Hatchlog: a Linear alternative for solo developers with agents

This is an honest comparison from the person who makes Hatchlog. Linear is the most polished tool in this space, and if you run a team, it’s hard to argue with. This page is about the solo-developer case.

What Linear does well

Linear is a cloud issue tracker built for product teams: issues, projects, cycles and roadmaps, with a fast, considered UI across web, macOS, Windows and mobile. It has a free tier, paid plans from $10 per user a month billed yearly, and a hosted MCP server, so Claude, Cursor and other MCP clients can find, create and update issues without a separate integration. For a team that already lives in Linear, connecting an agent is a small, obvious step.

Two things to weigh for the audience here. It’s cloud-hosted, so your issues live on Linear’s servers, not your machine. And it’s a team tracker first, with the process that implies.

	Hatchlog	Linear
Price model	One-time purchase, from $6	Free tier; paid from $10/user/month (billed yearly)
Platforms	Native Mac app	Cloud app: web, macOS, Windows, mobile
Local or cloud	Local; your projects stay on your Mac	Cloud-hosted; your data on Linear's servers
Agents supported	Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Claude Desktop	Claude, Cursor and other MCP clients via a hosted MCP server
Board UI	Native board the agent keeps up to date	Full issue tracker with board views
Token cost tracking	Per-task token cost, for Claude Code	No per-task token cost tracking
Setup	Connect agents in one click	Create a workspace; connect the MCP server over OAuth

Where Hatchlog is different

Hatchlog isn’t trying to be Linear. It’s built for one developer and one board, on the machine.

It’s local. Your projects and tasks stay on your Mac. Linear keeps them in the cloud, which is the right call for a team and a trade-off for a solo developer who’d rather keep things local.

It’s sized for one person. Linear models teams, triage and cycles. Hatchlog is a single board with Todo, In progress, In review and Done, which is usually all one developer driving one agent needs.

It shows what the work cost. Hatchlog measures the Claude Code tokens each task spent and the API-equivalent cost. Linear doesn’t track per-task coding cost.

Honest trade-offs

Linear is better at almost everything team-shaped: collaboration, triage, reporting, and a polish a one-person app can’t match. It also has a real free tier. If you work with other people, or you want your tracker in the cloud and reachable anywhere, Linear is the stronger choice. Hatchlog is Mac-only, paid, and deliberately small.

Choose Linear if…

• You work with a team, or want issues reachable from anywhere.
• You want triage, cycles and roadmaps, not only a board.
• A free tier or per-seat cloud pricing suits you.

Choose Hatchlog if…

• You’re a solo developer on a Mac who wants a local board.
• You want the agent to keep the board current as it works.
• You want to know what each feature cost in Claude Code tokens.

For the wider comparison, see the best task managers for AI coding agents, and Hatchlog pricing for what the one-time cost is.