head to head · open source
Wekan vs OpenProject
Wekan has 21,089 GitHub stars, 3,000 forks, 165 open issues and last shipped yesterday. OpenProject has 16,132 stars, 3,486 forks, 224 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Wekan leads on adoption by 31% (21,089 vs 16,132 stars). Wekan is written in JavaScript under MIT; OpenProject is written in Ruby under GPL-3.0. Wekan has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, OpenProject 22%. OpenProject 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
| Wekan | OpenProject | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 21K | ★ 16K |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Ruby |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 3.5K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Wekan if
- You weight community size — 21K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick OpenProject if
- You want the OpenProject feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Ruby
- You evaluated both and OpenProject fits your workflow better
About Wekan
Wekan is an open source collaborative kanban board application written in JavaScript and built with Meteor. It is licensed under the MIT license and is positioned as a free and open source alternative to Jira and Monday.com. The project lives in the self hosted business software and project management ecosystem.
read the full Wekan overview →
About OpenProject
OpenProject is a web based open source project management software for teams and organizations that need transparency, flexibility, and data sovereignty. It lives in the open source project management ecosystem, with Ruby as the repository language and Angular as a listed topic. The project is positioned as an open alternative to Asana and Basecamp, and the README also compares it with Jira, MS Project, Monday, and YouTrack.
read the full OpenProject overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Wekan or OpenProject more popular?
Wekan has 21,089 GitHub stars and OpenProject has 16,132. Wekan has the larger community by that measure.
Are Wekan and OpenProject free?
Both are open source. Wekan is licensed under MIT and OpenProject under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Wekan and OpenProject?
Wekan is written in JavaScript and OpenProject in Ruby. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Wekan or OpenProject?
Choose Wekan if you want the larger community (21,089 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose OpenProject if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.