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QA Wolf is a simple, fast, and free end-to-end testing tool, fully optimized for the entire team. With QA Wolf, users can create tests right in their browser and collaborate with their team in real-time. Testers can invite team members to their testing das...Read more about QA Wolf
Zoho Sprints is a cloud-based product roadmap solution for businesses of all sizes. The solution is designed to be used by agile teams and offers features such as user dashboards, reporting, scrum boards, timers and timesheets. Zoho Sprints can also be acc...Read more about Zoho Sprints
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BugHerd is the world's leading website feedback and bug tracking tool. It's the go-to tool for web developers, project managers, designers and QA teams who need a simple way to collect and manage feedback on websites and digital projects. - 30% faster w...Read more about BugHerd
Instabug is a hybrid in-app feedback and bug tracking solution that provides businesses functionalities for beta testing, user engagement and crash reporting. Users are provided with customizable software developer kits (SDKs) to set up the solution. ...Read more about Instabug
Formerly known as Jira Service Desk, Jira Service Management is an IT service management solution that unlocks high-velocity teams. IT is in the midst of rapid transformation to build capabilities that enable quick delivery of great services while managi...Read more about JIRA Service Management
GitHub is a project management and code sharing platform that allows users to share their codes with others and create/iterate using collective intelligence. The software can be used for different kinds of coding assignments including personal, open-source...Read more about GitHub
LambdaTest is a cloud-based testing solution that helps development teams in organizations to manage their software testing and patch release processes. Key features include live browser testing, resolution display testing and multiple browser support. ...Read more about LambdaTest
ClickUp is a cloud-based collaboration and project management tool suitable for businesses of all sizes and industries. Features include communication and collaboration tools, task assignments and statuses, alerts and a task toolbar. Users can assign comm...Read more about ClickUp
Ensure customers find your most valuable digital content with 24/7 website monitoring from ContentKing, now part of the #1 enterprise organic marketing platform from Conductor. Website changes happen, and they happen fast. That’s where ContentKing for C...Read more about ContentKing
CaseCamp by DevelopScripts is a cloud-based project management solution designed for businesses of all sizes. The product caters to both in-house as well as outsourced IT development teams. It offers resource management, budgeting, project roadmaps, time t...Read more about CaseCamp
Bordio is a new project management solution designed to optimize team productivity and streamline project workflows. Here you can create projects, schedule tasks, and collaborate with team members and external partners. The unique feature of Bordio is a w...Read more about Bordio
GoodDay is a cloud-based project management solution that caters to businesses of all sizes across various industries. Features include idea management, resource management, milestone tracking, Kanban boards, Gantt charts and more. GoodDay’s business inte...Read more about GoodDay
BrowserStack is the leading test platform built for developers & QAs to expand test coverage, scale, and optimize testing. BrowserStack is used by teams and organizations of all sizes - whether testing manually, starting test automation, or scaling automat...Read more about BrowserStack
Userback is a powerful user feedback and bug-tracking tool designed to help product teams collect more feedback and act on it faster. Whether you're a software developer, product manager, or designer, Userback provides a seamless way to gather and manage ...Read more about Userback
Smartlook is a cloud- and mobile-based quantitative analytics solution that helps businesses of all sizes with user behavior and insights. Smartlook answers the ‘what’ and ‘why’ behind every user action. Primary features of the software include...Read more about Smartlook
BugTracker by Zoho is a cloud-based bug-tracking solution designed for businesses of all sizes. Key features include bug automating, bug viewing, file sharing, bugs dashboard, forums, time tracking and user administration. BugTracker allows managers to re...Read more about Zoho BugTracker
Marker is a visual feedback and bug reporting tool. Marker is designed for software teams that want an easy way to capture and share visual feedback. Marker allows users to take screenshots and annotate them with comments, suggestions or bug reports. Ann...Read more about Marker
Shortcut is a cloud-based project management platform that helps small to large enterprises manage tasks and streamline communication between team members. It enables users to create stories that comprise of features, bugs or chores, and add attachments or...Read more about Shortcut
Shake is a bug tracking and reporting solution that enables development and QC teams to handle issues across mobile applications that supports Android, iOS, Flutter, and React Native. Each bug report arrives already pre-filled with a ton of useful data p...Read more about Shake
Feedbucket is an easy-to-use website feedback and bug-reporting tool. Get more effective feedback and bug-reporting process for all web development and design projects. Using the Feedbucket tool a user can send annotated screenshots and screens recordings ...Read more about Feedbucket
Sentry is an application monitoring platform that helps developers monitor and fix crashes in real time. Sentry caters to engineering teams across various industries, including e-commerce, gaming, and mobile applications. Sentry offers several key feature...Read more about Sentry
Usersnap is a user feedback platform to capture, organize, respond, and scale user insights for agile product testing and instant feature validation. Companies such as Red Hat, Erste Bank, Lego, Harvard University partner with Usersnap to excel in their ...Read more about Usersnap
HelpSpace, a German startup founded in 2020, offers helpdesk support for small to medium-sized businesses. Its goal is to provide an aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly platform that is easy to use and efficient. Features of HelpSpace include: TICKE...Read more about HelpSpace
Popular Comparisons
Your Guide to Top Bug Tracking Software, November 2023
Software Advice uses reviews from real software users to highlight the top-rated Bug Tracking products in North America.
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“Usability” includes user ratings for Functionality and Ease of Use.
“Customer Satisfaction” includes user ratings for Customer Support, Likelihood to Recommend and Value for Money.
Reviews analysis period: The reviews analysis period spans two years and ends the 15th of the month prior to publication.
Buyers Guide
This detailed guide will help you find and buy the right bug tracking software for you and your business.
Last Updated on January 27, 2025Bug tracking software allows teams to track and resolve bugs that arise during a project. These systems help centralize and standardize issue management processes. They are most often used for software and web development projects.
This guide will help you understand the role of bug tracking tools within the larger project management market, so you can make a more informed purchase. We'll cover:
What Is Bug Tracking Software?
Common Features of Bug Tracking Software
Benefits of Bug Tracking Software
Key Considerations for Bug Tracking Software Buyers
What Is Bug Tracking Software?
Similar in function to task tracking solutions, bug trackers are specifically designed to separate bugs from regular project tasks and prioritize them appropriately. Capabilities vary, but these systems typically follow these steps:
Bug Tracking Process
Submit: Work order is created by a project team member, or through an IT ticketing system or emailed service request from a customer or end user.
Process: Bug is assigned to a team member, prioritized by importance and labeled according to status, e.g., ''new'' or ''reopened.'' The system classifies the bug, e.g., ''security'' or ''user interface.''
Track: Employee tries to resolve the problem and provides frequent status updates, e.g., ''blocked,'' ''testing'' or ''reviewing.''
Report: Bug tracking systems can offer valuable information about issues, how quickly they're resolved and more. These insights help in planning future projects.
Common Features of Bug Tracking Software
Common capabilities of bug tracking systems include:
Custom fields | Ability to customize fields, views and workflows to your team and business needs.E.g., add a corresponding customer ID number to bugs submitted by customers. |
Time tracking | Tracks time to resolution: how long the bug has been open, if it's past due, percent complete, etc. |
Collaboration tools | Upload files to tickets, post comments and receive email or in-app notifications. Some platforms include interactive discussion forums with similar collaborative capabilities. |
Dashboard | View individual or team dashboards to monitor status and progress of open bugs. Some platforms include an activity stream or notification center on the dashboard. |
Reporting and analytics | Track progress of open bugs and milestones reached. Visualize and document trends regarding the quantity, severity and category of bugs, team productivity and more. |
Knowledge base | Centralized repository of solved and unsolved bugs with notes about resolutions etc. that teams can refer to, learn from and add to. |
Integration with code repositories | Connect code repositories (e.g, Git or SVN) to bug tracking software so source code updates from the repository are automatically reflected in the bug tracker. |
The Vendor Landscape
Bug tracking software is available in both on-premise or cloud-based solutions. Typically, bug tracking can be purchased in one of the following ways:
Offered in suite,as one application included as part of a comprehensive project management (PM) system. Purchasing a PM platform that includes issue management helps ensure that bug tracking is fully integrated with other key project management processes, such as scheduling resources and project tracking. This integrated environment allows data to transfer seamlessly between applications, increasing visibility and keeping everyone on the same page. Some examples are:
Best-of-breed, or stand-alone. A business may choose to purchase bug tracking best-of-breed for several reasons. For example, their current PM platform may not offer bug tracking—or, perhaps it does, but doesn’t have all the features their team needs. Businesses purchasing best-of-breed solutions should first ensure the bug tracker integrates with the other software systems their team uses: Namely, their PM platform, but also their code repository or communication tools, such as Slack. Examples of this include:
SprintGround
Additionally, because bug tracking tools are critical for software development teams—who typically use agile project management methods—it is commonly included with Scrum and Kanban project management solutions. For example:
Benefits of Bug Tracking Software
Bug tracking software provides teams with several benefits, such as:
Improved organization: Work order requests and resolution strategies are centralized and automated, adding structure to team workflows and standardizing bug management strategies.
Increased productivity: Assignments and progress toward resolution are displayed on dashboards, making it obvious if someone falls behind or if bottlenecks occur. Users know what bugs they are responsible for, and the priority and due date. This helps increase project efficiency and improve performance.
Useful insights: Reports and analytics help create permanent project and issue management records that can influence future business decisions.
Key Considerations for Bug Tracking Software Buyers
Here are the top things to keep in mind when choosing a bug tracking solution:
Powerful yet simple workflow. Workflow management is an important functionality of bug tracking software. An effective system will help you catch issues early and offer resolutions faster. To gauge the efficiency of the workflow, check how it helps you do the following tasks:
Capture and report. The system should allow you to raise tickets, ask questions, discuss issues and share ideas on a centralized platform.
Prioritize and assign. There could be a number of issues at one time. The solution you choose should help you create priority lists and assign the most important tasks first.
Resolve and review. Workflows should be designed to help you push issues toward resolution. Additionally, an effective review system should be in place, which allows you to catch any bugs that may have slipped through the cracks.
Ease-of-use. An efficient bug tracking solution is one that can be used with little to no special training. A simple dashboard with a drag-and-drop workflow helps employees—even those without any technical knowledge—create tickets and track their status. On the other hand, a cumbersome solution with functionalities that demand technical expertise of its users can be a tremendous strain on your company’s time.
Open source or paid software. There are many free, open source software solutions available, but they come with certain limitations. For instance, you must host the software on internal servers and manage its maintenance. This is not much of an issue for small businesses, but as your business grows, you need a solution that automates the tracking of thousands of tickets. At that level, you need a flexible solution that can be customized to your needs and offers back-end support.