Kanri vs Planka
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted project management & tasks options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Planka
Realtime kanban board for workgroups
| Feature | Kanri | Planka |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 77 · Good | 94 · Excellent |
| Category | Project Management & Tasks | Project Management & Tasks |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Vue | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,035 | ★ 12,576 |
| First released | 2022 | 2019 |
| Replaces | Trello | Trello |
What are Kanri and Planka?
Kanri
Kanri is an offline-first kanban board desktop application built with Tauri and Vue. Boards are stored locally on your machine and support drag-and-drop cards, custom themes, and import/export, with no server or account required.
- Offline kanban boards
- Drag-and-drop cards
- Cross-platform desktop app
- Local data storage
Planka
Planka is an open-source kanban board for workgroups with real-time updates, labels, and a clean Trello-like interface. It targets small teams wanting fast, simple boards. It is deployed via Docker.
- Real-time collaborative boards
- Cards, labels and due dates
- Markdown descriptions
- Clean Trello-like UI
Kanri vs Planka: key differences
Kanri is written in Vue, while Planka is built with JavaScript. Licensing differs — MIT for Kanri versus AGPL-3.0 for Planka. Kanri is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Planka. Planka is the more established project (first released 2019), while Kanri arrived in 2022. Planka has the considerably larger community, at 12,576 GitHub stars versus 2,035.
Why pick each one
Choose Kanri 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 Planka if…
- Fast real-time updates
- Familiar interface
- Lightweight
Watch out for
- Fewer features than rivals
- Requires Postgres
Frequently asked questions
Is Kanri or Planka better?
Neither is universally better. Planka has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Kanri and Planka free and open-source?
Yes. Kanri is licensed under MIT and Planka under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Kanri and Planka with Docker?
Kanri: yes. Planka: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Kanri or Planka?
Kanri has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Planka. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.