Homebase vs Linear
A detailed comparison to help you choose between Homebase and Linear.
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Verdict: Linear wins
Linear scores 4.5/5, edging out Homebase at 4.0/5. Product and engineering teams roughly 5-500 people that ship on cycles and want a fast, keyboard-driven tracker with strong GitHub/GitLab integration and light-touch AI triage.
Homebase Personeelsplanning & payroll | Linear Fast issue tracking built for software teams | |
|---|---|---|
| Rating | 4.0 (1 review) | 4.5 (1 review) |
| Pricing Model | paid | freemium |
| Starting Price | Pricing varies | Free tier available |
| Best For | Best for US single-site or small multi-site businesses with hourly workers — restaurants, retail, salons, clinics — that want scheduling and time clocks free and payroll attached later. | Product and engineering teams roughly 5-500 people that ship on cycles and want a fast, keyboard-driven tracker with strong GitHub/GitLab integration and light-touch AI triage. |
| Free Tier | ||
| API Access | ||
| Team Features | ||
| Open Source | ||
| Tags | — | free tierteam featuresapi access |
| Visit Linear → |
Homebase
Pros
- + Free Basic plan genuinely covers a small shop — one location, up to 10 employees, scheduling and time tracking with POS integration (joinhomebase.com/pricing)
- + Deepest shift-rule customisation I have tested in this class: per-location break/overtime rules, no-show and overtime alerts, role-based scheduling (PCMag reached the same conclusion)
- + Per-location pricing with unlimited employees on paid tiers means adding staff never raises the bill
- + Mobile manager experience handles real tasks — fixing missed clock-outs, approving swaps, checking attendance — from a phone
- + Payroll add-on ($39/month + $6/employee) runs full-service tax filing from the same timesheets, closing the loop from clock-in to payday
Cons
- - Two-part pricing (core plan + payroll add-on) makes the payroll configuration more expensive than Gusto or OnPay for small teams, as PCMag also found
- - Vendor pages conflict on the free plan cap (10 employees on the pricing page, 20 on an older solutions page)
- - US-only: no international payroll, EOR or non-US tax handling
- - Payroll preview detail and custom reporting are thin until higher tiers; earnings columns need horizontal scrolling in the payroll worksheet
- - AI scheduling, PTO controls and departments are gated to Plus ($70/location), and HR/compliance tooling to All-in-One ($120/location)
Linear
Pros
- + Speed is real and measurable: ~5.4s issue creation vs 47s for Jira Cloud in GAX's May 2026 benchmark, and the keyboard-first flow matched that direction in my own use
- + Triage Intelligence does useful work — 73/81/84% assignee/project/label accuracy in one third-party test, and duplicate bug detection cut clutter in my runs
- + GitHub/GitLab integration auto-closes issues on PR merge (94% auto-link success in the same benchmark) so board state stays honest without manual updates
- + Free plan allows unlimited members, so the whole company can watch the board at $0, and paid entry (Basic $10/user/month yearly) removes the 250-issue cap
- + Structured discounts are real: 75% off for nonprofits and university staff, a free year for students, up to 6 months of Business free for partner-affiliated startups
Cons
- - Opinionated constraints bite at scale: one project and one assignee per issue, no multi-step approval gates, limited custom field types
- - No issue-level Gantt and no native release/fix-version management — teams approximate releases with labels, a common complaint in reviews
- - Reporting is thin below Business (Insights is $16/user tier) — no custom dashboards or multi-project rollups without BI export via API
- - Guests are billed as full members and there is no read-only viewer role, which inflates cost when stakeholders need visibility
- - Cloud-only with no self-hosting, no Linux desktop app, a thinner mobile app, and 2026 forum reports of slow first loads and sync bugs on rapid edits
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is better, Homebase or Linear?▼
Linear scores higher at 4.5/5 vs 4.0/5 for Homebase, making it the better-rated option in our comparison.
What is the difference between Homebase and Linear?▼
Homebase: Homebase handles scheduling, time clocks, hiring and payroll for small businesses with hourly staff. Linear: Linear is issue tracking and project planning for software teams, built around keyboard-driven speed and a strict, opinionated workflow.
Is Homebase or Linear more affordable?▼
Homebase starts at €0/mo, Linear starts at €0/mo. Check the comparison table above for current pricing.
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