How we make this list: we compare pricing pages, product documentation and public user reviews. Ratings come from G2, Capterra or Trustpilot, with the date we checked them.
Key takeaways
- Shortcut is the nearest match, keeping Linear's speed while adding epics and a free tier for 10 users.
- Jira is the answer when you need configurable workflows, JQL reporting and audit grade scale.
- Plane is open source and free to self host, with a cloud free tier for up to 12 users.
- GitHub Issues costs nothing extra if your team already lives on GitHub.
- Linear's free plan is the tightest here at 250 issues, so small teams often outgrow it first.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free plan |
|---|
 Shortcut | Linear speed with more structure | $8.50/user/month | Yes |
 Jira | Configurable workflows at scale | $7.91/user/month | Yes |
 Plane | Self hosting and open source | $8/user/month | Yes |
 GitHub Issues | Teams already working in GitHub | Free | Yes |
 Height | AI assisted triage and task upkeep | $8.50/user/month | Yes |
 ClickUp | One tool for the whole company | $7/user/month | Yes |
 YouTrack | JetBrains shops and strong free tier | $4.40/user/month | Yes |
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The best Linear alternatives in 2026
#1Shortcut
Best for: Linear speed with more structure4.4/5 on
G2 (177 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit shortcut.com
Starting price$8.50/user/month
Free planYes
Shortcut, formerly Clubhouse, is the deliberate middle path: it keeps the speed and keyboard friendly feel that draw teams to Linear, then adds the structure Linear refuses to include. Epics roll stories up properly, iterations plan work across teams, and the hierarchy survives contact with a real roadmap. It is the swap that changes the least about how a team works day to day.
Its free tier is also the more generous of the two, covering up to 10 users instead of capping issues at 250, and the paid Team plan at $8.50 per user a month undercuts Linear's Basic. Teams that like Linear but keep building workarounds for planning and stakeholder views usually find Shortcut removes the workaround without importing Jira's weight.
What we like- Stories, epics and iterations give a real hierarchy Linear lacks, interface stays fast under heavy use, free for up to 10 users, which beats Linear's 250 issue cap, solid docs, API and Git integrations
Watch out for- Less fashionable than Linear, so fewer community resources, reporting is good rather than deep, still engineering shaped, so mixed company use is a stretch
#2Jira
Best for: Configurable workflows at scale4.3/5 on
G2 (7,984 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit atlassian.com
Starting price$7.91/user/month
Free planYes
Jira is where teams go when the complaint about Linear is not speed but control. Regulated industries, multi team programmes and companies with audit requirements use its custom workflows, granular permissions and reporting, and pay for them in responsiveness and admin effort. Nothing else here matches its configurability, and nothing else needs it less for a 15 person product team.
Price it honestly. Standard starts at $7.91 per user a month and the free plan covers 10 users, but the real Jira bill includes the marketplace apps and companion Atlassian products most setups quietly assume. For a team that genuinely needs the depth, it remains the safe enterprise answer. For a team that left Linear wanting less process, it is the wrong direction.
What we like- Workflows, fields and permissions configurable to almost any process, JQL search and dashboards report at a depth rivals cannot match, free for up to 10 users and Standard from $7.91 per user, the largest integration marketplace in the category
Watch out for- Slower and heavier to use than every other tool here, administration becomes a job of its own as you scale, the sticker price grows once marketplace apps and companion products are added, self hosted Data Center is being wound down for new customers
#3Plane
Best for: Self hosting and open source4.6/5 on
G2 (904 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit plane.so
Starting price$8/user/month
Free planYes
Plane is the open source answer to Linear, close enough in shape, cycles, modules, issues, multiple views, that a team can move without relearning its habits. Its Community Edition runs on your own server free with no seat limit, which makes it the only entry here where a 50 person team can pay nothing but hosting.
The cloud version is the easier start: free for up to 12 users, then Pro at $8 per user a month. The trade is maturity. Plane is younger than the incumbents and its analytics show it. For teams with a data residency rule, a self hosting preference or a hard budget ceiling, it is the strongest option in this category right now.
What we like- Open source with a free self hosted Community Edition and no user limits, cloud free tier covers up to 12 users, cycles, modules and views modelled on the Linear pattern, includes pages and wiki features beside the tracker
Watch out for- Self hosting means you own updates, backups and uptime, cloud Pro at $8 per user matches Linear's rivals rather than beating them, younger product, so advanced reporting is still catching up, support for the free edition is community based
Starting priceFree
Free planYes
GitHub Issues is the alternative hiding in plain sight. If your repositories live on GitHub, the tracker is already paid for, issues tie directly to the pull requests that close them, and Projects layers boards and roadmaps on top. For a small engineering team, that zero added cost and zero context switching is hard for any standalone tool to beat.
Its ceiling is planning sophistication. There is no real cycle engine, analytics are light, and product managers or support staff rarely enjoy working inside GitHub. Teams adopt it when the tracker is a minor tool in their stack. Teams that plan seriously in the tracker usually end up back with Shortcut or Linear, which is a fair trade rather than a failure.
What we like- Included free with the GitHub your team already uses, issues link natively to pull requests, branches and releases, Projects adds boards, tables and roadmap views, no extra vendor, account or per seat tracker bill
Watch out for- Planning features are thinner than dedicated trackers, non technical stakeholders find GitHub forbidding, reporting and cycle analytics are basic, useless if your code lives on another host
Starting price$8.50/user/month
Free planYes
Height takes Linear's speed and adds an AI layer aimed at the chores around issues: sorting new reports, spotting duplicates, filling fields and keeping lists current. For teams drowning in inbound bugs and requests, that automation is a real difference rather than a badge, and the interface stays quick in the way Linear users demand.
The cautions are scale and certainty. Height is a smaller vendor, its free tier stops at 5 users, and current trackers put paid plans at $8.50 per user with some variation between sources, so verify the live figure before budgeting. For a mid sized product team that wants the tracker to maintain itself, it is the most interesting experiment on this list.
What we like- AI features triage, dedupe and tidy the backlog automatically, fast keyboard first interface in the Linear style, multiple views including spreadsheet and board, free for up to 5 users to test properly
Watch out for- Smaller company than the other names here, which worries enterprise buyers, AI upkeep needs trust and tuning before it saves time, ecosystem and integrations are narrower than Jira or ClickUp, pricing has moved between trackers, so confirm the current figure
#6ClickUp
Best for: One tool for the whole company4.6/5 on
G2 (14,878 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit clickup.com
Starting price$7/user/month
Free planYes
ClickUp answers the opposite complaint to Jira's. Where Linear serves engineering and leaves the rest of the company in other tools, ClickUp tries to hold everything: tasks, docs, whiteboards, time and chat. If the goal is one subscription the whole business uses, its $7 per user Unlimited plan and capable free tier are compelling.
Dedicated dev teams feel the compromise. ClickUp is not as fast as Linear or Shortcut, its Git workflow is serviceable rather than native feeling, and the interface carries the weight of its ambitions. It wins when the buyer is the company, not the engineering org. That is a legitimate reason to switch, as long as the team choosing it knows which buyer they are.
What we like- Issues sit beside docs, goals, time tracking and chat in one subscription, many views including list, board, Gantt and timeline, free plan is usable and paid starts at $7 per user a month, works for non technical teams as well as engineers
Watch out for- Breadth makes it slower and busier than Linear, engineering specific touches like cycle analytics are shallower, configuration choices overwhelm teams that want an opinionated tool, performance complaints surface in very large workspaces
#7YouTrack
Best for: JetBrains shops and strong free tier4.2/5 on
G2 (60 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit jetbrains.com
Starting price$4.40/user/month
Free planYes
YouTrack, from JetBrains, is the value pick of the category. It is free for up to 10 users without feature cuts, and paid plans start at $4.40 per user a month, roughly half the Linear class rate, while still offering boards, sprints, time tracking and a query language power users respect. Teams already in IntelliJ or other JetBrains tools get smooth integration on top.
It lacks Linear's polish and marketing shine, which is most of why it is overlooked. The product underneath is mature, fast enough and honest about being a tracker rather than a platform. For a cost conscious dev team that does not need the trendiest interface, YouTrack is the easiest recommendation here to defend to a finance department.
What we like- Free for up to 10 users with the full feature set, cheapest paid entry here at $4.40 per user a month, powerful search query language and keyboard workflow, natural fit for teams using JetBrains IDEs, self hosted server version available
Watch out for- Interface is denser and less elegant than Linear, smaller community in the US market, agile boards are solid but plainer than rivals, fewer third party integrations than Jira or ClickUp
How we chose
Alternatives were judged as issue trackers for software teams first, since that is Linear's job: capture speed, keyboard workflow, cycle or sprint planning, Git integration and reporting. We weighed the limits on each free plan precisely, because at small team sizes the cap, 250 issues on Linear, 10 users on Shortcut and Jira, 12 on Plane, decides more purchases than any feature. Prices are from vendor pages and trackers checked in September and October 2026, and where trackers disagreed, as with Height, the entry says so. Linear itself is the reference product and is not ranked as its own alternative.
What to check before you switch trackers
Run the migration on paper first. Every tool here imports from Linear or from CSV, but saved views, cycles in flight and automation rules rarely survive the move intact. Export a full backup, import your real backlog into the trial, and have the team work one real cycle in the new tool while Linear is still live. Speed differences that look minor in a demo decide happiness by week two.
Then count the true seats. Trackers bill everyone who needs access, and stakeholder viewing is where Linear pushes teams to its $16 tier. Compare the total at your real headcount including product, support and leadership viewers, not just engineers. A tool that is $2 more per user but includes viewers free can be the cheaper system by a wide margin.
Frequently asked questions
Why do teams leave Linear if it is so well liked?
Usually for structure or scale reasons: the 250 issue cap on the free plan, guest access locked in the $16 tier, no epics hierarchy, or a need to include non technical teams or host data themselves. Speed is rarely the complaint.
Which alternative feels most like Linear?
Shortcut. It keeps the fast, keyboard friendly feel and adds epics and iterations on top, with a free tier for up to 10 users. Plane is the other close match, and it is open source.
What is the cheapest way to track issues for a small dev team?
GitHub Issues, which is free with the GitHub account the team already has, or self hosted Plane, which costs only the server. Among paid hosted trackers, YouTrack starts lowest at $4.40 per user a month.
Can I migrate my Linear data to these tools?
Yes. Shortcut, Jira, Plane, Height and ClickUp all offer Linear or CSV importers, and GitHub and YouTrack accept CSV imports. Issue history and attachments usually move; saved filters, cycles and automations generally need rebuilding.
Is Jira still worth it for a small team?
Only if you need its workflows or reporting. For up to 10 users it is free, so the cost is not money but weight: it is slower to use and heavier to administer than every other tool on this list.
Sources we checked (0)
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
Shihab Mia · Founder, Rankite
Shihab has 5+ years in B2B and SaaS SEO. He writes Rankite's software buying guides from pricing pages, documentation and public user reviews. More about Shihab.