Linear vs Notion

by Gralio Feb 03, 2025

Linear and Notion offer distinct approaches to project management. Linear excels in speed and efficiency for software development teams, while Notion provides a flexible, all-in-one workspace suitable for broader project management needs. Linear is better for focused software development, while Notion offers a versatile solution for various teams.

At Gralio.ai we help to simplify your decision-making process by offering detailed, side-by-side software comparisons like this one, to help you confidently choose the tool that aligns with your business goals.

This comparison was created by analysing 4885 reviews and 60 websites, saving 1 day, 3 hours, 38 minutes of reading.

Linear

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Notion

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About

Linear is a software platform designed for product development teams of all sizes to manage projects and build products efficiently. It provides tools to streamline and track issues, manage sprints, and build product roadmaps. Linear enables teams to collaborate on ideas, plan projects, visualize progress, and gain insights from real-time data analytics. It integrates with popular tools like Slack and Figma, making it a comprehensive solution for managing modern software development workflows.

Notion is an all-in-one workspace platform designed to help teams organize information, manage projects, and collaborate effectively. It centralizes notes, documents, tasks, and databases, making it easy for teams to access and share information. Notion allows users to customize their workspace with templates and integrations and offers AI features for writing assistance and information retrieval. It aims to be a flexible solution that adapts to various work styles and replaces the need for multiple single-purpose tools.

Summary

Main difference

Linear is a powerful project management tool specifically designed for software development teams, offering a streamlined and focused approach. Notion, on the other hand, is a versatile all-in-one workspace suitable for various teams and projects, providing greater flexibility and customization options.

Relative strengths of Linear (compared to Notion)

Superior performance and speed, enhancing efficiency for software development workflows.
Purpose-built features and workflows tailored to the needs of software development teams.
Intuitive interface optimized for ease of use and efficient navigation, especially for technical users.

Relative weaknesses of Linear (compared to Notion)

Less versatile than Notion, with a primary focus on software development, limiting its applicability to other project types.
Limited customization options compared to Notion, particularly regarding labels and project structures.
Smaller user base and community compared to Notion, resulting in fewer available resources and integrations.

Who is using Linear and Notion?

No data

Celeste Yamile

Founder&Coach at BrandWise Accelerator

Jonathan Parsons

Marketing Director - Clinique UK & Ireland

Andrew Charlton

SEO Consultant, Founder of SEO tool companies

Olesia Krilyshyn

Sales Acceleration Specialist at Reply.io

Kate Donnellan

Founding Marketer at Plain

Show all 6 stacks

Who should use Linear VS. Notion

Linear is a powerful tool for software development teams seeking to streamline their workflow. Praised for its intuitive interface and speed, users highlight its efficiency for task management and collaboration. However, some users desire more label customization. Linear is best suited for startups and small to mid-sized businesses focused on software development.

Notion is an all-in-one workspace for teams and individuals to organize information, manage projects, and collaborate effectively. Users praise its versatility, real-time collaboration features, and generous free plan. However, some find the platform's learning curve steep and the mobile app limited. Notion centralizes notes, docs, and tasks, offering customizable templates and AI features for enhanced productivity.

Best fit for startups and small to mid-sized businesses.
Ideal for software development teams.

Best for small to medium-sized businesses and enterprises.
Suitable for various industries, including technology, marketing, education, and non-profits.

Linear and Notion features

Supported

Partially supported

Not supported

Type in the name of the feature or in your own words tell us what you need

Workflow management

Not supported

Linear is designed for software development workflows, not knowledge bases.

Supported

Notion supports defining and managing workflows for knowledge base content creation, review, and publishing.
Intuitive Interface Design

Supported

Linear has a sleek, minimalist, and streamlined interface praised for intuitive design.

Supported

Notion is praised for its intuitive interface and minimalist design.
High Performance

Supported

Linear is built for speed with a high-performance architecture.

Not supported

Notion has performance issues, especially with large datasets, and is not always fast.
Purpose-built Workflows

Supported

Linear supports custom workflows designed for software development, enhancing efficiency.

Supported

Notion allows creating custom workflows to streamline processes.
Team Collaboration Enhancement

Supported

Linear supports team collaboration with features like real-time co-editing and communication tools integration.

Supported

Notion supports team collaboration with shared workspaces, permissions, and project management tools.
Comprehensive Product Management

Supported

Linear supports comprehensive product management, from daily tasks to large initiatives.

Supported

Notion supports comprehensive product management via customizable workspaces, project management features, and integrations.

Qualities

Value and Pricing Transparency

-1

Strongly negative sentiment

-0.02

Neutral sentiment
Customer Service

+0.33

Rather positive sentiment

+0.33

Rather positive sentiment
Ease of Use

+1

Strongly positive sentiment

+0.7

Strongly positive sentiment
Reliability and Performance

+1

Strongly positive sentiment

+0.26

Neutral sentiment
Ease of Implementation

+0.33

Rather positive sentiment

-0.39

Rather negative sentiment
Scalability

No data

-0.13

Neutral sentiment

Linear and Notion Pricing

No data

User sentiment

Strongly negative

-1

See full Pricing page

Notion offers a free plan for individuals and paid plans for teams and businesses. Notion AI is an add-on available for all paid plans.

Plans

User sentiment

Neutral

-0.14

See full Pricing page

Linear and Notion review insights

4788 reviews analysed from and

Users love

Intuitive and user-friendly interface, praised for its clean design and ease of use.
Fast and efficient performance, making task management seamless.
Excellent keyboard shortcuts and hotkeys, enabling efficient navigation and interaction.
Strong collaboration features, particularly for software development teams.

The variety of templates and projects that are ready for use.
Seamless collaboration with the team thanks to the real-time working feature.
The generous free plan which meets the needs of most casual users.
It’s so versatile and easy to use! All-in-one software for productivity, notes, and more.

Users dislike

Limited customization options for labels, with users desiring more flexibility.

The platform is not intuitive - it requires several hours of learning to fully understand what this platform is capable of.
Limited offline access capabilities.
The mobile app is underwhelming with limited functionality.
Limited font selection

Linear and Notion Ratings

G2

4.6/5

(36)
TrustPilot

4.0/5

(4)

G2

4.7/5

(2596)
Capterra

4.7/5

(2184)
TrustPilot

2.9/5

(93)
Glassdoor

4.7/5

(172)

Company health

Employee growth

47% increase in the last year

92% increase in the last year

Web traffic

No change in the last quarter

5% decrease in the last quarter

Financing

June 2023 - $52M

No data

How do Linear's purpose-built workflows compare to Notion's flexible workspace for software teams?

Linear's purpose-built workflows are specifically designed for software development teams, offering features like sprint management and issue tracking. Notion, while highly flexible and customizable for various teams, doesn't offer these pre-built software development specific workflows. Teams would need to configure Notion to suit their development processes, potentially requiring more setup and customization compared to Linear's out-of-the-box functionality.

Which product, Linear or Notion, better supports scaling for a rapidly growing software company?

Linear is better suited for scaling in a rapidly growing software company. While Notion has broader industry appeal and a larger user base, Linear is purpose-built for software development, offering features like high performance, specialized workflows, and integrations tailored to dev teams. Linear's focus on speed and efficiency is crucial for fast-paced software development environments. Notion's broader focus may lead to feature bloat and slower performance as a company scales. Additionally, Linear receives better ratings for reliability and performance, important factors for growing companies.

What are the advantages of Linear?

Linear's advantages include a focus on speed and performance, purpose-built workflows for software development, and an intuitive interface design. Users praise its speed, ease of use, and keyboard shortcuts, making it efficient for software development teams.

What are the disadvantages of Linear?

Linear's disadvantages include limited customization options, particularly for labels, which can be restrictive for users who require more flexibility in their workflows. Additionally, Linear is not suitable for enterprise companies.

Alternatives to Linear and Notion

Trello

Trello is a visual project management tool that helps teams organize tasks and collaborate more effectively. Using boards, lists, and cards, teams can easily track progress on projects, from simple to-do lists to complex workflows. Trello offers a high level of customization with features like templates, integrations with other popular apps, and no-code automation. Its intuitive interface makes it easy for anyone to use, regardless of technical skill. Trello offers various pricing plans to suit different team sizes and needs, including a free plan for small teams.

ClickUp

ClickUp is a comprehensive work management platform designed to consolidate various work processes into one centralized location. It offers a wide array of features including task management, project planning, document collaboration, communication tools, goal setting, and automation options. ClickUp aims to enhance team collaboration, improve visibility across projects, and streamline workflows for increased productivity regardless of team size or industry.

Dynatrace

Dynatrace helps you understand how your software is running, like a health tracker for your apps and systems. It monitors everything - websites, networks, user experience - to pinpoint problems before they impact your business. With AI-powered analysis, Dynatrace simplifies complex data, giving you clear answers and helping you automate IT tasks.

Confluence

Confluence is a collaborative workspace designed to streamline teamwork and knowledge sharing. It allows you to create, organize, and collaborate on documents, projects, and ideas in one central hub. This eliminates scattered information and keeps everyone on the same page. Confluence integrates with other tools and is highly customizable to adapt to various team needs, from product launches to marketing strategies.

Jira

Jira is a popular work management tool from Atlassian used by teams of all sizes to track tasks and projects. It helps organize, prioritize, and track work progress through customizable workflows, boards, and reporting features. Although highly configurable and initially popular for software development, Jira is now used by various teams for project management, bug tracking, and issue resolution.

Coda

Coda is a collaborative workspace tool that combines aspects of documents, spreadsheets, and applications. It allows teams to create customized documents with integrated features such as tables, buttons, and automations. Coda aims to centralize information, streamline workflows, and replace multiple single-purpose tools. It's suitable for various teams and tasks like project management, OKR tracking, and creating knowledge bases. Coda is free for individual use with tiered paid plans for teams.

Page co-authored by

Michal Kaczor

CEO at Gralio

Michal has worked at startups for many years and writes about topics relating to software selection and IT management. As a former consultant for Bain, a business advisory company, he also knows how to understand needs of any business and find solutions to its problems.

Tymon Terlikiewicz

CTO at Gralio

Tymon is a seasoned CTO who loves finding the perfect tools for any task. He recently headed up the tech department at Batmaid, a well-known Swiss company, where he managed about 60 software purchases, including CX, HR, Payroll, Marketing automation and various developer tools.

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