Alternatives to Linear
Issue tracking the world has finally been waiting for.
- What is Linear?
- Linear is an issue tracker and project management tool for software teams.
- What does it do?
- Tracks issues in keyboard-driven lists and boards, then groups them into cycles, projects and roadmaps. Connects to GitHub, GitLab and Slack so branches, pull requests and messages move issue state automatically.
- Who is it for?
- Product and engineering teams at startups and scale-ups who want speed and opinionated defaults instead of configuration. A poor fit if you need deeply customised workflows or a general-purpose work tracker.
Pricing
$8/seat/mo
Freemium
About
Founded 2019
San Francisco, USA
Founders
The people behind Linear.
About Linear
Linear is the issue tracker that took 'speed is a feature' seriously and rebuilt the category around it. Founded in 2019 by ex-Airbnb engineers (Karri Saarinen, Tuomas Artman, Jori Lallo), the product treats keyboard shortcuts as the primary interface, has built-in cycles instead of bolted-on sprints, and the GitHub/GitLab two-way sync actually works. Pricing is per-seat and tighter than Jira — the free tier covers small teams, and the standard tier holds up through ~50 people. For product teams under 200, this is the default recommendation in 2026.
✓Best for
- Product and engineering teams that ship continuously, not in big releases
- Founders who want issue tracking that doesn't slow them down
- Teams adopting cycle-based planning rather than rigid two-week sprints
Top alternatives
Smaller, founder-led tools that quietly compete with Linear.
Open-source all-in-one platform.
Open-source workspace including Linear-style tracking.