[opensourcedex]

Planka is a free, open source project & work management project written in JavaScript and released under a custom open-source licence. It has 12,557 GitHub stars, 1,378 forks and 425 open issues, and was last pushed 23 hours ago. On this registry it ranks #7 of 62 tracked projects in Project & Work Management, and is listed as an open source replacement for 2 paid products, with 5 head-to-head comparisons available. It gained 16 stars over the last 6 tracked days.

Planka — Self-hosted Kanban board with real-time collaboration

What is Planka?

What it is

Planka is a self-hosted Kanban board for project and task management. It lives in the open-source project and work management ecosystem, with JavaScript as its implementation language, and it positions itself as an open alternative to Trello and Monday.com. The project provides a free Community edition for self-hosting, while PLANKA Pro adds organization features and developer support.

The concrete problem Planka solves is the need for collaborative task tracking without handing project data to a third-party service. Teams can create projects, boards, lists, and cards, then move work with drag-and-drop interfaces. Because the board updates are real time, multiple users can work in the same view without refreshing. The self-hosted model lets an organization keep its database, backups, and deployment controls in place while using a familiar Kanban workflow.

Key capabilities

  • Planka supports collaborative Kanban boards with projects, boards, lists, cards, and drag-and-drop task management.
  • It provides real-time updates so changes sync instantly across users.
  • It includes rich Markdown support for card descriptions, along with attachments, comments, and custom fields.
  • It offers notifications through more than 100 providers, which teams can customize to their workflow.
  • It includes webhooks and a documented REST API for automation and integration.
  • It supports two-factor authentication, multilingual interfaces, and stopwatch and due dates on cards.
  • The Pro edition adds mobile and tablet support, five themes, a dashboard across projects, calendar, timeline, map, and media views, recurring cards, templates, guest roles, OIDC single sign-on, and PDF or HTML export.

Who uses it and how

  • Teams use the free Community edition to self-host a Kanban workflow while keeping data in their own database and backup process.
  • Organizations that need SSO, guest roles, exports, and richer views use PLANKA Pro on top of an existing self-hosted installation.
  • Teams use webhooks and the REST API to connect Planka to other systems.
  • Users rely on real-time board collaboration for task tracking, status movement, and card discussion.

Getting started

Typical deployment uses Docker, with installation and configuration guidance in the documentation, and hosted plans are also offered through the Planka pricing page.

When to use it — and when not to

Planka fits teams that want a self-hosted Trello or Monday.com alternative and can operate their database, backups, and notification configuration. The Community edition is free to self-host, but many advanced features, including calendar, timeline, map, templates, guest roles, SSO, and export, require PLANKA Pro. The repository lists its license as NOASSERTION, and the one-way Pro upgrade adds a Valkey service and accepts only certain starting releases, so teams should verify the license and test the migration on a copy before upgrading.

project readme (upstream, from github) — read inline

Logo

PLANKA

Project mastering driven by fun

Version Docker Pulls Contributors Chat

Install · Demo · Docs · API · Cloud · Pro version

Demo

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.

Try Pro free for 30 days Features and pricing

Personal dashboard across every projectA board on a phone Theme picker Timeline view
Community Pro
Boards, lists, cards, real-time collaboration ✓ ✓
Markdown, attachments, comments, custom fields ✓ ✓
Stopwatch and due dates on cards ✓ ✓
Notifications through 100+ providers ✓ ✓
Webhooks and a documented REST API ✓ ✓
Two-factor authentication ✓ ✓
Self-hosted, your database, your backups ✓ ✓
Free to self-host ✓ —
Phones and tablets, five themes, accent color — ✓
Calendar, timeline, map and media views — ✓
Recurring cards, card and board templates — ✓
One card on more than one board — ✓
Guest roles, SSO (OIDC) — ✓
PDF and HTML export — ✓
Support from the developers, no ticket queue — ✓

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 only certain Community releases as a starting point — currently 2.1.x and 2.2.x — and from any other version it stops without changing anything. The upgrade is one-way — there is no downgrade back to Community — so take a backup first, or try it on a copy. The step-by-step guide is in the customer center once you have a key, and lists the releases the promote accepts.

Key Features

  • Collaborative Kanban Boards: Create projects, boards, lists, cards, and manage tasks with an intuitive drag-and-drop interface
  • Real-Time Updates: Instant syncing across all users, no refresh needed
  • Rich Markdown Support: Write beautifully formatted card descriptions with a powerful markdown editor
  • Flexible Notifications: Get alerts through 100+ providers, fully customizable to your workflow
  • Multilingual & Easy to Translate: Full internationalization support for a global audience

How to Deploy

PLANKA is easy to install using multiple methods - learn more in the installation guide.

For configuration and environment settings, see the configuration section.

For hosted plans and pricing, see our website.

Notes App

A testing version of the Notes app is now available on multiple platforms:

  • iOS: Join the TestFlight to try the app
  • Windows & Android: Download the app here

Contact

For any security issues, please do not create a public issue on GitHub - instead, report it privately by emailing [email protected].

Note: We do NOT offer any public support via email, please use GitHub.

Join our community: Get help, share ideas, or contribute on our Discord server.

License

PLANKA is fair-code distributed under the Fair Use License and PLANKA Pro/Enterprise License.

  • Source Available: The source code is always visible
  • Self-Hostable: Deploy and host it anywhere
  • Extensible: Customize with your own functionality
  • Enterprise Licenses: Available for additional features and support

For more details, check the License Guide.

Contributing

Found a bug or have a feature request? Check out our Contributing Guide to get started.

For setting up the project locally, see the development section.

Thanks to all our contributors!

Contributors

Frequently asked questions

Is Planka free to use?

Planka is open source. There is no licence fee and no seat count — you can self-host it or, where the project offers one, pay a vendor for a managed version instead.

What does Planka do?

Self-hosted Kanban board with real-time collaboration

What is Planka written in?

Planka is primarily written in JavaScript. Its source is publicly available at https://github.com/plankanban/planka, and it has 12,557 GitHub stars.

What is a good open source alternative to Monday.com?

Planka is one of the open source options listed as an alternative to Monday.com, Trello. Compare licences, stars and activity side by side on the Planka profile.