Asana vs Linear

Asana

• Teams coordinating projects across several departments
• Organizations that tie project work to company goals
• Nonprofits and schools that qualify for the 50% discount

Linear

• Software teams planning work in issues, cycles and projects
• Small teams: the free plan has no member limit
• Teams that hand issues to coding agents

Asana

• The free Personal plan is limited to 2 users; timeline and Gantt views, forms and custom fields start on Starter.
• Seats are sold in fixed steps: one at a time from 2 to 5 users, then blocks of 5 up to 30 and blocks of 10 up to 100.
• Portfolios, goals, approvals and built-in time tracking need the Advanced plan at $24.99 per user / month.
• The download page lists Mac, Windows, iOS and Android apps but no Linux app.

Linear

• The Free plan stops at 250 issues and 2 teams.
• Private teams, guests, Linear Insights and Linear Asks need the Business plan at $16 per user / month.
• SAML and SCIM are limited to Enterprise, which is billed annually only.
• The download page lists macOS, Windows, iOS and Android apps but no Linux app.

Asana

Project views

Show a project as a list, board, calendar, timeline or Gantt chart. Timeline and Gantt views start on the Starter plan.

Rules and forms

Rules automate routine steps and forms turn incoming requests into tasks. Both start on Starter; form branching needs Advanced.

Goals and portfolios

Goals link projects and tasks to company-level objectives, and portfolios track groups of related projects in one place. Both are part of the Advanced plan.

Workload and resource management

Shows how much work each person has so tasks can be rebalanced. Capacity planning across the organization is an Enterprise feature.

Reporting dashboards

Charts built from live project data to show the state of a team's work, included from the Starter plan.

AI Teammates and AI Studio

AI Studio builds AI-driven workflows from a monthly credit pool: 50K credits on Starter, 75K on Advanced and 200K on Enterprise. Extra AI requests are billed per request.

Linear

Issues and cycles

Every piece of work is tracked as an issue. Cycles are recurring, fixed-length periods that a team plans a set of issues into.

Projects and initiatives

Projects collect the issues behind one deliverable, and initiatives group several projects under a larger company objective.

List and board layouts

Nearly every issue view can switch between a list and a kanban-style board, with optional swimlanes for an extra grouping.

Triage and Asks

Triage is a review step for new work before a team takes it on. Linear Asks, on the Business plan, turns workplace requests into issues.

Insights

Built-in analytics for whichever set of work a team wants to examine. Linear Insights is part of the Business plan.

Linear Agent and coding agents

Linear Agent is included on every plan, and the integration directory lists coding agents such as Codex, Cursor and GitHub Copilot.

Asana

• Personal$0

  For one or two people: unlimited tasks and projects, list, board and calendar views, and 100+ integrations.

• Starter$10.99

  per user / month, billed annually ($13.49 billed monthly)

  No seat limit. Adds timeline and Gantt views, reporting dashboards, forms, custom fields, automations and free guests.

• Advanced$24.99

  per user / month, billed annually ($30.49 billed monthly)

  Adds portfolios, goals, resource management, approvals and proofing, time tracking and form branching.

• EnterpriseCustom

  SAML authentication, SCIM provisioning, capacity planning and service accounts. An Enterprise+ tier adds further compliance controls.

Linear

• Free$0

  Unlimited members, 2 teams and 250 issues, with the agent platform and Linear Agent.

• Basic$10

  per user / month, billed yearly

  5 teams, unlimited issues, unlimited file uploads and admin roles.

• Business$16

  per user / month, billed yearly

  Unlimited teams, private teams and guests, Linear Insights, Linear Asks, Triage Intelligence, and Zendesk and Intercom integrations.

• EnterpriseCustom

  SAML and SCIM, granular admin controls, invoice or PO billing, and migration and onboarding support. Annual billing only.

Asana

• Annual discount

  Save up to 18% with annual billing

  Asana's pricing page lists Starter at $10.99 per user / month billed annually against $13.49 monthly, and Advanced at $24.99 against $30.49.

• Nonprofit

  50% off for eligible nonprofits

  Qualifying 501(c)(3) nonprofits, public libraries and international equivalents can apply for 50% off a Starter or Advanced annual plan.

• Education

  50% off for education customers

  Approved schools and universities get 50% off paid plans after an eligibility check. The page still names the older Premium and Business plans.

Linear

• Nonprofit

  75% off for eligible charities

  Linear's billing docs offer eligible charities 75% off the Basic and Business plans on request by email. Enterprise is excluded.

• Education

  Free year for students, 75% off for staff

  The Education Program gives full-time students free access for one year and university staff a 75% discount, requested from a .edu address.

• Startups

  Up to 6 months of Business free for startups

  Startups with fewer than 50 employees that are not yet paying and belong to a Linear partner program can get up to 6 months of the Business plan free.