head to head · open source
Planka vs KaibanJS
Planka has 12,664 GitHub stars, 1,397 forks, 425 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. KaibanJS has 1,486 stars, 159 forks, 78 open issues and last shipped 6 months ago. Planka leads on adoption by 752% (12,664 vs 1,486 stars). Planka is written in JavaScript under a custom or non-standard licence; KaibanJS is written in TypeScript under MIT. Planka has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, KaibanJS 11%. Planka 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
| Planka | KaibanJS | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 13K | ★ 1.5K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-05-15 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.4K | ⑂ 159 |
| 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 KaibanJS if
- You want the KaibanJS feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and KaibanJS fits your workflow better
About Planka
PLANKA Project mastering driven by fun Install · Demo · Docs · API · Cloud · Pro version PLANKA Pro When the whole team runs on PLANKA. Phones and tablets · five themes · a dashboard across every project · calendar, timeline and map views · cards on more than one board · templates · guest roles · SSO · PDF export. Self hosted exactly as you host it now, supported by the people who build it. Pro upgrades an existing Community installation in place — your database, your volume, your data. It is a real migration rather than a new image: Pro adds a Valkey service and a one off schema promote. The promote accepts…
read the full Planka overview →
About KaibanJS
KaibanJS The JavaScript Framework for Building Multi agent Systems. Kanban for AI Agents? 🤖📋 KaibanJS is inspired by the tried and true Kanban methodology, which is well known for helping teams organize and manage their work. We've adapted these concepts to meet the unique challenges of AI agent management . If you've used tools like Trello, Jira, or ClickUp, you'll be familiar with how Kanban helps manage tasks. Now, KaibanJS uses that same system to help you manage AI agents and their tasks in real time. With KaibanJS, you can: 🔨 Create, visualize, and manage AI agents, tasks, tools, and teams 🎯…
read the full KaibanJS overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Planka or KaibanJS more popular?
Planka has 12,664 GitHub stars and KaibanJS has 1,486. Planka has the larger community by that measure.
Are Planka and KaibanJS free?
Both are open source. Planka has no licence declared in this registry, and KaibanJS is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Planka and KaibanJS?
Planka is written in JavaScript and KaibanJS 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, Planka or KaibanJS?
Choose Planka if you want the larger community (12,664 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose KaibanJS if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.