Jakobida is an order (sole order in the class Jakobea) of free-living, heterotrophic, flagellar eukaryotes in the clade Discoba. They are small (less than 15 μm), and can be found in aerobic and anaerobic environments. The order Jakobida, believed to be monophyletic, consists of only twenty species at present, and was classified as a group in 1993. There is ongoing research into the mitochondrial genomes of jakobids, which are unusually large and bacteria-like, evidence that jakobids may be important to the evolutionary history of eukaryotes.

Molecular phylogenetic evidence suggests strongly that jakobids are most closely related to Heterolobosea and Euglenozoa.

Jakobids have two flagella, inserted in the anterior end of the cell, and, like other members of order Excavata, have a ventral feeding groove and associated cytoskeleton support. The posterior flagella has a dorsal vane and is aligned within the ventral groove, where it generates a current that the cell uses for food intake. The nucleus is generally in the anterior part of the cell and bears a nucleolus. Most known jakobids have one mitochondrion, again located anteriorly, and different genera have flattened, tubular, or absent cristae. Food vacuoles are mostly located on the cell posterior, and in most jakobids the endoplasmic reticulum is distributed throughout the cell.

The sessile, loricate Histionidae and occasionally free-swimming Jakoba libera (Jakobidae) have extrusomes under the dorsal membrane that are theorized to be defensive structures.

Jakobids are widely dispersed, having been found in soil, freshwater, and marine habitats, but generally not common. However, environmental DNA surveys suggest that Stygiellidae are abundant in anoxic marine habitats. Some are capable of surviving hypersaline and anoxic environments, though the Histionids have only been found in freshwater ecosystems, where they attach themselves to algae or zooplankton. Outside of obligate sessile species, many species of jakobids can attach temporarily to surfaces, using either of the two flagella or the cell body itself.

All known jakobids are heterotrophic suspension feeders. Their primary prey is generally considered to be bacteria, though one species has been observed eating extremely small (< 1 μm) eukaryotic cells. Jakobids are generally slow swimmers, with low clearance rates relative to similar organisms.

No study has suggested jakobids might be pathogenic or toxic.

Since jakobids have no current commercial use, most research into jakobids has focused on their evolutionary significance. The mitochondrial DNA of jakobids is the most bacteria-like of all known eukaryotic mitochondrial DNA, suggesting that jakobid mitochondrial genomes might approximate the ancestral mitochondrial genome.