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If you’re a project manager reading an article about project management tools, then the last thing you need on your plate is another task.
That’s why Linear, with its simple design and feature set, is popular with project managers.
But there’s a price for that simplicity.
Linear’s limited customization options and less detailed roadmaps leave a lot to be desired from a high-level view. As a result, Linear’s simplicity doesn’t lend itself well to more complex projects.
If you find that Linear just can’t keep up with what your agency needs, it’s time to pursue an alternative. Below, we’ll highlight eight of the best Linear alternatives on the market.
1. Teamwork.com
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Teamwork.com is your go-to project management tool, built with creatives, agencies, and professional services in mind (and anyone else involved in client work).
The user-friendly interface makes it easy for project managers to dive into granular details or view projects from 100 feet using Kanban boards, lists, tables, and Gantt charts.
But Teamwork.com goes beyond project management. It’s also packed with robust, advanced features tailored to streamline business operations and aid decision making – including intricate project workflows, subtasks and dependencies, native time tracking, custom reporting, and more. It’s no wonder why PCMag gave Teamwork.com a 4.5/5 rating!
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Key features
Effectively manage resources and workloads for smarter, more efficient project planning.
Keep an eye on your team’s time with robust time-tracking tools so you can see where the most time is spent.
Leverage powerful financial management tools like seamless billing and invoicing based on billable hours — no more chasing down payments or manually building invoices.
Invite clients to Teamwork.com projects for free for easy, efficient collaboration in dedicated workspaces.
Save time with user-friendly automations that simplify workflows.
Integrations
Slack, Microsoft Teams, Mailchimp, Zoho, Stripe, Atarim, G Suite, and dozens more!
Pricing
Free: Up to five users
Deliver: $9.99 per user per month
Grow: $19.99 per user per month
Scale: Custom pricing
2. Trello
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Have you ever wished that your project management system functioned like a corkboard that updated in real time across your team? If you said yes, then Trello may be the project planning tool for you.
Trello uses a Kanban board layout, so instead of using tags or colors to indicate a task’s status, you can see it move between categories as if you were moving it on a corkboard. But Kanban boards aren’t the only option for Trello users. It also has Scrum boards: the perfect tool for focused sprints towards completing a task.
Key features
Task assignments, timelines, productivity data, and calendars that enhance your board’s effectiveness through detailed fields
Automations for almost any action within Trello so you can keep projects moving without as much manual intervention
Easily adjustable timeline that makes it easy and intuitive to stay on track and adjust due dates as needed
Integrations
Trello has nearly 200 integrations, including Slack, Jira, Miro, and Moxtra.
Pricing
Free version (limited)
Standard: $5 per user per month
Premium: $10 per user per month
Enterprise: $17.50 per user per month
3. Kitemaker
Kitemaker is geared toward product development projects. What separates it from other similar tools is that Kitemaker is built for every team to collaborate in one place. There are no silos separating the software development team from the engineering team; everyone works from a centralized board and can access the same timeline.
Kitemaker also gives your teams the tools to communicate important details about your tasks. They include custom workflows, templates, and filters so that you can focus on the task at hand and not get lost in the big picture.
Key features
Centralized design that gives every member of your team access to key data, dates, and detailed task fields
Central user feedback page that makes feedback easy to find and share
Detailed boards with customization options to fit most team’s needs
Integrations
Kitemaker integrates with Slack, GitHub, GitLab, Discord, Figma, Zapier, and Intercom.
Pricing
Free version with standard features
Advanced: $10 per user per month
Pro: Custom pricing
4. Stepsize
Stepsize uses artificial intelligence to minimize technical debt by finding, sharing, and summarizing weekly activities so you and your team spend less time reacting to roadblocks and more time avoiding them altogether.
In fact, Stepsize AI analyzes activity from Jira, too, and delivers a weekly report so project managers stay ahead of the ball without doing any extra work. Stepsize’s advanced integration with Jira is especially important for agencies that develop software since Jira is one of the most commonly used issue trackers on the market.
Key features
Powerful overviews of sprints and projects that keep your entire team informed and on track to reach your goals
Metrics that highlight where you can take action to reduce your technical debt
Integration with Jira and Linear to easily analyze data from both platforms
Integrations
Stepsize integrates with several code editors and issue trackers, including Asana, Jira, GitHub, and Linear, with several others coming soon.
Pricing
You can work with Stepsize for $29 per month or find a custom pricing plan to fit your company’s unique needs.
5. ClickUp
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Whether you sit across from your team every day or you’re distributed across the world, most collaboration takes place online, and for a good reason: Online collaboration tools and digital workplaces can increase productivity by up to 30%.
ClickUp simplifies collaboration by making it possible to track progress on a dashboard, brainstorm in a document, and chat with your team — all in one platform. Software developers can also leverage its customizable forms that allow clients and product users to report issues.
Key features
Detailed hierarchies that provide an informative overview of all your projects
Custom apps that can be tailored to your unique needs to make you more efficient
Several view options so you get as granular or high-level as you need
Integrations
ClickUp also simplifies working across platforms thanks to integrations with tools like Outlook, Google Drive, and Dropbox (just to name a few).
Pricing
Free version for personal use
Unlimited: $7 per user per month
Business: $12 per user per month
Enterprise: Custom pricing
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6. Asana
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Asana is a popular project management tool that offers more customization and automations than super-simplistic options like Trello, but not quite as many as full-featured software like Teamwork.com. It’s most well-known for its user-friendly interface and flexibility, making it suitable for a wide range of teams and projects.
Asana facilitates communication and coordination, allowing team members to stay informed about project progress and deadlines. It does a good job with task visualization, offering list, board, and timeline views, and provides a centralized platform for teams to plan, execute, and track their work effectively.
Key features
Workflow builder that allows you to build custom, complex workflows without needing to code
Ability to easily switch between Kanban, Gantt, and other board views so your team can customize their layout to their tastes
Visual timelines that project managers can easily adjust for increased flexibility
Integrations
Asana integrates with Microsoft Teams, Salesforce, Google Drive, and more.
Pricing
Free (limited)
Premium: $10.99 per user per month
Business: $24.99 per user per month
7. Hive
Project management can be complex, but client project management adds an extra layer of stakes since you’re working across agencies while representing and developing your brand’s reputation.
Hive makes it easy to mesh with a client’s team thanks to its support for Gantt charts, tables, Kanban, calendar, and portfolio views that make it easy to adapt to clients' preferences if they’re working within your project management system. It is also a great choice for teams that work with client teams since Hive also has an automatic time-tracking feature.
Hive even has its own AI, called HiveMind, that can do everything from planning your project to composing emails in seconds.
Key features
Flexible project hierarchies that make it easy to create complex subtasks within each project
Link cards that make it easy to mark the relationship between two tasks
Apps that make it easy to communicate through chat and video from one platform
Integrations
Hive supports integrations with Google Drive, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and several others — plus Zapier integrations.
Pricing
Free (one user)
Teams: $12 per user per month
Enterprise: Custom pricing
8. Jira
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Every ounce of efficiency matters when it comes to delivering products or issue tracking across an agency. Jira has been making agencies more efficient since 2002, when it started out as a bug tracking and project management tool.
Jira makes it easy to be at your most efficient thanks to its highly customizable user interface that you can fine-tune to your specific needs.
For example, Jira allows for customizable workflows along with development, repository, and DevOps views so you can easily track down the information you need to complete your tasks. Jira is especially well suited to software development since it has code status visible in its project view.
That being said, Jira isn’t a blank slate you’ll need to build from the ground up. It comes with templates for scrums and more, so you have a foundation to build your perfect task management system.
Key features
Customizable boards that make it easy to find the right project management fit for your team
Timeline view that gives you an excellent overhead perspective and helps you stay on track
Centralized project data that allows for quick and easy communication
Integrations
Jira integrates with Adobe XD, Figma, Miro, and more.
Pricing
Free plan
Standard: $8.15 per user per month
Premium: $16 per user per month
Enterprise: Custom pricing
Find out why Teamwork.com is the leading project management software today
Using a project management software shouldn’t be a project of its own. If working around Linear’s limited scope and customization has become a task, then consider Teamwork.com.
Teamwork.com has all the necessities for project management, but it also has highly detailed views, customizable reports, and financial management tools that give your agency a powerhouse suite of tools to handle whatever comes its way.
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