# Alternatives to Kanboard

Minimalist self-hosted kanban.

Kanboard ranks #16 of 24 in Project management, with an Alt Score of 65. It is licensed under MIT, free and available on the web. 12 of 14 checklist rows are verified against a public source.

Source: https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/kanboard/
Category: Project management

## Overview

- **Who it's for**: Small teams and individuals who want a self-hosted, no-frills Kanban board for tracking tasks without the overhead of a full project management suite.
- **What you get**: A free, open-source (MIT licensed) Kanban board with drag-and-drop cards, customizable columns, and swimlanes. Tasks support subtasks, file attachments, comments, and markdown descriptions. Work-in-progress limits highlight overloaded columns, automation rules can adjust assignees, colors, or categories on events, and a query language lets you search and filter tasks. It supports LDAP, Active Directory, and OAuth2 (Google, GitHub, GitLab) login, and is available in 30+ languages.
- **How it works**: You create a project board, define columns for your workflow stages, and add tasks as cards. Cards are dragged between columns as work progresses, with optional WIP limits and automation rules enforcing process along the way.

## Profile

- **License**: MIT (verified 2026-07-12)
- **Pricing model**: Free (verified 2026-07-12)
- **Starts at**: ?
- **Platforms**: Web
- **Status**: maintenance (verified 2026-07-12)

## Ranked alternatives

| # | App | Alt Score | Licence | Platforms |
|---|-----|-----------|---------|-----------|
| 1 | [ClickUp](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/clickup.md) | 96 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS |
| 2 | [Monday.com](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/mondaycom.md) | 96 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS, iOS, Android |
| 3 | [Plane](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/plane.md) | 96 | AGPL-3.0 | Web, iOS, Android, macOS |
| 4 | [YouTrack](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/youtrack.md) | 96 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS |
| 5 | [Teamwork](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/teamwork.md) | 94 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS, iOS, Android |
| 6 | [Zoho Projects](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/zoho-projects.md) | 94 | Proprietary | Web, iOS, Android |
| 7 | [Jira](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/jira.md) | 87 | Proprietary | Web, iOS, Android |
| 8 | [OpenProject](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/openproject.md) | 87 | GPL-3.0 | Web |
| 9 | [Asana](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/asana.md) | 84 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS, iOS, Android |
| 10 | [Wrike](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/wrike.md) | 84 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS, iOS, Android |
| 11 | [Smartsheet](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/smartsheet.md) | 81 | Proprietary | Web, iOS, Android |
| 12 | [Leantime](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/leantime.md) | 68 | AGPL-3.0 | Web |
| 13 | [Linear](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/linear.md) | 68 | Proprietary | Web, macOS, Windows, iOS |
| 14 | [Shortcut](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/shortcut.md) | 68 | Proprietary | ? |
| 15 | [Trello](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/trello.md) | 65 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS, iOS, Android |
| 16 | [Basecamp](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/basecamp.md) | 55 | Proprietary | Web, macOS, Windows, iOS |
| 17 | [Taiga](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/taiga.md) | 51 | MPL-2.0 | Web |
| 18 | [Redmine](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/redmine.md) | 49 | GPL-2.0 | Web |
| 19 | [Huly](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/huly.md) | 45 | EPL-2.0 | Web, Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 20 | [WeKan](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/wekan.md) | 45 | MIT | Web |
| 21 | [GanttProject](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/ganttproject.md) | 29 | GPL-3.0 | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 22 | [Focalboard](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/focalboard.md) | 16 | AGPL-3.0 | Windows, macOS, Linux, Web |
| 23 | [Height](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/height.md) | building | ? | ? |

Alt Score = Verified coverage (90%) + Visibility (10%). See https://altcatalog.com/how-alt-score-works/

## Feature comparison

Legend: Yes / No / Partial / ? (not verified).

| Project management checklist | Kanboard | ClickUp | Monday.com | Plane | YouTrack | Teamwork |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free | Freemium | Freemium | OSS + paid hosting | Freemium | Freemium |
| Starts at | ? | $7/user/month | $9/seat/month | $6/user/month | $4.50/user/month (annual billing; $5.40/user/month monthly) | $9.99/user/month |
| License | MIT | Proprietary | Proprietary | AGPL-3.0 | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Platforms | Web | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Web | Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Web | Web, iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, Linux | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Web | Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Web |
| Kanban boards | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Gantt / timeline | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Calendar view | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Custom fields | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Dependencies | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Time tracking built in | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Automations / rules | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Forms intake | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Workload view | ? | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | Yes |
| Guest access | Partial | Partial | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes |
| Free tier user limit | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Agile features (sprints, story points) | Partial | Yes | Partial | Yes | Yes | ? |
| Docs / wiki built in | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Reporting dashboards | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |

## Sources

Sources for Kanboard. Each alternative is sourced on its own page.

- **Pricing model**: Free — <https://kanboard.org/donations.html> (verified 2026-07-12)
  - Quote: “If you use Kanboard every day at your company, please consider making a donation.”
- **License**: MIT — <https://github.com/kanboard/kanboard/blob/master/LICENSE> (verified 2026-07-12)
  - Quote: “The MIT License (MIT)”
- **Platforms**: Web — <https://docs.kanboard.org/v1/admin/requirements/> (verified 2026-07-12)
  - Quote: “Apache HTTP Server, Nginx, Microsoft IIS, Caddy Server”
- **Status**: maintenance — <https://github.com/kanboard/kanboard/blob/master/README.md> (verified 2026-07-12)
  - Quote: “This application is in maintenance mode.”
- **Kanban boards**: Yes — <https://docs.kanboard.org/v1/user/boards/> (verified 2026-07-12)
  - Quote: “With this view, you can drag and drop tasks between columns easily.”
- **Gantt / timeline**: No — <https://kanboard.org/plugins.html> (verified 2026-07-12)
  - Quote: “You can extend the features of Kanboard by installing some extensions.”
- **Calendar view**: Yes — <https://docs.kanboard.org/v1/user/keyboard-shortcuts/> (verified 2026-07-12)
  - Quote: “Switch to the calendar view = v c”
- **Custom fields**: Partial — <https://kanboard.org/plugins.html> (verified 2026-07-12)
  - Quote: “Custom Fields and advanced GUI for managing them, along with Metadata.”
- **Dependencies**: Yes — <https://docs.kanboard.org/v1/user/tasks/> (verified 2026-07-12)
  - Quote: “Tasks can be linked together with predefined relationships”
- **Time tracking built in**: Yes — <https://docs.kanboard.org/v1/user/time_tracking/> (verified 2026-07-12)
  - Quote: “Time tracking information can be defined at the task level or the subtask level.”
- **Automations / rules**: Yes — <https://docs.kanboard.org/v1/user/automatic_actions/> (verified 2026-07-12)
  - Quote: “To minimize user interaction, Kanboard supports automated actions.”
- **Guest access**: Partial — <https://docs.kanboard.org/v1/user/projects/> (verified 2026-07-12)
  - Quote: “A public board cannot be modified: it has read-only access.”
- **Free tier user limit**: Yes — <https://kanboard.org/donations.html> (verified 2026-07-12)
  - Quote: “If you use Kanboard every day at your company, please consider making a donation.”
- **Agile features (sprints, story points)**: Partial — <https://docs.kanboard.org/v1/user/analytics/> (verified 2026-07-12)
  - Quote: “Kanboard uses complexity or story points to generate this diagram.”
- **Docs / wiki built in**: No — <https://kanboard.org/plugins.html> (verified 2026-07-12)
  - Quote: “Wiki to document projects.”
- **Reporting dashboards**: Yes — <https://docs.kanboard.org/v1/user/analytics/> (verified 2026-07-12)
  - Quote: “Each project has an analytics section.”

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Ranked by verified data, never by who paid. https://altcatalog.com/trust/