Everhour adds capacity planning and cost visibility to Linear project work through tracked time, rates, budgets, and reports.
Try with my Linear
$10k of $15k
Hourly
0:00:00
Alejandro Luna0:00:00Kai Nani0:00:00Kai Nani0:00:00Click!
Dave Jung0:00:00Alejandro Luna0:00:00Dave JungThe calculator gives you the number — Everhour takes it from there.
One click and you're timing. Start a timer, add an entry, edit the details. This is exactly how it feels in Everhour.
Set a budget, assign rates, and get alerted before you're over.
Measurement
Track your budget through time or costs
Every report you need — configured your way, always up to date.
Tracked hours flow straight into a polished invoice — no copy-paste, no manual math.
You need a labor cost view that starts from the engineering work already organized in Linear: issues, projects, cycles, assignees, status, labels, and priority. The job is to attach usable time and rate data to that work so a budget owner can see planned spend, actual spend, and remaining room before a release, cycle, or client commitment runs past its limit.
For an engineering lead, the useful output is a cost trail by project, person, and issue context. It should answer three questions without spreadsheet guesswork: which work consumed the budget, which rate context shaped the cost view, and which remaining items still threaten the target. Keep the view tied to real logged time, because estimates on Linear issues describe expected effort, not the hours a person actually worked.
A defensible labor cost model needs four inputs: the Linear project or issue, the person who performed the work, the hours logged, and the internal cost rate attached to that person or project. Everhour separates cost rates from client-facing billable rates, so reports can show labor cost, revenue, and profit without treating internal spend and client billing as the same number.
Use cost rates for internal spend and billable rates only for client revenue analysis. Contractor rates, salaried employee cost assumptions, and project-specific overrides should be documented before the reporting period starts. A clean cost line shows the Linear issue, worker, logged hours, rate basis, and labor cost column. That format lets finance review the number without reopening the whole project or guessing which rate was used.
Estimates on Linear issues are effort or size values. Teams can use Exponential, Fibonacci, Linear, or T-Shirt scales, and those values help scope work, compare effort, and discuss delivery risk. They do not replace time records for labor cost review. Treat them as the plan side of the conversation, then use logged time and rates for the actual cost side.
The most useful variance view separates planned effort, actual hours, actual cost, and remaining work. A budget owner can then see whether a project is over plan because the team worked more hours, a higher-cost person picked up the work, or the remaining issue list still carries a large effort load. Mixing points, hours, and dollars in one column hides the cause.
A one-off cost check is enough for a scoped question: last cycle's labor cost, a single project's month-to-date spend, or a client estimate before approval. Use it when the work is short, the team is small, and the budget owner only needs a snapshot. Save the inputs, because the same rate and grouping choices must be used again for a fair comparison.
A managed workflow becomes necessary when labor cost must update every week, budget thresholds need admin-set email alerts, and reviewed time must feed cost reports without re-keying. Everhour can sit on top of Linear projects with tracked time, cost rates, budgets in hours or money, recurring resets, and budget protection that stops timers or prevents extra logging after the cap is exceeded.
This content is for general information only, may not be fully up to date, and is provided without any warranty or liability.
High Performer
G2
Summer 2026
Best Ease Of Use
Capterra
Summer 2026
Rated in the top time trackers across G2, Capterra, and TrustRadius — with consistent praise for ease of use, integrations, and support.
Labor cost connects to a Linear issue through time, person, and rate context. The issue gives the work context, the worker supplies the responsible cost center, the logged hours show actual effort, and the internal cost rate supports the labor cost view. Grouping by project, cycle, assignee, and label helps managers explain the cost instead of seeing one blended total.
Estimates on Linear issues belong in the planning column. They help show expected effort, remaining scope, and delivery risk. Actual labor cost should come from tracked hours and internal cost rates. A team that maps points to hours needs a documented rule, because different estimate scales describe effort in different ways.
Contractor and employee rates should be separated when their internal cost assumptions differ. A contractor often has a direct hourly rate, while an employee rate can reflect a finance-approved labor cost assumption. The report should show the rate basis clearly so budget owners can compare project spend without mixing unrelated cost models.
Labor overruns usually appear first in high actual hours against planned effort, higher-cost people taking on work, reopened issues, or unplanned tasks entering the project late. A useful review shows actual cost beside remaining work, not only completed work. That view gives the budget owner time to reduce scope, adjust staffing, or approve more budget.
A cycle budget works for short-term capacity control, because a cycle is a time-boxed work period. A project budget is better for total delivery cost, because a project can span multiple cycles and include changing scope. Keep the two views separate when leadership needs both sprint-level spending and full project cost.
Everhour Resource Planning gives managers visual timelines with member and project views, weekly capacity, availability gaps, scheduled time off, and planned-vs-actual comparisons. That helps teams compare intended engineering capacity with the tracked work that later becomes labor cost.
Everhour Project Budgeting tracks budgets in hours or money, supports recurring budget periods, and sends email alerts at thresholds set by an admin. Budget protection can stop timers or prevent additional logging after the cap is exceeded, which keeps overruns visible before they become end-of-month surprises.
Use Everhour Resource Planning to compare scheduled capacity with tracked work, account for time off, and review planned vs. actual hours before labor cost overruns reach month end.
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