Top 11 Bug Tracking Tools

We often discuss how defect tracking is necessary for the software development life cycle and how important it is to write a good bug report… 🐞 But why is bug tracking so important? Are there bug tracking tools that can help us? 🤔

Bug tracking is important for any successful execution of projects. It streamlines the flow of the project and makes the entire execution smoother. Bug tracking systems track issue until they get fixed from the development side, and as a result, help in software quality analysis as well as save the costs of eliminating bugs in production software. I would recommend first to explore this article I wrote and learn more about some essential factors for writing a good bug report, making sure we deliver high-quality reports back to our developers. Next up, we want to learn which tool would be best for tracking all of these bugs, right?

Well, there are plenty of bug tracking tools out there in the market. In this article, I will list top 10 bug tracking tools, both commercial and also open source. Depending on your project requirements, and the pros and cons I’ll be elaborating on below, you can get a better sense of which one would be best for you.

Bugzilla
Mantis
Jira
Zoho Bug Tracker
Backlog
Monday
ReQtest
BugHerd
zipBoard
nTask
Bugasura
Conclusions

Bugzilla

Bugzilla is an open-source bug tracking tool. It was originally developed by Mozilla in 1998. As it is open-source, it does not require any license. It is developed in Perl and runs on a MYSQL server.
The most important feature of Bugzilla is that it is easy to use.

Pros

It’s an Open source tool.
It’s great for organizing defect tracking and management.
It also supports managing multi-project level defect tracking, email notification, etc.

Cons

The user interface needs to be more interactive.
Customizing the dashboard according to users’ preference is a bit difficult.
Reporting and filtering area can be more improved.

Bottom line: If you are looking for an easy bug tracking tool then Bugzilla is a feasible option. Another interesting feature of Bugzilla is that it can be linked to other testing tools like Jira, QC or ALM, etc.

Mantis

It is widely known as MantisBT or Mantis. Mantis was originally developed in 2000 for project management and bug tracking purpose. It’s open-source software. It is written in PHP. One of the interesting features of Mantis is that it has an integration with Twitter via a plugin, to send notifications to be tweeted when an issue is resolved. That’s really cool!

Pros

Tracking of daily tasks is easier in Mantis.
Access controls are easy to give.
Customization is easily available in Mantis.

Cons

The user interface needs some improvement.
Bulk data uploading in mantis is sometimes a bit tricky.

Bottom line: Another free and great tool if you do not care much about the user interface and want to track/log bugs efficiently on a daily basis.

Jira

Jira is one of the most widely used tools used for Project Management, Bug Tracking, Issue Tracking, and Workflow. Jira is developed by the software company Atlassian, initially released in 2002. It is a commercial tool and available as a trial version for a limited time.

Pros

Easy to use.
Proper tracking of project and bug.
It provides great visibility for all user stories/features.
Jira provides high customization.
It works remotely on mobile very efficiently.
Jira can also personalize workflows as per requirements.

Cons

Jira is considered an expensive tool.
It does not support many collaboration features.
Jira Setups may require assistance.

Bottom line: Jira is one of the most popular tools for agile methodologies and larger projects, it’s also great for whole project management purposes if you have the budget to go with it.

Zoho Bug tracker

Zoho Bug Tracker is another issue tracking software which helps developers and testers for tracking issues. Zoho comes up with many great features, Issue Tracker module of Zoho helps in submitting, tracking, and fixing issues for which software projects are bound to generate.

Pros

Easy for assigning issues, tracking multiple projects, it has a unique feature to jump in between identical screens of a project.
Great in customization workflow.
It can be integrated with Github and Bitbucket.

Cons

It has often service outages.
The time tracking is not the smoothest.
The Mobile version is almost unusable.
Zoho comes in a free and paid version.

Bottom line: Zoho Projects has a set of features for project management, task, and time tracking which in general all bug trackers have. It is easier for a small organization just as few users who can use the basic free version and does not have complex projects.

Backlog

Backlog is yet another bug tracking tool available in the market and is useful in all aspects of the software development life cycle, such as tracking and managing bugs. Backlog is useful all the way from planning, maintenance and bug tracking. Backlog comes in the free and paid version.

Pros

The configuration is easy.
Easier project and bug tracking.

Cons

User Interface is a bit sluggish.
Mobile app is not much developed hence it is not easy to use.
Creates sometimes issues while uploading attachments.

Bottom line: Pricing can be very high for small teams and departments of short term contracts. But if you have very few users then you are good to go with Backlog.

Monday

Monday was originally developed in 2012 providing a project management tool as well as a bug tracking platform for all agile projects. It comes up with features such as filtering & prioritizing the bugs, customizing your workflow, issuing tags for identifying the weak spots, and team communication. Monday also provides a free trial for unlimited users.

Pros

It comes up with great organization as who is working on what in one place, hence it makes it easier to track workflows.
It has a great user interface and flexibility.

Cons

The basic plan lacks sharing functionality.
Learning Monday.com can be a bit challenging as a first time user.

Bottom line: Monday.com is as fascinating as Monday 😉 with great visuals, integrations, and great facilities! That being said, it is considered an expensive tool. You may get similar facilities with other tools available in the market.

ReQtest

ReQtest is a cloud-based bug tracking software. It includes some unique features such as a dedicated bug module to report bugs, importing the bug reports from a CSV file, Tracking the progress of bug tracking initiatives with reports, etc. ReQtest also comes in a desktop app for capturing bugs with video or images and upload them to ReQtest. Another interesting feature is that we can integrate Jira projects with ReQtest projects using a Jira add-on if required.

Pros

The User Interface is fresh and it has a great look and feel.
It’s easy to use and customize.

Cons

The dashboard of the application can be improved for the analysis of releasing wise tracking of reports, bugs, etc.
The price model for ReQtest is expensive if you have many active users.

Bottom line: Another good tool for agile methodologies and powerful tracking purposes if budget is not a concern for your organization.

BugHerd

BugHerd is a web-based bug tracking tool, developed in 2000. BugHerd has the easiest way to track bugs and gather and manage feedback for web pages. It has also unique features such as
capturing the information you need to replicate and resolve bugs, such as the browser, CSS selector data, operating system, and even screenshots. BugHerd can also integrate with your existing project management tools to keep the team on the same page if required.

Pros

Captures screenshots, browser details, device details, screen size details, and user comments.
It is easier in managing the list of bugs, assign it to a developer with due date and priority.

Cons

The overall workflow can be improved.
Mobile device configuration also needs improvement.

Bottom line: BugHerd is a great tool that comes with amazing 14 days free trial so that users can check if it suits as per requirement or not. It comes up with excellent web app support as the mobile version is not available for BugHerd.

zipBoard

zipBoard is a web-based visual bug tracking tool. It was developed with an aim to improve remote collaboration by letting team members, clients, and guest reviewers communicate visually. Its visual review features, task manager, and Kanban board has helped a lot of eLearning organizations in improving their QA processes drastically.

Pros

Gets visual feedback – annotations and screen recording, from everyone at one place.
Very easy to convert received reviews into actionable tasks, set priority and assign it to developers.
A user can review multiple types of content – websites/URLs, PDFs, images, videos, eLearning courses.
Add unlimited collaborators, clients and reviewers.
Can be integrated with Jira, Slack, Wrike, Microsoft Teams.
Easy to use – specially for non-technical stakeholders to share feedback and for bug tracking.

Cons

Not a lot of integrations available as the application is fairly new.

Bottom line: zipBoard is one of the simplest visual bug-tracking tools on the internet with a few other features. It definitely will make your team collaboration more systematic and simple by allowing you to share feedback and reviews in real-time. Great tool if you need to collect feedback quickly and in detail while working remotely.

nTask

nTask is an online issue management and bug tracking tools used by development, QA testing, product and agile teams. The app enables users to log, prioritize, classify, plan and share issues with the whole team for free. Now, users can create customized fields in the issue module for more personalized experience for each industry.

Pros

Easy to use and seamless collaboration with teams.
Issue tracking with complete project management features.
Integration with other third party tools.
Issue tracking is a free feature of nTask.

Cons

Advanced reporting is not available at the time.
No desktop app. Only used online.

Bottom line: nTask is one of the most affordable project management and issue tracking software solution available in the market. Many useful features are for free and the upgraded version starts at $2.99 per month.

Bugasura

Bugasura is a simple, fast, collaborative bug reporting and management platform for modern teams. Bugasura’s reporting tool for mobile and web apps makes it easy for QA, devs, designers and product teams to pinpoint issues visually and close them faster. For those who want Jira but need a faster interface, Bugasura is integrated with it and does a great job.

Pros

Teamwork and collaboration savvy.
Slack integration.
Jira integration (Listed in Atlassian Marketplace).
Super fast bug reporting, tracking and closure.
Automated nudges.
Fast filters.
Easy to configure.
Affordable.

Cons

Mobile Reporter only available on Android.
Needs integration with project management tools such as Asana or Trello.

Bottom Line: Bugasura helps a team setup and start reporting in minutes. Gives super control to everyone from admin to reporter to tracker. It does it fast and with necessary integrations. Bugasura is the way to speed up your Jira usage or have a lightweight tool that does heavy lifting.

Conclusions

If your company needs a tool for defect tracking and you are not sure which would be the best option for your needs, I would suggest initially going with an open-source defect management/bug tracking system, and later on, you can always upgrade to another version or tool if it works out for you.

Of course, there are many other bug tracking tools available in the market (some companies even create their own customized bug tracking tools). In the end, it all depends on your organization and which type suits your project requirements.

Which tool do you use? What are its benefits? Let us know in the comments. Happy Testing 🙂

Top 11 Bug Tracking Tools – Which One Should You Use?