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Vikunja is the best all-round choice for most small teams running a Trello replacement on a VPS. It combines List, Kanban, Gantt and Table views, can import tasks from Trello, Todoist and Microsoft To-Do, and is available as a single deployable binary or container. Choose PLANKA when matching Trello’s card-and-board feel matters most; choose WeKan for a straightforward MIT-licensed board; Kanboard for a deliberately minimal installation; Plane for broader project management; and Focalboard only when you are evaluating a legacy deployment rather than starting a new one.
Trello does not provide a self-hosted edition, so every option below is a separate application that you operate on your own server. That gives you control over data, upgrades and network access, but also makes TLS, backups, identity management, email delivery, monitoring and recovery your responsibility.
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- Closest Trello-style experience: PLANKA.
- Best general-purpose task manager: Vikunja.
- Open-source, board-first option: WeKan.
- Smallest, most focused Kanban installation: Kanboard.
- Broader project and product management: Plane.
- Legacy evaluation only: Focalboard.
Those labels describe product fit, not a performance ranking. No controlled benchmark established universal CPU, memory or throughput requirements for the exact releases available in October 2026. Size a VPS from your user count, attachment volume, automation and database choice, then measure the selected release under realistic load.
What “self-hosted Trello alternative” means on a VPS
A VPS is a virtual server rented from a hosting company. You install the project-management application, expose it through your own domain, and retain administrative control over its files and database. The provider supplies virtual compute, storage and networking; the application project supplies the software. A VPS contract does not transfer responsibility for application security or data protection.
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Every deployment needs more than the board software itself:
- Network edge: DNS, a reverse proxy and a valid TLS certificate so browsers connect over HTTPS.
- Data layer: the application’s supported database and a tested backup/restore process.
- Identity: user accounts, invitation policy, password recovery and, where documented for the chosen edition, external authentication or SSO.
- Messaging: outbound SMTP if invitations, notifications or password-reset mail are required.
- Operations: update scheduling, logs, uptime checks, disk monitoring and an incident procedure.
Self-hosting is therefore most valuable when your team needs control or local residency and can operate a small web service. If you only want to use boards without maintaining infrastructure, a hosted service remains simpler.
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| Product | Board and planning model | Migration or integration evidence | License and editions | Deployment and lifecycle signals |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLANKA | Cards, boards and a familiar Trello-like interaction | Choose it primarily for board fidelity; the supplied project material does not establish a Trello importer | Free Community edition plus Pro and Enterprise paths; Fair Use terms for community code and commercial licensing for paid editions | Self-hosted; its repository had 12.6k GitHub stars in a 2026 crawl |
| Vikunja | List, Kanban, Gantt and Table views | Imports tasks from Trello, Todoist and Microsoft To-Do | Edition boundaries should be checked in the current project documentation | Binary, container and several operating-system, package and orchestration installation paths; supports SQLite, PostgreSQL and MySQL/MariaDB |
| WeKan | Board-first Kanban modeled around cards and lists | Use when the board model is the priority; current importer coverage is not established in the available project material | MIT licensed and free for commercial use | Self-hosted; verify current authentication, database and release details in the project documentation before deployment |
| Kanboard | Focused Kanban workflow | Best suited to teams that do not need a broad migration or planning suite | The available comparison does not establish a newer paid-feature boundary | Positioned as a minimal choice for a small VPS; no current official release number or resource floor is established here |
| Plane | Broader project and product-management workspace rather than a narrow Trello clone | Native importers, REST APIs and webhooks are documented | AGPLv3 Community, Commercial and Airgapped self-hosted editions; Community has no restrictions beyond the AGPL v3.0 license | Docker and Kubernetes deployment; its self-hosted product page reported 48,000+ GitHub stars in 2026 |
| Focalboard | Kanban, table, gallery and calendar views, with custom attributes, templates, comments, permissions and collaboration | Useful for examining an existing installation; do not select it as the default for a new project | Edition and licensing details are less relevant than its maintenance status for a new deployment | A comparison published 11 October 2026 reported that the standalone server had not released since October 2023 |
PLANKA: the closest visual replacement for Trello
Why teams choose it
PLANKA is designed around the interaction Trello users already understand: boards contain lists, lists contain cards, and day-to-day work happens by moving and editing those cards. That makes it the natural first evaluation for a team whose main requirement is familiarity rather than a large planning feature set.
Licensing you must explain to stakeholders
Do not describe PLANKA as a conventional MIT- or GPL-licensed project. The project’s current model uses Fair Use terms for community code and commercial licensing for Pro and Enterprise editions. “Source-available” or “fair-code” is more accurate, and a commercial deployment should have its legal team review the applicable edition terms before installation.
When it is the right pick
- Your users want cards, lists and boards with minimal retraining.
- You are comfortable evaluating Community against Pro or Enterprise requirements.
- You prefer a board-centric workspace over Gantt-heavy planning.
The repository’s 12.6k GitHub stars, recorded in a 2026 crawl, indicate substantial visibility, but stars are not a substitute for checking release cadence, security advisories and upgrade notes for the version you intend to run.
Vikunja: the strongest general-purpose option
What extends beyond a Trello board
Vikunja offers four documented views: List, Kanban, Gantt and Table. A team can therefore start with a board and switch to a schedule or tabular view when due dates, dependencies or bulk editing become more important. Its feature page also lists importers for Trello, Todoist and Microsoft To-Do, which reduces the cost of leaving an existing task system.
Why deployment is comparatively simple
The frontend and API are bundled into one deployable binary or one container. Official installation paths include a direct binary, source, Docker, Debian/Ubuntu, RPM, Arch, Alpine, FreeBSD, Kubernetes and Ansible. That range lets a small team begin with one service and later adopt the packaging or orchestration standard already used by its administrators.
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Database choices
Vikunja supports SQLite, PostgreSQL and MySQL/MariaDB configurations. SQLite can reduce initial administration for a small installation; a separate relational database is usually easier to operate when several services, replicas or established backup tooling are involved. Select the database before writing your backup procedure, because restoring the application without its database does not restore the workspace.
Best fit
Choose Vikunja when you need a Trello migration path but also expect lists, schedules or tables to matter. It is the default recommendation for many small teams because it combines board familiarity with a broader task model without requiring a separate frontend and API deployment.
WeKan: an open-source, board-first choice
What it does well
WeKan keeps the mental model close to Trello: a board, lists and cards, with the code released under the MIT license and free for commercial use. That licensing clarity is attractive to organizations that need to modify or redistribute the software under permissive terms.
What to verify before committing
Authentication methods, database support, release cadence and current deployment instructions should be checked in WeKan’s own documentation at the time you install it. Those details can change between releases, and the available project material does not establish a current matrix for them. Treat that verification as a procurement requirement rather than assuming that a familiar board interface guarantees a particular SSO or database option.
Best fit
Use WeKan when the team wants a conventional open-source Kanban board and does not need the broader planning views documented for Vikunja or the product-management scope of Plane.
Kanboard: minimal Kanban for a small VPS
Why simplicity can be a feature
Kanboard is positioned as a focused Kanban application. A small team that only needs columns, cards and a limited workflow may prefer fewer concepts and a smaller operational footprint to a suite with calendars, roadmaps and multiple planning modes.
Limits of the available evidence
No current official release number or resource minimum is established for this comparison. Do not copy a generic “minimum VPS” figure from an older guide. Check the release documentation, install it in a staging instance and watch memory, storage and database behavior while importing representative data.
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Best fit
Pick Kanboard when a narrow, dependable workflow is more valuable than Trello import tooling, multiple views or a broad project-management data model.
Plane: when “Trello alternative” really means project management
Scope and editions
Plane is broader than a Trello clone. Its self-hosted documentation describes three editions: an AGPLv3 Community edition, a Commercial edition and an Airgapped edition. The Community edition is described as fully open source with no restrictions beyond the AGPL v3.0 license. Commercial and air-gapped requirements should be mapped to the edition terms before a business rollout.
Integration and deployment
Plane documents Docker and Kubernetes deployment, native importers, REST APIs and webhooks. Those interfaces matter when boards must connect to repositories, chat, reporting or internal automation rather than remain isolated. They also add configuration and upgrade work compared with a single-purpose Kanban service.
Best fit
Choose Plane for teams managing projects or products that need structured integrations, APIs and a larger planning surface. It is a poor fit if all you want is a lightweight Trello-like board with minimal administration.
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Focalboard: treat it as legacy software
Feature set
Focalboard’s official page lists unlimited boards, custom attributes, Kanban, table, gallery and calendar views, templates, comments, permissions and collaboration. On paper, that covers the core scenarios many teams expect from a modern board tool.
Maintenance warning
A comparison published by SSD Nodes on 11 October 2026 reported that the standalone server had not received a release since October 2023 and advised against starting a new project on it. That does not erase an existing installation’s value, but it changes the decision: use Focalboard to inspect or maintain a legacy workspace only after reviewing security exposure, upgrade paths and export options. For a new VPS, select an actively maintained alternative instead.
How to choose between the candidates
Start with the board experience
If moving cards between lists is the defining behavior, shortlist PLANKA and WeKan first, then include Kanboard if you want a deliberately smaller system. If users need schedules, dependencies or tables as first-class views, Vikunja moves ahead. If the workspace must connect to product workflows through APIs and webhooks, evaluate Plane.
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Then check migration
Vikunja explicitly lists Trello import, as well as Todoist and Microsoft To-Do import. Plane documents native importers but the available material does not enumerate every source. For PLANKA, WeKan and Kanboard, plan a pilot export and manual mapping unless the version documentation confirms an importer. Test labels, due dates, checklists, attachments, members, comments and archived cards separately; “import supported” rarely means every field arrives unchanged.
Finally check governance
- Confirm whether the license permits your intended commercial use and redistribution.
- Identify which functions belong to Community versus paid editions.
- Verify supported authentication, SSO, database engines and backup procedures for the exact release.
- Review release notes and security advisories, not just repository popularity.
VPS deployment blueprint
The sequence below works for any of the six products, with product-specific commands and configuration taken from the selected project’s current documentation.
- Define the service boundary. Decide the domain name, user groups, data-retention period, attachment policy and whether the service is internet-facing or reachable only through a private network.
- Select the edition and license. Record the exact version and edition in your change log. For PLANKA, distinguish Community from Pro or Enterprise; for Plane, distinguish AGPLv3 Community from Commercial or Airgapped.
- Provision the VPS. Create a supported Linux environment with encrypted administrative access, automatic security updates where appropriate, a firewall and enough disk headroom for the database, attachments, logs and backups. Do not rely on an unverified generic RAM minimum.
- Set DNS and HTTPS. Point the chosen hostname to the server, terminate TLS at a maintained reverse proxy and redirect plain HTTP to HTTPS. Keep the application and database ports private whenever the deployment model permits it.
- Install the application and database. Use the project’s documented package, binary, container or orchestration path. Vikunja offers the widest documented range of installation methods; Plane documents Docker and Kubernetes. Keep secrets outside images and source-controlled manifests.
- Configure mail and identity. Add an authenticated SMTP relay for invitations and password recovery. Configure local accounts, external identity or SSO only where the selected release and edition document support it; test login, logout, invitation, disabled-user and password-reset flows.
- Import a representative sample. Export a small Trello board first. Compare cards, labels, checklists, dates, members, comments and attachments before importing the complete workspace. Preserve the original export until users sign off.
- Back up and restore. Schedule database and file backups to storage separate from the VPS, encrypt them, retain multiple generations and perform a full restore into a disposable environment. A backup that has never been restored is only an assumption.
- Monitor and document. Alert on uptime, certificate expiry, disk growth, failed jobs and database errors. Record the upgrade path, rollback steps, administrator accounts and the person responsible for each alert.
- Run a staged upgrade. Read release notes, snapshot or back up first, upgrade a staging instance, exercise login and representative boards, then schedule production maintenance. Keep a rollback plan that includes both application files and the database schema.
Vikunja installation choices in practice
Single-server start
A binary or container is suitable when one administrator wants the fewest moving parts. Put the service behind the reverse proxy, use the selected database configuration, and store uploads and configuration on persistent volumes rather than an ephemeral container layer.
Package-managed server
Debian/Ubuntu, RPM-based, Arch, Alpine and FreeBSD paths let administrators use the operating system’s service management and update conventions. Keep the application package, database and reverse-proxy configuration under documented change control so a replacement VPS can be rebuilt.
Orchestrated deployment
Kubernetes and Ansible paths make sense when your organization already operates those systems. They do not remove operational work: persistent volumes, secrets, ingress, database backups and version pinning still need owners.
Authentication, SSO and permissions: questions to answer before launch
Authentication and SSO are often decisive for a team, yet they vary by product, release and paid edition. Do not infer support from a marketing page or from another project’s configuration. During evaluation, answer these questions for the exact build:
- Can users sign in with the identity provider your organization requires?
- Can administrators disable an account immediately when employment or membership ends?
- Are board, project and workspace permissions granular enough for private work?
- Do invitations and password resets use your SMTP relay reliably?
- Are audit logs available for membership and permission changes?
- Can an administrator export data if the application must be replaced?
Run these tests with ordinary users, a board administrator and a system administrator. A successful administrator login alone does not prove that least-privilege access works.
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Licensing and commercial-use checkpoints
License labels are not interchangeable. PLANKA’s Fair Use and commercial-edition structure should be treated as source-available/fair-code, not casually called MIT. WeKan’s FAQ identifies an MIT license and free commercial use. Plane documents AGPLv3 Community alongside Commercial and Airgapped editions. For Vikunja, Kanboard and Focalboard, review the license files and edition terms shipped with the exact release you deploy.
Also separate software licensing from infrastructure cost. A VPS provider’s invoice covers virtual-server resources and related services; it does not grant rights to proprietary application editions, remove AGPL obligations or provide a backup policy for your data.
Maintenance and risk over time
Popularity is only a signal
PLANKA’s 12.6k stars and Plane’s 48,000-plus stars show community attention in 2026, but neither number guarantees response time or compatibility with your plugins. Check tagged releases, issue activity, security notices and upgrade documentation before adopting.
Prefer an active path for new work
The October 2023 standalone Focalboard release date reported on 11 October 2026 is the clearest warning in this group. A mature feature list cannot compensate for a maintenance gap when the service will hold current credentials and business data. For a new deployment, favor a project with a current release process and a documented migration or export path.
Re-test after every upgrade
At minimum, verify sign-in, board loading, card creation and movement, comments, attachments, notifications, imports, exports and permission boundaries. Keep a copy of the previous application version and a restorable database backup until the new build has passed those checks.
A practical decision sequence
- Need the closest Trello feel? Pilot PLANKA and WeKan side by side, with licensing as the deciding factor.
- Need Trello import plus multiple planning views? Pilot Vikunja first.
- Need only a lean Kanban workflow? Evaluate Kanboard on a small staging VPS.
- Need APIs, webhooks, product planning or air-gapped operation? Evaluate the appropriate Plane edition and its license obligations.
- Already running Focalboard? Plan an export and migration review rather than expanding a new installation.
Whichever product wins, make the decision from a pilot containing real boards and real permission scenarios. The best application is the one your team can migrate into, secure, back up and upgrade without surprises.
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