Tool profile
LinearB: cost, fit and limits
LinearB is a software delivery intelligence and workflow automation platform that combines engineering metrics, AI code reviews, pull request automation through gitStream, developer surveys and AI impact measurement for engineering teams, sold per user on annual billing with a 45-day trial.
What to know first
LinearB prints two paid plans: Essentials at $29 and Enterprise at $59 per user per month, both billed annually, with a 45-day trial and no credit card. Essentials works with GitHub Cloud only and needs 50 billable users, while Enterprise needs 100. Each plan includes monthly AI credits, 1,000 and 1,500 per user, and extra credits on Essentials cost $0.015. The security page states SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001.
LinearB at a glance
| Maker | Not stated on the vendor pages, Not stated on the vendor pages |
|---|---|
| Free plan | Free trial only |
| Entry price | $29 per user per month billed annually for Essentials |
| API access | Yes |
| Category | Best AI Engineering Analytics Software in 2026, rank 2 of 13 |
| Website | linearb.io |
Who LinearB is best for
GitHub Cloud teams of 50 or more
Essentials fits that exact profile at $29 per user, with programmable workflows, surveys, AI code reviews and an MCP server included from the start.
Teams that want to act on metrics
gitStream rules merge low-risk changes and send risky ones to code owners, so the metrics feed a workflow instead of staying in a dashboard.
Organizations capitalizing R&D cost
Enterprise adds R&D cost capitalization, project tracking and forecasting and on-prem agents, which suits larger companies with finance reporting duties.
LinearB plans and pricing
| Plan | Price | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Essentials | $29 per user per month, billed annually | GitHub Cloud only, programmable workflows, surveys, auto-PR descriptions, AI impact measurement, AI code reviews, an MCP server and 1,000 AI credits per user monthly. |
| Enterprise | $59 per user per month, billed annually | Everything in Essentials plus productivity insights, project tracking and forecasting, R&D cost capitalization, on-prem agents, Slack and Teams automations, AI retros and 1,500 AI credits. |
| Free trial | $0 for 45 days, no credit card | A time-limited trial of the paid product. There is no permanent free plan on the pricing page. |
Checked November 2026.
What LinearB does
- Engineering metrics
- Cycle time, DORA and AI impact are calculated from git, CI/CD and incident data. Teams can follow review delay or deploy frequency by team without building their own queries.
- gitStream workflow automation
- Rules in the repository decide how each pull request is handled: low-risk changes can merge automatically and risky ones go to code owners. This acts on delivery instead of only reporting it.
- AI code reviews
- An AI review runs on every pull request as it opens and is included on Essentials. Reviewers see a first pass before a person looks, which can shorten wait time on small changes.
- MCP server
- An MCP server exposes LinearB data inside Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or any MCP client. An engineering manager can ask for last sprint's cycle time without leaving the AI tool.
- Developer surveys
- Surveys run team by team beside delivery metrics, so a slow cycle time can be read next to what the team reports about tooling and process.
How LinearB handles your data
The security page states AICPA SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 certification. It describes no general retention policy, but says temporary repository clones are deleted immediately after metadata is processed. The page does not name a hosting region and refers readers to a Trust Center for privacy details. The pages read did not address whether customer data is used to train models, so a buyer connecting private repositories should ask for that statement in writing and read the Trust Center before the trial starts.
Where LinearB falls short in practice
- Minimums and platform limits. Essentials requires at least 50 billable users and works with GitHub Cloud only. Enterprise requires 100. A 30-person team, or one on GitLab, has no listed plan to buy.
- Credits are metered. Essentials includes 1,000 AI credits per user monthly and sells extra at $0.015 each. A team that leans on AI reviews should model its volume against that quota.
- Features gated to Enterprise. AI retros, productivity insights, project forecasting, R&D capitalization and chat-tool automations all start at $59. Buyers expecting them on Essentials will find them missing, so a team that picks Essentials for price may miss them.
Works with
Alternatives to LinearB
LinearB: common questions
How long is the LinearB free trial?
The pricing page states a 45-day free trial with no credit card needed, which is longer than the 14 days offered by Axify and Haystack. There is no permanent free plan. After the trial you choose Essentials at $29 or Enterprise at $59 per user per month, billed annually.
Can a small team buy LinearB Essentials?
Probably not. The pricing page states a minimum of 50 billable users on Essentials and 100 on Enterprise, and Essentials works with GitHub Cloud only. Teams below those numbers may find Swarmia, Axify or Hatica easier to fit, since they print per-developer prices without these minimums.
What is gitStream in LinearB?
gitStream is LinearB's workflow automation. Rules decide how each pull request is treated, merging low-risk changes automatically and routing risky ones to code owners. It sits beside the metrics product and is a main reason to pick LinearB over tools that only report numbers.
Does LinearB include AI code review?
Yes. AI code reviews run on every pull request as it opens, and Essentials lists them with AI impact measurement and an MCP server. Each plan carries monthly AI credits per user, 1,000 on Essentials and 1,500 on Enterprise, and extra credits on Essentials cost $0.015 each.
Which certifications does LinearB state?
The security page states AICPA SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 certification. Those are the strongest security claims among the tools in this category that print prices. The page does not state a hosting region, and it points to a Trust Center for privacy details.