Here are six powerful, completely free Jira add-ons that are absolutely invaluable for Jira Administrators.
One of the main benefits of Jira is its flexibility and level of customization. You probably already know this.
But to further extend this flexibility, you can make use of the thousands of available Jira plugins in the Atlassian Marketplace.
These plugins for Jira allow you to access additional functionality and tailor the platform to the precise needs of your team.
I have selected my personal top 6 free Jira plugins you should try out in 2020. I hope these offer you as much value as they did for me.
Note, If you’re a Jira user without admin knowledge, we have also written the article on top Free Jira plugins for users.
Free Jira add-on 1: JavaMelody Monitoring Plugin
As an admin, you’re responsible for making sure that your Jira instance works smoothly.
The JavaMelody Monitoring Plugin allows you to take a deep look at the inner workings of Jira at the server level. It also provides the same service for Confluence and Bamboo servers.
Note, we have written about the Jira Confluence Integration.
The app provides detailed stats on a request-by-request basis, allowing you to establish precisely where performance issues are coming up. And to identify where bottlenecks may be forming in the system.
Charts are available for values such as
- CPU use,
- used memory,
- active threads,
- active jdbc connections,
- http sessions,
- http hits per minute
- and http delivery time.
You can also drill down to SQL requests, ensuring that you can obtain all the information that you need to get a full picture.
And you can set reports to be delivered by email on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, as needed. It’s quick to set up – and, of course, it’s free.
Try out the JavaMelody Monitoring Plugin
Free Jira add-on 2: AM Utils
AM Utils provides a host of new conditions, validators, postfunctions, and JQL functions for your Jira instance.
The app hence enhances your ability to create and customize workflows for specific use cases and teams. This basically makes Jira easier and faster for your team to use.
Some functionality includes:
- being able to trigger events, such as status changes on external systems
- and to run checks to ensure that issues are unique.
- It also adds several extremely useful new ways to filter issues.
Ultimately, it’ll help you to accelerate your team’s processes and to get to what matters faster.
There are alternatives to the app – but none of them are free.
Its only controversial feature is the fact that it used to have a blue hammer and sickle as its logo (gigantic fail!), but that has now been removed.
Free Jira add-on 3: Quick Subtasks
Quick Subtasks allows you to automatically break down issue activities into… well, subtasks…
The app allows you to precisely define the details of the subtasks you want to create. And to lay out a pattern, so you can set a schedule of work.
If you often have a number of tasks that need to be done before an issue is finished, then this app can be extremely useful for you. For example, before moving a software update into production, you might need to run through a series of to-dos. Eg performance tests, check functionality, and get the green light from a line manager.
Using Quick Subtasks will ensure that the process is fast, consistent, and simple.
Free Jira add-on 4: Automation Lite for Jira
Automation Lite for Jira is essentially a task-management “life hacking” app.
It allows you to quickly and easily automate a broad range of day-to-day tasks in Jira. This way you cut down on repetitive chores and effectively remove friction when using the platform.
What’s more, the app makes automating Jira genuinely simple!
You can combine triggers, conditions, and actions for whatever you might need. All this without your needing to write custom scripts or even use Jira’s API.
In all, the Automation Lite add-on for Jira offers: 16 new ways to assign issues and the ability to track SLAs, set defaults for system fields, and automatically close expired issues.
Once you have it, you’ll be wondering how you lived without it. And if you want more, then you can simply upgrade to the full Automation for Jira app, also provided by Code Barrel.
Free Jira add-on 5: Home Directory and DB Browser
Home Directory and DB Browser give admins access to their Jira database and log files via the user interface.
The app allows you to run queries to see what’s in the database. This means you won’t need to access the underlying system manually.
With this Jira plugin, you’ll be working with a console and have the option to download files.
You can also view the live log, which may come in useful when trying to troubleshoot issues.
The functionality is useful for admins and users alike – as problems can quickly be investigated, and issues diagnosed.
You will completely avoid needing a system administrator to take up the task or to access the database directly.
All of this makes it faster and easier to address and resolve issues.
Just a side note: the app does pose some risks, however, as misuse could lead to database corruption. So it’s advisable to only give a limited number of trusted users access to the functionality.
Try out Home Directory and DB Browser for Jira
Free Jira add-on 6: User Switcher for Jira
When users complain that they can’t access a feature or a workflow step, it can often take some time to fully investigate the issue and resolve it.
This Jira app makes that process far simpler. With the User Switcher, admins can quickly and easily switch user accounts.
You can access the system as the selected user via the toolbar or with a shortcut.
Using this Jira plugin means that you can flick between accounts in seconds. This can be particularly useful when working on complex or hard-to-define issues.
It also saves all the bother of having to exchange or reset passwords in order to log into other users’ accounts.
Importantly, the app also allows you to limit which users are able to switch accounts. It also allows you to define which accounts users are able to switch to, thereby minimizing the potentially far-reaching security risks of account switching.
Try out User Switcher for Jira
Summary
Jira can sometimes put people off with the sheer range of features it has to offer. However, it also gives you an enormous amount of freedom to customize the system in order to get exactly what you want.
Using the Jira plugins described in this article will make your life as a Jira admin far easier. Additionally, these plugins will enable your team to get more out Jira as well as work faster and more efficiently. In this piece, we discussed:
• JavaMelody Monitoring Plugin – gives you easy access to server performance metrics
• AM Utils – helps you create and customize workflows
• Quick Subtasks – allows you to rapidly breakdown Jira issues into subtasks and to post customized sets of subtasks
• Automation Lite for Jira – helps you to automate a wide range of tasks for your team in Jira
• Home Directory and DB Browser – gives you access to log files and the database via the user interface
• User Switcher for Jira – enables you to rapidly switch user accounts, without having to log out
In short, if you install these, you’ll soon be seen as a super Jira admin.
Now, back to you! Do you have any favorite Jira add-ons that are completely free? Are there any add-ons I should include in this list? Let me know in the comments below. I’d love to hear it!
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