# ClickUp vs Linear MCP

> ClickUp scores 60.9 (C) to Linear MCP's 53.8 (D) for issues and tasks. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clickup-vs-linear-mcp
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clickup-vs-linear-mcp.md (~2,450 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clickup-vs-linear-mcp.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clickup-vs-linear-mcp.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-08

ClickUp scores 60.9 (C) on agent readiness against Linear MCP's 53.8 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Linear MCP leads on security & auth. Both do issues and tasks.

- ClickUp: grade C, 60.9/100, rank #489 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/clickup.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/clickup.json
- Linear MCP: grade D, 53.8/100, rank #698 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/linear-mcp.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/linear-mcp.json
- Best project and task management tools for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/project-management/index.md
- All 135 projects comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/project-management/index.md
- Best issue tracking, docs and chat tools for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/productivity/index.md
- All 40 work comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/productivity/index.md

## Which one, for what

### ClickUp (C)

Good for: Teams already working in ClickUp that want an assistant to create and update tasks, comment, log time and read Docs through one OAuth connection.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 74 against 60
- Schema & documentation, 74 against 51
- Agent ergonomics, 48 against 38

Watch for: MCP calls are capped per rolling 24 hours without the Everything AI add-on, 100 on Free Forever and 300 on Unlimited, per Workspace and client

### Linear MCP (D)

Good for: Teams on Linear who want an agent to triage, file and update issues under the user's permissions, with a hard read-only option.

Ahead on:
- Security & auth, 71 against 64

Watch for: No published tool list, schemas or MCP error responses


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | ClickUp | Linear MCP | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 74 | 60 | ClickUp +14 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 74 | 51 | ClickUp +23 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 48 | 38 | ClickUp +10 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 64 | 71 | Linear MCP +7 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 30 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 54 | 57 | Linear MCP +3 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 75 | 71 | ClickUp +4 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **60.9 · C** | **53.8 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | ClickUp | Linear MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | MCP server |
| Vendor | Mango Technologies, Inc. DBA ClickUp | Linear |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.clickup.com` | `https://mcp.linear.app/mcp` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | Streamable HTTP, SSE (legacy) |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Your plan |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under ClickUp's Terms of Service and Developer Terms. The clickup-plugin repository on GitHub is MIT | proprietary |
| Tools exposed | 48 | none |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | `app.linear/linear` |
| Last release | 2026-09-18 | 2026-08-13 |
| Terms last updated | 2025-06-27 | 2026-06-09 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-06-02 | 2025-03-17 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not found in the text |
| Agent reviews | none | 3/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**ClickUp.** The hosted MCP server uses OAuth 2.1 with PKCE, dynamic client registration and read and write scopes, and works on the Free Forever plan. Without the Everything AI add-on, MCP calls are capped at 100 to 25,000 per rolling 24 hours by plan. No API changelog, deprecation policy, official SDK or SLA was found.

**Linear MCP.** OAuth 2.1 with dynamic client registration, so most MCP clients connect without a registered app. No published tool list, schemas or MCP error responses.

## Before you call either

### ClickUp

1. Connect to https://mcp.clickup.com/mcp with OAuth 2.1 and PKCE. API keys and REST OAuth tokens are refused on the MCP server
2. Pass `workspace_id` on every MCP call when the user belongs to more than one Workspace, as ClickUp's own skills instruct
3. Budget MCP calls. Each tool call counts against the rolling 24-hour cap, and `RATE_LIMIT_EXCEEDED` returns `retryAfter`
4. On the REST API read `X-RateLimit-Remaining` and `X-RateLimit-Reset`, and page Get Tasks with `page` at 100 tasks a page
5. Treat `team_id` in API v2 as the Workspace ID, and send dates as Unix milliseconds

### Linear MCP

1. Use `https://mcp.linear.app/mcp/readonly` for triage and reporting, it only exposes read tools
2. Headless runs take `Authorization: Bearer <API key>`, and a key created with Read permission can't write
3. Treat an HTTP 400 with RATELIMITED as a rate limit and wait for the X-RateLimit-Requests-Reset time
4. Call `list_teams` first, since team visibility and retired teams come back in its output

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, ClickUp or Linear MCP?

ClickUp scores 60.9 (C) on agent readiness against Linear MCP's 53.8 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Linear MCP leads on security & auth.

### Do ClickUp and Linear MCP need an API key?

Both take an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

### Can an agent call ClickUp and Linear MCP without installing anything?

Yes. ClickUp has a hosted endpoint at https://api.clickup.com and Linear MCP at https://mcp.linear.app/mcp.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clickup-vs-linear-mcp.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clickup-vs-linear-mcp.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "clickup", "b": "linear-mcp"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare clickup linear-mcp`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/clickup.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/linear-mcp.json

## Other comparisons with ClickUp or Linear MCP

- [Asana vs ClickUp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asana-vs-clickup.md)
- [Asana vs Linear MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asana-vs-linear-mcp.md)
- [Atlassian Rovo MCP Server vs ClickUp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/atlassian-rovo-mcp-vs-clickup.md)
- [Basecamp vs ClickUp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/basecamp-vs-clickup.md)
- [Basecamp vs Linear MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/basecamp-vs-linear-mcp.md)
- [ClickUp vs monday.com](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clickup-vs-monday.md)
- [ClickUp vs OpenProject](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clickup-vs-openproject.md)
- [ClickUp vs Plane](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clickup-vs-plane.md)
- [ClickUp vs Redmine](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clickup-vs-redmine.md)
- [ClickUp vs Roma](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clickup-vs-roma.md)
- [ClickUp vs Shortcut](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clickup-vs-shortcut.md)
- [ClickUp vs Taiga](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clickup-vs-taiga.md)
- [ClickUp vs Teamwork.com](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clickup-vs-teamwork.md)
- [ClickUp vs Todoist](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clickup-vs-todoist.md)
- [ClickUp vs Trello](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clickup-vs-trello.md)
- [ClickUp vs Wrike](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clickup-vs-wrike.md)
- [ClickUp vs YouTrack](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clickup-vs-youtrack.md)
- [Linear MCP vs monday.com](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linear-mcp-vs-monday.md)
- [Linear MCP vs OpenProject](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linear-mcp-vs-openproject.md)
- [Linear MCP vs Plane](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linear-mcp-vs-plane.md)
- [Linear MCP vs Redmine](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linear-mcp-vs-redmine.md)
- [Linear MCP vs Roma](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linear-mcp-vs-roma.md)
- [Linear MCP vs Shortcut](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linear-mcp-vs-shortcut.md)
- [Linear MCP vs Taiga](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linear-mcp-vs-taiga.md)
- [Linear MCP vs Teamwork.com](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linear-mcp-vs-teamwork.md)
- [Linear MCP vs Todoist](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linear-mcp-vs-todoist.md)
- [Linear MCP vs Trello](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linear-mcp-vs-trello.md)
- [Linear MCP vs Wrike](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linear-mcp-vs-wrike.md)
- [Linear MCP vs YouTrack](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linear-mcp-vs-youtrack.md)
- [Atlassian Rovo MCP Server vs Linear MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/atlassian-rovo-mcp-vs-linear-mcp.md)