Bugs happen. Even the smartest web development teams can’t avoid them entirely. That’s because bugs can occur for various reasons — operating system changes, browser incompatibilities, and small errors, to name a few. 

The best way to prepare for these different issues is to implement a comprehensive bug-tracking system for capturing, tracking, and resolving them as you detect them.

Thankfully, bug reporting software is a well-established industry with many options on the market. Products called bug-tracking tools or defect trackers help your team develop a robust system to keep your operation running smoothly when pesky bugs skitter into your workflow.

Why do you need a bug-tracking system?

Any development team can encounter the many forms of website bugs, such as dead links, missing pages, and broken navigation. As you discover such glitches, it’s essential to have a system for intake, execution, and tracking. Without a methodical troubleshooting approach, your team will lose vital time and effort addressing repetitive issues. A proper bug-tracking system addresses the complex, time-sensitive nature of identifying problems and diagnosing causes before implementing an action plan. 

Here are the primary benefits you’ll gain from a robust bug-tracking plan.

Reduced disruption

Bugs are not easy to anticipate, and managing them disrupts your team’s workflow by adding extra labor and taking time away from normal operations. Even with a tracking system in place, malfunctions will still cause disturbance, but their overall impact lessens when you have a plan to combine and prioritize issues as they arise. 

Improved product results

To promote overall site performance, your development team must view bugs on the whole, rather than as isolated incidents. A bug-tracking system provides product managers and developers with a high-level view, identifying connections between issues, such as shared CSS classes or similarly-broken interactions. Spotting these connections may reveal solutions that address multiple problems at once.

Increased customer satisfaction

Customers tend to forgive even the most egregious malfunction when they feel the developers are working to fix it. A properly updated bug-tracking system gives community managers the information they need to share progress updates with your user base via announcements and newsletters. This transparency creates a culture of camaraderie and trust, discouraging users from fleeing en masse when your product faces a glitch.

4 elements of bug and issue tracking

Bugs can easily slip through the cracks without critical tracking components working together as a well-oiled machine. As you develop your bug-tracking project plan, map out these steps so your tool is ready to usher bugs through each resolution stage.

1. Detect

The most crucial part of a sound bug-tracking system is finding and capturing the bug. Reports come from many sources, such as support calls and user reviews. You might also detect problems when you measure your site’s performance regularly. Your team must be capable of detecting issues as soon as they appear so they can act on them swiftly.

After detecting a bug, determine its urgency. Typically, the more the bug negatively impacts the user experience, the more immediately you should treat it. This information determines which priority to assign the problem, informing how and when to solve it in your development cycle.

2. Track

Some bugs can resolve during a single development cycle, while others require more effort to identify and get rid of. Either way, your bug-tracking system must maintain a steady cadence of checking progress toward resolution. This information is vital for your community managers, who need to report progress to their audience regularly. 

3. Resolve

Your tracking approach should use a system of assignees, standard operating procedures (SOPs), and messages so developers and managers can resolve issues according to an optimized plan. This formal process makes it clear who’s doing the work and when. 

Here’s an example of how a team may approach a website bug:

• A user leaves a review pointing out slow load times.
• Your community manager notices this review and files a ticket in your bug-tracking software. They fill out a template that prompts them to provide relevant information about the issue.
• Your product manager assigns the ticket to a developer and adds a message to suggest a timeline for fixing it.
• The developer implements performance optimizations that improve loading times and assigns the bug back to the product manager for validation.
• The product manager validates that the fix worked and then closes the bug.

4. Monitor

Even after you’ve resolved a bug, it’s best practice to keep monitoring the problem. The resolution might only work temporarily, which you’ll never know if you immediately stop assessing your fix. If you need help, there are monitoring tools like Pingdom and Site24x7 that can surface issues or keep an eye on problem areas. 

How to choose the right bug-tracking tool

To select the right system for your team, consider the essential elements that make an optimal bug-tracking solution. Some features may be more or less critical to your team, so weigh them carefully when selecting a tool.

Functionality

Some tracking tools are comprehensive task-monitoring apps with a wide variety of features. Others are specialized, offering a select suite of functions to serve a particular need. Consider which capabilities your team needs before selecting a bug-tracking tool.

Here are some standard features you might want from a tracking resource: 

• Kanban board
• Assignees
• Customizable workflows
• Issue templates
• Access control

Interface

With all those features vying for importance, it’s easy for a bug-tracking tool’s interface to get messy. The best solutions use a combination of color coding, intuitive design, and careful simplification, resulting in a straightforward product. It’s best practice to try demos for many different products before selecting one to use long-term.

Integrations

Many bug-tracking tools have APIs enabling other software to share information. This feature allows for convenient functions like generating reports from email or advancing the troubleshooting workflow from within a collaborative tool like Slack or Microsoft Teams. These features might seem small, but the time they save adds up quickly.

8 excellent bug-tracking tools in 2024

Now that you know what goes into a smart bug-tracking tool, it’s time to explore the leading solutions in 2024. The following products earn high marks for their interfaces, functionality, and integration support.

1. ClickUp

ClickUp is relatively new to the scene, but they’ve quickly garnered widespread respect for developing a comprehensive yet easy-to-use task-tracking app. Enjoy the features you need to track glitches, like a Kanban board, assignees, and customizable workflows — all with an intuitive interface. It also supports integrations with Slack, Teams, and Google Drive.

2. Trello

Trello is a powerful task management tool that tracks issues visually via intuitive cards and boards. The board layouts are infinitely customizable, and the access control, time tracking, and assignee features are as robust as they come. 

Trello’s free version offers plenty of basic features, but you’ll need to upgrade to its premium plan ($10/month/user) if you need complete admin control and access to key features like calendars and dashboards.

3. Bugzilla

Bugzilla has been around since 1998, offering its service for free and updating regularly. It doesn’t provide as many features as its competitors, like Kanban boards or assignees, but it does offer an intelligent time-tracking tool and duplicate bug detection. For the price tag, Bugzilla delivers a valuable experience that can serve your team’s basic needs.

4. Zoho

Zoho has a massive library of products, many of which integrate well with one another. Zoho’s Bug Tracker is a comprehensive, feature-complete tool that supports assignees, custom workflows, and Kanban boards. It’s relatively easy to use with its intuitive design. But if you need to track many issues, you’ll want the premium subscription ($7/month/user) for up to 120GB of storage.

5. Asana

Asana is a streamlined task management tool that offers assignees, custom fields, and a Kanban board. Its custom workflow builder is impressively powerful and easy to use. It even tracks the time your teams take to move through each stage and delivers a report regularly.

6. Redmine

Redmine is a free, open-source bug-tracking tool with a pared-down but useful feature set. It includes access control, a shareable calendar, and custom workflows. But it relies on its few supported integrations to offer other features. For example, integrating with Orangutan enables time-tracking features, and implementing a webhook in Zabbix allows for automatic ticket generation.

7. Jira

Jira is an industry leader in project management and defect-tracking software. It offers all the features of its competitors, like custom workflows, templates, and access control. That said, Jira has a steep learning curve. Its search function requires a proprietary query language (JQL), access control is complex, and UI is less intuitive. It’s an incredible tool, but you’ll need to invest significant time into learning and introducing it.

8. Bird Eats Bug

Bird Eats Bug offers a revolutionary way to catch and report bugs. While it's less effective than its competitors in tracking bugs, it stands out with its ability to harness them. This tool offers an intuitive browser extension that enables QA testers to capture bugs and report detailed logs with minimal button clicks. These reports can then transfer to tracking tools like Jira and Trello to automate task creation. With Bird Eats Bug, you can record your session and play it back to detect bugs without opening the developer console.

Move beyond the glitch with Webflow

Bug tracking relies on accurate, timely information. With Webflow, you can see a comprehensive log of site changes, helping you diagnose and resolve website issues as soon as they arise. If you encounter a particularly challenging bug, check out Webflow University for troubleshooting tips from our team of qualified experts.