Jira dependency apps compared: maps, planners and risk views

Blockline is our app. It is under Risk views below: Jira’s own way comes before any app, and each other app’s strength is stated from its own listing. Facts checked 7 October 2026; the listings change, so check them again before you choose.

Teams look for a dependency app when Jira’s own views stop at the edge of a space. The apps that answer fall into three kinds, and the right one depends on the question you are asking. This page sets them side by side, starting with what Jira already does.

Which kind fits

• You plan programmes, with dates, capacity and scenarios: a portfolio suite, or Plans on Premium.
• You want to see the web of links, and edit it from the picture: a dependency map.
• You want to know which epics are at risk from other teams’ work, with the reason and who to call: a risk view.

What Jira does first

• The timeline draws dependencies between epics of one space, with the Blocks link type, red when the dates overlap (Atlassian).
• Jira Plans, on Premium and Enterprise, draws dependencies between any issues in a plan and has a dependencies report (Atlassian). Its dependencies are ordinary issue links, Blocks by default. If your site is on Premium and someone keeps a plan up to date, start there: it is already paid for.
• A JQL search such as issueLinkType = "is blocked by" lists blocked work in every space on any plan, without the state of what blocks it (Cross-team dependencies in Jira, without Premium).

Portfolio suites and planners

• BigPicture, by Appfire: portfolio management with Gantt charts, resource and capacity planning, what-if scenarios, and cross-team dependencies on its boards and roadmaps (listing).
• Structure by Tempo: spreadsheet-like hierarchies of issues from across your spaces, with formulas and roll-ups, for portfolio, capacity and progress tracking (listing).
• Easy Agile Programs: a programme board for PI planning, where teams plan features, milestones and cross-team dependencies together, and the board shows the dependencies in conflict (listing).

Each is the right choice when you need to plan: dates, capacity, a programme increment. All three are in Atlassian’s Cloud Fortified programme and list SOC 2 among their certifications. Each is built around something you set up and keep, a portfolio, a structure or a programme board, and all three are priced above the maps below. By each listing’s Privacy and security tab, all three process and store data outside Atlassian. If your question is “what will we deliver, with whom, by when?”, look here.

Dependency maps

• Dependency Map, by FindOut: a graph of the links between issues, laid out in swimlanes by team or release, where you can add, change and delete links in the map (listing).
• Links Hierarchy, by Kintosoft: a tree of an issue’s links opened from any epic or story, with progress roll-ups, and a matrix where links can be created and deleted (listing).
• Dependency Mapper, by Quirk: charts of your links, among them a matrix, a topology and a timeline, and gadgets for dashboards (listing).

They are quick to install and good at showing the shape of a dependency web across spaces. All three are free for up to 10 users, and by each listing’s Privacy and security tab none of them processes or stores data outside Atlassian. If your question is “what is linked to what?”, look here.

Risk views

Blockline judges the links instead of drawing them. It reads the Blocks links your teams already make and judges every epic against seven rules: a blocker due after the epic’s date, one with no date, one still To Do close to the date, one in progress for two weeks or more, one with no assignee and no sprint, a circular dependency, and work past its own date (How risk is judged). Each flag is one sentence with the blocker, the story it comes through and where its date came from, and the worst level rolls up from stories to epics and initiatives. The team that holds others up sees whose work it makes late; a team matrix counts the open dependencies between each pair of spaces; a map draws one epic’s chain.

It is built on Forge and read-only: it cannot add or change a link, and your data never leaves your Atlassian site. It does not plan: no Gantt, no capacity, no dates moved. If your question is “which of our epics will slip because of another team, and why?”, look here.

Trying them

All the apps here but Structure are free for up to 10 users, the paid plans come with Atlassian’s 30-day free trial, and each listing’s Pricing tab gives the cost for your site. Install two on a test space with real links and compare what each tells you about the same epic. Whichever you choose, it needs the same data from your teams: one link type in one direction, a date on both ends and an owner on every blocker (What data your teams need). More on the Blockline home page.

BigPicture and Appfire, Structure and Tempo, Easy Agile Programs and Easy Agile, Dependency Map and FindOut, Links Hierarchy and Kintosoft, and Dependency Mapper and Quirk are trademarks of their owners; this page is not affiliated with or endorsed by them.