Top 6 open source project management tools in 2026

How to choose

Start with how your team works.

• Software, product or cross-functional teams that want projects, docs and intake in one tool: Plane's Community Edition is free with no user limit, and the Commercial Edition adds a wiki, time tracking, single sign-on and an air-gapped edition.
• Teams moving off Jira: Plane’s Commercial Edition imports from Jira Cloud, Server and Data Center.
• Waterfall projects planned around Gantt schedules and cost budgets: OpenProject is designed around this model. Plane also has a Gantt layout, with time tracking on Pro.
• Scrum-only software teams: Taiga is built for Scrum and Kanban. Plane covers Scrum with Cycles, alongside Gantt, pages and intake.
• Small, non-technical teams: Leantime is designed for teams without a dedicated project manager.
• Teams already running Redmine: Redmine is mostly used by technical teams that run it with plugins.
• A personal to-do list: Vikunja is a task app rather than a project management tool.

Comparison table

Versions and star counts are as of October 2026.

How we compared them

We looked at five things for each tool: how much day-to-day project work it covers, its license, what it takes to self-host, what the free version leaves out, and how actively it is maintained. We took the facts from each project’s documentation, pricing page and code repository in October 2026. We build Plane; for the other tools we relied on what their maintainers publish.

What does open source mean today?

• You own your data. Your projects, documents, and workflows live entirely in your environment. This makes it easier to manage projects securely, avoid vendor lock-ins, and meet requirements for sensitive or regulated work.
• You control security. You define where data is stored, how it’s protected, and how long it’s retained. Teams can align deployments with internal network security policies, compliance frameworks, and audit standards.
• You can customize anything. With full access to the code, teams can adapt workflows, build private integrations, and tailor the system to how they plan and track progress across multiple projects.
• Your tool grows with you. Open platforms evolve at your pace, not at the pace of a closed SaaS roadmap. You decide what features matter, and you can extend the product without limitations.
• Costs stay predictable. Self-hosted platforms eliminate per-user fees. One infrastructure cost, unlimited users, and up to 60-80% savings at scale make open platforms a sustainable form of free software.
• Transparency builds trust. Open codebases allow teams to audit security, validate privacy practices, patch faster, and ensure long-term maintainability — an advantage that closed tools cannot match.

Top open source project management software 2026

The open-source project management space now ranges from simple task boards to full enterprise planning systems. What counts is maturity, active development, transparent licensing, and real-world adoption. The overview below focuses on the projects that meet that bar and shows where each one actually fits.

Plane

• License: GNU AGPL v3.0
• GitHub Stars: ~60,900 (October 2026)

Plane is a modern, open-source project management tool built to simplify agile workflows and team collaboration. It is particularly attractive to teams looking for a self-hosted alternative to tools like Jira, Linear, and ClickUp, offering a sleek UI and an open-core model that balances power and accessibility. Plane has gained rapid adoption thanks to its focus on clean design, intuitive UX, and seamless integration of key project planning features.

What features does the open source version offer
The open-source Community Edition of Plane is free under AGPL-3.0 and covers the core of modern project management. Key features include,

• Work Item Tracking: Rich text editing, attachments, comments, labels, custom states, priorities, estimates, and relations.
• Sprints and Cycles: Sprint planning with burn-down charts.
• Modules: Group work items into features or thematic sub-projects.
• Multiple views: Kanban, List, Gantt, Calendar, and Spreadsheet layouts.
• Intake: Triage requests from outside the team before they enter a project.
• Pages: Rich-text project documentation that sits next to your work.
• API and webhooks: REST API and webhooks for integrations and automations.
• Self-hosting options: Docker Compose or Kubernetes Helm charts.

There are no limits on the number of users or projects in the Community Edition, making it a viable option for teams of all sizes. As teams grow, the Commercial Edition, free for up to 12 users, adds the workspace Wiki, time tracking, epics and initiatives, custom workflows and approvals, SSO, LDAP, and the Airgapped Edition on its paid plans.

What makes Plane distinctly useful,
Plane distinguishes itself in the open-source space by delivering,

• End-to-end Functionality: Combines project tracking, documentation, and metrics in one tool.
• Modern UI: Aesthetically pleasing and fast, built for usability and responsiveness.
• AI on your own infrastructure: Plane AI answers questions about your workspace and can create or update work items. A self-hosted instance uses your own model key or a local model, so prompts stay on your servers.
• Active development: Frequent releases with a transparent public roadmap.
• Scalable design: Handles everything from small team backlogs to complex enterprise modules.
• Community momentum: Backed by a vibrant GitHub community and responsive Discord support.

Plane is an excellent choice for teams who want the power of Jira, and increasingly, the documentation of Notion and the workflow clarity of Linear, with the data ownership and deployment flexibility of open-source.

OpenProject

• License: GNU GPL v3.0
• GitHub Stars: ~16,400 (October 2026)

OpenProject is an open-source project management tool developed by OpenProject GmbH in Berlin. It is aimed at organizations that run structured, schedule-driven projects, and it supports both waterfall and agile planning.

What features does the open source version offer
The Community Edition includes most of the core features needed for project tracking and planning:

• Task and Issue tracking: Manage work packages with statuses, priorities, and assignees.
• Project planning: Built-in Gantt charts and timelines for scheduling.
• Agile boards: Scrum and Kanban boards with an upgraded backlog and sprint management module.
• Time tracking: Log time on tasks and generate basic reports.
• Roadmapping: Define goals and visualize progress.
• Documentation: Integrated wiki per project with real-time collaborative editing (introduced in v17.0).
• Forum and Files Modules: Built-in support for discussions and document sharing.

The Community Edition supports unlimited users and projects with no imposed limits. It also benefits from regular updates.

What makes OpenProject useful
OpenProject focuses on completeness and reliability rather than modern UI or speed. What sets it apart,

• Broad feature set: Includes both agile and waterfall planning tools in one platform.
• On-Premises friendly: Designed with strict data control in mind, suitable for regulated industries.
• Custom workflows: Advanced configuration of roles, permissions, and workflows.
• Documentation and planning tools: Strong support for meeting agendas, project wikis, and structured planning.
• Stability: Has been maintained for over a decade with a predictable release cycle.

It's a decent option for teams that need an open-source PM tool with wide functionality and institutional-grade stability, even if it comes with a steeper learning curve and a more traditional interface. The free Community edition includes Gantt charts, boards, time tracking and budgets with no user limit. Enterprise plans for on-premises installs start at €5.95 per user per month with a 25-user minimum. For a side-by-side look, see Plane vs OpenProject.

Leantime

• License: GNU AGPL v3.0
• GitHub Stars: ~11,800 (October 2026)

Leantime is an open-source project management system built on PHP. It is designed for teams without a dedicated project manager and for people with ADHD, autism, and dyslexia. It is aimed at startups, small teams, and individuals.

What features does the open source version offer
The open-source version of Leantime includes a wide range of core features:

• Task Management: Kanban boards, task lists, and calendar views. Milestones include a Gantt/timeline view for project-level scheduling.
• Strategic Tools: Lean Canvas and SWOT analysis to guide early-stage planning.
• Documentation: Built-in project wiki for notes and reference material.
• Time Tracking: Timesheets and timers to log task-level work.
• Retrospectives: Post-sprint/project reviews to support team learning.
• Goal & Idea Management: Tools for capturing ideas and setting measurable goals.
• Integrations: Slack/Mattermost/Discord notifications, SSO via LDAP/OIDC, REST API.
• Internationalization: Available in 20+ languages.

The core is free to self-host with no user limit. Some advanced features, such as whiteboards, custom fields and recurring tasks, are paid plugins starting at $29 per license.

What makes Leantime useful
Points to consider before choosing Leantime,

• Audience: Designed for small, non-technical teams and for users with ADHD, autism, or dyslexia.
• Strategy tools: Lean Canvas, SWOT analysis, and goal boards sit alongside tasks.
• Agile depth: Scrum support is basic, and there is no advanced workflow automation.
• Scale: The community is smaller, and the tool is less proven with hundreds of users.
• Integrations: Native integrations are limited to Slack, Discord, and Mattermost notifications.

Leantime is built for small teams that want tasks, goals, and strategy boards in one place. Teams with complex engineering workflows will need more advanced workflow and integration options.

Taiga

• License: Mozilla Public License 2.0 (MPL-2.0)
• GitHub Stars: 3,500 across its repositories (Latest release: 6.10.2, July 2026)

Taiga is an open-source agile project management tool written in Python and Angular. It focuses on Scrum and Kanban workflows and was first released in 2014.

What features does the open source version offer
Taiga’s open-source version includes:

• Backlog and sprint planning: Create, prioritize, and estimate user stories.
• Scrum boards: Sprint boards with burn-down charts and velocity tracking.
• Kanban boards: Customizable workflow boards with swimlanes and WIP limits.
• Issue/bug tracker: Track issues with prioritization and tagging.
• Wiki module: In-project documentation for meeting notes, requirements, etc.
• Collaboration tools: Comments, attachments, email notifications, and mentions.
• Customization: Custom fields, issue types, priorities, and roles.
• APIs and Integration: REST API, import from other tools (e.g. Trello, Jira), and GitHub/GitLab linking.

There are no feature restrictions in the OSS version—teams get the same functionality as the cloud-hosted offering.

What makes Taiga useful
Points to consider before choosing Taiga,

• Scope: Focused on Scrum and Kanban boards, backlogs, and sprints.
• Planning: No Gantt charts and no native time tracking.
• Deployment: Runs as separate frontend and backend services, with PostgreSQL and RabbitMQ.
• Ownership: In March 2024, Kaleidos, the company that created Taiga, handed operations to Taiga Cloud Services. A rewrite is being built separately as Tenzu, which supports Kanban only so far.
• Releases: Taiga 6 still receives updates; the latest, 6.10.2, shipped in July 2026.

Taiga is built for agile software teams focused on Scrum. Teams that also need Gantt charts, time tracking, or documentation alongside sprints will need additional tools.

Redmine

• License: GNU GPL v2.0
• GitHub Stars: GitHub Stars: ~6,000 on the GitHub mirror (Subversion is the primary repository)

Redmine is one of the oldest and most stable open-source project management software. It supports issue tracking, time logging, wikis, forums, and integrates with source control systems. While its UI is dated, its modular design and mature plugin ecosystem make it highly customizable for teams with technical expertise.

What features does the open source version offer
Redmine is entirely open-source with no commercial version. Key capabilities include:

• Multi-Project support: Manage many projects in one instance with separate settings.
• Issue Tracking: Custom statuses, priorities, workflows, and trackers (bug, feature, etc.).
• Gantt charts and Calendar: Visual project timeline and scheduling support.
• Time tracking: Log hours per issue and run time-based reports.
• Wikis and Forums: Built-in knowledge sharing for each project.
• Document and file management: Upload and share project files.
• Role-based access: Fine-grained permissions and user roles.
• SCM integration: Git, SVN, Mercurial, and more.
• Email notifications and feeds: Activity updates and RSS/Atom support.

There are no restrictions on users, features, or projects. Redmine 7.0, released in June 2026, added webhooks and moved to Rails 8. Kanban and Scrum boards still need plugins.

What makes Redmine useful
Despite its age, Redmine continues to be used by thousands of teams due to,

• Plugin ecosystem: Hundreds of plugins extend functionality from Agile boards to CRM.
• Self-hosted control: Ideal for users who want complete data and system control.
• Extensibility: Built for customization in Ruby on Rails.
• Legacy stability: Frequently updated for compatibility and security.
• One-stop tool: Combines issue tracking, documentation, collaboration, and reporting.

Redmine is best suited for technically-oriented teams who want full ownership of their PM tool and are comfortable customizing it.

Vikunja

• License: GNU AGPL v3.0
• GitHub Stars: ~5,800 (October 2026). Latest release: v2.7.0, October 2026.

Vikunja is an open-source to-do and task management app written in Go and Vue.js. It is aimed at personal task management and small teams.

What the open-source version offers

• Tasks in List, Kanban, Gantt, and Table views
• Subtasks, task relations, repeating tasks, labels and due dates
• CalDAV sync with calendar apps
• OpenID Connect and LDAP sign-in
• Imports from Todoist, Trello and Microsoft To Do
• An MCP server, added in version 2.7.0

It runs as a single Go binary or Docker container, on SQLite, PostgreSQL or MySQL.

Where Vikunja fits

Vikunja has no sprints, backlog, burndown charts, custom workflows or Jira importer. Time tracking and audit logs need the Vikunja Pro add-on, which is in private beta and checks its license online once a day. Teams that need sprints and project planning alongside tasks can use Plane’s Community Edition, which is also free with no user limit.

Other open source tools

• WeKan is an MIT-licensed board tool that began as a Trello replacement. It is board-first, and one developer does most of the maintenance.
• Focalboard, originally from Mattermost, is now community-maintained with no major development planned.
• Huly combines issues, chat, docs, and video calls. Its original repository was frozen in September 2026, and development continues in a community fork.
• AppFlowy is a Notion alternative with light task tracking. Its self-hosted server is now closed source, and the free self-hosted plan covers one seat.

For a comparison of 11 tools you can self-host, see our guide to Jira alternatives you can self-host.

Self-Hosted versus Cloud Options

Below is a simplified comparison to help teams choose the right deployment model for how they manage projects, protect project data, and control project costs.

Frequently asked questions

Q1. What is the best open source project management software?

For most teams in 2026 it is Plane. It is licensed under AGPL-3.0, its Community Edition has no user limit, it brings sprints, Gantt, pages and intake into one tool; and with about 60,900 stars it has the largest community of any project management tool on GitHub.

Q2. Is there free open source project management software with no user limit?

Yes. Plane Community Edition is free with no user limit. OpenProject Community, Leantime, Redmine, Taiga and Vikunja are also free to self-host, and some of them charge for add-ons or enterprise features.

Q3. What is the best open source task manager?

Plane handles tasks inside projects, with cycles, deadlines, and docs in the same place, and its Community Edition is free with no user limit. Vikunja is built as a personal to-do app, without sprints or project planning.

Q4. What is the difference between open source and self-hosted project management software?

Open source describes the license: you can read, change, and redistribute the code. Self-hosted describes where the software runs: on your own servers. Most tools on this list are both, but some self-hosted tools are closed source. Read more in open-source vs. self-hosted project management software.

Q5. Is Plane Community Edition truly open source?

Yes. It is licensed under AGPL-3.0, the code is public on GitHub, and the Commercial and Airgapped Editions are built on the same codebase.

Q6. What is the difference between Plane Community Edition and Commercial Edition?

The Community Edition is free with no user limit and covers core project management. The Commercial Edition is free for 12 users, and its paid plans add features such as the workspace Wiki, time tracking, single sign-on, custom workflows, LDAP and the Airgapped Edition.

Q7. How do I self-host Plane?

Install it with Docker Compose for a quick start, or with Kubernetes and the official Helm charts for production. The documented minimum is 2 CPU cores and 4 GB of RAM, with 8 GB recommended for production.

Q8. Can I move from another tool to Plane?

Yes. Plane’s Commercial Edition imports from Jira Cloud, Server and Data Center, and from Linear, Asana, ClickUp, Notion and Confluence. You can start with one project, check the result, then bring over the rest.