What Is Linear? Issue Tracking With a Method and Agents Built In
By Joris van Huët · Linear's own site
The short answer: a marketing team of eight can run its campaigns in Linear for nothing until the workspace passes 250 issues or needs a third team; after that Basic is $10 per user a month billed yearly and Business $16, and every plan includes Linear Agent, the MCP server and Loops (pricing, checked on 5 November 2026). Linear is an issue tracker built for product and engineering teams, with a published method for using it. It is not a CRM.
Disclosure: I may earn a commission through some links on this site. It does not change what this page says.
Before you move a team in:
- Count issues, not people. For example, 6 marketers logging 8 issues a week each is 6 x 8 = 48, so the free plan's 250 issues last about five weeks; Basic for those 6 is 6 x $10 = $60 a month billed yearly (pricing).
- Start from the tool you are leaving. The Asana importer carries projects, assignees, tags and comments, but every task arrives as Backlog or Done (Asana importer).
- Choose the status that counts. Project updates carry On track, At risk or Off track, post to Slack and remind the lead when one is due (updates). Make that the report.
How Linear is put together
One workspace per company, teams inside it, issues inside teams, projects grouping issues toward an outcome, initiatives grouping projects toward a goal, and cycles of 1 to 8 weeks for the rhythm (concepts, cycles). Linear's setup guide says to mirror the org chart with a team per function and names Marketing beside Engineering (setup guide). A project has one lead, and its overview "is the source of truth for your project" (project planning). The Method: initiatives, n-week cycles, a short backlog, one owner per issue, issues rather than user stories (Linear Method).
Agents are part of the product. Linear Agent answers to @Linear in comments and in Slack, and drafts updates and documents within the permissions you already have (Linear Agent). The MCP server at mcp.linear.app connects Claude, Cursor, Codex and VS Code, with a read-only endpoint for reporting (MCP server). Loops run the agent on a schedule at $0.07 to $0.20 a run from a prepaid balance (AI credits).
Who it suits, and who it does not
A product-led company where marketing wants the board engineering already uses, so a launch is one project with both teams on it. Less so a team after a CRM: Linear's "customers" are organisations whose support requests attach to issues, and Salesforce is an Enterprise add-on (customer requests). Dashboards are Enterprise only (dashboards).
What it costs
Checked on 5 November 2026 on the pricing page, per user, billed yearly:
| Plan | Price | Teams | Issues | What it adds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 2 | 250 | Unlimited members, agents and MCP |
| Basic | $10 a month | 5 | Unlimited | Unlimited uploads, admin roles |
| Business | $16 a month | Unlimited | Unlimited | Guests, Triage Intelligence, Insights, Asks |
| Enterprise | Custom, yearly only | Unlimited | Unlimited | SAML, audit log, dashboards |
Monthly billing exists at a rate the page does not show, and cancelling deletes nothing: a workspace back on Free with more than 250 issues keeps them and can create no new ones (billing). The free ceiling is set in issues, the unit that grows fastest once a team follows Linear's own advice to scope work small, so the cap is reached by working the Method well rather than by hiring.
How it compares
Prices as the vendors list them on 5 November 2026.
monday.com. Boards for teams that are not engineers, Basic at $9 per seat a month billed annually, from 3 users (monday pricing). For marketing on its own.
ClickUp. Docs, whiteboards, chat and tasks in one, free on Free Forever, $9 per user a month billed yearly on Core (ClickUp pricing). Breadth over opinion.
Jira, Asana and Notion. Jira is free for up to 10 users, then $8.48 per user a month on Standard; Asana starts at $10.99 per user a month billed annually; Notion is a wiki with a project database. Linear's case against all three is one opinionated workflow plus the agents.
Where to start
How to use Linear runs a product launch as one project shared by marketing and engineering, with Linear Agent drafting the weekly update. When the status question is really about which of five tools owns it, the fix is the stack rather than Linear, and the Startup Fixer is a one-week review of exactly that.
FAQ
Is Linear a CRM?
No. A "Customer" in Linear is an organisation using your product whose requests link to issues, not a lead (customer requests).
Can a marketing team use Linear without engineers?
Yes. Teams are per function, and a Zap or a Slack message turns a request into an issue (Zapier, Slack).
What can Claude do through the MCP server?
Find, create and update issues, projects and comments after an OAuth sign-in; the read-only endpoint exposes the read tools alone (MCP server).
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