head to head · open source
vibe-kanban vs django-helpdesk
vibe-kanban has 28,569 GitHub stars, 3,050 forks, 540 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. django-helpdesk has 1,692 stars, 716 forks, 36 open issues and last shipped yesterday. vibe-kanban leads on adoption by 1,588% (28,569 vs 1,692 stars). vibe-kanban is written in Rust under Apache-2.0; django-helpdesk is written in Python under BSD-3-Clause. vibe-kanban has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, django-helpdesk 42%. django-helpdesk 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
| vibe-kanban | django-helpdesk | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 29K | ★ 1.7K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Written in | Rust | Python |
| Last push | 2026-10-29 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 716 |
| 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 django-helpdesk if
- You want the django-helpdesk feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and django-helpdesk 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 django-helpdesk
django helpdesk A Django powered ticket tracker for small businesses. ======================================================================= .. image:: :target: :alt: Build Status .. image:: :target: Copyright 2009 2026 Ross Poulton and django helpdesk contributors. All Rights Reserved. See LICENSE for details. django helpdesk was formerly known as Jutda Helpdesk, named after the company which originally created it. As of January 2011 the name has been changed to reflect what it really is: a Django powered ticket tracker with contributors reaching far beyond Jutda. Complete documentation is available in the…
read the full django-helpdesk overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is vibe-kanban or django-helpdesk more popular?
vibe-kanban has 28,569 GitHub stars and django-helpdesk has 1,692. vibe-kanban has the larger community by that measure.
Are vibe-kanban and django-helpdesk free?
Both are open source. vibe-kanban is licensed under Apache-2.0 and django-helpdesk under BSD-3-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between vibe-kanban and django-helpdesk?
vibe-kanban is written in Rust and django-helpdesk in Python. 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 django-helpdesk?
Choose vibe-kanban if you want the larger community (28,569 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose django-helpdesk if its feature set, stack or BSD-3-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.