Connecting Git repositories to Jira gives project managers visibility into development progress and helps developers stay anchored to the work they're doing. Two well-established tools serve this need: Jigit by Move Work Forward and Git Integration for Jira by GitKraken (formerly BigBrassBand).
They take fundamentally different architectural approaches. Jigit uses a lightweight REST API method that never clones your repositories - your source code never leaves your Git provider. Git Integration for Jira clones repositories to your Jira infrastructure for deep local indexing. This architectural difference drives most of the trade-offs between the two.
But architecture isn't the only differentiator. Jigit connects to GitHub, GitLab, Azure DevOps, Gerrit, and plain Git repositories simultaneously from a single plugin. Git Integration for Jira also supports multiple platforms but through a cloning model that has different security and performance implications at scale.
This guide compares both so you can match the right tool to your team's priorities - whether that's source code security, multi-platform support, performance at scale, or search depth.
| Feature | Git Integration for Jira | Jigit |
|---|---|---|
| Setup Time | 15-30 minutes (cloning required) | 10-15 minutes |
| Pricing | Paid | Paid (free trial available) |
| Architecture | Repository cloning + local indexing | REST API only - no cloning |
| Source Code on Jira Server | Yes (cloned locally) | Never stored |
| Platforms Supported | GitHub, GitLab, Azure DevOps, Bitbucket, others | GitHub, GitLab, Azure DevOps, Gerrit, Git - one plugin |
| Data Freshness | Polling-based (periodic re-indexing) | Webhook-driven (near-instant) |
| Smart Commits | Yes | Yes |
| Branch Creation from Jira | Yes | Yes |
| Code Search in Jira | Yes (deep indexing) | No |
| DependaBot / Security Alerts | No | Yes (GitHub DependaBot alerts in Jira) |
| GitHub Rate Limit Handling | Standard | Throttling-aware, designed for high volume |
| Monorepo Performance | Resource-intensive at scale | Lightweight, scales to 300+ developers |
| Jira Data Center | Yes | Yes |
| Security | SOC 2 Type II | SOC 2 Type II, API-only (no code stored) |
| Support | GitKraken support | Direct from Move Work Forward engineers |
This is the most important decision point.
Jigit uses REST APIs exclusively. It connects to GitHub, GitLab, Azure DevOps, Gerrit, and plain Git repositories through their native APIs to retrieve commit, branch, pull request, and build data. Your source code never leaves your Git provider. Jigit only fetches metadata and links. It uses webhooks for near-instant updates and is specifically designed to handle platform rate limits like GitHub's API throttling.
Git Integration for Jira clones your repositories. It copies repository data to your Jira server (or cloud infrastructure) and indexes it locally. This enables a feature Jigit doesn't offer: in-Jira code search. You can search code content directly from Jira. The trade-off is that your source code now resides on additional infrastructure, which has security, compliance, and resource implications.
For security-conscious organizations - fintech, healthcare, government, or any team with strict compliance requirements - Jigit's API-only approach means one fewer place where source code exists. For teams that need to search code content from Jira, Git Integration for Jira's cloning approach provides that capability.
Most development organizations don't use a single Git provider. Acquisitions, team preferences, and vendor requirements create multi-platform environments. Jigit connects to GitHub, GitLab, Azure DevOps, Gerrit, and plain Git repositories simultaneously from a single Jira plugin.
This means one installation, one configuration interface, and one unified development panel in Jira - regardless of which Git platform hosts the code. A project manager reviewing a Jira issue sees branches, pull requests, and commits in the same format whether the code lives on GitHub or GitLab.
Git Integration for Jira also supports multiple platforms (including Bitbucket, which Jigit does not support), but through the cloning model. Each connected repository is cloned and indexed separately, which can compound resource usage as the number of repositories grows.
Jigit's webhook-driven approach means updates appear in Jira almost instantly when a commit is pushed, a branch is created, or a pull request is opened. There's no waiting for a polling cycle.
Git Integration for Jira updates through periodic polling and re-indexing cycles. Depending on configuration and repository size, there can be a short delay between a Git event and its appearance in Jira.
Jigit's lightweight API approach scales well without adding significant load to your Jira instance. It's designed for high-volume environments - teams with 300+ developers and hundreds of daily commits across large monorepos. GitHub rate-limit awareness prevents throttling from degrading performance.
Git Integration for Jira's cloning approach can become resource-intensive for large repositories and monorepos. Cloning and re-indexing large codebases takes compute and storage resources on your Jira infrastructure. For smaller teams with moderate-sized repositories, this isn't a concern. For enterprise-scale monorepos, it's worth evaluating.
Beyond the fundamental security advantage of never cloning source code, Jigit integrates with GitHub's DependaBot security alerts. When DependaBot detects a vulnerability in a dependency, Jigit surfaces that alert directly on related Jira issues. Security teams see vulnerabilities in their Jira workflow without needing GitHub access.
This is particularly valuable for organizations where the security team works in Jira but doesn't have direct access to GitHub. Vulnerability response time drops from days to hours because the handoff between GitHub and Jira is automatic.
Jigit installs from the Atlassian Marketplace and requires configuration of your Git provider connections via API tokens or OAuth. Plan for around 10-15 minutes to connect your repositories and configure notification rules. Once set up, development data flows into Jira's development panel via webhooks for near-instant updates.
Git Integration for Jira requires more setup time because repositories must be cloned and indexed before data appears in Jira. For large repositories, initial cloning can take significant time depending on repository size and network speed.
A technology company has acquired three startups. The parent company uses GitHub, one acquisition uses GitLab, another uses Azure DevOps, and a third uses Gerrit. All teams track work in Jira.
The challenge: Without a multi-platform integration, the company would need 3-4 separate Jira plugins - one for each Git platform. Each has different UI, different configuration, and different capabilities. PMs have no unified view of development progress across teams.
How Jigit helps:
The result: Plugin costs drop (one license instead of four). Admin overhead is cut. PMs get a consistent view of development activity regardless of which team or platform hosts the code.
A fintech company's security team needs visibility into known vulnerabilities. Developers use GitHub with DependaBot enabled. All work is tracked in Jira, but the security team doesn't have direct GitHub access.
The challenge: DependaBot creates alerts in GitHub, but the security team works in Jira. Someone has to manually check GitHub for new alerts and create Jira issues. Vulnerabilities sit unaddressed for days because the handoff is manual and slow.
How Jigit helps:
The result: Vulnerability response time drops from days to hours. The security team has real-time visibility into DependaBot alerts without needing GitHub access.
An e-commerce platform runs a monorepo on GitLab with 300+ developers making hundreds of commits per day. They use Jira for sprint planning and need to associate commits and merge requests with Jira issues for traceability.
The challenge: At this scale, cloning-based integrations choke. Indexing hundreds of daily commits across a monorepo causes timeouts and stale data. The development panel in Jira shows incomplete information or loads slowly.
How Jigit helps:
The result: The development panel stays reliable and fast. Sprint reviews reference actual commit and merge request data instead of developer self-reports.
A developer tools company maintains open source projects on GitHub alongside proprietary code on GitLab. Community contributors submit PRs on GitHub, while internal developers work on both platforms. All planning happens in Jira.
The challenge: Open source contributions on GitHub and internal development on GitLab both need to appear on Jira issues. Using platform-specific integrations means losing visibility into half the development activity.
How Jigit helps:
The result: Unified visibility across open source and proprietary development. Sprint planning accounts for community contributions. Release notes accurately reflect all changes regardless of platform.
Source code security as a default. With Jigit, source code never leaves your Git provider. There's no cloning, no local storage, no additional attack surface. For regulated industries and security-conscious organizations, this is a fundamental advantage - not a feature, but an architecture.
One plugin for every platform. Instead of managing separate integrations for GitHub, GitLab, Azure DevOps, Gerrit, and plain Git, Jigit unifies everything into a single plugin with a single configuration interface and a consistent development panel. Fewer plugins means lower cost, less admin overhead, and a better developer experience.
Built for scale. API-based architecture and webhook-driven updates mean Jigit stays fast even with 300+ developers, hundreds of daily commits, and large monorepos. No cloning means no resource drain on your Jira infrastructure.
DependaBot integration for security teams. Surface GitHub security alerts directly in Jira - a capability Git Integration for Jira doesn't offer. Security teams see vulnerabilities in their workflow without needing GitHub access.
Dedicated support from Move Work Forward. As a Platinum Atlassian Marketplace Partner with SOC 2 Type II certification, Move Work Forward provides direct support from the engineers who built Jigit. Fast response times and same-day attention for critical issues.
Git Integration for Jira offers capabilities Jigit doesn't. If your team needs to search code content directly from Jira - finding which files reference a class, searching for a function name across repositories - Git Integration for Jira's deep indexing enables that. It also supports Bitbucket, which Jigit does not. If your team relies heavily on Bitbucket alongside other platforms, Git Integration for Jira covers that gap. These features require the cloning approach, but for teams where code search or Bitbucket support are critical, the trade-off is worth it.
Both Jigit and Git Integration for Jira are paid products. Pricing follows Atlassian Marketplace tiers and scales with your team size. Both offer free trials so teams can evaluate features before committing.
For organizations using multiple Git platforms, Jigit's single-plugin approach often costs less than running separate integrations for each platform.
For most teams, Jigit delivers the right combination of security, multi-platform support, performance, and value. It never clones your source code, connects to GitHub, GitLab, Azure DevOps, Gerrit, and plain Git from a single plugin, and scales to enterprise-level monorepos. DependaBot integration, smart commits, and branch creation from Jira round out a comprehensive developer workflow.
Choose Git Integration for Jira if in-Jira code search or Bitbucket support are critical requirements and you're comfortable with the cloning approach. It's a mature, capable tool with deep indexing that enables searching code content directly from Jira.
For security-conscious organizations, multi-platform environments, large-scale teams, or anyone who wants a lightweight integration that doesn't clone source code, Jigit by Move Work Forward is the clear choice.
No. Jigit uses REST APIs exclusively to retrieve metadata - commits, branches, pull requests, and builds. Your source code never leaves your Git provider and is never stored on your Jira instance.
Yes. Jigit connects to GitHub, GitLab, Azure DevOps, Gerrit, and plain Git repositories simultaneously from a single plugin. One installation covers all your supported Git platforms with a unified development panel in Jira.
No. Jigit supports GitHub, GitLab, Azure DevOps, Gerrit, and plain Git repositories. If Bitbucket support is required, Git Integration for Jira covers that platform.
Yes. Jigit surfaces GitHub DependaBot security alerts directly on related Jira issues. Security teams see vulnerabilities in their Jira workflow without needing direct GitHub access.
Jigit's API-based architecture is designed for high-volume environments - 300+ developers, hundreds of daily commits, large monorepos. Since it doesn't clone repositories, there's no resource drain on Jira infrastructure. Git Integration for Jira's cloning approach can become resource-intensive at this scale.
Plan for around 10-15 minutes. Install from the Atlassian Marketplace, configure your Git provider connections via API tokens or OAuth, and set up notification rules. Git Integration for Jira typically takes longer because repositories must be cloned and indexed before data appears.
Both Jigit and Git Integration for Jira are paid products with free trials available. Check the Atlassian Marketplace for current pricing at your team size.
Yes. Jigit's API-based architecture scales well for large teams. Webhook-driven updates and GitHub rate-limit awareness are designed for high-volume enterprise environments. Move Work Forward provides dedicated support for enterprise deployments.
Our GitLab, GitHub, Azure DevOps and Jira integration simplifies development, reduces context switching, gives you greater visibility and allows you to easily manage your repositories.
We prioritize customer data privacy with GDPR-compliant data collection and processing.
