Top 7 Jira Service Management alternatives in 2026

Table of contents

Why teams are moving away from Jira Service Management
Jira Service Management vs Jira Service Desk
Jira Service Management alternatives
1. Easy Redmine
2. ClickUp
3. Asana
4. Redmine
5. Zendesk
6. ServiceNow
7. Freshservice
Why Easy Redmine stands out among Jira Service Management alternatives

TL;DR

If Jira Service Management feels bloated, expensive, or hard to manage, this guide shows 7 smarter alternatives (like Easy Redmine) that combine ITSM and project delivery in one platform, with lower costs, less admin, and built-in features you actually need.

Why teams are moving away from Jira Service Management

Looking to move away from Jira Service Management? You’re not alone. 

Many project and IT teams voice similar frustrations about JSM's limits, especially when scaling across complex IT environments or managing post-delivery service. 

You might be familiar with these pain points shared by real users:

• Unpredictable costs: Tiered features and per-agent pricing create budget uncertainty.
• Hard to set up and maintain: Admins often face steep learning curves and mounting config complexity.
• Basic reporting: Advanced insights require costly add-ons or upgrades.
• Heavy reliance on plugins: Core capabilities like automation or CMDB depend on third-party tools.
• Limited portal customisation: Brand consistency and UX control fall short.
• Poor customer visibility: Clients lack clear ticket context, hurting self-service effectiveness.
• Rigid SLA modelling: Complex scenarios are hard to set up and scale.
• Admin overhead for multi-client setups: No native multi-tenancy structure increases project clutter.
• Low intake quality: Duplicate and misrouted tickets slow down resolution.
• Immature asset/CMDB tools: Users cite limitations for complex environments.
• Performance issues: Larger setups report slow load times and lags.

Basically, you can turn all the above-mentioned frustrations into “must-have” criteria for evaluating a better solution, right?

Jira Service Management vs Jira Service Desk

Jira Service Desk was the original name for Atlassian’s support ticketing product, mainly focused on basic service desk functionalities. It has since evolved into Jira Service Management, which significantly expands the scope beyond ticketing. 

Jira Service Management incorporates broader IT Service Management and Enterprise Service Management capabilities, such as incident, change, and problem management, asset tracking, and configuration management database-style features. 

Today, when people refer to “Jira Service Desk,” they generally mean Jira Service Management, which now supports more comprehensive service workflows and IT operations.

 Jira Service Management alternatives

Take a look at a quick comparison table showing how the most common Jira Service Management alternatives stack up across key ITSM and project delivery criteria.

Comparison of key ITSM capabilities across Jira Service Management alternatives

To dive deeper into comparing Jira Service Management alternatives to find the one that suits your organisation.

1. Easy Redmine

When you search for service desk and project delivery in one place, Easy Redmine should be your choice!

Easy Redmine explicitly frames ITSM as integrated: an AI-powered Help Desk where you can create tickets from emails, organize them into projects, and keep customers informed with automated notifications. It builds on Redmine as a JSM rival, offering integrated ticketing, SLAs, email-to-ticket conversion, dashboards, alerts, and project overviews for customer support.

Easy Redmine HelpDesk interface

Its HelpDesk documentation also references connecting mailboxes and tuning dashboards via the UI. 

For knowledge, Easy Redmine documents a natively integrated Knowledge Base designed to work in synergy with collaboration and team cooperation capabilities.

Easy Redmine's HelpDesk is a relevant alternative to Jira Service Management especially for users seeking cost-effective, customizable, ITSM without JSM's scaling complexities.

Where it fits:

• Strong fit for PM-led organizations that want fewer handoffs between support work and project work.
• Compelling when you are considering replacing Jira Service Management and Jira Software as well (taking into consideration Data Center end of life). 

2. ClickUp

ClickUp can cover a Jira Service Desk–style intake flow using Forms (including IT Request Forms) that create and route tasks, plus Help Desk / IT Service Ticket templates to track, prioritize, and resolve requests.

ClickUp tickets interface

For documentation, ClickUp supports building an internal knowledge base structure in Docs alongside execution work.

Compared with Jira Service Management’s service-desk model, ClickUp is suitable when your primary goal is to convert requests into planned project tasks quickly rather than replicate full ITSM mechanics.

Where it fits:

• For organizations that want to replace a fragmented “inbox → spreadsheet → Jira project” flow with one work hub where intake becomes trackable tasks and projects immediately.
• Particularly relevant when you need request intake, documentation and execution in one platform, and you’re comfortable implementing “service desk” practices via forms, templates and automations rather than relying on a dedicated ITSM suite (incident/problem/change/CMDB).

3. Asana

Asana can cover a “lightweight service desk” pattern by using Forms to standardize incoming requests and create tasks, plus templates like Work Requests and IT Requests to help teams triage and prioritize intake. Asana is primarily suitable for managing projects and tasks rather than ITSM-native workflows.

Asana ticket dashboard interface

Where it fits:

• When the goal is to turn requests into planned project work quickly, not to replicate JSM’s full ITSM operating model.

4. Redmine

Redmine’s core strengths are PM fundamentals: multi-project support, flexible issue tracking, Gantt, wiki, and issue creation via email.

Redmine issue list interface

Where it fits:

• Good option when you need self-hosted control and can accept that ITSM features often require configuration/plugins.
• Strong for technical teams comfortable assembling their own service desk stack.

5. Zendesk

Zendesk’s positioning is classic CX: ticketing that consolidates email, messaging, phone, social, and more into one place, with automation.

Zendesk interface

For knowledge, Zendesk Guide is framed as a self-service help center to empower users and agents. Zendesk also documents SLA policies as a first-class operational control.

Where it fits:

• When your service desk is primarily customer support and you want strong omnichannel and self-service.
• ITSM depth (change/problem/CMDB) is not the core value; delivery linkage is usually via integrations.

6. ServiceNow

ServiceNow positions its ITSM capabilities as a way to automate the handling of incidents, problems, and changes at enterprise scale.

ServiceNow interface

It emphasises Knowledge Management to boost both self-service and agent productivity, while promoting its CMDB as a reliable source of truth for configuration item data and their interdependencies.

Where it fits:

• When you need deep governance, standardized workflows, and enterprise reporting.
• Typically higher implementation effort; best when process maturity is already high.

7. Freshservice

Freshservice highlights a practical ITSM bundle: incident, change, and problem management, omnichannel support, service catalog, knowledge management, SLA management, and even project management features on the same platform.

Freshservice interface

It also positions CMDB as a way to track CIs and relationships for impact-aware operations.

Where it fits:

• For organizations that want “Jira Service Management-like ITSM” without the complexity of a full enterprise suite.
• Particularly relevant when PMs want a clearer bridge from ticket work to planned work.

Why Easy Redmine stands out among Jira Service Management alternatives

Teams are moving away from Jira Service Management because rising costs, configuration complexity, and plugin dependency make it harder to scale ITSM alongside real project delivery. 

The alternatives compared here demonstrate that selecting a better fit involves turning those frustrations into clear criteria and choosing a platform that supports tickets, SLAs, knowledge, and projects together, without unnecessary overhead.

Easy Redmine replaces the entire Atlassian stack in one platform, covering service desk (via HelpDesk), documentation (thanks to Knowledge Base), assets, and project delivery, so you don’t need Jira Service Management, Confluence, or Jira Software. 

It also supports hybrid Agile and Waterfall work across IT and non-IT teams. Still hesitating?

Here’s why Easy Redmine is worth a closer look:

• All-in-one platform combining HelpDesk, ITSM, and project management
• Core features like Knowledge Base and automation are built in
• Transparent pricing, on-premise option, and native support for multi-client setups

Try Easy Redmine HelpDesk today and simplify how you support and deliver projects.