You need a bug tracker for your agency. Everyone keeps recommending Linear, Asana, or ClickUp.
So you try Linear. It's beautiful. Fast. Everything developers rave about. Then you invite your first client and they're completely confused. "Where do I click to report a bug?" They see cycles, sprints, project views, keyboard shortcuts. They give up and email you instead.
You try Asana. Your client figures it out this time. Then they accidentally mark three bugs as complete because the UI wasn't clear. You spend 20 minutes fixing it. Then another client asks "why do I need to learn Asana just to tell you the website is broken?"
You try ClickUp. It has every feature imaginable. Too many features. You spend 3 hours configuring custom fields, automation rules, and view settings. Your client opens it, sees 47 buttons, and texts you the bug instead.
Here's the thing: these are all great tools. They're just not built for client-facing bug tracking.
Linear is perfect for internal dev teams.
If your whole team is technical, you'll love Linear. It's fast. The keyboard shortcuts are incredible. The GitHub integration is seamless. Issues tie directly to code changes. Everything about it is optimized for developers who live in their issue tracker all day.
The problem starts when you add clients to Linear.
Clients don't understand "cycles" or "triage" or "backlog." They don't need keyboard shortcuts. They're not going to learn your workspace structure. They just want to report a bug and know when it's fixed.
Plus, Linear is $8 per user per month. That sounds reasonable until you add 5 clients to track their bugs. Now you're paying $480 per year just for clients to report issues. And they're still confused by the interface.
Linear is fantastic for what it's built for: internal engineering teams at fast-moving companies. It's terrible for client-facing bug tracking because it assumes everyone using it is a developer who wants power-user features.
Asana is solid for project management, awkward for bug tracking.
Asana works well for marketing teams, project managers, general task tracking. The interface is friendly. Clients can figure it out without too much training. You can create custom fields and templates to make it work like a bug tracker.
But that's the key phrase: "make it work like." Asana isn't purpose-built for bug tracking. You're forcing a project management tool to behave like a bug tracker. This means spending time creating the right fields, the right views, the right automations to get bug-tracking functionality.
And there's no built-in support for video bug reports. Client can attach a Loom link, but it's just a URL in a field. You can't watch it inline. You can't preview it. Click link, new tab, watch video, come back, update task. It works, but it's clunky.
Asana's strength is coordinating complex projects with lots of moving parts. If you need to track bug fixes alongside feature development, content calendars, and marketing campaigns all in one tool, Asana makes sense. But if you just need bug tracking, you're paying for a lot of features you don't use.
ClickUp tries to be everything, which is both its strength and its problem.
ClickUp genuinely has every feature. Time tracking, docs, goals, whiteboards, forms, automation, custom fields, multiple view types, integrations with everything. If you can imagine a feature, ClickUp probably has it.
This is great if you actually need all those features. This is overwhelming if you just want simple bug tracking.
The learning curve is steep. You spend hours watching tutorials to understand how to configure everything. Your clients spend hours trying to figure out where to click to report a bug. There are so many options that both you and your clients suffer from decision fatigue.
And because ClickUp can do everything, the interface reflects that. Lots of buttons. Lots of menus. Lots of options. For a power user who invests time learning it, this is fine. For a client who just wants to report a checkout bug, it's intimidating.
ClickUp works if you genuinely need an all-in-one tool and you're willing to invest the time to learn it properly. But if bug tracking is your main need, you're using a Swiss Army knife when you just need a good knife.
What small teams actually need for bug tracking:
You don't need sprint planning or velocity charts. You don't need complex automation or 17 different view types. You don't need integrations with 1,000 tools.
You need: clients to report bugs easily (preferably with video). Clear status tracking (submitted, in progress, fixed). Notifications that actually work (you get pinged, client gets pinged when it's done). Simple enough that clients figure it out in 30 seconds.
This is why we built Lantern—none of the existing tools worked well for the specific use case of "agencies need clients to report bugs simply." Linear was too developer-focused. Asana was too project-management-focused. ClickUp was too everything-focused.
Lantern does one thing: bug tracking for agencies. Clients paste a Loom video link showing what's broken. You watch it, fix it, mark it done. Client gets notified. That's the whole workflow. No configuration needed. No training needed. It just works.
But honestly, if you're already invested in Linear or Asana or ClickUp for other things, you can make them work for bug tracking. They're just more complicated than necessary for this specific job.
The actual comparison for bug tracking:
Linear: Best for internal engineering teams who are all developers. Too complex for non-technical clients. Great if everyone using it lives in issue trackers. Expensive if you add many clients ($8/user/month adds up).
Asana: Best for project management across different types of work. Can be configured for bug tracking but requires setup. Interface is friendly enough for clients. Works but feels like you're adapting it rather than it being purpose-built.
ClickUp: Best for teams who genuinely need every feature and are willing to learn a complex tool. Can definitely handle bug tracking (it can handle anything). Overwhelming for simple use cases. Power users love it, casual users get lost.
Lantern: Best for agencies who just need clients to report bugs and want the simplest possible workflow. Purpose-built for this one job. Video bug reports built in. Dead simple for clients. Cheap (flat $15.50/month regardless of client count). Limited integrations since it's new.
How to choose:
If your team lives in Linear for internal development and everyone is technical, stick with Linear. Keep clients out of it and handle their bugs separately.
If you're already using Asana for project management and it's working, add bug tracking to it. Create a template, set up the fields, make it work.
If you need one tool for literally everything and you're willing to invest time learning it, ClickUp can do bug tracking plus 50 other things.
If you just need simple bug tracking for client work and nothing else, use a purpose-built tool like Lantern. It's simpler and cheaper.
The worst choice is trying to use the "best" tool when it's not built for your specific use case. Linear is the best issue tracker for internal dev teams. That doesn't automatically make it the best bug tracker for client communication.
The hybrid approach that actually works:
Most successful agencies use different tools for different jobs. Linear (or GitHub Issues) for internal development work. Asana or ClickUp for project management and internal coordination. A dedicated bug tracker like Lantern for client-facing bug reports.
Clean separation. Internal tools stay internal. Client-facing tools are simple and purpose-built. You don't try to make one tool do everything.
This seems like more tools, but it's actually less complexity because each tool is good at its specific job instead of being mediocre at many jobs.
Try different tools, but try them for the right reasons.
Don't choose Linear because everyone on Twitter says it's amazing. Choose it if you have an internal dev team that needs powerful issue tracking.
Don't choose ClickUp because it has every feature. Choose it if you actually need most of those features.
Don't choose Asana because it's familiar. Choose it if its project management strengths match your needs.
And consider whether you need a purpose-built bug tracker for client work instead of forcing a general-purpose tool to do that specific job.
Try Lantern free for 14 days alongside whatever else you're evaluating. See which one makes client bug tracking actually simple. See which one your clients actually use without training.
The "best" tool is whichever one reduces friction for both you and your clients. Not whichever one has the most features or the best marketing or the loudest advocates on social media.
For bug tracking specifically, simpler usually wins.
Simple bug tracking for agencies. No credit card required.