When it comes to project management platforms designed for software developers, Jira is the name you’ve likely heard of. But over the years, they’ve added tons of new features and capabilities that have pushed it far beyond a simple Agile bug-tracking tool.
Aha! Has been around since 2013, but it seems to be less well-known. This unique roadmapping platform offers many unique features for software developers who need to create and deliver complex products.
These are two powerful platforms, but which one is right for your business?
Below, we’ll explain the current state of both Aha! vs. Jira along with their features, benefits, and drawbacks. Then you can decide for yourself which is best for your team.
What Is Aha!?
Aha! began as an idea by cofounders Brian de Haaff and Dr. Chris Waters in 2013. Since then, it has become a unique project management tool designed to fill a specific niche that some other tools simply can’t.
Aha! is designed to work best in situations where products and planning intertwine. Product roadmapping, delivery, and improvement are all at the core of what Aha! is designed to do.
Aha! was mostly designed around software development and delivery, but it can be used for any product where teams need to collaborate and deliver a product within a given timeframe.
The core of Aha! is based on product roadmapping. Other project management tools offer roadmapping, but Aha! puts this front and center instead of the usual task management most other tools focus on.
Aha! also has managed tools for gathering customer feedback to help inform product changes and determine market demand. Other project management platforms offer simple forms, but Aha! adds voting and other unique features to help set itself apart.
Due to some of its unique features and customization, Aha! can have a steep learning curve for those coming from other task-oriented project management platforms. But once mastered, it does provide a unique way of creating roadmaps that many other tools don’t offer.
That level of complexity also means that Aha! is much better for larger or more mature teams that understand exactly what their workflow and focus are. Smaller teams or those teams still figuring out their workflow may not get the benefits that Aha! promises.
For those teams, simpler and less expensive tools will likely benefit them more.
Aha! Features
Aha! comes with many high-level product roadmapping tools and a few features unique enough that they can cross boundaries into new territory.
Product Roadmapping
The core feature of Aha! is its product roadmapping, and all of its features plug into that. You can build roadmaps from scratch or choose from premade templates for various product categories and industries.
Roadmaps created in Aha! have nice visual elements and they are clear and easy to read. Aha! can also create presentations from your roadmap and the presentations are updated in real-time.
These presentations can also be modified to only share the data needed for a specific audience. So different teams, investors, and customers, can all get a different view.
This feature can definitely save time for those project managers who have to manually create different presentations or reports regularly.
The roadmap is also highly customizable. Most new users will likely begin with a template. But you can create one from scratch if you prefer. The number of options can be a bit overwhelming at first, but the drag-and-drop interface does a good job of keeping things as simple as possible.
Overall, it’s one of the more customizable roadmapping tools out there, but it does have a learning curve if you want to take advantage of everything it has to offer.
Aha! Ideas
Aha! has a module they call Ideas, this is for customer feedback and strategizing improvement initiatives for the product. Other platforms such as Airtable or Monday have integrated forms, but with Aha!, the forms are more sophisticated.
Forms can be dynamic and they can also be integrated with popular CRMs such as Salesforce. Different ideas and suggestions also have a built-in voting method. Think of it like an upvote on Reddit or a “Thumbs Up” on YouTube. Voting can be used to find out what ideas are most popular.
Polls and forms can also be integrated with the app you are creating to allow customers to access them more easily. This makes for higher compliance when seeking feedback.
Feedback can then be visualized to create charts or graphs to show what’s trending among your customers.
There is also an AI section that can help parse the data for you, but at this point, it seems to just break down the poll and form results by similar categories. So on the AI front, it’s nothing groundbreaking but may help you save a little time when running reports.
Collaboration Features
Aha! has a collaboration module they call Notebooks and it’s essentially a supercharged virtual whiteboard.
Notebooks work as the centralized hub for all your team’s documents, media, notes, and other information regarding your product roadmap, regardless of the stage it’s in.
The Notebooks features can also be used for collaborative ideation sessions that can then be routed into the overall product roadmap as either goals or initiatives.
The Notebooks feature also allows you to create documents directly within it. These features can be used to create a searchable knowledge base regarding your entire product or team.
AI also plays a part here as you can use the Aha! AI assistant to create drafts based on various criteria. It works well for basic outlines or getting started on a new document, but don’t expect it to write your knowledge base for you, at least not yet.
Virtual whiteboards are nothing new, but Aha! does bring new integrations and features with their Notebooks. In many cases, you’ll be able to ditch any third-party whiteboard you’re using in favor of Notebooks.
Aha! Integrations
As far as project management tools, Aha! falls short in the integrations department. With about 30 total integrations, it’s definitely on the lower end compared to tools like Asana or Jira.
This might be due to the complexity and customizations within Aha! that makes it more difficult to create the integrations for different apps. It could also simply be a design or marketing decision where Aha! wants to keep the integrations somewhat limited.
Agile Workflow
Once your strategy and roadmap are complete, you need tools to start getting things done. Aha! supports the following project management frameworks
- Kanban
Scrum
SAFe
All of your sprints are connected to the overall project roadmap. Your roadmap and all goals update as sprints or other team objectives are completed.
The limited integrations mean that Gitlab is about your only choice for CI/CD tools to plug into Aha! For DevOps.
Aha! does provide nice features for estimating tasks and managing workloads across your team. Strong reporting features also allow you to optimize your efforts after each sprint to increase efficiency next time around.
Aha! Pricing
Aha! has a somewhat complicated pricing structure. The entire roadmap product is available along with each individual module such as Ideas or Notebook. Within each pricing structure, there is a basic or advanced option.
Overall, it makes Aha! one of the more expensive project management tools if you decide on some of the advanced options. It can also take some time to decide exactly what pricing structure fits your team.
Aha! Roadmaps Premium: $59/month per user
- Link strategy to all product work
- Capture feedback via ideas portals
- Prioritize features with a scorecard
- Manage release plans and dependencies
- Create and share beautiful roadmaps
- Centralize notes and whiteboards
- Integrate with Jira, Azure DevOps, and 30+ other tools
Aha! Roadmaps Enterprise: $99/month per user
- Everything in Premium
- Unlimited free reviewers
- Unlimited free viewers
- Only pay for workspace owners and contributors
- Aha! Develop integration
Aha! Roadmaps Enterprise+: $149/month per user
- Product concierge
- Team capacity planning
- Custom tables
- Automation rules
- Custom worksheets
- Work requests
- Workspace templates
- Advanced license management
- Account backup and export
- Advanced security
Aha! Ideas Essentials: $29/month per user (Includes Notebooks Advanced)
- Capture feedback via ideas portals
- Integrate with Salesforce and Zendesk
- Prioritize ideas by potential revenue
- Launch polls and collect in-app requests
- Use AI to analyze feedback themes
Aha! Ideas Advanced: $59/month per user
- Everything in Essentials
- Dynamic feedback forms
- Salesforce integration
- Zendesk integration
- AI idea exploration
- Customer segments
- Analysis by organization
- Custom portal pages
- ..more
Aha! Notebooks Essentials: $9/month per user
- Organize documents and to-dos
- Create whiteboards and wireframes
- Choose from 100 templates crafted by experts
- Collaborate with guests at no cost
- Turn product concepts into detailed plans
Aha! Notebooks Advanced: $18/month
- Everything in Essentials
- Unlimited team workspaces
- Unlimited AI drafting
- Custom note and whiteboard templates
- Custom template design support
- Single sign-on Coming soon
- Integration with Aha! Roadmaps
Aha! Develop Essentials: $9/month
- Connect technical work to the product roadmap
- Use a scrum, kanban, or SAFe® approach
- Plan sprints, estimate work, and manage capacity
- Track delivery risks and report on agile metrics
- Integrate with 25+ dev tools
Aha! Develop Advanced: $18/month per user
- Everything in Essentials
- Integration with Aha! Roadmaps
- Team lines
- Program increments
- Burndown and velocity charts
- Throughput report
- Cycle and lead time analysis
- Automation rules
- Single sign-on
What Is Jira?
Jira is a fully-featured Agile project management platform, but it didn’t start that way. Originally designed as a bug-tracking tool, parent company Atlassian has been adding features over the years to create a well-rounded project management platform.
Where Aha! focuses on roadmapping, Jira is rooted in Agile methodologies for software improvement first and foremost. However, they have added a feature called Jira Product Discovery which is a separate roadmapping tool that integrates with the existing Jira platform.
Product Discovery offers many of the features found in Aha! but for those who enjoy the other work and project management features with Jira.
Jira offers several views such as Kanban and list views for bug tracking. For full project management, Jira offers a Work Management module which is built for general-purpose project management, not just software development or issue tracking.
One area that users are often critical of when it comes to Jira is its interface and overall design. At first, it can be overwhelming and seem unintuitive. That’s not to say Jira has a bad design, but it definitely feels like software that has undergone countless evolutions. When you first start with it, you feel like you’re coming into it late.
However, seasoned users love the entire Jira ecosystem and its different modules added to create a complete product roadmaps, delivery, and project management suite.
Once you wrap your head around the customization and options within Jira, you can appreciate the interface more.
Related: Jira is a top project management software for advertising agencies.
Jira Features
Jira has added many useful features over the years, but its roots as a bug-tracking tool still run through it. That’s not a bad thing, but it does impact what kind of teams would benefit most from using it.
Project and Work management
The way Jira has changed to work with different project management scenarios is to add different functions within the software.
Instead of just being a do-everything platform, Jira divides its features into different products under the Jira umbrella.
Those additional products are:
Jira Software
This is the Jira most people are familiar with. It’s designed for software development, release, and constant improvement.
Jira Service Management
Jira Service Management combines with Jira Software to create a help-desk option for issue tracking, software improvements, and customer feedback.
Jira Work Management
Jira uses its Work Management feature to extend its function to encompass a wider variety of project management tasks. For example, HR departments, marketing departments, and sales teams can use Jira Work Management for task management and other traditional PM workflows.
All of these different systems can be pulled together with Jira Align, which is their enterprise-level tool to allow all projects and teams to be viewed and analyzed.
Integrations
Jira has over 3,000 integrations available, making it one of the leaders in this area. There are very few business tools out there that will not work with Jira. That’s one of the benefits of being such an established platform with years of ongoing development.
For new users or those who may not know the full integration capabilities of Jira, the software will recommend certain third-party apps as you use the software and set up your first few projects.
Agile Framework
Jira really focuses on the Agile framework and many of its features and tools revolve around that premise. If your teams follow scrum methodologies and focus on sprints, you’ll feel right at home with Jira.
Other tools that fall outside of Agile frameworks such as Gantt charts and workflows are available, but they are clearly not the focus. For example, Gantt charts are available through a plug-in within Jira. So it feels more like an addition than a core feature.
None of this is a negative, it just means that Jira is Agile-centric and will fit those teams the best.
Reporting and Analytics
Jira has strong reporting features to analyze your efforts in real-time as well as afterward for optimization. Most of these reporting tools are specific to agile workflows. So you’ll be able to track velocity, burndown, and other metrics easily.
All of these reports can be exported in standard spreadsheet formats or displayed using Jira’s visualization tools.
Role Assignments
Each user can be assigned a role within Jira (paid plans). This allows for access control as well as offering clients or customers the ability to view various projects without giving them full access.
Users can have a global permission set and also specific permissions that are set per project.
Bug Tracking
Bug-tracking is one of Jira’s strong suits and there are extensive templates to immediately set up a bug-tracking workflow for various development environments.
With its many integrations, your bug tracking board can be integrated with your CI/CD tools or just about any other developer productivity app your team uses.
Roadmaps
Jira does offer roadmapping, but only in the premium tiers. Roadmaps within Jira are split into advanced or basic. The advanced roadmapping features within Jira are only available in the Premium Plan or higher.
Within the advanced roadmap features, you can set up dependencies across various teams and projects you already have set up in other areas of Jira. The basic roadmapping allows for a timeline view within Jira, which is similar to a Gantt chart.
Jira Pricing
Jira’s pricing can be frustrating in some cases. For example, if only a small portion of your team members need advanced features, you still have to buy those features for every user. Many other platforms, such as Asana, allow you to divide your teams and pricing plans.
Free Plan: $0/Month
- Up to 10 users
- Unlimited project boards
- Backlog and timeline
- Reporting and insights
- 2GB of storage
- No personal support
Standard Plan: $8.15/month per user
- Everything in the free plan
- 35,000 users
- Role permissions
- Audit logs
- Data residency
- 250GB of storage
- Personalized support during business hours
Premium Plan: $16/month per user
- Everything in the Standard Plan
- Atlassian Intelligence AI
- Advanced roadmaps
- Customized issue hierarchy
- Sandbox and release tracks
- Unlimited storage
- 24/7 support
Enterprise Plan: Contact Atlassian for custom pricing
- Up to 150 sites
- Security controls
- User subscriptions
- Enterprise-level support
Aha! Vs Jira: Comparison
Both of these platforms are similar since they are each aimed at software development first and foremost. However, they serve different purposes across different stages of development.
Aha! clearly shines for roadmapping, product and market ideation, along with product delivery. Aha! provides great tools to provide an overview of your vision to help you stay on track from inception to delivery.
It’s great that Aha! takes a new approach to some areas of roadmapping and offers unique tools to do so. That also means that Aha! isn’t a tool you can quickly implement and get your team immediately up to speed.
There will be a learning curve to Aha! for almost any team if they want to get the most out of it.
There’s also the pricing with Aha!. This tool is definitely geared to larger organizations that can take advantage of all the features. For smaller teams, it’s hard to justify the costs and extra features that will mostly go unused.
Jira is a far less expensive option, and its bug-tracking features will be quickly recognized by small development teams, meaning a shorter learning curve.
Jira also has roadmapping features if needed, so while not as unique and powerful as Aha!, the features are there.
For smaller teams, less mature teams, or teams on a budget, Jira will likely give you what you need at a lower price than Aha!. You’ll also likely have a shorter learning curve.
Aha! Vs Jira: Wrap Up
The bottom line is if you want a straightforward bug-tracking tool based on the Agile framework, Jira is your most cost-effective solution among these two options. You’ll be able to get up to speed quickly, and as you grow, you can use the other more advanced roadmapping features for your product creation and delivery.
For larger organizations that need powerful overview functions to track product development across many different teams, Aha! can be a great choice. It’s not cheap, but it does offer features other more general project management platforms simply don’t have.
