Kanban Tool vs Leantime
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 Tool
Advanced Kanban boards with time tracking
VS
Leantime
Goal-oriented project management for teams
| Feature | Kanban Tool | Leantime |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Project Management & Tasks | Project Management & Tasks |
| License | ⊘ Proprietary | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Ruby | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | — | ★ 11,271 |
| First released | 2020 | 2019 |
| Replaces | — | Asana, Trello, Notion |
Why pick each one
Choose Kanban Tool if…
- Released under the ⊘ Proprietary license
- Written in Ruby
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Choose Leantime if…
- Goal-focused approach
- Accessible to non-techies
- Active development
Frequently asked questions
Is Kanban Tool or Leantime better?
Neither is universally better. Leantime has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Kanban Tool and Leantime free and open-source?
Yes. Kanban Tool is licensed under ⊘ Proprietary and Leantime under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Kanban Tool and Leantime with Docker?
Kanban Tool: check the project docs for container support. Leantime: yes.