Dart vs Linear (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Dart and Linear share a 3.0 GPA, both have a free plan, and Dart starts cheaper, at $8 a month for each person against $10 a month for each person.
Checked Nov 2, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Dart grades higher on value for money and the free plan. Linear grades higher on ease of use. They get the same grade on features and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Dart
AI project management with agents that work on tasks
Linear
Issue tracking and product planning for software teams
Which one is for you
Pick Dart if
- Fits if you are 4 people or fewer and want AI agents to take tasks
- Works for software teams that already live in GitHub and Slack
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you have more than 4 teammates and want to stay free
- Tight if you need Slack, Discord or GitHub links, as they start at Premium at $8 a teammate
- Pricey if you need SSO, SCIM, public views or analytics, all on Business at $12 a teammate
- Watch out: the pricing page shows yearly prices by default and the monthly figures are not on the page text
Pick Linear if
- Fits if your team ships software and plans in issues, sprints and roadmaps
- Works for teams handing work to coding agents like Cursor, Codex or Copilot
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if your team isn't building software, since it's all issues and cycles, with no time tracking or budgets
- Tight if you'll pass 250 issues or 2 teams on the free plan, and there's no trial of the paid plans
- Pricey if you need private teams, guests or Insights, which start on Business at $16 a person
- Not for you if you want to do real work from your phone, as reviewers report lost edits and fewer features
- Watch out: there's no Linux app, and SAML and SCIM are Enterprise only, priced on request and billed yearly
How we grade them
| 3.0GPADartVery good | 3.0GPALinearVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | BPremium is $8 a teammate a month on yearly billing, in the middle of the $6 to $15.95 that project tools charge, and the free plan covers up to 4 teammates. | CBasic is $10 a person a month on yearly billing, the dear edge of this category rather than the middle, and it buys 5 teams and unlimited issues. The parts a growing company wants, private teams, guests, Insights and Asks, are on Business at $16, double what most tools here charge. |
| Free plan and trial | BThe Personal plan is free for up to 4 teammates with unlimited tasks, docs, storage and AI model use, so a small team can live on it. Past 4 people you pay. | CUnlimited members, but 250 issues and 2 teams is a wall a busy team hits in weeks, and there is no trial of the paid plans on top. Treat free as a long look round rather than somewhere to settle. |
| Features | BList, board, roadmap and calendar layouts, subtasks, blockers and dependencies, sprints and time tracking. The listing shows no gap in the core work, though many extras sit on Premium or Business. | BIssues, cycles, projects, initiatives, triage, list and board layouts, and Linear Agent on every plan including free. That covers a software team's tracking. For the rest of this category plenty is missing: no time tracking, no budgets, no resource planning, and Insights waits for Business. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. It has boards, statuses and agents to set up before the work starts. | A4.83 on the App Store from 2,179 ratings, the top band. It follows the issues-and-sprints setup engineering teams already use, though anyone outside software has that to learn, and the phone app is the thin part. |
| Platforms and integrations | AWeb, Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone and Android, plus ChatGPT, Claude, Slack, GitHub, Zapier and an MCP server. | AWeb, Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android, with GitHub, GitLab, Slack, Figma, Sentry, Zendesk, Intercom and Notion on the integrations page and an API behind them. The gap is Linux: the download page has no app for it. |
| Best for | AI agents working next to a small team | software teams tracking issues |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Dart and Linear. How we grade
Price against what you get
Dart starts at $8 a month for each person and scores 3.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Linear starts at $10 a month for each person and scores 3.7.
Linear scores higher, and starts $2 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other project management tools on the chart, none scores higher than Dart for less, and none scores higher than Linear for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Dart also covers natural-language input, time tracking and AI agents.
- Linear also covers tasks and issue tracking.
At a glance
| Dart | Linear | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $8 per teammate / month, billed yearly | $10 per user / month, billed yearly |
| Free plan | Personal plan: up to 4 teammates, unlimited tasks, docs, storage and AI model usage, with AI agents included. | Unlimited members, 2 teams and 250 issues, with the agent platform and Linear Agent included. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Dart | Linear |
| Price read from | dartai.com | linear.app |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Nov 2, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Dart
- The Personal plan stops at 4 teammates.
- SAML SSO, SCIM, public views and analytics need Business at $12 per teammate / month.
- Prices are shown with the yearly option selected and a 20% badge; the monthly-billing figures are not in the page text.
- Slack, Discord and GitHub integrations start at Premium.
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.
Key features
Dart
- AI agents on tasks
- Agents can be assigned tasks, execute them and report, alongside human teammates.
- Multiple layouts
- List, board, roadmap and calendar layouts with filters, sorting and saved views.
- Task structure
- Subtasks, blockers and dependencies, with task types such as epics, stories, bugs and milestones.
- Sprints and time tracking
- Sprint management and time tracking are listed in the plan comparison.
- Natural-language and keyboard control
- A command center, keyboard shortcuts, voice controls and natural-language property filling.
- MCP server
- A Model Context Protocol server lets other AI tools connect to Dart.
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.
Plans
Dart
Personal$0
Up to 4 teammates with unlimited tasks, docs and storage, AI agents, AI task execution, and ChatGPT and Claude integrations.
Premium$8
per teammate / month, billed yearly
Unlimited teammates, AI chat and roadmap planning, admin and guest roles, custom statuses and properties, forms, and Slack, Discord and GitHub integrations.
Business$12
per teammate / month, billed yearly
Adds SAML SSO and SCIM, public views, charts and analytics, granular access management, customizable dashboards, a dedicated success manager and priority support.
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.
Ways to pay less
Dart
- Annual discount
20% off with yearly billing
The pricing page marks the yearly option as 20% below monthly billing.
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.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Dart or Linear?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Dart is cheaper to start with: $8 a month for each person, against $10 a month for each person for Linear. Dart starts at $8 per teammate / month, billed yearly, and Linear starts at $10 per user / month, billed yearly.
Which has a free plan, Dart or Linear?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both Dart and Linear have a free plan.
Which platforms do Dart and Linear run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Dart lists a Linux app. Both list a web app and macOS, Windows, iOS and Android apps. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.