# OpenProject vs YouTrack

> OpenProject scores 57.4 (C) on agent readiness against YouTrack's 49.9 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. YouTrack leads on security & auth. Both do tasks create. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openproject-vs-youtrack
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openproject-vs-youtrack.md (~2,450 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openproject-vs-youtrack.min.md (~630 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openproject-vs-youtrack.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-09

OpenProject scores 57.4 (C) on agent readiness against YouTrack's 49.9 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. YouTrack leads on security & auth. Both do tasks create.

- OpenProject: grade C, 57.4/100, rank #550 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openproject.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/openproject.json
- YouTrack: grade D, 49.9/100, rank #698 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/youtrack.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/youtrack.json

## Which one, for what

### OpenProject (C)

Good for: Teams that want a self-hostable or EU-hosted project tool with Gantt, time tracking and budgets, and an agent working through a documented REST API.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 52 against 30
- Agent ergonomics, 70 against 55
- Maintenance & community, 75 against 64
- Transparency & trust, 87 against 82

Also in its favour:
- Open source

Watch for: 83 advisories published against opf/openproject in the twelve months to 8 October 2026, 13 rated critical, among them remote code execution and SQL injection

### YouTrack (D)

Good for: Software teams that already run YouTrack and want an agent to search, file and update issues, comment, log time and maintain knowledge base articles under each user's permissions.

Ahead on:
- Security & auth, 67 against 59

Watch for: No rate limits, 429 handling, idempotency keys or error reference found in the reviewed documentation


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | OpenProject | YouTrack | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 52 | 30 | OpenProject +22 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 76 | 72 | OpenProject +4 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 70 | 55 | OpenProject +15 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 59 | 67 | YouTrack +8 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 30 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 75 | 64 | OpenProject +11 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 87 | 82 | OpenProject +5 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -5 | -5 | |
| **Total** | | **57.4 · C** | **49.9 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | OpenProject | YouTrack |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | OpenProject GmbH | JetBrains s.r.o. |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | GPL-3.0 for the OpenProject source. Enterprise add-ons need a paid token, and OpenProject Enterprise cloud runs under OpenProject's Terms of Service | Proprietary service under the JetBrains YouTrack Cloud Terms of Service. YouTrack Server is licensed separately for self-hosting |
| Tools exposed | none | 23 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-01 | 2026-10-05 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-08-06 | 2024-08-14 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2026-06-12 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | yes |
| Popularity | 16k stars | none |

## Verdicts

**OpenProject.** OpenProject's APIv3 has a public OpenAPI 3.1 document with 320 operations, stable error identifiers and optimistic locking, and the same API ships in the free GPL-3.0 Community edition. No request limits are published, API tokens carry their user's full permissions, and 83 security advisories were published in the last twelve months, 13 rated critical.

**YouTrack.** Every instance serves an OpenAPI 3.0 document, a 23-tool MCP server with OAuth and PKCE, and field selection on each REST call, and the free plan covers ten users. No rate limits, 429 handling, error reference or SLA were found, and JetBrains disclosed two sets of critical vulnerabilities affecting YouTrack Cloud in 2026, both patched.

## Before you call either

### OpenProject

1. Send the API token as `Authorization: Bearer <token>`, or as the Basic auth password with the user name `apikey`
2. Read the resource first and send its current `lockVersion` with every PATCH. A stale value returns 409 `UpdateConflict`
3. POST to the `/form` endpoint of a work package to learn writable fields and allowed values before creating or updating
4. URL-encode `filters` as a JSON array, and add `pageSize`, `offset` and `select` to keep work package lists small
5. Run the agent as a dedicated user with a narrow project role, and treat work package text and comments as untrusted input

### YouTrack

1. Send `fields` on every REST request. Without it the server returns only the database ID and `$type` of each entity
2. Page collections with `$top` and `$skip`. Most resources return 42 items by default
3. Call `get_issue_fields_schema` before `create_issue` or `update_issue`, because required custom fields differ by project
4. Connect MCP clients to `https://<instance>.youtrack.cloud/mcp`. OAuth needs an administrator to enable CIMD or register the client, since Dynamic Client Registration is not supported
5. Create permanent tokens with the YouTrack scope only, and add `?tools=` to the MCP URL to limit the tools listed

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, OpenProject or YouTrack?

OpenProject scores 57.4 (C) on agent readiness against YouTrack's 49.9 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. YouTrack leads on security & auth.

### Do OpenProject and YouTrack need an API key?

Both take an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

### Can an agent call OpenProject and YouTrack without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for OpenProject. No hosted endpoint is listed for YouTrack.

### Are OpenProject and YouTrack open source?

OpenProject is open source (GPL-3.0 for the OpenProject source. Enterprise add-ons need a paid token, and OpenProject Enterprise cloud runs under OpenProject's Terms of Service). No open-source release is listed for YouTrack.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openproject-vs-youtrack.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openproject-vs-youtrack.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "openproject", "b": "youtrack"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare openproject youtrack`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/openproject.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/youtrack.json

## Other comparisons with OpenProject or YouTrack

- [Asana vs OpenProject](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asana-vs-openproject.md)
- [Asana vs YouTrack](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asana-vs-youtrack.md)
- [Basecamp vs OpenProject](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/basecamp-vs-openproject.md)
- [Basecamp vs YouTrack](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/basecamp-vs-youtrack.md)
- [ClickUp vs OpenProject](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clickup-vs-openproject.md)
- [ClickUp vs YouTrack](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clickup-vs-youtrack.md)
- [monday.com vs OpenProject](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/monday-vs-openproject.md)
- [monday.com vs YouTrack](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/monday-vs-youtrack.md)
- [OpenProject vs Plane](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openproject-vs-plane.md)
- [OpenProject vs Roma](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openproject-vs-roma.md)
- [OpenProject vs Shortcut](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openproject-vs-shortcut.md)
- [OpenProject vs Taiga](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openproject-vs-taiga.md)
- [OpenProject vs Teamwork.com](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openproject-vs-teamwork.md)
- [OpenProject vs Todoist](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openproject-vs-todoist.md)
- [OpenProject vs Trello](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openproject-vs-trello.md)
- [OpenProject vs Wrike](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openproject-vs-wrike.md)
- [Plane vs YouTrack](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/plane-vs-youtrack.md)
- [Roma vs YouTrack](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/roma-vs-youtrack.md)
- [Shortcut vs YouTrack](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/shortcut-vs-youtrack.md)
- [Taiga vs YouTrack](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/taiga-vs-youtrack.md)
- [Teamwork.com vs YouTrack](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/teamwork-vs-youtrack.md)
- [Todoist vs YouTrack](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/todoist-vs-youtrack.md)
- [Trello vs YouTrack](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/trello-vs-youtrack.md)
- [Wrike vs YouTrack](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/wrike-vs-youtrack.md)