The comparison engineering teams argue about most, because it is really an argument about how much configuration a tracker should allow.
TL;DR
Jira is a configurable tracking system with four tiers, a free plan for up to 10 users and per-user rates that move with seat count: $7.91 for Standard and $14.54 for Premium on the calculator's example. Linear is a fixed opinionated tool with a free plan for unlimited members, Basic at $10 per user per month billed yearly and Business at $16. Buy Jira when the workflow has to be shaped to the organization; buy Linear when speed and a default workflow matter more than options.
Jira's pricing page runs Free at $0 for up to 10 users with 2GB of storage and 150 automation steps a subscription a month, Standard at $7.91 per user per month on the page's default example with 400 automation steps,250GB of storage and 9/5 regional support, Premium at $14.54 with 750 steps, approval processes and cross-team planning, and Enterprise as an annual contract with 1,000 steps per user and Atlassian Guard for identity. Atlassian documents that per-user rates change with seats, listing $9.05 for Standard and $18.30 for Premium on monthly billing for teams of 1-100, and Rovo credits of 25, 70 and 150 per user across the paid tiers. Workflows, permission schemes, fields and issue types are all administrators' territory, which is the point of the product.
Linear publishes three numbers and stops. Free is $0 with unlimited members, two teams,250 issues,10MB file uploads and the agent platform. Basic is $10 per user per month billed yearly and lifts the team cap to five with unlimited issues and unlimited uploads plus admin roles. Business is $16 per user per month billed yearly and adds private teams, insights, asks, loops, code intelligence and the Zendesk and Intercom integrations. Enterprise is custom, annual billing only, with invoice and purchase-order billing, SAML and SCIM, granular admin controls, migration and onboarding support and a named account manager. AI features are flagged on the page as requiring AI credits, so they are metered separately from the seat.
| Feature | Jira | Linear |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | Free: $0 for up to 10 users,2GB storage,150 automation steps a month | Free: $0, unlimited members,2 teams,250 issues,10MB file uploads |
| Entry paid plan | Standard: $7.91 per user/month as shown, $9.05 for teams of 1-100 on monthly billing | Basic: $10 per user/month billed yearly,5 teams and unlimited issues |
| Upper paid plan | Premium: $14.54 per user/month as shown, $18.30 for teams of 1-100 on monthly billing | Business: $16 per user/month billed yearly, private teams, insights, loops, integrations |
| Enterprise | Annual contract through sales, with Atlassian Guard for identity | Custom price, annual billing only, invoice and PO billing, SAML and SCIM |
| AI pricing | Rovo credits bundled:25 per user on Standard,70 on Premium,150 on Enterprise | AI features marked on the pricing page as requiring AI credits |
| Automation | Automation steps pooled per user:150, 400, 750, 1,000 across the four tiers | Workflows and agents included in the product tiers, with credit-metered AI actions |
| Work structure | Projects, schemes, workflows, fields and issue types configured per site | Triage, cycles and issues with a fixed structure and defaults |
| Platform | Web, iOS and Android, plus Atlassian Marketplace apps | Web, desktop and mobile, with Zendesk and Intercom integrations on Business |
| Offline mode | Not covered on Atlassian's Jira pricing page | Not covered on linear.app/pricing |
| Billing note | Annual billing charged by seat tier, advertised at up to 17% below monthly | Yearly-billed rates published; Enterprise runs on annual contracts only |
Pick Jira if
Organizations with audited workflows, release trains and permission requirements get the tool that bends to them, at $7.91 per user per month on the page's example and free for up to 10 users. The cost of that flexibility is administration: schemes, fields and automation allowances all need someone who owns them.
Pick Linear if
Product teams that would rather ship than configure get one opinionated workflow, unlimited members on the free plan and flat pricing of $10 and $16 per user per month billed yearly. Teams arriving with a bespoke process will have to move to Linear's model, because there is not much of a settings screen to move it the other way.
We collected no independent reviews for this pairing: all figures come from Atlassian's Jira pricing page and linear.app/pricing, and the cards hold vendor-published statements only.
On the entry tier, Jira's Standard shows at $7.91 per user per month on the page's example against Linear's Basic at $10 per user billed yearly. Higher up, Jira Premium shows $14.54 against Linear Business at $16, and Jira's free plan covers ten users while Linear's free plan covers unlimited members but only two teams and 250 issues.
Linear covers issues, cycles, triage, projects, insights and integrations with an agent platform included in every tier. It does not offer Jira's configuration surface: no issue-type schemes, no per-project permission models, and no comparable marketplace of add-ons.
Linear sells migration as part of its Enterprise onboarding support, and its importer brings issues and comments across. What does not transfer is the configuration: fields, workflows and permission schemes you built in Jira have to be re-thought against Linear's fixed structure.
Jira bundles Rovo credits into each paid tier,25 per user on Standard,70 on Premium and 150 on Enterprise. Linear includes its agent platform in every plan but marks AI features on the pricing page as requiring AI credits, so heavy use adds a separate charge.
Different shapes of generosity. Jira's free plan gives ten users,2GB of storage and 150 automation steps a month, which suits one squad. Linear's gives unlimited members with two teams and 250 issues, which suits a whole company that tracks lightly.
Linear's Business tier would be 50 × $16, or $800 per month billed yearly. Jira's per-user rate falls as seats grow, so a fifty-seat Standard subscription prices below the list example rather than above it, and the exact figure comes from Atlassian's calculator rather than the page's headline number.
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