Focalboard vs PMB
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted project management & tasks options
— licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one
replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Compare Focalboard with
choose an app… AppFlowy AFFiNE Memos Mark Text Joplin Plane SiYuan Logseq Outline Trilium Notes TriliumNext Notes Khoj Chatwoot Wiki.js Notable Docmost Super Productivity Wekan Obsidian SimpleX Chat BookStack Etherpad Docs by Suite Numerique OpenProject Notesnook Gollum Habitica Self-Hosted Zettlr Quartz MarkText Workspace Planka Leantime Centrifugo Screego Typebot git-bug Kanboard Berty TiddlyWiki Anytype Mumble Kaneo The Lounge Papercups Taskwarrior Zammad WorkAdventure OpenEMR Maybe Tasks Taskcafe Vikunja Kimai2 Octobox Nullboard Godo Worklenz Donetick Tasks.md Restyaboard Kanban Tegon Taskell FossBilling Nextcloud Deck Kanban Lite eLabFTW Tracks Gerrit OrangeHRM GanttProject eigenfocus osem Taiga Firefly III Importer LibreBooking 4ga Boards Todoman Web Vikunja Frontend Mobile Admidio Agorakit Facilmap LibrePlan HamsterBase Tasks DumbBudget WorkAdventure Tasks ShipShipShip TaskLite OpenHabitTracker Fab-manager May croodle rgit Traq myTinyTodo Our Shopping List DumbDo DumbKan SCM Manager FlowInquiry Satdress motion.tools (Antragsgrün) Grr Task Keeper Mergeable Bileto Mobilizon Tasks Galette phpCollab minimal-git-server Rukovoditel PyInventory CiviCRM on Drupal Listaway 92five Active Collab Bénévalibre BitBucket Server Buddy Enterprise Coin Crucible Cultivons Diacamma Dokos Kanban Tool Kantree Liberaforms Paheko Pollaris ProjeQtOr Smederee Solo Tuleap
Compare PMB with
choose an app… Plane Super Productivity Wekan OpenProject Habitica Self-Hosted Planka Leantime git-bug Kanboard
Feature Focalboard PMB Category Project Management & Tasks Project Management & Tasks License MIT CECILL-2.0 Language TypeScript Setup difficulty Easy Medium Min. RAM 512 MB 40 MB Deployment docker, bare-metal bare-metal GitHub stars ★ 26,376 — First released 2021 2025 Replaces Trello, Asana, Notion —
Why pick each one
Choose Focalboard if… Clean Trello-like UI Lightweight Mattermost integration Focalboard details Choose PMB if… Released under the CECILL-2.0 license Tiny footprint — runs in 40 MB RAM PMB details
Frequently asked questions Is Focalboard or PMB better? Focalboard is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider PMB if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Focalboard and PMB free and open-source? Yes. Focalboard is licensed under MIT and PMB under CECILL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Focalboard and PMB with Docker? Focalboard: yes. PMB: check the project docs for container support.