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A focused Linear alternative for teams that want an open tracker and time in the issue.

For teams that want their tracker, time logs and agents in one open codebase. Linear is the broader product for planning across projects and for code workflows; Nothing Left is smaller, open source, and keeps logged time and agent access on the issue itself.

Explore Nothing Left Jump to the comparison

Where each one stands, row by row.

The capabilities a small engineering team weighs when it looks past Linear. Every Linear cell links to the Linear page that supports it, and every Nothing Left cell to its manual or product page. Filter by area, or read the whole table.

Linear column last verified against its own pages on 8 Oct 2026. Product names are trademarks of their owners.

Where each one stands, row by row. Nothing Left compared with Linear, by capability.
Capability	Nothing Left	Linear
Planning
Issue tracking	YesKeys like ACME-12, subtasks and links, custom fields, full history, search and saved views. Any status may follow any status.Issues manual	YesIssues with configurable workflows, sub-issues and relations, and a Triage inbox for issues from integrations and other teams.Linear docs
Cycles or sprints	YesSprints with a goal and dates, a ranked backlog and boards. Finishing one asks where each unfinished issue goes.Sprints manual	YesCycles repeat on a 1 to 8 week schedule with optional cooldowns, and open issues roll over automatically.Linear docs: Cycles
Product planning above the issue	LimitedEpics add up the points and time beneath them, and the Gantt report groups by epic. No initiatives, milestones or project updates.Reports manual	YesProjects with milestones and a timeline, grouped under initiatives that carry status updates and target dates.Linear docs: Initiatives
Delivery
Time logged on the issue	YesLog a duration by date or range with a work type. Spent time sits against the estimate and adds up from subtasks.Time tracking manual	LimitedThrough partner integrations. Harvest’s, built by Harvest, adds a Start timer button to the issue sidebar and links its time entry to the issue.Harvest integration for Linear
Reporting	YesNine reports, among them burndown, time, Gantt and timesheet. Each exports to CSV with the numbers the chart shows.Reports manual	YesInsights charts issue count, effort, cycle, lead and triage time, with burn-up and cumulative flow, on Business and Enterprise plans.Linear docs: Insights
Source-control experience	YesGitHub and GitLab: branches, commits and pull requests link to issues by key, with review and CI state on the issue, and status rules move the issue on a branch, a pull request or a merge. Read-only towards the provider, with no issue sync.GitHub and GitLab	YesPull requests and commits link to issues, issues move as the work is opened and merged, and GitHub Issues can sync both ways.Linear docs: GitHub
Agents
MCP server	YesHosted over HTTP with a personal access token whose scopes narrow it. It calls the same public API as the web app.MCP manual	YesHosted, with OAuth or an API key. Tools find, create and update issues, projects and comments; a read-only endpoint exists.Linear docs: MCP server
Agents you assign work to	NoAn agent works as the person who connected it, under their name and role. It is not a member issues are assigned to.MCP manual	YesAgents install as workspace members. Delegate an issue to one and the human assignee stays responsible for it.Linear docs: AI agents
Hosting and pricing
Self-hosting	YesAGPL-3.0 code, the same build as the hosted service, with seat and storage limits as settings. Guides for Docker Compose and AWS.Self-hosting guide	NoNo self-hosted edition is listed on its pricing or security pages. A workspace stores its data in the EU or the US.Linear security
A public plan to start on	YesNo subscription for any team size during beta. The first 20 members of every organisation stay free permanently.Limits and billing	YesA Free plan with unlimited members and limits on teams and issues; paid plans lift them and add features.Linear pricing

Yes: Built in and documented.
Limited: Present, with a narrower scope than the row suggests; the note says how.
Planned: Not available today; on the public roadmap or announced.
No: Not available.

One bug, followed through both.

ACME-12 from report to fix. Each step shows what happens in Nothing Left, and what the same step looks like in Linear according to Linear’s own documentation.

Report the bug
2 Oct
Nothing Left
Casey files ACME-12, “Invite link blank after it expires”, as a Major bug with the steps in Markdown. It lands in the project’s issue list, unassigned.
Linear
A bug filed by another team or arriving from an integration lands in Triage, where rules and a responsible person route it. On Business and Enterprise, Triage Intelligence suggests its properties and possible duplicates.
Linear docs: Triage
Plan it
3 Oct
Nothing Left
Casey puts it in Sprint 08 with 3 story points, assigns Alex Lee, sets a 2h estimate and a due date of 9 Oct. Each change is a line in the issue’s history.
Linear
The team’s next cycle already exists, because cycles are created on a schedule, and anything left open rolls into the one after. Wider work sits in a project with milestones, under an initiative.
Linear docs: Cycles Linear docs: Projects
Start it with an agent
6 Oct
Nothing Left
Alex asks an agent to start the issue and log the first 20m. It calls update_issue and log_time with Alex’s token, so both changes are recorded as Alex Lee and stay within Alex’s role.
Linear
Alex can delegate the issue to an installed agent, such as a coding agent, and stays its assignee. Any MCP client can also find and update the issue through Linear’s MCP server.
Linear docs: AI agents Linear docs: MCP server
Fix it and record the time
8 Oct
Nothing Left
Alex logs 1h 25m more and moves the card to Fixed: 1h 45m spent against the 2h estimate, on the issue, the timesheet and the time report. The merged pull request shows on the issue; with Close on merge switched on, the merge would have moved the card for Alex.
Linear
The pull request or merge request links back to the issue, which moves as the work is opened and merged. Hours go to a partner time tracker, such as Harvest, from a button in the issue sidebar.
Linear docs: GitHub Linear docs: GitLab Harvest integration for Linear

ACME/Issues/ACME-12

Bug · Major

Alex Lee changed Status: Open → In Progress6 Oct 2026, 9:20am

Alex Lee logged 20m, Development6 Oct 2026, 9:21am

Alex Lee logged 1h 25m, Development8 Oct 2026, 4:38pm

Alex Lee changed Status: In Progress → Fixed8 Oct 2026, 4:40pm

Alex’s agent·6 Oct 2026, 9:20am

Start ACME-12 and log 20m of Development on it.

update_issueACME-12, status: In Progress
log_timeACME-12, 20m, Development

ACME-12 is In Progress, with 20m of 2h spent. Both changes are in its history under your name.

A representative issue with fictional data. The first two history lines came from the agent and read Alex Lee, because it used Alex’s token; the time it logged counts in the timesheet like any other entry.Time tracking MCP and AI agents

Moving issues over from Linear.

There is no native Linear importer. Two paths work, and both need a person to check the result: the generic CSV importer for bulk history, or an agent that reads Linear and writes to Nothing Left while you review each mapping.

CSV import

For any amount of history

Export from Linear. A workspace admin exports the workspace’s issues to CSV, or anyone exports a view of the issues worth keeping.
Map the columns. Decide which column becomes which field: title, description, status, priority, assignee. Note any status or person with no match in Nothing Left.
Import, then review. Import into one project, then check a sample of issues against Linear before the team moves over.

Linear docs: Exporting data

An agent connected to both

For the unresolved issues you still need

Connect both. Connect the same agent to Linear’s MCP server and to Nothing Left with a personal access token.
Agree the mapping first. Ask it to read your unresolved Linear issues and propose a mapping: teams to projects, workflow states to statuses, labels to tags, people to members.
Create in small batches. It creates the project, invites members and creates issues with their context. Attachments, full history and authorship need a person to check.
Review before you switch. Compare counts and spot-check issues in both, and look for duplicates. Every write is in the activity log under your name.

Connecting an agent

Neither path carries over everything: plan for attachments, full history, comment authorship and Linear-only objects such as initiatives to need a decision. Linear’s MCP server and its CSV exports are described on its own pages. Linear docs: MCP server

Which one fits your team.

Linear is the broader product. Nothing Left is smaller on purpose and makes different trade-offs. Read both lists; the one that describes how you work is the answer.

Choose Linear if…

You plan across many projects and quarters and want initiatives, milestones and project updates in the tracker.
You want GitHub Issues kept in sync with the tracker both ways.
You want to assign or delegate issues to coding and triage agents as members of the workspace.
A hosted service with a choice of EU or US data storage suits you.

What Linear does well

Product planning above the issue: projects with milestones and a timeline, initiatives that roll them up, and status updates leadership can read.
Linear docs: Initiatives
Deeper code workflows: branch names from the issue and two-way GitHub Issues sync, beside pull and merge requests that move it.
Linear docs: GitHub
Agents as teammates: delegate an issue to a coding or triage agent while a person stays responsible, plus a hosted MCP server.
Linear docs: AI agents

Choose Nothing Left if…

You want time logged on the issue it explains, adding up into timesheets and a time report.
You want agents to work as the person who connected them, through one documented API surface.
You want the source, and the option to run it on your own servers under AGPL-3.0.
Sprints, a backlog, boards and five fixed roles cover how your team plans.

What Nothing Left does differently

Time logs built into the issue, the timesheet and the time report, with no second service to connect.
Time tracking
One documented surface: the MCP server calls the same public API as the web app, and every tool is listed with what it changes.
MCP tool reference
Open code under AGPL-3.0, run as the hosted service or on your own servers from the same build.
Source on GitHub
Five fixed roles and no permission schemes to design. An agent never does more than its person’s role allows.
Permissions

Compare your Linear bill.

Linear is selected, starting from its lowest paid plan. Replace that with what your team pays and see what the beta takes off it. Linear's plans are on its own pricing page, linked below, and nothing you type leaves this page.

The calculator is not available in this browser right now. Reloading the page may bring it back. The short version: during beta the subscription is zero, whatever you pay today.

Currently using

Check your plan on Linear's pricing page

Currency

You know

Team size

members

Price per seat, per month

Digits only, such as 1250, 1,250.50 or 1.250,50.

Filled in from Linear's lowest paid plan: US list price, billed monthly, checked 11 Oct 2026. Higher plans cost more, and annual or volume pricing differs. Replace it with your invoice figure.

Current subscription spend: -
Nothing Left subscription during beta: $0
Illustrative subscription spend avoided during beta if you replace and cancel the current plan: -

Enter what you pay today to see the comparison.

Monthly subscription only, in the currency you chose, with no exchange conversion. Filled-in prices are US list prices for each tool's lowest paid plan, billed monthly, checked 11 Oct 2026; they apply in USD only. Migration effort, add-ons, storage and any future seat pricing are outside this comparison. Product names are trademarks of their owners.

Questions teams ask before leaving Linear.

Importing, Git, agents, time and cost. Short answers here, details in the docs.

Can we import our Linear workspace directly?

There is no native Linear importer. Export your issues to CSV from Linear and import them with the generic CSV importer, mapping columns and reviewing before anything is written. If you connect one agent to both trackers, it can carry unresolved issues across with you reviewing the mapping. Connecting an agent

Does Nothing Left connect to GitHub or GitLab like Linear does?

Yes, for the core of it. Name the issue in a branch, a commit message or a pull request and the issue shows that work with its review and CI state. Automations move the status when a branch is created, a pull request opens or the fix merges. The connection only reads: it does not comment on pull requests or sync GitHub Issues, and deployment status is not built. GitHub and GitLab

Linear has an MCP server too. What is different here?

Both trackers publish a hosted MCP server. In Nothing Left the server is a client of the same public API as the web app, the agent acts as the person whose token it holds, and the tool reference marks each tool as reading only or changing data. Linear adds agents you can delegate issues to as workspace members. MCP tool reference

How is time tracking different?

In Nothing Left, time is a record on the issue: a duration, a date, a work type and a note, adding up from subtasks into the parent and into the timesheet and time report. Linear connects to partner time trackers, which keep the time entry in their own service. Time tracking

Can we run it on our own servers?

Yes. The code is AGPL-3.0 and the hosted service runs the same build. On your own install, the seat and storage limits are environment settings you choose. Self-hosting

What does it cost compared with Linear?

Nothing during beta, for any team size, and the first 20 members of every organisation stay free permanently once billing exists. Linear’s current plans are on its own pricing page; the calculator above links to it and uses only the figure you enter. Pricing

Ask something else

Try it on one project first.

Join the beta, create a project and file the bug you are working on now. Log time on it, connect an agent when you want one, and keep Linear running until you have decided.

Join the beta See pricing