Self-Hosted Alternatives to Trello
Why Replace Trello?
Trello’s free tier keeps shrinking. In 2023, Atlassian removed unlimited power-ups, limited boards to 10 per workspace, and pushed users toward paid plans starting at $5/user/month. For a team of 10, that’s $600/year for what’s fundamentally a Kanban board.
Beyond cost, Trello stores all your project data — task descriptions, attachments, comments, internal discussions — on Atlassian’s servers. If your team handles client work, proprietary roadmaps, or sensitive projects, that’s a meaningful privacy concern.
Self-hosted alternatives give you unlimited boards, unlimited users, no per-seat fees, and full control over your data. Most take under 10 minutes to deploy.
Best Alternatives
Planka — Best Overall Trello Replacement
Planka is the closest self-hosted equivalent to Trello’s UI and workflow. Drag-and-drop Kanban boards, card labels, due dates, checklists, attachments, and real-time updates. If your team uses Trello for its simplicity, Planka matches that experience.
- Docker: Single container + PostgreSQL (2 containers total)
- RAM: ~200 MB idle
- License: AGPLv3
- Key advantage: Looks and feels like Trello. Minimal learning curve.
Read our full guide: How to Self-Host Planka
Plane — Best Feature-Rich Alternative
Plane goes beyond Trello with cycles (sprints), modules, pages (docs), and a GitHub-like issue tracker. It’s more comparable to Linear or Jira than Trello, but the Kanban board view works well for teams migrating from Trello who want room to grow.
- Docker: 7+ containers (PostgreSQL, Redis, MinIO, workers)
- RAM: ~1 GB idle
- License: AGPLv3
- Key advantage: Rich feature set. Issues, cycles, modules, pages. Grows with your team.
Read our full guide: How to Self-Host Plane
Vikunja — Best Lightweight Option
Vikunja is a task manager and to-do list that includes Kanban boards, list views, Gantt-style timeline views, and CalDAV integration. It runs as a single Go binary with SQLite — one of the lightest options available.
- Docker: Single container (SQLite mode) or 2 containers (with PostgreSQL/MySQL)
- RAM: ~50 MB idle
- License: AGPLv3
- Key advantage: Incredibly lightweight. CalDAV support for syncing with calendar apps.
Read our full guide: How to Self-Host Vikunja
Focalboard — Best for Notion-Like Views
Focalboard (by Mattermost) provides multiple views of the same data: board, table, gallery, and calendar. It’s less a Trello clone and more a Notion-databases alternative. Built into Mattermost or deployable standalone.
- Docker: Single container (standalone personal edition)
- RAM: ~100 MB idle
- License: MIT (personal) / Enterprise source (team features)
- Key advantage: Multiple views. Switch between board, table, gallery, calendar.
Read our full guide: How to Self-Host Focalboard
Taiga — Best for Agile Teams
If your team has outgrown Trello and wants proper Scrum — sprints, backlogs, user stories, burndown charts — Taiga is the answer. It includes Kanban boards too, but its strength is full agile project management.
- Docker: 9 containers (microservices architecture)
- RAM: ~1.5 GB idle
- License: MPL 2.0
- Key advantage: Full Scrum and Kanban. Sprints, backlogs, epics, burndown charts.
Read our full guide: How to Self-Host Taiga
Migration Guide
Trello’s export format is JSON. Most self-hosted alternatives don’t have a direct Trello import, so migration is semi-manual:
- Export from Trello: Go to Board Menu → More → Print and Export → Export to JSON
- What transfers: Board name, list names, card titles, card descriptions, labels, due dates, checklists
- What doesn’t transfer: Attachments, comments, activity history, power-up data, automations
- For Planka/Plane: Recreate boards manually (fastest for <100 cards). For large boards, use the API to script the import
- For Vikunja: Has an experimental Trello importer in its API
For most teams with <50 active cards per board, manual recreation takes 30-60 minutes and gives you a chance to clean up stale cards.
Cost Comparison
| Trello Free | Trello Standard | Self-Hosted | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost (10 users) | $0 | $50/month | $0 (your hardware) |
| Annual cost (10 users) | $0 | $600/year | $0 |
| 3-year cost (10 users) | $0 | $1,800 | $0 |
| Boards | 10 per workspace | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Users | Unlimited (limited features) | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Storage | 10 MB/file | 250 MB/file | Unlimited (your disk) |
| Power-ups | 1 per board | Unlimited | N/A |
| Privacy | Atlassian servers | Atlassian servers | Full control |
Trello’s free tier is usable for personal task tracking but inadequate for teams. The moment you need more than 10 boards or unlimited power-ups, you’re paying $5/user/month. Self-hosted tools give you everything for the cost of running a server (as low as $5/month for a VPS).
What You Give Up
- Trello’s Butler automation — No self-hosted equivalent has Trello’s no-code automation builder. n8n or Activepieces can fill this gap with more effort.
- Trello’s mobile apps — Most alternatives have responsive web apps but not native iOS/Android apps (except Vikunja, which has mobile apps).
- Power-up ecosystem — Trello’s marketplace of integrations has no self-hosted equivalent. You’ll rely on APIs and webhooks.
- Managed reliability — Self-hosted means you handle backups, updates, and uptime.
- Shared workspaces across organizations — Trello makes it easy to share boards with external collaborators. Self-hosted requires VPN or public exposure with authentication.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I import my Trello boards into a self-hosted tool?
Partially. Export your Trello board as JSON (Board Menu → More → Print and Export). Vikunja has an experimental Trello importer that handles boards, lists, and cards. For Planka and Plane, you’d need to recreate boards manually or script the import via their APIs. Card titles, descriptions, labels, and due dates transfer well. Attachments, comments, and activity history generally don’t transfer.
Do self-hosted Kanban tools have mobile apps?
Vikunja has native mobile apps for iOS and Android. Planka, Plane, and Focalboard offer responsive web interfaces that work well on mobile browsers but don’t have dedicated native apps. For mobile-heavy teams, Vikunja is the best choice. All tools work through a mobile browser — pin the URL to your home screen for app-like access.
Can I automate workflows like Trello’s Butler?
Not natively within these tools. Trello Butler’s no-code automation (when a card is moved to “Done”, archive it) doesn’t have a direct equivalent. However, n8n and Activepieces can connect to Planka, Plane, or Vikunja via their APIs and webhooks to build similar automations. It’s more setup but more powerful — you can trigger actions across any connected service.
How much RAM do self-hosted Kanban tools need?
Vikunja is the lightest at ~50 MB idle (single Go binary with SQLite). Focalboard uses ~100 MB. Planka needs ~200 MB (app + PostgreSQL). Plane is the heaviest at ~1 GB (7+ containers including PostgreSQL, Redis, and MinIO). Taiga uses ~1.5 GB with its microservices architecture. For limited hardware like a Raspberry Pi, Vikunja is the only practical option.
Can external collaborators access my self-hosted boards?
Yes, but it requires exposing your server. Options: set up a reverse proxy with HTTPS for public access, use Cloudflare Tunnel to expose only the Kanban tool, or add collaborators to your Tailscale network. Plane and Planka support user invitations with email. For occasional external sharing, export boards as screenshots or PDFs instead.
Which self-hosted Kanban tool is closest to Trello?
Planka. Its UI is nearly identical to Trello — drag-and-drop boards, card labels, checklists, due dates, and real-time updates. The learning curve for Trello users switching to Planka is essentially zero. If you need more than Kanban (sprints, issue tracking, docs), Plane is the next step up.
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