Best Self-Hosted Project Management Tools

Quick Picks

Need	Best Choice	Why
Todoist/TickTick replacement	Vikunja	Tasks, lists, Kanban, Gantt, CalDAV — personal productivity swiss knife
Trello replacement	Planka	Clean Kanban boards, simple, fast
Jira replacement	Plane	Issues, cycles, modules — built for software teams
Simplest Kanban	Kanboard	One binary, zero dependencies, just works
Most features	WeKan	Everything — Kanban, Swimlanes, WIP limits, custom fields

Vikunja — Best All-Rounder

Vikunja is the closest thing to a self-hosted Todoist. It handles personal tasks, shared projects, Kanban boards, Gantt charts, and CalDAV sync — all in one app. Most self-hosted task managers force you to choose between personal to-do lists and team project boards. Vikunja does both.

The CalDAV integration is a standout feature. Sync tasks to your calendar app (Thunderbird, Apple Calendar, DAVx5 on Android), and they appear alongside your events. Due dates, reminders, recurring tasks — they all sync bidirectionally. This turns Vikunja into a productivity hub rather than just another web app you forget to check.

Vikunja supports multiple views for the same project: list view for simple to-dos, Kanban for visual workflows, Gantt for timeline planning, and table view for spreadsheet-style management. Filters, labels, priorities, and assignees work across all views.

Pros:

• Multiple views: list, Kanban, Gantt, table
• CalDAV sync for calendar integration
• Recurring tasks with flexible schedules
• Link sharing for external collaboration without accounts
• File attachments on tasks
• Webhooks and API for automation
• Single binary with SQLite — simple to deploy

Cons:

• Fewer integrations than Plane or Taiga
• Mobile apps are early-stage
• Less mature than some competitors

Resources: ~30 MB RAM with SQLite. Single container.

[Read our full guide: How to Self-Host Vikunja]

Plane — Best for Software Teams

Plane is building the open-source Jira alternative that development teams have been asking for. It has issues, cycles (sprints), modules (epics/features), and a project roadmap view. The UI is modern — closer to Linear’s clean aesthetic than Jira’s cluttered interface.

Issues support rich text descriptions, sub-issues, labels, priorities, assignees, and due dates. Cycles let you group issues into time-boxed sprints with burndown tracking. Modules organize issues by feature or epic across multiple cycles. If your team uses agile methodology, Plane speaks that language natively.

Plane requires PostgreSQL, Redis, and MinIO for file storage, making it the heaviest option on this list. That complexity is justified if you need the project management depth — but overkill for personal to-do lists.

Pros:

• Full issue tracking with sub-issues and dependencies
• Cycles (sprints) with analytics and burndown charts
• Modules for feature/epic-level organization
• Clean, modern UI inspired by Linear
• GitHub and GitLab integration for linking PRs to issues
• Inbox for triaging incoming requests
• Active development with frequent releases

Cons:

• Heavy infrastructure (PostgreSQL + Redis + MinIO + worker)
• No CalDAV or calendar sync
• Team-focused — not ideal for personal task management
• Self-hosted version occasionally lags behind the cloud version
• Complex Docker Compose setup

Resources: ~500 MB RAM total (app + PostgreSQL + Redis + MinIO + workers).

[Read our full guide: How to Self-Host Plane]

Planka — Best Trello Alternative

Planka recreates the Trello experience as a self-hosted app. Boards, lists, cards, labels, due dates, checklists, attachments — it’s the Kanban basics done well with a clean UI. No Gantt charts, no sprints, no modules. Just boards with cards.

The simplicity is the selling point. If your team needs a shared board where everyone can see what’s in progress, what’s done, and what’s next — without learning a project management methodology — Planka delivers that with zero overhead.

Real-time updates via WebSockets mean changes from one user appear instantly for everyone else. The drag-and-drop interface is responsive and feels native.

Pros:

• Clean Trello-like UI
• Real-time updates across users
• Card descriptions with Markdown
• Checklists, labels, due dates, attachments
• Board-level permissions
• Simple Docker deployment
• Lightweight

Cons:

• No list view, Gantt, or table view — Kanban only
• No recurring tasks
• No API (yet)
• No CalDAV sync
• Smaller community than Vikunja or WeKan

Resources: ~80 MB RAM (app + PostgreSQL). Two containers.

Planka vs Vikunja | Planka vs WeKan

Focalboard — Notion-Like Task Management

Focalboard (by Mattermost) brings Notion-style databases to task management. Each board is a table where you define custom properties (status, priority, date, person, select, multi-select) and then switch between views — Kanban, table, calendar, and gallery. The flexibility is its strength: you can model almost any workflow by defining the right properties and views.

Focalboard ships as a standalone app or as a Mattermost plugin. The standalone Docker image is the simplest deployment for pure task management.

Pros:

• Notion-style databases with custom properties
• Multiple views: Kanban, table, calendar, gallery
• Flexible — model any workflow with custom fields
• Card templates for recurring structures
• Group, sort, and filter by any property
• Clean UI with drag-and-drop

Cons:

• Mattermost is shifting focus away from the standalone version
• No recurring tasks
• No Gantt chart
• No CalDAV sync
• Future unclear — Mattermost may deprecate standalone mode

Resources: ~50 MB RAM with SQLite. Single container.

Focalboard vs Vikunja | WeKan vs Focalboard

Kanboard — Simplest Option

Kanboard is a minimalist Kanban board that runs as a single PHP file with SQLite. No Docker dependencies beyond the app itself. No JavaScript framework — the UI is server-rendered HTML. It’s fast, stable, and does exactly one thing: Kanban boards with tasks.

Despite the simplicity, Kanboard has features that matter: swimlanes, WIP limits, time tracking, subtasks, automatic actions (rules), and a plugin system. It also supports LDAP, SAML, and reverse proxy auth for enterprise environments.

Pros:

• Single container, SQLite, minimal resources
• WIP limits and swimlanes
• Time tracking per task
• Automatic actions (rule-based automation)
• Plugin system for extensions
• LDAP/SAML authentication
• Proven stable (10+ years of development)

Cons:

• Dated UI — functional but not pretty
• Kanban only — no list, table, or Gantt views
• No CalDAV sync
• No mobile app (responsive web only)
• Development pace has slowed

Resources: ~15 MB RAM. Single container.

Kanboard vs WeKan

WeKan — Most Feature-Rich Kanban

WeKan tries to be everything. Kanban boards, swimlanes, WIP limits, custom fields, checklists, card comments, attachments, time tracking, calendar view, rules/triggers, and REST API. If a feature exists in any Kanban app, WeKan probably has it.

This breadth comes at a cost — the UI is cluttered and the learning curve is steep. WeKan also has a history of dramatic project governance changes that have shaken community trust. But if you need maximum Kanban features in a self-hosted package, nothing else matches it.

Pros:

• Most comprehensive feature set of any open-source Kanban
• Swimlanes, WIP limits, custom fields
• Rules and triggers for automation
• LDAP/SAML/OAuth authentication
• REST API
• Multi-board organizational hierarchy

Cons:

• Cluttered UI — too many features visible at once
• Inconsistent project governance history
• MongoDB dependency (heavier than SQLite)
• Performance can degrade with many cards
• Mobile experience is poor

Resources: ~200 MB RAM (app + MongoDB). Two containers.

Kanboard vs WeKan | Planka vs WeKan

Full Comparison

Feature	Vikunja	Plane	Planka	Focalboard	Kanboard	WeKan
Task lists	Yes	Issues	Cards	Cards	Tasks	Cards
Kanban	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Gantt chart	Yes	Roadmap	No	No	No	No
Table view	Yes	Spreadsheet	No	Yes	No	No
Calendar view	CalDAV	No	No	Yes	No	Yes
Custom fields	Labels	Yes	Labels	Yes	No	Yes
Sub-tasks	Yes	Sub-issues	Checklists	No	Yes	Checklists
Recurring tasks	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Time tracking	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
File attachments	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Swimlanes	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
WIP limits	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
API	REST	REST	No	REST	JSON-RPC	REST
Database	SQLite/PG/MySQL	PostgreSQL	PostgreSQL	SQLite/PG	SQLite/MySQL/PG	MongoDB
RAM usage	~30 MB	~500 MB	~80 MB	~50 MB	~15 MB	~200 MB
License	AGPL-3.0	AGPL-3.0	AGPL-3.0	AGPL-3.0	MIT	MIT

How to Choose

Personal productivity → Vikunja. It’s the only option with CalDAV sync, recurring tasks, and multiple views. Use it as a Todoist replacement that syncs with your calendar.

Small team Kanban → Planka for simplicity, Kanboard for WIP limits and swimlanes.

Software development team → Plane. Issues, sprints, epics — the vocabulary and workflow match how dev teams actually work.

Maximum flexibility → Focalboard if you want Notion-style custom databases. WeKan if you need every Kanban feature imaginable.

Minimal resources → Kanboard. 15 MB RAM, single container, SQLite. Nothing is lighter.

Related

• How to Self-Host Vikunja
• How to Self-Host Plane
• Plane vs Vikunja
• Vikunja vs Planka
• Vikunja vs Focalboard
• Planka vs WeKan
• WeKan vs Focalboard
• Kanboard vs WeKan
• Focalboard vs Planka
• Replace Trello
• Replace Jira
• Docker Compose Basics
• Getting Started with Self-Hosting