Plane
Shortcut
| Feature | Plane | Shortcut |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $7/mo | Free / from $8.5/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.2 / 5 | 4.4 / 5 |
| Best For | developers, open-source-advocates, startups, engineering-teams | software-teams, startups, engineering-managers, product-teams |
| Founded | 2022 | 2016 |
| Cycles | ✓ | ✗ |
| Modules | ✓ | ✗ |
| Views | ✓ | ✗ |
| Pages | ✓ | ✗ |
| Self Hostable | ✓ | ✗ |
| Analytics | ✓ | ✗ |
| Stories | ✗ | ✓ |
| Epics | ✗ | ✓ |
| Iterations | ✗ | ✓ |
| Milestones | ✗ | ✓ |
| Api | ✗ | ✓ |
| Integrations | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Plane Pros
- Open source and self-hostable
- Modern clean interface
- Jira-like power without complexity
- Active community
✗ Plane Cons
- Relatively new
- Smaller integration ecosystem
- Documentation still maturing
✓ Shortcut Pros
- Intuitive UI for engineering teams
- Great API and integrations
- Flexible iteration planning
- Excellent GitHub integration
✗ Shortcut Cons
- Limited reporting on free plan
- No time tracking built-in
- Smaller ecosystem than Jira
The Verdict
Plane is built for developers and open source advocates, with a focus on cycles and modules. Shortcut targets software teams and startups and leads with stories and epics.
Pricing is close: Plane starts at $7/mo versus $8.5/mo for Shortcut — not a deciding factor on its own.
Both offer free plans, so you can test each with your real workflow before committing to a subscription.
Both tools are a solid fit for startups — in those cases, the decision often comes down to workflow style and how your team prefers to organize work.
This is a genuinely close comparison. If you can, sign up for both free trials (where available) and run a one-week test with your actual team tasks before deciding.