Linear
Shortcut
| Feature | Linear | Shortcut |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $10/mo | Free / from $8.5/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.8 / 5 | 4.4 / 5 |
| Best For | developers, engineering-teams, startups, product-managers | software-teams, startups, engineering-managers, product-teams |
| Founded | 2019 | 2016 |
| Issues | ✓ | ✗ |
| Cycles | ✓ | ✗ |
| Roadmaps | ✓ | ✗ |
| Projects | ✓ | ✗ |
| Git Integration | ✓ | ✗ |
| Api | ✓ | ✓ |
| Stories | ✗ | ✓ |
| Epics | ✗ | ✓ |
| Iterations | ✗ | ✓ |
| Milestones | ✗ | ✓ |
| Integrations | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Linear Pros
- Blazing fast
- Beautiful UI
- Keyboard shortcuts
- Git integration
✗ Linear Cons
- Dev-focused only
- Limited customization
- No docs feature
✓ Shortcut Pros
- Intuitive UI for engineering teams
- Great API and integrations
- Flexible iteration planning
- Excellent GitHub integration
✗ Shortcut Cons
- Limited reporting on free plan
- No time tracking built-in
- Smaller ecosystem than Jira
The Verdict
Linear is built for developers and engineering teams, with a focus on issues and cycles. Shortcut targets software teams and startups and leads with stories and epics.
Pricing is close: Shortcut starts at $8.5/mo versus $10/mo for Linear — not a deciding factor on its own.
Both offer free plans, so you can test each with your real workflow before committing to a subscription.
Linear edges out on user ratings (4.8 vs 4.4). While both are well-regarded, that gap reflects real differences in user satisfaction worth considering.
Both tools are a solid fit for startups — in those cases, the decision often comes down to workflow style and how your team prefers to organize work.
Bottom line: Linear has a slight overall edge — but if intuitive ui for engineering teams matters most to you, Shortcut may still be the right call.
