Migrating from Trello to Linear
The main reason teams move from Trello to Linear is roadmapping. Linear's approach — exceptionally fast and responsive ui — keyboard-first design makes it the fastest issue tracker to use day-to-day, widely praised for buttery-smooth performance — suits startup and scaleup teams that have outgrown Trello's model. Here's how to migrate without losing historical context.
At a Glance
- Extremely intuitive drag-and-drop Kanban interface — virtually zero learning curve, new users productive within minutes
- Generous free tier with unlimited cards, unlimited Power-Ups, and up to 10 boards per Workspace
- Butler automation engine is powerful and accessible, allowing no-code workflow automation with rule-based, calendar, and due date triggers
- Exceptionally fast and responsive UI — keyboard-first design makes it the fastest issue tracker to use day-to-day, widely praised for buttery-smooth performance
- Opinionated, clean design reduces configuration overhead — teams can get productive within hours, not weeks
- Cycles (sprints) and Projects provide well-structured planning workflows with automatic progress tracking and burndown insights
You gain with Linear
- +roadmapping
- +sprint planning
- +backlog management
Migration Steps
Audit and export your current workspace
Before touching Linear, document what lives in Trello: projects and tasks, custom fields, automations, integrations, and team permissions. Export a full CSV backup — most tools support this from Settings → Export. Pay particular attention to any custom fields and workflow automations that your team relies on daily.
Set up your Linear workspace
Create your Linear workspace and replicate your project structure using issues and cycles. Linear starts at $8/user/mo/user/mo with a free tier available — budget $2/user/mo more per user. Run with a single pilot team before migrating everyone.
Map your workflow equivalents
Find the closest Linear equivalent for each Trello feature your team relies on. projects and tasks in Trello maps to issues and cycles in Linear. Linear supports custom fields — recreate your Trello field schema here first. Prioritise the critical path: task creation, status tracking, and assignment.
Import your data
Linear supports CSV import for tasks and projects and has 20+ native integrations. After importing, rebuild your key automations — Linear's automation engine can replicate most rules you had in Trello. Start with your most active project rather than importing everything at once.
Onboard your team
Run a 30-minute walkthrough covering the daily workflow: how to create issues and cycles, update status, and find your board. Linear has a gentle learning curve — most PMs are fully productive within 1–2 days. Focus the session on the UI differences rather than feature training.
Run Trello in parallel for two weeks
Keep Trello read-only while your team works primarily in Linear. This reduces risk and lets people reference historical context — old decisions, archived tickets, past sprint data — without slowing the migration. After two weeks with no new work going into Trello, archive the workspace and make Linear the official home.
Ready to switch?
Read the full Linear review for pricing, integrations, and team fit details.