OpenProject vs Kanban Lite
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?
OpenProject
Open-source project management and collaboration
VS
Kanban Lite
Minimal self-hosted kanban board in a single binary
| Feature | OpenProject | Kanban Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Project Management & Tasks | Project Management & Tasks |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | Ruby | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 15,794 | ★ 1,401 |
| First released | 2012 | 2015 |
| Replaces | Jira, Asana | Trello, Kanboard |
Why pick each one
Choose OpenProject if…
- Very feature-complete
- Good for classic project management
- Strong permissions
Choose Kanban Lite 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 OpenProject or Kanban Lite better?
Neither is universally better. OpenProject has the larger community, while Kanban Lite is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are OpenProject and Kanban Lite free and open-source?
Yes. OpenProject is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Kanban Lite under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run OpenProject and Kanban Lite with Docker?
OpenProject: yes. Kanban Lite: check the project docs for container support.