Leantime 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.
Leantime
Goal-oriented project management for teams
VS
Taskcafe
Open-source project management with kanban boards
| Feature | Leantime | Taskcafe |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 93 · Excellent | 21 · At risk |
| Category | Project Management & Tasks | Project Management & Tasks |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | PHP | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 11,639 | ★ 5,214 |
| First released | 2019 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Asana, Trello, Notion | Trello, Asana |
What are Leantime and Taskcafe?
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
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
Leantime vs Taskcafe: key differences
Leantime is written in PHP, while Taskcafe is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Leantime versus MIT for Taskcafe. Taskcafe is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Leantime. Leantime has the considerably larger community, at 11,639 GitHub stars versus 5,214.
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 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 Leantime or Taskcafe 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 Taskcafe free and open-source?
Yes. Leantime is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Taskcafe under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Leantime and Taskcafe with Docker?
Leantime: yes. Taskcafe: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Leantime or Taskcafe?
Taskcafe has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Leantime. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.