head to head · open source
Backlog.md vs kandev
Backlog.md has 7,273 GitHub stars, 480 forks, 55 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. kandev has 1,057 stars, 176 forks, 116 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Backlog.md leads on adoption by 588% (7,273 vs 1,057 stars). Backlog.md is written in TypeScript under MIT; kandev is written in Go under AGPL-3.0. Backlog.md has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, kandev 17%. kandev was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (agentic-ai), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Backlog.md | kandev | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 7.3K | ★ 1.1K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-10-29 | 2026-11-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 480 | ⑂ 176 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Backlog.md if
- You weight community size — 7.3K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick kandev if
- You want the kandev feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and kandev fits your workflow better
About Backlog.md
Backlog.md Markdown‑native Task Manager & Kanban visualizer for any Git repository AI agents write the code. You review the tasks: before, during, and after. npm i g backlog.md Backlog.md turns any folder into a self‑contained project board powered by plain Markdown files and a zero‑config CLI. Why Backlog.md in the AI era AI agents can now produce more plausible code in an hour than you can carefully read in a day. The bottleneck is no longer writing code. It's your attention. You can't meaningfully review 15,000 generated lines in one sitting, but you can read a screenful of task specs with acceptance criteria…
read the full Backlog.md overview →
About kandev
Kandev Manage and run tasks in parallel. Orchestrate agents. Review changes. Ship value. Features Workflows Run as a Service Mobile Access Debug Logs Roadmap Contributing Architecture Discord See screenshots What Kandev is a powerful tool for power users who want deeper control over how AI agents work: customize workflows, agent profiles, runtimes, prompts, and review gates to match your process. Organize work across kanban and pipeline views with opinionated workflows and execute multiple tasks in parallel. Assign agents from any provider, and review their output in an integrated workspace file editor, file…
read the full kandev overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Backlog.md or kandev more popular?
Backlog.md has 7,273 GitHub stars and kandev has 1,057. Backlog.md has the larger community by that measure.
Are Backlog.md and kandev free?
Both are open source. Backlog.md is licensed under MIT and kandev under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Backlog.md and kandev?
Backlog.md is written in TypeScript and kandev in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Backlog.md or kandev?
Choose Backlog.md if you want the larger community (7,273 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose kandev if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.