OnPay vs Linear
A detailed comparison to help you choose between OnPay and Linear.
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Verdict: Linear wins
Linear scores 4.5/5, edging out OnPay at 4.1/5. 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.
OnPay Payroll voor MKB | Linear Fast issue tracking built for software teams | |
|---|---|---|
| Rating | 4.1 (1 review) | 4.5 (1 review) |
| Pricing Model | paid | freemium |
| Starting Price | Pricing varies | Free tier available |
| Best For | US small businesses and the accountants who serve them who want full-service payroll with every feature in one transparent plan and no international footprint. | 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 → |
OnPay
Pros
- + One plan with everything in it: at time of writing $49 base + $6/worker/month covers payroll, tax filing in all 50 states, direct deposit and the HR toolkit (onpay.com/Payroll)
- + Per-worker fee applies once per month no matter how many pay runs — weekly payroll does not multiply your bill
- + Tax accuracy guarantee: OnPay covers penalties and interest on filing errors it makes
- + Free setup and migration with human help, which is the hard part of switching payroll providers
- + Accountant-friendly: multi-client dashboard, filterable custom reports and accounting exports with no integration fees
Cons
- - US-only — no international payroll, EOR or contractor-of-record capability
- - Benefits administration without a shopping layer: no marketplace to compare plans, you source your own carrier
- - HR features are basic (onboarding, PTO, documents) — not a full HRIS with recruiting or performance cycles
- - No native time clock; you integrate TSheets, Clockify or similar (third-party review, smbhrreviews.com)
- - Published base price conflicts across sources ($40 in older reviews vs $49 on the vendor site) — confirm current pricing before budgeting
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, OnPay or Linear?▼
Linear scores higher at 4.5/5 vs 4.1/5 for OnPay, making it the better-rated option in our comparison.
What is the difference between OnPay and Linear?▼
OnPay: OnPay is payroll software for small businesses, handling pay runs, tax filing and benefits administration in all US states. Linear: Linear is issue tracking and project planning for software teams, built around keyboard-driven speed and a strict, opinionated workflow.
Is OnPay or Linear more affordable?▼
OnPay starts at €0/mo, Linear starts at €0/mo. Check the comparison table above for current pricing.
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