Linear vs Jira in 2026: Pricing, Developer Velocity, and Migration for Growing Engineering Teams
Pick Linear if your engineering team mainly needs fast issue tracking, automatic Cycles, and GitHub or GitLab pull requests that move issues on their own. Pick Jira if engineering shares the tracker with IT, service desk, or compliance work, or needs custom workflows, permission schemes, and cross-team plans. Jira is the cheaper paid seat ($8.48 Standard vs $10 Linear Basic per user per month), but a team that wants velocity reporting should compare Linear Business ($16) with Jira Premium ($15.56). At that tier, Marketplace apps and admin time decide the cost.
Linear vs Jira at a Glance
| Option | Best for | Model | Paid tiers (per user / month) | Key trade-off |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linear | Product and engineering teams that want low-maintenance tracking | Cloud only; opinionated Cycles, projects, and roadmaps | Free; Basic $10; Business $16; Enterprise custom (billed yearly) | Higher entry seat price; velocity reports need Business; little coverage outside engineering |
| Jira Software | Multi-team or cross-department orgs with formal process and compliance needs | Cloud (Data Center ends March 28, 2029); configurable workflows, fields, and schemes | Free (10 users); Standard $8.48; Premium $15.56; Enterprise custom | More admin time and Marketplace app spend; slower day-to-day UI |
Linear prices from linear.app/pricing, billed yearly. Jira prices are Atlassian's listed per-user monthly rate. Both checked October 31, 2026. Full plan breakdown in the pricing table below.
Which Plan a Growing Engineering Team Needs, by Team Size
The plan you need changes at specific limits, not at a vague "scale". These are the points where a growing team moves to a higher plan on each tool.
| Team stage | Linear plan | Jira plan | Annual list cost (Linear / Jira) | What forces the change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Up to 10 engineers, 1–2 teams | Free while under 250 issues, then Basic | Free (up to 10 users) | $0–$1,200 / $0 | Linear Free caps issues at 250 and teams at 2, which an active team often reaches first. Jira Free stops at 10 users and 2 GB of storage. |
| 11–30 engineers, up to 5 teams | Basic | Standard | $3,000 / $2,544 (25 seats) | The 11th user moves every Jira seat to a paid plan. Jira is the cheaper paid seat here. |
| 30–150 engineers, 6+ teams or a weekly velocity review | Business | Standard, or Premium for cross-team plans | $9,600 / $5,088–$9,336 (50 seats) | Linear Basic stops at 5 teams and has no Insights. Jira needs Premium for cross-team planning and a sandbox. |
| 150+ engineers, SSO and provisioning required | Enterprise (custom, annual only) | Premium or Enterprise | Quote / Premium list or quote | Linear puts SAML and SCIM on Enterprise only. Jira Data Center customers must also leave Data Center by March 28, 2029. |
Team-size bands are our guide; the limits in the last column come from each vendor's plan page. Jira costs exclude Marketplace apps and admin time.
Feature & Workflow Matrix
| Dimension | Linear | Jira Software | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| UI Speed | Local-first sync; most actions update instantly | Server-rendered web app; large instances load slower | Linear |
| Keyboard Navigation | Full command palette (Cmd+K) | Basic shortcuts available | Linear |
| Git & GitHub Sync | Automatic branch names + PR state automation | Requires Smart Commits or integration setup | Linear |
| Velocity Reporting | Cycle progress on all plans; Insights (cycle time, throughput) on Business | Velocity, burndown, and sprint reports on Standard | Jira |
| Entry Paid Seat | $10 (Basic) | $8.48 (Standard) | Jira |
| Custom Field Flexibility | Curated, standardized attributes | Custom fields, screens, and workflow schemes | Jira |
| Cross-Department Workflows | Focused primarily on product and engineering | Shares a platform with Jira Service Management | Jira |
| Admin Overhead | Few configuration surfaces | Schemes, permissions, and apps to maintain | Linear |
Where Each Option Fits (and Where It Does Not)
Linear fits engineering-led teams, from early-stage startups to orgs with hundreds of engineers, that track work in issues, cycles, and projects and want pull requests to move issues automatically. It does not fit teams that rely on dozens of custom fields, transition validators, per-project permission schemes, or a service desk in the same tool. It also has no self-hosted option.
Jira fits organizations where engineering shares a tracker with IT, ops, or compliance, where audit trails and approval steps are required, or where cross-team plans on Premium are used to coordinate many teams. It does not fit small teams that just want to ship: the configuration surface, admin upkeep, and Marketplace apps add cost and friction that a 10-person team rarely needs.
Where Jira wins outright: entry seat price, sprint velocity reporting on its cheaper paid plan, customization, and the Atlassian ecosystem (Confluence, Bitbucket, Jira Service Management). Where Linear wins outright: UI speed, keyboard-driven workflow, git automation with no plugin setup, and admin time.
Linear vs Jira Seat Pricing Breakdown (2026)
Linear no longer sells an $8 Standard plan. Its plans are Free, Basic, Business, and Enterprise, so Jira Standard is now the cheapest paid seat of the two. One tier up, Linear Business and Jira Premium cost within 3% of each other.
| Plan | Price per user / month | Limits and what it adds |
|---|---|---|
| Linear Free | $0 | Unlimited members, 2 teams, 250 issues |
| Linear Basic | $10 (billed yearly) | 5 teams, unlimited issues, unlimited file uploads, admin roles |
| Linear Business | $16 (billed yearly) | Unlimited teams, private teams and guests, Linear Insights, Linear Asks, Triage Intelligence |
| Linear Enterprise | Custom (annual only) | SAML and SCIM, granular admin controls, advanced org modeling |
| Jira Free | $0 | Up to 10 users, 2 GB storage |
| Jira Standard | $8.48 | Scrum and Kanban boards, velocity and sprint reports, user roles and permissions |
| Jira Premium | $15.56 | Cross-team plans (formerly Advanced Roadmaps), sandbox, more automation |
| Jira Enterprise | Custom | Large organizations with multiple sites and compliance requirements |
Example: a 40-seat team pays $4,800 a year on Linear Basic, $7,680 on Linear Business, $4,070 on Jira Standard, and $7,469 on Jira Premium, before Marketplace apps or admin time.
Checked October 31, 2026. Jira's per-user rate falls as seat count rises and with annual billing, so quote your exact seat count in Atlassian's pricing calculator. Monthly billing on Linear costs more.
2026 Linear vs Jira Annual Cost by Team Size
At list price Jira Standard is about 15% cheaper than Linear Basic at every team size. Marketplace apps close that gap: at $3 per seat per month in apps, Jira Standard costs more than Linear Basic.
| Seats | Linear Basic | Linear Business | Jira Standard | Jira Standard + apps | Jira Premium + apps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | $1,200 | $1,920 | $1,018 | $1,378 | $2,227 |
| 25 | $3,000 | $4,800 | $2,544 | $3,444 | $5,568 |
| 50 | $6,000 | $9,600 | $5,088 | $6,888 | $11,136 |
| 100 | $12,000 | $19,200 | $10,176 | $13,776 | $22,272 |
| 250 | $30,000 | $48,000 | $25,440 | $34,440 | $55,680 |
Annual cost at list prices. "+ apps" assumes $3 per seat per month in Atlassian Marketplace apps, which varies widely by team. Admin time is excluded; add it in the calculator below. At 10 seats, Jira Free costs $0 if you can live without its limits.
Linear vs Jira TCO Calculator
Seat price is the smallest line in most comparisons. Enter your team size, plan, Marketplace spend, and the admin time each tool takes to see the full annual cost.
| Annual cost | Linear | Jira |
|---|---|---|
| Seat licenses | $3,000 | $2,544 |
| Marketplace apps | $0 | $900 |
| Admin time | $2,160 | $10,800 |
| Total cost of ownership | $5,160 | $14,244 |
With these inputs, Linear costs $9,084 less per year than Jira.
The admin hours, Marketplace spend, and hourly rate are starting assumptions, not measured benchmarks. Replace them with your own numbers. Linear prices are billed yearly and Jira prices are Atlassian's listed per-user monthly rate; check linear.app/pricing and atlassian.com/software/jira/pricing before you buy.
Developer Velocity: What Each Tool Measures
Linear removes friction; Jira reports on process. Linear updates issues locally and syncs in the background, so creating, assigning, and re-estimating an issue takes no page load. Linked pull requests move issues to In Progress and Done without anyone touching the tracker. Jira can do the same through its GitHub and GitLab integrations and Smart Commits, but someone has to set them up and keep them working.
Reporting is where Jira is ahead at the lower price. Jira Standard includes the velocity chart, burndown, and sprint report that most engineering managers already know. Linear shows cycle progress and scope change on every plan, but cycle time, lead time, and throughput reports live in Linear Insights on Business. If you run a weekly velocity review, compare Linear Business ($16) with Jira, not Linear Basic.
Measure before you switch. Story points are a currency each team sets for itself, so a velocity chart cannot compare two teams or two tools. Record median cycle time and issues completed per sprint for two sprints in Jira, then compare the same numbers after two Linear cycles. Deployment frequency and other DORA metrics come from CI/CD tooling, not from either tracker.
Jira Data Center to Linear Migration Checklist
Atlassian stopped selling Jira Data Center to new customers on March 30, 2026, and Data Center reaches end of life on March 28, 2029. If your engineering teams have to leave Data Center anyway, these nine steps cover a move to Linear.
- Inventory the Data Center instance. List projects, issue types, workflows, custom fields, Jira Automation rules, Marketplace apps, and integrations. Note which projects belong to engineering and which run service desk, HR, or compliance work.
- Decide what moves and what stays. Move engineering projects with open work and recent history. Leave service desk and compliance projects on Jira or plan a separate move to Atlassian Cloud. Take a full Jira backup before you start.
- Map Jira concepts to Linear. Jira projects become Linear teams, epics become projects or parent issues, issue types and components become labels, statuses map to workflow states, story points map to estimates, and sprints become Cycles going forward.
- Prepare users and access. Make sure Jira user emails match the emails people will use in Linear so assignees and reporters map correctly. On Linear Enterprise, set up SAML SSO and SCIM before inviting teams.
- Check that Linear can reach your instance. The API importer needs network access to your Data Center base URL and an API token. If the instance is behind a firewall or VPN, export issues to CSV per project and import those instead.
- Run a test import. Import one project into a separate test workspace. Compare issue counts, comments, attachments, links, and assignees with Jira before importing anything real.
- Rebuild automations and integrations. Replace Jira Automation rules and Smart Commits with Linear workflow settings and the GitHub or GitLab integration. Connect Slack, and replace or retire each Marketplace app on your inventory.
- Cut over at a sprint boundary. Pilot one team for a full cycle, then move the rest at the end of a sprint. Set migrated Jira projects to read-only so new work lands only in Linear.
- Decommission on your schedule. Keep Jira read-only for as long as your retention policy requires, update links in Confluence and runbooks, and cancel or reduce the Data Center licence before its next renewal date.
For the field audit and what the importer leaves behind, read the Linear vs Jira switching guide.
Linear vs Jira FAQ: Pricing, Migration, and Engineering Velocity
Is Linear or Jira better for a growing engineering team in 2026?
Linear is the better fit for a product engineering team of roughly 10 to 150 people that mainly tracks issues, cycles, and projects and wants pull requests to move issues automatically. Jira is the better fit once engineering shares a tracker with IT, service desk, or compliance work, or needs custom workflows, permission schemes, and cross-team planning. Jira is also the cheaper paid seat at list price.
How much does Linear cost compared to Jira per seat in 2026?
Linear Basic is $10 and Linear Business is $16 per user per month, billed yearly. Atlassian lists Jira Standard at $8.48 and Jira Premium at $15.56 per user per month. Jira Free covers up to 10 users; Linear Free covers unlimited members but only 2 teams and 250 issues. Prices checked October 31, 2026.
How much do Linear and Jira cost for a 50-person team in 2026?
At list prices, 50 seats cost $6,000 a year on Linear Basic, $9,600 on Linear Business, $5,088 on Jira Standard, and $9,336 on Jira Premium. If the Jira team also spends $3 per seat per month on Marketplace apps, Jira Standard rises to $6,888 a year and Jira Premium to $11,136, before any admin time.
At what team size do Linear and Jira costs change?
Jira Free stops at 10 users, so the 11th engineer puts every seat on a paid plan. Linear Free stops at 2 teams and 250 issues, which an active team can reach within its first few months. Linear Basic stops at 5 teams; a sixth team, private teams, guests, or Linear Insights require Business. On Jira, cross-team planning and a sandbox require Premium.
What is the total cost of ownership of Linear vs Jira?
Seat licenses are only part of the cost. Jira teams often add paid Atlassian Marketplace apps, which are billed per user, and larger Jira instances usually need regular administrator time to maintain workflows, schemes, and permissions. Linear has fewer configuration surfaces, so admin time tends to be lower. Use the calculator on this page with your own seat count, app spend, and admin hours.
Does Linear improve engineering velocity compared to Jira?
Linear removes common sources of friction: issues update instantly, most actions have keyboard shortcuts, and linked GitHub or GitLab pull requests move issues through states automatically. Whether that shows up as higher throughput depends on your team, so measure cycle time and issues completed per cycle before and after a switch instead of relying on vendor claims.
Does Linear have velocity reports like Jira?
Partly. Linear shows cycle progress and scope change on every plan, but Linear Insights, its report for cycle time, lead time, and throughput, is on the Business plan at $16 per user per month. Jira includes velocity, burndown, and sprint reports with its Scrum boards on Standard. If your engineering manager runs a weekly velocity review, price Linear at Business, not Basic.
How do Linear Cycles compare to Jira sprints?
Linear Cycles are time-boxed iterations that start automatically and roll unfinished work into the next cycle. Jira sprints are started and closed by hand, use story-point estimates, and feed the velocity chart. Teams that want a low-maintenance rhythm tend to prefer Cycles; teams with formal sprint ceremonies and reporting requirements often prefer Jira.
Which engineering metrics can I track in Linear and Jira?
Linear Insights (Business plan) reports on cycle time, lead time, throughput, and issue age. Jira Software includes velocity, burndown, burnup, cumulative flow, and control charts, and Premium adds cross-team plans. DORA metrics such as deployment frequency usually come from your CI/CD tooling or a dedicated engineering analytics product rather than either tracker alone.
How long does a Jira to Linear migration take?
The import itself takes an afternoon. The work around it takes longer: an audit of custom fields and saved JQL filters before the import, then one team piloting Linear for a full cycle while everyone else stays in Jira. Switch at a sprint boundary, never mid-sprint, and import open work plus recent history rather than the whole archive.
Can I migrate from Jira Data Center to Linear?
Yes. Linear has a built-in Jira importer that pulls issues, statuses, assignees, labels, and comments through the Jira API with an API token. A self-hosted Data Center instance must be reachable from Linear for the API import to work; if it sits behind a firewall, export issues from Jira to CSV and use the CSV route instead. Run a test import into a separate Linear workspace before moving real teams.
What does not carry over when moving from Jira to Linear?
Saved JQL filters, dashboards, custom fields with no Linear equivalent, Jira Automation rules, workflow validators, and data stored by Marketplace apps do not migrate in a usable form. Sprint history also does not become Linear Cycles. Rebuild the views and automations your team actually uses, and keep Jira read-only for anything you need to look up later.
Why are Jira Data Center teams evaluating Linear in 2026?
Atlassian has announced the end of Jira Data Center: it stopped selling new Data Center subscriptions to new customers on March 30, 2026, and Data Center reaches end of life on March 28, 2029. Every Data Center customer has to choose a destination before then. Atlassian Cloud is the default path, but engineering teams that mainly use Jira for tickets and sprints often compare Linear at the same time. Confirm the dates that apply to your licence with Atlassian.
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