Prior and Linear compared
Prior and Linear compared on platforms, offline use, cycles and sprints, recurring work, calendar, AI and price, using Linear's own pages read on 5 November 2026.
This page sets Prior next to Linear as of the date above. Everything about Linear comes from Linear's own site and documentation, listed under Sources. Prices and plan limits change, so check them before you decide.
Who each one suits
Linear suits you if a team plans its work as issues in cycles, projects and initiatives. Its pricing page lists teams and sub-teams, triage, an agent platform and coding sessions, support integrations, and an API with webhooks on every plan. It has desktop apps for macOS and Windows and native apps for iOS and Android.
Prior suits you if you mostly plan your own work: tasks with a priority and a due date, habits and notes in one app, and a planner that places tasks in the free hours of your calendar. For a small team it also has Kanban, Scrum and Scrumban projects. It has no iOS app yet. On an iPhone or iPad you open it in the browser.
Side by side
| Prior | Linear | |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms | Web, macOS, Windows, Linux, Android. No iOS app yet. | Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, and a PWA. No Linux desktop app; Linux users use the browser. |
| Offline | Works from a copy on your device and syncs when you are back online. | Offline mode is described as a failsafe, not a full feature. Offline edits can overwrite a teammate's changes to the same issue. |
| Tasks | Due date and time, priority P1 to P4, reminder, checklist, sub-tasks, dependencies. | Issues with priority (Urgent, High, Medium, Low), estimates and sub-issues that inherit the parent's team, priority and project. |
| Recurring tasks | Every N days, weeks, months or years, on chosen weekdays, from the due date or the completion date. | Recurring issues, managed under Team settings. The next issue is created once the due date passes. |
| Calendar | Day, week, month and agenda views. Google Calendar, ICS files and calendar URLs show read-only. | No calendar view found in the pages we read. Issue views are a list or a board. |
| Time blocking | Automatic planner on Pro: places tasks in free working hours, and you lock a block to fix it. | Not in Linear itself. Linear's integration page for Reclaim says Reclaim schedules Linear issues as time blocks on your calendar. |
| Boards | Kanban board for any project, on Free. | Board layout for issue views. |
| Sprints | Scrum and Scrumban projects with sprints, story points, Planning Poker and burn charts, on Pro. | Cycles of 1 to 8 weeks, created automatically if you turn that on, with capacity based on the last three cycles. On every plan. |
| Notes and databases | Markdown notes with tables, charts, links and backlinks. No user-defined databases. | Documents attached to projects, initiatives, teams, issues or cycles, with collaborative editing and version history. No user-defined databases found. |
| Collaboration | Share a project as editor or viewer, assign tasks, comment with mentions. Free: 2 people and 3 shared projects. Pro: 10 people per project. | Teams: 2 on Free, 5 on Basic, unlimited on Business. Guest accounts from Business. |
| AI | Prior AI assistant on Pro and above. On Free, your own OpenRouter key. | Linear Agent, the agent platform and MCP access on every plan; coding sessions need AI credits; Triage Intelligence from Business. |
| Integrations | MCP server for AI assistants on every plan. Calendar imports. | Integrations directory, API and webhooks on every plan, and a hosted MCP server. |
| Price, 5 Nov 2026 | Free €0. Pro €8 a month or €72 a year. Team €10 per seat a month or €96 a year. 14-day trial on a first subscription. No VAT added. | In dollars (no currency code shown), per user per month billed yearly: Free $0 (250 issues, 2 teams), Basic $10, Business $16. Enterprise on request, billed annually. |
Where Linear goes further
- Issue tracking for teams. Unlimited issues from Basic, sub-teams on Business, initiatives and projects with a timeline, triage suggestions, and API and webhook access on every plan. Prior has no initiatives or sub-teams. If a team runs its software backlog as the main job, Linear covers more of it.
- Cycles on every plan. Prior's sprints, story points and burn charts need Pro.
- AI built into the tracker. Linear Agent, triage suggestions and coding sessions work on issues, projects, docs and code.
- Documents for a team. Attached to the work, with version history and comments.
- An iOS app. Linear lists one; Prior does not have one yet.
What Prior does differently
Prior starts from one person's day, not a team's backlog. A task's priority and due date place it in the Eisenhower matrix, and the planner turns open tasks into blocks around your calendar events. Habits, notes, flashcards and a Focus timer are part of the app. Your data lives on your device first, and the account keeps devices in sync. Any AI assistant can read and edit your tasks through Prior's MCP server, on every plan.
Switching from Linear
Prior imports Linear exports. In Linear, open Settings → Import/Export and export CSV; Linear's documentation says workspace admins export the data, and members can export a view of up to 250 issues. In Prior, open Settings → Import, choose Linear and add the file.
The issues of a Linear project become a software project in Prior. Loose issues go to a project named after their team, and the team becomes the area. Statuses are mapped by name, sub-issues keep their parent, and a numeric estimate becomes story points, which show once the project is switched to Scrum or Scrumban (Pro). Labels, assignee, milestone and the Linear ID go in the description; assignees are not mapped to Prior members. Nothing is saved until you confirm. The steps are in Import your data.
Sources
Read on 5 November 2026.