Kanban vs OpenProject
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?
Kanban
Minimal kanban board for personal task tracking
VS
OpenProject
Open-source project management and collaboration
| Feature | Kanban | OpenProject |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Project Management & Tasks | Project Management & Tasks |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Vue | Ruby |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,988 | ★ 15,794 |
| First released | 2022 | 2012 |
| Replaces | Trello | Jira, Asana |
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)
Choose OpenProject if…
- Very feature-complete
- Good for classic project management
- Strong permissions
Frequently asked questions
Is Kanban or OpenProject better?
Neither is universally better. OpenProject 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 OpenProject free and open-source?
Yes. Kanban is licensed under MIT and OpenProject under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Kanban and OpenProject with Docker?
Kanban: yes. OpenProject: yes.