Project and issue tracking: what users struggle with, 2026
131 sourced reports about 4 project and issue tracking products, gathered from public posts and linked to where each was said. The most-discussed problem area is UI & usability (118 items across the category). 49 items, across all dates, describe leaving one of these tools.
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The category at a glance
| Product | Reports | Themes | Source threads | Most-discussed area |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jira | 72 | 53 | 154 | UI & usability |
| ClickUp | 24 | 12 | 30 | Performance |
| Plane | 19 | 19 | 62 | Customization |
| Asana | 16 | 16 | 92 | UI & usability |
Problem areas, ranked by number of items
Items of every date, including older ones outside the recent window the report counts above use.
| Area | Items | Jira | ClickUp | Plane | Asana |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UI & usability | 118 | 64 | 11 | 6 | 37 |
| Performance | 72 | 31 | 15 | 1 | 25 |
| Customization | 34 | 17 | 0 | 6 | 11 |
| Integrations | 33 | 16 | 1 | 4 | 12 |
| Reliability & bugs | 26 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 4 |
| Pricing & plans | 19 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Reporting & analytics | 14 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Collaboration | 13 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
Read the products
- Jira problems and requests · Jira alternatives
- ClickUp problems and requests · ClickUp alternatives
- Plane problems and requests · Plane alternatives
- Asana problems and requests · Asana alternatives
Side by side
Method and limits
Reports come from public Hacker News comments and public issues of vendors' open-source repositories; each was extracted into a structured item, and each links to its source. A report counts once per product, however many people agreed. Open-source and developer-facing products are over-represented because that is where public discussion happens; counts show how much is said, not which tool is better. Full method and sources.
Cite as: Friction, “Project and issue tracking: what users struggle with, 2026”, https://friction.grain64.com/state-of/project-and-issue-tracking/, data as of 2026-10-15.