ClickUp vs Linear
ClickUp and Linear both plan and track work, and they come from opposite philosophies. ClickUp tries to be the one workspace for everything — tasks, docs, whiteboards, goals and chat, arranged however you like. Linear is deliberately narrow and opinionated: issues, cycles and projects for software teams, built to be fast.
Which should you choose?
Choose ClickUp if
- Teams consolidating several tools into one workspace
- Agencies and operations teams that need heavy customization
- Small businesses that want time tracking and Gantt charts without paying for add-ons
Choose Linear if
- Startup and scale-up engineering teams
- Product teams that want a faster, simpler alternative to Jira
- Teams that run cycles or sprints tightly coupled to GitHub or GitLab
Cheapest to start
ClickUp · From $10/mo
Free plan
ClickUp, Linear
Highest editor rating
Linear · 4.5
Key differences
- Listed for ClickUp but not Linear: AI assistant, Calendar view, Custom fields, Goals & OKRs and Time tracking.
- Listed for Linear but not ClickUp: Desktop app, Git integration, Guest & client access, SSO / SAML and Webhooks.
- Only ClickUp lists Linux and Browser extension among its platforms.
| Compare | ClickUp |
|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes |
| Free trial | No |
| Starting price | From $10/mo |
| Editor rating | 4.2 |
| Ease of use | Moderate (3/5) |
| Category | Project Management |
| Pricing model | Free Forever plan with unlimited members; paid plans are per seat at approximately $10 (Unlimited) and $19 (Business) per user per month billed monthly, roughly $7 and $12 billed annually, plus custom Enterprise pricing and a paid AI add-on. |
| Plans |
|
| Platforms | Web, Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Browser extension, API |
| Integrations | Dropbox, Figma, GitHub, GitLab, Google Workspace, Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Slack, Zapier, Zoom |
| Best for |
|
| Pros |
|
| Cons |
|
| AI assistant | Yes |
| API access | Yes |
| Calendar view | Yes |
| Custom fields | Yes |
| Desktop app | No |
| Gantt & timeline | Yes |
| Git integration | No |
| Goals & OKRs | Yes |
| Guest & client access | No |
| Kanban boards | Yes |
| Mobile app | Yes |
| Reporting & dashboards | Yes |
| SSO / SAML | No |
| Time tracking | Yes |
| Unlimited users on free plan | Yes |
| Webhooks | No |
| Workflow automation | Yes |
Common questions
- Does ClickUp or Linear have a free plan?
- Both do. ClickUp and Linear each offer a free tier, so you can try either without paying.
- Which is easier to use, ClickUp or Linear?
- In VERILO's editorial assessment Linear is the easier of the two, scoring 4 out of 5 against 3 for ClickUp. That is a judgement about how quickly a new team gets productive, not a measured benchmark.
Our verdict
Choose ClickUp if the team is not only engineers, or if you want to consolidate several tools into one workspace. It offers more than a dozen views of the same data, native time tracking and automations, and a Free Forever plan with unlimited members; paid plans are per seat, at $10 a month for Unlimited and $19 for Business billed monthly. The price of that breadth is a steep learning curve, a cluttered interface in large workspaces, and an AI assistant sold as a paid add-on on every plan.
Choose Linear if you build software and want an issue tracker the team will keep up to date. Its keyboard-driven interface is fast, its GitHub and GitLab integration updates issues from pull requests, and its model of teams, cycles and projects keeps workflows consistent. The free plan allows unlimited members but caps the number of issues, and customisation is deliberately limited: no arbitrary custom fields or bespoke workflows. Its paid plans are $10 (Basic) and $16 (Business) per user per month, billed yearly, so set them against ClickUp's yearly rates of about $7 and $12 rather than its monthly ones.
Who else will use the tool usually settles it. Marketing, operations or client-services work feels forced in Linear, and engineering teams that want opinionated issue tracking tend to find ClickUp's flexibility gets in the way. In VERILO's assessment Linear is the easier to pick up, scoring 4 out of 5 for ease of use against 3 for ClickUp.
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