Planka vs Kanboard vs Wekan (2026)

Why Self-Host Your Kanban Board?

Trello charges $5/user/month (Standard) to $17.50/user/month (Premium). For a 10-person team, that's $600-2,100/year for what is fundamentally a card-on-a-board organizing tool.

Self-hosted kanban boards give you the same visual workflow management — projects, boards, lists, cards, assignments, due dates — without per-user fees. You pay for a server, not for seats.

Three open source kanban tools have the most active self-hosting communities in 2026: Planka for the cleanest modern Trello-like experience, Kanboard for minimal resource usage and automation rules, and Wekan for the most feature-complete option with extensive customization.

TL;DR

• Planka (11K+ stars): Best Trello replacement in 2026. React/Node.js stack, real-time updates, clean UI. Active development with Pro edition for advanced features. Best for teams transitioning from Trello.
• Kanboard (9K+ stars, MIT): Best for minimalists and automation power users. Lightweight PHP application, very low resource requirements, powerful automated actions. In maintenance mode — stable but no new features.
• Wekan (20K+ stars, MIT): Most feature-rich. Built on Meteor.js. Extensive customization, swimlanes, many integrations. Heavier resource footprint but covers edge cases the others don't.

Quick Comparison

Feature	Planka	Kanboard	Wekan
GitHub Stars	11K+	9K+	20K+
Language/Stack	React + Node.js	PHP	Meteor.js
Real-time updates	Yes (WebSocket)	No (polling)	Yes (WebSocket)
Swimlanes	No	Yes	Yes
Time tracking	No	Yes	Yes
Automations	Limited	Yes (powerful)	Yes
LDAP/SSO	Yes (OIDC)	Yes (LDAP + OAuth2)	Yes
Calendar view	No	No	Yes
Gantt chart	No	Yes	No
Mobile app	No	No	No
Resource usage	Low	Very low	High
Active development	Yes	Maintenance mode	Yes
License	AGPL-3.0	MIT	MIT

Planka — Best Modern Trello Replacement

Planka (11K+ GitHub stars, AGPL-3.0) is the most actively developed of the three and provides the closest Trello-like experience. Built with React and Node.js, it delivers real-time board updates across users through WebSocket connections.

What Makes It Stand Out

Real-time collaboration: When a team member moves a card, adds a comment, or updates a due date, all connected users see the change instantly — no page refresh required. This is the behavior Trello users expect.

Clean, modern interface: Planka's UI is deliberately simple. Project boards, lists, cards, member assignment, labels, due dates, and attachments — everything Trello offers, without visual clutter. The drag-and-drop interface is smooth and responsive.

Card-level features: Each card supports:

• Markdown descriptions
• Checklist items (tasks within tasks)
• Member assignments (multiple per card)
• Labels with custom colors
• Due dates with calendar picker
• File attachments
• Comments with Markdown support
• Activity history

OpenID Connect (OIDC): Planka integrates with any OIDC-compliant identity provider — Authentik, Keycloak, Logto, Zitadel. Configure SSO once and your team authenticates with existing credentials.

Notification system: 100+ notification providers via Apprise integration — email, Slack, Telegram, Discord, ntfy, and many more.

Multi-language: 35+ language translations, making Planka workable for international teams.

Planka Pro: A commercial Pro edition adds features for teams that need more: card templates, time tracking, advanced reporting. The Community Edition (free, AGPL-3.0) covers most use cases.

Self-Hosting Planka

services:
  planka:
    image: ghcr.io/plankanban/planka:latest
    restart: on-failure
    ports:
      - "1337:1337"
    volumes:
      - user-avatars:/app/public/user-avatars
      - project-background-images:/app/public/project-background-images
      - attachments:/app/private/attachments
    environment:
      BASE_URL: https://planka.yourdomain.com
      DATABASE_URL: postgresql://planka:planka@postgres/planka
      SECRET_KEY: your-secret-key-here

  postgres:
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    restart: on-failure
    volumes:
      - db-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    environment:
      POSTGRES_DB: planka
      POSTGRES_USER: planka
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: planka

Two containers (Planka + PostgreSQL). Straightforward setup, minimal configuration.

Limitations

• No swimlanes (rows within boards for grouping by user, status, etc.)
• No Gantt view
• No native time tracking in Community Edition
• No calendar view
• AGPL-3.0 license (if you embed in a SaaS product, you must open source it)

Best for: Teams migrating from Trello who want the closest feature parity and UI familiarity. The right choice for most small-to-medium teams.

Kanboard — Best for Minimalists and Automation

Kanboard (9K+ GitHub stars, MIT license) has been a reliable open source kanban tool since 2014. The author has placed it in maintenance mode — no new major features, but regular security updates and community contributions continue.

What Kanboard lacks in active development it compensates with stability, low resource requirements, and a surprisingly powerful automation system.

What Makes It Stand Out

Automated actions: Kanboard's automation system is the most powerful of the three tools. Create rules like:

• "When a card is moved to the 'Done' column, assign it to the project manager"
• "When a task is created, add it to the current sprint backlog"
• "When a task's due date passes, send an email notification"
• "When a task is assigned to me, change its color to blue"

These automations work without external webhook services — all rule processing happens on your server.

Subtasks with time tracking: Break tasks into subtasks. Log time spent on each subtask. Track billable hours per project — useful for freelancers and agencies billing by the hour.

Gantt chart: Kanboard includes a Gantt view showing task timelines against a calendar. Visualize project schedules without separate project management tools.

Swimlanes: Divide boards horizontally into swimlanes — by team member, priority, department, or any custom grouping. Kanboard's swimlane support is more mature than Planka's (which lacks the feature entirely).

Very low resource usage: Kanboard is a PHP application connecting to SQLite or MySQL/PostgreSQL. It runs comfortably on a $4/month Hetzner CAX11 server even under moderate load.

Plugin system: Kanboard has a plugin directory with community contributions — additional field types, integrations, and UI customizations. The plugin ecosystem is smaller than WordPress but functional.

Authentication breadth: LDAP (Active Directory), Google, GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, ReverseProxy, and other OAuth2 providers. The broadest authentication option set of the three tools.

Self-Hosting Kanboard

# Docker
docker run -d \
  --name kanboard \
  -p 80:80 \
  -v kanboard_data:/var/www/app/data \
  -v kanboard_plugins:/var/www/app/plugins \
  kanboard/kanboard:latest

# Or with PostgreSQL
docker run -d \
  --name kanboard \
  -p 80:80 \
  -e DATABASE_URL=postgresql://kanboard:kanboard@postgres/kanboard \
  -v kanboard_data:/var/www/app/data \
  kanboard/kanboard:latest

Kanboard can run as a single container with SQLite (zero-configuration) or connect to an external PostgreSQL database for production deployments.

Limitations

• Maintenance mode — no new major features
• UI is dated compared to Planka and Wekan
• No real-time updates (page refresh required to see changes)
• Smaller community than alternatives
• Less polished for non-technical users

Best for: Developers and power users who want automation rules and time tracking in the smallest possible resource footprint. Also good for personal use or small technical teams.

Wekan — Most Feature-Rich

Wekan (20K+ GitHub stars, MIT license) is the most mature and feature-complete self-hosted kanban board. Built on Meteor.js, it delivers real-time updates and a wide range of features that the other two tools don't cover.

What Makes It Stand Out

Feature breadth: Wekan covers scenarios Planka and Kanboard skip. Swimlanes, card voting, watch/notification subscriptions, card aging (visual indicator of stale cards), and webhook integrations are all built in.

Calendar integration: Wekan displays cards with due dates on a calendar view. Plan sprints visually, see what's due when, and export to iCal format.

Custom fields: Add custom fields to cards — text, numbers, dates, dropdowns. Model your specific workflow data without workarounds.

Card voting: Team members can vote on cards to signal priority or preference — useful for backlog prioritization meetings.

Webhooks and integrations: Wekan fires webhooks on card events, integrates with Nextcloud, and supports various REST API operations. Connect to your automation tools.

Extensive permission system: Boards can be public, team-only, or private. Card-level visibility controls. Guest access for external collaborators without full accounts.

Active development: Unlike Kanboard, Wekan continues receiving new features — the commit history shows consistent activity.

Self-Hosting Wekan

services:
  wekandb:
    image: mongo:7
    restart: always
    volumes:
      - /opt/wekan-db:/data/db
      - /opt/wekan-db-dump:/dump

  wekan:
    image: ghcr.io/wekan/wekan:latest
    restart: always
    ports:
      - "80:8080"
    environment:
      - MONGO_URL=mongodb://wekandb:27017/wekan
      - ROOT_URL=https://wekan.yourdomain.com
      - WITH_API=true
      - BROWSER_POLICY_ENABLED=true
    depends_on:
      - wekandb

Wekan requires MongoDB (not PostgreSQL or SQLite). The Meteor.js stack and MongoDB dependency means higher resource consumption than Planka or Kanboard.

Resource note: Wekan + MongoDB requires at minimum 1GB RAM, with 2GB recommended for comfortable operation. Budget a $6.50/month server at minimum.

Limitations

• Highest resource usage of the three (MongoDB + Meteor.js)
• More complex self-hosting setup
• UI is functional but not as polished as Planka
• MongoDB requirement (some prefer PostgreSQL)
• Occasional Meteor.js ecosystem compatibility issues

Best for: Teams that need calendar views, custom fields, card voting, or swimlanes — features Planka doesn't offer. Also good if you're already running MongoDB infrastructure.

Which Tool for Which Scenario

New Team, Trello Replacement

Pick Planka — the cleanest interface, real-time updates, easiest migration from Trello. If your team used Trello, they'll be comfortable in Planka within an hour.

Small Technical Team, Maximum Simplicity

Pick Kanboard — lowest resource requirements, powerful automations, everything a developer needs with nothing extra. Runs on the smallest server.

Power Users Needing Calendar, Swimlanes, or Custom Fields

Pick Wekan — if you need features Planka doesn't have, Wekan is the answer. Accept the higher resource cost for the broader feature set.

Freelancer or Agency Tracking Billable Hours

Pick Kanboard — time tracking with subtask granularity makes billing straightforward.

Cost Comparison vs Trello

Trello Annual Costs (10 Users)

Plan	Monthly	Annual
Standard	$5/user	$600
Premium	$10/user	$1,200
Enterprise	$17.50/user	$2,100

Self-Hosted Annual Costs

Tool	Server (Hetzner)	Annual
Planka (CAX11, 4GB)	$4/mo	$48
Kanboard (CAX11, 4GB)	$4/mo	$48
Wekan (CPX21, 4GB x86)	$6.50/mo	$78

For a 10-person team on Trello Premium ($1,200/year), switching to self-hosted Planka saves $1,152/year. The kanban feature set is essentially identical for most teams.

Choosing for Your Team Size

The right tool varies significantly based on how many people you're coordinating, and the bottlenecks shift at different thresholds.

Solo users and freelancers (1–2 people): Kanboard is the clear winner. A single Docker container running on SQLite, no external database, and no additional services to maintain. The automation rules let you build a personal workflow — auto-assign tasks, color-code by due date proximity, and send email reminders — without writing scripts. The time tracking and Gantt view are genuinely useful for freelancers billing hourly or managing client project timelines. Resource usage is low enough that Kanboard runs on the same $4/month VPS as your other self-hosted services without competing for memory.

Small teams (3–15 people): Planka is the strongest choice. The real-time WebSocket updates mean the board stays current without manual refreshes — critical when multiple people are moving cards throughout the day. OIDC support allows SSO via Authentik or Keycloak rather than managing per-user credentials. The notification system covering email, Slack, and Telegram keeps the team informed without requiring everyone to watch the board actively. Planka's 11K stars and active development ensure that bugs are fixed quickly and the codebase stays modern.

Larger organizations (20+ people): Wekan's feature depth starts to pay off. Swimlanes let large teams divide a board by department, role, or sprint without creating separate boards for each. Custom fields accommodate organizational metadata that generic kanban tools don't expose. Calendar view helps managers see what's due across multiple projects simultaneously. The extensive webhook and REST API support enables integration with existing organizational tooling — HR systems, billing platforms, internal dashboards — in ways Planka and Kanboard don't support.

For teams migrating from Trello to Wekan specifically, the how to migrate from Trello to Wekan guide covers the JSON export process, board mapping, and member account setup. Teams deciding between Wekan and Focalboard (Mattermost's kanban tool) should read the Wekan vs Focalboard comparison before committing to either. And for teams that have outgrown basic kanban entirely and need roadmaps and sprint planning, the Plane vs Linear comparison covers the step up to full project management platforms.

When to Graduate to More Powerful PM Tools

Planka, Kanboard, and Wekan cover the kanban board use case well, but they're not general-purpose project management platforms. If your needs expand beyond simple task boards, it's worth knowing where the ceiling is.

Planka's ceiling: No Gantt charts, no time tracking in the free edition, no epics or initiatives, no reporting dashboards beyond the board view itself. For engineering teams tracking work against quarterly goals or managing capacity across multiple projects, Planka will eventually fall short.

Kanboard's ceiling: The automation system is powerful for recurring workflow rules, but there's no roadmap view, no dependency tracking, and the maintenance-mode status means no feature growth. Technical teams managing complex multi-sprint delivery may outgrow it.

Wekan's ceiling: The most feature-complete of the three, but still a pure kanban tool. No native epic/initiative hierarchy, no velocity reporting, no integrations with design tools or customer feedback systems.

When you hit these walls, the next tier of open source project management tools includes Plane (the leading Linear alternative, with self-hosted sprints, roadmaps, wikis, and intake forms) and Huly (an all-in-one workspace combining project management, HR, and office tooling). See the Plane vs Linear comparison for a thorough breakdown of when to graduate from a simple kanban tool to a full-featured project management platform.

For teams evaluating their broader open source development stack — beyond just task management — the best open source GitHub alternatives 2026 covers the forge layer (code hosting, CI/CD, issue tracking) that most engineering teams need alongside a kanban board. Choosing the right VPS to host both your kanban tool and your git forge together is covered in the VPS comparison for self-hosters.

Find Your Kanban Tool

Browse all Trello alternatives on OSSAlt — compare Planka, Kanboard, Wekan, Focalboard, and every other open source kanban and project management platform with deployment guides and feature comparisons.

See open source alternatives to Planka on OSSAlt.