project management tool · head to head
Linear vs Trello
Comparison Summary
Linear scored 6.5 and Trello scored 6.0 on our project management tool test script.
Linear: Linear is the fastest and lightest app we have tested in this category, and its AI agent is free and got everything right. But it is a tool for software teams, and it shows: there is no calendar view or task-level timeline, no rule builder, no plain CSV import, and the free plan makes every invited person an admin.
Trello: Trello is still the quickest way to put a list of tasks on a board, and its free automation rules work well. But it is a Kanban tool first: on the free plan you get the board only, priorities have to be colour labels, there are no dependencies, no CSV import and no project-wide AI, and adding hundreds of cards is slow and capped at 100 at a time.
Editor's Verdict
Choose Linear if…
Best for: Software and product teams who live on the keyboard and want a fast issue tracker with a capable free AI agent.
- Very fast: usable about 5 seconds after launch with roughly 0.55 GB of memory, the lightest app in the category
- Linear Agent is included on the free plan; its summary and overdue answer were accurate and it made real sub-issues
- Keyboard shortcuts for every field, natural-language due dates
Choose Trello if…
Best for: Small teams and individuals who want a simple, visual Kanban board with a few automations.
- Pasting a multi-line list creates one card per line
- Free automation rules: ours moved a completed card within a second or two
- A recurring card rolls itself to next week when completed
Head to Head
Task by task
The same prompts, pasted word for word into each app on a clean Windows 11 PC. On the 8 tasks both apps were graded on, Linear completed 3 and Trello completed 0.
| Task | Linear | Trello |
|---|---|---|
| P1 · Build a project | Pass≈ 18 min | Partial≈ 20 min |
| P2 · Views | Partial≈ 3 min | Partial≈ 3 min |
| P3 · Rules | Partial≈ 5 min | Partial≈ 8 min |
| P4 · 200-row import | Fail≈ 10 min | Fail≈ 5 min |
| P5 · Scale | Pass≈ 45 s import | Partial≈ 10 min |
| P6 · Permissions | Partial≈ 3 min | Partial≈ 3 min |
| P7 · AI | Pass≈ 20–55 s each | Partial≈ 20 s |
| P8 · Leave | Partial≈ 5 min | Partial≈ 4 min |
Measured on the same PC
| Measurement | Linear | Trello |
|---|---|---|
| Install time | ≈ 15 s | ≈ 71 s |
| On disk | 369 MB | 368 MB |
| Starts with Windows | No | No |
| 40-task project | ≈ 18 min | ≈ 20 min |
| Views on the free plan | 2 / 4 | 1 / 4 |
| 200-row CSV import | ≈ 20 s | Not possible |
| Cold start | ≈ 5 s | ≈ 7 s |
| Memory | 0.55 GB | 0.6 – 0.85 GB |
| CSV export | 747 / 747 | 53 rows |
| Left after uninstall | ≈ 280 MB | Nothing |
Pros and cons
Linear
+ What works
- Very fast: usable about 5 seconds after launch with roughly 0.55 GB of memory, the lightest app in the category
- Linear Agent is included on the free plan; its summary and overdue answer were accurate and it made real sub-issues
- Keyboard shortcuts for every field, natural-language due dates
- Dependencies and weekly recurring issues work on the free plan
- The full CSV export arrived by email in under a minute, with dependencies, milestones and sub-issues
- No marketing emails by default, a choice of EU or US data region, no startup entry
− What falls short
- No plain CSV import: our file was rejected until we rewrote it in Jira's export format, and priorities and due dates were then lost
- Only list and board views for issues; no calendar, and the timeline covers projects rather than issues
- No custom automation rules, only presets such as auto-close; stale issues are auto-cancelled after six months by default
- No bulk paste: each of our 40 issues was entered one by one
- Invites have no role choice, and every member on the free plan is an admin
- The free plan lists a 250-issue limit (it did not stop our imports on day one)
- The AI created sub-issues without asking first
- The uninstall leaves about 280 MB and a linear:// link handler
Trello
+ What works
- Pasting a multi-line list creates one card per line
- Free automation rules: ours moved a completed card within a second or two
- A recurring card rolls itself to next week when completed
- The Store app installs in about a minute without admin rights and uninstalls without leaving anything behind
- Quick to learn, with a clean board
− What falls short
- Free plan: board view only; calendar, timeline and table are Premium
- No priority field (we used colour labels) and no task dependencies
- No CSV import: we could only paste titles, at most 100 cards at a time
- Bulk card creation is slow, and 13 of our 500 cards were lost when we reloaded before it finished
- No AI chat for summaries or overdue tasks; AI checklists are a paid feature
- A new account starts a 14-day Premium trial; free workspaces are capped at 10 boards
Privacy and security
What we saw on our own test PC. Each review also lists what the vendor states about data handling, training and certifications.
Linear
Quiet defaults
Marketing and onboarding emails are off by default, and you choose an EU or US data region when you create a workspace.
Everyone is an admin on Free
Invites have no role choice, and the invited user was listed as an admin.
Stale issues auto-close
Issues not updated for six months are cancelled automatically unless you switch this off.
Left after uninstalling
A 223 MB updater cache, a 58 MB profile and the linear:// link handler.
Trello
Store app
Installed and removed through the Microsoft Store, with no startup entry, services or leftovers.
Silent card loss
Cards still being created when we reloaded the board were lost without a warning.
Deletion is two steps
A board must be closed before it can be permanently deleted, so closing alone keeps the data.
Features & Pricing
| Linear | Trello | |
|---|---|---|
| Web | ✓ | ✓ |
| Windows | ✓ | ✓ |
| macOS | ✓ | ✓ |
| Linux | — | — |
| iOS | ✓ | ✓ |
| Android | ✓ | ✓ |
| Free plan | ✓ | ✓ |
| Paid from | $10/mo | $5/mo |
Linear plans
- Free$0
- Basic$10/user/mo
- Business$16/user/mo
- EnterpriseCustom
From Linear's pricing page, checked Oct 30, 2026.
Trello plans
- Free$0
- Standard$5/user/mo
- Premium$10/user/mo
- Enterprise$17.50/user/mo
From Trello's pricing page, checked Oct 30, 2026.
Who makes them
- Company
- Linear:Linear Orbit, Inc.
- Trello:Atlassian (Trello)
- Headquarters
- Linear:San Francisco, California, USA
- Trello:Sydney, Australia (Atlassian); Trello based in New York
- Founded
- Linear:2019
- Trello:2011
- Funding
- Linear:Series C of $82 million in 2025 at a reported $1.25 billion valuation.
- Trello:Acquired by Atlassian in 2017 for about $425 million.
Timelines, official links and sources are in each review: Linear · Trello.
Read the full reviews
This page compares the two side by side. Each full review has the complete test log, every screenshot, the scoring notes, pricing, security and company details.
Linear reviewSituational 6.5 Linear is the fastest and lightest app we have tested in this category, and its AI agent is free and got everything right. But it is a tool for software teams, and it shows: there is no calendar view or task-level timeline, no rule builder, no plain CSV import, and the free plan makes every invited person an admin. Read the full review → Trello reviewSituational 6.0 Trello is still the quickest way to put a list of tasks on a board, and its free automation rules work well. But it is a Kanban tool first: on the free plan you get the board only, priorities have to be colour labels, there are no dependencies, no CSV import and no project-wide AI, and adding hundreds of cards is slow and capped at 100 at a time. Read the full review → Project Management Alternatives
ClickUp Recommended Small teams that want lists, boards, Gantt charts, automations and AI in one free workspace and do not mind a busy, heavy app 7.4 Read reviewReview 
Notion Situational Individuals and small teams who want tasks living next to their docs and wiki, and who are happy to build their own setup 6.9 Read reviewReview 
Airtable Situational Teams who want a flexible database behind their projects, with automations and reliable CSV in and out 6.8 Read reviewReview 
