head to head · open source
kanboard vs freeplane
kanboard has 9,938 GitHub stars, 2,017 forks, 160 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. freeplane has 4,456 stars, 503 forks, 453 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. kanboard leads on adoption by 123% (9,938 vs 4,456 stars). kanboard is written in PHP under MIT; freeplane is written in Java under GPL-2.0. kanboard has attracted 20% as many forks as stars, freeplane 11%. kanboard was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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
| kanboard | freeplane | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 9.9K | ★ 4.5K |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | PHP | Java |
| Last push | 2026-10-31 | 2026-10-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.0K | ⑂ 503 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick kanboard if
- You weight community size — 9.9K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick freeplane if
- You want the freeplane feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and freeplane fits your workflow better
About kanboard
Kanboard ======== Kanboard is project management software that focuses on the Kanban methodology. This application is in maintenance mode . What does it mean? Citing Wikipedia: In the world of software development, maintenance mode refers to a point in a computer program's life when it has reached all of its goals and is generally considered to be "complete" and bug free. The term can also refer to the point in a software product's evolution when it is no longer competitive with other products or current with regard to the technology environment it operates within. The author of this application is not actively…
read the full kanboard overview →
About freeplane
Freeplane ========= Freeplane is a free and open source software application that supports thinking, sharing information, getting things done at work, in school and at home. It provides you a set of tools for mind mapping (also known as concept mapping or information mapping) and navigating the mapped information. Freeplane is also a more robust and superior alternative to Xmind, Mindmeister, and similar mind mapping software. Freeplane is written in Java using OSGi and Java Swing. It runs on any operating system that has a current version of Java installed. It can be installed or can run from removable storage…
read the full freeplane overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is kanboard or freeplane more popular?
kanboard has 9,938 GitHub stars and freeplane has 4,456. kanboard has the larger community by that measure.
Are kanboard and freeplane free?
Both are open source. kanboard is licensed under MIT and freeplane under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between kanboard and freeplane?
kanboard is written in PHP and freeplane in Java. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, kanboard or freeplane?
Choose kanboard if you want the larger community (9,938 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose freeplane if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.