Plane vs Shortcut

Plane

• Teams that want to self-host their project management tool
• Small teams of up to 12 people who fit the Free plan
• Teams moving off Jira, Linear, Asana or ClickUp using the built-in importers

Shortcut

• Software teams that plan in stories, epics and sprints
• Teams of up to 10 that can stay on the Free plan
• Early-stage startups and nonprofits that qualify for free access

Plane

• The Free plan is capped at 12 users; time tracking, the workspace wiki, dashboards and work item types start at Pro.
• The download page lists the Windows desktop app as coming soon; macOS and Linux desktop apps are available.
• The mobile apps work with Cloud and the commercial self-hosted editions, not with the open-source Community Edition.
• LDAP, granular access control and multiple workflows with approvals are limited to Enterprise Grid, which is priced by quote.

Shortcut

• The Free plan is capped at 10 users, 1 team, 1 workflow and 5 GB of storage.
• SAML single sign-on and SCIM are paid add-ons on Business and are included only in Enterprise.
• Shortcut's FAQ says it does not offer an on-premises or self-hosted version.
• Shortcut's product and pricing pages list no desktop or mobile app, and the iOS app it announced in 2018 is no longer on the US App Store.

Plane

Work items, cycles and modules

Projects hold work items, which are planned into time-boxed cycles and grouped into modules. Cycles come with velocity tracking and burndown charts.

Five layouts and saved views

Work items can be shown as a list, board, calendar, Gantt chart or spreadsheet, and a set of sort, filter and display options can be saved as a view.

Pages and wiki

Project pages are included on Free. Pro adds a workspace wiki for company-wide knowledge, and Business adds nested pages and embeds.

Plane AI and agents

Plane AI answers questions from across the workspace, and agents run on mentions, assignments and schedules. Pro includes 500 AI credits per seat a month and Business 1,000.

Intake

Intake collects feedback and requests for triage before they become work items. Business adds a dedicated intake email address and public web forms.

Self-hosting

Plane deploys on your own servers with Docker or Kubernetes, and an air-gapped edition covers isolated networks. The core is open source under AGPL v3.0.

Shortcut

Stories, epics and workflows

Work is tracked as stories grouped into epics. Stories move through workflows a team can customize: 1 on Free, up to 5 on Team and unlimited from Business.

Kanban boards and backlog

Spaces show stories on kanban boards with saved filters, and a backlog is used to sort and prioritize work before it enters a workflow. Work-in-progress limits start on Team.

Iterations

Iterations are time-boxed sprints for a set of stories. On paid plans, automations can create future iterations and move unfinished stories into the next one.

Roadmaps and objectives

Epics are laid out on a roadmap and grouped under objectives. Strategic objectives with key results are part of the Business plan.

Reports

Paid plans open a Reports page with velocity, cycle time and lead time, and cumulative flow charts. Business adds reports that reach back beyond 100 days.

Korey and AI agents

Korey is Shortcut's AI agent for turning rough notes into specs and tickets. An MCP server connects a workspace to coding tools such as Cursor and Claude Code.

Plane

• Free$0

  Up to 12 users. Projects and work items, cycles and modules, five layouts with unlimited views, work item intake, estimates and project pages.

• Pro$6

  per seat / month, billed annually ($8 billed monthly)

  Unlimited seats, 500 AI credits per seat, work item types, workspace wiki, time tracking, dashboards, initiatives, teamspaces and integrations.

• Business$13

  per seat / month, billed annually ($15 billed monthly)

  1,000 AI credits per seat, project templates, recurring work items, intake email and forms, a workflow per project and customer profiles.

• Enterprise GridCustom

  Quote on request. Private and managed deployments, granular access control, multiple workflows with approvals, LDAP and audit logs.

Shortcut

• Free$0

  Up to 10 users, 1 team, 1 workflow and 5 GB of storage, with kanban views, a roadmap, iterations, docs and GitHub, Slack and Figma integrations.

• Team$8.50

  per user / month, billed yearly ($10 billed monthly)

  Unlimited users, up to 5 teams and 5 workflows, 250 GB of storage, the full Reports page, work-in-progress limits, automations and all integrations.

• Business$12

  per user / month, billed yearly ($16 billed monthly)

  Unlimited teams, workflows and workspaces, strategic objectives and key results, advanced custom fields and additional charts. SSO is a paid add-on.

• EnterpriseCustom

  Volume discounts, SAML SSO and SCIM included, premier support SLAs, custom terms and onboarding support.

Plane

• Annual discount

  Save up to 25% with annual billing

  Pro is $6 per seat / month billed annually against $8 billed monthly, a 25% saving. Business is $13 against $15, about 13%.

• Startups

  Startup discounts on request

  Plane's startups page says startup discounts are reviewed on demand: applicants send their company stage, team size and needs through the sales form.

Shortcut

• Annual discount

  Save up to 25% with yearly billing

  Team is $8.50 per user / month prepaid yearly against $10 billed monthly, and Business is $12 against $16. The pricing page describes this as saving up to 25%.

• Nonprofit

  Free for qualifying nonprofits

  The Shortcut Nonprofit Plan gives eligible organizations with valid charitable status a full membership at no cost, on application.

• Startups

  12 months of Business free for startups

  The Shortcut Startup Program gives approved startups the Business plan and SAML SSO free for 12 months. Applicants must be new customers with fewer than 50 employees.