Should you build your own project management tool?
Everyone hates Jira. But building a PM tool that doesn't also suck is surprisingly hard.
Why this category is weird
Project management software has a unique problem: everyone hates their PM tool, but switching costs are astronomical. So companies stay on Jira while complaining about it.
This creates a temptation: "We could build something better." And technically, you could. But should you?
The answer is almost always no — not because building is hard, but because PM tools need universal adoption to work. A half-built PM tool used by half the team is worse than a full PM tool everyone hates together.
Build / vibe when...
- You're building a PM tool as a product
- Workflow is genuinely unique (rare)
- Simple task tracking only (vibe it)
- Embedded in another product
- Regulated industry with specific needs
Buy when...
- You're managing a normal team
- Integration with dev tools matters
- You need reporting/analytics
- Mobile access required
- Anyone else will use it
The Notion/Linear disruption
Before 2020, the choice was Jira vs Asana vs "spreadsheet." Now Linear and Notion have proven that great UX is possible. This has raised the bar impossibly high for custom solutions.
Your vibe-coded PM tool will be compared to Linear's butter-smooth interface. That's a losing comparison.
When vibe coding works
There's exactly one scenario where vibing PM tools makes sense: simple internal task tracking that's embedded in your existing workflow.
- A task list in your admin dashboard
- Simple kanban for a specific workflow
- Issue tracking built into your product
If you're building "our version of Jira," stop. Use Linear. If you're building "a task list inside our ops tool," that might be worth vibing.
Real cost comparison
For a 50-person engineering team over 3 years:
| Build | Linear | Jira | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial cost | $150K – $300K | $0 | $0 |
| Annual cost | $60K – $120K | $6K – $18K | $4K – $36K |
| Time to adopt | 6+ months | Weeks | Weeks |
| 3-year total | $330K – $660K | $18K – $54K | $12K – $108K |
What people underestimate
Adoption is everything. PM tools only work if everyone uses them. Custom tools rarely achieve full adoption because they're always "almost ready."
The long tail of features. Due dates, recurring tasks, dependencies, templates, time tracking, custom fields, automations, keyboard shortcuts... Linear has thousands of features. You'll spend years catching up.
Integrations matter more than features. GitHub, Slack, Figma, CI/CD tools — the ecosystem is the product. Custom means building each integration.
Mobile is expected. Your team will want to check tasks on their phone. That's another entire app to build.
Compare tools
Our take
Buy. This is one of the clearest "buys" in this guide.
Linear is $8/user/month and better than anything you'd build. Notion is free for small teams. The economics don't work for custom PM tools unless you're selling PM software. Use that engineering time on your actual product. The only exception: simple embedded task lists inside another tool you're building.