Pricing Units, Proprietary Limits & Migration Complexity
The operational fine print U.S. SaaS founders and small business owners check before committing.
| Evaluation Dimension | Linear | Look |
|---|---|---|
| Starting Price & Billing Unit How your monthly bill scales | Free (250 issues) / $10/seat/mo Per Active Workspace Seat | $0 Open Source (Open Source (GPL-3.0)) Issue Tracking & Project Management Seat / Plan |
| Free Tier & Included Quotas Sandbox vs production allowance | Free forever for unlimited members up to 250 active issues (archived issues don’t count) | Look is self-hostable (Open Source (GPL-3.0)) at $0 license cost |
| Proprietary Limits & Gotchas Caps, lock-in & overage cliffs | 250 active issue cap on Free; private teams & multiple roadmaps require Basic ($10) or Business ($16/seat) | Look tier notes — Flat-Rate Small Business Pricing: 100% free & open-source; Full API & Webhooks: Full source & API access |
| Migration Complexity Engineering & ops switching effort | Low (< 30 mins) 1-click native Jira, GitHub Issues, Asana, and Shortcut importer | Low (< 30 mins) Configure Look (Flat-Rate Small Business Pricing, Full API & Webhooks, Self-Hostable / Open Source) and import existing issue tracking & project management records |
| Target Company Stage Best operational fit | 2–250+ Software & Product Teams | Solo Founders & Issue Tracking & Project Management SMBs |
| Data Privacy & Compliance U.S. & enterprise governance | SOC 2 Type IIHIPAA (Enterprise)GDPR | Open Source / Self-HostGDPR / CCPA ReadyFlat-Rate Small Business |
Interactive Team Seat & ROI Simulator
Adjust your team headcount to compare real monthly and annual licensing costs.
Linear: Per Active Workspace Seat
Look: Issue Tracking & Project Management Seat / Plan
Estimated Annual Savings with Look: $480/yr
Saves ~100% annually at this workload tier based on published USD rates.
Technical Capability Matrix
Side-by-side feature, API, and data-ownership checklist.
| Feature Specification | Linear | Look |
|---|---|---|
| 1-Click Full Data Export data-ownership | Supported Full CSV/JSON exports | Not Included |
| Full API & Webhooks developer | Supported GraphQL API, webhooks, and GitHub/GitLab bi-directional sync | Supported Full source & API access |
| Keyboard-First Command Bar productivity | Supported Complete command menu (Cmd+K) and full keyboard navigation | Not Included |
| Native Dark Mode ui | Supported Gorgeous craft-inspired UI with custom themes | Not Included |
| Offline-First Sync reliability | Supported Zero-latency local database with background synchronization | Not Included |
| Flat-Rate Small Business Pricing pricing | Not Included | Supported 100% free & open-source |
| Self-Hostable / Open Source infrastructure | Not Included | Supported Open Source (GPL-3.0) repository |
Official Published USD Pricing Tiers
Verified plan structure for Linear and Look.
Linear Plans USD Verified
Free Tier
monthly
Standard (per seat)
monthly
Standard Annual (per seat)
annual
Plus (per seat)
monthly
Look Plans USD Verified
Free / Open Source
monthly
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Frequently Asked Questions
Key pricing, quota, migration, and security answers for Linear vs Look.
What is the main difference between Linear and Look in 2026?
Linear (Free (250 issues) / $10/seat/mo, billed by per active workspace seat) is best suited for: Fast-moving SaaS engineering & product teams wanting sub-50ms keyboard-first sprints and GitHub PR sync. By contrast, Look ($0 Open Source (Open Source (GPL-3.0)), billed by issue tracking & project management seat / plan) is best for: An open-source, cross OS, community-driven launcher. A lightweight alternative to Spotlight and Raycast. Made with ❤️ fr
How do Linear and Look compare on free tiers and USD pricing?
Linear: Free forever for unlimited members up to 250 active issues (archived issues don’t count). Look: Look is self-hostable (Open Source (GPL-3.0)) at $0 license cost. Always compare based on your real workload metric (Per Active Workspace Seat vs Issue Tracking & Project Management Seat / Plan) rather than headline base tier alone.
What proprietary feature limits or overages should founders watch out for?
On Linear: 250 active issue cap on Free; private teams & multiple roadmaps require Basic ($10) or Business ($16/seat). On Look: Look tier notes — Flat-Rate Small Business Pricing: 100% free & open-source; Full API & Webhooks: Full source & API access.
How difficult is migrating from Look to Linear, and what compliance is supported?
Estimated migration effort to Linear is Low (< 30 mins) (1-click native Jira, GitHub Issues, Asana, and Shortcut importer). Security & data governance signals for Linear include SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA (Enterprise), GDPR, while Look offers Open Source / Self-Host, GDPR / CCPA Ready, Flat-Rate Small Business.
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