Best for startups

Free Kanban Boards

Which kanban board tools a startup team can track work on cards and columns with for free today, how many boards and members the free plan allows, what it leaves out, whether a card is needed and what the first paid plan costs, read from each provider's own page.

8kanban tools with a free allowance
5hosted kanban apps
3open-source kanban

Free allowances read on each provider's own pages, all checked on or after . Kanban tools change their free plans from time to time: confirm the terms on the provider's page before you rely on it.

Kanban tools a startup can use for free today include MeisterTask (Free plan: up to 3 projects), Wekan (Open source (MIT), self-hosted), KanbanFlow (Free plan, no time limit), Kanboard (Free and open source, self-hosted), and Kanbanchi (Free teaser: all features after trial). Each of the 8 free plans below links to the provider's page that states it, with its main limit, its board and member caps, whether a card is needed and what the first paid plan costs.

A kanban board shows every task as a card moving from to-do to done, so a small team sees what is in progress at a glance. Several hosted kanban apps have a free plan, and open-source kanban boards run free on your own server.

The headline rarely tells you how far it goes. Free plans cap boards, projects, members or cards, keep file attachments and automations for paid plans, and some free tiers are small teasers. Each tool below shows what is free, its main limit, its board and member caps, whether a card is needed and what the first paid plan costs, quoted from the provider's own page with the date we read it.

Which tools we picked and the order they appear in are our editorial choices; the terms are the providers'. Some of these providers pay us a referral commission when someone signs up through our link: those links are labeled, and they play no part in which tools are listed or where.

Kanban apps

Kanban apps with a free plan

Run boards for your team in a hosted app, free to start.

  1. 1

    MeisterTask

    Small teams that need up to 3 projects at no cost

    MeisterTask's free plan covers up to 3 projects with 5 Content Manager seats. Unlimited projects start on the Pro plan.

  2. 2

    KanbanFlow

    Solo users and small teams that want unlimited boards free

    KanbanFlow's free version has no time limit and unlimited boards. Its Premium plan is $5 per user a month, and you can enable it board by board.

  3. 3

    Kanbanchi

    Google Workspace teams that work within a small card cap

    Kanbanchi keeps a free teaser account after the trial, with all features but a 36-card cap. Its first paid plan is $5.99 per month billed monthly.

  4. 4

    Taiga Cloud

    Small agile teams that want Taiga hosted for free

    Taiga Cloud's free plan gives 1 public project and 1 private project, with up to 10MB of storage. Its paid plans are priced in euros.

  5. 5

    Kanban Tool

    Two people sharing two kanban boards

    Kanban Tool's Free plan is $0 per user a month for 2 boards and 2 users, without file attachments. Team is $6 per user a month with unlimited boards.

Open source

Open-source kanban boards you can self-host

Host your own kanban boards, free.

  1. 1

    Wekan

    Teams that want a full board on their own server, free

    Wekan is licensed under the MIT License, and its page presents self-hosting as the option to run it on your own server.

  2. 2

    Kanboard

    A simple self-hosted board with work-in-progress limits

    Kanboard's page calls it a free and open source Kanban project management software, and it is self-hosted.

  3. 3

    Taiga Self-hosted

    Agile teams running sprints on their own server

    Taiga's site calls it the free and open-source project management tool, and offers a self-hosted option.

Referral offers

Also useful for founders

Referral links, picked for fit and ordered by fit (70%) and what a signup earns us (30%), at no cost to you. They never change this page's ranking.

Head to head

Compare the top options

Methodology

How this comparison is built

The list covers kanban board tools a founder can use for free today without applying to a program. The order and the "best for" notes are our editorial reading of each tool's terms. Every term comes from the tool's own pricing or help page on the date shown, never from a third-party list; follow each link for the full conditions. A cap on boards, members or file uploads, automations or views kept for paid plans can matter more than the headline, so the comparison quotes them wherever the provider states them. Some of these tools pay StartupPerks a referral commission, and their links are labeled as referral links; that decides neither whether nor where a tool appears, and no tool pays for a placement on this page.

Read the full methodology
Questions

Common questions

What is the best free kanban board?

By the terms each provider states, KanbanFlow's free plan has unlimited boards with no time limit, MeisterTask's free plan covers up to 3 projects, Kanban Tool's 2 boards and 2 users, and Wekan, Kanboard and Taiga are free and open source to self-host.

Is there a free Trello alternative?

Yes. KanbanFlow's free plan has unlimited boards with no time limit, and Wekan and Kanboard are free and open source boards you host yourself.

Is KanbanFlow free?

Yes. KanbanFlow's free plan has no time limit and unlimited boards; Premium features are enabled board by board, at $5 per user a month.

Can I self-host a kanban board for free?

Yes. Wekan is open source under the MIT license, Kanboard is free and open source, and Taiga can be self-hosted for free.

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StartupPerks is a comparison tool and is not endorsed by the programs it lists. It is a referral partner of some providers, and those links are labeled where they appear. AITraining.jobs and Founden are run by the same company as StartupPerks: their listings are free, ranked by the same rules as every other program, and labeled "Same owner as StartupPerks" wherever they appear. Values and eligibility are aggregated from each provider's public pages and can change or be incomplete. Always confirm the current terms and your eligibility on the provider's own page before applying.