# Redmine vs YouTrack

> Redmine and YouTrack score within a point of each other for issues and tasks, 50.2 and 49.9 out of 100. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/redmine-vs-youtrack
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/redmine-vs-youtrack.md (~2,550 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/redmine-vs-youtrack.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/redmine-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

Redmine and YouTrack score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 50.2 (D) and 49.9 (D). YouTrack leads on schema & documentation, security & auth and transparency & trust. Both do issues and tasks.

- Redmine: grade D, 50.2/100, rank #777 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/redmine.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/redmine.json
- YouTrack: grade D, 49.9/100, rank #785 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/youtrack.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/youtrack.json
- Best project and task management tools for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/project-management/index.md
- All 135 projects comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/project-management/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Redmine (D)

Good for: Teams that already run Redmine or want a free, self-hosted tracker with issues, time entries and wikis under their own control.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 69 against 30
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 30
- Maintenance & community, 73 against 64

Also in its favour:
- Open source

Watch for: No OpenAPI document or other machine-readable contract was found in the wiki or the source repository

### 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:
- Schema & documentation, 72 against 32
- Security & auth, 67 against 51
- Transparency & trust, 82 against 47

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


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Redmine | YouTrack | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 69 | 30 | Redmine +39 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 32 | 72 | YouTrack +40 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 51 | 55 | YouTrack +4 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 51 | 67 | YouTrack +16 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 30 | Redmine +30 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 73 | 64 | Redmine +9 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 47 | 82 | YouTrack +35 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -4 | -5 | |
| **Total** | | **50.2 · D** | **49.9 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Redmine | YouTrack |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Redmine project | 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 | Free | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | GPL-2.0-or-later | 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 | 2026-09-30 | 2026-10-05 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | 2024-08-14 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | 2026-06-12 |
| Customer content may train models |  | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access |  | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  | yes |

## Verdicts

**Redmine.** Redmine's REST API covers issues, projects, time entries and 20 other resources, and versions 6.1 and later add OAuth 2 with one scope per permission. The software is free under the GPL. No OpenAPI document exists, most errors return a bare status code, and 24 security advisories were published in twelve months, two 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

### Redmine

1. Ask an administrator to tick Enable REST API under Administration, Settings, API. It is off by default and every call fails until then
2. Send the key in the `X-Redmine-API-Key` header, never as the `key` query parameter, and set `Content-Type: application/json` on every POST and PUT
3. Add `status_id=*` to issue lists. The default returns open issues only, 25 a page with a maximum of 100
4. Comment on an issue by sending `notes` in a PUT to `/issues/<id>.json`. There is no separate comment endpoint
5. A DELETE on a project through the API skips the confirmation the web page asks for, so run the agent as a non-administrator user

### 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, Redmine or YouTrack?

Redmine and YouTrack score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 50.2 (D) and 49.9 (D). YouTrack leads on schema & documentation, security & auth and transparency & trust.

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

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

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

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

### Are Redmine and YouTrack open source?

Redmine is open source (GPL-2.0-or-later). No open-source release is listed for YouTrack.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Redmine or YouTrack

- [Asana vs Redmine](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asana-vs-redmine.md)
- [Asana vs YouTrack](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asana-vs-youtrack.md)
- [Atlassian Rovo MCP Server vs Redmine](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/atlassian-rovo-mcp-vs-redmine.md)
- [Atlassian Rovo MCP Server vs YouTrack](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/atlassian-rovo-mcp-vs-youtrack.md)
- [Basecamp vs Redmine](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/basecamp-vs-redmine.md)
- [Basecamp vs YouTrack](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/basecamp-vs-youtrack.md)
- [ClickUp vs Redmine](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clickup-vs-redmine.md)
- [ClickUp vs YouTrack](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clickup-vs-youtrack.md)
- [Linear MCP vs Redmine](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linear-mcp-vs-redmine.md)
- [Linear MCP vs YouTrack](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linear-mcp-vs-youtrack.md)
- [monday.com vs Redmine](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/monday-vs-redmine.md)
- [monday.com vs YouTrack](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/monday-vs-youtrack.md)
- [OpenProject vs Redmine](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openproject-vs-redmine.md)
- [OpenProject vs YouTrack](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openproject-vs-youtrack.md)
- [Plane vs Redmine](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/plane-vs-redmine.md)
- [Plane vs YouTrack](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/plane-vs-youtrack.md)
- [Redmine vs Roma](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/redmine-vs-roma.md)
- [Redmine vs Shortcut](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/redmine-vs-shortcut.md)
- [Redmine vs Taiga](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/redmine-vs-taiga.md)
- [Redmine vs Teamwork.com](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/redmine-vs-teamwork.md)
- [Redmine vs Todoist](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/redmine-vs-todoist.md)
- [Redmine vs Trello](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/redmine-vs-trello.md)
- [Redmine vs Wrike](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/redmine-vs-wrike.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)