head to head · open source
vibe-kanban vs Backlog.md
vibe-kanban has 28,135 GitHub stars, 3,013 forks, 540 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Backlog.md has 6,787 stars, 427 forks, 55 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. vibe-kanban leads on adoption by 315% (28,135 vs 6,787 stars). vibe-kanban is written in Rust under Apache-2.0; Backlog.md is written in TypeScript under MIT. vibe-kanban has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, Backlog.md 6%. vibe-kanban was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (agent, management, task-manager), 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
| vibe-kanban | Backlog.md | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 28K | ★ 6.8K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Rust | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 427 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick vibe-kanban if
- You weight community size — 28K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Backlog.md if
- You want the Backlog.md feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Backlog.md fits your workflow better
About vibe-kanban
Vibe Kanban is an open source, Apache 2.0 kanban board written in Rust that lets software engineers plan work as issues and hand each issue to a coding agent such as Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI or Amp inside an isolated workspace.
read the full vibe-kanban overview →
About Backlog.md
Backlog.md is a Markdown native task manager and Kanban visualizer that turns any folder into a self contained project board. It lives in the Git ecosystem, written in TypeScript and released under the MIT license, and it is distributed as a zero config CLI alongside a terminal board and a local web interface. Every task is stored as a plain .md file inside the repository, so the project ledger travels with the code and remains readable to humans, teams, and AI agents alike.
read the full Backlog.md overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is vibe-kanban or Backlog.md more popular?
vibe-kanban has 28,135 GitHub stars and Backlog.md has 6,787. vibe-kanban has the larger community by that measure.
Are vibe-kanban and Backlog.md free?
Both are open source. vibe-kanban is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Backlog.md under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between vibe-kanban and Backlog.md?
vibe-kanban is written in Rust and Backlog.md in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, vibe-kanban or Backlog.md?
Choose vibe-kanban if you want the larger community (28,135 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Backlog.md if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.