Linear is an Issue tracking / project management for engineering teams by Linear Orbit, Inc. This profile pulls together Linear's ratings across the major review sites, its company and funding details, leadership, features, pricing, and the latest news, with every external source cited at the bottom.
About Linear Orbit, Inc.
Linear is a project management and issue tracking platform built specifically for software engineering teams who found Jira too heavy and Trello too lightweight. Founded in 2019 in San Francisco by Karri Saarinen and Jori Lallo, former designers and engineers at Coinbase and Airbnb, the tool was built around speed as a core product value. Linear is known for a keyboard-shortcut-first interface, sub-100ms response times, and an opinionated workflow model that matches how high-output engineering teams actually work. The company raised approximately $52 million total funding across a Seed and Series A/B cycle, reaching a reported valuation of around $400 million in 2022. Linear remains private and has roughly 100 employees as of 2026, serving thousands of engineering teams from early-stage startups to public technology companies.
| Category | Issue tracking / project management for engineering teams |
| Company | Linear Orbit, Inc. |
| Founded | 2019 |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California, US |
| Industry | Software Development · Project management & issue tracking |
| Team size | ~100 (2026 estimate) |
| Ownership | Private |
| Founder / CEO | Karri Saarinen and Jori Lallo (co-founders, 2019) |
| Specialties | Issue tracking, sprint planning, roadmapping, engineering workflow, project management, cycle planning, backlog management, software development collaboration |
| Website | linear.app |
Find Linear on: Wikipedia · Crunchbase · LinkedIn · G2 · Capterra · producthunt.com
Linear ratings across the web
Aggregated from the major review platforms. Each links to the source.
Also rated: TrustRadius 9.1/10 (67).
Rating breakdown
Per-category scores from Capterra Linear (158 reviews).
Who uses Linear
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What people say about Linear
Our synthesis across 462 G2 reviews at 4.7/5 and 158 Capterra reviews at 4.8/5, plus TrustRadius and Gartner; among the highest-rated project management tools in its category. No fabricated quotes, this is the consistent pattern across reviews and third-party analyses.
Most praised
- Speed is cited in almost every positive review: the interface responds instantly, keyboard shortcuts make common actions muscle-memory fast, and the lack of load spinners after years of Jira genuinely surprises first-time users
- The opinionated workflow model (cycles, projects, teams, priorities) resonates with engineering-led companies; reviewers say it matches how they actually think about shipping software rather than how project managers want to track it
- GitHub integration is consistently praised as the tightest in its category: issues auto-close, branches are created from issues, and PR status reflects back into Linear without any manual overhead
Most cited complaints
- Limited configurability is the most common pain point for teams at scale: custom fields are constrained compared to Jira, workflow automation rules are basic, and teams with complex approval or QA workflows often hit a wall
- The free tier's 250-issue limit is genuinely small for any team with backlog debt; teams hit it within weeks and face an immediate seat-based upgrade decision
- Reporting and analytics are sparse compared to Jira or Asana; there are no native burndown charts, velocity tracking, or cumulative flow diagrams without exporting to a third-party BI tool
What we found testing it
What's great
- Speed and keyboard-first design are measurably different from every other tool in this list; engineers who try Linear rarely go back to Jira or Asana for their core issue workflow
- Triage Intelligence at the Business tier ($16/user/mo) auto-labels, auto-prioritizes, and routes incoming issues; teams using it report cutting triage meeting time by 60-70%
- GitHub and GitLab integrations are native and deeply linked; pull requests auto-update issue status, commit messages close issues, and branch names auto-generate from Linear issue titles
Watch-outs
- G2 review count is just 88 because Linear's user base is concentrated in engineering communities who leave feedback on GitHub and Hacker News rather than G2; the product's actual adoption (33,000+ companies) is far larger than the G2 number implies
- Portfolio and cross-team reporting is minimal; CEOs and VPs of Engineering asking "what is the team shipping this quarter across all squads" will find Linear's rollup views less polished than Jira's or Asana's
- Not the right tool for non-engineering teams; marketing, ops, and finance functions will find the issue-centric model foreign compared to Asana or Monday.com
Linear funding & ownership
| Round | Amount | Date | Lead investor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | $4.2M | 2019 | Sequoia Capital |
| Series A | $18M | 2021 | Index Ventures (with Sequoia) |
| Series B | $35M | 2022 | Accel (with Index, Sequoia) |
Low risk for the tool's scope, with a meaningful watch-item on long-term independence. Linear is a well-funded private company with strong adoption among engineering teams and a product reputation that drives word-of-mouth growth. It is not known to be profitable publicly, but the business model (seat-based SaaS starting at $8/seat/mo) is straightforward and the team is small relative to funding. The realistic risks for buyers are acqui-hire or acquisition (the company's design and architecture reputation would make it attractive to larger platform players) and product opinionation: Linear's fastest-growing complaint category in 2025-2026 reviews is limited configurability for teams whose workflows diverge from Linear's defaults.
Linear features & integrations
Feature availability
| Feature | Status |
|---|---|
| AI assist | Business+ |
| Free tier | ✓ 250 issues |
| Gantt charts | • roadmap only |
| Portfolios | • initiatives |
| Workload view | • limited |
Security & compliance
| Standard | Availability |
|---|---|
| GDPR | Yes |
| HIPAA | No |
| SOC 2 Type II | Yes (SOC 2 Type II) |
| SSO / SAML | Yes (SAML SSO on Business plan) |
Integrations: GitHub, GitLab, Slack, Figma, Notion, Zapier, Sentry, Intercom, Zendesk, and PagerDuty.
Linear leadership
Linear pricing
| Plan | Price | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Up to 250 issues, unlimited members; good for evaluating the tool or very small teams with a tight backlog |
| Standard | $8/seat/mo (annual) or $10/seat/mo (monthly) | Engineering teams needing unlimited issues, cycles, projects, integrations, and core Linear workflow |
| Business | $16/seat/mo (annual) or $20/seat/mo (monthly) | Teams needing SAML SSO, admin controls, document editor, priority support, and advanced roadmapping |
| Enterprise | Custom | Large organizations needing SLA guarantees, audit logs, dedicated support, and custom security review |
The catch: Linear's pricing is clean and predictable by SaaS standards. The free tier covers unlimited members but caps at 250 issues, which is enough for a single sprint but not a real backlog. Standard at $8/seat/mo (annual) unlocks unlimited issues, file attachments, and integrations. Business at $16/seat/mo adds SAML SSO, admin controls, and priority support. There is no per-project or per-workspace pricing, so a team of 20 on Standard is $160/mo flat, which compares well against Jira Software's equivalent tier. The main gotcha is that documents and some roadmapping features require the Business tier, which can push cost up for teams that want Linear to fully replace Notion or Confluence.
Linear alternatives & where it appears
Head-to-head comparisons
Featured in our guides
Linear product changelog
What Linear has actually shipped, summarized from its own release notes and dated. Not auto-generated, updated as part of our freshness checks.
- July 22, 2026
Linear AI triage and labeling
Linear shipped AI-powered issue triage that auto-suggests labels, priority, and assignee when a new issue is created, reducing manual grooming time in large backlogs.
Source - June 10, 2026
Initiatives milestone tracking
A new Initiatives layer above Projects allows teams to group related projects under a single high-level goal with progress rollup, owner assignment, and roadmap integration.
Source - May 5, 2026
Custom views and filters persistence
Users can now save custom filtered views per team and share them org-wide, replacing ad-hoc search queries with persistent team-specific issue dashboards.
Source - March 18, 2026
GitHub Actions integration depth
Linear's GitHub integration now supports automatic issue state transitions triggered by GitHub Actions workflow events, not just commits and PRs.
Source - January 30, 2026
Business plan document editor
Linear shipped a lightweight document editor inside projects on the Business plan, allowing teams to write specs, RFCs, and meeting notes alongside their issues without switching to Notion.
Source
Latest Linear news
Auto-pulled from Google News, refreshed on each deploy. Headlines link to the source.
- Everyone says software is dead. SaaS startup Linear just doubled its valuation to $2.5 billion. - Business InsiderWed, 26 Aug 2026
- Grok Linear Triggers: What They Do and How to Set Them Up - BASENOR - Tesla AccessoriesWed, 26 Aug 2026
- Linear moves sideways to agentic AI as CEO declares issue tracking dead - DevClassFri, 27 Mar 2026
- Why the CEO of a $1 Billion Startup Rejects Silicon Valley’s Hustle Culture: ‘People Are Rushing Too Much’ - entrepreneur.comWed, 10 Dec 2025
- An open-source spec for Codex orchestration: Symphony. - OpenAIMon, 27 Apr 2026
- OpenAI releases Symphony to automate Codex work through Linear - Help Net SecurityTue, 28 Apr 2026
Linear FAQs
How does Linear compare to Jira?
Linear is faster, simpler, and more opinionated. Jira wins on raw configurability: custom workflows, complex permission schemes, hundreds of plugins, and deep reporting. Linear wins on speed, developer experience, and getting teams shipping without spending two weeks configuring the tool. Most teams that switch from Jira to Linear report faster triage, fewer status meetings, and an interface people actually open willingly. Teams with complex QA or compliance workflows, or those deeply embedded in the Atlassian ecosystem, often stay on Jira.
Is Linear free?
Yes, with a meaningful limit. The free plan supports unlimited team members but caps at 250 total issues, which a team of 5 engineers will hit within a month of real use. For ongoing work the Standard plan at $8/seat/mo (annual) is the practical entry point. The free tier is a real evaluation path, not a feature-gated demo, but it is sized for kicking the tires rather than running a product team.
Does Linear have a roadmap feature?
Yes. Linear has a Roadmap view that shows projects on a timeline with milestones and progress indicators. The newer Initiatives layer groups multiple projects under a single strategic goal with progress rollup. Both features are included from the Standard tier. Document-style specs and RFCs within projects (similar to a lightweight Notion) require the Business plan. Native roadmap features are simpler than dedicated tools like Productboard or Aha, but sufficient for most engineering-led teams.
Is Linear SOC 2 compliant?
Yes. Linear holds SOC 2 Type II certification and is GDPR compliant. SAML SSO is available on Business and Enterprise plans. HIPAA compliance is not offered, which matters for teams in regulated healthcare environments. Security documentation is available at linear.app/security.
Who is Linear best for?
Linear is best for engineering-led companies of 5 to 300 people who value developer experience, fast interfaces, and an opinionated workflow over deep configurability. It is particularly strong for product teams where engineers and PMs work closely together and where GitHub is the primary development workflow. Teams that need complex multi-department project tracking, resource management, or deep reporting analytics are better served by Jira, Asana, or Linear's larger competitors.
Sources
Every external figure on this page traces to a public source, last collected on the dates shown.
- G2: Linear reviews — rating 4.7/5, 462 reviews, read live (accessed 2026-08-30)
- Capterra: Linear — rating 4.8/5, 158 reviews, sub-scores and pricing (accessed 2026-08-30)
- TrustRadius: Linear — score 9.1/10, 67 reviews (accessed 2026-08-30)
- Linear pricing page — Free/Standard/Business/Enterprise tiers, seat pricing, feature gates (accessed 2026-08-30)
- Crunchbase: Linear Orbit — funding rounds, investors, valuation estimates (accessed 2026-08-30)
- LinkedIn: Linear company page — employee count, industry, HQ, specialties (accessed 2026-08-30)
- Linear changelog — product updates, feature releases, Initiatives and AI features (accessed 2026-08-30)
- Product Hunt: Linear — launch posts, community reviews, upvotes and discussions (accessed 2026-08-30)