head to head · open source
Leantime vs Kaneo
Leantime has 11,612 GitHub stars, 1,131 forks, 328 open issues and last shipped 13 days ago. Kaneo has 9,134 stars, 800 forks, 70 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Leantime leads on adoption by 27% (11,612 vs 9,134 stars). Leantime is written in PHP under AGPL-3.0; Kaneo is written in TypeScript under MIT. Leantime has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, Kaneo 9%. Kaneo was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (kanban), 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
| Leantime | Kaneo | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 12K | ★ 9.1K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | PHP | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-07 | 2026-09-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.1K | ⑂ 800 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Leantime if
- You weight community size — 12K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Kaneo if
- You want the Kaneo feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Kaneo fits your workflow better
About Leantime
Leantime is an open source project management system in the Business Software / Project & Work Management category, written in PHP and licensed under AGPL 3.0. It is aimed at non project managers and combines strategy, planning, and execution in one place. The project describes itself as built with ADHD, autism, and dyslexia in mind.
read the full Leantime overview →
About Kaneo
Kaneo is an open source project management tool for development teams, published under the MIT license and written in TypeScript. It describes itself as "all you need, nothing you don't," and its README frames the design goal around restraint: the project's authors argue that the problem with most project management platforms is not a lack of features but an excess of them, where notifications, unnecessary buttons and complex workflows pull teams away from building products. Kaneo belongs to the self hosted project and work management ecosystem, and its topic list places it explicitly alongside issue trackers and…
read the full Kaneo overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Leantime or Kaneo more popular?
Leantime has 11,612 GitHub stars and Kaneo has 9,134. Leantime has the larger community by that measure.
Are Leantime and Kaneo free?
Both are open source. Leantime is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Kaneo under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Leantime and Kaneo?
Leantime is written in PHP and Kaneo 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, Leantime or Kaneo?
Choose Leantime if you want the larger community (11,612 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Kaneo if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.