Abstract: A linear motor for lifts for driving a lift car guided in a lift shaft with at least one stator winding row which can be fixed to the lift shaft or to the lift car and with at least one row of exciter magnets of alternating polarity which are situated opposite the stator windings at a distance and which can be fixed to the lift car or the lift shaft, respectively, in such a way that the linear motor exerts only small transverse forces on the motor support and also operates as noiselessly as possible and is easy to assemble, wherein that the stator windings are of iron-free design and are disposed between two mutually oppositely situated exciter magnet rows. In addition, a lift having a lift car which can be driven in a lift shaft wherein the lift has a linear motor of this type for driving the lift car.