Backlog
An AI Assistant on the Premium and Enterprise plans drafts issues and subtasks from a plain description, summarises comments, polishes wording, applies batch updates and picks out the day's priorities, with 2,000 credits a month included.
Issue tracking with built-in Git and Subversion repositories, sold per plan instead of per user.
- Starting price
- Free plan; Starter $35 / month
- Free trial
- 30-day free trial with no credit card required, alongside a free plan for 10 users and 1 project
- API
- Yes, a REST API under /api/v2 with a documented rate limit
Overview
Backlog is Nulab's project management and issue tracking platform, and its distinguishing trait is that code lives in the same place as the work: every project carries built-in Git and Subversion repositories, and commits and pull requests link straight to the issues they belong to. Work is organised as issues with subtasks, shown on a drag-and-drop board, on Gantt charts with dependencies and on burndown charts. Around it sit a wiki and file sharing. Pricing is charged per plan rather than per seat, with unlimited users from Standard upward.
Our take
The pricing shape is the reason to look here first. A growing team that would be paying per seat elsewhere pays a flat monthly figure and adds people without touching the invoice, which makes this unusually kind to teams that pull in designers, clients or occasional contributors. Repositories in the same tool suit a small development shop that does not want a separate code host, though a team already settled on GitHub gains less from that half of the product. The ceilings are where to look closely: the free plan is one project, Gantt and burndown charts only arrive on Standard, and the AI assistant is reserved for Premium and above. The interface exists in English and Japanese only, so a team that needs other languages should check that first rather than last.
Key Facts
| Category | |
|---|---|
| Starting price | Free plan; Starter $35 / month Charged per plan, not per user: Starter $35 a month for 30 users and 5 projects, Standard $100 for unlimited users and 100 projects, Premium $175 for unlimited projects. Paying yearly saves 17 percent. Enterprise is quoted. |
| Free trial | 30-day free trial with no credit card required, alongside a free plan for 10 users and 1 project |
| API | Yes, a REST API under /api/v2 with a documented rate limit |
| Users | 10 on the free plan, 30 on Starter, unlimited from Standard upward, with no per-user fee |
| Languages | English and Japanese |
| Hosting | Cloud (SaaS); the Enterprise plan can be installed on a private server |
| Made in | Japan |
Screenshots
Placeholders. They are replaced as soon as the vendor sends material, and both open the same short form.
Features
- Task planning
- Yes, issues with parent tasks and subtasks, three levels deep on Premium, on a drag-and-drop Kanban board, Gantt charts mapping dependencies and deadlines, milestones, burndown charts, custom fields and reusable templates
- Resource planning
- Limited, with no dedicated capacity or workload module. The Gantt chart can be grouped by assignee, which lays out each person's scheduled issues on their own rows, and each issue carries estimated hours; the Gantt chart starts on the Standard plan
- Time tracking
- Estimated and actual hours are fields on the issue itself and are carried by the API as estimatedHours and actualHours. There is no separate timer or timesheet product
- Reporting and controlling
- Yes, a dashboard giving a real-time overview of projects, tasks and updates, burndown charts for sprint pace and Gantt charts for the schedule; Gantt and burndown start on the Standard plan
- Integrations and API
- Yes, a REST API under /api/v2 with a documented rate limit, plus integrations with Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Chat, Jenkins, Cacoo and LambdaTest and importers from Jira and Redmine
Integrations
- Slack
- Microsoft Teams
- Google Chat
- Jenkins
- Cacoo
- LambdaTest
- Jira
- Redmine
- Google Drive
- Dropbox
- OneDrive
Deployment and Support
- Deployment
-
- Cloud (SaaS)
- Browser-based
- On-premise
- Support
-
- Email helpdesk
- Community forum
- Onboarding
-
- Documentation and knowledge base
- Company size
-
- Small and mid-sized
- Enterprise
Pros and Cons
Strengths
- No per-user pricing: users are unlimited from the Standard plan upward
- Git and Subversion repositories built in, with commits, branches and pull requests linked to issues
- The Enterprise plan can be installed on a private server, with SAML SSO, SCIM provisioning, audit logs and IP restriction
- 30-day trial without a credit card, and a free plan that stays free
- Importers from Jira and Redmine
Limitations
- The free plan covers a single project with 100 MB of storage
- Gantt charts, burndown charts and issue templates start on the Standard plan
- The AI Assistant is limited to Premium and Enterprise, with 2,000 credits a month
- The interface is available in English and Japanese only; Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese were discontinued in 2017
Pricing
-
Free
$0
10 users, 1 project, 100 MB storage. Essential task and project management with Git and Subversion and the board view.
-
Starter
$35
Per month, or 17 percent less paid yearly. 30 users, 5 projects, 1 GB storage. Adds subtasking.
-
Standard
$100
Per month, or 17 percent less paid yearly. Unlimited users, 100 projects, 30 GB storage. Adds Gantt charts with a six-month view, burndown charts and issue templates.
-
Premium
$175
Per month, or 17 percent less paid yearly. Unlimited users and projects, 100 GB storage. Adds the AI Assistant, third-level subtasks, unlimited Gantt charts, custom fields and dedicated support.
-
Enterprise
Not stated
Quoted by Nulab, with no per-user fee. Everything in Premium plus SAML single sign-on, SCIM user provisioning, audit logs, IP restriction for up to 100 addresses, enforced two-factor authentication, an Enterprise Customer Success Manager and the option to install on a private server.
Alternatives and Comparisons
FAQ
- Does Backlog charge per user?
- No. Plans are priced as a whole: Starter covers 30 users, and Standard, Premium and Enterprise carry no user limit at all. Adding a person does not change the invoice.
- Can Backlog host source code?
- Yes. Every project has built-in Git and Subversion repositories, and commits, branches and pull requests can be linked directly to the issues they relate to.
- Can Backlog run on our own servers?
- Yes, on the Enterprise plan, which Nulab describes as installable on a private server for full control over data, users, security settings, updates and permissions. Every other plan is cloud only.
- Does Backlog record hours worked?
- Each issue carries estimated hours and actual hours as fields, and both are available through the REST API. There is no stopwatch or timesheet module beyond those fields.
What users say
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