Linear vs Plane
A source-aware comparison of pricing, documented capabilities and workflow fit.
Short answer
- Price: not directly comparable — Linear is from $10/user/mo billed annually, Plane is free tier available.
- How to start: Linear is from $10/user/mo billed annually, Plane is free tier available.
- Where they differ: only Linear has mobile app and only Plane has open source / self-hostable; both offer public api and sso (saml).
These lines are generated from the pricing we track, not from a paid placement. How we score tools.
What Linear is
What Linear isLinear is the streamlined alternative to Jira, built specifically for high-performance product and engineering teams. It is designed for speed, with a 'keyboard-first' approach that allows you to perform almost any action without touching a mouse. Linear avoids the bloat of traditional project management tools, offering a focused, opinionated workflow centered around 'Cycles' and 'Projects.' Its beautiful, minimalist UI and blazing-fast performance make it the favorite of the world's most modern tech startups.
What Plane is
What Plane isPlane is open-source project management with issues, cycles and modules, available self-hosted or cloud. Self-hosting puts issue history and roadmaps inside your own network, which is the deciding factor for teams that cannot use a hosted tracker. Being younger than the incumbents, it has fewer integrations, and that is the gap to weigh.
Side by side
| Linear | Plane | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Project Management | Project Management |
| How to start | $10/user/moverified | Free tiernot a monthly price |
| Public API | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile app | Yes | No |
| Open source / self-hostable | No | Yes |
| SSO (SAML) | Yes | Yes |
| Visit | Linear ↗ | Plane ↗ |
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What Linear is built to do
- Keyboard Shortcuts
- Perform every task, from assignment to status change, with fast keys.
- Cycles
- A streamlined take on Sprints that keeps the team focused on what's next.
- Roadmaps
- High-level overview of your product's strategic goals and major milestones.
- Automated Backlog
- Keeps your project clean by automatically archiving old, inactive tasks.
What Plane is built to do
- Issues, cycles and modules
- Organises work into sprints and larger delivery modules.
- Self-hosted option
- Runs on your own infrastructure with the same feature set as cloud.
- Open-source codebase
- Allows inspection and modification rather than only configuration.
Choose Linear if
- Small teams testing the workflow: Free covers unlimited members but caps you at 2 teams and 250 issues
- Teams that outgrow the issue cap — Basic at $10 per user/month billed yearly lifts issues and file uploads to unlimited and allows 5 teams
- Companies running many squads: Business at $16 per user/month adds unlimited teams, private teams and guests, Triage Intelligence, Linear Insights, Linear Asks and Zendesk/Intercom integrations
Skip Linear if
- You need SAML or SCIM — SSO on Business is Google plus SAML, but SCIM provisioning, IP restrictions, domain claiming and audit logs are Enterprise, which is annual-only and quote-based
- You want deep sub-team structure on a mid plan: Basic allows 1 level of sub-teams and Business 5, with unlimited only above
- You plan to lean on the AI features — coding sessions and Loops require AI credits on top of the seat price
Choose Plane if
- Teams up to 12 who want a free Jira-style tracker with cycles, modules and pages
- Companies that want to self-host an open-source project tool with full data ownership
- Growing teams paying $6 per seat/month for wiki, time tracking and dashboards
Skip Plane if
- You are more than 12 users and want to stay free on Cloud
- You need approvals, LDAP or audit logs: those are Enterprise Grid
- You need intake forms and templates below Business at $13/seat
Evidence and freshness
Where a claim on this page comes from a vendor page, it is linked here.
Linear: pros & cons
- Blazing Fast: The interface responds instantly to every command and keyboard shortcut.
- Keyboard Native: Manage your entire project without ever leaving your keyboard.
- Clean Aesthetic: One of the most beautiful and distraction-free UIs in the market.
- Great Integration: Seamlessly connects to GitHub, GitLab, and Slack.
- Opinionated Workflow: It forces a specific way of working that may not fit all teams.
- Not for Non-Tech: Less suitable for HR or marketing teams compared to Monday.com.
- Limited Customization: You cannot radically change the logic of the tool like Jira.
Plane: pros & cons
- Open source and self-hostable
- Familiar issue and cycle model
- No per-seat licence when self-hosted
- Younger and less polished than commercial rivals
- Self-hosting is your responsibility
- Smaller integration ecosystem
Our verdict on Linear
The fastest and most elegant project management tool for modern software teams.
Our verdict on Plane
The open-source answer to Linear and Jira. Expect rough edges in exchange for control.
Published plans, side by side
Every figure below was read from the vendor's own pricing page and is shown with the sentence it came from. Where a vendor publishes no plan prices, we say so rather than guess.
Linear
- Free$0/mo
Free: unlimited members, 2 teams, 250 issues, 10MB file upload, agent platform, Linear Agent
- Basic$10/user/mo billed annually
Basic $10 per user/month billed yearly: all Free features plus 5 teams, unlimited issues, unlimited file uploads, admin roles
- Business$16/user/mo
Business $16 per user/month: all Basic plus unlimited teams, private teams and guests, Triage Intelligence, Loops, Code Intelligence, Linear Insights, Linear Asks, Zendesk and Intercom integrations
Plane
- Free$0/mo
Free $0: up to 12 users, core features
- Business$13/user/mo
Business $13/seat/month: templates, recurring items, intake forms
Linear vs Plane: common questions
- Does Linear or Plane have a free plan?
- Linear publishes a free plan (Free), while Plane has a free tier with limits.
- Which is cheaper once you start paying, Linear or Plane?
- Linear has the cheaper first paid step: Basic at $10/user/mo billed annually, against Business at $13/user/mo for Plane. Both figures come from the vendors' own pricing pages.
- What is the difference between Linear and Plane?
- On the criteria we check, only Linear has mobile app and only Plane has open source / self-hostable; both offer public api and sso (saml). The table above lists every criterion side by side.