Sinatra vs Linear coding sessions
The tracker running the agent itself. Sinatra is built on Linear and depends on it, so read this as a comparison of two ways to work, not as a complaint about a partner.
Linear shipped coding sessions in 2026, which makes the tracker Sinatra is built on also a competitor. Linear wins on setup: it is already there, there is nothing to install, and its pricing is about as transparent as this market gets. Sinatra wins if your work also starts from GitHub issues, if you want to run on a key or subscription you already pay for instead of prepaid credits, or if you want a free tier with no daily limit to try it on. Both open a pull request you review and merge yourself.
- Yes means the vendor's own app starts a run from the issue itself, with nothing to commit to the repo first. Sinatra's trigger is the Sinatra label that ships with the GitHub App install (`sinatraai` on the hosted app). Partial means either that a workflow file and an API-key secret have to be added per repository first, or that the mention only works on pull requests, or that starting from an issue needs a trigger or automation you configure yourself.
- Yes means assigning the ticket to the agent in Linear starts the run. Partial means the run starts some other way: an attachment link you click, or a trigger you configure yourself against Linear's webhooks. Assignment on its own does nothing.
- Yes means a documented HTTP API or MCP server starts a run on the vendor's hosted agent from a task the caller writes, so a script, a CI job, or an MCP client can hand off work and follow it to a pull request. Partial means only the vendor's CLI can start such a run, or the API only fires an automation saved ahead of time, or it is enabled for selected organizations only. Local agent sessions, and MCP servers that only read docs or tickets, don't count. Creating, labeling, or assigning an issue through a tracker's API, so that a tracker trigger or a saved automation picks it up, doesn't count either. Sinatra's MCP server takes an OAuth sign-in from Claude Code, Cursor, claude.ai or ChatGPT, or a personal access token; the HTTP API and the `sinatra` CLI take the token; and every run happens on Sinatra's hosted agent.
- Yes means a changes-requested review is enough on its own: Sinatra reworks the branch and pushes the follow-up commit with no re-trigger and no mention. Partial means the agent acts only when it is @-mentioned in the thread, or only while its original session is still open.
- Yes means your own provider API key runs the agent everywhere the product runs it. Partial means keys work on some surfaces but not the one being compared here, either because the vendor documents them as local-CLI-and-desktop only, or because it never documents them covering its cloud agent at all.
- Yes means a Claude Pro/Max or ChatGPT subscription you already pay for authenticates the run on the vendor's hosted cloud. Partial means it works only where that CLI's login already sits on the machine: your own laptop or a self-hosted backend, not a clean cloud sandbox, or that a linked subscription pays only for one provider's share of a hosted run while the vendor bills the rest.
- Yes means the vendor never charges you for model use itself: it runs on a key or subscription you pay a model provider for, or model use is included in a flat plan and capped by a rate limit or task quota rather than charged. When the vendor is itself the model provider, paying its own API rates on your own key counts as paying your provider. Partial means the vendor bills model use unless you bring your own key on the surface compared here. No means the vendor bills model use, as tokens, credits, or units, at cost or marked up, including usage past an included allowance. Sinatra runs on your own Claude or ChatGPT subscription or API key and never bills for model usage.
- Both halves have to be published: the plan price, and the rate for work past the plan. A published seat price sitting on top of an undisclosed credit, compute unit, or quota size is partial.
- Yes means the free tier states its limits as numbers. Sinatra's Free plan is 1 task at a time, plus 1 queued with no daily limit and no card, on your own subscription or API key; each request runs for up to 60 minutes, and if it needs longer Sinatra stops, keeps the changes, and picks up when you reply. Partial means a free plan exists but its limits are not published, or are published in a unit whose size isn't. No means there is no free tier, or the free tier leaves out the agent compared here.
- Yes means the vendor supplies model access and bills for or includes that usage. Sinatra requires your own workspace API key or personal subscription on every tier, including existing and paid accounts, and does not bill model tokens.
- Yes means an editor plugin or a desktop app; partial means a terminal CLI and no plugin or app of the vendor's own inside an editor. Sinatra is partial: the `sinatra` CLI, and an MCP server that Claude Code, Cursor, claude.ai, ChatGPT and other MCP clients can call, hand work to the hosted agent, which works in its own sandbox and comes back as a pull request. There is no editor extension, and the agent never runs on your machine. If you want an assistant working inside your editor, that is a real reason to pick one of these instead, and several teams run both.
- Yes means mentioning the agent in a Slack channel or thread starts a run on the vendor's hosted agent. Sinatra's Slack app is connected once per workspace by an owner or admin, on every plan: mention it in a channel and it works in that thread, posting its progress and answer there and opening a pull request when the request needs code. Follow-ups in the thread continue the task.
- Yes means you can run the agent on infrastructure you control, or the source is open. Partial means execution or inference can be pointed at your own account or your own machines while the product itself stays the vendor's and stays closed. Sinatra is hosted only; there is no self-managed build.
Competitor facts were read off each vendor's own documentation and pricing pages on September 4, 2026. The “Start a hosted run over API or MCP” row was read on October 13, 2026. Sinatra's terms reflect the current own-credential requirement.
How you start it
- Add the Sinatra label to a GitHub issue. The label ships with the GitHub App install and is named after the app (
sinatraaion the hosted one) - Assign a Linear ticket to Sinatra, or @-mention it in a comment
- Mention @Sinatra in a Slack channel; it works in that thread, and follow-ups in the thread continue the task
- Start a task from your terminal with the
sinatraCLI, from Claude Code, Cursor, claude.ai or ChatGPT over MCP, or over the HTTP API. It runs on Sinatra's hosted agent, not on your machine
- Delegate a Linear issue to the Linear Agent
- @linear in Slack or Microsoft Teams
- Triage automations
Free: 1 task at a time, plus 1 queued, no daily limit. Bring your own Claude or ChatGPT subscription, or an API key. On Free, each request runs for up to 60 minutes. If it needs longer, Sinatra stops, keeps the changes, and picks up when you reply. No card. Paid plans are one flat monthly price for the whole workspace, however many people are in it: Pro $20 (3 tasks at a time, plus 10 queued), Team $99 (10 tasks at a time, plus 25 queued), Scale $249 (25 tasks at a time, plus 100 queued). Enterprise is custom. Sinatra never bills for model usage.
Sinatra pricing →Supported on Linear's Basic, Business, and Enterprise plans ($10 and $16 a user a month billed yearly; Enterprise is custom). Sessions draw on a prepaid credit balance in dollars: model tokens at provider-published rates with no markup, plus sandbox runtime at $0.25 per 20-minute block.
Linear coding sessions pricing page →How you start a task
In Linear the two are near-identical by design: delegate an issue, the agent works in a managed sandbox, drafts a pull request, and puts the diff on the issue.
The difference is the second tracker. Linear coding sessions have no GitHub-issue trigger, so GitHub is where the pull request lands rather than where work begins. A team with some backlogs in GitHub Issues has to pick a front door. Sinatra also takes a task straight from its CLI, MCP server or HTTP API. In Linear a coding session starts inside Linear: an issue delegated to the agent, a request in chat, or a triage automation when an issue arrives. Linear's API and MCP server can create and update issues, but its docs describe no direct call that hands over a task and starts the session.
After the pull request opens, both need a nudge to act on review feedback, but different amounts of one. Linear's docs describe delegating a code-review action to the Linear Agent "to address any left review comments from other teammates," so a person decides and delegates. Sinatra treats a changes-requested review as the instruction itself.
Setup is the row Linear wins outright. An admin grants code access and enables coding sessions, and every member with repository access can use them. No second vendor, no second login, no new app in your security review.
What it costs, in dollars
Linear's pricing here is unusually clean and worth quoting rather than paraphrasing: a session "includes model tokens at provider-published rates, with no markup, and sandbox runtime at $0.25 per 20-minute block," drawn from a prepaid balance denominated in dollars. There is no free allowance; you top up before the features work.
So Linear passes tokens through at provider rates, Sinatra does not bill them at all, and the real question is what you would rather pay for. Linear's model is metered and prepaid, with no seat charge for the agent on top of the tracker seat you already have. Sinatra's is a flat monthly price for the whole workspace, $20 a month for the whole workspace on Pro, plus a bill from your own provider, which is better when your developers already hold Claude or ChatGPT subscriptions, because then the model half is already paid.
For a team of five running a few tasks a week, Linear will usually be cheaper. For a team running many tasks a day on subscriptions they already own, Sinatra usually is. Do the arithmetic with your own numbers rather than ours.
Where Sinatra wins
There is a GitHub-issue trigger. Label the issue and the whole loop runs from GitHub, which for repositories whose backlog never made it into Linear is the difference between using an agent and not.
Your key and your subscription work, where Linear's sessions draw on a prepaid
balance instead. The free tier (1 task at a time, plus 1 queued, with no daily limit)
means no top-up before you can see whether it works on your codebase. Requesting changes gets the follow-up commit
without delegating a review action. And configuration lives in the repository: a
committed .sinatrarc pins the model, the engine, and the test command,
reviewed like any other change rather than set in an admin panel.
Where Linear wins
Zero setup, and it is already paid for. An admin flips it on. No second vendor, no second bill, no security review, no OAuth app to explain to anyone. For most teams evaluating this, that alone decides it.
It also has the most transparent pricing in this market. You can estimate a session's cost before you run it, which is more than can be said for the credit and compute-unit schemes elsewhere on this site, and there is no separate charge for the agent beyond the Linear seats you already pay for.
@linear in a Microsoft Teams thread starts a session, which Sinatra cannot do
at all (its chat app is Slack only), and triage automations fix incoming issues
as they arrive using the rules your team already runs. Then there is the thing an
integration can never match: status, diffs, review discussion, and the merge all
live in the tool your team is already looking at, with no context to reconstruct
somewhere else.
Looking for a Linear coding sessions alternative?
The honest answer is that most teams reading this should just use Linear's. It is already in your workspace, the pricing is legible, and one fewer vendor is worth real money.
Come to Sinatra for one of three specific reasons. Your backlog is partly in GitHub Issues and you want the same agent on both. Your developers already pay for Claude or ChatGPT and you would rather those subscriptions do the work than buy the same tokens again as credits. Or you want to try an agent on a real ticket today without topping up a balance first.
If none of those describe you, staying is the right call, and we would rather say so than sell you a second tool.
Switching, or running both
Delegating to the Linear Agent starts one; assigning to Sinatra starts the other. Two assignees, two agents, two branches, nothing merged by either, and you can run them on separate projects in the same workspace, which makes this the easiest comparison here to set up. Give each a project and a week of real tickets, then compare the pull requests and the two costs. If the credit draw is smaller, use Linear's. You are already paying for the tracker.
Questions people ask about Linear coding sessions and Sinatra
Does Linear charge a markup on model tokens?
No. Its docs say a session 'includes model tokens at provider-published rates, with no markup, and sandbox runtime at $0.25 per 20-minute block,' paid from its prepaid credits. Sinatra never bills for model usage: it charges a flat price for the whole workspace and runs on your own model access.
Can Linear coding sessions start from a GitHub issue?
No. Sessions start by delegating a Linear issue, mentioning @linear in Slack or Teams, or from a triage automation.
Can I use my own Anthropic key or Claude subscription?
Not on Linear's side. Its docs describe sessions running through Claude Code or Codex on a workspace-selected model, billed from your prepaid credit balance.
Is Sinatra competing with Linear?
On this one workflow, yes, and pretending otherwise would be silly. Sinatra is built on Linear and depends on it; if their coding sessions do what your team needs, use them.
Where these facts came from
Every mark on this page comes from Linear coding sessions's own documentation and pricing pages, not a third-party roundup: read on September 4, 2026, except the “Start a hosted run over API or MCP” row, read on October 13, 2026. Sinatra's side of this page was last updated on October 15, 2026. If something here is out of date or wrong, tell us and we will fix the page.