Taiga vs Planka: Which Project Board to Self-Host?

Quick Verdict

These tools serve fundamentally different needs. Taiga is a full agile project management suite — Scrum sprints, Kanban boards, epics, user stories, burndown charts, and wiki pages. Planka is a lightweight Trello-style Kanban board for teams who just want cards on columns. If you run Scrum, Taiga. If you run simple Kanban, Planka.

Overview

Taiga was built for software development teams running Scrum or Kanban methodologies. Its feature set rivals commercial tools like Jira — you get sprint planning, user stories with acceptance criteria, epics spanning multiple sprints, burndown/burnup charts, and a built-in wiki. The trade-off is complexity: Taiga deploys as 9 Docker containers including RabbitMQ for async events and a separate gateway service.

Planka takes the opposite approach. It’s a Trello clone focused on doing one thing well: drag-and-drop cards on columns with real-time sync. Two containers (app + PostgreSQL), 80 MB RAM idle, and you’re running. No sprint planning, no burndown charts, no learning curve.

Feature Comparison

Feature	Taiga	Planka
Kanban Boards	Yes	Yes
Scrum/Sprints	Yes (full sprint management)	No
Epics	Yes	No
User Stories	Yes (with acceptance criteria)	No (cards only)
Burndown Charts	Yes	No
Wiki	Yes (built-in)	No
Time Tracking	Yes	No
File Attachments	Yes	Yes
Card Labels/Tags	Yes	Yes
Real-time Sync	Partial (events service)	Yes (WebSocket)
Board Backgrounds	No	Yes
Custom Fields	Yes	No
LDAP/SSO	Community plugin	No
API	REST	REST
Docker Containers	9	2
Docker Image	taigaio/taiga-back:6.9.0	ghcr.io/plankanban/planka:v2.0.3

Installation Complexity

This is where the gap becomes dramatic.

Taiga deploys as a 9-container stack: backend, frontend, async worker, events service, protected media server, gateway (Nginx), PostgreSQL, Redis, and RabbitMQ. You need to configure a shared .env file with database credentials, secret keys, email settings, RabbitMQ URLs, and public-facing URLs for both the frontend and backend. The gateway requires an Nginx config template. Expect 30-45 minutes for first deployment if you’re careful.

Planka needs two containers: the app and PostgreSQL. Set SECRET_KEY, BASE_URL, database credentials, and start. Five minutes to first board.

Setup Aspect	Taiga	Planka
Containers	9	2
Required Services	PostgreSQL, Redis, RabbitMQ	PostgreSQL
Environment Variables	30+	~10
Config Files	.env + Nginx template	.env only
First-Run Setup	Admin creation + project setup	Registration page
Time to First Board	30-45 min	5 min

Performance and Resource Usage

Resource	Taiga	Planka
RAM (idle)	1.5 GB (9 containers)	180 MB (app + PostgreSQL)
RAM (active, 10 users)	2.5 GB	300 MB
CPU (minimum)	2 cores	1 core
CPU (recommended)	4 cores	1 core
Disk (application)	2 GB + uploads	500 MB + attachments
Minimum VPS	4 GB RAM	1 GB RAM

Taiga’s 9-container architecture means a 4 GB RAM VPS is the realistic minimum. The Django backend, Celery async workers, RabbitMQ message broker, and Redis cache each claim their share. Planka’s Node.js app plus PostgreSQL fit comfortably on a 1 GB VPS alongside other services.

Community and Support

Metric	Taiga	Planka
GitHub Stars	~17k	~8k
License	MPL-2.0	AGPL-3.0
First Release	2015	2019
Active Development	Yes (steady)	Yes (active)
Documentation	Comprehensive	Adequate
Commercial Backing	Kaleidos Ventures (Spain)	Community-driven
Mobile Apps	None (responsive web)	None (responsive web)

Taiga has a company behind it (Kaleidos Ventures) and a longer track record. Its documentation covers every feature in depth. Planka is community-driven with a smaller but active contributor base. Both projects maintain consistent release cadences.

Use Cases

Choose Taiga If…

• Your team runs Scrum with defined sprints, story points, and retrospectives
• You need epics to track work across multiple sprints or quarters
• Burndown and burnup charts are part of your workflow reporting
• You need a built-in wiki for project documentation alongside task tracking
• You’re replacing Jira and need feature parity, not simplicity
• Your organization has 4+ GB RAM to dedicate to project management

Choose Planka If…

• Your team uses simple Kanban — move cards between columns, nothing more
• You want minimal setup and maintenance overhead
• Server resources are limited (1-2 GB VPS)
• You’re migrating from Trello and want a similar experience
• Your team doesn’t do Scrum and doesn’t need sprint management
• Quick deployment matters — you need a board running in 5 minutes, not 45

Final Verdict

The practical choice is Planka for most small-to-medium teams because the majority of teams don’t actually need Scrum tooling — they need a shared board to track tasks. Planka delivers that with an 8:1 resource advantage and 6:1 deployment speed advantage over Taiga.

But if you’re a development team that genuinely runs Scrum — with sprint planning, story estimation, and burndown reviews — Taiga is the only self-hosted option that matches Jira’s feature depth. Don’t try to force Planka into a Scrum workflow it wasn’t designed for.

The question isn’t which is better. It’s whether your team needs Scrum tooling or just a Kanban board.

FAQ

Can Planka handle Scrum workflows?

No. Planka has no concept of sprints, story points, or burndown charts. For Scrum, use Taiga or a commercial tool.

Is Taiga overkill for a 3-person team?

It depends on your methodology. If you run Scrum with sprints, Taiga is appropriate at any team size. If you just need a task board, yes — Taiga’s 9-container stack is excessive. Use Planka or Kanboard instead.

Can I migrate from Jira to Taiga?

Taiga has a built-in Jira import tool. It handles projects, user stories, tasks, and attachments. Sprint data requires manual recreation.

Does Taiga support Kanban without Scrum?

Yes. Taiga offers pure Kanban mode per project — disable sprints entirely and use just the Kanban board with WIP limits.

Related

• How to Self-Host Taiga
• How to Self-Host Planka
• Taiga vs Vikunja
• Planka vs WeKan
• Vikunja vs Planka
• Best Self-Hosted Task Management
• Self-Hosted Asana Alternatives