Kanban vs Octobox

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?
FeatureKanbanOctobox
CategoryProject Management & TasksProject Management & Tasks
LicenseMITAGPL-3.0
LanguageVueRuby
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM128 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, sourcedocker
GitHub stars★ 1,988★ 4,478
First released20222026
ReplacesTrello

Why pick each one

Choose Kanban if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Active community (2k GitHub stars)
Kanban details

Choose Octobox if…

  • Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Active community (4.5k GitHub stars)
  • Written in Ruby
Octobox details

Frequently asked questions

Is Kanban or Octobox better?

Neither is universally better. Octobox has the larger community, while Kanban is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are Kanban and Octobox free and open-source?

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

Can I run Kanban and Octobox with Docker?

Kanban: yes. Octobox: yes.

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