Linear is an issue tracker and product planning tool for software teams that now treats AI agents as workspace members. The Free plan allows unlimited members, 2 teams and 250 issues, and includes Linear Agent. Basic costs $10 per user a month billed yearly or $12 monthly, with 5 teams and unlimited issues; Business costs $16 or $18 and adds unlimited and private teams, guests, Triage Intelligence, Loops, Code Intelligence, Insights and Asks. Enterprise is priced on request with SAML and SCIM. Linear also runs a remote MCP server for Claude, Cursor and other AI clients.
Reviewed by EdGrows·Updated Oct 1, 2026This analysis is based on documentation, public user reports, and vendor materials — not yet on our own hands-on testing. How we rate
Linear built its reputation on speed and taste: keyboard-driven, fast to load, and opinionated about how software teams should work, with issues, cycles, projects and initiatives instead of endlessly configurable schemes. More than 40,000 companies use it, according to its pricing page.
In 2026 the homepage calls it "the product development system for teams and agents." AI agents are full workspace members that you assign to issues, add to projects or mention in comments, and Linear's own Linear Agent can take an issue, write and test the code in a cloud environment and open a pull request. When work is delegated to an agent, the human remains the primary assignee and the agent is listed as a contributor.
Linear's pricing page on yearly billing on October 1, 2026.
| Plan | Billed yearly | Billed monthly | What it includes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | Unlimited members, 2 teams, 250 issues, agent platform, Linear Agent |
| Basic | $10 per user | $12 | 5 teams, unlimited issues and uploads, admin roles |
| Business | $16 per user | $18 | Unlimited teams, private teams and guests, Triage Intelligence, Loops, Code Intelligence, Insights, Asks, Zendesk and Intercom |
| Enterprise | By quote | Yearly only | SAML and SCIM, granular admin controls, advanced org modeling, migration support, account management |
Linear bills for every unsuspended user in the workspace. On monthly billing, users added mid-month are charged from the next month and removing someone mid-month doesn't produce a credit. Yearly plans aren't refunded if you cancel early, so Linear suggests starting monthly. Optional AI credits unlock some additional AI features on top of a plan.
The free plan is generous where most trackers are stingy: there is no limit on members. Its limits sit elsewhere. A workspace can hold 250 issues, and Linear's docs say that a workspace over the limit can no longer create new issues, so an active team of four or five engineers tends to hit it within weeks or months. The two-team cap often bites first, as soon as frontend, backend and design want separate teams.
Basic at $10 removes the issue limit and allows five teams; Business is where the AI features that make 2026 Linear different, such as Triage Intelligence, Loops, Code Intelligence and Insights, become available.
Linear Agent answers questions about your workspace, drafts requirements, groups triage, breaks work into sub-issues and, when assigned an issue, runs a coding session in a secure cloud environment that ends in a pull request. Updates in September 2026 added adaptive routing, which sends simpler tasks to a faster model, environment secrets for private dependencies, and open-weight models, starting with GLM, that admins can enable.
Loops are recurring agent workflows on Business. A loop fires on workspace events, such as a change to a project's status or target date, an issue moving between cycles or a team gaining a member, and can update the launch plan, create follow-up issues or post a summary to Slack. Triage Intelligence suggests labels, owners and duplicates for incoming issues, and Asks turns requests posted in Slack into tracked work.
Linear exposes a public API and webhooks, and since 2025 a remote MCP server at mcp.linear.app that Claude, Cursor and other AI clients can connect to natively. Its tools find, create and update issues, projects and comments, and a separate read-only endpoint lets teams give assistants access without write permissions. Combined with agents as workspace members, this is one of the most complete AI integrations among mainstream issue trackers.
Jira remains the default for large companies and non-software departments, with deep configuration, a large marketplace and Atlassian's Rovo AI on paid plans; our Linear vs Jira comparison covers when each fits. ClickUp suits teams that want docs, chat and tasks in one place, and GitHub Copilot users can keep lightweight planning in GitHub Projects. Linear is the pick for software teams that value speed and an agent-ready workflow over configurability.
If it is not the right fit, the closest alternatives are Cursor, ClickUp Brain, Devin and GitHub Copilot.
Yes, for small teams. The Free plan has no member limit and includes 2 teams, 250 issues and Linear Agent. Once a workspace has more than 250 issues it can no longer create new ones until you archive some or upgrade, so an active team usually moves to Basic within a few months.
Basic costs $10 per user a month billed yearly or $12 monthly, and Business $16 billed yearly or $18 monthly. Enterprise is priced on request and only billed yearly. Linear charges for every unsuspended user in the workspace, and users added mid-month on monthly billing are charged from the following month.
Yes, for macOS and Windows, along with iPhone and Android apps and the web version, all working on the same workspace. AI clients such as Claude and Cursor can reach the same data through Linear's MCP server.
Linear's own AI agent. You can ask it about your workspace, have it triage, draft requirements or break work into sub-issues, or assign it an issue so it writes and tests code in a secure cloud environment and opens a pull request. In September 2026 Linear added adaptive routing between models, environment secrets and support for open-weight models in coding sessions.
Yes. Agents from other companies can join a workspace as members: you assign them issues, add them to projects or @mention them in comments. When an issue is delegated to an agent, the human stays the primary assignee and the agent is added as a contributor, so accountability stays with a person.
Yes. Linear hosts a remote MCP server at mcp.linear.app that AI clients such as Claude and Cursor can connect to natively, with tools for finding, creating and updating issues, projects and comments. A read-only endpoint is available for teams that want assistants to look but not change anything.
Recurring agent workflows for teams, available on Business. A loop runs when something happens in the workspace, such as a project's target date changing, an issue being assigned to a team or a cycle starting, and can update documents, create issues or post a summary to Slack. Linear expanded the triggers in September 2026.
For software teams that want speed and simple, opinionated workflows, many prefer Linear. Jira is more configurable, has a huge marketplace and covers non-software teams, with Atlassian's Rovo AI included from Standard at $7.91 per user a month. Our Linear vs Jira comparison goes through the trade-offs.
No. Linear is a proprietary, hosted product. It offers a public API, webhooks and an MCP server for building on top of it, and import and export tools, but the application itself is not open source and cannot be self-hosted.
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