Planka

Key features

• Real-time Kanban boards with drag-and-drop: create projects, boards, lists, and cards where changes sync instantly across users, with stopwatch-tracked due dates on cards.[1][2]

• Rich Markdown cards with files and discussion: format card details in Markdown, attach files, comment in threads, and add custom fields, labels, and members.[1]

• Notifications through 100-plus providers: route alerts through more than a hundred notification services and wire boards into automation with webhooks and the documented REST API.[1]

• Two-factor authentication: protect logins with a second factor in both Community and Pro, alongside self-hosted PostgreSQL storage on your own systems.[1]

• Self-hosted Docker deployment: install the production release with Docker Compose using a generated secret key and a CLI-created admin user, with Manual, Kubernetes, and Automated paths also documented.[1]

• Thirty-five-plus community languages: run the interface in one of more than 35 languages translated entirely by community contributors.[1][2]

• Free Community core under a Fair Use License: self-host the complete Kanban core at no licence cost for personal, internal, non-profit, or academic use; commercial third-party hosting needs the paid licence.[1][2]

• Pro-only organization features: guest and worker roles, OIDC single sign-on, board and card templates, advanced search, PDF and HTML export, calendar, timeline, and map views, recurring cards, and phone and tablet support.[1][2]

Who will love it

• Small teams escaping per-seat SaaS pricing: the free Community core plus per-user Pro plans replace escalating Trello bills with a fixed server cost, and the firsthand account shows the migration path is real.[1][2][3]

• Privacy-minded organizations: self-hosted data never leaves your infrastructure or enters a vendor processing chain, with an offline licence key for air-gapped networks and EU hosting under a GDPR agreement for the hosted option.[1]

• Teams that integrate their board: webhooks, a documented REST API with Swagger UI, and 100-plus notification providers give connected workflows somewhere concrete to plug in.[1]

Who should avoid it

• Teams with no server administration capacity: the production install needs Docker Compose, a secret key, config edits, and CLI admin creation plus ongoing database care; the only zero-ops path is paying for hosted Pro.[1][2]

• People wanting a polished phone-first experience: Community has no documented mobile support, and phones, tablets, themes, and the dashboard arrive only with Pro.[1][2]

• Buyers needing a verified enterprise support contract: Pro support promises a first answer within 24 hours on business days, but no distinct enterprise SLA was established from the inspected pages.[1][2]

What the reports suggest