Joplin vs Kanboard

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
FeatureJoplinKanboard
CategoryNotes & Knowledge BaseProject Management & Tasks
LicenseAGPL-3.0MIT
LanguageTypeScriptPHP
Setup difficultyEasyEasy
Min. RAM256 MB256 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metaldocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 55,856★ 9,776
First released20172014
ReplacesEvernote, OneNoteTrello

Why pick each one

Choose Joplin if…

  • Strong privacy with E2EE
  • Flexible sync options
  • Active development
Joplin details

Choose Kanboard if…

  • Very lightweight
  • Easy to learn
  • Stable
Kanboard details

Frequently asked questions

Is Joplin or Kanboard better?

Neither is universally better. Joplin has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Joplin and Kanboard free and open-source?

Yes. Joplin is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Kanboard under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Joplin and Kanboard with Docker?

Joplin: yes. Kanboard: yes.

Related comparisons