Best Self Hosted Alternatives to Linear

Plane is an open-source project and product management platform designed to help teams plan, track, and ship work. It provides issue tracking, agile planning primitives, and product-oriented views so teams can manage day-to-day execution and higher-level roadmaps in one place.

Key Features

• Issue tracking with customizable properties/fields and rich descriptions
• Multiple work views (e.g., list/board) to organize and triage work efficiently
• Cycles/sprints planning to timebox work and track progress
• Modules/epics-style grouping to structure larger initiatives
• Roadmap and planning views for product-oriented prioritization
• Team collaboration features such as comments and activity history
• Workspace/project organization for multi-project teams
• Public/REST API for integrating Plane with internal tooling and automations

Use Cases

• Replace Jira/Linear-style issue tracking for engineering teams
• Plan sprints/cycles and manage releases across multiple projects
• Maintain a lightweight product roadmap and organize initiatives by module

Plane is a strong fit for teams that want a modern, self-hostable alternative to commercial project trackers with core agile and product planning capabilities. Its combination of issue tracking, cycles, and roadmap views supports both execution and planning workflows in a single system.

WeKan is a web-based Kanban board application for managing tasks and workflows using boards, lists, and cards. It is commonly used as a self-managed alternative to Trello for teams that want data control and flexible workflow features.

Key Features

• Kanban boards with lists and draggable cards
• Swimlanes to organize work in parallel tracks (e.g., by team/member)
• WIP (Work In Progress) limits per list/swimlane
• Rich card details: descriptions, checklists, due dates, labels, attachments, comments, and activity history
• User and permission management for boards
• Search and filtering to find cards across boards
• Import/migration options (commonly used for Trello-style workflows)
• Notifications and @mentions (where supported by deployment/config)

Use Cases

• Team project management (product, engineering, operations) using Kanban
• Personal or small-team task tracking with lightweight boards
• Visualizing support/maintenance workflows (backlog → in progress → done)

Limitations and Considerations

• Primarily focused on Kanban; it is not a full suite for docs/roadmaps like Notion/Jira
• Feature availability can vary by deployment method and version; review the current release notes/docs for specifics

WeKan is a practical choice for organizations that want a straightforward, Trello-style Kanban experience with swimlanes and WIP limits. It fits well for day-to-day task management and visual workflow tracking across many types of teams.

OpenProject is a web-based project management platform for planning, tracking, and collaborating across projects. It supports both classic project planning and agile delivery, combining task/issue tracking with timelines, documentation, and reporting in one application.

Key Features

• Work packages for unified task/issue management with custom fields, relations, watchers, and notifications
• Agile boards (Scrum/Kanban) with backlogs, sprints, and swimlanes (depending on configuration)
• Gantt charts and interactive project timelines, including dependencies and milestone planning
• Roadmaps and release planning views for progress and deliverables
• Time tracking and cost reporting features (project/accounting-oriented reporting varies by edition/config)
• Wiki and project documentation features integrated with project navigation
• Role-based permissions and project-level access control for multi-project organizations
• Integrations via REST API and webhooks for automation and external tooling

Use Cases

• Software teams running Scrum/Kanban with backlogs, sprints, and issue tracking
• PMOs managing multi-project plans with Gantt charts, dependencies, and milestones
• Cross-functional teams centralizing project docs (wiki) and progress reporting

Limitations and Considerations

• Some advanced features are edition-dependent (community vs. enterprise), so feature availability may vary
• Migrating from Jira/MS Project can require careful mapping of workflows, fields, and permissions

OpenProject fits organizations that want a single, auditable system for project planning and execution across agile and traditional approaches. It is commonly used as an alternative to hosted PM suites when teams need strong timeline planning, structured permissions, and on-prem control.

Planka is a web-based kanban project management app for organizing work into boards, lists, and cards. It is designed as a Trello-like experience for teams that want a lightweight workflow tool with collaboration features and an API.

Key Features

• Multiple projects and boards with lists and draggable cards
• Card details including description, labels, due dates, checklists, attachments, and comments
• Swimlanes and WIP limits to model workflows and constrain in-progress work
• Board and card filters (e.g., by members/labels), quick search, and keyboard shortcuts
• User management with roles/permissions and per-project membership
• Activity history/audit trail for changes on boards/cards
• REST API for automation and integrations

Use Cases

• Team kanban boards for product development, support, or operations
• Personal or small-team task boards as a Trello replacement
• Lightweight project tracking with labels, checklists, and due dates

Limitations and Considerations

• Feature set is intentionally focused on kanban; advanced portfolio planning and reporting are limited compared to enterprise PM suites.

Planka provides a familiar kanban workflow with strong core collaboration features and a pragmatic deployment model. It fits best where teams want a simple, fast board-centric system with an API rather than a full-scale project suite.

Kanboard is a lightweight project management application built around the Kanban method. It helps teams visualize work, limit work-in-progress, and collaborate on tasks using configurable boards, swimlanes, and automation.

Key Features

• Kanban boards with configurable columns, swimlanes, and WIP limits
• Tasks with due dates, attachments, comments, subtasks, checklists, and recurring tasks
• User roles and project permissions; multi-project support
• Built-in analytics and reporting (e.g., cumulative flow/lead & cycle time views)
• Email integration (notifications and “email to task” workflows) and activity stream
• Automation rules and triggers; webhooks for event-driven integrations
• Plugin architecture for extending features and connecting external services
• Public and private project sharing options and task duplication/templates

Use Cases

• Manage software development or ops work with WIP limits and swimlanes
• Run editorial/content pipelines (ideas → drafting → review → published)
• Track personal or small-team projects needing a simple, fast Kanban tool

Limitations and Considerations

• UI and feature set are intentionally minimal compared to large enterprise suites; advanced portfolio planning may require plugins or external tools

Kanboard focuses on speed, simplicity, and a clear Kanban workflow while still providing the essentials for collaboration and integrations. Its extensibility via plugins and webhooks makes it suitable for teams that want a compact core with optional add-ons.

Taiga is an agile project management web application designed for teams that plan and track work using Scrum or Kanban. It provides end-to-end workflows for managing backlogs, sprints, tasks, issues, and team collaboration, and is commonly deployed using the official Docker-based stack.

Key Features

• Scrum projects: product backlog, sprint planning, story points, sprint backlog, and sprint burn-down style progress tracking
• Kanban projects with configurable columns and WIP-style flow
• Issue tracking with custom fields, tags, priorities, severities, statuses, and assignments
• Wiki/knowledge pages and rich text editing for project documentation
• Roles/permissions and per-project membership management
• REST API for integrations and automation; webhooks supported in Taiga’s ecosystem
• Email notifications and watcher/follower-style updates on work items
• Dockerized deployment (taiga-docker) providing a full stack: backend, frontend, events, PostgreSQL, and reverse proxy

Use Cases

• Software teams running Scrum ceremonies (backlog grooming, sprint planning, daily updates)
• Product teams managing feature requests, bugs, and releases in a single system
• Cross-functional teams tracking operational work with Kanban flow

Limitations and Considerations

• The Docker repository is a deployment bundle; core feature development occurs in other Taiga repositories (backend/frontend), so updates require coordinating stack versions.

Taiga fits teams wanting a structured agile tool with both Scrum and Kanban, plus a mature issue/work item model. The official Docker stack simplifies standing up the full service with the required supporting components.

Roundup is an issue/bug tracker written in Python designed to be lightweight yet highly adaptable. It provides web and email-driven workflows and lets you model your tracker’s data (issues, tasks, users, etc.) to match how your team works.

Key Features:

• Customizable tracker schema (define classes/fields and relationships to fit your process)
• Web interface for creating, editing, searching, and triaging issues
• Email interface for creating/updating issues via messages and replies
• Flexible permissions model to control access by role/user
• Full-text and field-based searching with configurable queries
• File attachments and message history per issue
• Extensible via detectors/extensions to implement workflow rules and automation
• Multiple database backends supported (commonly SQLite, PostgreSQL, MySQL)

Use Cases:

• Bug and issue tracking for software projects needing a custom data model
• Internal helpdesk/support ticket tracking with email-based updates
• Lightweight task/defect tracking for small teams that want simple deployment

Limitations and Considerations

• UI is functional but comparatively minimal versus modern, highly polished trackers
• Customization often involves editing tracker templates/schema and Python-based extensions

Roundup is a good fit when you want an established, scriptable tracker that can be tailored to non-standard workflows and data fields. Its email and web interfaces make it practical for teams that prefer inbox-driven ticket handling alongside a web UI.