Hydrant and Linear

Choosing your tracker

Last reviewed: 2026-09-25

I love Linear. Hydrant exists because I wanted a smaller tracker built around a particular operating loop, not because Linear forgot how to track software.

The comparison also needs one correction up front. Linear has agents and MCP. Its managed MCP server can read and write issues, projects and comments, with a separate read-only option. Linear’s agent model supports delegation while a human remains the primary owner. Delegated tickets appear in My Issues, and agent users are not billed.

Where Linear fits

Linear is the stronger fit when a company needs a broad product-development system. Its current feature set covers roadmaps, projects, initiatives, cycles, customer requests, insights, mobile apps and a large integration surface. Business and enterprise plans add administration and security controls that Hydrant does not offer.

Its Free plan currently includes unlimited members, two teams and 250 issues. That issue limit is real, but it is one boundary on one plan. Paid plans remove it. Treating 250 as Linear’s whole story would be a cheap comparison, in both senses.

Where Hydrant fits

Hydrant is for an individual or a very small team that wants the ticket to carry the operating discipline. Refinement, dependencies, agent work, review, release evidence and human acceptance stay attached to the work. Cockpit combines your tickets with those assigned to agents you personally own; Watchtower shows the active team around you.

The constraint falls in a different place. Hydrant’s Free plan allows unlimited issues, but only one human and two agent connections per workspace. Solo Pro allows three humans and 20 agent connections. If you need several teams, enterprise administration, customer intake or Linear’s planning surface, Hydrant is the wrong size.

If the surrounding organization is the hard part, choose Linear. If the hard part is keeping a small human-and-agent delivery loop explicit, Hydrant may fit better. Both can connect agents to tickets. The choice is how much system you want around that connection.