Best Free & Open Source Alternatives to Monday.com

Kanboard is a free, open source Kanban project management application written in PHP. It focuses on simplicity and a minimalist interface for visualizing work, limiting work-in-progress, and moving tasks across columns via drag-and-drop. The platform is designed to deliver a no-training-required experience for teams that want the core Kanban methodology without feature bloat — a notable contrast to commercial tools that bundle every workflow concept into a single workspace.

The software includes tasks and subtasks, attachments, comments, swimlanes, time tracking, project analytics, and a flexible query language for searching and filtering the board. Event-based automatic actions let you automate repetitive workflows such as moving tasks, changing assignees, or applying categories based on triggers. Kanboard supports LDAP/Active Directory plus OAuth2 providers like Google, GitHub, and GitLab for authentication, ships a JSON-RPC API and webhooks, and is translated into more than 30 languages.

Kanboard is published under the MIT license and self-hosted as a PHP application backed by SQLite, MySQL/MariaDB, or PostgreSQL. Docker images and official packages for Debian, Ubuntu, and RHEL are available, and a large plugin ecosystem extends it with notifications, Gantt charts, calendar views, custom themes, importers from Trello and Jira, and dozens of other additions. The core author considers the project in maintenance mode, so new major features come primarily from community contributions and plugins — making the plugin directory the primary way to grow the platform beyond its intentionally lean core.

OpenProject is the leading open-source project management software, empowering teams to achieve great things together. With over a decade of development, it provides a comprehensive suite of tools for planning, scheduling, and tracking projects from start to finish.

OpenProject supports both classic and agile project management, featuring Gantt charts, work packages, sprints, kanban boards, and a built-in wiki. Its time tracking, cost reporting, and budgeting capabilities set it apart from lighter alternatives — making it suitable for enterprises and NGOs managing complex, multi-team projects. The GitHub integration links work packages directly to pull requests for seamless developer workflows.

Available as a self-hosted Community edition (free) or Enterprise cloud/on-premises edition with premium support and add-ons, OpenProject is trusted by organizations worldwide. With features including forums, meeting agendas, bug tracking, and roadmaps, it is one of the most feature-complete open-source alternatives to Jira, Asana, Trello, and Monday.com.

Paca is an AI-native, open-source project management platform designed as a self-hosted alternative to Jira, Trello, ClickUp, and Monday.com. Built for modern Scrum and Kanban teams, Paca enables humans and AI agents to collaborate as equals on the same boards, sprints, and goals. It supports BDD (Behavior-Driven Development), MCP integration, and WASM plugins for full customization. Deploy via Docker or self-host with a PostgreSQL backend.

Plane is a modern, open-source project management platform designed to help teams track issues, manage cycles (sprints), and plan product roadmaps. It is a compelling alternative to Jira, Linear, Monday, and ClickUp — offering a clean, intuitive interface without the typical complexity of project management tools.

At its core, Plane supports work items with a powerful rich text editor, customizable properties, and sub-issues. Teams can organize work into Cycles with built-in burn-down charts, break large projects into manageable Modules, and create custom Views with advanced filters. The Pages feature provides a Notion-like document editor with AI capabilities for capturing ideas and documentation.

Built with TypeScript, React, Python, Django, and PostgreSQL, Plane offers both a free cloud version and a self-hosted option via Docker or Kubernetes. Its analytics dashboard provides real-time insights into project progress, helping teams identify blockers and make data-driven decisions. With a growing community and regular updates, Plane continues to evolve into a comprehensive project management solution.

Focalboard is an open-source, self-hosted project management tool created by the team behind Mattermost. It serves as a direct alternative to Trello, Notion, and Asana, providing a flexible and customizable way to manage tasks, projects, and workflows.

The tool supports multiple views including kanban boards, tables, galleries, and calendars — giving teams the flexibility to visualize their work the way they want. It comes in two editions: a Personal Desktop app for individuals (available on macOS, Windows, and Linux) and a Personal Server for self-hosted team collaboration.

Focalboard features drag-and-drop task management, customizable properties and card templates, markdown support in card descriptions, and a clean, modern interface. Being part of the Mattermost ecosystem, it integrates deeply with Mattermost's messaging platform as the Boards plugin. While development on the standalone version has slowed, the project remains a solid choice for teams seeking a self-hosted project management solution.

Leantime is an open source project management system designed for people who do not think in traditional PM terms. It is a popular self-hostable alternative to Asana, Monday.com, and ClickUp for small teams, agencies, and solo founders who need a calmer, neurodivergent-friendly interface.

Leantime combines goals, projects, tasks, kanban boards, gantt charts, timesheets, and idea boards into a single, opinionated workspace. It supports multiple project methodologies, retrospectives, and reporting, and includes a built-in AI assistant to help with planning and writing.

Released under AGPL-3.0 and built on PHP and MySQL, Leantime is well suited to small organisations that want a thoughtful, accessible Asana-style PM tool without per-seat pricing or vendor lock-in.

TaskView is a self-hosted project and task management platform designed for small and growing software teams that want full control over their data. It combines projects, tasks, custom Kanban boards, sprints, time tracking, and developer integrations in a single platform you can run on your own infrastructure — without the complexity of enterprise project management systems.

The platform supports flexible workflows with configurable projects, statuses, boards, roles, and permissions, alongside features like task dependencies, recurring tasks, sprints, and Markdown content. Built-in analytics cover team workload, productivity, billable time, and financial reports. Identity is handled through SAML 2.0, OpenID Connect, and SCIM provisioning, with scoped API tokens and fine-grained permissions for integrations.

TaskView integrates with the tools development teams already use — GitHub, GitLab, signed webhooks, and a TypeScript API client — and ships with an MCP server so AI assistants can search, create, and update tasks through a secure token. Web, iOS, and Android clients are available, and the entire product is distributed under the TaskView Source-Available License, which permits self-hosting and internal use.