Kanri vs Taskcafe
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted project management & tasks options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Kanri | Taskcafe |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 77 · Good | 21 · At risk |
| Category | Project Management & Tasks | Project Management & Tasks |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Vue | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,035 | ★ 5,214 |
| First released | 2022 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Trello | Trello, Asana |
What are Kanri and Taskcafe?
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
Taskcafe
Taskcafe is an open-source project management tool inspired by Trello and Asana. It offers kanban boards, task assignment, due dates, and a clean interface.
- Kanban project boards
- Task assignment and labels
- Due dates and checklists
- GraphQL API
Kanri vs Taskcafe: key differences
Kanri is written in Vue, while Taskcafe is built with TypeScript. Kanri is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Taskcafe. Taskcafe is the more established project (first released 2020), while Kanri arrived in 2022. Taskcafe has the considerably larger community, at 5,214 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 Taskcafe if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 5.2k GitHub stars
- Written in TypeScript
Frequently asked questions
Is Kanri or Taskcafe better?
Neither is universally better. Taskcafe has the larger community, while Kanri is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Kanri and Taskcafe free and open-source?
Yes. Kanri is licensed under MIT and Taskcafe under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Kanri and Taskcafe with Docker?
Kanri: yes. Taskcafe: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Kanri or Taskcafe?
Kanri has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Taskcafe. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.