I’m getting started with JIRA for project management and issue tracking. The platform has tons of available extensions and add-ons, which makes it pretty overwhelming for someone who’s new to it.
I’ve been looking through the marketplace but there are so many options that I don’t know where to begin. Some are free while others cost money, and I want to make sure I’m picking the right ones for my team.
What extensions do you think are absolutely essential for JIRA? I’d love to hear about both free and premium options that you’ve found useful in your work. Any recommendations for must-have add-ons that really improve the experience?
tempo timesheets is super helpful for keeping track of time - yeah it’s a paid one but totally worth it. also, check out scriptrunner for automation, its got a bit of a learning curve tho. just don’t overload jira with add-ons or it’ll be a mess.
Structure Boards completely changed how we visualize complex project hierarchies. We were stuck with JIRA’s default board limitations until we found this add-on. For reporting, eazyBI crushes JIRA’s built-in reports - the custom dashboards alone are worth the money. Portfolio for JIRA is pricey but essential if you’re juggling multiple projects. On the free side, JIRA Misc Workflow Extensions adds basic workflow stuff that should’ve been included from the start. I’d start with free options first, see what’s missing from your daily workflow, then buy premium solutions that actually fix those problems.
BigPicture completely changed how we handle project planning - we run enterprise-level stuff and this add-on finally makes dependencies and roadmaps manageable. The Bitbucket connector works great if you’re already in Atlassian’s ecosystem. Also check out Insight for asset management, especially when tracking hardware or software licenses with your issues. Don’t install everything at once though - learned this the hard way. We started with two extensions, ran them for a month, then slowly added more based on real pain points. Too many add-ons will slow your JIRA instance to a crawl. Focus on what your team actually struggles with daily, not features that just look cool.