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Comparison · PM

ClickUp vs Leantime

A side-by-side editorial comparison of ClickUp and Leantime — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.

ClickUp vs Leantime: at a glance

FeatureClickUpLeantime
SectorPMPM
Velocity score1.36.3
Sparks · 30d01
Top themesproject management, ai agents, platform redesign, distributionauthentication, permissions, json-rpc-api, mobile
Last editorial update1mo ago2d ago
WebsiteVisit →

What is ClickUp?

ClickUp post-4.0 push centers on Super Agents and AI distribution — Brain Mobile, ClickUp inside ChatGPT.

ClickUp's recent cadence is shaped by two anchor moves: the December 2025 ClickUp 4.0 platform reset ("Craft, Quality, and Convergence" — projects, databases, scheduling, chats, DMs, video calls in one fabric) and Super Agents launching as in-product AI teammates a week later. Since then, weekly Release Notes have carried steady additions — Gantt Baselines and Brain on mobile (4.04), ClickUp now usable inside ChatGPT (4.04), Google Drive automations and Workload capacity granularity (4.03), Task Type management in Views and AI Notetaker pinning (4.02).

Read the full ClickUp trajectory →

What is Leantime?

Leantime hardens its new permission engine through a rapid-fire auth patch cycle.

Leantime just shipped 3.9.0, a ground-up permission engine that replaced ad-hoc role checks with centralized, fail-closed authorization across every domain, landing alongside a JSON-RPC API layer and mobile push tokens. The 3.9.1 through 3.9.4 point releases that followed are almost entirely auth stabilization: Bearer and personal-access-token authentication broke under the new Sanctum guard and took four patches to fully settle. The project is mid-transition from a legacy PHP codebase to a modern Laravel, Blade, and JSON-RPC stack.

Read the full Leantime trajectory →

ClickUp vs Leantime: editorial side-by-side

C1.3

ClickUp post-4.0 push centers on Super Agents and AI distribution — Brain Mobile, ClickUp inside ChatGPT.

◆ Current state

ClickUp's recent cadence is shaped by two anchor moves: the December 2025 ClickUp 4.0 platform reset ("Craft, Quality, and Convergence" — projects, databases, scheduling, chats, DMs, video calls in one fabric) and Super Agents launching as in-product AI teammates a week later. Since then, weekly Release Notes have carried steady additions — Gantt Baselines and Brain on mobile (4.04), ClickUp now usable inside ChatGPT (4.04), Google Drive automations and Workload capacity granularity (4.03), Task Type management in Views and AI Notetaker pinning (4.02).

◆ Where it's heading

Two parallel threads are visible. First: AI is being layered into the same workplace fabric (Super Agents that 'see your work the way you do,' Brain wherever the user is, ClickUp embedded inside ChatGPT). Second: the underlying PM primitives keep deepening (Gantt Baselines, Workload capacity, automations, Subfolders beta). The strategy is to be both the system of record and the AI surface that operates on it.

◆ Prediction

Expect continued AI distribution moves — likely MCP coverage and tighter Slack/Teams agent embeds — alongside Super Agents picking up vertical-specific templates. The weekly 4.x release cadence is unlikely to slow soon while 4.0 features stabilize.

L6.3

Leantime hardens its new permission engine through a rapid-fire auth patch cycle.

◆ Current state

Leantime just shipped 3.9.0, a ground-up permission engine that replaced ad-hoc role checks with centralized, fail-closed authorization across every domain, landing alongside a JSON-RPC API layer and mobile push tokens. The 3.9.1 through 3.9.4 point releases that followed are almost entirely auth stabilization: Bearer and personal-access-token authentication broke under the new Sanctum guard and took four patches to fully settle. The project is mid-transition from a legacy PHP codebase to a modern Laravel, Blade, and JSON-RPC stack.

◆ Where it's heading

The direction is a comprehensive backend re-architecture, with the permission engine, JSON-RPC API, completed Blade template unification, and experimental Postgres support all converging on a cleaner, API-first core. The recent burst of Bearer-auth fixes shows the team paying down the regressions the permission-engine rollout introduced rather than adding new surface. Mobile is the next frontier: the 3.8.0 TestFlight API groundwork and 3.9.0 push tokens point to a native app nearing release.

◆ Prediction

Expect the auth-fix cadence to slow as the Bearer regressions settle, with attention shifting toward the mobile app's public launch and broader JSON-RPC endpoint coverage.

Alternatives to ClickUp and Leantime

Other PM products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either ClickUp or Leantime.

See all ClickUp alternatives → · See all Leantime alternatives →

Recent activity from ClickUp and Leantime

Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.

  1. 3d agoLeantimeCross-project 'My Work' loading fixed; mark-done action secured
  2. 3d agoLeantimeUnified session factory across web, API-key, and Bearer auth
  3. 4d agoLeantimeRoute-cache self-heal and Bearer/PAT token auth fix
  4. 5d agoLeantimeBearer API context restored; JSON-RPC contract tests + CI gate
  5. 5d agoLeantimeNative permission engine, JSON-RPC API, and mobile push
  6. 20d agoLeantimeBlade migration completed; mobile API surface and task collaborators
  7. 1mo agoClickUpRelease Notes 4.04
  8. 2mo agoClickUpRelease Notes 4.03
  9. 3mo agoClickUpRelease Notes 4.02
  10. 4mo agoClickUpSuper Agents: Release Notes Takeover
  11. 5mo agoClickUpDuplicate of AMA promo
  12. 5mo agoClickUpReddit AMA promo

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between ClickUp and Leantime?

They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Leantime is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 1.3), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.

Is ClickUp better than Leantime?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Leantime is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 1.3), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other PM products to evaluate alongside.

What are the best alternatives to ClickUp?

Top ClickUp alternatives in PM are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "ClickUp alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/clickup for the full list with editorial commentary on each.

What are the best alternatives to Leantime?

Top Leantime alternatives in PM are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Leantime alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/leantime for the full list with editorial commentary on each.