head to head · open source
OpenProject vs freeplane
OpenProject has 16,933 GitHub stars, 3,676 forks, 224 open issues and last shipped yesterday. freeplane has 4,448 stars, 504 forks, 453 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. OpenProject leads on adoption by 281% (16,933 vs 4,448 stars). OpenProject is written in Ruby under GPL-3.0; freeplane is written in Java under GPL-2.0. OpenProject has attracted 22% as many forks as stars, freeplane 11%. OpenProject 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
| OpenProject | freeplane | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 17K | ★ 4.4K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | Ruby | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.7K | ⑂ 504 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick OpenProject if
- You weight community size — 17K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Ruby
- 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 OpenProject
OpenProject We empower teams to achieve great things together for the good of society. OpenProject is a web based open source project management software for teams and organizations that require transparency, flexibility, and data sovereignty. Manage projects, portfolios, products, tasks, bugs, agile workflows, roadmaps, and team collaboration in a single platform. OpenProject can be self hosted and is designed for organizations looking for an open source enterprise ready alternative to tools such as Jira, MS Project, Monday, Asana, YouTrack while maintaining full control over their data and infrastructure…
read the full OpenProject 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 OpenProject or freeplane more popular?
OpenProject has 16,933 GitHub stars and freeplane has 4,448. OpenProject has the larger community by that measure.
Are OpenProject and freeplane free?
Both are open source. OpenProject is licensed under GPL-3.0 and freeplane under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between OpenProject and freeplane?
OpenProject is written in Ruby 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, OpenProject or freeplane?
Choose OpenProject if you want the larger community (16,933 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose freeplane if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.