Focalboard vs Taskell
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted project management & tasks options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Focalboard
Open-source project and task management boards
VS
Taskell
Archived
Command-line kanban board stored in Markdown
| Feature | Focalboard | Taskell |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 69 · Good | 15 · At risk |
| Status | Actively maintained | Archived |
| Category | Project Management & Tasks | Project Management & Tasks |
| License | MIT | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | TypeScript | Haskell |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 26,483 | ★ 1,783 |
| First released | 2021 | 2018 |
| Replaces | Trello, Asana, Notion | Trello, Things |
What are Focalboard and Taskell?
Focalboard
Focalboard is an open-source project management tool with kanban boards, tables, and calendar views for organizing work. It targets teams wanting a self-hosted Trello-style board. It is deployed via Docker or as part of Mattermost.
- Kanban, table and calendar views
- Personal and team boards
- Integrates with Mattermost
- Templates for common workflows
Taskell
Taskell is an open-source command-line kanban board application that stores boards as Markdown files. It offers a keyboard-driven terminal interface for managing personal task lists.
- Terminal kanban board
- Markdown file storage
- Keyboard-driven
- No database needed
Focalboard vs Taskell: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Taskell's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Focalboard is actively maintained. Focalboard is written in TypeScript, while Taskell is built with Haskell. Licensing differs — MIT for Focalboard versus BSD-3-Clause for Taskell. Taskell is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Focalboard. Taskell is the more established project (first released 2018), while Focalboard arrived in 2021. Focalboard has the considerably larger community, at 26,483 GitHub stars versus 1,783. Focalboard lists first-class Docker deployment; Taskell does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Focalboard if…
- Clean Trello-like UI
- Lightweight
- Mattermost integration
Watch out for
- Development has slowed
- Fewer power features
Choose Taskell if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Active community (1.8k GitHub stars)
- Written in Haskell
Frequently asked questions
Is Focalboard or Taskell 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 Taskell free and open-source?
Yes. Focalboard is licensed under MIT and Taskell under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Focalboard and Taskell with Docker?
Focalboard: yes. Taskell: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Focalboard or Taskell?
Taskell has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Focalboard. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.