Leantime is the best self-hosted project management tool for most small teams. It scores 3.7/5. Its open-source version has five views: Kanban boards, Gantt, table, list and calendar. Its official Docker Compose file runs two services, the app and a MySQL database. Time tracking and timesheets are included.
Pick OpenProject (3.2/5) if you track hours and budgets. It has a start/stop timer, cost reporting and budgeting, but its recommended Docker setup runs seven services. Plane (2.9/5) has five layouts in its free Community Edition, but no time tracking, and it runs nine containers. Taiga (2.4/5) suits Scrum and Kanban teams moving from Jira, GitHub or Trello, with importers for all three, but it has no Gantt chart or calendar.
Our picks
- Best overall Leantime 3.7 /5
- Best for time and budget tracking OpenProject 3.2 /5
- Most views without time tracking Plane 2.9 /5
- Best for moving from Jira, GitHub or Trello Taiga 2.4 /5
Scores
1–5 per criterion · total is the weighted average · select a score to see its source| # | Product | Planning views ×3 | Self-hosted setup ×3 | Time tracking ×2 | Imports and integrations ×2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leantime | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3.7 |
| 2 | OpenProject | 4 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 3.2 |
| 3 | Plane | 5 | 2 | 1 | unknown | 2.9* |
| 4 | Taiga | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 2.4 |
? = the product’s sources don’t say. * = total averages only the known criteria.
How each criterion is scored
Planning views ×3
Which of four ways to look at tasks the free, open-source self-hosted edition documents: a board (Kanban), a list or table, a Gantt chart or timeline, and a calendar.
- 5 All four view types plus another distinct view, such as separate list and table (spreadsheet) views.
- 4 All four view types.
- 3 Three of the four view types.
- 2 Two of the four view types.
- 1 One of the four view types.
Self-hosted setup ×3
How many separate services (containers or server processes) the project's documented production setup runs; fewer services means less to update, back up and monitor.
- 5 A single container or program with nothing else to run.
- 4 Two or three services, such as the app and a database.
- 3 The documented production setup runs four to six services.
- 2 The documented production setup runs seven or more services.
- 1 No official production install guide.
Time tracking ×2
Whether the free, open-source self-hosted edition can record time spent on tasks, and how far it goes: timesheets, a start/stop timer, and cost or budget tracking.
- 5 A start/stop timer, time reports and cost or budget tracking.
- 4 Timesheets plus time reports or a start/stop timer.
- 3 Time can be logged on tasks and reviewed in timesheets.
- 2 Time can be logged on tasks.
- 1 No time tracking in the free, open-source self-hosted edition: none is documented, or it is only in a paid plan.
Imports and integrations ×2
Whether you can bring projects in from another tool (such as Jira, Trello or Asana) with an importer the project says is ready for production use, and whether it has an API, code-hosting integrations (GitHub, GitLab) and chat integrations (such as Slack).
- 5 Importers from three or more other tools, plus an API and both code-hosting and chat integrations.
- 4 Importers from two other tools, plus an API and a code-hosting or chat integration.
- 3 A production-ready importer from at least one other tool, plus an API or at least one integration.
- 2 An API or integrations, but no importer that is ready for production use.
- 1 No importer from another tool and no API or integrations documented.
Leantime wins on the two heaviest criteria. It documents five views, and the README says “all of these features are included in the OSS version”. The official Compose file runs two services: the Leantime container and a MySQL database.
Time tracking covers timesheets; the README does not describe a timer or cost tracking. There is no documented way to import projects from another tool. One upkeep rule matters: the README warns that an update deletes your content unless MySQL was started with a mounted volume. Set that up on day one.
- Kanban, Gantt, table, list and calendar views in the open-source version
- An official Docker Compose setup with two services, the app and MySQL
- Time tracking and timesheets included
- Slack, Mattermost and Discord integrations, plus a JSON-RPC API
- No importer from another project management tool is documented
- Some plugins are sold separately in its marketplace
- A Docker update deletes your content unless the MySQL container uses a mounted volume
Skip it if: Teams that need to bring existing projects over from another tool.
OpenProject has the most complete time tracking here. You can log time on a work package, use a start/stop button, and report costs against a budget. The free Community edition also covers boards, a table view, Gantt charts and a calendar. The team planner view is an Enterprise add-on.
The cost is upkeep. The recommended Docker setup runs one container per process: seven services in the documented example, including PostgreSQL and memcached. The single all-in-one container is “not recommended for production”. The minimum server is a quad-core CPU and 4096 MB of memory.
- A start/stop timer, cost reporting and budgeting
- Boards, a table view, Gantt charts and a calendar in the free Community edition
- Integrations with Nextcloud, XWiki, GitHub and GitLab, plus an API
- Official DEB and RPM packages for a limited set of Linux distributions
- The recommended Docker setup runs seven services and needs at least 4096 MB of memory
- The Jira Migrator is for test setups only, and CSV import is only on the development branch
- The team planner view is an Enterprise add-on
Skip it if: Small teams on a small server who want as little as possible to maintain.
Plane has the most views here: list, board, calendar, Gantt and spreadsheet. The open-source Community Edition matches the features of Plane’s free cloud tier. That also sets its limit: time tracking is a Pro plan feature, so the Community Edition has none.
Read the install guide carefully. Plane’s main Docker guide installs the Commercial Edition, which is closed source and starts on a free plan with 12 seats per workspace. We scored the Community Edition, which starts nine containers. Its imports and integrations score is unknown because the captured pages don’t say which of them it includes.
- Five layouts on the free tier, including a separate spreadsheet layout
- An AGPL-3.0 licensed Community Edition
- Cycles with burn-down charts
- No time tracking in the Community Edition; it is a Pro plan feature
- The Community Edition setup starts nine containers and needs at least 4 GB of RAM
- The Jira importer is only for Plane Cloud and the closed-source Commercial Edition
Skip it if: Teams that need time tracking without a paid plan.
Taiga is built for agile teams. It has a Kanban board, a Scrum backlog with sprint planning, and burn-down charts. It is the easiest to move into: you can import projects from Jira, GitHub or Trello, and it connects to GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Gogs and Slack.
It ranks last because it stops there. The feature list on taiga.io mentions no Gantt chart, calendar or time tracking. The official Docker Compose file defines nine services, and the README says you need to be familiar with Docker to run it.
- Importers for Jira, GitHub and Trello
- A REST API, webhooks, and GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Gogs and Slack integrations
- A Kanban board plus Scrum backlog, sprint planning and burn-down charts
- No Gantt chart, timeline or calendar on its feature list
- The official Docker setup defines nine services, including two RabbitMQ message brokers
- The Jira importer does not support Jira 8.6 or later
Skip it if: Teams that plan with Gantt charts or track hours.
Questions
Which of these track time for free?
OpenProject, with a start/stop timer, cost reporting and budgeting, and Leantime, with time tracking and timesheets. Plane’s time tracking is on its paid Pro plan. Taiga’s feature list doesn’t mention time tracking.
Which one is easiest to keep running?
Leantime. Its official Docker Compose setup is the app plus a MySQL database. The documented Docker setups for OpenProject run seven services, and those for Plane and Taiga run nine.
Can I move my projects over from Jira?
Taiga has a Jira importer, though it does not support Jira 8.6 or later. OpenProject’s Jira Migrator is for test setups only. Plane’s Jira importer is only in Plane Cloud and the Commercial Edition, and Leantime documents none.
Method
Each tool was scored 1–5 against a published scale on four weighted criteria: planning views (×3), self-hosted setup (×3), time tracking (×2), and imports and integrations (×2). We scored the free, open-source self-hosted edition of each tool. The ranking is the weighted average of the known scores; Plane’s imports and integrations score is unknown and shown as ”?”. Every score cites quotes from the project’s own documentation, website, README or GitHub data, captured on 5 November 2026.
We did not install or benchmark these tools, so the setup scores count the services each project documents rather than measured resource use. How our rankings work.