Planka vs Wekan: Which Kanban Board to Self-Host?

Quick Verdict

Planka is the better choice for teams that want a clean, Trello-like experience. Its UI is polished, real-time collaboration works smoothly, and setup is straightforward. Wekan has more features but a cluttered interface and heavier resource requirements. For most self-hosters, Planka’s simplicity wins.

Overview

Both Planka and Wekan are self-hosted Kanban board applications — alternatives to Trello, Asana, and other project management tools. They target different ends of the complexity spectrum.

Planka — Fair-code license (community + commercial), 11.6k GitHub stars. Built with React + Node.js. Modern, clean UI with real-time sync. Latest version: v2.0.1 (February 2026).

Wekan — MIT license, 20.8k GitHub stars. Built with Meteor.js. Feature-rich with 20+ years of development. Latest version: v8.34 (February 2026).

Feature Comparison

Feature	Planka	Wekan
Kanban boards	Yes	Yes
Lists/columns	Yes	Yes
Card comments	Yes	Yes
Card attachments	Yes	Yes
Card labels/colors	Yes	Yes
Due dates	Yes	Yes
Checklists	Yes	Yes
Card cover images	Yes	Yes
Drag and drop	Yes	Yes
Real-time sync	Yes	Yes
Multiple boards	Yes	Yes
Board templates	No	Yes
Swimlanes	No	Yes
Calendar view	No	Yes
List view	No	Yes
Gantt chart	No	No
Custom fields	No	Yes
Automation/rules	No	Yes
API	Yes	Yes (extensive)
Webhooks	Yes	Yes
OIDC/SSO	Yes	Yes
LDAP	No	Yes
Markdown support	Yes	Yes
Notification system	Yes (100+ providers)	Yes (email)
Import from Trello	No	Yes
Multi-language	Yes	Yes (105 languages)
Mobile app	No (responsive web)	No (responsive web)
Database	PostgreSQL	MongoDB
Default port	1337	8080
Docker image	ghcr.io/plankanban/planka	wekanteam/wekan

Installation Complexity

Planka uses PostgreSQL and has a clean Docker Compose setup:

services:
  planka:
    image: ghcr.io/plankanban/planka:2.0.1
    container_name: planka
    ports:
      - "1337:1337"
    volumes:
      - planka_avatars:/app/public/user-avatars
      - planka_backgrounds:/app/public/project-background-images
      - planka_attachments:/app/private/attachments
    environment:
      - BASE_URL=http://localhost:1337
      - DATABASE_URL=postgresql://planka:planka@db:5432/planka
      - SECRET_KEY=your-secret-key-at-least-32-chars
      - [email protected]
      - DEFAULT_ADMIN_PASSWORD=admin
      - DEFAULT_ADMIN_NAME=Admin
      - DEFAULT_ADMIN_USERNAME=admin
    depends_on:
      - db
    restart: unless-stopped

  db:
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    container_name: planka-db
    volumes:
      - planka_db:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_DB=planka
      - POSTGRES_USER=planka
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=planka
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  planka_avatars:
  planka_backgrounds:
  planka_attachments:
  planka_db:

Wekan uses MongoDB:

services:
  wekan:
    image: wekanteam/wekan:v8.34
    container_name: wekan
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
    environment:
      - MONGO_URL=mongodb://db:27017/wekan
      - ROOT_URL=http://localhost:8080
      - WITH_API=true
    depends_on:
      - db
    restart: unless-stopped

  db:
    image: mongo:6
    container_name: wekan-db
    volumes:
      - wekan_db:/data/db
    command: mongod --oplogSize 128
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  wekan_db:

Both are straightforward. Planka requires a few more environment variables (admin credentials, secret key) but has a cleaner initial setup. Wekan’s MongoDB requirement is heavier than Planka’s PostgreSQL.

Performance and Resource Usage

Planka is lightweight:

• RAM: ~150-300 MB (app + PostgreSQL)
• CPU: Low
• Disk: Minimal (plus attachments)
• PostgreSQL is well-known for being resource-efficient

Wekan is heavier:

• RAM: ~500 MB - 1 GB (app + MongoDB)
• CPU: Moderate (Meteor.js is not the lightest framework)
• Disk: MongoDB can be storage-heavy
• Recommended: 4 GB total server RAM for production
• MongoDB risk: database corruption if disk fills up (documented in Wekan’s own README)

Planka uses roughly half the resources of Wekan for similar workloads.

Community and Support

Planka: 11.6k stars, 152 contributors. Growing rapidly. Active development with recent v2.0 release. Community support via GitHub. Commercial licensing available.

Wekan: 20.8k stars, 279+ contributors. Long-established project (since 2015). Large community but development is primarily driven by one maintainer. Active release cadence.

Wekan has the longer history and more stars, but Planka’s growth trajectory is steeper and the codebase feels more modern.

Use Cases

Choose Planka If…

• You want a clean, modern Trello-like interface
• You prefer PostgreSQL over MongoDB
• Resource efficiency matters (running alongside other services)
• Real-time collaboration is important
• You want a focused tool that does kanban well without bloat
• You value modern UI/UX design
• You’re building a team workflow tool

Choose Wekan If…

• You need advanced features (swimlanes, calendar view, automation rules)
• You need to import boards from Trello
• You need LDAP authentication
• You need custom fields on cards
• You want the MIT license (Planka uses fair-code)
• Feature completeness matters more than UI polish
• You need board templates

Final Verdict

Planka is the better kanban board for most self-hosters. The UI is significantly more polished than Wekan’s, real-time collaboration is smooth, and the resource footprint is lighter. It does kanban well without trying to be everything.

Wekan is for power users who need specific features. If you need swimlanes, calendar view, custom fields, automation rules, or Trello import, Wekan has them and Planka doesn’t. But these features come at the cost of a cluttered UI and higher resource usage.

For personal task management or small team use: Planka. For complex project management with advanced workflow needs: Wekan — or consider Vikunja as a more modern alternative to both.

Related

• Vikunja vs Todoist
• Best Self-Hosted Task Management
• Replace Trello
• Docker Compose Basics
• Getting Started with Self-Hosting