Engineering analytics software reads Git, Jira and pipeline data to show how code moves from first commit to production, and where it stalls.
This ranking looks at what each tool costs per contributor, how many months of history it keeps, whether you can run or leave it without the vendor, and which size of engineering organisation it was built for.
Vendors can pay for more visibility on this website, for example a higher place in a ranking or more room on a page. Commercial relationships can also affect which products we feature and how prominently. Every vendor link is marked the same, whatever the arrangement behind it. How that works.
In short
What engineering analytics software does
Engineering analytics software pulls data from repositories, ticket trackers and deployment tools to report delivery speed, review delays, workload and, increasingly, how AI coding assistants are used.
Each engineering analytics tool was put through the same five questions, in sequence: how hard is setup, what does it really cost, how does data come back out, can you leave, and who is it for. Vendors outside the best-known names fill places 1 to 3 when they exist, and the big brands rank from place 4. We explain on how we work why the tests are these five and why no product receives a score.
Delivery metrics, AI adoption tracking and developer surveys from Helsinki
Ranked #1 of 13 in Best Engineering Analytics Software in 2026.
Free tierSelf-hostablePublished pricingEurope
Swarmia sits first because a buyer can read every price, start on the nine-developer allowance and add modules later. The AI adoption and cost add-on follows GitHub Copilot, Cursor and Claude Code, mixing token-based usage with fixed seat licences.
Surveys run on a recurring schedule and show team results in a heatmap, with notices in Slack or Microsoft Teams. Expect the cloud-first design to be the limit for strict hosting rules.
What stands out
developer surveys
AI adoption tracking
software capitalisation
Where it costs you
Standard is the cheaper of the two published plans but still bills per developer, so a large engineering department pays a lot for dashboards.
Self-hosting is not described; only Enterprise adds on-premise integrations, which will not satisfy a team that must keep everything inside its own network.
Right for
Teams wanting published prices, a no-cost start and AI tool cost tracking
Wrong for
Organisations that must run the whole analytics stack on their own servers
FinlandPublished per developer, billed annually, with a free tier for companies of up to nine developers
Engineering metrics platform with a sliding contributor price and AI benchmark
Ranked #2 of 13 in Best Engineering Analytics Software in 2026.
Published pricingEurope
The published range is wide, from the lower to the upper end per contributor per month, and the page says contract length and licence count decide where a buyer lands.
The one-off AI Impact Report compares a team with a pool of more than 2,500 teams, which is a cheap first look. The 180-day cap on history is the main constraint on trend analysis.
What stands out
500+ configurable metrics
AI impact benchmark
unlimited dashboards
Where it costs you
Data history and retention reach back only 180 days, so long trend lines need an export or a different tool.
The price moves with contract duration and licence count, so two buyers can be quoted different rates from the same published range.
Right for
Teams that want a very large metric catalogue from a UK-based company
Wrong for
Buyers who need multi-year history or want to trial the platform first
United KingdomPublished range per contributor per month, shifting with contract length and licence count; one-off AI snapshot costs nothing
Engineering dashboards with a no-cost starter plan and wellbeing metrics
Ranked #3 of 13 in Best Engineering Analytics Software in 2026.
Free tierSelf-hostablePublished pricingElsewhere
Hatica climbs in steps. The free plan covers surveys and stand-ups, Pro unlocks DORA and wellbeing dashboards with six months of history and SSO, and Business adds S.P.A.C.E. metrics and two years of history.
Only Enterprise brings five years, a product API and warehouse sync, which matters when exiting. Mid-sized buyers will therefore pay for Business well before any export route opens, and should plan accordingly.
What stands out
DORA dashboards
wellbeing metrics
private cloud option
Where it costs you
The entry plan keeps only one month of history, so it works as a trial of the interface and not as a baseline.
Prices are shown with a dollar sign and no currency code, so a non-US buyer cannot tell what the invoice currency will be.
Right for
Teams that want to start with real data at zero cost
Wrong for
Companies that need a baseline from last year on day one
Not stated by the vendorFree plan for unlimited members, then published per-member tiers and a quoted Enterprise plan
Engineering metrics billed only for contributors who were active this month
Ranked #4 of 13 in Best Engineering Analytics Software in 2026.
Published pricingNorth America
Axify's billing rule is the unusual part: a person counts only if they committed, opened a pull request or moved a Jira ticket in the past 30 days. That suits teams with part-time or rotating staff.
The trial runs for 14 days with full access and no card. Enterprise adds volume discounts and round-the-clock support, but that tier needs a sales conversation.
What stands out
active contributor billing
MCP API access
14-day trial
Where it costs you
Only a 14-day trial is offered, which is short for seeing a quarter of delivery data settle.
MCP API access on Pro runs on a token-based quota, so heavy automation may hit a ceiling before Enterprise.
Right for
Teams with seasonal or contract developers who want to pay for activity
Wrong for
Buyers who want a long evaluation period before signing
CanadaPublished per contributor, billed annually, with a 14-day trial only; Enterprise by sales contact
Code-activity analytics with a small starter tier and on-prem Enterprise
Ranked #5 of 13 in Best Engineering Analytics Software in 2026.
Free tierSelf-hostablePublished pricingElsewhere
GitClear suits a team that tolerates limits and wants a short, published price ladder. Starter is capped at three repositories, and its data refreshes only every 48 hours.
Each paid step lifts the price per contributor, with the monthly rate well above the annual one. Enterprise is the tier with the on-prem option and a demo request instead of a self-serve buy button.
What stands out
code activity metrics
on-prem option
15-day trial
Where it costs you
The Starter caps on repositories, commits and pull requests mean most working teams outgrow it quickly.
Monthly billing costs well above annual billing on every paid tier, so flexibility has a visible price.
Right for
Small teams that want to try code analytics without a purchase order
Wrong for
Teams that expect live dashboards, as Starter refreshes every 48 hours
Not stated by the vendorFree Starter tier with usage caps, then published per-contributor plans with cheaper annual billing
DORA metrics you deploy yourself, with paid tiers for project insight
Ranked #6 of 13 in Best Engineering Analytics Software in 2026.
Self-hostablePublished pricingElsewhere
Middleware splits its offer cleanly: Community for DORA you operate yourself, Standard for projects, roadmaps and Slack automations, and Enterprise for on-prem and SOC 2 Type 2. That makes the first step cheap and the second step a decision.
Support on Community is email and GitHub issues only, so a stuck deployment depends on the buyer's own staff. Enterprise is where on-prem deployment and certification arrive, so a regulated buyer should ask for that quote early.
What stands out
DORA metrics
self-deployed community
SOC 2 Type 2
Where it costs you
The Community edition shows DORA metrics and nothing else, so any wider view means paying for Standard.
On-prem deployment and the SOC 2 Type 2 certification sit only in Enterprise, which is quote-based.
Right for
Engineers who want to try DORA tracking on their own infrastructure
Wrong for
Teams that need roadmaps and AI reports without paying anything
Not stated by the vendorSelf-deployed Community tier at no cost, a published Standard tier per user, and a quoted Enterprise plan
Delivery boards and risk alerts across Jira, Git and Slack
Ranked #7 of 13 in Best Engineering Analytics Software in 2026.
Self-hostablePublished pricingElsewhere
Haystack's pitch is delivery management: boards, automatic status updates, reports and weekly insights across Jira, Git and Slack. Automated risk detection is the feature a manager would check first.
The cost is a yearly commitment on Growth and a quote on Enterprise, so the cheap route is the 14-day trial. Its about page returned an error, so ownership could not be confirmed.
What stands out
delivery management
risk alerts
Jira and Slack
Where it costs you
Growth needs an annual commitment, so a team that only wants a short pilot has the 14-day trial and nothing in between.
On-prem and custom integrations are reserved for the Enterprise plan, which is pitched at 100 or more engineers.
Right for
Jira-centred teams of any size that want early alerts about delivery risk
Wrong for
Large organisations wanting on-prem without an Enterprise contract
Not stated by the vendorPublished per member with annual commitment; Enterprise priced individually for large teams
DevLake is the exit-friendly option because the data pipeline belongs to the buyer. A config UI selects, transforms and schedules syncs, and SQL defines the custom metrics. In return, the buyer needs somebody comfortable with Kubernetes or Docker Compose.
No vendor sells it, so there are no seats, tiers or success managers, only documentation and the community around an Apache project. It suits an organisation whose platform team already runs databases and schedulers.
What stands out
Apache 2.0
self-hosted only
SQL custom metrics
Where it costs you
There is no hosted cloud service, so every team carries installation and upgrades itself.
The project is still undergoing incubation, so a buyer needing a vendor contract has no company to call.
Right for
Platform engineers who prefer owning the pipeline and writing SQL
Wrong for
Managers who want a login and a support contract
Not stated by the vendorFree to run under an open source licence; the buyer pays for hosting and staff time
Git analytics sold as three quoted plans with repository limits
Ranked #9 of 13 in Best Engineering Analytics Software in 2026.
Pricing on requestElsewhere
Waydev's limits are explicit. Pro includes five operational users, Premium twenty plus 200 Waydev Agent queries a month, and Enterprise removes caps on repositories, data and users.
Because every plan is quoted, the repository counts matter more than the label, and a buyer should count services before talking to sales. The 90-day money-back guarantee mentioned in the FAQ lowers the risk, though it is not a trial.
What stands out
repository caps
Waydev Agent queries
evaluation on Enterprise
Where it costs you
Pro stops at 100 repositories and six months of data, which is tight for a company with many small services.
Every plan is quoted, so a buyer cannot compare Waydev with published-price tools without a sales call.
Right for
Mid-sized teams that accept a quote and want longer data windows
Wrong for
Buyers who need list prices to compare before any call
Not stated by the vendorQuoted per plan and billed annually, with trial access by request on the lower two tiers
Delivery metrics plus gitStream automation, priced for larger engineering departments
Ranked #10 of 13 in Best Engineering Analytics Software in 2026.
Self-hostablePublished pricingElsewhere
LinearB goes beyond reading data: gitStream changes how pull requests are routed and approved. The long 45-day trial shows a full quarter's pattern before a purchase.
Data backfill on Essentials is 180 days, retention three years and the audit log one year. Teams that would use only the dashboards may find that automation half of the product is not what they pay for.
What stands out
gitStream automation
50-user minimum
AI code reviews
Where it costs you
Essentials supports GitHub Cloud only, so teams on other Git hosts must move up to Enterprise.
The 50-user minimum on Essentials makes the entry price a floor that smaller teams cannot go beneath.
Right for
Departments of 50 or more developers who want pull-request automation
Wrong for
Small teams or anyone hosting code outside GitHub Cloud
Not stated by the vendorPublished per contributor, billed annually, with minimum user counts and a 45-day trial only
Engineering intelligence sold per contributor per year, with cost capitalisation
Ranked #11 of 13 in Best Engineering Analytics Software in 2026.
Published pricingElsewhere
Allstacks has two buying paths: engineering intelligence per contributor, and a standalone cost capitalisation product covered by SOC 1. Integrations are not charged or limited and include Jira, Azure DevOps, Linear, GitHub, Bitbucket and Claude.
The fee rises from Growth to Enterprise, and hosting choice, single-tenant options and the export API rise with it. Growth buyers should ask about leaving before signing.
What stands out
software cost capitalisation
SOC 2 Type II
single-tenant hosting
Where it costs you
The data export API is an Enterprise feature, so leaving a Growth contract means working without a documented export route.
Growth is capped at 500 contributors, which pushes fast-growing companies into the dearer Enterprise bracket.
Right for
Finance-minded engineering leaders who need capitalisation reports plus certified controls
Wrong for
Teams under strain who want an export route without Enterprise
Not stated by the vendorPublished per contributor per year with a support add-on, plus monthly per-user options and a free starter in Product Studio
Engineering management platform with finance reporting, sold through sales
Ranked #12 of 13 in Best Engineering Analytics Software in 2026.
Pricing on requestElsewhere
Jellyfish is built around finance outcomes as much as delivery metrics. Developer Productivity adds custom dashboards, DORA, SPACE and AI metrics, benchmarking and DevEx surveys, while DevFinOps covers the accounting side.
The Data Hub and AI Assistant are named functions. Because pricing mixes seats and modules, the final invoice depends on which of the three plans a buyer needs, and a written quote is the only way to compare.
What stands out
DevFinOps
R&D tax credits
DevEx surveys
Where it costs you
With no amounts on the page and no trial period listed, a buyer learns the cost only after a sales conversation.
The pricing page does not say whether any self-hosted or on-prem deployment exists, leaving that question for the Trust Center.
Right for
Finance and engineering leaders who need R&D tax and capitalisation reporting
Wrong for
Teams that want to see prices and test before talking
Not stated by the vendorQuoted from seat count and chosen modules; the pricing page shows no amounts
Consumption-priced engineering platform with a desktop edition for individuals
Ranked #13 of 13 in Best Engineering Analytics Software in 2026.
Pricing on requestElsewhere
Faros AI offers two low-friction doors: a desktop edition for individuals and a playground using illustrative data. Neither shows how a real organisation's invoice behaves, because the paid model is consumption-based and quoted.
Treat it as an experiment until a quote clarifies cost, and ask sales for the company details the site does not show. We could verify little beyond pricing structure, which is why it stays at the bottom.
What stands out
consumption pricing
Faros Desktop
interactive playground
Where it costs you
Consumption pricing with no listed rates makes the final bill hard to estimate before a sales call.
With about and privacy pages unavailable, a buyer cannot confirm the company's location or data terms from its own site.
Right for
Individual engineers who want to explore the product before involving sales
Wrong for
Procurement teams that need list prices and company details first
Not stated by the vendorConsumption-based and quoted through sales; no list prices appear on the pricing page
Engineering analytics software pulls data from repositories, ticket trackers and deployment tools to report delivery speed, review delays, workload and, increasingly, how AI coding assistants are used. Feature lists look alike, so we would settle these points one at a time instead.
01
Start with pricing transparency
The split is 10 published against 3 quoted. If you want to compare numbers first, start with Swarmia, Plandek, Hatica, Axify, GitClear, Middleware, Haystack, Apache DevLake, LinearB, Allstacks.
02
Ask which country the contract runs through
Headquarters range over 4 countries and 3 regions: Elsewhere 10, Europe 2, North America 1. Legal exposure follows the vendor, not only the data centre, so read the contracting entity before you sign.
03
Decide if open source matters
Source code is available for Apache DevLake. Running it yourself swaps the licence fee for your own upkeep.
Engineering analytics software: what the first ninety days really cost
Connecting GitHub and Jira usually takes an afternoon, but the work that follows is deciding what to measure and getting managers to trust the numbers. History decides how soon a baseline exists. Hatica's free plan keeps one month, Waydev Pro and GitClear Starter keep six, and Plandek keeps 180 days, so a year-on-year view needs a higher tier or a different tool.
Apache DevLake moves the effort elsewhere: nothing is billed, but an engineer must install and run it through Docker Compose or Kubernetes. Trials differ too, from 14 days at Axify to 45 days at LinearB, and a short trial rarely covers a full release cycle. Run a pilot with one or two teams first, so disagreements about definitions surface before the whole organisation sees a dashboard.
Ask how many months of history the plan you will actually buy keeps.
Count the engineering hours needed to connect every repository and ticket project.
Pick a trial long enough to cover at least one complete release cycle.
Counting contributors at Axify, LinearB and Swarmia before you compare prices
Per-seat prices hide the real question, which is who counts as a seat. Axify bills only people with a commit, pull request or moved Jira ticket in the last 30 days. Swarmia bills only developers added to teams. LinearB sets floors instead: 50 users on Essentials and 100 on Enterprise. Allstacks sells per contributor per year, with Growth capped at 500 contributors and Enterprise starting at a minimum of 100.
Add-ons shift the total as well, since Swarmia's Standard plan bundles four modules while Hatica moves sprints and cost capitalisation into Business. Price a full year with your own headcount, including contractors and part-timers, before comparing any two tools, because a cheap rate with a strict count can cost more than an expensive one with a generous count.
Write down how each vendor defines a billable contributor.
Check minimum user counts and caps against your real headcount.
Total the add-on modules you will need over twelve months.
Leaving Allstacks, Hatica or Apache DevLake: the exit question
Engineering metrics become a record of how a company worked, so the way out matters. Allstacks lists a data export API only on Enterprise, and Hatica puts data warehouse sync and a product API on its Enterprise plan. Middleware offers custom integrations and reports only on Enterprise too.
Apache DevLake sits at the other extreme: under Apache 2.0 and self-hosted, with custom metrics written in SQL, so the pipeline stays under your control. Hosted tools hold history as long as the plan retains it, and LinearB lists three years of retention on Essentials. Ask for the export route in writing before signing a contract with annual billing, and test it during the trial rather than after the first renewal.
Confirm which plan includes an export API or warehouse sync.
Ask what happens to retained history when the contract ends.
Check whether metrics definitions can be reproduced outside the vendor.
Choosing between Jellyfish, Waydev and a smaller tool for your team
Size and purpose narrow the field quickly. Swarmia is free for companies of up to nine developers and GitClear Starter allows three repositories, so small teams can learn the category at no cost. Haystack names teams of 100 or more engineers for Enterprise. Finance-driven buyers have a different list: Jellyfish's DevFinOps plan covers R&D tax credits and software capitalisation, Allstacks sells capitalisation separately, and Hatica adds it in Business.
Waydev and Jellyfish both quote prices, so they need a sales call before any comparison. Decide first whether the buyer is an engineering manager, a platform team or a finance lead, because each reads a different dashboard and tolerates a different price model.
Name the budget owner before shortlisting, because finance and engineering want different reports.
Match the tool's stated team size to your developer count.
List any compliance certificate you need, such as SOC 2 Type II.
What goes wrong most often when buying engineering analytics software
Treating the free tier of a tool as a trial of its paid dashboards, when GitClear Starter caps repositories and Hatica's free plan keeps only one month of history.
Signing an annual per-contributor contract before checking how many people the vendor will count as billable.
Buying for DORA charts alone, then discovering that surveys, AI adoption views or cost capitalisation sit in separate paid modules.
Leaving metric definitions undocumented, so a later move to another tool cannot reproduce the numbers the board has already seen.
07
Frequently asked questions
8 answers
What is the best engineering analytics software in 2026?
Swarmia leads our ranking of 13. Swarmia Oy is incorporated in Finland, works from Helsinki and publishes its per-developer prices. Companies of up to nine developers pay nothing, and the Standard plan includes all four add-on modules, so the later bill is easy to forecast.
Billing counts only developers added to teams. The weak point is deployment: the product page describes a cloud offering, with on-premise only as integrations on Enterprise.
Which engineering analytics tools publish their pricing?
10 of the 13, with the pricing model each one publishes:
Swarmia: Published per developer, billed annually, with a free tier for companies of up to nine developers.
Plandek: Published range per contributor per month, shifting with contract length and licence count; one-off AI snapshot costs nothing.
Hatica: Free plan for unlimited members, then published per-member tiers and a quoted Enterprise plan.
Axify: Published per contributor, billed annually, with a 14-day trial only; Enterprise by sales contact.
GitClear: Free Starter tier with usage caps, then published per-contributor plans with cheaper annual billing.
Middleware: Self-deployed Community tier at no cost, a published Standard tier per user, and a quoted Enterprise plan.
Haystack: Published per member with annual commitment; Enterprise priced individually for large teams.
Apache DevLake: Free to run under an open source licence; the buyer pays for hosting and staff time.
LinearB: Published per contributor, billed annually, with minimum user counts and a 45-day trial only.
Allstacks: Published per contributor per year with a support add-on, plus monthly per-user options and a free starter in Product Studio.
3 vendors do not print a price.
Is there a free engineering analytics tool?
Swarmia, Hatica, GitClear, Apache DevLake can be used for free, either as a free plan or a self-hosted edition.
Where are these engineering analytics software vendors established?
Across 4 countries (Elsewhere 10, Europe 2, North America 1):
Swarmia: Finland.
Plandek: United Kingdom.
Hatica: Not stated by the vendor.
Axify: Canada.
GitClear: Not stated by the vendor.
Middleware: Not stated by the vendor.
Haystack: Not stated by the vendor.
Apache DevLake: Not stated by the vendor.
Waydev: Not stated by the vendor.
LinearB: Not stated by the vendor.
Allstacks: Not stated by the vendor.
Jellyfish: Not stated by the vendor.
Faros AI: Not stated by the vendor.
Which engineering analytics tools are open source?
Apache DevLake.
Which engineering analytics tools can you host yourself?
Swarmia, Hatica, GitClear, Middleware, Haystack, Apache DevLake, LinearB. The remaining 6 run only on the vendor's servers.
What should you use instead of Swarmia?
Plandek and Hatica are the next two on this page. Plandek is for teams that want a very large metric catalogue from a UK-based company; Hatica is for teams that want to start with real data at zero cost.
Who should not buy Swarmia?
Organisations that must run the whole analytics stack on their own servers. Standard is the cheaper of the two published plans but still bills per developer, so a large engineering department pays a lot for dashboards..
We rank 13 engineering analytics software products on this page. If we missed one, its maker can write to us about its purpose and customers. We pick what gets added; the terms of a listing are set out under software advice.
