Linear vs monday.com
Linear and monday.com are both project management tools. Linear is aimed at developers and small businesses, while monday.com is aimed at small businesses and enterprise. Linear costs less, from $10/mo versus $12/mo for monday.com. Both have a free plan.
Issue tracking built for fast software teams
Colorful work OS with many templates
| Pricing | Freemium · $10 | Freemium · $12 |
| Starting price | $10/mo | $12/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | 14 days |
| Built for | Developers, Small businesses | Small businesses, Enterprise |
| Platforms | web, macos, windows, ios, android | web, ios, android |
| Country | US · 2019 | IL · 2012 |
| Rating | — | — |
Choose Linear if
Product and engineering teams from 3 to a few hundred people who ship continuously and want speed over configurability.
- Fastest issue tracker in day-to-day use; keyboard-first design
- Opinionated structure keeps teams consistent without configuration
- Excellent GitHub, Slack and Sentry integrations
Look elsewhere if: Organizations that need bespoke workflows, custom issue hierarchies, or a single tool for marketing, HR and engineering.
Choose monday.com if
Business teams and agencies of 5–200 who want visual, configurable trackers fast.
- Very approachable, visual configuration
- Flexible enough for many departments
- Good dashboards for managers
Look elsewhere if: Engineering teams (Linear, Jira) or budget-constrained small teams (ClickUp, Trello).
Linear vs monday.com pricing
Linear
- Free$0Unlimited members, 2 teams, 250 issues
- Basic$10/user/moBilled yearly; 5 teams, unlimited issues and uploads, admin roles
- Business$16/user/moBilled yearly; unlimited teams, private teams, Insights, Asks
- EnterpriseCustomAnnual only; SAML, SCIM, advanced security
monday.com
- Free$0Up to 2 seats, 3 boards
- Basic$12/seat/mo$9/seat/mo billed annually; plans start from 3 seats
- Standard$14/seat/mo$12/seat/mo billed annually
- Pro$24/seat/mo$19/seat/mo billed annually
- EnterpriseCustomAdvanced security and governance
Linear · Key features
- Cycles (sprints) with automatic rollover and capacity view
- Projects and initiatives with milestones, updates and roadmap views
- Triage inbox for bugs and requests from Slack, Intercom, Zendesk and Sentry
- GitHub/GitLab automation: branch naming, PR links and auto-close on merge
- Insights dashboards for velocity, scope change and cycle time
- Local-first sync engine; the app works offline and feels instant
Cons
- Limited customization compared with Jira (no custom issue types)
- Reporting is improving but still lighter than enterprise tools
- Not designed for non-engineering departments
monday.com · Key features
- Boards with 30+ column types and multiple views
- Automation recipes and integration actions
- Dashboards with widgets across boards
- Workdocs, forms and whiteboards
- monday AI for formulas, summaries and task generation
- Products: CRM, dev, service built on the same platform
Cons
- 3-seat minimum and per-seat pricing escalate
- Automation and integration caps per plan
- Can become board sprawl without governance
Linear vs monday.com: FAQ
Which is cheaper, Linear or monday.com?
Linear starts at $10/mo and monday.com at $12/mo. Both prices are checked on the vendors' own pricing pages.
Do Linear and monday.com have a free plan?
Yes, both Linear and monday.com have a free plan; paid plans add more usage and features.