head to head · open source
vibe-kanban vs Donetick
vibe-kanban has 28,112 GitHub stars, 3,013 forks, 540 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Donetick has 2,562 stars, 199 forks, 176 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. vibe-kanban leads on adoption by 997% (28,112 vs 2,562 stars). vibe-kanban is written in Rust under Apache-2.0; Donetick is written in Go under AGPL-3.0. vibe-kanban has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, Donetick 8%. vibe-kanban was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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 | Donetick | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 28K | ★ 2.6K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Rust | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-08-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 199 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick vibe-kanban if
- You weight community size — 28K 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 Donetick if
- You want the Donetick feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and Donetick fits your workflow better
About vibe-kanban
Vibe Kanban is an open source, Apache 2.0 kanban board written in Rust that lets software engineers plan work as issues and hand each issue to a coding agent such as Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI or Amp inside an isolated workspace.
read the full vibe-kanban overview →
About Donetick
Donetick is an open source task and chore management app built in Go with a React frontend, released under AGPL 3.0. It lives in the self hosted productivity ecosystem and targets individuals, families, and groups that need shared lists with scheduling, assignment, and progress tracking.
read the full Donetick overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is vibe-kanban or Donetick more popular?
vibe-kanban has 28,112 GitHub stars and Donetick has 2,562. vibe-kanban has the larger community by that measure.
Are vibe-kanban and Donetick free?
Both are open source. vibe-kanban is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Donetick under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between vibe-kanban and Donetick?
vibe-kanban is written in Rust and Donetick in Go. 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 Donetick?
Choose vibe-kanban if you want the larger community (28,112 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Donetick if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.