Focalboard vs Kanban Lite
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?
Focalboard
Open-source project and task management boards
VS
Kanban Lite
Minimal self-hosted kanban board in a single binary
| Feature | Focalboard | Kanban Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Project Management & Tasks | Project Management & Tasks |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 26,376 | ★ 1,401 |
| First released | 2021 | 2015 |
| Replaces | Trello, Asana, Notion | Trello, Kanboard |
Why pick each one
Choose Kanban Lite if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Active community (1.4k GitHub stars)
- Written in TypeScript
Frequently asked questions
Is Focalboard or Kanban Lite better?
Neither is universally better. Focalboard has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Focalboard and Kanban Lite free and open-source?
Yes. Focalboard is licensed under MIT and Kanban Lite under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Focalboard and Kanban Lite with Docker?
Focalboard: yes. Kanban Lite: check the project docs for container support.