Linear alternatives: 11 bug tracking tools compared
People look for a Linear alternative when a free workspace hits its 250-issue cap, when per-user billing grows with headcount, or when they want to host the tracker themselves. Linear is a closed-source cloud product, so the moves go to open-source trackers, to flat-priced project tools, or to a bug-capture tool that sits in front of whatever tracker they keep.
Short answer: The first three alternatives to Linear in our bug tracking software ranking are Plane, Shortcut and Backlog. Places 1 to 3 go to challengers, vendors outside the best-known brands in a category, wherever the category has them; the established names follow from place 4 in their ranked order. Choose Plane if you like Linear's workflow but want a self-hostable, open-source code base. All 11 alternatives below are ranked products from Best Bug Tracking Software in 2026, and each says where it differs from Linear.
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Pricing: Free plan with 250 issues; per-user Basic and Business plans, published
Established in: United States
Built for: Software product teams that want a quick, opinionated tracker for bugs and planning
Not for: Teams that need a self-hosted install or flat pricing
01
Why buyers look past Linear
01
The free plan stops at 250 issues and two teams
Linear's pricing page lists Free with unlimited members, 2 teams, 250 issues and 10 MB uploads. Unlimited issues and uploads and up to 5 teams start on Basic at USD 10 per user per month, billed yearly. A team with a long bug backlog reaches the cap fast and then pays for every seat.
02
Per-user billing, with useful features on the upper tier
Business costs USD 16 per user per month, billed yearly, and is where unlimited teams, private teams and guests, Triage Intelligence, Linear Insights and Linear Asks appear. SAML, SCIM, invoice billing and an uptime SLA sit on Enterprise, which is quoted. Cost therefore follows headcount, not the number of projects.
03
Cloud only, with an issue model of its own
Linear's terms describe a hosted service from Linear Orbit, Inc. under Delaware law, and its docs describe importers for Jira, GitHub Issues, Asana and Shortcut. We found no self-hosted edition on its site. Teams that must keep issue data on their own servers, or want a classic bug workflow with custom fields and per-project roles, look elsewhere.
Free plan with 30 Jams a month; per-creator Team plan, published; 14-day trial
Records the bug with console and network logs attached
your problem is bug reports that arrive without logs or steps to reproduce
#12
03
What each one does differently
1
Plane
Not stated by the vendor · Free plan for up to 12 users; per-user Pro and Business plans, published
The closest in shape: cycles, modules, work items and intake in a modern interface. The code is published under AGPL-3.0 and a self-hosted edition exists, while the cloud Free plan is capped at 12 users and Pro and Business are priced per seat. Some features, such as LDAP and multiple workflows with approvals, sit on paid or Enterprise tiers.
Switch from Linear if you like Linear's workflow but want a self-hostable, open-source code base.
Not stated by the vendor · Free plan for up to 10 users; per-user plans, published; 14-day trial
Stories, epics, iterations and roadmaps in a hosted product with a Free plan for up to 10 users and Team and Business plans priced per user. The Free plan is limited to one team and one workflow. It is organised around planning and sprints more than around bug triage, and it is cloud software with no self-hosted route on the pricing page.
Switch from Linear if you want a similar hosted tool with a free plan that has more seats than Linear's issue cap allows.
Japan · Free plan for 10 users; flat monthly price per plan, published; 30-day trial
Charges per plan, not per user: Free covers 10 users and 1 project, Starter 30 users and 5 projects, and Standard and Premium have unlimited users. It adds built-in Git and Subversion repositories, Gantt charts and burndown charts. Nulab Inc. runs it, with a 30-day trial. Its interface follows project management more than the keyboard-first issue flow Linear is known for.
Switch from Linear if a growing team makes per-user billing the main cost and you also want code hosting.
Not stated by the vendor · Open source GPL v2, self-hosted; donations invited, no hosted plans listed
A self-hosted Ruby on Rails application under GPL v2, with issue tracking, Gantt chart, calendar, time tracking, wiki, forums and Git or Subversion integration. There is no licence fee and no vendor-run hosted plan on redmine.org. It is maintained by volunteers, and you run the server, the database and the upgrades yourself.
Switch from Linear if you want a free, self-hosted tracker with time tracking and per-project roles.
Not stated by the vendor · Open source GPL licence, self-hosted; hosted MantisHub plans published per tier
An open-source issue tracker in PHP under the GPL, with per-project access control, custom fields and email notifications. You install it yourself or buy hosted MantisHub, whose Gold plan lists 15 users and Platinum 30, both priced per month on annual billing. It is a plain bug tracker and does not include sprints or roadmaps.
Switch from Linear if you need a simple, customisable bug tracker you can host or rent.
United States · Open source under MPL 2.0, self-hosted; no licence price
A Perl bug tracker under the MPL 2.0, used by Mozilla, KDE, the Linux kernel and Red Hat according to its own site. It offers advanced search, products and components, and milestones. It is run by a nonprofit, is self-hosted, has no vendor cloud, and has no planning boards or modern integrations built in.
Switch from Linear if you track a large open-source project and want a long-established, self-hosted bug database.
Australia · Flat monthly plans by member count, published; trial, no plan without payment
A website feedback tool more than an issue tracker: clients pin comments on a live page and the report arrives with screenshot and technical data on a kanban board. Standard, Studio and Premium are flat monthly plans by member count, with unlimited client users. A Linear integration is listed only on Premium.
Switch from Linear if your bugs come from clients reviewing websites, not from engineers.
Belgium · 15-day trial; per-plan monthly pricing by user count, published
Captures bug reports and feedback from a widget on your site, with screenshot and environment details, and pushes them into trackers including Linear, Jira and GitHub. It is not a tracker itself. Plans are priced by team member count, reporters need no paid seat, and the vendor is Marker.io SRL in Brussels. Session replay needs the Team plan.
Switch from Linear if you keep a tracker but want testers and clients to report bugs from the page.
Australia · Free plan with 7-day feedback visibility; per-plan monthly pricing, published
A visual feedback and bug-report widget with a Free plan of 2 seats and 2 sites, where feedback stays visible for 7 days. Paid plans start with Team at 5 seats and 2-way Jira and ClickUp sync. Developer tools and session replay need Business. It collects reports; it does not plan sprints or cycles.
Switch from Linear if you want a free way to start collecting visual bug reports in front of your tracker.
Austria · Monthly plans by project count, published; free trial before any plan
Now sold as a feedback and product-discovery platform, with Starter, Growth and Professional plans priced monthly in euro and unlimited seats from Growth. It lists a Linear integration and bug-report screenshots, but the focus is surveys, boards and AI analysis of feedback. Its trial ends after 20 feedback items.
Switch from Linear if you need user feedback and surveys alongside bug reports, and keep Linear for the work.
Not stated by the vendor · Free plan with 30 Jams a month; per-creator Team plan, published; 14-day trial
Records screen sessions, screenshots and console and network logs into a shareable link that can go to Jira, Linear and other trackers. The Free plan allows 30 Jams a month; Team costs USD 14 per creator per month, billed yearly, with a 14-day trial. It is a reporting aid for testers and support, not an issue tracker.
Switch from Linear if your problem is bug reports that arrive without logs or steps to reproduce.
Linear stays the right choice for a software team that already works in cycles and projects, is happy with a hosted product, and has fewer than the 250 issues the Free plan allows or can pay for Basic at USD 10 per user per month. It is also strong where Triage, Insights or Asks matter, since those sit on Business. What goes wrong is cost and control: seats scale with headcount, SAML and SCIM need a quoted Enterprise contract, and there is no self-hosted edition on its site.
05
What moving off Linear involves
01
Use Linear's export before you cancel
Linear exports issues as CSV from Settings, Administration, Import Export. The file lists ID, team, title, description, status, priority, project, assignee, labels, cycle and date fields, and is emailed as a download link that expires after 12 hours. Check what the new tool can import, because cycles, initiatives and SLA status do not map onto every tracker.
02
Pilot with one team, as Linear's own import guide advises in reverse
Linear's import guide suggests running a pilot with a few teams, and the same logic applies when you leave. Move one team and its open issues, keep resolved issues in the CSV, and run both tools for a cycle. Self-hosted options (Plane, Redmine, MantisBT, Bugzilla) add install and upgrade work that a hosted plan does not.
03
Decide whether you need a tracker or a capture tool
BugHerd, Marker.io, Userback, Usersnap and Jam collect reports and hand them to a tracker; several list Linear as a target. If the pain is poor bug reports, adding one may fix it without leaving Linear. If the pain is seat cost or hosting, only a tracker replaces it.
06
Questions about replacing Linear
6 answers
Is there a free alternative to Linear?
Yes, in different forms. Redmine (GPL v2), MantisBT (GPL), Bugzilla (MPL 2.0) and Plane (AGPL-3.0) publish their code and can be self-hosted at no licence cost, though you pay in server and admin time.
Backlog's Free plan covers 10 users and 1 project, Shortcut's up to 10 users, and Plane's cloud Free plan up to 12 users.
What does Linear cost?
Linear's pricing page lists Free at USD 0, Basic at USD 10 and Business at USD 16 per user per month billed yearly, and Enterprise on request. Free is limited to 250 issues and 2 teams.
Can I self-host Linear?
We found no self-hosted edition on Linear's pricing page or terms. Plane, Redmine, MantisBT and Bugzilla can be installed on your own servers.
Which alternative avoids per-user pricing?
Backlog prices by plan: Starter covers 30 users, and Standard and Premium have unlimited users. BugHerd and Marker.io also price by plan and member count rather than per seat, although they are feedback tools. Self-hosted tools have no per-user fee.
Can I keep Linear and add a bug-report tool?
Yes. BugHerd (Premium plan), Marker.io, Usersnap and Jam list Linear as an integration, so reports can arrive as Linear issues with screenshots and logs.
How do I get my issues out of Linear?
Workspace admins can export issues as CSV from Settings, Administration, Import Export. A download link is emailed and expires after 12 hours.
—
Sources
Checked 23 October 2026
Linear pricing: Plans, prices, Free limits (250 issues, 2 teams, 10 MB), Business and Enterprise features, Import and export.
Linear about: Founded 2019, more than 40,000 companies.
Linear terms: Linear Orbit, Inc., Delaware law, hosted service.
Linear import guide: Importers (Jira, GitHub Issues, Asana, Shortcut) and pilot advice.
Founder of The Knowledge Engineers and of 2 Steps Ahead, an AI search visibility agency. Editorially responsible for every page on this site; research and drafting are AI-assisted.
Written, edited and fact-checked by Sebastiaan Smits. Last reviewed
23 October 2026. How we review.
