11 best Jira alternatives you can self-host in 2026

Our pick for a self-hosted Jira alternative in 2026 is Plane. It puts projects, wiki, service requests and AI in one system that runs on your own servers or in an air-gapped network, and it imports from Jira Cloud, Server and Data Center. Plane also has an open-source Community Edition that is free with no user limit. If Plane does not fit, the two closest options are OpenProject for schedule-heavy work and YouTrack for teams built around JetBrains tools.

Teams are looking because Atlassian is winding down self-hosted Jira. Support for Jira Server ended on February 15, 2024. Jira Data Center reaches end of life on March 28, 2029. New customers have not been able to buy Data Center since March 30, 2026, and existing customers can buy or expand only until March 30, 2028.

Below are 11 tools you can deploy on your own servers today. For each one we cover what it does well, how it deploys, what self-hosting costs and where it falls short as a Jira replacement.

How to choose

Start with what your team needs from the tool day to day.

• You are replacing Jira for engineering and the teams around it. Use the Plane Commercial Edition. It has sprints, a wiki, an intake queue and AI, and it imports from Jira Cloud, Server and Data Center.
• You want open source software that is free with no user limit. Use the Plane Community Edition, licensed under AGPL-3.0.
• Your network is offline or air-gapped. Use the Plane Airgapped Edition, which is part of the Enterprise Grid plan.
• You plan construction or engineering projects on Gantt baselines and cost budgets. OpenProject goes deepest there. Plane has a Gantt layout and time tracking, but no BIM module.
• Your developers spend the day in JetBrains IDEs. YouTrack plugs into them and is free for 10 users.
• You run Scrum and nothing else. Taiga has a clean Scrum board, though its original authors have moved on.
• You already run Redmine and its plugins. Staying on Redmine 7 is reasonable.
• You only need boards. WeKan is MIT licensed. Plane's Board layout covers the same ground if you expect to need sprints later.

Comparison table

Prices and versions are as of October 2026. Where a vendor's pages do not answer a question, the cell says "Not stated" or "Not listed".

How we compared them

We looked at five things for each tool: how much of Jira's daily work it replaces, how it deploys, its license, what self-hosting costs, and how actively it is maintained.

We took the facts from each vendor's documentation, pricing page and code repository in October 2026. We build Plane and run it ourselves. For the other tools we relied on what their vendors publish, so try your shortlist with one real project before you decide.

1. Plane

Plane is work infrastructure. Projects, wiki, service requests and AI sit in one system, so the request, the plan, the document and the decision stay attached to the same work. You can run it in our cloud, on your own servers or in an air-gapped network. More than 50,000 teams use it, and it has about 60,000 stars on GitHub.

Plane comes in editions. The Community Edition is open source under AGPL-3.0 and free with no user limit. The Commercial Edition is the one we recommend for teams. It is free for 12 users and carries the paid plans. The Airgapped Edition is the Commercial Edition packaged for networks with no outside connection.

What it covers

Projects. Work items have relations, custom types and custom properties, and you can view them as a List, Board, Calendar, Gantt chart or Spreadsheet. Each project has its own workflow states, and saved Views keep a set of filters, layout and sorting so the team can return to the same backlog or release queue. Cycles are time-boxed sprints with burndown charts, and unfinished work carries over to the next cycle. Modules, Epics, Initiatives and Milestones handle planning above the sprint.

Wiki. Pages are collaborative documents, and you can turn a note into a work item without leaving the page. The workspace Wiki comes with Pro, so a team leaving Jira does not need a separate Confluence.

Service. Intake is a triage queue for requests from other teams and from customers. On Business it adds custom forms and an intake email address, and Customers links customer feedback to work items.

AI. Plane AI answers questions about the workspace and creates or updates work items when you ask it to. A self-hosted instance uses your own key for OpenAI, Anthropic or AWS Bedrock. Point it at a local model through Ollama and prompts stay inside your network.

Integrations cover GitHub, GitLab, Slack and Sentry, and there is an MCP server for agents. Plane lists SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR and CCPA on its security page.

Deployment

Install Plane with Docker Compose, with Kubernetes and the official Helm charts, with Docker Swarm or with Podman. The docs give 2 CPU cores and 4 GB of RAM as the minimum and recommend 8 GB for production. God Mode is the admin panel for authentication, SSO and AI settings, and Plane Compose keeps project configuration as YAML in Git. The self-hosting page has the install paths. By April 2024, self-hosted Plane had passed 100,000 Docker and 44,000 Kubernetes deploys.

The Airgapped Edition runs with no outbound connections. It installs with Docker Compose from images mirrored to your private registry, so plan how you will bring updates in offline. It is part of Enterprise Grid and has a 100-seat minimum.

Pricing (self-hosted)

Each paid seat on Pro and Business includes five guest seats, and neither plan has a seat minimum. The pricing page has current prices.

Moving from Jira

Plane imports from Jira Cloud and from Jira Server and Data Center. It also imports from Linear, Asana, ClickUp, Notion and Confluence. If you are leaving Data Center, start with switching from Jira Data Center and the Jira to Plane migration guide. For a feature comparison, see Plane vs Jira.

What to know before you start

The free tier of the Commercial Edition covers 12 users. Time tracking, the Wiki, dashboards and single sign-on come with Pro. Approvals, multiple workflows and LDAP come with Enterprise Grid. The paid plans run on the Commercial Edition, which is not open source. If your Jira setup depends on Marketplace apps, check Plane's marketplace for each one before you move.

Plane fits teams leaving Jira that want projects, wiki, service and AI in one self-hosted system, and organizations that need an air-gapped install. Start self-hosting or book a demo.

2. OpenProject

OpenProject is the long-established open source tool for classic project management, built on Ruby on Rails by OpenProject GmbH in Berlin.

It is GPL-3.0 software with about 16,400 stars on GitHub. The latest release is v17.9.1 from October 2026, and the site is openproject.org.

What it does well

Scheduling is the reason to choose it. The Gantt chart handles dependencies, milestones and baseline comparisons, which suits waterfall plans and mixed waterfall and agile work. Kanban boards and Scrum backlogs with burndown charts are included. So are time tracking, cost tracking and budgets, all in the free Community edition with no user limit. The Community edition compares a plan against yesterday only, and other baseline dates need Enterprise. Meetings can carry agendas and minutes linked to work packages.

A BIM module shows IFC models and supports BCF, which matters to construction and architecture firms. It is a paid add-on. Integrations cover GitHub, GitLab, Nextcloud and OneDrive or SharePoint, and the Professional plan adds an MCP server. The company is based in the EU, which helps teams with GDPR and EU data residency rules.

Deployment

Docker Compose is the recommended install. A single Docker container, DEB and RPM packages and Helm charts are also supported. OpenProject needs PostgreSQL 16 or newer, a quad-core CPU, 4 GB of RAM and 20 GB of disk. The Docker guide covers offline and air-gapped installation.

Pricing (self-hosted)

The Community edition is free. The Enterprise on-premises plans are Basic at $7.25 per user per month, Professional at $13.50 and Premium at $19.50. Basic and Professional need at least 25 users and Premium needs 100. Corporate pricing starts at 250 users, on request.

Where it falls short

The interface looks like enterprise software from an earlier decade, and new users take a while to learn it. Workflow automation is thinner than Jira's rule engine. There is no in-app AI assistant, and the mobile app is in beta. The Jira Migrator is in beta too. It handles Jira Data Center 10.x and 11.x but not Jira Cloud, and OpenProject recommends it for test setups only.

OpenProject suits teams whose projects run on schedules, budgets or BIM. Next to Plane, it goes deeper on Gantt baselines and cost tracking. Plane has AI, an intake queue, an importer for Jira Cloud, Server and Data Center, and Pro and Business plans with no seat minimum. We compare the two in Plane vs OpenProject.

3. YouTrack

YouTrack is the issue tracker from JetBrains, the company behind IntelliJ IDEA and TeamCity. JetBrains says 100,000 teams use it.

It is proprietary and written in Java, so there is no public repository. The latest release is 2026.2, updated in October 2026, and the site is jetbrains.com/youtrack.

What it does well

YouTrack was built for software teams. Scrum and Kanban boards, sprint planning, backlogs, burndown charts and cumulative flow charts all ship with it. Gantt charts handle dependencies and milestones. Time tracking with timesheets is included, and a built-in Knowledge Base covers documentation.

Its workflows are scripted in JavaScript, and its search query language resembles JQL with auto-completion. Developers can manage issues from IntelliJ IDEA, WebStorm, PyCharm and the other JetBrains IDEs. There are integrations for TeamCity, GitHub, GitLab, Slack and Telegram. A Jira importer brings over projects, issues, users and groups and can re-sync.

An AI assistant turns text into issues, helps with writing and summarizes issues. It runs through JetBrains' cloud AI service.

Deployment

YouTrack Server ships as a Docker image and needs no external database. Kubernetes is documented for a single node. The minimum is 1.5 GB of RAM. An MCP server arrived in version 2025.3.

Pricing (self-hosted)

Server is free for 10 users. Larger teams buy yearly user packs. A pack costs $900 for 15 users, $1,500 for 25, $3,000 for 50 and $6,000 for 100. Since June 23, 2026, new Server licenses are subscriptions. If one lapses, only administrators keep access until you renew.

Where it falls short

YouTrack is closed source. The query language and workflow scripting take time to learn, and the screens are dense for people outside engineering. It cannot run on more than one node, and its AI depends on JetBrains' cloud.

Choose YouTrack when your developers work in JetBrains IDEs all day. If open source code, an air-gapped install or AI on a local model matters more to you, that points back to Plane.

4. Taiga

Taiga is an open source Scrum and Kanban tool written in Python and Angular.

The back end is MPL-2.0 and the front end is AGPL-3.0. Its repositories total about 3,500 stars on GitHub. The latest release is 6.10.2 from July 2026, and the site is taiga.io.

What it does well

Taiga does Scrum well. Sprint planning, a backlog, story points, burndown charts, swimlanes with WIP limits and epics all work out of the box, in an interface many people find more pleasant than Jira's. It also has wiki pages, custom fields, LDAP and Active Directory sign-in, a REST API and more than 20 translations. Importers exist for Jira, Trello and GitHub.

You self-host it with Docker, PostgreSQL and RabbitMQ. The software is free with no feature paywall, and paid on-premise support is available. Its Docker images have been pulled more than 2 million times.

The ownership question

In March 2024 Kaleidos, the company that created Taiga, handed operations to Taiga Cloud Services, its long-time development and support partner in Spain, and turned its attention to Penpot. The planned rewrite, TaigaNext, went to a separate group called BIRU, which is building it as Tenzu. Taiga 6 still gets releases. Version 6.10.0 added project archiving in April 2026 and 6.10.2 followed in July.

So a team adopting Taiga today is choosing a product whose creators have left and whose successor is being built elsewhere under another name. Tenzu added an import from Taiga in June 2026, but it is Kanban only so far. Taiga 6 is stable for now. Its direction over several years is harder to read.

Where it falls short

Taiga has no Gantt charts and no native time tracking. Automation is limited, and its plugin ecosystem is smaller than Redmine's or OpenProject's.

Taiga fits a team that runs Scrum and wants a free tool today. A team that also needs Gantt charts, time tracking or a wiki will outgrow it, and Plane's Cycles cover the Scrum part.

5. Leantime

Leantime is an open source tool designed for people with ADHD, autism and dyslexia, and for teams without a dedicated project manager.

The software is AGPL-3.0 and built on PHP and MySQL, with about 11,800 stars on GitHub. The latest release is v3.11.0 from October 2026, and the site is leantime.io.

What it does well

It has the basics: Kanban boards, table and list views, subtasks, sprints, Gantt charts, milestones, roadmaps and a calendar. Its strategy tooling sets it apart. OKRs, Lean Canvas, SWOT analysis, empathy maps and a dozen other strategy boards connect goals to tasks.

Timesheets with start and stop tracking and hour approval are built in, along with a document manager and a wiki. Themes include dark mode and a reading theme designed for dyslexia.

Leantime runs on MySQL 8.0 or MariaDB 10.6 and newer, with Docker or on ordinary PHP hosting.

Pricing

The core is free to self-host with no user limit. Advanced features are sold as plugins from $29 per license, with bundles from $99. Whiteboards, Custom Fields and Recurring Tasks are among the paid ones. AI-assisted prioritization is advertised on the cloud plan.

Where it falls short

Leantime has a smaller community than the bigger tools and is less proven with hundreds of users. It has no advanced workflow automation, and its Scrum support is basic next to Taiga or Plane.

Leantime works for a non-technical team, a startup or an agency that wants goals and strategy boards beside its tasks. An engineering team will want more, such as the custom work item types and the GitHub and GitLab integrations in Plane.

6. Redmine

Redmine has been developed continuously since 2006, and the Ruby language project still tracks its own issues in it. In Stack Overflow's 2024 developer survey, 2.9% of developers said they use it.

It is GPL-2.0 software on Ruby on Rails with about 6,000 stars on GitHub. The latest release is v7.0.2 from October 2026, and the site is redmine.org.

What it does well

Issue tracking is thorough. Each tracker can have its own statuses, priorities and workflow. Projects can nest, and issues can relate across projects. Gantt charts, time tracking, per-project wikis, forums, a calendar and news are built in. Permissions are set by role and by project. Redmine connects to Git, SVN, Mercurial, Bazaar and CVS.

Redmine 7.0 arrived in June 2026 with webhooks, Rails 8 and Ruby 4.0. Version 6.1 before it added reactions, an OAuth2 provider, progress bar custom fields and Stimulus.js front-end components.

The official directory lists more than 1,300 plugins. Commercial suites such as RedmineUP and Easy8, formerly Easy Redmine, build on it too.

Deployment

Redmine is a Ruby on Rails application, so it takes more work to install and upgrade than a Docker-first tool. A Docker Official Image exists, maintained by the Docker community. Redmine supports MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite and SQL Server. Check plugin compatibility before every upgrade.

Pricing

Free.

Where it falls short

The interface dates from the late 2000s. Kanban and Scrum boards need plugins. There is no built-in AI, automation or Jira importer, and no native mobile app. Plugins can break across upgrades, and new team members take longer to learn it.

Stay with Redmine if you already know it, run deep project hierarchies or depend on SVN or Mercurial. If you are choosing fresh, Plane gives you boards and sprints without a hunt for plugins.

7. WeKan

WeKan is a free board tool that began as an open source Trello replacement. Its largest known deployment serves 30,000 users at one company on Kubernetes, and its Docker image has been pulled more than 37 million times.

It is MIT licensed, runs on Meteor.js, and has about 21,100 stars on GitHub. The latest release is v12.32 from October 2026, and the site is wekan.fi.

What it does well

WeKan gives you drag-and-drop cards, swimlanes, checklists, a calendar view, custom fields, LDAP and SAML sign-in and a REST API, in more than 200 translations. The MIT license puts no limits on commercial use or forks. The README now also lists Gantt views, Scrum views with a backlog and sprints, burndown charts, workflow rules, undo history and a Jira import format.

Install it from a zip bundle, Snap, Docker or Kubernetes. WeKan no longer needs a database server, because the default is FerretDB with SQLite, and MongoDB is optional. Plan for 1 GB of RAM to test and 4 GB or more in production.

Where it falls short

WeKan is a board tool first. Its Scrum and Gantt views are listed in the README, so test them on your own workflow before you depend on them for sprint work. Large boards get slow. One developer, Lauri Ojansivu, does most of the maintenance.

WeKan is a good fit when you are leaving Trello and your work fits on boards. Plane's Board layout sits beside List, Calendar, Gantt and Spreadsheet on the same work items, so a team that outgrows boards does not have to switch tools.

8. Vikunja

Vikunja calls itself a to-do app, and that is the right way to read it.

It is AGPL-3.0 software written in Go and Vue.js, with about 5,700 stars on GitHub. The latest release is v2.7.0 from October 2026, and the site is vikunja.io.

What it does well

Tasks appear in List, Kanban, Gantt and Table views, with subtasks, relations, repeating tasks, labels and due dates you can type in plain language. It supports CalDAV, and the free version includes OpenID Connect and LDAP sign-in. It imports from Todoist, Trello and Microsoft To Do, and version 2.7.0 added an MCP server.

Deployment

One Go binary or one Docker container holds the API and the front end. There are Debian and RPM packages and a Helm chart, and it runs on SQLite, PostgreSQL or MySQL. Few tools are easier to self-host.

Pricing

Self-hosting is free with no user limit. Vikunja Pro, a paid add-on launched in July 2026, adds an admin panel, time tracking and audit logs. It is in private beta and has no published price.

Where it falls short

Vikunja does not try to replace Jira. It has no sprints, backlog, burndown charts or custom workflows, and no Jira importer. Time tracking and audit logs need the Pro add-on, which checks its license online once a day.

Use Vikunja for personal tasks or for a team of fewer than 10 with simple needs. A team that expects to grow can start on Plane's Community Edition, which is also free.

9. AppFlowy

AppFlowy has more stars than anything else on this list, about 77,000 on GitHub, but it is a Notion alternative. Its README says it does not claim to outperform Notion on functionality or design, at least for now.

The client apps are AGPL-3.0 and written in Flutter and Rust, and the site is appflowy.com.

What it does well

AppFlowy combines documents, wikis and databases with table, board, calendar and grid views, plus AI features. It has native apps for macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android. Every self-hosted plan includes SAML sign-in, and the paid ones can run AI locally.

Deployment and pricing

Self-hosting uses Docker Compose, with separate guides for Docker Swarm and Helm. AppFlowy has archived its open source server, and self-hosting now runs a closed-source server under a commercial license. The free self-hosted plan covers one seat and three guest editors. Paid plans cost $6 a month for one seat and $10 per seat per month for teams, billed yearly.

Where it falls short

Its boards are views on a database. AppFlowy's pages list no sprints, backlog, burndown charts, issue workflows or Jira importer. With a one-seat free tier and a closed server, it is no longer a free open source tool that a whole team can self-host.

We include it because its star count puts it in most searches for an open source Jira alternative. AppFlowy is for teams that want a self-hosted Notion alternative with light task tracking. If Notion is what you are replacing, see Plane vs Notion.

10. Huly

Huly sets out to replace Linear, Jira, Slack and Notion with one platform.

It is EPL-2.0 software written in TypeScript and Svelte, with about 27,900 stars on GitHub. The latest tagged release is v0.7.426 from July 2026, and the site is huly.io.

Check the project's status first

The repository README says the hosted Huly service has shut down because its hosting is no longer funded. The main repository was frozen in September 2026, and development continues in a community fork called Platform-Collective. You can still self-host Huly, but look at how active the fork is before you move a team onto it.

What it does well

Huly tracks issues and tasks with customizable workflows. It adds chat with channels and threads, video and audio calls, virtual office rooms, collaborative documents, two-way GitHub sync and time tracking with a personal planner. It also ships HR, applicant tracking and CRM modules. That is a lot of software for an open source project, and the interface is modern.

Deployment

Self-hosting runs CockroachDB, Redpanda, Elasticsearch, an S3-compatible store and nginx next to the application. The stated minimum is 2 vCPUs and 8 GB of RAM, with 4 vCPUs and 16 GB recommended. A team without operations experience will find this stack hard to deploy and upgrade.

Pricing

Self-hosting is free, and there are no paid self-hosted tiers.

Where it falls short

Gantt charts have not reached a tagged release, and there is no Jira importer. EPL-2.0 is a less common license than AGPL or MIT, so check it with your legal team. The original repository is frozen, and a small fork now carries the project.

Consider Huly only if you have strong DevOps skills and accept the risk of a project in transition. If you want projects and docs in one tool without that stack, Plane installs with Docker Compose.

11. Worklenz

Worklenz is aimed at agencies and professional services firms.

It is AGPL-3.0 software built with React, TypeScript, Express.js and PostgreSQL, with about 3,200 stars on GitHub. The latest release is v3.2.0 from October 2026, and the site is worklenz.com.

What it does well

It combines project planning in list, board and Gantt views with time tracking, resource allocation, reporting, client portals and budget monitoring. Billable hours and client-facing work are the focus, which suits firms that have been bending Jira to fit agency work.

Deployment and pricing

Install it with Docker Compose, or manually on Node.js and PostgreSQL. The Community edition is free with unlimited users, and paid self-hosted plans start at $99 a month, billed yearly. The project went open core in August 2026 and returned to full AGPL-3.0 a month later.

Where it falls short

Worklenz is built around client work more than software sprints, and its only import path from Jira is CSV.

Worklenz is for firms that bill for time and need client portals and budgets beside their tasks.

If you do not need to self-host

Plane Cloud is the same product, hosted by us, and it has a free tier.

Most lists of Jira alternatives are about cloud tools, and the names you will see there are Linear, Asana, ClickUp, monday.com and Trello. None of them lists a self-hosted edition on its pricing page. We compare Plane with each of the first four in Plane vs Linear, Plane vs Asana, Plane vs ClickUp and Plane vs monday.com, and with Jira itself in Plane vs Jira.

Why self-hosting matters more than ever

Teams move to self-hosted tools for two reasons. They need more control over their data, or the cost of the cloud alternative keeps rising.

Data control and compliance

Some teams have data-location, export-control, contractual or network-isolation requirements that favor a self-hosted or air-gapped deployment. A European company may want its project data kept in the EU under GDPR, and a healthcare team under HIPAA may want to decide where patient information is stored. Defense work under ITAR can call for a network with no outside connection at all.

Self-hosting does not make a team compliant by itself. The right model depends on the data, the controls, the agreements and the authorizations involved. Self-hosting does give you control over where the data lives and who can reach it.

Jira's pricing keeps rising

Marketplace apps, Confluence and Atlassian Guard cost extra on top of the per-user price.

Atlassian's Maximum Quantity Billing policy arrived between July and October 2025. It bills a monthly subscription for the highest user count in each cycle and gives no credit for users removed before the cycle ends. A team with seasonal contractors pays for people who have already left.

Self-hosting still has license costs, but hosting, upgrades and data location are under your control.

Developer experience

Cost is one driver. Daily use is the other. Jira takes hours to learn, and keeping its workflows configured can become a job of its own. Several tools in this guide are easier to work in.

Frequently asked questions

The bottom line

Jira Server is gone, Data Center has an end date, and Jira Cloud list prices rise again from October 13, 2026. A team that has to stay on its own infrastructure has real choices now.

We would start with Plane. It gives you projects, wiki, service and AI in one self-hosted system, a free open source edition, and an air-gapped edition when you need one. Start self-hosting, compare Plane with Jira, see pricing or book a demo.