Project Management
3 open source tools compared. Sorted by stars — scroll down for our analysis.
| Tool | Stars | Velocity | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
 Plane Open source Jira/Linear alternative | 47.3k | +257/wk | 71 |
| 14.8k | +43/wk | 78 | |
| 3.4k | +19/wk | 71 |
Our Analysis
Plane is the open source alternative to Jira, covering sprints, kanban boards, and roadmaps without the Jira prices or the Linear waitlist. It's what Jira should have been: clean UI, fast, and you can self-host it. AGPL v3, TypeScript. Features include issues with custom properties, cycles (sprints), modules (grouping), pages (docs), views, and a roadmap timeline. The UI is noticeably snappier than Jira. GitHub and GitLab integrations sync issues with your code. Free cloud tier: unlimited members, unlimited issues, 5MB file uploads. Self-hosting: free, all features. Paid cloud (Pro): $4/user/month for larger uploads, priority support, custom workflows. Business: $9/user/month for advanced analytics, SSO, audit logs. Solo: the free cloud tier handles personal project management. Small teams (2-10): free cloud or self-host, both work. Growing teams (10-50): $4/user/month Pro when you need custom workflows. Large (50+): $9/user/month Business for SSO and audit logs. The catch: the AGPL license means if you modify Plane and host it for others, you must open source your changes. The ecosystem is younger than Jira's: fewer integrations, fewer plugins. And while the UI is clean, some features (time tracking, advanced reporting) are still maturing compared to established tools. If your team already has Jira muscle memory, the migration cost is real.
OpenProject is the open source alternative. It covers traditional project management (waterfall, Gantt) and agile (Scrum boards, backlogs) in one tool. GPL v3. Used by public sector organizations, universities, and companies that need on-premise project management for compliance reasons. The Community edition is free and self-hosted. It includes work packages, Gantt charts, agile boards, wikis, forums, and basic time tracking. The Enterprise edition starts at $5.95/user/mo (cloud) or contact-for-pricing on-premise, adding features like project templates, custom fields on projects, BIM module, and two-factor auth. The catch: OpenProject tries to do everything Jira does, and that means it's complex. The UI is functional but dense, not as slick as Linear or Plane. Self-hosting requires Ruby on Rails knowledge, PostgreSQL, and real maintenance. And the Community edition lacks some features teams expect as standard, like project templates and advanced custom fields.