# ZenHub — Project Management & Collaboration

ZenHub by ZenHub holds a panel rating of 3/5 from 6 AI judges (category median 3/5), as of 2026-11-03. Provenance: provenance unknown; sovereignty: not determined.

- Vendor: ZenHub (https://www.zenhub.com)
- Category: [Project Management & Collaboration](https://whats-best.ai/software/project-management.md)
- Provenance (editorial classification): provenance unknown
- Canonical page: https://whats-best.ai/software/project-management/zenhub
- Alternatives: https://whats-best.ai/software/project-management/zenhub/alternatives ([markdown](https://whats-best.ai/software/project-management/zenhub/alternatives.md))
- Data as of: 2026-11-04 · evaluated 2026-11-03 · oldest source captured 2026-11-03

**AI-generated.** Every score, rationale and verdict here is written by a panel of AI judges from public evidence — an analysis, not a hands-on test. Every fact quotes the vendor page it was read from. No score can be bought. How scores are made: https://whats-best.ai/methodology

## At a glance

- Vendor: ZenHub
- Headquarters: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 3 Nov 2026
- Data hosting: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 3 Nov 2026
- Free plan: Yes, per the vendor’s own page [S1]

## The panel's verdict

ZenHub is a project management and collaboration product built around GitHub, scoring highest on collaboration depth — a flat 8 — on company-wide timelines, directional dependencies across hierarchy levels, and custom roles and permissions. Integrations scores 6-7 on the strength of the developer surface: a GraphQL API with read and write, signature-validated webhooks and an MCP server for AI clients, though the documented native integrations are GitHub and Slack. Reporting scores 6-7 on a fixed catalogue — Release Report, Lead & Cycle Time, Team Velocity, velocity-based forecast end dates — and we found no public information on budget or utilization reporting, dashboards or scheduled delivery. Sovereignty is the one flagged split, spanning 2 to 6 — the widest range of any criterion: on-premise and private cloud deployment behind your firewall is documented, but we found no public information on legal jurisdiction, data residency, a DPA or subprocessors, and the judges weigh that control differently. Support documentation scores 6-7; we found no public information on support channels, response times or SLAs. Pricing transparency scores 2-3; we found no public information on any paid-tier figure.

**Speaks for it:**
- Collaboration depth holds at 8, on company-wide timelines spanning every workspace and directional dependencies drawn across hierarchy levels.
- A GraphQL API with read and write, signature-validated webhooks, published rate limits and an MCP server exposes the product's data to AI clients.
- Teammates without a ZenHub account can create issues and comment on synced Slack threads.
- A free tier, an interactive demo and default pipelines get a GitHub-native team started without a sales call.
- The help center is current and detailed, with a changelog entry dated 8 September 2026 and enterprise release notes listing supported GitHub Enterprise versions.

**Held against it:**
- A shared Timeline link requires a ZenHub account to view, so outside collaborators are routed through Slack.
- We found no public information on support channels, response times or SLAs, by plan or otherwise.
- We found no public information on budget or utilization reporting, dashboards or scheduled delivery beyond the three named reports.
- Beyond GitHub and Slack, we found no public information on native connectors for calendar, Teams, file storage or automation platforms.
- We found no public information on legal jurisdiction, data residency, a DPA or subprocessors, though on-premise and private cloud deployment is documented.

**Best for:**
- Your engineering team already works in GitHub and wants planning boards, timelines and reporting layered onto existing repositories and issues.
- You want to build custom automations or AI tooling on a documented GraphQL API, webhooks and an MCP server.
- You need to deploy on-premise or in a private cloud behind your own firewall, in Kubernetes or virtual-machine form.
- You plan across many teams and need a company-wide view of projects and epics from every workspace.

**Avoid if:**
- You must clear a procurement or data-protection review with a documented DPA, legal jurisdiction and subprocessor list in hand.
- You need to share timeline views with outside stakeholders who will not hold ZenHub accounts.
- Your stack depends on native connectors beyond GitHub and Slack, the only deep integrations the pages document.
- Your reporting needs run to budget, utilization or scheduled delivery rather than the three named reports.

## Scores by judge and criterion

Scores out of 5, each judge scoring independently against the published rubric (v1). "n/r" = not rated: the vendor publishes no price, or the judge found no public information on that criterion.

| Criterion | The Data Protection Officer | The Bootstrapper | The Enterprise Architect | The UX Purist | The Integrator | The Skeptic |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Collaboration depth | 4/5 | 4/5 | 4/5 | 4/5 | 4/5 | 4/5 |
| Reporting | 3.5/5 | 3/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 |
| Integrations | 3.5/5 | 3/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 |
| Onboarding effort | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3/5 | 3.5/5 | 3/5 | 2.5/5 |
| European sovereignty | 1.5/5 | 1/5 | 3/5 | 2/5 | 2.5/5 | 2/5 |
| Support & documentation | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 |
| Pricing transparency | n/r | n/r | n/r | n/r | n/r | n/r |
| **Weighted verdict** | **2.5/5** | **3.5/5** | **3.5/5** | **3.5/5** | **3.5/5** | **3/5** |

### The judges

- **The Data Protection Officer** (v1.0): Reads the DPA before the feature list. Optimizes for GDPR posture: EU hosting, subprocessor exposure, deletion guarantees. Rejects anything that cannot answer where the data lives.
- **The Bootstrapper** (v1.2): Pays with their own card. Optimizes for price/value at 3 seats and at 30, a usable free tier, and a price page that answers instead of qualifying. Rejects hidden seat minimums and "contact sales".
- **The Enterprise Architect** (v1.0): Buys for two hundred seats and answers for it later. Optimizes for SSO/SCIM, permissions, audit trails, certifications and a clean exit. Rejects anything that cannot survive procurement.
- **The UX Purist** (v1.0): Measures time-to-first-value with a stopwatch. Optimizes for clarity, density and software that teaches itself. Rejects fourteen-step setups and empty screens that offer no way forward.
- **The Integrator** (v1.0): Lives in the API docs before the product tour. Optimizes for webhooks, import/export and a tool that plays well in a stack. Rejects closed ecosystems and CSV-only exits.
- **The Skeptic** (v1.2): Assumes the marketing is lying until the evidence says otherwise. Hunts lock-in, dark patterns, hidden cost and dead changelogs. Exists to keep the rest of the panel honest.

## European sovereignty — proven facts

Built only from facts on the vendor's own pages; a dimension we could not prove is left open, never scored as zero. Headline: not determined.

| Dimension | Finding | Points | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal entity | Not determined | — | — |
| Hosting location | Not determined | — | — |
| Hosting options | Not determined | — | — |
| Open source | Not determined | — | — |
| Data processing agreement | Not determined | — | — |
| Transfer impact assessment | Not determined | — | — |

## Key facts

Each fact is the vendor's own statement, cited to the source page it was read from ([S*n*] → Sources).

**Compliance**
- Authentication integrations: yes · yes · yes · yes · yes [S2]

**Hosting**
- On premise: yes [S1]
- Private cloud option: yes · yes · yes [S2]

**Integrations**
- API docs: yes [S2]
- API documentation URL: developers.zenhub.com [S6]
- API explorer: yes [S6]
- API read write: yes · yes [S6]
- API type: GraphQL [S6]
- Github: yes [S1]
- Mcp requirements: Zenhub API token · workspace ID (24-character) · Node.js [S6]
- Mcp server: Zenhub GraphQL API · Claude Code · Cursor · Windsurf · Gemini CLI · Claude Desktop · yes [S6]
- Rate limiting: yes [S6]
- Slack admin requirement: yes [S7]
- Slack channel workspace connection: any Slack workspace member can connect channels to Zenhub workspaces after org connection [S7]
- Slack comment no account: no [S7]
- Slack create issues: create issues from Slack via /zenhub issue command [S7]
- Slack github account note: no · yes [S7]
- Slack issue thread sync mechanism: sync issue with Slack thread by pasting issue link and confirming via Zenhub bot [S7]
- Slack not connected by default: channel connection alone does not send updates; updates require synced threads [S7]
- Slack two way sync: real-time two-way sync between Zenhub issue and Slack thread [S7]
- Third party sync: yes [S6]
- Token authentication: API token tied to user account, inherits user permissions [S6]
- Webhooks: issue created, modified, moved between pipelines · yes · yes [S6]

**Legal**
- Not affiliated github: no [S2]

**Pricing**
- Enterprise plan: yes [S1]

**Product**
- AI automation: sprint planning assistance · AI-generated summaries [S1]
- Audit logs: yes [S2]
- Card metadata toggles: repositories, labels, sprints, parent issues, milestones, estimates, dependencies [S3]
- Changelog date: 2026-09-08 [S5]
- Color schemes: Project status green/yellow/red · Zenhub theme [S4]
- Company wide cross workspace: yes [S4]
- Company wide tab: yes [S4]
- Custom roles permissions: yes [S2]
- Date setting: start/end dates set by dragging or calendar interface [S4]
- Demo available: yes [S1]
- Dependencies: yes [S4]
- Dependencies cross level: yes [S4]
- Deployment types: Zenhub Server for Kubernetes · Zenhub Server for Virtual Machines [S2]
- Engineering investment report: Engineering Investment Report (EIR) available [S1]
- Enterprize features: capacity planning · sprint automation [S1]
- Export filters: date range · projects · epics [S4]
- Export formats: PNG · SVG · CSV [S4]
- Filters: filter by name, issue type, and open/closed status; sort and manual reorder [S4]
- Forecast source: completed sprints and issues [S4]
- Free tier: yes [S1]
- Github integration: Zenhub is project management that runs in GitHub [S1]
- Github integration: yes [S2]
- Github roadmap migration: existing Roadmap data automatically migrated to Timeline [S4]
- Goals planning separation: Goals & Planning Panel issues hidden from Work Tracker by design [S3]
- Hierarchy custom terminology: yes [S4]
- Hierarchy levels: yes · 3 [S4]
- Hierarchy structure: Initiatives [S4]
- Higher level issues hidden default: Initiative · Project · Epic · yes [S3]
- Impact metrics: 30 · 95 · 4-6 [S1]
- Interactive demo: yes [S1]
- Invite changelog date: 2022-12 [S8]
- Invite registration indication: During registration, invited new team members see an indication to join the Zenhub organizations they were invited to [S8]
- Issue create options: yes · yes [S4]
- Issue history log: per-issue event log; no workspace-wide change log [S3]
- Issue type filter combinable: yes [S5]
- Issue type filter exclusion: yes [S5]
- Issue type filter gh zh types: yes · yes · yes [S5]
- Key dates: yes [S4]
- Level4 toggle: yes [S4]
- Multi project workspaces: yes [S2]
- My work aggregation: yes [S3]
- On premise deployment: yes [S2]
- Predicted end dates: historical velocity data · yes · yes [S4]
- Progress breakdown: breakdown: date ranges, sub-issue counts, story point totals, workflow states [S4]
- Progress calculation modes: percentage of story points · percentage of issues · count of issues · count of story points [S4]
- Progress tracking: GitHub activity · yes [S4]
- Reporting: advanced reporting with real-time insights from GitHub data [S1]
- Reports issue type filter: issue type · Release Report · Lead & Cycle Time · Team Velocity · yes [S5]
- Scaling capacity: 50 to 500+ [S2]
- Share link: yes · yes [S4]
- Slack integration description: Slack integration for creating, commenting on, and receiving updates about Zenhub issues [S7]
- Sprint release planning: yes [S2]
- Thor: Thor: AI-native project that converts Slack, meetings, GitHub and Linear activity into tracked work [S1]
- Time scale: weeks · months · quarters · years [S4]
- Timeline gantt: gantt-style view of long-term projects integrated with Goals & Planning Panel [S4]
- View options: key dates · dependencies · sprints · predicted end dates [S4]
- View options modes: Condensed view, Multi Column Pipelines, Pipeline descriptions [S3]
- Vm to kubernetes migration: no · yes [S2]
- Work hierarchy: Objectives · Projects · Epics · Tasks · Sub-tasks [S1]
- Work tracker bulk operations: multi-select bulk actions: assignees, labels, move pipelines, set priority [S3]
- Work tracker default pipelines: New Issues, Icebox, Product Backlog, Sprint Backlog, In Progress, Review/QA, Done, Closed; customizable [S3]
- Work tracker filter logic: ANY/ALL matching modes plus NOT: prefix exclusion [S3]
- Work tracker filters: Parent, Label, Sprint, Assignee, Release, Estimate, Author, Milestone [S3]
- Work tracker hierarchy levels: Next level down and Show all levels views [S3]
- Work tracker high priority pin: yes [S3]
- Work tracker issue type filter: yes [S5]
- Work tracker pipeline customization: rename/add/remove pipelines; Closed column fixed on right [S3]
- Work tracker saved views: Save as new view; shareable via URL with filters embedded [S3]
- Work tracker story points: yes [S3]
- Work tracker view options per user: yes [S3]
- Workflow automation: yes [S2]
- Workspace scoped: yes [S4]

**Support**
- API: yes [S1]
- Github enterprise versions reference: supported GitHub Enterprise versions listed in Enterprise release notes [S2]
- Help center: Getting Started · Help center · Troubleshooting · Product changelog · Enterprise release notes [S1]
- Service account tokens: Service account tokens recommended for team applications [S6]

## Questions

### Is ZenHub European?

Not determined: the vendor’s pages as captured do not say where ZenHub is based.

### Where does ZenHub store data?

Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 3 Nov 2026.

### Does ZenHub have a free plan?

Yes. ZenHub has a free plan, per [the vendor’s page captured 3 Nov 2026](https://whats-best.ai/evidence/17613).

### What are the best alternatives to ZenHub?

As of 3 Nov 2026, the panel rates [awork (4/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/project-management/awork), [InLoox (4/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/project-management/inloox) and [Kantree (4/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/project-management/kantree) highest among the other 64 Project Management & Collaboration products evaluated. Ratings that look equal are rounded to half stars; the order uses the unrounded rating, then the name. The highest-rated European alternative is [awork](https://whats-best.ai/software/project-management/awork) (EU-Made). Ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence: [how scores are made](https://whats-best.ai/methodology#ordering). The full list, with European products first: [ZenHub alternatives](https://whats-best.ai/software/project-management/zenhub/alternatives).

## What this page leaves out

- 1 hosting fact could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and was left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 1 sovereignty dimension could not be confirmed on the vendor’s own pages and is shown as unknown.

## Sources

- [S1] Vendor page: https://www.zenhub.com (checked 2026-11-03)
- [S2] Self-hosting / on-premises installation docs — found from the homepage: https://www.zenhub.com/enterprise (checked 2026-11-03)
- [S3] Collaboration depth — found from sitemap: https://support.zenhub.com/article/how-do-i-manage-issues-on-the-work-tracker-board (checked 2026-11-03)
- [S4] Reporting — found from sitemap: https://support.zenhub.com/article/timeline-planning (checked 2026-11-03)
- [S5] Reporting — found from sitemap: https://support.zenhub.com/article/sep-2026-filter-reports-by-issue-type (checked 2026-11-03)
- [S6] Integrations — found from sitemap: https://support.zenhub.com/article/api-integration (checked 2026-11-03)
- [S7] Integrations — found from sitemap: https://support.zenhub.com/article/slack-integration (checked 2026-11-03)
- [S8] Onboarding effort — found from sitemap: https://support.zenhub.com/article/redeeming-invites-at-onboarding (checked 2026-11-03)

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Cite as: whats-best.ai, "ZenHub — Project Management & Collaboration", AI panel analysis, as of 2026-11-04. https://whats-best.ai/software/project-management/zenhub

Corrections: https://whats-best.ai/correct/1477?target=page