The alternatives
wekan
The Open Source kanban, built with Meteor. GitHub issues/PRs are only for FLOSS Developers, not for support, support is at https://wekan.fi/commercial-support/ . New English strings for new features at imports/i18n/data/en.i18n.json . Non-English translations at https://app.transifex.com/wekan/wekan only.
wekan/wekan Updated 2026-05-04 planka
PLANKA is the Kanban-style project mastering tool for everyone
plankanban/planka Updated 2026-05-04 leanote
Not Just A Notepad! (golang + mongodb) http://leanote.org
leanote/leanote Updated 2023-11-27 kanboard
Kanban project management software
kanboard/kanboard Updated 2026-04-23 Comparison notes
WeKan self-hosted is the most direct functional replacement for Trello, with a near-identical board, list, and card structure plus swimlanes and attachment support, though its UI feels dated compared to Trello's current design. Planka is a more modern Trello alternative with a cleaner interface but fewer integration options and no official Trello data importer requiring manual recreation. Leanote combines note-taking with kanban boards, which suits teams that mix documentation with task management, but diverges significantly from pure Trello-style kanban workflows.
Migration tips
- Export your Trello board data as JSON from each board's menu and use WeKan's built-in Trello JSON importer to migrate cards, lists, and attachments.
- For Planka migrations, custom scripting via its REST API is required since no official Trello importer exists — budget engineering time for this conversion.
- Trello power-ups integrating Slack, GitHub, and Jira will need manual replacement with equivalent webhook configurations in your chosen self-hosted tool.
FAQ
Can I fully replace Trello with an OSS tool?
Feature parity varies. Most OSS alternatives cover 70-90% of core workflows, but may lack polish, integrations, or specialized features. Pilot the alternative with a subset of your team before fully committing.
What's the cost of self-hosting?
Plan for ~$5-50/month in VPS costs (DigitalOcean, Hetzner, etc.) plus 2-8 hours/month in maintenance. For a team of 20+, self-hosting usually breaks even against SaaS pricing within 6-12 months.
Which alternative should I pick?
Sort by GitHub stars (a proxy for community health), check the last-pushed date (avoid unmaintained projects), and read recent issues to gauge responsiveness.