Taskell vs Wekan
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted project management & tasks options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Wekan
Open-source kanban board for collaboration
| Feature | Taskell | Wekan |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 15 · At risk | 96 · Excellent |
| Status | Archived | Actively maintained |
| Category | Project Management & Tasks | Project Management & Tasks |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | MIT |
| Language | Haskell | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | docker, snap |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,783 | ★ 21,094 |
| First released | 2018 | 2015 |
| Replaces | Trello, Things | Trello |
What are Taskell and Wekan?
Taskell
Taskell is an open-source command-line kanban board application that stores boards as Markdown files. It offers a keyboard-driven terminal interface for managing personal task lists.
- Terminal kanban board
- Markdown file storage
- Keyboard-driven
- No database needed
Wekan
Wekan is an open-source kanban board application for collaborative task and project tracking with cards, swimlanes, and rules. It targets teams wanting a self-hosted kanban tool. It is deployed via Docker or Snap.
- Kanban boards with swimlanes
- Card automation rules
- Time tracking and checklists
- LDAP and OAuth support
Taskell vs Wekan: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Taskell's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Wekan is actively maintained. Taskell is written in Haskell, while Wekan is built with JavaScript. Licensing differs — BSD-3-Clause for Taskell versus MIT for Wekan. Taskell is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Wekan. Wekan is the more established project (first released 2015), while Taskell arrived in 2018. Wekan has the considerably larger community, at 21,094 GitHub stars versus 1,783. Wekan lists first-class Docker deployment; Taskell does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Taskell if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Active community (1.8k GitHub stars)
- Written in Haskell
Choose Wekan if…
- Mature kanban tool
- Self-hostable
- Good permissions
Watch out for
- Can feel heavy
- UI is dated
Frequently asked questions
Is Taskell or Wekan better?
Neither is universally better. Wekan has the larger community, while Taskell is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Taskell and Wekan free and open-source?
Yes. Taskell is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and Wekan under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Taskell and Wekan with Docker?
Taskell: check the project docs for container support. Wekan: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Taskell or Wekan?
Taskell has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Wekan. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.