by LinearIssue tracking and project management
Issue tracking for software teams, free for unlimited members up to 250 issues, then $10 per user billed yearly.
An issue tracker built for software teams, free for any number of members up to 250 issues, with SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 and EU hosting.
Linear focuses on issues, projects, cycles and triage for product and engineering teams. The free plan has no member limit, so a whole team can start before it pays; Basic removes the 250-issue cap at $10 per user billed yearly, $250 a month for 25 people. The security page lists SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001, and you choose EU or US hosting when you create the workspace.
Against 3 other products we reviewed in Issue tracking and project management: what you pay for with each, the five access facts, the plan limits we recorded and each review's bottom line. The note under the table says how each one was checked.
| Metric | Linear | Jira | ClickUp | Asana |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What you're paying for | Worth the priceAn issue tracker built for software teams, free for any number of members up to 250 issues, with SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 and EU hosting. | Compliance includedIssue tracking with data residency, a self-serve HIPAA BAA and site audit logs on its entry paid plan, at $204.17 a month for 25 people billed annually. | Worth the priceTasks, docs, chat and sprints in one workspace, free for unlimited members and $175 a month for 25 people on Unlimited, billed yearly. | Worth the priceUnlimited automation rules, free guests and timelines on the entry paid plan, at $274.75 a month for 25 people billed annually. |
| Overall score | 6.8 | 8.7Best | 8.2 | 7.4 |
| Free option | Free plan | Free plan | Free plan | Free plan |
| Card to start | –Not measured | No card needed | –Not measured | –Not measured |
| Getting access | Self-serve | Self-serve | Self-serve | Self-serve |
| Starter priceCheapest paid plan | $10/user/mo | $9.70/user/mo | $7/user/mo | $10.99/user/mo |
| Pricing model | Per seat | Per seat | Per seat | Per seat |
| Pricing page | Public prices | Public prices | Public prices | Public prices |
| Free plan | Unlimited members, 2 teams, 250 issues | Up to 10 users, unlimited work items | Unlimited members and tasks, 60 MB storage | 2 users, unlimited tasks and projects |
| 25 people, billed annually | $250/mo (Basic, 25 × $10) | $204.17/mo (Standard, $2,450 a year) | $175/mo (Unlimited, 25 × $7) | $274.75/mo (Starter, 25 × $10.99) |
| 25 people, billed monthly | Not listed on the pricing page | $242.50/mo (25 × $9.70) | $250/mo (25 × $10) | $337.25/mo (25 × $13.49) |
| Automation on the entry paid plan | Triage rules from Business | 400 steps per user a month | 500 active rules, 1,000 automation executions | Unlimited rules |
| Guests on the entry paid plan | From Business ($16) | Free, no paid seat | Guest seats included (5, plus 2 per paid user); read-only guests unlimited | Unlimited, free |
| SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 | Both | Both | Both | Both |
| HIPAA BAA | On request; HIPAA listed on Enterprise | Self-serve on Standard and Premium | Enterprise (contact sales) | Enterprise+ (opt-in) |
| Data residency | EU or US, chosen at workspace creation | Standard and up, 11 locations incl. EU | Enterprise (US, EU, Singapore or Australia), no extra charge | Enterprise add-on or Enterprise+ (Europe, Australia, Japan) |
| SAML SSO | Enterprise | Atlassian Guard Standard ($1,100 a year for 16–25 users) or Enterprise | Enterprise | Enterprise |
| Audit log | Enterprise (last 3 months of events) | Site changes on Standard; user activity on Enterprise | Enterprise (60 days of history) | Enterprise add-on or Enterprise+ |
| Data export | CSV (no attachment files) and API | Site backup with attachments | Task data as CSV with attachment links | CSV and PDF; full JSON export on Enterprise+ |
| Bottom line | From its public pages, Linear has the most open free plan here and the simplest seat billing. Its lower score reflects guests, automation rules and team controls that start on Business or Enterprise. | From its public pages, Jira gives the most here on its entry paid plan: compliance controls, free guests and the lowest listed price for 25 people. Budget for Atlassian Guard if you need SAML SSO. | From its public pages, ClickUp lists the lowest price for 25 people here and the most open free plan, with guests on Unlimited. Security and admin controls sit on Enterprise, which keeps its team-control score lower. | From its public pages, Asana’s Starter plan includes the most for day-to-day work: unlimited rules, free guests and timelines. Security controls, data residency and HIPAA start on Enterprise or Enterprise+. |
Evidence: Linear: facts checked 2026-10-15 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Jira: facts checked 2026-10-15 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; ClickUp: facts checked 2026-10-15 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Asana: facts checked 2026-10-15 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run. Prices in USD as listed, excluding tax. "–" means not recorded.
Review from public pages
Written from Linear's public pages (pricing, security or privacy, and docs) as read on Oct 15, 2026. We did not sign up, and no hands-on run is published yet.
We read Linear's pricing page, its billing, security and export documentation on Oct 15, 2026; we did not sign up for this review. The pricing page lists four plans: Free, Basic at $10 per user a month and Business at $16, both "billed yearly", and Enterprise at a custom price with annual billing only. The billing docs say plans can be billed monthly or yearly and that yearly rates are discounted, but no monthly rate appears on the pricing page.
The plan table is organised around product work: issues, projects, cycles and initiatives on every plan; triage rules, issue SLAs and Insights from Business; SAML, SCIM, the audit log, IP restrictions and HIPAA compliance on Enterprise. One small inconsistency: the plan cards list admin roles as something Basic adds, while the table marks admin roles on Free as well; the billing docs say Free makes all users admins.
The security page lists SOC 2 Type II, ISO/IEC 27001:2022, a BAA available on request through sales, and a choice of EU or US data storage. The export docs describe CSV exports of issues, projects and members by admins, without attachment files, plus the API and webhooks.
Unlimited members, 2 teams and 250 issues at no cost.
vs Asana: Jira’s Free plan stops at 10 users and Asana’s Personal plan at 2.
The docs bill for unsuspended users; no seat tiers or steps are stated.
vs Asana: Jira bills annual plans by user tier and Asana sells seats in steps of 5 between 5 and 30.
The security page offers EU or US storage, chosen when the workspace is created.
vs Asana: Asana lists data residency as an Enterprise add-on.
The plan table marks API and webhook access, integrations and import and export on Free.
Basic has neither; Business at $16 per user brings 25 people to $400 a month.
Free, Basic and Business list Google SSO; SAML and SCIM need Enterprise, priced by sales with annual billing.
Basic allows 5 teams; unlimited teams start on Business.
The export docs say CSV exports do not include attachment files, and guests cannot export issues.
Workaround: The API can read issues, projects and other objects.
Linear bills per user: $10 a month on Basic and $16 on Business, billed yearly. The billing docs count unsuspended users in any role and say monthly billing is available at a higher rate, which the pricing page does not list. Enterprise is priced by sales, annual only.
For 25 people on Basic that is 25 × $10 = $250 a month ($3,000 a year). Teams that need guests, private teams or more than 5 teams move to Business: 25 × $16 = $400 a month. SAML SSO, SCIM and the audit log need Enterprise. Coding sessions and Loops are marked as requiring AI credits.
Admins can export workspace issues, projects, initiatives and members as CSV (owners on Enterprise); the docs say CSV exports do not include attachment files. The API and webhooks give programmatic access to issues, projects and other objects.
From its public pages, Linear has the most open free plan here and the simplest seat billing. Its lower score reflects guests, automation rules and team controls that start on Business or Enterprise.
| Limit | As recorded |
|---|---|
| How seats are sold | Per user (unsuspended users in any role) |
| Free plan | Unlimited members, 2 teams, 250 issues |
| 25 people, billed annually | $250/mo (Basic, 25 × $10) |
| 25 people, billed monthly | Not listed on the pricing page |
| Automation on the entry paid plan | Triage rules from Business |
| Guests on the entry paid plan | From Business ($16) |
| SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 | Both |
| HIPAA BAA | On request; HIPAA listed on Enterprise |
| Data residency | EU or US, chosen at workspace creation |
| SAML SSO | Enterprise |
| Audit log | Enterprise (last 3 months of events) |
| Data export | CSV (no attachment files) and API |
Read from the vendor's public pages on Oct 15, 2026. No hands-on run is published yet. How we check
We have not published a sign-up run for Linear yet. The access facts above were read from its sign-up and pricing pages on Oct 15, 2026.
We have not published API calls for Linear yet.
Linear lists 4 plans. The cheapest paid plan, Basic (billed yearly), costs $10/user/mo.
Prices as listed, USD, excluding tax; observed 2026-10-15.
Source: linear.app pricing page. Prices change; the observed date above is when our agent read them.
We read the pricing, security and docs pages of three issue tracking and project management tools on the same day and scored them on the same six indicators. How each one sells seats, what 25 people cost, and who should pick which.
