Tools & Reviews

Height App Alternative: Best Options After the Shutdown

Height.app shut down on September 24, 2025. Here's what actually happened, where the mainstream alternatives fall short for teams that loved Height's visual, AI-native design, and why BuildHub's Infinity Canvas is worth a look.

Om Patel
July 8, 202611 min readShare →
Sept 24, 2025
Height.app shutdown date
6 months
migration notice given
4
canvas node types in BuildHub
6
alternatives compared here

If you searched "height app alternative," you already know why: Height.app, the AI-native project management tool with a distinctive visual design, shut down on September 24, 2025. The team announced the sunset in March 2025, giving users about six months to migrate. Multiple 2025 and 2026 roundups now carry titles like "Best Alternatives After Height App Shutdown," and threads on r/projectmanagement and r/SaaS are full of teams asking the same question: what do we move to?

Most of the answers point to the same handful of general-purpose tools: ClickUp, Linear, Asana, Shortcut, Wrike. They're all capable project trackers. But Height wasn't just a task tracker, it was a flexible, visually distinctive, AI-assisted workspace, and none of the usual recommendations replace that part. This article covers what actually happened to Height, what its users say they miss, where the standard alternatives come up short, and why BuildHub's Infinity Canvas is worth evaluating if a visual, AI-native workspace was the reason you liked Height in the first place.

Key takeaways
  • Height.app shut down on September 24, 2025, about six months after CEO Michael Villar announced the sunset in March 2025.
  • Real user complaints (from r/projectmanagement) point to a disruptive "2.0" update in late 2024 as the turning point: unwanted AI automations, lost description-edit history, and new bugs.
  • The alternatives users are being pointed to (ClickUp, Linear, Asana, Shortcut, Wrike) are solid, but every one of them is a list/board tool, not a visual, spatial workspace like Height.
  • The specific gaps reported: Linear lacks Gantt/calendar views and rich custom fields, Asana's templates and subtasks feel clunky, and Wrike doesn't even support Markdown in task descriptions.
  • BuildHub replaces the Kanban board and the visual layer: an Infinity Canvas with document, table, Q&A, and data-view nodes, plus project info, prompts, CRM, and docs in one workspace built for developers building SaaS.

What happened to Height.app

Height positioned itself as an "autonomous" project management tool: AI-powered bug triage, backlog pruning, and auto-updating specs, wrapped in a clean, opinionated interface that won over a loyal base of product and engineering teams. In March 2025, the company announced it was sunsetting the product. Height's CEO, Michael Villar, reportedly called it one of the hardest decisions the team had to make. The platform kept running until September 24, 2025, giving existing customers roughly six months to export their data and pick a new home.

That six-month runway is longer than most SaaS shutdowns offer, but it still forced hundreds of teams into an unplanned migration. Threads on Reddit from mid-2025 show the scramble in real time: teams comparing ClickUp, Linear, Asana, and Wrike, trying to find something that replicated Height's custom attributes, task forms, and flexible views before the deadline hit.

What Height users actually loved (and what soured it)

Reading through real migration threads, the same list of Height strengths comes up again and again:

  • Task forms and custom attributes that were easy to set up and flexible to use
  • Multiple views (list, board, and more) with granular filter and layout options
  • Markdown-friendly task descriptions that supported tables and inline images
  • Deeply nested subtasks, children and grandchildren as far down as a team needed
  • A clean, distinctive interface that felt considered rather than generic

What soured the relationship for many long-time users wasn't the shutdown itself, it was a "2.0" redesign at the end of 2024 that pushed AI automations onto users who hadn't asked for them, while quietly removing features people depended on.

"The AI ‘features’ in Height drove us crazy. The straw that broke the camel's back was them forcing parent tasks to be ‘projects,’ which have their own disruptive automations that are enabled by default."
Source: r/projectmanagement

Another team described losing the history of description edits entirely, and having unsaved drafts wiped during the 2.0 migration, only recovered after reaching out to support. The lesson for anyone picking a replacement: AI features bolted onto a workspace without context, and without respecting the data structures people already built, erode trust fast. That is the exact trap to avoid when evaluating what comes next.

Where the mainstream alternatives fall short

The tools that show up in nearly every "Height alternative" roundup are ClickUp, Linear, Asana, Shortcut, and Wrike. Each is a genuinely good project tracker, and each is missing something specific that Height users call out by name:

  • ClickUp covers the most ground feature-for-feature, but migrating teams report that its custom fields and task forms are harder to configure and less flexible than Height's were.
  • Linear is the closest in spirit for engineering teams and even offered former Height users free months after the shutdown, but it has no Gantt or calendar views, and its custom fields are limited to labels rather than the rich custom attributes Height and Jira supported.
  • Asana is mature and well-documented, but users moving from Height found its task templates are just duplicated tasks (not real forms) and its subtasks awkward to navigate.
  • Shortcut is purpose-built for product and engineering teams and markets itself directly as a Height replacement, but like the others it's a list-and-board tool with no spatial or visual planning layer.
  • Wrike doesn't support Markdown in task descriptions at all, a basic capability Height users had come to expect by default.

None of these tools are bad. They're just built around the same list-and-board mental model as every other project tracker. If the reason you liked Height was its flexibility and AI-native, visual design, and not just its task list, a like-for-like swap to another Kanban tool will feel like a downgrade no matter how many integrations it has.

Height.app alternatives compared

The table below adds the one dimension most roundups skip: whether the workspace is visual and spatial, or just another list-and-board tool wearing a different color scheme.

ToolVisual/spatial canvasAIBuilt forReported gap vs. Height
ClickUpNo (lists, boards, docs)Add-on AI (ClickUp Brain)All-in-one teams of any sizeCustom fields and task forms are less flexible to set up than Height's, per teams who tried migrating
LinearNoNative, but scoped to issue triageSoftware and engineering teamsNo Gantt or calendar views; custom fields are limited to labels, not the rich attributes Height offered
AsanaNoAdd-on AIGeneral project managementTask templates are duplicated tasks rather than real forms; subtasks are awkward to work with
ShortcutNoAssistive, not workspace-wideProduct and engineering teamsPurpose-built for software workflows only; no spatial or visual layer for planning
WrikeNoAdd-on AIEnterprise operationsNo Markdown support in task descriptions, a basic feature Height users expect
BuildHubYes (Infinity Canvas)Native, context-aware across the whole projectDevelopers and founders building SaaSNewer product with a smaller integration ecosystem than long-established PM tools
Height.app alternatives compared on the dimension most roundups skip: whether the workspace is visual/spatial or just another list-and-board tool. Based on public feature pages and real migration reports, July 2026.

BuildHub: the canvas-first option for developers building SaaS

BuildHub is BigIdeasDB's project workspace, built specifically for developers and founders shipping SaaS products. Every project gets a dedicated workspace with Project Info, Project Prompts, Project CRM, and Project Docs in a sidebar, plus an Infinity Canvas for visual planning, all scoped to that project's context.

The Infinity Canvas is the part that actually maps to what Height users say they miss. Instead of a flat task list, you place nodes on an open, spatial canvas and connect them to show how they relate:

  • Document nodes for specs, notes, and research with AI-assisted editing
  • Table nodes for structured data like competitor comparisons or feature gaps
  • Q&A nodes for AI conversations scoped to a specific part of the project
  • Data view nodes for filtered lenses onto your table data

Because the AI has context from connected nodes, asking it to generate a competitor analysis table or expand a spec produces output that's actually relevant to your project, rather than a generic answer bolted onto a task description. Alongside the canvas, BuildHub includes a Kanban board for day-to-day ticket tracking, a CRM for leads and customer conversations, and a documents module with a markdown editor and semantic search, so a project's planning, execution, and customer context live in one place instead of scattered across Notion, spreadsheets, and a task tracker.

BuildHub also includes BuildGuide, a staged, evidence-backed guide that walks an idea from validation through build with an AI copilot and gate scoring at each stage, something none of the general project trackers above attempt. To be direct about the tradeoff: BuildHub is newer than Linear or Asana and has a smaller third-party integration ecosystem today. If your team leans hard on a specific integration (say, a niche CI/CD webhook), check it's supported before you commit. But if what you valued about Height was the AI-native, visual, opinionated design, not the integration count, BuildHub is built around exactly that idea.

Who this fits

BuildHub is the strongest fit for solo developers and small teams building a SaaS product who want their project planning, AI research, CRM, and docs in one visual workspace, the same reason many picked Height over Jira or Trello in the first place. Larger teams with complex cross-department workflows and deep existing integrations may still be better served by ClickUp or Asana.

Migrating off Height without losing your work

If you haven't exported your Height workspace yet, do it first, regardless of which tool you land on. Most teams that migrated successfully followed the same sequence:

  1. Export tasks, custom attributes, and descriptions from Height (CSV or JSON, depending on what was available at the time you exported).
  2. Audit what you actually use day-to-day versus what was clutter, several former Height users admitted their custom fields had gotten "way too complicated" over time.
  3. Rebuild your core project structure first (Project Info, Docs) before recreating every view and automation.
  4. Use a visual canvas for anything that was more relational than a flat task, like specs, competitor research, or planning docs that used to live in Height's descriptions and comments.
  5. Run the new tool and any temporary export in parallel for a few weeks before fully cutting over.

If you're rebuilding a SaaS project from scratch rather than migrating an existing one, it's also worth validating the idea before you rebuild your whole workspace around it. Our guide on how to build a SaaS in 2026 and the best AI tools for solo founders cover the steps before and after you pick a project management tool.

Liked Height's visual, AI-native workspace? BuildHub pairs an Infinity Canvas with a Kanban board, CRM, and docs, built for developers shipping SaaS.

Frequently asked questions

Why did Height.app shut down?

Height announced in March 2025 that it was sunsetting the product, with the platform officially shutting down on September 24, 2025. The company gave roughly six months' notice so teams could migrate. Many long-time users trace the decline to a disruptive "2.0" redesign in late 2024 that added AI automations they didn't ask for while removing features they relied on, such as description edit history.

What is the best Height app alternative for teams that liked its visual, AI-native design?

If what you valued about Height was its flexibility and visual, AI-assisted approach, not just another Kanban board, BuildHub is the closest match. It pairs a spatial Infinity Canvas, where you create and connect document, table, Q&A, and data-view nodes, with a Kanban board, CRM, and docs, and AI that has context across your whole project. Mainstream picks like ClickUp, Linear, Asana, and Shortcut are solid project trackers, but none of them offer a canvas-first workspace.

Can I migrate my Height data to BuildHub?

Before Height shut down, exporting your tasks, custom attributes, and descriptions was the standard path. If you already have that export, you can recreate your project structure inside BuildHub's Project Info, Docs, and Kanban board, and use the Infinity Canvas to rebuild anything that was more visual or relational in your old Height workspace.

Is BuildHub free like Height was?

BuildHub is included with a BigIdeasDB Pro subscription, alongside TrustMRR revenue intelligence and BigIdeasDB's other research tools. Check the current plans page for up-to-date pricing.

What's different about BuildHub's Infinity Canvas versus a regular Kanban board?

A Kanban board organizes tasks into columns. The Infinity Canvas is a spatial workspace on top of that: you place document nodes, table nodes, Q&A nodes, and data-view nodes anywhere on an open canvas and connect them to show how pieces of a project relate. AI on the canvas has context from connected nodes, so it can generate a competitor table or expand a spec with an understanding of what's already there, the same kind of AI-assisted, non-linear workflow Height was known for.

Om Patel
Founder, BigIdeasDB
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