TL;DR
Height vs Linear: Both Height and Linear are excellent project management. Height is better for users who prefer polished experiences, while Linear excels for those who value established ecosystems.
Which is better: Height or Linear?
Both Height and Linear are excellent project management. Height is better for users who prefer polished experiences, while Linear excels for those who value established ecosystems.
Height vs Linear
Which is the better project management for Mac in 2026?
We compared Height and Linear across 5 key factors including price, open-source status, and community adoption. Both Height and Linear are excellent project management. Read our full breakdown below.
Height
All-in-one project management tool
Linear
Modern issue tracking and project management
Visual Comparison
Our Verdict
Both Height and Linear are excellent project management. Height is better for users who prefer polished experiences, while Linear excels for those who value established ecosystems.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Height | Linear |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Open Source | No | No |
| Monthly Installs | N/A | N/A |
| GitHub Stars | N/A | N/A |
| Category | Productivity | Productivity |
Quick Install
brew install --cask heightbrew install --cask linear-linearLearn More
In-Depth Overview
Height Overview
Height was an autonomous project management and collaboration tool that used AI to streamline workflows, primarily for product teams. Its core purpose was to automate repetitive tasks like bug triage, backlog pruning, and spec updates, aiming to free up teams to focus on core product development. Designed for software development teams, product managers, and even cross-functional departments like marketing and HR, Height offered a centralized workspace with flexible tasks, multiple views (Spreadsheet, Kanban, Gantt, Calendar), and extensive customization. The platform launched a significant 'Height 2.0' update at the end of 2024, which introduced more AI automations. However, the company announced its shutdown, with operations ceasing on September 24, 2025. This critical information means Height is no longer a viable option for new or ongoing projects, and existing users must plan for data migration.
Detailed Feature Comparison
Task Management
CriticalHeight offered flexible tasks and sub-tasks, allowing users to define custom attributes and create tasks directly from chat messages. This enabled a highly adaptable system for categorizing, prioritizing, and assigning work. Users could set due dates and assign tasks to team members, providing a comprehensive yet fluid approach to managing individual and team responsibilities. The system was designed to integrate smoothly with communication flows, ensuring context was maintained from discussion to action item. Its structure allowed for broad applicability across different team functions, not just development.
Verdict: Linear wins for its unparalleled speed and developer-centric efficiency in task management, though Height offered more flexible, chat-integrated task creation.
Workflows & Automation
HighHeight championed 'autonomous project management,' leveraging an AI engine to automate routine tasks. This included bug triage, backlog pruning, and spec updates, aiming to reduce manual overhead. The platform also provided built-in automation capabilities for custom workflows and triggers, allowing teams to define rules for task progression and notifications. Its AI was designed to learn and adapt, theoretically improving over time to handle more complex scenarios. This focus on intelligent automation was a key differentiator, aiming to free up team members for more strategic work.
Verdict: Linear's predictable and development-optimized automated workflows provide a more reliable experience, especially given Height's reported issues with its AI update.
Views & Visualization
MediumHeight provided a versatile array of views to visualize projects and tasks, including Spreadsheet, Kanban, Gantt, and Calendar views. This flexibility allowed users to adapt the tool to their preferred working style, whether they needed a detailed list, a visual board for progress tracking, a timeline for dependencies, or a calendar for scheduling. The ability to switch between these views offered a comprehensive understanding of project status and resource allocation, catering to different roles and planning needs within a team. Its adaptability was a strong point for diverse teams.
Verdict: Height offered a broader range of traditional project views, while Linear excels in its streamlined, development-focused visualization, making it a tie depending on specific needs.
Collaboration
HighHeight featured a solid chat function deeply integrated with tasks and projects, facilitating real-time discussions directly within the context of the work. This integration provided immediate context for team conversations, including visibility into AI activity and its reasoning. It aimed to centralize communication around work items, reducing the need to switch between separate communication platforms. The system was designed to foster transparency and ensure that all team members had access to relevant discussions and decisions related to tasks and projects, promoting a unified collaborative environment.
Verdict: Linear's real-time updates and seamless external integrations make it highly effective for collaborative development, surpassing Height's internal chat for many teams.
Integrations
HighHeight connected to common productivity and design apps such as Slack and Figma, allowing for streamlined workflows and contextual information sharing. For engineering teams, it offered integrations with popular version control systems like GitHub and GitLab, enabling a connection between code repositories and project tasks. These integrations aimed to centralize information and reduce context switching, ensuring that updates from external tools could flow into Height, and vice-versa, providing a more unified workspace for various team functions.
Verdict: Linear's deeper, more automated integrations with core development tools make it superior for engineering teams, streamlining workflows more effectively than Height.
Roadmapping & Planning
HighHeight allowed for organizing tasks into 'lists' which could represent projects or clients, providing a flexible way to group related work. It also supported the creation of 'projects' for managing larger, more strategic initiatives, enabling teams to define scope and track progress at a higher level. While it offered various views, its approach to roadmapping was more focused on flexible organization rather than opinionated sprint management. This allowed for adaptability across different planning methodologies, from agile sprints to more traditional project timelines.
Verdict: Linear's structured 'Projects' and 'Cycles' are perfectly tailored for agile development roadmapping, offering a more solid and streamlined planning experience than Height.
Customization
MediumHeight offered extensive customization options, allowing users to tailor the platform to their specific preferences and workflows. This included highly customizable keyboard shortcuts, various themes for visual personalization, the ability to define custom attributes for tasks, and flexible status groups. This level of customization meant that teams could truly make Height their own, adapting its interface and functionality to match existing processes and individual working styles, reducing friction and enhancing user comfort. It was a key aspect of its user-centric design.
Verdict: Height historically offered more extensive and free-form customization options, especially for UI and attributes, while Linear provides sufficient but more constrained customization within its opinionated framework.
Search & Filtering
HighHeight enabled users to efficiently filter tasks and projects to collect specific items into simple, custom views. Its search functionality allowed for quick retrieval of information across the workspace, helping users to organize and focus on relevant work. The filtering system was intuitive, supporting various criteria to narrow down results and create dynamic lists based on assignee, status, due date, or custom attributes. This capability was crucial for managing large volumes of tasks and ensuring that team members could quickly find what they needed.
Verdict: Linear's blazing-fast, keyboard-driven search and advanced filtering capabilities make it superior for quickly finding and organizing work, especially in large development environments.
Height vs Linear Feature Matrix
| Feature | Height | Linear | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Task Management | Good | — | Tie |
| Workflows & Automation | Good | — | Tie |
| Views & Visualization | Good | — | Tie |
| Collaboration | Good | — | Tie |
| Integrations | Good | — | Tie |
| Roadmapping & Planning | Good | — | Tie |
| Customization | Excellent | — | Tie |
| Search & Filtering | Good | — | Tie |
Who Should Choose Which?
1The Startup Founder (Seeking a New PM Tool)
For a startup founder, Linear is the clear choice. Its free plan supports up to 25 users, offering all core features without cost, which is ideal for early-stage companies. Linear's focus on speed, streamlined development workflows, and tight integrations with developer tools means engineering teams can hit the ground running, maximizing efficiency from day one. Its scalability to paid plans is smooth, and its active development ensures it will grow with the company, unlike Height's impending shutdown.
2The Agile Development Team Lead (Migrating from Height)
An Agile Development Team Lead migrating from Height will find Linear to be an excellent fit. Linear's 'Cycles' and 'Projects' are perfectly aligned with agile methodologies, providing structured sprint planning and roadmap visualization. Its emphasis on speed and keyboard-driven navigation will appeal to developers, and its automated workflows can replace some of Height's AI features with predictable, reliable processes. While some customization might differ, the core benefits of efficiency and developer-centric design make it a strong successor for agile teams.
3The Cross-Functional Team (Beyond Engineering)
While Height aimed for broader cross-functional use, its shutdown makes it impossible. For a cross-functional team, Linear, despite its developer-centric focus, can still be a strong contender. Its clarity, solid search, and shared views allow marketing, sales, or operations teams to track progress and collaborate on tasks related to product development. While it may require some adaptation for non-engineering workflows, its speed and integration capabilities ensure all teams stay informed and connected to the core product work, leveraging its strengths for transparency.
4The AI-Driven Product Manager (Seeking Automation)
A product manager who valued Height's AI automation will need to adjust expectations. While Linear doesn't offer 'autonomous project management' AI, its solid automated workflows, custom issue templates, and automated status updates provide reliable, predictable automation for many routine tasks. The focus is on streamlining the development process through intelligent system design rather than generative AI. This ensures efficiency without the potential for disruptive or buggy AI interventions reported with Height's 2.0 update, offering a more stable and controlled automation experience.
5The Budget-Conscious Team (Long-Term Solution)
For a budget-conscious team seeking a long-term solution, Linear is the only viable option. Its free plan is highly generous, supporting up to 25 users with unlimited core features, making it an excellent starting point. As the team grows, the Standard plan offers unlimited users at a competitive price point, providing scalability without breaking the bank. Height's historical free plan was attractive, but its impending shutdown means any investment of time or effort into it would be wasted, making Linear a financially sound and sustainable choice.
Migration Guide
Height → Linear
Migrating from Height to Linear was necessary for all Height users before Height's shutdown on September 24, 2025. The process involved exporting data from Height, typically in CSV or JSON format, then importing into Linear. Linear supports CSV imports for issues, which was the most common method. Users needed to map Height fields (e.g., task name, description, assignee, status) to Linear's issue fields. For more complex data or custom attributes, Linear's API could be used for a more tailored migration script.
Linear → Height
Migrating from Linear to Height was never a feasible path due to Height's shutdown on September 24, 2025. For users needing to move data out of Linear to another platform, Linear offers comprehensive export functionalities. Workspace administrators can export all issues, projects, and related data as a CSV file from the 'Settings > Administration > Import/Export' section. This exported data can then be used to import into a different, actively maintained project management tool.
Pro Tips
When switching, prioritize critical data like tasks, descriptions, and assignees. Clean up old or irrelevant data before export. Map fields carefully between tools to avoid data loss. Use API options for complex migrations if CSV isn't sufficient. Test the migration with a small subset of data first to ensure accuracy before a full transfer.
Final Verdict
Linear
Winner
Runner-up
The comparison between Height and Linear is definitively skewed by Height's impending shutdown. While Height once offered an innovative, AI-driven approach with extensive customization, its discontinuation makes it an unviable choice. Linear, in contrast, stands as an exemplary project management tool, particularly for software development teams. It wins across virtually all critical criteria, from future viability and performance to developer-centric workflows and reliable automation. Its consistent updates, solid community, and transparent pricing further solidify its position. For any team seeking a sustainable, high-performance solution, Linear is the unequivocal recommendation, serving as a powerful replacement for those forced to migrate from Height.
Bottom Line: For any team needing a reliable project management solution today, Linear is the clear and only choice; Height's impending shutdown renders it obsolete.
Video Tutorials
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Frequently Asked Questions
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Sources & References
Fact-CheckedLast verified: May 6, 2026
Key Verified Facts
- Height.app is shutting down operations, with September 24th, 2025, being its final day of service.[height_shutdown_announcement]
- Linear's Standard Plan costs $10 per user per month when billed annually.[linear_pricing_page]
- Linear continues to release regular updates throughout 2026, with recent enhancements in May 2026.[linear_changelog_feb2026]
- Height 2.0 update in late 2024 reportedly introduced 'a ton of bugs' and disruptive AI automations.[height_user_feedback]
- 1
- 2Linear Pricing
Accessed May 6, 2026
- 3Linear Changelog - May 2026 Updates
Accessed May 6, 2026
- 4User Feedback on Height 2.0 Update (Historical Reference - Forum Offline)
Accessed May 6, 2026
Research queries: Height vs Linear comparison 2026; Height.app shutdown date; Linear project management features 2026; Height pricing historical; Linear pricing plans 2026; Linear performance review; Height 2.0 update issues; Linear recent updates 2026; Migrate from Height to Linear; Linear integrations development tools
