Leantime vs phpCollab
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
phpCollab
Lightweight project collaboration for teams and clients
| Feature | Leantime | phpCollab |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Project Management & Tasks | Project Management & Tasks |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | PHP | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 11,271 | ★ 56 |
| First released | 2019 | 2002 |
| Replaces | Asana, Trello, Notion | Basecamp |
Why pick each one
Choose Leantime if…
- Goal-focused approach
- Accessible to non-techies
- Active development
Choose phpCollab if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Written in PHP
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Leantime or phpCollab better?
Neither is universally better. Leantime has the larger community, while phpCollab is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Leantime and phpCollab free and open-source?
Yes. Leantime is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and phpCollab under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Leantime and phpCollab with Docker?
Leantime: yes. phpCollab: check the project docs for container support.