Linear vs Jira for startups

Reviewed 2026-09-29

Short answer: Linear for product teams under 50 people; Jira if you already run Confluence or Bitbucket, need data residency outside the EU and US, or qualify for Atlassian for Startups.

Both have a Cmd+K command palette, SOC 2 Type II reports, and a free GitHub integration, so a feature checklist won't decide this. What differs is the shape of the free plan, how you pay, and what each company gives startups for nothing.

Verdict

Linear, for product teams under 50 people. Its free plan has no member limit, it stays close to the code, and it is the tool in our Founder Stack. Pick Jira if you already run Confluence or Bitbucket, need data residency outside the EU and US, or qualify for Atlassian for Startups: 12 months of Premium free is hard to argue with.

Linear holds the Issue Tracking slot in the Founder Stack

Linear vs Jira: side by side

Linear vs Jira, compared
Criterion	Linear	Jira
Free plan	Unlimited members, 2 teams, 250 issues	Up to 10 users, 2 GB storage
Entry paid plan	Basic: $10/user/month, billed yearly	Standard: $7.91/user/month on monthly billing, as listed for 300 users; the per-user rate varies with team size
Next tier	Business: $16/user/month, billed yearly; adds private teams, guests, and Linear Asks	Premium: $14.54/user/month on monthly billing, as listed for 300 users; adds 24/7 support and a 99.9% uptime SLA
Adding people	Yearly plans charge a prorated amount for added members; on monthly plans they're charged from the next month	Monthly plans bill the highest seat count in each cycle, prorate added seats, and don't credit removed ones; annual plans bill by user tier
Startup program	Up to 6 months of Business free, via a Linear partner, under 50 employees	12 months of Premium free for up to 50 seats; VC-backed or accelerator-affiliated, under $10M raised
SSO (SAML)	Enterprise plan	Enterprise plan, or the paid Atlassian Guard add-on
Keyboard	Cmd/Ctrl+K command bar; ? opens shortcut help	Cmd/Ctrl+K command palette; ? lists shortcuts
Hosting	Cloud; no self-managed option listed	Cloud; Data Center no longer sold to new customers since 30 March 2026
Data residency	EU or US, chosen when the workspace is created	11 locations, on Standard and above
Compliance	SOC 2 Type II, ISO/IEC 27001, HIPAA with a BAA	SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA with a BAA on paid plans
GitHub	Native app on all plans	Free GitHub for Atlassian app, built by Atlassian
Automation	No automation limit listed on the pricing page	Standard: 400 steps per user per month; Premium: 750
AI	Linear Agent on all plans; more on Business and up	Rovo on paid plans, 25–150 credits per user per month
Switching	Official Jira importer (API or CSV); custom fields don't import	—

Pricing for a 10-person team

Linear Basic is $10 per user per month on yearly billing: $1,200 a year for 10 people. Linear's pricing page lists yearly prices only.

Jira Standard is listed at $7.91 per user per month on monthly billing, but that is the rate Atlassian quotes for 300 users. Its monthly pricing is progressive, so a 10-person team pays a different per-user rate; Atlassian's pricing calculator gives the exact figure. Annual Jira plans are billed by user tier instead.

Hiring mid-contract costs less to reason about on Linear: added members on a yearly plan are prorated. Jira bills monthly plans on the highest seat count in each cycle and doesn't credit seats you remove before the cycle ends.

Free plans

Linear caps the free plan by work, Jira by people. Linear Free has no member limit but allows 2 teams and 250 issues. Jira Free allows up to 10 users and 2 GB of storage.

A larger group that files few issues fits Linear Free; Jira Free stops at the eleventh user.

Switching from Jira to Linear

Linear has an official Jira importer. It runs through the Jira API, which needs admin access and can keep syncing, or from a CSV export.

It brings over summaries, descriptions, assignees, priorities, issue types, epics, parent/child links, labels, comments, estimates, due dates, and images; other attachments come across as links. Custom fields don't import, sprints aren't on the list of imported data, and statuses are converted on a best-effort basis into Linear's fixed categories: Backlog, Unstarted, Started, Completed, and Canceled.

When Jira is the better choice

Linear is built for product teams shipping software. Pick Jira when:

You already run Confluence or Bitbucket and want one vendor, one bill, and one admin console.
IT, HR, or support teams need service-desk ticketing in the same system, through Jira Service Management.
Your process depends on custom fields or complex workflow rules. Custom fields don't carry over to Linear.
You need data residency outside the EU and US.
You qualify for Atlassian for Startups: 12 months of Premium free for up to 50 seats.

Facts are checked against each vendor's own pages, listed below; the verdict is our opinion. Prices change, so confirm on the vendor's site. See disclosures.

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