Open Source Project Management & Planning Software 2026: 8 Tools Compared
Fastlancer Team · Updated: Oct 27, 2026
Compare all project management tools
Open source project management grew up: the maintained tools ship kanban boards, Gantt charts, wikis and time tracking, and most sell a hosted plan if you would rather not run a server. The hard part is telling the living projects from the abandoned ones — and knowing how much server work you sign up for.
The short answer
In brief
Comparison: the eight maintained tools at a glance
| Tool | License | Cheapest hosted plan | Gantt | Time tracking | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 OpenProject | GPL-3.0 | $7.25/ | ✓ | ✓ free | Teams wanting the full PM suite |
 Leantime | AGPL-3.0 | $8/ | ✓ | ✓ free | Freelancers who bill hours |
 Plane | AGPL-3.0 (Community Edition) | Free up to 12 users | ✓ | paid tier | Issue tracking, Linear-style |
 Kaneo | MIT | $3.33/ | ✓ | ✓ free | Lightweight self-hosting |
 Vikunja | AGPL-3.0 | €4/ | ✓ | paid add-on, self-hosted only | Tasks with list, kanban and Gantt |
 Taiga | MPL-2.0 / AGPL-3.0 | €5/ | — | — | Scrum and kanban teams |
 WeKan | MIT | €50/ | basic | external integration | Kanban purists |
 Redmine | GPL-2.0 | Third-party only (Planio, free for 2 users) | ✓ | ✓ free | Classic issue tracking |
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Teams wanting the full PM suite · GPL-3.0
Free to self-host · cloud from $7.25/user/mo (annual), min. 5 users
Watch out: Heaviest server footprint in this list
Jump to OpenProject -
Freelancers who bill hours · AGPL-3.0
Free to self-host · cloud $8/user/mo (annual)
Watch out: No free cloud tier
Jump to Leantime -
Issue tracking, Linear-style · AGPL-3.0 (Community Edition)
Cloud free up to 12 users
Watch out: Time tracking only in Pro
Jump to Plane -
Lightweight self-hosting · MIT
Free to self-host · cloud $3.33/mo for one user (annual)
Watch out: Young project with a short track record
Jump to Kaneo -
Tasks with list, kanban and Gantt · AGPL-3.0
Free to self-host · cloud €4/mo for one user
Watch out: Time tracking is a paid self-hosted add-on
Jump to Vikunja -
Scrum and kanban teams · MPL-2.0 / AGPL-3.0
Free to self-host · cloud from €5/mo per instance, unlimited users
Watch out: No Gantt, no time tracking
Jump to Taiga -
Kanban purists · MIT
Free to self-host · official SaaS €50/year
Watch out: Time tracking only via an external tool
Jump to WeKan -
Classic issue tracking · GPL-2.0
Free to self-host · Planio free for 2 users
Watch out: Kanban only via plugins
Jump to Redmine
All eight are free to self-host. Hosted prices in the vendor's own currency, regular rates; licenses from the official repositories. Source: vendor pricing pages and GitHub.
OpenProject
- License
- GPL-3.0 (Community edition)
- Hosted plan
- $7.25/user/mo (annual), minimum 5 users
- Best for
- Teams of five to twenty replacing Jira, MS Project and a wiki
- Watch out for
- Team planner and resource management are paid add-ons
The most complete package here, with real Gantt charts, sprints, wiki, budgets and free time tracking. A solo freelancer either self-hosts the Community edition or picks a lighter tool.
Leantime
- License
- AGPL-3.0
- Hosted plan
- $8/user/mo (annual); no free cloud tier
- Best for
- Freelancers and duos who think in goals, not tickets
- Watch out for
- AI features only in the paid cloud
Designed with ADHD, dyslexia and autism in mind. Kanban, Gantt, docs and timesheets all sit in the open-source version — the combination freelancers actually bill with.
Plane
- License
- AGPL-3.0 Community Edition; Commercial Edition closed source
- Hosted plan
- Free up to 12 users; Pro $6/seat/mo (annual)
- Best for
- Developers who think in issues and sprints
- Watch out for
- Paid features and time tracking mean switching to the closed edition
What you pick when Jira feels bureaucratic and Linear is not open enough, backed by the largest community here. The free cloud tier covers most freelancer collaborations outright.
Kaneo
- License
- MIT, every feature self-hosted, SSO included
- Hosted plan
- Personal $3.33/mo, Team $4.17/user/mo (annual)
- Best for
- A clean, modern tool on a small server
- Watch out for
- Young project; read release notes before each upgrade
Plane is bigger and more mature with a free cloud. Kaneo is lighter to self-host and holds nothing back for a paid edition.
Vikunja
- License
- AGPL-3.0
- Hosted plan
- Personal €4/mo, Organization €5/user/mo; hosted in the EU
- Best for
- Solo freelancers wanting kanban plus Gantt in a to-do app
- Watch out for
- No docs or wiki; time tracking only as a paid self-hosted add-on
It started as an open-source Todoist alternative and syncs with your calendar app via CalDAV. With API and frontend in one binary, it is the easiest tool here to self-host.
Taiga
- License
- MPL-2.0 (backend), AGPL-3.0 (frontend)
- Hosted plan
- Enthusiast €5/mo, Basic €20/mo; unlimited users
- Best for
- Small agile teams planning in sprints
- Watch out for
- No Gantt, no time tracking; heavy self-hosting setup
Backlog, sprint boards, burndown charts and a wiki, with a switch to kanban when needed. Per-instance pricing keeps it cheap as a team grows.
WeKan
- License
- MIT, no paid edition
- Hosted plan
- Official SaaS €50/year
- Best for
- Privacy-focused micro-teams working card by card
- Watch out for
- Very frequent releases; time tracking only via Titra
Trello-style boards with rules and imports from Trello, Jira and Asana, now plus calendar, timeline and basic Gantt. Runs on SQLite by default, so no database server needed.
Redmine
- License
- GPL-2.0
- Hosted plan
- No official cloud; Planio (EU) free for 1 project, from €19/mo
- Best for
- Teams that want to run one tracker unchanged for years
- Watch out for
- No kanban board out of the box; plugins fill the gap
Granular roles, per-project wikis, Gantt and stable built-in time tracking behind a battle-tested REST API. Pick it for durability, not delight.
Self-hosted project management: what running your own server really takes
Free of license fees is not free of work — the upkeep column is the part that lasts.
| Tool | Stack | Server size (vendor guidance) | Upkeep |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vikunja | One binary, SQLite or SQL database | Small VPS; no minimum stated | Low |
| WeKan | Node app, SQLite by default | Small VPS; no minimum stated | Low, but frequent updates |
| Kaneo | App container + PostgreSQL | 2 GB RAM, 10 GB disk | Low |
| Leantime | PHP + MySQL/ | Runs on standard PHP web hosting | Low |
| Redmine | Ruby on Rails + SQL database | Small VPS; no minimum stated |  Medium (plugins, Ruby upgrades) |
| Plane | Several containers, PostgreSQL, Redis, object storage | 2 cores, 4 GB RAM (8 GB for production) | Medium |
| OpenProject | Rails app + PostgreSQL | 4 cores, 4 GB RAM, 20 GB disk | Medium |
| Taiga | Nine containers incl. PostgreSQL and RabbitMQ | No minimum stated | High |
For a freelancer the test is billable time: if updates and backups would eat hours you could bill, the managed plan of the same project usually costs less, with the open license and exit path intact. Self-host for a concrete reason — client contracts that require your own infrastructure, data that must not leave your server, or a team large enough for per-seat pricing to hurt.
Open source project planning software: which tools draw a real Gantt chart
OpenProject is the only tool with full scheduling — relations, automatic rescheduling, milestones and phases — for fixed-date projects with several people; Redmine's Gantt is older but solid, and Leantime, Plane, Kaneo and Vikunja draw a lighter timeline that covers most client work. If your projects run in phases with deadlines, start with OpenProject or Leantime; if they run as a stream of tasks, a board with an optional timeline is enough.
The 2026 status check: two former favorites to avoid
| Project | Status | Evidence | Pick instead |
|---|---|---|---|
 Focalboard | Not maintained | Repository states it is currently not maintained; last release June 2024 (plugin only), standalone edition October 2023 | Vikunja, Kaneo or WeKan |
 Huly (hosted) | Cloud shut down | Repository notice: hosted service discontinued because hosting is no longer funded; code (EPL-2.0) remains for self-hosting at 8 GB RAM minimum | Plane or Kaneo |
 AppFlowy | Active | AGPL-3.0, regular releases — but a Notion-style workspace, not a project tracker | Use it for docs and databases next to a PM tool |
Many lists still recommend both; Mattermost handed Focalboard to the community, and nobody took over maintenance.
Without a concrete reason to self-host, a strong SaaS free plan is less work: ClickUp offers unlimited members and tasks at no cost, with native mobile apps, and Trello stays the simplest board for a handful of clients. Our comparisons of free Trello alternatives and ClickUp alternatives cover that route.
Try ClickUp for freeVerdict: match the tool to the job, not the star count
OpenProject if you want the whole suite and have a real server, Leantime if you are a freelancer who bills hours, and Plane's free cloud if you never want to run a server. The other five fit narrower jobs, and all eight can be left without vendor lock-in.
Keep reading: the project management category, Notion vs ClickUp, the best time tracking tools and the best freelancer tools 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best open source project management software in 2026?
For teams, OpenProject: Gantt charts, agile boards, a wiki and free time tracking in one GPL-licensed package. For freelancers, Leantime for timesheets, Plane for a free cloud tier, or Kaneo for the lightest self-hosted setup.
Is there open source project planning software with Gantt charts?
Yes. OpenProject has the most complete planning module with dependencies and automatic scheduling; Redmine, Leantime, Plane, Kaneo, Vikunja and WeKan draw a lighter timeline, while Taiga plans in sprints instead.
Is Focalboard still maintained?
No. The official repository states that it is not maintained, so adopting it today means unpatched software with no upgrade path — Vikunja, Kaneo or WeKan cover the same lightweight-board role.
Which open source PM tools include free time tracking?
OpenProject, Leantime, Kaneo and Redmine include it in their free open-source editions. Plane and Vikunja keep it in paid tiers, WeKan relies on an external integration, and Taiga has none.
Can I use these tools without hosting my own server?
Mostly yes: Plane has a free cloud tier for small teams, Kaneo, Vikunja, Leantime, Taiga and WeKan sell managed hosting, and Redmine is hosted by third parties such as Planio. The exception for freelancers is OpenProject, whose cloud plans have a team-sized seat minimum.
How much work is self-hosting a project management tool?
Less to install than to keep running. Most tools start with one Docker Compose file; updates, tested database backups, TLS certificates and helping clients who cannot log in are the ongoing job.
