Best Self Hosted Alternatives to Planka Cloud

WeKan is an open-source, Trello-like Kanban board application for organizing personal and team work. It provides a real-time, collaborative interface for managing boards, lists, and cards while keeping data under your control.

Key Features

• Kanban boards with lists and cards for visual task tracking
• Real-time collaboration and live updates
• Access controls and permissions to restrict board and user access
• Internationalization support with extensive community translations
• Multiple packaging/deployment options (including container images)

Use Cases

• Team project management and lightweight agile workflows
• Personal task tracking and planning (to-do lists, trips, side projects)
• Replacing hosted Kanban tools for privacy, compliance, or cost reasons

Limitations and Considerations

• Uses MongoDB; insufficient disk space can risk database corruption, so monitoring and backups are important
• Upgrades are important for security due to upstream dependency updates (for example Node.js/Meteor stack)

WeKan is a solid option for organizations and individuals who want a familiar Kanban workflow with real-time collaboration and self-managed data. Its broad platform support and mature feature set make it suitable from small teams to larger deployments.

Planka is an open-source Kanban-style project management tool designed for teams to collaborate in real time. It provides collaborative boards with drag-and-drop tasks, rich Markdown notes, and configurable notifications, while being self-hostable and extensible.

Key Features

• Collaborative Kanban Boards: Create projects, boards, lists, cards, and manage tasks with a drag-and-drop interface
• Real-Time Updates: Instant syncing across all users, no page refresh required
• Rich Markdown Support: Formatted card descriptions with a markdown editor
• Flexible Notifications: Alerts via 100+ providers, customizable to your workflow
• Seamless Authentication: Single sign-on with OpenID Connect
• Multilingual & Easy to Translate: Full internationalization support

Use Cases

• Software development teams track backlogs and sprint work with shared boards
• Cross-functional teams coordinate tasks across design, product, and engineering
• Distributed teams collaborate in real time with task assignment and updates

Conclusion: Planka emphasizes open-source cooperation and self-hosting, with an active community and regular releases. It is well-suited for teams seeking a fast, real-time Kanban board that adapts to their workflows.

Kan is an open-source project management app focused on Trello-style kanban boards for organizing work, tracking progress, and collaborating with a team. It aims to stay minimal and familiar while adding modern collaboration and administration features.

Key Features

• Kanban boards with drag-and-drop cards
• Workspaces and member invitations for team collaboration
• Board visibility controls for viewing and editing
• Labels and filters to organize and find cards quickly
• Comments on cards for discussion
• Activity log to track changes and history
• Reusable board templates
• Trello board import

Use Cases

• Replacing Trello with a self-managed kanban board for teams
• Managing personal or small-team projects with a minimal interface
• Importing existing Trello workflows and continuing them in an open-source tool

Kan provides a clean, focused kanban experience with core collaboration features and practical migration support. It is well-suited for teams that want a simple Trello-like workflow without unnecessary complexity.

Tasks.md is a self-hosted task management board that uses your filesystem as the source of truth. Lanes are directories and tasks are Markdown files, giving you a simple, portable structure that works well with typical note-taking and file-sync workflows.

Key Features

• Kanban-style board with lanes, cards, and tags in a modern responsive UI
• Tasks stored as Markdown files on disk (folders represent lanes)
• Supports opening subdirectories as separate projects via URL path
• Light/dark mode that follows operating system settings
• CSS customization via a user-editable stylesheet and built-in color themes
• Supports subpath reverse-proxy deployments via a configurable base path
• Simple deployment using a single Docker image; can also run from source
• Optional install as a Progressive Web App (PWA)

Use Cases

• Personal task tracking with plain-text Markdown files you can version or sync
• Lightweight project boards for small teams or homelabs without a database
• Organizing tasks alongside a folder-based knowledge base or notes workflow

Limitations and Considerations

• PWA functionality does not work when the base path is set to anything other than "/"
• Feature scope is intentionally kept narrow, so advanced project management features may be out of scope

Tasks.md is a practical choice if you want a kanban board without a database and prefer human-readable files. Its folder-and-Markdown approach keeps your tasks easy to back up, migrate, and edit outside the UI when needed.

Donetick is an open-source application for managing tasks and chores for individuals, families, and small groups. It combines natural-language task creation with flexible recurrence rules, assignment/rotation strategies, and history/analytics to simplify recurring work.

Key Features

• Natural-language task creation and parsing (dates, times, recurrence, priorities, labels).
• Advanced recurring scheduling: schedule by due-date or completion-date, adaptive suggestions from history, and fine-grained frequency options.
• Assignee management: assign tasks to people, automatic rotation strategies (least-completed, round-robin, random).
• "Things": track non-task state (numeric, boolean, text) and trigger task state changes when things meet conditions.
• NFC tag support for physical task completion triggers and mount-friendly dashboard mode for shared displays.
• Notifications and integrations: multi-channel reminders (Telegram, Discord, Pushover), webhooks, and a REST API with long-lived access token support.
• Storage options for attachments: local or S3-compatible object storage (e.g., MinIO), plus image/photo attachments support.
• Security & auth: TOTP-based MFA and OpenID Connect / OAuth2 provider support for SSO.
• Realtime sync between clients and a documented configuration system for self-hosted deployments.

Use Cases

• Household or shared-living chore management with rotating assignments and persistent completion history.
• Small teams or volunteer groups that need recurring maintenance scheduling, reminders, and audit history.
• Integrations/automations that mark tasks done from external sensors or systems (via Things, webhooks, or NFC triggers).

Limitations and Considerations

• Mobile apps are early/alpha: Android and iOS clients are available in early builds and may show compatibility or connectivity issues; setup often requires proper HTTPS and CORS configuration for reliable mobile behavior.
• Offline support is limited: some UI areas work offline but full functionality relies on backend connectivity and realtime sync.
• Some features are noted as WIP in docs (for example certain local storage paths and UI behaviors); administrators should review configuration options and test uploads/attachments in their deployment.

Donetick is designed for self-hosting with Docker, binaries, or source builds and emphasizes configurable scheduling, integrations, and privacy-friendly operation. It is suited for users who need more advanced recurrence and assignment features than typical to-do apps and who can run or manage a self-hosted service.

TaskTrove is a modern, open-source task and project manager designed for self-hosting and privacy. It provides list, kanban and calendar views, natural-language date parsing, recurring tasks, subtasks and file-based JSON storage for simple backups and portability. (tasktrove.io)

Key Features

• Natural-language quick add (e.g. "tomorrow at 2pm") and intelligent due-date suggestions. (tasktrove.io)
• Recurring tasks with flexible patterns and automatic scheduling. (github.com)
• Multiple views: list, kanban board (drag-and-drop), and calendar. (tasktrove.io)
• Unlimited tasks, projects and sections; compact UI for dense task lists. (tasktrove.io)
• Subtasks, priorities, labels, attachments, advanced filtering and powerful search. (github.com)
• Simple data management using file-based JSON storage (easy backups and exports). (github.com)
• Self-hosting deployment options (Docker image and docker-compose provided). (tasktrove.io)

Use Cases

• Personal productivity: manage todos, habits, and recurring personal tasks with local data storage. (tasktrove.io)
• Small teams or families: share projects and coordinate work via shared projects (multi-user features available under Pro). (tasktrove.io)
• Self-hosted deployments for privacy-conscious organizations that prefer file-based backups and control over data. (github.com)

Limitations and Considerations

• Multi-user collaboration and advanced team features are gated behind the Pro edition / license (Pro is listed as "coming soon" on the project site). (tasktrove.io)
• File-based JSON storage is simple and portable but may not scale as well as a dedicated database for very large teams or high-concurrency deployments. (github.com)
• Some planned features (hosted option, mobile and desktop apps, plugin ecosystem) are listed as upcoming; expect functionality differences between the free self-hosted edition and future Pro/hosted offerings. (tasktrove.io)

TaskTrove is a focused, privacy-first task manager for users who want ownership of their data and straightforward self-hosting. It suits individuals and small teams that value local backups and a modern UI, with paid/pro features planned for larger or collaborative deployments. (tasktrove.io)

Kanba is an open-source project management tool focused on a Trello-style Kanban workflow for makers and small teams. It emphasizes simplicity, speed, and a lightweight experience while supporting collaborative work across projects.

Key Features

• Kanban boards with lists and cards for task tracking
• Unlimited projects and team collaboration
• Notes-oriented workflow inspired by modern productivity tools
• Dark and light mode interface
• Built-in API routes for optional Stripe billing/subscriptions integration
• Supabase-backed authentication and data storage

Use Cases

• Personal task management for solo developers and indie hackers
• Small-team project tracking with a simple Kanban workflow
• Lightweight Trello alternative for self-managed environments

Limitations and Considerations

• Some functionality (such as billing) depends on optional third-party integrations like Stripe and Supabase configuration

Kanba is a practical choice if you want a modern, minimalist Kanban tool with collaboration features and a straightforward deployment model. It fits best for users who value a clean Trello-like experience without heavy enterprise complexity.

4ga Boards is an open-source, realtime Kanban-style board system for team project and task management. It provides a minimal, wide-screen web interface with realtime updates, multitasking tools, and an advanced Markdown editor for card descriptions.

Key Features

• Realtime board updates and collaborative editing with WebSocket-based sync
• Kanban-style boards: projects → boards → lists → cards → tasks hierarchy
• Advanced Markdown editor for rich card descriptions and notes
• Import/export of boards and Trello import support
• SSO support (Google, GitHub, Microsoft) and user management
• Dark mode, collapsible lists and sidebar, keyboard shortcuts for productivity
• Docker Compose and Kubernetes deployment options; PostgreSQL database backend

Use Cases

• Managing software development sprints, issues, and backlog with Kanban workflows
• Coordinating marketing or operations projects with shared boards and templates
• HR onboarding and task pipelines where visibility and task assignments matter

Limitations and Considerations

• Mobile-first native apps are not provided; primary interface is a responsive web app
• Some language translations are partial; English, Polish, French, and Portuguese are fully supported
• Planned features such as two-way GitHub sync are listed on the roadmap but not yet available

4ga Boards is designed for teams that need a simple, extensible Kanban tool with realtime collaboration and easy self-hosted deployment. It is suitable for small to medium teams seeking a lightweight alternative to heavier project management platforms.