Every developer, manager, or analyst knows that sinking feeling of discovering a bug. This could be right after a release, during a review, or worse, feedback from an angry user. What starts as a minor glitch can quickly spiral into wasted hours, missed deadlines, and frustrated teams.
To avoid these issues, bug tracking software is essential. But how do you choose the best bug tracker for your workflow? Should you go open-source or invest in an enterprise solution? And what separates a good tool from one that actually makes resolving bugs more efficient?
In this blog, we’ll break down the best bug tracking tools, from lightweight options for startups to robust platforms for scaling teams.
Why trust our bug tracking software review?
Choosing the right bug tracking system is crucial, and our team is committed to providing you with the most reliable insights. As experienced software testers, we prioritize thorough research to help you make informed decisions. Our review process is transparent and structured, focusing on:
User feedback and ratings
Performance benchmarks
Feature comparisons
Pricing plans
By sharing our findings, we aim to empower you to navigate the diverse options in the bug tracking landscape with confidence.
What is bug tracking?
Bug tracking is the practice of detecting, logging, managing, and resolving issues—commonly referred to as bugs—that arise in software during development and testing. It's a fundamental part of the software development lifecycle (SDLC), playing a key role in maintaining software quality by systematically addressing problems as they appear.
Also known as defect tracking, this process involves documenting bugs and monitoring their resolution over time. As modern websites and applications grow more complex, errors become more frequent, making an organized approach to defect tracking more essential than ever.
What is bug tracking software?
Bug tracking tools—sometimes referred to as bug tracking systems or defect tracking tools—are software solutions designed to log, organize, and monitor issues that occur throughout a development project. These tools help teams to catch bugs early, prioritize fixes, and streamline the resolution process across the entire software development lifecycle.
Beyond just reporting errors, modern bug tracking platforms support complete issue lifecycle management, including bug submission, assignment, status tracking, and resolution. Many of these tools also offer built-in collaboration features and visual dashboards for real-time progress updates.
Importance of bug tracking
Software bugs are inevitable—and costly. For instance, Microsoft’s 47,000 developers reportedly generate around 30,000 bugs each month. In addition, the longer a bug goes unresolved, the more expensive it becomes to fix. IBM’s Systems Sciences Institute found that a bug fixed during implementation can cost six times more than one resolved in the design phase, and up to 100 times more if addressed during maintenance.
Bug tracking software at a glance

8 Best Bug Tracking Software in 2025
1. Lark - Best overall bug tracking collaboration platform

Lark is an all-in-one productivity platform and enterprise-grade collaboration tool built to streamline and digitize workflows. It brings together essential tools like docs, messaging, forms, slides, and calendars into a single, unified workspace that helps teams work more efficiently.
One of its standout features is Lark Base, a powerful no-code solution that lets you create a bug tracking database for easy bug reporting and tracking. It is a perfect solution for developers, quality assurance analysts, and project managers who need not just bug tracking, but also a complete platform to manage tasks and collaborate in real time.
Key features of Lark:
Bug reporting and tracking: Lark Base provides a centralized location for reporting and tracking bugs, prioritizing fixes, and monitoring progress. In addition, Base includes a free bug tracking template to help you get started reporting bugs, simplifying oversight and progress management.
Customizable views: Lark Base allows you to visualize bug tracking details in various formats, including a Gantt view that organizes bugs based on timelines, catering to your team’s preferences.
Automated workflows: Intelligent automation alerts relevant team members of issues as they arise, ensuring timely responses and quick resolutions. The bug tracking workflow can be customized to fit the specific needs of your team.
Multi-function platform: All tools within Lark work seamlessly together, enabling teams to create, manage, and release projects collaboratively without relying on third-party apps for bug tracking or project management.
Real-time collaboration: Multiple users can log, edit, and track bugs simultaneously, facilitating instant collaboration. With Lark’s messaging and video conferencing tools, teams can discuss bugs and propose solutions in real time.
Best value for money: Lark’s free plan offers full access to 11 products, including those for bug tracking and project management, making it ideal for startups, growing teams, or enterprises wanting to avoid unnecessary software costs.
Limitations of Lark
New users may need to leverage the Lark Help Center or YouTube channel to get started with advanced features.
Pricing plans
Starter: Free for 20 users
Pro: $12/user/month
Enterprise: Custom pricing
2. Jira - Best for Agile and DevOps teams

Source: Jira
Jira is well-known for its exceptional bug-tracking capabilities. It provides a comprehensive platform for capturing, tracking, and resolving bugs, making it great for Agile and DevOps software development teams and organizations. This tool is the perfect fit if you require meticulous issue tracking and management with options for workflow customization and advanced integration capabilities.
Key features of Jira
Real-time bug reports on a unified platform: Jira provides a centralized platform for detecting, recording, and resolving bugs, which allows you to assign tasks to the responsible team members. Jira’s real-time notifications will notify your team members throughout the process, from detection to resolution, ensuring everyone is on board.
Scalable and customizable workflows: Jira facilitates the creation of custom workflows for multiple types of issues. After evaluating your team’s capacity and needs, you can manage and customize workflows to track, prioritize, manage, and resolve bugs effectively and efficiently.
Automation features: Jira provides automation features that help to reduce repetitive manual tasks, which, in turn, increases efficiency and productivity. These features can automatically assign bugs to responsible personnel, refresh bug statuses, and even send progress notifications to team members.
Limitations of Jira
The learning curve may be steep for non-developers.
It can be costly for larger teams requiring extensive features.
Pricing plans
Free: $0
Standard: $7.53/user/month
Premium: $13.53/user/month
Enterprise: Custom pricing
3. ClickUp - Best for teams needing customization

Source: ClickUp
ClickUp is a versatile and comprehensive project management software that offers multiple functionalities, including task management, bug tracking, and team collaboration tools. While it is ideal for teams of all sizes across numerous industries, it is typically used by quality assurance analysts, software engineers, and any organization seeking a flexible and scalable solution for bug tracking.
Key features of ClickUp
Centralized bug tracking and reporting: ClickUp provides a streamlined platform for logging and monitoring errors or bugs during software development or project management.
Optimized collaboration: ClickUp’s collaboration tools allow your team to work on squashing different bugs simultaneously without disrupting the general workflow. This cross-functional collaboration and real-time communication helps your team deliver error-free products faster and more efficiently.
Customizable views: ClickUp offers five view options for managing and prioritizing bugs. These include the list, board, workload, form, and timeline views. Using pre-built custom fields, you can also add important details like progress percentage bars and bug statuses.
Limitations of ClickUp
Some users report lags and glitches, especially with large projects or extensive customizations.
The higher cost of premium tiers could be too expensive for small businesses compared to alternatives.
Pricing plans
Free Forever: $0
Unlimited: $7/user/month
Business Plan: $12/user/month
Enterprise Plan: Custom pricing
ClickUp Pricing: Plans, Features, and Value for Your Team
4. Bugzilla - Best free bug tracker that is open source

Source: Bugzilla
Bugzilla is a free, open-source bug tracking system with powerful and actively maintained defect management capabilities. Bugzilla was developed by Mozilla and is used by major world leaders in technology, including NASA and IBM, and would serve you best if you’re looking for a straightforward bug tool without extensive customization options.
Key features of Bugzilla
Open-source bug tracking and management: Bugzilla allows users to input, edit, track, and fix new and existing bugs with pre-built fields. You’ll be able to track any changes made on Bugzilla through email notifications.
Advanced search functionality: Bugzilla has advanced search capabilities that allow users to search for information using filters. When you search for bugs, you’ll get results in multiple formats besides the basic HTML layout, such as Atom or iCalendar.
Advanced reporting tools: Bugzilla also provides cutting-edge reporting tools, which you can use to create various types of bug tracking charts, including line graphs, bar graphs, and pie charts. The best part is that you can export these reports as CSV to view them in a spreadsheet.
Limitations of Bugzilla
Bugzilla’s low customizability could limit its flexibility and scalability.
The tool has been criticized for being unintuitive to non-technically inclined users.
Pricing plans
Bugzilla is free to use and doesn’t charge licensing fees.
5. Zoho BugTracker - Best beginner-friendly solution

Source: Zoho
Zoho BugTracker is an intuitive and beginner-friendly cloud software for businesses that provides a competent, collaborative bug tracking tool. It is renowned for its simplicity, speed, and scalability, which makes it ideal for startups and small businesses.
Key features of Zoho
Customizable bug tracking and reporting: Zoho BugTracker allows users to easily record and track bugs by creating custom views. You can choose to optimize your report view to focus on the most time-sensitive bugs, ensuring that high-priority issues are attended to promptly.
Team collaboration: Zoho enables you to use interactive modules like Forums or Discuss to check in with your team and schedule meetings. These features foster hitch-free communication and collaboration among team members while resolving bugs.
Automated processes: With Zoho’s bug tracker, you can set up automations to provide process updates. For instance, automating service level agreements (SLAs) to meet client targets guarantees that bugs are resolved within the agreed-upon timeframes.
Limitations of Zoho
Zoho may lack advanced customization options for large teams.
Storage space on the free plan is very limited.
Pricing plans
Free: $0
Standard: $3/user/month
Premium: $7/user/month
6. GitHub - Best for software teams working on open-source projects

Source: GitHub
GitHub is a web-based platform built around the open-source version control system Git. It allows developers and teams to host repositories, track issues, manage projects, and collaborate on both open-source and private code. Overall, GitHub’s built-in issue tracking, ease of use, flexibility, and integration with a wide range of developer tools makes it a convenient choice for managing bugs.
Key features of GitHub
Issue tracking: GitHub Issues allows you to manage and track bugs, new features, and tasks in one place. Issues can be broken down into sub-issues, labeled, and filtered, helping teams maintain a clear hierarchy of work. You can create issues from the repository or a line of code, and you can even convert comments into issues.
Integrated collaboration tools: GitHub supports real-time collaboration among team members by allowing them to track and discuss issues. You can assign issues to team members, set milestones, add labels, and propose and review changes in issues.
Advanced project management: GitHub Projects integrates with Issues to plan and track work on GitHub. Not only will you have access to automated and customizable workflows that simplify project and issue management, but you’ll also be able to visualize large projects as tables, boards, or roadmaps, depending on your preference.
Limitations of GitHub
The interface, while powerful, may be complicated for new GitHub users.
Lacks advanced features for complex workflow customization.
Pricing plans
Free: $0
Team: $4/user/month
Enterprise: $21/user/month
7. Asana - Best for flexibility and scalability

Source: Asana
Asana is cloud-based work management software that helps teams collaborate and communicate to plan and execute projects. It provides an intuitive bug-tracking template with ample customization options for organizing and managing bug tracking within larger project workflows. Asana is best suited for project/product managers and quality assurance teams looking for a flexible, scalable, and user-friendly bug-tracking solution.
Key features of Asana
Bug tracking template: Asana’s ready-to-use bug tracking template streamlines the process by allowing you to record and track bugs in the same place easily. You can create custom views or fields to highlight and prioritize the most time-sensitive or critical bugs, ensuring they are addressed promptly.
Automated workflows: With Asana, you can automate time-consuming or repetitive processes so your team can solve issues faster and more efficiently. For instance, you could create automation rules that assign bugs to the relevant team members and add a deadline. This makes it easier to scale and apply error-proof processes across your organization.
Proofing and collaboration: Asana features like comments and mentions allow for effective collaboration and teamwork. The platform’s proofing feature is one of its strongest collaboration tools. This tool lets stakeholders review images or attachments by leaving feedback and comments for team members.
Limitations of Asana
Asana’s interface may require a learning curve for more complex workflows.
Most key features are only available on the premium plan, which can be pricey.
Pricing plans
Personal: $0
Starter: $10.99/user/month
Advanced: $24.99/user/month
Enterprise/Enterprise +: Custom pricing
Asana Pricing Explained: Which Plan Is Right for You?
8. Trello - Best for simple bug tracking needs

Source: Trello
Trello is a project management software that offers pre-built bug tracking templates for monitoring and resolving issues. It is best for small to mid-sized teams who value simplicity in their bug tracking workflows. It has a very user-friendly interface and offers customization options in its templates to help you tailor the bug tracking solution to your project or team's needs.
Key features of Trello
Customizable bug tracking templates: Trello provides pre-built bug tracking templates, which will help your team easily log, track, prioritize, and resolve bugs. You can add custom fields and labels like "Priority" or "Date Reported" for more structured and tailored bug reporting and tracking.
Automated processes: By automating tasks and processes relating to bug tracking, you’ll be speeding up your team’s workflow. You can automate tasks like assigning bugs to appropriate team members when priorities are set or auto-filling fields like the “Date Reported” field when an issue is created.
Integrated forms for logging bugs: By integrating Trello Forms with the bug tracking template, Trello allows you to easily create a form for team members to log bugs they spot as they test the product. You can include custom fields on this form and a section for attachments so that screenshots and other data supporting the bug report can be included.
Limitations of Trello
Trello doesn’t offer advanced reporting or analytics for tracking defect trends.
Limited options for setting roles and permissions.
Pricing plans
Free: $0
Standard: $5/user/month
Premium: $10/user/month
Enterprise: $17.50/user/month
Trello pricing guide 2025: plans, features, and alternatives | Lark
How to choose the best bug tracking system
Choosing the best bug tracking system for your team doesn’t have to be complicated. Consider the following factors before making a decision:
Understand your team’s needs: Start by considering your team size, budget, technical requirements, and pain points. Are you a small startup or a larger team? Do you need basic issue tracking or a more comprehensive platform? Knowing what you need helps narrow down your options.
Look for essential features: Prioritize tools that offer automation, real-time collaboration, customizable workflows, and strong reporting capabilities. Make sure the software integrates smoothly with tools your team already uses—like GitHub, GitLab, Slack, or Zapier.
Evaluate ease of use: A clean, intuitive interface saves time and improves adoption. Look for drag-and-drop functionality, customizable dashboards, and straightforward navigation. Test free trials or free plans to get a feel for the user experience before committing.
Consider scalability and flexibility: Choose a tool that can grow with your team and adapt to evolving workflows. Whether you're handling a single project or scaling up to many, the software should perform reliably as your needs expand.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best open-source bug tracking software?
Based on our testing, Bugzilla stands out as the best open-source bug tracker thanks to its stability, advanced search capabilities, and robust customization options. That said, MantisBT and Redmine are also strong alternatives, especially if your team prefers a simpler UI or built-in project management features. The best choice ultimately depends on your team’s technical requirements and workflow preferences.
What is the best bug tracking system for small businesses?
All of the tools we recommend in our blog offer free plans, but some come with feature or user limitations. If you're looking for a powerful, free, and scalable option, we recommend Lark. Its free plan supports up to 20 users and includes 11 integrated products—from bug tracking and project management to instant messaging, document creation, and shared calendars. This all-in-one solution helps small teams stay organized and collaborative without relying on multiple third-party tools.
Conclusion
Bug tracking software is essential for delivering reliable, high-quality products, apps, and services. These tools simplify the process of logging, tracking, and resolving bugs—ensuring issues are caught early and resolved quickly.
For Agile or DevOps teams, Jira is a strong choice. Prefer open-source? Go with Bugzilla. But if you want more than just defect tracking, Lark offers an all-in-one platform with built-in messaging, file sharing, project management, and real-time collaboration—all in one place.
Ready to simplify your bug tracking? Try Lark for free and see how faster, smarter teamwork starts here.