Project Management Software · Tool Face-Off

Asana vs Linear

Quick answer

Asana is the Swiss Army knife for cross-functional teams who love structure; Linear is the scalpel built for software engineers who hate bloat. Pick your weapon based on who's doing the work.

Asana

Enterprise-grade project management for every team

3.8★

Our pick

Linear

The issue tracker built for high-performance dev teams

3.9★

Free Plan

Yes – unlimited tasks, up to 15 users

Yes – unlimited members, up to 250 issues

Paid Pricing (per seat/mo)

~$10.99–$24.99 (billed annually)

~$8–$14 (billed annually)

Primary Target User

All teams (marketing, ops, HR, eng)

Software & product engineering teams

Issue / Task Limit (free)

Unlimited tasks

250 issues per team

Native Sprints / Cycles

Yes (Sprints feature on paid plans)

Yes – built-in Cycles, core to UX

Git Integration (GitHub/GitLab)

Basic (via integrations, no auto-status)

Deep – auto-closes issues from PRs/commits

Timeline / Gantt View

Yes – robust Timeline view

Roadmap view only (less granular)

Keyboard-First Navigation

Partial shortcuts available

Yes – fully keyboard-driven, command palette

Number of Integrations

200+ native integrations

~50 integrations

API Access

Yes – REST API on paid plans

Yes – GraphQL API, free for all plans

Offline Mode

Limited / unreliable

Yes – local-first architecture

Load Speed / Performance

Can feel sluggish on large projects

Snappy – optimized for speed by design

Asana

Pricing★★★☆☆

Features★★★★½

Ease of Use★★★½☆

Integrations★★★★★

Customization★★★★☆

Developer Fit★★½☆☆

Reporting & Analytics★★★★☆

Linear

Pricing★★★★☆

Features★★★½☆

Ease of Use★★★★½

Integrations★★★½☆

Customization★★★½☆

Developer Fit★★★★★

Reporting & Analytics★★★☆☆

Worth knowing

Asana has 200+ integrations including Salesforce, Slack, and Adobe Creative Cloud — it plays nicely with almost everything.
Linear's local-first architecture means it loads near-instantly and works offline, a rare trait in SaaS tools.
Asana's free tier supports up to 15 users with unlimited tasks — Linear's free tier caps at 250 issues total.
Linear auto-links GitHub PRs to issues and can close them automatically on merge — a developer workflow superpower.
Asana offers Portfolios and Workload views for managers tracking multiple projects simultaneously across teams.

Linear's founders were so obsessed with speed that they made sub-100ms interactions a core product principle — your project manager's coffee takes longer to brew than Linear takes to load.

If you want

You manage cross-functional teams (marketing, ops, design, eng)

Asana's flexibility, 200+ integrations, and Timeline view make it the better hub for mixed non-technical teams.

→ Pick Asana

If you want

You run a software engineering or product dev team

Linear's Git integration, Cycles, and keyboard-first speed are purpose-built for how developers actually work.

→ Pick Linear

If you want

You're budget-conscious and primarily engineering-focused

Linear is cheaper per seat and its free plan (while issue-limited) is genuinely useful for small dev teams.

→ Pick Linear