Free Linear alternatives 2026
19 alternatives reviewed and compared
These Linear alternatives all have a genuinely free plan or are fully open source — no trial countdown, no card required.
Looking for alternatives to:
Linear
Modern issue tracking tool built for high-performance software teams with fast, keyboard-driven interface.
Top alternatives compared
| Software | Rating | Starting price | Best for | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 ClickUp All-in-one productivity platform combining project management, docs, goals, and time tracking. | 8.3 | Free | Companies that need engineering plus the rest | |
 Asana Enterprise work management platform for teams to organize, track, and manage projects and workflows. | 8.5 | Free | Cross-functional product orgs | |
 Notion All-in-one workspace combining notes, docs, wikis, databases, and project management. | 8.7 | Free | Small eng teams keeping issues with specs | |
 Jira The #1 software development tool used by agile teams to plan, track, and release software. | 8.0 | Free | Software development teams of 10-5,000 people using Scrum or Kanban | |
 Trello Visual Kanban-style project management with drag-and-drop boards for teams of all sizes. | 8.4 | Free | Small teams and individual productivity | |
 Todoist Personal and team task management with natural language input and cross-platform availability. | 8.6 | Free | Personal productivity and GTD practitioners | |
 Airtable Low-code platform combining spreadsheet flexibility with database power for building custom applications. | 8.4 | Free | Teams building custom business applications | |
 Wrike Enterprise work management platform with advanced reporting, resource planning, and team collaboration. | 8.2 | Free | Enterprise teams with complex project needs | |
 Zoho Projects Affordable project management from the Zoho ecosystem with Gantt charts, time tracking, and issue tracking built in. | Free | Budget-conscious teams that need real PM features | ||
 Shortcut Software project management built specifically for development teams. Tracks stories, epics, and iterations with deep GitHub integration. | 8.5 | Free | Software development teams of 10-200 people |
Detailed reviews
ClickUp
All-in-one productivity platform combining project management, docs, goals, and time tracking.
Best for:
Why pick ClickUp over Linear?
ClickUp covers engineering plus marketing, ops and finance in the same workspace, where Linear deliberately stays inside the software-team lane.
Asana
Enterprise work management platform for teams to organize, track, and manage projects and workflows.
Best for:
Why pick Asana over Linear?
Asana works for engineers but also for the product, design and go-to-market teams around them, removing the Linear-plus-something-else split most companies end up with.
Notion
All-in-one workspace combining notes, docs, wikis, databases, and project management.
Best for:
Why pick Notion over Linear?
Notion pairs lightweight issue tracking with the specs, RFCs and roadmaps that surround them, so a small engineering team can postpone the move to a dedicated tracker like Linear.
Jira
The #1 software development tool used by agile teams to plan, track, and release software.
Best for:
Why pick Jira over Linear?
Jira has a genuinely usable free tier and is strong at Software development teams of 10-5,000 people using Scrum or Kanban.
Trello
Visual Kanban-style project management with drag-and-drop boards for teams of all sizes.
Best for:
Why pick Trello over Linear?
Trello has a genuinely usable free tier and is strong at Small teams and individual productivity.
Still deciding?
Put your shortlist side by side and see how the numbers and features really stack up.