Best Self Hosted Alternatives to Wunderlist

Habitica is an open-source habit-building program that treats your life like a role-playing game. Level up as you succeed, lose HP for failures, and earn Gold to buy weapons and armor. The project emphasizes community-driven guides and help resources to support contributors.

Key Features

• Gamified task management with Habits, Dailies and To-Dos, plus XP, Gold and gear. (apps.apple.com)
• Avatar customization with gear, pets and cosmetics. (apps.apple.com)
• Social features including Parties, Challenges and Guilds for collaboration and accountability. (apps.apple.com)
• Cross‑platform syncing and a strong open-source community contributing to the project. (apps.apple.com) (github.com)
• Subscriptions unlock Gems and exclusive items for extra content. (apps.apple.com)
• Tech stack demonstrated in the repository includes Node.js, Vue.js, Express and MongoDB. (github.com)

Use Cases

• Personal productivity and habit formation by turning tasks into RPG progress. (en.wikipedia.org)
• Team collaboration and accountability through Parties and Guilds for shared goals. (apps.apple.com)
• Learning or onboarding support via gamified task workflows and social features. (en.wikipedia.org)

Conclusion Habitica blends task management with RPG mechanics and a vibrant open-source community; it is widely used for personal productivity and collaborative goal-tracking. (github.com)

Nullboard is a minimalist kanban-style task manager implemented as a single-page HTML application. It keeps data in the browser (localStorage), provides editable in-place notes and supports multiple boards with quick switching.

Key Features

• Single-file single-page web app implemented in plain HTML/JavaScript/CSS for a very small footprint
• Browser-local storage of boards and notes (localStorage) with manual export/import in JSON format
• Multiple boards with near-instant switching and compact, readable layout
• In-place editing, keyboard shortcuts and drag-and-drop note/list reordering
• Undo/redo history (defaults to 50 revisions per board) for quick recovery of recent changes
• Note collapsing for compact views and configurable font/zoom/theme options (including inverted/dark theme)
• Optional automatic local backup via companion agent utilities (platform-specific agents exist)

Use Cases

• Personal task and project organization where data should remain local and private
• Quick, ephemeral planning boards for meetings, sprints or brainstorming sessions without server setup
• Portable offline-toolkits for users who prefer a compact, keyboard-first kanban interface

Limitations and Considerations

• Primarily designed for desktop (keyboard + mouse); touch/tap and mobile support are essentially untested
• Uses browser localStorage: boards can be lost if browser data/cache is cleared or profiles are removed
• No built-in multi-user collaboration or server-side sync; sharing requires export/import or external syncing tools
• Project is labeled beta and uses a license that includes a Commons Clause restriction; commercial resale is restricted

Nullboard is a lightweight option for users who want a distraction-free, locally-stored kanban board with minimal dependencies. It is best suited to single-user or local workflows where simplicity and privacy are priorities.

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.

Nextcloud Tasks is a task management app for the Nextcloud platform. It provides a web interface to create, organize, and track to-dos, while syncing with external clients using CalDAV.

Key Features

• Create, edit, and delete tasks with title, description, start/due dates, priority, and completion status
• Subtasks support for breaking down work items
• Smart collections for important, current, and upcoming tasks
• Drag-and-drop to move tasks between task lists and convert tasks into subtasks
• CalDAV-based synchronization with compatible mobile and desktop applications

Use Cases

• Personal task tracking synced across phone, desktop, and the Nextcloud web UI
• Team or family to-do lists hosted alongside a Nextcloud instance
• Centralizing tasks in a CalDAV-compatible system to integrate with existing PIM workflows

Limitations and Considerations

• Correct conflict detection depends on the HTTP ETag header; client-side extensions or server configurations that alter ETags can cause false conflict reports

Nextcloud Tasks is a practical choice for users already on Nextcloud who want a lightweight, standards-based task system. It combines an easy web UI with broad CalDAV compatibility for syncing across devices.

myTinyTodo is a compact, web-based to-do list application implemented in PHP with a jQuery-powered frontend. It provides AJAX-driven task management with multiple lists, tagging, priorities and due-date support and stores data in MySQL, PostgreSQL or SQLite databases.

Key Features

• Multiple task lists and a consolidated "All tasks" view
• Task notes with optional Markdown support (configurable)
• Tags and tag cloud for filtering
• Due dates and priority levels (-1, 0, +1, +2)
• Smart task creation syntax to set priority, tags and due date inline
• Drag-and-drop sorting plus several preset sort modes (by due date, priority, created/modified)
• Search across tasks and notes
• Password protection with read-only option and hashed password storage
• Export options and feeds: CSV, iCalendar and RSS feeds (feed key option for non-public lists)
• Responsive UI with mobile layout and optional dark mode; print-friendly CSS

Use Cases

• Personal task and GTD-style list management on a self-hosted LAMP/LEMP stack
• Lightweight household or small-team shared lists where simple password-based access is sufficient
• Embedding a simple todo widget into a site or CMS (there are community packaging/integration examples)

Limitations and Considerations

• No built-in per-user accounts or fine-grained multi-user ACLs; access control is based on a single password/read-only setting and feed keys for publishing
• No documented public REST API for programmatic integrations (integration typically requires DB-level or UI automation)
• Focused on lightweight single-instance use; lacks enterprise collaboration and advanced integrations out of the box

myTinyTodo is intended as a minimal, reliable web todo script for users who need simple, self-hosted task management with basic sharing and export options. Its small footprint and support for multiple SQL backends make it suitable for low-resource servers and quick deployments.

Our Shopping List (OSL) is a lightweight web application for collaboratively managing shopping lists and small todo lists. It provides real-time synchronization between users, a mobile-first UI, and optional multi-board organization for grouping lists.

Key Features

• Real-time sync between clients using WebSocket for immediate updates
• Multiple boards and multiple lists per board (single-board mode available)
• Items with name, quantity, details and checkable state; checked-item history and display modes
• Mobile-first UI with swipeable list items and intuitive search
• Basic PWA support and internationalization (multiple locales available)
• Docker-ready deployment and a MongoDB backend; CLI tools to migrate lists/boards
• Configurable via environment variables for ports, DB host, UI behavior, and socket timeouts
• Notes and guidance for reverse-proxy setups to support WebSocket traffic

Use Cases

• Shared household shopping lists that sync in real time across family members
• Small collaborative todo lists for teams, events, or group tasks
• Mobile-first list management for users who want quick check/quantity workflows

Limitations and Considerations

• MongoDB authentication is not supported in current releases; plan deployments accordingly
• PWA support is basic and does not provide full offline deferred-sync capabilities
• Requires proper reverse-proxy configuration to forward WebSocket connections for SSL offloading

Our Shopping List is a simple, focused tool for collaborative list management with an emphasis on real-time updates and mobile usability. It is suitable for homes and small teams that need fast, shared list workflows.