head to head · open source
vibe-kanban vs Backlog.md
vibe-kanban has 28,569 GitHub stars, 3,050 forks, 540 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. Backlog.md has 7,245 stars, 479 forks, 55 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. vibe-kanban leads on adoption by 294% (28,569 vs 7,245 stars). vibe-kanban is written in Rust under Apache-2.0; Backlog.md is written in TypeScript under MIT. vibe-kanban has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, Backlog.md 7%. vibe-kanban was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (agent, management, task-manager), 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
| vibe-kanban | Backlog.md | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 29K | ★ 7.2K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Rust | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-29 | 2026-10-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 479 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick vibe-kanban if
- You weight community size — 29K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Backlog.md if
- You want the Backlog.md feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Backlog.md fits your workflow better
About vibe-kanban
Get 10X more out of Claude Code, Gemini CLI, Codex, Amp and other coding agents... Vibe Kanban is sunsetting. Read the announcement. Overview In a world where software engineers spend most of their time planning and reviewing coding agents, the most impactful way to ship more is to get faster at planning and review. Vibe Kanban is built for this. Use kanban issues to plan work, either privately or with your team. When you're ready to begin, create workspaces where coding agents can execute. Plan with kanban issues — create, prioritise, and assign issues on a kanban board Run coding agents in workspaces — each…
read the full vibe-kanban overview →
About Backlog.md
Backlog.md Markdown‑native Task Manager & Kanban visualizer for any Git repository AI agents write the code. You review the tasks: before, during, and after. npm i g backlog.md Backlog.md turns any folder into a self‑contained project board powered by plain Markdown files and a zero‑config CLI. Why Backlog.md in the AI era AI agents can now produce more plausible code in an hour than you can carefully read in a day. The bottleneck is no longer writing code. It's your attention. You can't meaningfully review 15,000 generated lines in one sitting, but you can read a screenful of task specs with acceptance criteria…
read the full Backlog.md overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is vibe-kanban or Backlog.md more popular?
vibe-kanban has 28,569 GitHub stars and Backlog.md has 7,245. vibe-kanban has the larger community by that measure.
Are vibe-kanban and Backlog.md free?
Both are open source. vibe-kanban is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Backlog.md under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between vibe-kanban and Backlog.md?
vibe-kanban is written in Rust and Backlog.md 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, vibe-kanban or Backlog.md?
Choose vibe-kanban if you want the larger community (28,569 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Backlog.md if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.