Leantime vs osem
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?
Leantime
Goal-oriented project management for teams
VS
osem
Event management tailored to free Software conferences
| Feature | Leantime | osem |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Project Management & Tasks | Project Management & Tasks |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | PHP | Ruby |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 11,271 | ★ 924 |
| First released | 2019 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Asana, Trello, Notion | — |
Why pick each one
Choose Leantime if…
- Goal-focused approach
- Accessible to non-techies
- Active development
Choose osem if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Ruby
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Leantime or osem 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 Leantime and osem free and open-source?
Yes. Leantime is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and osem under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Leantime and osem with Docker?
Leantime: yes. osem: yes.