# Linear MCP vs Redmine

> Linear MCP scores 53.8 (D) to Redmine's 50.2 (D) for issues and tasks. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linear-mcp-vs-redmine
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linear-mcp-vs-redmine.md (~2,550 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linear-mcp-vs-redmine.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linear-mcp-vs-redmine.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: 2026-10-09

Linear MCP scores 53.8 (D) on agent readiness against Redmine's 50.2 (D), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Redmine leads on reliability, agent ergonomics, payments & pricing and maintenance & community. Both do issues and tasks.

- 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
- Redmine: grade D, 50.2/100, rank #777 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/redmine.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/redmine.json
- 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
- 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

## Which one, for what

### 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:
- Schema & documentation, 51 against 32
- Security & auth, 71 against 51
- Transparency & trust, 71 against 47

Also in its favour:
- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install
- No incidents deducted, where Redmine loses 4 points for them

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

### Redmine (D)

Good for: Teams that already run Redmine or want a free, self-hosted tracker with issues, time entries and wikis under their own control.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 69 against 60
- Agent ergonomics, 51 against 38
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 30
- Maintenance & community, 73 against 57

Also in its favour:
- Open source

Watch for: No OpenAPI document or other machine-readable contract was found in the wiki or the source repository


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Linear MCP | Redmine | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 60 | 69 | Redmine +9 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 51 | 32 | Linear MCP +19 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 38 | 51 | Redmine +13 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 71 | 51 | Linear MCP +20 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 60 | Redmine +30 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 57 | 73 | Redmine +16 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 71 | 47 | Linear MCP +24 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -4 | |
| **Total** | | **53.8 · D** | **50.2 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Linear MCP | Redmine |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | MCP server | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Linear | Redmine project |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://mcp.linear.app/mcp` | no (local only) |
| Transports | Streamable HTTP, SSE (legacy) | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Your plan | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | proprietary | GPL-2.0-or-later |
| Read-only variant documented | yes | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| MCP registry | `app.linear/linear` | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-08-13 | 2026-09-30 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-06-09 | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2025-03-17 | no document linked |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text |  |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text |  |
| Agent reviews | 3/5 (2) | none |

## Verdicts

**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.

**Redmine.** Redmine's REST API covers issues, projects, time entries and 20 other resources, and versions 6.1 and later add OAuth 2 with one scope per permission. The software is free under the GPL. No OpenAPI document exists, most errors return a bare status code, and 24 security advisories were published in twelve months, two rated critical.

## Before you call either

### 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

### Redmine

1. Ask an administrator to tick Enable REST API under Administration, Settings, API. It is off by default and every call fails until then
2. Send the key in the `X-Redmine-API-Key` header, never as the `key` query parameter, and set `Content-Type: application/json` on every POST and PUT
3. Add `status_id=*` to issue lists. The default returns open issues only, 25 a page with a maximum of 100
4. Comment on an issue by sending `notes` in a PUT to `/issues/<id>.json`. There is no separate comment endpoint
5. A DELETE on a project through the API skips the confirmation the web page asks for, so run the agent as a non-administrator user

## Questions

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

Linear MCP scores 53.8 (D) on agent readiness against Redmine's 50.2 (D), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Redmine leads on reliability, agent ergonomics, payments & pricing and maintenance & community.

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

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

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

Linear MCP has a hosted endpoint at https://mcp.linear.app/mcp. No hosted endpoint is listed for Redmine.

### Are Linear MCP and Redmine open source?

No open-source release is listed for Linear MCP. Redmine is open source (GPL-2.0-or-later).


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Linear MCP or Redmine

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