Open Source Alternatives to Linear

TL;DR

Linear is beloved for its speed and clean UX — $8/user/month for the Pro plan. Three strong open source alternatives: Plane (AGPL 3.0, ~31K GitHub stars) is the closest in UX with issues, cycles, modules, and roadmaps. Focalboard (MIT, ~22K stars) is Mattermost's Trello-like board tool. Leantime (GPL 2.0, ~4K stars) adds strategic project management with goals and lean methodology. All three are self-hostable via Docker.

Key Takeaways

• Plane: AGPL 3.0, ~31K stars — closest to Linear, full issue tracker + roadmaps + cycles
• Focalboard: MIT, ~22K stars — board/table/calendar views, Notion-like, Mattermost integration
• Leantime: GPL 2.0, ~4K stars — strategic PM with OKRs, lean/agile, time tracking
• GitLab Issues: Already in your GitLab install if you're self-hosting — no extra cost
• Linear cost: $8/user/month Pro; a 10-person team saves $960/year self-hosting
• Best pick: Plane for developers wanting Linear-like UX; Focalboard for board-centric teams

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Comparison Table

Feature	Plane	Focalboard	Leantime	Linear Pro
License	AGPL 3.0	MIT	GPL 2.0	Proprietary
GitHub Stars	~31K	~22K	~4K	—
Cost (10 users)	Free	Free	Free	$80/month
Issues / Tasks	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Roadmaps	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Sprints / Cycles	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Modules	Yes	No	No	Yes
Views	List/Board/Gantt/Spreadsheet	Board/Table/Gallery/Calendar	Board/List/Gantt	List/Board/Roadmap
Sub-issues	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
GitHub integration	Yes	No	Limited	Yes
Time tracking	No	No	Yes	No (plugin)
OKR / Goals	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
REST API	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Tech stack	Python + React	Go + React	PHP + MySQL	Proprietary

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Option 1: Plane — Linear-Like Issue Tracker

Plane is purpose-built as a Linear alternative. It has the same core concepts: Issues, Cycles (sprints), Modules (features), and Roadmaps.

Plane Docker Setup

# docker-compose.yml
services:
  plane-web:
    image: makeplane/plane-frontend:stable
    container_name: plane-web
    restart: unless-stopped
    command: node web/server.js web
    depends_on:
      - plane-api
      - plane-worker

  plane-api:
    image: makeplane/plane-backend:stable
    container_name: plane-api
    restart: unless-stopped
    command: ./bin/beat &>/dev/null & ./bin/django-server
    env_file: .env
    depends_on:
      - plane-db
      - plane-redis
      - plane-minio

  plane-worker:
    image: makeplane/plane-backend:stable
    container_name: plane-worker
    restart: unless-stopped
    command: ./bin/worker
    env_file: .env
    depends_on:
      - plane-api

  plane-db:
    image: postgres:15-alpine
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - plane_db:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    environment:
      POSTGRES_DB: plane
      POSTGRES_USER: plane
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: "${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}"

  plane-redis:
    image: redis:7-alpine
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - plane_redis:/data

  plane-minio:
    image: minio/minio:latest
    restart: unless-stopped
    command: server /export --console-address ":9090"
    volumes:
      - plane_minio:/export
    environment:
      MINIO_ROOT_USER: "${AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID}"
      MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD: "${AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY}"

  plane-nginx:
    image: makeplane/plane-proxy:stable
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "80:80"
    environment:
      FILE_SIZE_LIMIT: 5242880     # 5MB
      BUCKET_NAME: uploads
    depends_on:
      - plane-web
      - plane-api
      - plane-minio

volumes:
  plane_db:
  plane_redis:
  plane_minio:

# Plane provides a setup script for .env generation:
git clone https://github.com/makeplane/plane.git
cd plane
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env: set POSTGRES_PASSWORD, SECRET_KEY, AWS credentials for MinIO

docker compose up -d

Visit http://your-server → create workspace → create project.

HTTPS with Caddy

plane.yourdomain.com {
    reverse_proxy localhost:80
}

Plane Core Concepts

• Workspace: Top-level org (like a GitHub org)
• Projects: Individual repos or product areas
• Issues: Tasks with states, priority, assignee, labels, due dates
• Cycles: Time-boxed sprints — drag issues into a cycle, track velocity
• Modules: Feature groupings that span across cycles
• Views: Saved filter+sort combinations (e.g., "My P0 issues this week")
• Pages: Notion-like docs attached to a project

---

Option 2: Focalboard — Board-Centric Task Management

Focalboard is Mattermost's open source Trello/Notion alternative. Strong views: Kanban board, table, gallery, calendar. Built-in to Mattermost but also runs standalone.

Focalboard Docker Setup

# docker-compose.yml
services:
  focalboard:
    image: mattermost/focalboard:latest
    container_name: focalboard
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "8000:8000"
    volumes:
      - focalboard_data:/data
      - ./config.json:/opt/focalboard/config.json:ro

volumes:
  focalboard_data:

// config.json
{
    "serverRoot": "https://board.yourdomain.com",
    "port": 8000,
    "dbtype": "sqlite3",
    "dbconfig": "/data/focalboard.db",
    "postgres_dbconfig": "",
    "useSSL": false,
    "webpath": "./pack",
    "filespath": "/data/files",
    "telemetry": false,
    "session_expire_time": 2592000,
    "session_refresh_time": 18000,
    "localOnly": false,
    "enableLocalMode": true
}

docker compose up -d

Visit http://your-server:8000 → create account → create board.

HTTPS with Caddy

board.yourdomain.com {
    reverse_proxy localhost:8000
}

PostgreSQL for Production

{
    "dbtype": "postgres",
    "dbconfig": "postgres://focalboard:password@postgres:5432/focalboard?sslmode=disable"
}

Focalboard Views

• Board: Kanban columns (group by Status, Assignee, Priority, or any property)
• Table: Spreadsheet with all cards as rows
• Gallery: Card grid with cover images — great for design projects
• Calendar: Cards on a date grid

Templates included: Project Tasks, Sprint Planning, User Research, Bug Tracking, Content Calendar.

---

Option 3: Leantime — Strategic Project Management

Leantime goes beyond issue tracking into strategic PM — OKRs, lean canvas, retrospectives, time tracking. Good for product teams who need goal alignment.

Leantime Docker Setup

# docker-compose.yml
services:
  leantime:
    image: leantime/leantime:latest
    container_name: leantime
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "8080:80"
    depends_on:
      - mysql
    environment:
      LEAN_DB_HOST: mysql
      LEAN_DB_USER: leantime
      LEAN_DB_PASSWORD: "${MYSQL_PASSWORD}"
      LEAN_DB_DATABASE: leantime
      LEAN_APP_URL: "https://pm.yourdomain.com"
      LEAN_SESSION_PASSWORD: "${SESSION_SECRET}"
      LEAN_EMAIL_USE_SMTP: "true"
      LEAN_EMAIL_SMTP_HOSTS: "smtp.yourdomain.com"
      LEAN_EMAIL_SMTP_PORT: 587
      LEAN_EMAIL_SMTP_USERNAME: "noreply@yourdomain.com"
      LEAN_EMAIL_SMTP_PASSWORD: "${SMTP_PASSWORD}"
    volumes:
      - leantime_userfiles:/var/www/html/userfiles
      - leantime_public:/var/www/html/public/userfiles

  mysql:
    image: mysql:8.0
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      MYSQL_DATABASE: leantime
      MYSQL_USER: leantime
      MYSQL_PASSWORD: "${MYSQL_PASSWORD}"
      MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: "${MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD}"
    volumes:
      - mysql_data:/var/lib/mysql

volumes:
  leantime_userfiles:
  leantime_public:
  mysql_data:

docker compose up -d
# Visit http://your-server:8080/install to complete setup

HTTPS with Caddy

pm.yourdomain.com {
    reverse_proxy localhost:8080
}

---

Decision Guide

Choose Plane if:

• You want the closest open source equivalent to Linear
• Developer team managing software issues + sprints + roadmaps
• You need GitHub/GitLab integration for linking commits to issues
• API-first workflow automation

Choose Focalboard if:

• Team is already using Mattermost (built-in integration)
• You prefer board/Trello-style visual task management
• Non-dev team (marketing, design, content) managing projects
• Simple setup, no sprint/cycle concepts needed

Choose Leantime if:

• Product strategy matters — OKRs, goal alignment, lean canvas
• You need time tracking and project budget tracking
• Agile/Scrum ceremonies (retrospectives, sprint planning docs)
• Small agency or consulting team managing client projects

Stick with GitLab Issues if:

• You're already self-hosting GitLab
• Team is developer-focused and lives in GitLab MRs
• You don't need roadmaps or OKRs

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See all open source project management tools at OSSAlt.com/categories/project-management.