Kan 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.
Kan
Open-source, self-hosted kanban board and Trello alternative
VS
Taskell
Archived
Command-line kanban board stored in Markdown
| Feature | Kan | Taskell |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 88 · Excellent | 15 · At risk |
| Status | Actively maintained | Archived |
| Category | Project Management & Tasks | Project Management & Tasks |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | TypeScript | Haskell |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 5,684 | ★ 1,783 |
| First released | 2024 | 2018 |
| Replaces | Trello | Trello, Things |
What are Kan and Taskell?
Kan
Kan is an open-source, self-hosted kanban board application positioned as a Trello alternative. Built with TypeScript, it offers boards, lists, labels, member collaboration, and public board sharing in a modern web interface.
- Trello-style kanban boards
- Labels and members
- Public board sharing
- Modern responsive UI
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
Kan vs Taskell: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Taskell's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Kan is actively maintained. Kan is written in TypeScript, while Taskell is built with Haskell. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Kan versus BSD-3-Clause for Taskell. Taskell is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Kan. Taskell is the more established project (first released 2018), while Kan arrived in 2024. Kan has the considerably larger community, at 5,684 GitHub stars versus 1,783. Kan lists first-class Docker deployment; Taskell does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Kan if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 5.7k GitHub stars
- Written in TypeScript
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 Kan or Taskell better?
Neither is universally better. Kan has the larger community, while Taskell is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Kan and Taskell free and open-source?
Yes. Kan is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Taskell under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Kan and Taskell with Docker?
Kan: yes. Taskell: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Kan or Taskell?
Taskell has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Kan. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.