What is the difference between Jira Software and Jira Service Management?

The main differences between Jira Software and Jira Service Management are not always entirely obvious, after all, both tools offer the same look and feel and many of the same features, such as:

• Projects
• Issue types
• Workflows
• Fields
• Permissions
• Groups
• Reports
• Dashboards

You can create and collaboratively edit tickets in JSM and Jira Software, as well as add comments and change the status of an issue.

Differences between JSM and Jira

Nevertheless, there are some differences that should be taken into account: Jira software is designed specifically for software teams. With plenty of workflow mechanisms, agile teams can create their tasks in sprints. Scrum or Kanban boards serve as an overview.

Jira Service Management, on the other hand, is designed specifically for IT and service teams. It provides them with everything they need for problem, change and incident management. Jira Service Management offers SLAs (service level agreements).

While both Jira Service Management (JSM) and Jira Software excel in providing comprehensive project insights, it’s worth noting that the available reports and dashboard gadgets differ between the two, offering unique capabilities for teams to visualize and analyze their data.

Here are the differences for comparison:

	Jira Software	Jira Service Management
Usage	Project Management for Software Development	Service desk software for IT, service, and support teams
Main features	Task tracking, agile boards, version management, bug fixing, integrations	Service requests, incident management, problem management, change management, configuration management, knowledge management
Target audience	Development teams	Service desk teams, IT teams
Focus	Software development projects	Customer support, service management
Cross-industry	Yes	Yes
Starting price	10 $ per month	Free of charge