of 150+ providers or a local model. External agents run on your own machine through Claude Code, Codex, Antigravity, Copilot CLI or opencode.
What do I need to run it?
Docker and a domain behind a TLS-terminating reverse proxy. Clone the repo and run docker compose up. It starts PostgreSQL, the object store and the four services, and applies the migrations on start. There is also a one-click deploy for Railway, a ready compose file for Coolify, and a Helm chart for Kubernetes.
Start planning on your own terms
Self-host it today and have your team tracking work by tonight.
Or deploy to Railway in one clickAGPL-3.0 · No per-seat fees · Use your own AI key or subscription