Linear
Project Management · linear.app
Linear is a work management tool for issues, projects, cycles and initiatives with agent/AI workflows, analytics and intake integrations for software teams.
Switching to Plane saves $1200 / year and covers 83% of the compared capabilities.
Find my alternative
Way less money.
Top Linear alternatives
We compared 14 products and found 12 cheaper alternatives · vs Linear Basic at $100/mo for 10 seats ($10/seat) · scenario: 10 seats, monthly billing, USD.
Linear’s own free plan covers this scenario. If you’re paying for features you don’t use, downgrading beats switching. The paid comparison below is for when you’ve outgrown free tiers — the “Free plans” view shows alternatives if you want free with different limits.
Linear costs $100/mo on the Basic plan at 10 seats, monthly billing. We found 12 assessed alternatives that are cheaper in this scenario; 7 of them cover at least 75% of the 6 compared capabilities. Linear's own free plan covers this scenario, so downgrading may beat switching.
| Product | Match | Price | Annual savings | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Basecamp Freelancer plan · missing: API access, Sprints & agile boards, AI assistant, SSO & SCIM provisioning work management — adjacent | 33% | $25/mo how? ⓘ | $900 / year 75% cheaper | |
TOP PICK Plane Pro plan · missing: API access | 83% | $60/mo how? ⓘ | $480 / year 40% cheaper | |
Trello Standard plan · missing: Sprints & agile boards work management — adjacent | 83% | $60/mo how? ⓘ | $480 / year 40% cheaper | |
GoodDay Professional plan · missing: Guest access work management — adjacent | 83% | $60/mo how? ⓘ | $480 / year 40% cheaper | |
Jira Standard plan · missing: API access, SSO & SCIM provisioning | 67% | $79.10/mo how? ⓘ | $250.80 / year 21% cheaper | |
Miro Starter plan · missing: Sprints & agile boards, Dashboards & reporting work management — adjacent | 67% | $80/mo how? ⓘ | $240 / year 20% cheaper | |
monday.com Basic plan · missing: SSO & SCIM provisioning work management — adjacent | 83% | $90/mo how? ⓘ | $120 / year 10% cheaper | |
Teamwork.com Basics plan · missing: Sprints & agile boards work management — adjacent | 83% | $99.90/mo how? ⓘ | $1.20 / year 0% cheaper |
Which Linear alternative for which situation
Picked by the numbers in this scenario — same subtype unless stated, assessed products only.
- Best free plan
- Plane — $0/mo (Free plan) · covers 83%
- Best open source or self-hosted
- Plane — $0/mo (Free plan) · covers 83%
- Need API access, sprints & agile boards, dashboards & reporting, guest access or SSO & SCIM provisioning?
- ClickUp — from $0/mo (Free Forever plan)
- Need AI assistant?
- Plane — from $0/mo (Free plan)
What you give up
Capabilities Linear has that the top alternatives lack.
- API access — Access and update project data programmatically via an API.Missing from Plane.
- Sprints & agile boards — Plan and run work in sprints on an agile board.Missing from Trello.
- AI assistant — Get AI help drafting updates or summarizing project status.Missing from ClickUp.
- Guest access — Invite external guests into a project.Missing from GoodDay.
Price at your volume
The same comparison recomputed at three sizes. Plan caps change who is cheapest.
Feature comparison
Linear vs the top alternatives, on the 6 compared capabilities.
| Capability | Linear | ClickUp | Plane | Trello | GoodDay |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| API access from Free | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Sprints & agile boards from Free | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Dashboards & reporting from Business | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| AI assistant from Free | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Guest access from Business | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| SSO & SCIM provisioning from Enterprise | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Scenario price cheapest qualifying plan | $100/mo Basic | $0/mo Free Forever | $0/mo Free | $0/mo Free | $0/mo Free |
✓ means the product offers the capability — possibly only on a higher tier than the plan priced below it. The price row shows the cheapest plan that qualifies for our comparison scenario, with its plan name; a $0 free plan may not include every checked capability.
What Linear covers
The capability set used for comparison. Grey entries are not available on self-serve plans.
- ✓ API access — from Free
- ✓ Sprints & agile boards — from Free
- ✓ Dashboards & reporting — from Business
- ✓ AI assistant — from Free
- ✓ Guest access — from Business
- ✓ SSO & SCIM provisioning — from Enterprise
Price ladder
Observed prices from the official pricing page.
Sources
Every claim traces to an official source and a check date.
- https://linear.app/pricing (official_pricing, checked 2026-09-07)
- https://linear.app/pricing#skip-nav (official_pricing, checked 2026-09-07)
Frequently asked
How much does Linear cost?
Linear's Basic plan costs $100/mo in our scenario (10 seats, monthly billing). A free plan exists.
Is there a free Linear alternative?
Yes. Plane has a free plan that covers 83% of the 6 capabilities we compared against Linear.
What is the cheapest Linear alternative?
In our scenario (10 seats, monthly billing), ClickUp is the cheapest assessed alternative at $0/mo (Free Forever plan).
What is the cheapest Linear alternative with API access?
ClickUp covers API access and costs $0/mo (Free Forever plan) in our scenario.
Does Linear have a free plan?
Yes. Linear's free plan exists; its limits are not stated on the pricing page.
When were these prices checked?
Between 2026-08-26 and 2026-09-07, on the vendors' official pricing pages.