head to head · open source
Planka vs freeplane
Planka has 12,567 GitHub stars, 1,378 forks, 425 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. freeplane has 4,368 stars, 498 forks, 453 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Planka leads on adoption by 188% (12,567 vs 4,368 stars). Planka is written in JavaScript under a custom or non-standard licence; freeplane is written in Java under GPL-2.0. Planka has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, freeplane 11%. freeplane 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
| Planka | freeplane | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 13K | ★ 4.4K |
| License | Custom / other | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.4K | ⑂ 498 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Planka if
- You weight community size — 13K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- 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 Planka
Planka is a self hosted Kanban board for project and task management. It lives in the open source project and work management ecosystem, with JavaScript as its implementation language, and it positions itself as an open alternative to Trello and Monday.com. The project provides a free Community edition for self hosting, while PLANKA Pro adds organization features and developer support.
read the full Planka overview →
About freeplane
Freeplane is a free and open source desktop application for mind mapping, concept mapping and information mapping, written in Java with OSGi and Java Swing. It lives in the Java desktop ecosystem and is distributed under the GPL 2.0 license, with source hosted on GitHub and binary downloads published through SourceForge. The project has been under development for roughly 14 years and sits in the business software category of project and work management tools.
read the full freeplane overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Planka or freeplane more popular?
Planka has 12,567 GitHub stars and freeplane has 4,368. Planka has the larger community by that measure.
Are Planka and freeplane free?
Both are open source. Planka has no licence declared in this registry, and freeplane is licensed under GPL-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Planka and freeplane?
Planka is written in JavaScript 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, Planka or freeplane?
Choose Planka if you want the larger community (12,567 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose freeplane if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.