GitHub Projects vs Linear: which one fits your team?
Both of these are systems of record for shipping software, and both are good at it. The choice is usually about how much process you want enforced and where the issues already live.
It turns on how heavy a workflow your team will tolerate, and whether everything already lives in GitHub.
Pick GitHub Projects if
every piece of work is an issue, it never leaves the repo, and everybody has a GitHub login. Where it stops: no calendar, and it assumes everyone is on GitHub.
Pick Linear if
you ship software and you want the sharpest place there is to track issues and cycles. Where it stops: there is no calendar, so it never says when the work happens.
What it costs
For a team of 5, billed yearly: GitHub Projects does not publish a per seat price we can put in this sum, Linear is about $480 a year, and UnaTask is €480 plus VAT.
GitHub Projects: Included with GitHub. There is no separate charge for Projects. Linear: Free tier, then around $8 to $14 per seat per month.
Where they part company
Linear does more on 4 of them
- having a plan for today
- dependencies and a timeline
- showing who has room
- turning email and chat into tasks
Side by side
| What it does | GitHub Projects | Linear | UnaTask |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time blocking on a calendar | No | No | Core |
| A plan for today and this week | No | Partly. Cycles and lists, not a day laid out against hours. | Core |
| Two way calendar sync | No | No | Yes |
| It is the task manager itself | Core | Core | Core |
| Dependencies and a timeline | Partly | Yes | Yes. Dependencies with a timeline that shows what is waiting on what. |
| See who has room | Partly | Yes | Core |
| Booking links | No | No | Yes |
| Meetings become tasks | No | No | Yes |
| Email and chat become tasks | No | Partly | Yes |
| Pull requests linked to work | Core. Issues and pull requests are the items. Nothing to link. | Core. Strong native pull request linking, with status driven from branches. | Yes |
| Docs and wiki inside | Partly. The repo wiki and markdown in the repo, not a workspace. | Partly | Partly. Docs live on a project, they are not a wiki you would run a company from. |
| Portfolio or agile reporting | Yes | Yes | Partly. Team workload and project progress, not portfolios that roll up to a board. |
| Rules that fire on their own | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| AI that does the work, not just the scheduling | Partly | Partly | Yes. AI teammates you assign a task to. The work comes back on the task for review. |
| Useful before you configure it | Yes | Yes | Core |
| A free plan | Yes | Yes | Yes |
What should not decide it
They answer the same on 12: time blocking on a calendar, two way calendar sync, being the place the tasks actually live, booking links, turning meetings into tasks, linking pull requests to the work, docs and a wiki inside, portfolio and agile reporting, rules that fire on their own, AI that does the work rather than the scheduling, being useful before you configure it and having a free plan.
And where UnaTask sits
UnaTask is not competing for this slot. It is the calendar around it: link the pull request to the task, block the hours for the review, include the people without a GitHub login.
It does more than both of them on time blocking on a calendar, having a plan for today, two way calendar sync, showing who has room, booking links, turning meetings into tasks, turning email and chat into tasks, AI that does the work rather than the scheduling and being useful before you configure it.
Common questions
GitHub Projects vs Linear: which should I pick?
Pick GitHub Projects if every piece of work is an issue, it never leaves the repo, and everybody has a GitHub login. Pick Linear if you ship software and you want the sharpest place there is to track issues and cycles.
What is the biggest difference between GitHub Projects and Linear?
The clearest gap is having a plan for today, where Linear does more than GitHub Projects. Underneath that, GitHub Projects is a system of record for software work, built around issues and cycles, and Linear is a system of record for software work, built around issues and cycles.
Is GitHub Projects or Linear cheaper?
For a team of 5, billed yearly: GitHub Projects does not publish a per seat price we can put in this sum, Linear is about $480 a year, and UnaTask is €480 plus VAT.
What do GitHub Projects and Linear have in common?
They answer the same on 12 of our 16 axes, among them time blocking on a calendar, two way calendar sync and being the place the tasks actually live. Those are the things that should not decide it for you.
Where does UnaTask fit against GitHub Projects and Linear?
UnaTask does more than both on time blocking on a calendar, having a plan for today and two way calendar sync. It is free on your own and €10 per seat for a team, with every feature included. Where it does less: it is not an issue tracker with sprints and burndown, and it is not a documentation workspace.
Details checked June 2026.