Got Less Than 20 Developers? Jellyfish Won't Even Talk to You
Plus their data is "regularly wrong" and requires "near-perfect Jira hygiene" (spoiler: nobody has that)
The Jellyfish Reality Nobody Talks About
I talked to five teams who tried Jellyfish. Want to know what actually happened?
Month One: "Sorry, You're Too Small"
You've got 18 developers. Growing fast. Board wants metrics. You reach out to Jellyfish.
Sales won't even schedule a demo. Twenty developer minimum. Call us when you're bigger.
Six months later you hit 20. Finally get the demo. Sign the contract. $73K/year. Whatever, board approved it.
Month Two: The Data is Garbage
Implementation team arrives. "We need you to clean up your Jira." Right. Your startup Jira that's been organically evolving for three years. Sure, we'll just make that perfect real quick.
Dashboard finally loads. Numbers are wrong. Like, obviously wrong. Shows developers who left six months ago. Says your team shipped 47 features last sprint. You shipped 3.
Support: "The data is only as good as your Jira hygiene." Cool. So we're paying $73K for a tool that only works if we maintain perfection in a system that's designed to be messy?
Month Six: The CFO Talk
Your CFO pulls you into a meeting. "We're spending $73K on Jellyfish. What are we getting?"
Good question. You've got allocation reports for the board. Resource utilization dashboards. Investment categories breaking down growth vs maintenance vs support.
But your PRs still sit for days. Deployments are still slow. You still don't know why. The tool tells you WHERE resources are going. Not whether they're going to the right place.
With us? Different story. Works with 3 developers or 300. Data is right from day one because we don't rely on perfect Jira. We tell you what's actually broken and how to fix it. For $29/dev/month, not $73K.
Why Teams Look for Jellyfish Alternatives
Common frustrations and how TeamOnTrack addresses them
Enterprise-Only Focus
Jellyfish Problem: Built exclusively for large enterprises with 20+ developer minimums. Smaller teams are literally unable to use the platform.
TeamOnTrack Solution: Works equally well for a 3-person startup or a 300-person enterprise. Same features, scaled pricing.
Complex Allocation System
Jellyfish Problem: Requires extensive setup of resource allocation, project mapping, and business alignment that takes weeks to configure.
TeamOnTrack Solution: AI automatically understands your work patterns. No manual allocation or mapping needed.
Opaque Enterprise Pricing
Jellyfish Problem: No public pricing. Multiple sales calls required. Often costs $50K+ annually for small teams.
TeamOnTrack Solution: Transparent pricing on our website. Start at $29/developer/month. No surprises, no negotiations.
Finance-First, Engineering Second
Jellyfish Problem: Designed for finance teams to track engineering costs, not for engineering teams to improve productivity.
TeamOnTrack Solution: Built by engineers, for engineers. Focus on shipping better code faster, not cost accounting.
Who Each Platform Is Really For
Understanding the fundamental difference in approach
Choose TeamOnTrack If You:
- Want insights today, not next quarter
- Care more about shipping than reporting
- Have a team of any size (1-1000+)
- Need actionable recommendations
- Want transparent, predictable pricing
- Prefer self-service tools
- Focus on developer productivity
Jellyfish Might Work If You:
- Have 20+ developers minimum
- Need detailed cost allocation
- Have dedicated implementation team
- Focus on business alignment metrics
- Have $50K+ annual budget
- Want vendor-managed service
- Prioritize financial reporting
Real-World Implementation Comparison
What actually happens when you implement each platform
TeamOnTrack Timeline
Day 1 (5 minutes)
Connect GitHub/GitLab, see first insights
Day 1 (30 minutes)
Connect Jira/Linear, get full workflow analysis
Day 2
Receive first AI recommendations
Week 1
Team adopting suggested improvements
Week 2-3
Measurable productivity improvements
Jellyfish Timeline
Week 1-2
Sales calls, demos, contract negotiation
Week 3-4
Implementation kickoff, tool connections
Week 5-6
Configure allocations, map projects
Week 7-8
Training sessions, dashboard setup
Month 3+
Begin seeing meaningful data
From a Former Jellyfish Customer
"Jellyfish required constant maintenance—every sprint we had to update allocations and mappings. The finance team loved the cost reports, but developers got zero value. TeamOnTrack just works. It understands our workflow without configuration and gives engineers insights they actually use. We're shipping 30% more features with the same team."
— CTO, Series B startup (15 developers)
Transparent Pricing vs Enterprise Black Box
Know exactly what you'll pay before you start
TeamOnTrack Pricing
$29
per developer per month
- All features included
- No minimum team size
- 21-day free trial
- Cancel anytime
- Volume discounts available
Jellyfish Pricing
???
Contact sales for quote
- 20+ developer minimum
- Typically $50K+ annually
- Demo only, no trial
- Annual contracts required
- Implementation fees extra