Linear
An issue tracker fast enough that people actually keep it updated.
- Development
- Productivity
- from $10/mo
Linear is issue tracking and project planning for software teams, built around speed, keyboard navigation and a deliberately narrow feature set. It is the direct reaction to configurable trackers: fewer options, strong opinions about how software gets shipped, and an interface that responds instantly.
Linear: the short answer
Every line below is drawn from facts verified on 9 August 2026.
- What it is
- An issue tracker fast enough that people actually keep it updated
- Best for
- Product and engineering teams shipping continuously
- Starts at
- Free for up to 250 issues; Basic $10 per user/month
- Free option
- Free plan available, 14 days on Business trial
- Biggest strength
- Genuinely fast, with keyboard navigation throughout
- Biggest drawback
- 250-issue limit on Free arrives quickly for an active team
- Closest alternative
- Jira - Far more configurable, and the reason many teams moved to Linear
- True annual cost
- from $120 a year at the cheapest paid tier
Linear at a glance
| Best for | Product and engineering teams shipping continuously, Teams that abandoned a heavier tracker for being slow, Organisations happy to adopt an opinionated workflow |
|---|---|
| Category | Development, Productivity |
| Starting price | Free for up to 250 issues; Basic $10 per user/month |
| Free plan | Yes |
| Free trial | 14 days on Business |
| Pricing model | freemium |
| Company | Linear Orbit, Inc. |
| Founded | 2019 |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California, United States |
| Founders | Karri Saarinen, Tuomas Artman, Jori Lallo |
| Platforms | Web, Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android |
| Public API | Yes |
| Browser extension | No |
| Mobile apps | iOS + Android |
| Self-hosting | No |
| Affiliate programme | No |
| Data source | Vendor pricing page and public records |
| Last checked | August 2026 |
Linear pricing
Prices below were read from the vendor's own pricing page on 9 August 2026. Pricing model: freemium. Free trial: 14 days on Business.
| Plan | Price | Billing | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | per month | Unlimited members, 2 teams, 250 issues, agent platform |
| Basic | $10 | per month | per user, billed yearly - 5 teams, unlimited issues and file uploads, admin roles |
| Business | $16 | per month | per user, billed yearly - Unlimited teams, private teams, Triage Intelligence, Linear Insights |
| Enterprise | Custom | Negotiated | Annual billing only. SAML, SCIM and granular admin controls |
What Linear actually costs over a year
A monthly price is not the same thing as a monthly contract. These are the plans above multiplied out to twelve months, per seat or unit where the plan is charged that way.
| Plan | Monthly | Over 12 months |
|---|---|---|
| Basicper user, billed yearly | $10 | $120 |
| Businessper user, billed yearly | $16 | $192 |
Which Linear plan should you buy?
| Your situation | Recommended | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A small team wants to try it | Free | Unlimited members but only 250 issues. The issue cap is what forces the upgrade, not team size. |
| You ship software continuously | Basic | $10 per user billed yearly for unlimited issues and 5 teams. |
| You need unlimited teams, private teams and Insights | Business | $16 per user, and where larger engineering organisations land. |
| You need SAML and SCIM | Enterprise | Annual billing only, and an identity requirement rather than a workflow one. |
| You track marketing or operations work | Do not buy Linear | Linear is opinionated about software delivery. Asana or ClickUp fit non-engineering work far better. |
| You need configurable approval workflows | Consider Jira instead | Linear's opinions are the point, and they exclude bespoke workflow configuration. |
Verdict by who you are
Product and engineering teamYes
Fast, keyboard-driven and opinionated. Teams that left Jira for being slow generally do not go back.
Startup wanting to move quicklyYes
No administrator required, because the workflow decisions are already made for you.
Marketing or operations teamNo
Wrong shape entirely. This is built for shipping software.
Enterprise needing configurable processNo
Jira is configurable; Linear deliberately is not.
Team needing capacity planningCompare first
Insights help, but detailed resource planning is not what Linear does.
Should you buy Linear?
Buy Linear if…
- Product and engineering teams shipping continuously
- Teams that abandoned a heavier tracker for being slow
- Organisations happy to adopt an opinionated workflow
Do not buy Linear if…
- Non-software work such as marketing or operations
- Organisations needing configurable approval workflows
- Teams requiring detailed resource and capacity planning
Key features
- Extremely fast interface with full keyboard control
- Cycles for time-boxed iteration planning
- Projects and roadmaps spanning multiple teams
- Triage for routing incoming issues
- Automatic issue linking from Git branches and pull requests
- Linear Insights for delivery analytics on Business
- Linear Asks for intake through Slack
- Agent platform for AI-assisted issue work
Integrations
- GitHub and GitLab
- Slack
- Figma
- Sentry
- Zendesk and Intercom on Business
- Linear GraphQL API
Linear screenshots
Captured by us in August 2026 at 1440px, unedited. Interfaces change, so these show the product as it looked on the date we verified this profile. Vendors localise pricing by visitor region, so a pricing screenshot may display a different currency to the USD figures recorded above.
Our assessment
Linear is the clearest example in this directory of constraint as a feature. It refuses most of the configurability that makes [Jira](/software/jira/) powerful, and in exchange it is fast enough that engineers keep it current, which is the only property that actually determines whether a tracker works. Cycles, Triage and automatic Git linking encode a specific way of shipping software, and if your process resembles it the tool disappears into the background. If it does not, you will be fighting Linear rather than configuring it. The free tier's 250-issue cap is the constraint to watch.
What works in Linear
- Genuinely fast, with keyboard navigation throughout
- Opinionated defaults mean almost no configuration work
- Excellent Git integration that updates issues automatically
- Free tier allows unlimited members rather than capping the team
What doesn't
- 250-issue limit on Free arrives quickly for an active team
- Deliberately inflexible, so unusual processes do not fit
- Not suitable for non-engineering work
- No resource management or capacity planning
EveryAny Decision Score
Scored by dimension rather than averaged into one number, because the trade-offs are the useful part. 3 of these 8 dimensions are calculated from verified facts by published formula; the rest are editorial judgement, labelled as such. How each score is calculated.
- Cost position5.7/10
derivedentry tier at $10 a month against a category median of $15 across 14 comparable tools
- Portability5/10
derivedpublic API
- Subscription flexibility9/10
derivedfree plan, free trial, freemium, monthly billing
- Feature depth7/10
editorialeditorial judgement, reviewed at last check
- Ease of learning9/10
editorialeditorial judgement, reviewed at last check
- Collaboration8/10
editorialeditorial judgement, reviewed at last check
- AI capability7/10
editorialeditorial judgement, reviewed at last check
- Professional adoption8/10
editorialeditorial judgement, reviewed at last check
What leaving Linear would cost
moderate lock-in
Calculated as 10 minus a portability score of 5, built from four signals (self-hosting, a public API, open-source licensing and a documented export path) . Linear scores on: public API. Formula.
Linear competitors and alternatives
| Alternative | Why you might pick it instead |
|---|---|
| Jira | Far more configurable, and the reason many teams moved to Linear. |
| GitHub Projects | Free and adequate when work already lives in GitHub. |
| Shortcut | A middle ground with more flexibility than Linear and less than Jira. |
Jira
Development
Issue tracking that scales to organisations nobody enjoys working in.
ClickUp
Productivity
One app to replace them all, which is both the pitch and the risk.
The free tier caps issues, not people
Unlimited members, 2 teams, 250 issues. That combination is unusual and deliberate: everyone can participate, but an active team will pass 250 issues within a couple of months. Basic at $10 removes the cap and raises the team limit to five.
It is a well-designed trial. You experience the whole product with your real team before the constraint arrives.
Why speed is a feature and not a detail
Every tracker fails the same way: people stop updating it because updating it is tedious. Linear’s entire design premise is that if changing an issue takes a keystroke rather than three clicks and a page load, the board stays accurate. That sounds superficial and is the single most consequential difference between a tracker that reflects reality and one that does not.
What you give up against Jira
No custom workflows with arbitrary states and transitions. No configurable approval gates. No scripting. Linear has opinions: issues move through a small set of states, work happens in cycles, and projects span teams. Organisations with regulated delivery processes that must be encoded and audited genuinely need Jira, and should not read Linear’s speed as a reason to fight that.
Business is bought for two things
Unlimited teams and Linear Insights. If you run more than five teams, Basic stops working structurally rather than gradually. Insights gives delivery analytics, which is usually what an engineering manager wants when they ask for reporting. The Zendesk and Intercom integrations on Business also matter for teams routing support escalations into engineering.
Linear questions, answered
- Is Linear worth it?
- Linear is the clearest example in this directory of constraint as a feature.
- How much does Linear cost?
- Free for up to 250 issues; Basic $10 per user/month. The cheapest paid tier we recorded works out at $10 a month, or $120 over a year. Verified against the vendor's pricing page.
- Does Linear have a free plan or free trial?
- Linear has a free plan. A free trial is available: 14 days on Business.
- What is the best Linear alternative?
- It depends on the job. Jira: Far more configurable, and the reason many teams moved to Linear. GitHub Projects: Free and adequate when work already lives in GitHub. Shortcut: A middle ground with more flexibility than Linear and less than Jira.
- Can I self-host Linear?
- No. Linear is a hosted service only, so your data lives on the vendor's infrastructure.
Provenance and freshness
When each fact was last checked
- Pricing ·
- Plans ·
- Free trial
- Features
- Platforms
- Integrations
- Affiliate programme
- Company details
What has changed
-
August 2026
- Per-user pricing verified, including the 250-issue free tier cap
- Added plan picker and verdicts
Sources & verification
Facts on this page were read from the sources below on the dates shown. Where a vendor does not publish a figure, we record it as not disclosed rather than estimating it.
- Linear pricing - checked 9 August 2026
Spotted something out of date? Email [email protected] and we will re-check it. Corrections are logged on the page.
