head to head

Linear vs Huly

Huly is the open source alternative to Linear — modern issue tracker for software teams. Here is the honest comparison.

Yes — Huly is a viable free replacement for Linear. Huly is open source under EPL-2.0, written in TypeScript, with 27,700 GitHub stars, 2,155 forks and 849 open issues; it was last pushed 10 hours ago. Linear costs from $8, while self-hosting Huly carries no licence fee — the trade is your operational time instead of a subscription. 3 other open source Linear alternatives are tracked here, led by Plane at 59,546 stars. Huly ranks #2 of 4 tracked open source Linear alternatives by stars. The tracked set, by adoption: Plane (59,546 stars), Vikunja (5,438 stars), Taiga (850 stars). Replacement criteria on this page: 4 reasons to move to Huly and 3 reasons to stay on Linear.

Huly stars ★ 28K license EPL-2.0 self-host yes Linear pricing $8-$14/user/month

choose Huly if

  • Your Linear bill is growing with seats or usage
  • You need your data in a format and server you control
  • Your compliance posture requires auditing the code that touches sensitive data
  • You have (or can rent) a server and basic Docker comfort

full Huly profile →

stick with Linear if

  • You need the polished onboarding and support SLAs of a commercial vendor
  • Your team has zero capacity to operate software, even self-hosted-simple
  • You depend on a Linear integration ecosystem that the OSS alternatives have not replicated

Side by side

Huly (open source) Linear
Price Free (self-hosted) $8-$14/user/month
License EPL-2.0 Proprietary
Source code Public, auditable Closed
Self-hosting Yes — hcengineering/platform Cloud only
Data ownership Your server, your format Vendor's cloud
Community ★ 28K · ⑂ 2.2K
Built with TypeScript

Why people look for a Linear alternative

Linear is fast and well-designed, but cloud-only with per-seat pricing that compounds. No self-hosting option exists. Data portability is limited to CSV export.

About Huly

Huly is an open source, EPL 2.0 licensed, TypeScript built all in one work platform that folds project management, issue tracking, chat, CRM, HRM and applicant tracking into one system teams can run on their own servers, aimed at organisations that want the ground Jira, Linear, ClickUp, Slack and Notion cover without renting it from five separate vendors.

read the full Huly overview →

Other open source alternatives to Linear

Plane ★ 60K Vikunja ★ 5.4K Taiga ★ 850

last updated nightly · ranking method: github stars, live-tracked

Frequently asked questions

Is Huly a good replacement for Linear?

Huly is an open source alternative to Linear (Modern issue tracker for software teams). It is written in TypeScript and licensed under EPL-2.0, with 27,700 GitHub stars.

Is Huly free compared to Linear?

Yes. Huly is open source — there is no licence fee, and you can self-host it. Linear is typically a paid subscription, so the trade-off is licence cost against the operational work of running it yourself.

How do I migrate from Linear to Huly?

Migration effort depends on the data formats involved. Check Huly's documentation for import options, and compare the feature table above to confirm the capabilities you depend on are covered before switching.