| Functionality | 9 <p>ClickUp offers a very broad range of functionalities to handle pretty much everything most companies need.. These include workflow views, portfolio management and company goal setting —all in one platform.</p><p>ClickUp also include those functionalities required only by very large companies. Most notable amongst these are: AI feature which help to create documents and fill out templates, an exceptionally large range of templates to choose from when creating documents, multiple layers of subtasks and real-time collaborative workspaces like whiteboards.</p> | 6 <p>Linear focuses on delivering exceptional functionality required for planning and building software products. including excellent product planning, cycling planning and issue tracking functionality. However, this means that compared to other PM tools, Linear lacks some common functionality, e.g. timeline/ Gantt view for tasks, adding custom fields, time-tracking, an automations module.</p> |
| Ease of Use | 5 <p>ClickUp is a powerful tool, and its high level of customizability can sometimes feel a bit much—especially for tasks that should be quick and straightforward. On average, we’d estimate it takes a startup employee 1-2 days (plus a little guidance) to get comfortable with all the key features.</p><p>To its credit, ClickUp minimizes the number of clicks needed to access most features. But there’s still room for improvement. Some processes—like creating an invoice—aren’t as intuitive as they could be, which can slow things down unnecessarily.</p> | 9 <p>Using Linear is a delight. Its keyboard-first design allows you to breeze through workflows with ease—most actions, like creating a new task, are just a single shortcut away (press “C,” and you’re good to go). With its streamlined functionality, finding key information and navigating core workflows feels intuitive. Thanks to its smooth onboarding process, most startup employees can feel comfortable with the platform in just 1-2 hours, even with minimal guidance.</p><p>That said, Linear isn’t the most beginner-friendly tool. For users less familiar with keyboard shortcuts, it can feel a bit daunting at first. Plus, it offers fewer templates and less in-app guidance compared to alternatives like Asana or Monday, which might leave some teams wishing for a little more hand-holding.</p> |
| Look and feel | 6 <p>ClickUp has a well structured UI architecture and is visually acceptable.</p><p>Loading times are fast at roughly 1 second per page.</p> | 9 <p>If you like modern, minimalist app designs with a touch of elegance, then you will love Linear. Every Linear page is beautifully laid-out and colour-coded, every interaction & transition is silky smooth, and page loads are lightning fast.</p> |
| Customisability | 9 <p>ClickUp is impressively—sometimes overwhelmingly—customizable.</p><p>You’ve got 15 task views to choose from (like board, list, map, and more), the ability to create custom tasks, and access to hundreds of templates tailored to specific teams and tasks. When it comes to workflow automation, ClickUp takes it up a notch. With branching and conditional logic, you can automate almost anything, from internal actions to exporting key data to tools like GitHub, HubSpot, and beyond.</p> | 4 <p>Linear proudly admits that it is inflexible —and for good reason. They believe overly flexible software lets everyone create their own workflows, which eventually leads to chaos. For instance, you can’t add custom fields in Linear or build your own bespoke workflows. You’re also limited to just two task (or issue) views: board and list. It’s a “less is more” philosophy, designed to keep things simple and focused.</p> |
| Ease of Setup | 7 <p>ClickUp makes it easy to dive right in with a self-serve free trial and the option to buy without ever talking to sales—no awkward calls, just action. You can get started and set up a few tasks and subtasks in just 20-30 minutes, thanks to its extensive library of templates. That said, a full setup might take a few days, especially if you’re customizing it to suit your team’s unique needs.</p> | 8 <p>Linear offers a self-serve free trial and lets you purchase directly—no need to deal with sales. If you're familiar with agile methodology, then setting up Linear should be a breeze since it anticipates everything you need, including sprints, Kanban board, and a backlog. You can get started with a project and a few tasks within 10-20 minutes, with full customization taking 1-2 hours.</p> |
| Customer Support | 8 <p>ClickUp offers in-app live chat with both an AI assistant and, if needed, a human agent to help sort out any issues. Response times are quick—usually under an hour.</p><p>On top of that, ClickUp has an impressive collection of self-serve resources that cover just about every functionality and how to use them. They also host webinars and have a solid selection of YouTube videos to help you learn best practices and make the most of the platform.</p> | 9 <p>Linear’s support team is easy to reach—you can submit a question directly in the app. When tested, their response time was impressive (under an hour), and the support agent was both knowledgeable and genuinely helpful.</p><p>The Linear team has also been open and responsive to feedback.</p> |
| Integratability | 9 <p>ClickUp offers three levels of integrations to keep your workflows connected and seamless.</p><p>First, there are native integrations, including essentials like Slack, email, SSO, and GitHub.</p><p>Second, automatic imports make it easy to bring in data from tools like Monday.com and Jira.</p><p>Finally, there’s a range of other integrations, covering everything from Grammarly and Salesforce to Evernote.</p><p>A nice feature worth knowing about here is connected search in Slack, OneDrive, and SharePoint. Search through all of them simultaneously!</p> | 7 <p>Linear might not boast the extensive list of integrations you’ll find with other project management tools, but it likely covers everything a tech startup needs for software development. The integrations it does offer are top-notch—high-quality and thoughtfully crafted. Plus, if you need something more specific, Linear provides an API for building custom integrations.</p> |
| Ease of Migration | 8 <p>ClickUp makes it easy to export your data with self-serve options for Excel or CSV files. From a list or table view, you can export task data and customize details like whether to include subtasks, choose your preferred date format, and even show “time in status” (how long a task has spent in progress).</p><p>You can also export dashboard cards—those handy visuals that report on your team’s metrics and data. These can be exported in multiple formats, including PDF, PNG, JPEG, SVG, and CSV, giving you flexibility depending on how you want to use them.</p> | 9 <p>Linear makes it easy to export all your key data—workspace, team members, projects, and tasks—directly into CSV format through a self-serve option. You can also export data via its analytics module or by integrating with Google Sheets. For anything else, Linear’s API has you covered, giving you full control over exporting additional data.</p> |
