Linea vs. Invisalign: At a Glance

How They Work

The basic idea behind both brands is the same—use a series of snug-fitting plastic trays that apply pressure to certain teeth, moving them. Each set of aligners will shift your teeth a tiny bit, and you’ll switch to the next set every 1–2 weeks. By the end of the series, your teeth should be perfectly straight, and you’ll wear a retainer to keep them that way.

Both Invisalign and Linea require at least some in-person oversight from a dentist or orthodontist. However, you can’t get them from just any dentist or orthodontist. They have to go through special training before they can register as an official provider of either treatment. They’re separate companies, with separate provider networks, labs, and pricing—but the broad shape of treatment is similar. Here’s how it typically goes:

1. Adults or teens interested in either treatment will need to schedule an appointment with a provider to get started.
2. During this initial office visit, the dentist will examine your teeth to make sure you don’t have any underlying problems, like cavities or gum disease.
3. If you have any underlying issues, you’ll need to address those first. If not, the dentist will take x-rays and intraoral scans of your teeth.
4. They’ll send those images to whichever company you’ve chosen, which will use them to design a full treatment plan. The dentist can make tweaks to this plan, if they’d like.
5. The company will create the aligners and send them to the dentist.
6. The patient will schedule another appointment, where the dentist will show them how to use their aligners, answer questions, and make sure everything feels okay.
7. Throughout treatment, the patient will wear their aligners for 22+ hours per day and schedule regular in-person or virtual check-ins with their dentist.

At the end of treatment, you’ll typically have a wrap-up appointment to assess your results and order a retainer, which you’ll need to wear every day (all day at first, then just at night) to keep your teeth from shifting back.

Scope of Treatment Comparison

Of course, none of that matters if you're not a good fit for clear aligner treatment. Moreover, Linea and Invisalign aren’t interchangeable in terms of what they can treat: Invisalign is designed for a broader range of cases, including complex ones. Here’s more detail on the misalignments each can take on.

Linea

Linea has three different tiers of aligner treatment, which cover mild cases through to more involved ones. This includes most cases of crowding and spacing, as well as improvements to certain bite issues. Through properly aligning the teeth, Linea treatment can often help improve the alignment and appearance of mild to moderate bite concerns such as overbite, underbite, or crossbite. For cases that require it, the dentist may choose to use attachments—small, tooth-colored buttons they can affix to the teeth, which help improve orthodontic tooth movements. They might also prescribe interproximal reduction (IPR), which means carefully removing minimal enamel between the teeth, giving them more room to move. Some plans also use elastics: small bands that hook onto the aligners or onto buttons on the teeth.

That said, Linea is transparent about treatment limitations. Linea isn’t designed for severe bite problems, particularly those with significant skeletal jaw discrepancies; these may need other orthodontic treatment or, in some cases, surgery. Your Linea dentist will evaluate your specific case to determine if Linea aligners are the right solution for your smile goals.

Invisalign

Invisalign is designed to treat a broad range of cases. Align offers packages for minor and moderate cases (Express, Lite and Moderate) as well as Comprehensive treatment for complex cases.² Invisalign aligners use attachments (called SmartForce) and can incorporate IPR as part of the treatment.

Invisalign also supports a wider range of auxiliaries, which extends the cases it can treat. For example, orthodontists using Invisalign can draw on palatal expanders and temporary anchorage devices (TADs), which are not included or used with Linea plans. For mild-to-moderate cases, Invisalign and Linea may both be options; for more complex cases, Invisalign or braces may suit better. Your dentist can tell you which applies to you.

Price Comparison

Orthodontic treatment can be quite the investment, so it’s a good idea to get a sense of what you’ll pay beforehand. How much you pay for Invisalign can depend on the severity of your misalignment, whether you need refinements, your location, and other variables. Linea’s Tier 1 and Tier 2 prices ($2,698 and $3,898), which cover most Linea patients, sit below the bottom of the price range Invisalign Australia has itself put forward for Invisalign treatment.¹ Here’s the breakdown.

Linea

We already mentioned Linea’s three tiers of treatment, and each one has a different price. Most people fall into Tier 2.

• Tier 1: $2,698
• Mild cases
• 1–8 aligners + 1 refinement (if necessary)
• Not eligible for IPR or attachments
• 0 re-scans during treatment
• Tier 2: $3,898
• Moderate cases
• 9–24 aligners + 2 refinements
• Plans may include attachments and IPR
• 1 re-scan during treatment
• Tier 3: $4,998
• More involved cases
• 25+ aligners + 3 refinements
• Plans may include attachments and IPR
• 2 re-scans during treatment

The nice thing about these prices is that they’re set by the company, not the providers. So, no matter where you get your treatment, the prices will stay the same. If you end up needing more than the allotted number of refinements or re-scans for your tier, it may end up costing more, but that rarely happens.

Linea’s price is set by Linea, not by each practice, and its treatment model is built to be efficient and cost-effective. Remote check-ins through the Linea app are part of every plan, so your dentist can review your progress between set in-person visits at key stages of treatment, and ask you to come in sooner if anything needs attention. Streamlined doesn’t mean subpar care: every Linea plan is designed by Linea’s clinical team, supervised by your dentist from start to finish, and offered only for cases Linea is designed to treat.

Plus, Linea offers interest-free financing through Humm and Zip, so you can break those prices into fortnightly payments and pay off your treatment over six or twelve months. You may have to qualify for these plans based on your credit, and some fees may apply.

Invisalign

Invisalign’s prices are more complicated than Linea’s, because each provider gets to set their own rates. So you could get a quote from one dentist, then go down the street and get a completely different quote from another. That means you can shop around, but it also makes it difficult to predict your final price. Invisalign Australia has itself put forward prices ranging from $4,500 to $9,500.¹

The primary determining factor is the complexity of your misalignment. Complex cases take more time, aligners, and appointments to correct, so they naturally cost more. However, your location can also make a difference. Some places have higher rent, utilities, and other expenses than others, which means higher overhead costs for your dentist and, therefore, higher prices.

Invisalign providers also pay Align a fee for each case, and many use Align’s iTero scanner, a premium product. Those costs can feed into the price a dentist quotes.

Invisalign doesn’t have any overarching payment plans, but dental offices typically have options, either in-house or through a third-party partner. If you’re unable to pay up front, the office staff should be able to make some recommendations.

Monitoring Comparison

Providing your aligners is only half the battle. The dentist also needs to make sure you wear them as instructed and that your teeth move as expected. So, you’ll need to schedule check-ups throughout treatment. How those check-ups happen varies by provider and treatment plan: some are in-person appointments, and some are remote check-ins, where you upload photos for your dentist to review.

Linea

You’ll have two office visits to start. The first is your consultation, and the second is to receive your aligners and ensure they fit perfectly. The dentist may use this second visit to apply attachments or administer IPR, but that depends on your specific case. After that, your dentist will primarily monitor your progress remotely.

This means you’ll upload photos of your teeth to the Linea app every month, so the dentist can make sure they’re moving like they’re supposed to. If they see anything that looks off, they may ask you to return for additional exams or treatment. But if everything goes according to plan, you’ll only have to come back for your final wrap-up appointment, and any re-scans (if they’re part of your plan).

Invisalign

Invisalign treatment usually starts in a similar way. After that, how you’re monitored is up to your provider: some rely on in-person check-ups, and some use remote-monitoring tools between visits, such as Align’s Invisalign Virtual Care or third-party apps like DentalMonitoring.

Patient Support Comparison

During treatment, you might have questions, and neither company leaves you hanging. However, they handle patient support differently, and it’s good to know their procedures before diving in.

Linea

The same mobile app you use to upload photos of your teeth and complete virtual check-ins is your portal to Linea’s support team. They’re available seven days a week and will handle any questions you have. This team works under the supervision of Linea's orthodontists, who can step in for more complex cases or issues. If you have questions that require clinical expertise, the support team will either provide guidance based on established protocols, consult with their orthodontists, or connect with your local dentist as needed.

This collaborative approach ensures you receive comprehensive care without requiring frequent in-person visits. While you won't be talking to your dentist every time, having Linea's support available seven days a week provides flexibility that traditional dental offices (typically closed on weekends) can't match.

Invisalign

Unlike Linea, Invisalign leaves all patient support up to the dentist’s office. They have a centralized “Smile Concierge” team, but they primarily help interested patients find local Invisalign providers. They can potentially answer broader questions about Invisalign treatment, but for day-to-day questions about your specific case, you’ll want to contact your dentist’s office. The advantage is that you’ll be speaking with people who know you personally. But the disadvantage is that you’ll be restricted to their hours of operation—which are usually 9–5 during the week and closed on weekends.

Company Overviews

In 1998, a company called Align Technology started marketing the very first clear aligner treatment: Invisalign. At the time, it was revolutionary, and adults who wanted straighter teeth—but didn’t like the visibility of braces—flocked to it. Over the next two decades, they continued to extend their reach, and since their introduction, their treatment has straightened more than 18 million smiles in over 90 countries. Today, they’re still perhaps the biggest name in clear aligner therapy.

But that’s changing pretty quickly. In 2017, Invisalign’s grip on the industry loosened quite a bit when over 40 of their patents expired. This allowed competitors all over the world to move in, and many of them built on Invisalign’s success, developing their own unique advantages and digging out niches in the customer base.

Linea was one of these competitors. Founded in Melbourne in 2020, they’ve quickly established themselves as one of the top clear aligner brands in Australia. Dentists started the company to make premium, dentist-supervised aligner care more affordable and more convenient for patients. Combining hands-on treatment with remote oversight, with flat-rate prices, they’ve done just that.

Our Recommendation

Both Invisalign and Linea deliver quality products and care, but ultimately, the best treatment for you depends on your specific smile—and on whether your case falls within the range Linea treats. That said, Linea’s combination of top-quality treatment with cost-conscious prices and convenient oversight is tough to beat.