Boards vs Linear: a lighter issue tracker that lives in Telegram
Linear is a fast, opinionated tool for product teams that plan in cycles. Laraue Boards is for a different moment: a small team or a single person whose work starts as messages in Telegram and who wants an issue board, and an AI agent on it, without the process around it.
Choose Laraue Boards if
- You or your team talk in Telegram, and tasks start there as messages.
- You want a board with statuses and a backlog, without a process to set up first.
- You want an AI agent (Claude, Cursor) to work on the same board over MCP.
Choose Linear instead if
- You plan work in cycles and projects and want that structure built in.
- You need reporting and dashboards, or enterprise security such as SAML and SCIM.
- Your team works in Slack and wants issues created from there.
Laraue Boards and Linear side by side
| Feature | Laraue Boards | Linear |
|---|---|---|
| Capture from Telegram groups | Built in. Forward a message to the bot, or link a group chat and use /save or /aisave. | No Telegram integration in its directory (Slack and Discord are listed). |
| MCP and AI-agent access | Remote MCP server with a personal API key: list, read, create, edit, move, comment, attachments. | Official remote MCP server (OAuth, or an API key); the pricing page lists MCP access from the Free plan. |
| Setup | Your first board exists when you log in; no workspace or team to configure first. | A workspace with teams; cycles and projects to set up as you adopt them. |
| Pricing | A free plan, free forever; paid plans are per seat. Current prices are in the pricing section of the landing page. | Free: $0, 250 issues, 2 teams. Basic: $10 per user per month billed yearly. Business: $16 per user per month billed yearly. Enterprise: custom. |
| Heavy project management and reporting | No cycles, roadmaps, analytics or dashboards, and no SAML or SCIM. | Cycles and projects; Insights and dashboards on Business and above. |
A light model instead of a process
Linear is built around a workflow: teams, cycles and projects. That structure is the product, and it pays off when a team follows it. It also means there is more to learn and configure before the first issue is useful.
Boards keeps the model small: an organization has spaces, a space has a backlog and boards, and an issue has a status, an assignee and your own attributes. You can start by sending a message to the bot, and add structure later.
Capture from Telegram groups
In Boards, a chat is a source of tasks. Forward a message to the bot, or link a Telegram group and reply to any message with /save: the card gets the text, photos and videos. Edit the original message and the card follows. Linear creates issues from Slack and Discord; Telegram is not in its integrations list.
If you do not live in Telegram, this is not a reason to switch, and Linear’s Slack integration is likely the better fit.
MCP and AI agents
Linear’s official MCP server is available on its plans from Free, so MCP alone does not set Boards apart. What Boards offers is one board that both people (from Telegram) and agents (over MCP) write to: a bug is forwarded in a group chat, and your coding agent picks it up from the backlog, comments and moves it to Done.
See the guide on setting up a backlog for an AI agent for the steps.
What Boards leaves out on purpose
Boards deliberately has no cycles or sprint planning, no roadmaps, no reporting or dashboards, and no calendar or timeline views. There are no SAML or SCIM features. If these matter to you, use Linear.
Questions
Is Laraue Boards a good Linear alternative?
Yes, if you want a lighter tool and already live in Telegram. Boards has issues, statuses, epics, custom attributes and permissions, and every message in a linked Telegram chat can become a card. It does not have cycles, roadmaps or analytics, so a team that plans in sprints and reports on them is better off in Linear.
Does Boards have MCP like Linear?
Both. Linear has an official MCP server, and so does Boards. Boards’ remote MCP server uses a personal API key and lets an agent list, read, create, edit and move issues, comment, and attach or download files, within your own permissions. The difference is not MCP itself but what else feeds the same board: Boards also takes cards from Telegram.
Can I create Linear issues from Telegram?
Not out of the box. Linear’s integrations directory lists Slack and Discord for creating issues from messages, and no Telegram integration. In Boards this is the core feature: forward a message to the bot, or link a group chat and save messages with /save.
Where the Linear facts come from
Try Laraue Boards for free · About Laraue Boards