Linear vs Jira
The fast, opinionated issue tracker against the one you can configure for anything.
Linear and Jira are the issue trackers software teams weigh against each other. Linear is fast and opinionated: cycles, projects and initiatives with a workflow you adopt rather than design, and it has gone furthest at letting coding agents like Codex, Cursor and Copilot take issues. Jira is the most configurable tracker there is, with custom workflows, permissions and reporting that scale to thousands of people, and its Rovo and partner agents work inside that process. Both run an official MCP server, and the two take very different approaches to limiting what an agent can touch.
| Feature | Linear | Jira |
|---|---|---|
| Assign a task to an AI agent that does the work | Delegate issues to coding agents (Codex, Cursor, Copilot, Devin) | Assign work items to Rovo and partner agents (Rovo credits) |
| Agent work waits for your approval before it counts as done | Not built in; review happens in the pull request | Agent output stays private until you publish or share it |
| An agent can stop and ask you a question, then carry on | Agents can ask for clarification | Not documented |
| Official MCP server for your AI agents | Official hosted MCP server | Official Atlassian Rovo MCP server |
| Auto-decompose a task into subtasks | Sub-issues | Child work items |
| Goals that show whether you're on pace | Initiatives and project health | Timelines and plans |
| Price | Free (250 issues); Basic $10, Business $16/user/mo yearly | Free (10 users); Standard about $8.48, Premium $15.56/user/mo |
| Free plan limit | 250 issues, 2 teams | Up to 10 users |
| Sprint planning | Cycles | Scrum sprints and backlogs |
| Read-only MCP access | A separate read-only endpoint | Admins switch tool groups on or off |
| Published MCP tool list | No | 52 Jira tools |
| How AI use is billed | Some AI features use AI credits | Agents and MCP calls use Rovo credits |
Weighted scorecard
Each product gets a score from 0 to 5 on eight criteria, with a one-line reason. The weights say how much each criterion counts, and the total is the weighted average, out of 5.
The default weights reflect a buyer handing work to AI agents, the person Done is built for, so they favour Done. Pick another buyer and the weights change: for a team running sprints, or for a personal list without AI, other apps often come out ahead.
Weights for
For someone who delegates tasks to Claude, ChatGPT or other agents and wants to approve what comes back.
Scores are our judgment from each vendor's public docs and pricing, checked on the date at the foot of this page. Anything a vendor doesn't document scores 0.
Choose Linear if…
- Your team ships software and wants a fast tracker with a workflow ready to use
- You want coding agents like Codex, Cursor or Copilot to take issues
- You want an agent that can only read, with no extra setup
Choose Jira if…
- You need custom workflows, permissions and reporting across many teams
- Service and IT teams work alongside engineering in the same tool
- You already use Confluence and want one Atlassian connection for agents
The verdict
Pick Linear if you're a software team that values speed and a ready-made way of working, and you want coding agents to pick up issues. Pick Jira if you need to model complex processes, permissions and reporting across a large organization, or you live in the Atlassian suite. On agents both are strong: Linear's read-only MCP endpoint is the simplest least-privilege setup, Jira's permission groups give admins finer control, and neither holds an agent's work for approval outside the pull request or the agent's own preview.
Where Done fits
Done isn't an issue tracker. It's for the work around the code (research, writing, ops, admin) that you'd rather hand to an agent: assign a task to Claude, ChatGPT or any MCP agent, and its result waits for your approval. Done connects to Linear, so an agent working a Done task can read your Linear issues for context.
Compare each with Done:Done vs LinearDone vs Jira
Frequently asked questions
Is Linear better than Jira?
For a software team that wants speed and an opinionated workflow, many find Linear better. For organizations that need custom workflows, granular permissions and reporting across many teams, Jira is more capable. It depends on whether you want to adopt a process or design one.
Which is cheaper, Linear or Jira?
Jira's paid plans cost less per user: Standard is about $8.48 and Premium $15.56 a user a month at Atlassian's default team size, against Linear's Basic at $10 and Business at $16 billed yearly. Jira's free plan covers 10 users; Linear's covers 250 issues and two teams.
Can Claude connect to both Linear and Jira?
Yes. Linear hosts an official MCP server at mcp.linear.app/mcp, with a read-only endpoint, and Atlassian's Rovo MCP server at mcp.atlassian.com/v2/mcp covers Jira and Confluence. Claude Code, Cursor or Codex can connect to both at once.
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Comparison based on publicly available information last verified in October 2026. Linear, Jira and other names are trademarks of their respective owners; features change — check their sites for the latest.