If you’re looking to move off Trello, you have options. Real ones. Here are the 4 open-source, self-hostable alternatives I’ve tested, with honest notes on what each does well and where each falls short.
Why leave Trello?
- Free tier capped at 10 boards per workspace.
- Power-Ups are aggressively upsold — nearly any real workflow needs a paid Butler.
- Bought by Atlassian — direction feels increasingly enterprise-driven.
The 4 best self-hosted alternatives to Trello
Focalboard
Notion-style project boards. Works standalone or bundled with Mattermost.
Visit Focalboard website →Vikunja
More Todoist than Trello — but has kanban view. Excellent recurring tasks.
Visit Vikunja website →Quick comparison
| Alternative | Difficulty | License |
|---|---|---|
| Wekan | Easy | MIT |
| Planka | Easy | AGPL-3.0 |
| Focalboard | Easy | MIT |
| Vikunja | Easy | AGPL-3.0 |
Frequently asked questions
Is there a free alternative to Trello?
Yes. Every tool listed above is free and open source. Some, like Wekan, also have optional paid hosted tiers if you don’t want to run the server yourself. Everything else is genuinely free to self-host — you pay only for your own hardware and time.
Which one should I pick if I’ve never self-hosted anything before?
Start with Wekan. It’s the lowest-friction option here — realistic to have running in an afternoon on a small server or Raspberry Pi. If it doesn’t fit your workflow, Planka is a good second try.
Can I run these on a Raspberry Pi?
Most of them, yes — the tools marked Easy here will comfortably run on a Pi 4 or Pi 5 with 4GB+ of RAM. The Medium tools may work but appreciate a mini PC or a spare desktop. Hard-tagged tools generally want real server hardware.
What about mobile apps?
It varies. Tools like Vaultwarden and Immich have native iOS/Android apps that connect to your server. Others rely on the web UI through your phone browser — fine for occasional use, not a full app experience.