Leantime vs TaskBoard
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted project management & tasks options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Leantime
Goal-oriented project management for teams
VS
TaskBoard
Simple self-hosted kanban board in PHP with SQLite
| Feature | Leantime | TaskBoard |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 93 · Excellent | 20 · At risk |
| Category | Project Management & Tasks | Project Management & Tasks |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | PHP | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 11,639 | ★ 1,401 |
| First released | 2019 | 2015 |
| Replaces | Asana, Trello, Notion | Trello, Kanboard |
What are Leantime and TaskBoard?
Leantime
Leantime is an open-source project management system designed around goals, strategy, and accessibility for non-technical teams. It targets small businesses and creatives. It is deployed via Docker or a PHP stack.
- Goals and strategy boards
- Idea management and research
- Kanban and gantt views
- Designed for non-technical users
TaskBoard
TaskBoard is a simple self-hosted kanban application written in PHP with a SQLite database. It provides boards with customizable columns, cards, comments, and attachments, and requires minimal setup on a basic web server.
- Simple kanban boards
- Drag-and-drop cards
- Minimal dependencies
- Easy installation
Leantime vs TaskBoard: key differences
Leantime is written in PHP, while TaskBoard is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Leantime versus MIT for TaskBoard. TaskBoard is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Leantime. TaskBoard is the more established project (first released 2015), while Leantime arrived in 2019. Leantime has the considerably larger community, at 11,639 GitHub stars versus 1,401. Leantime lists first-class Docker deployment; TaskBoard does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Leantime if…
- Goal-focused approach
- Accessible to non-techies
- Active development
Watch out for
- Less known
- Some features still evolving
Choose TaskBoard if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Active community (1.4k GitHub stars)
- Written in TypeScript
Frequently asked questions
Is Leantime or TaskBoard better?
Neither is universally better. Leantime has the larger community, while TaskBoard is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Leantime and TaskBoard free and open-source?
Yes. Leantime is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and TaskBoard under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Leantime and TaskBoard with Docker?
Leantime: yes. TaskBoard: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Leantime or TaskBoard?
TaskBoard has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Leantime. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.