Wekan vs OpenProject
Both are free/open-source alternatives to Trello. Here's how they stack up — verified facts, no spin.
Wekan
TOP PICKThe closest open-source, self-hosted match to Trello's own card-and-list model.
Wekan is a free, open-source Kanban board that deliberately mirrors Trello's UI: boards, swimlanes, lists, and cards with labels, checklists, due dates, and attachments. It self-hosts via Docker, a Linux Snap package (with automatic updates), or from source, and stores everything in MongoDB you control. It even ships a dedicated Trello-import tool for migrating existing boards and attachments.
OpenProject
A full open-source project management suite for teams that outgrow a simple board.
OpenProject is a complete, self-hostable project management platform: Kanban-style boards sit alongside Gantt charts, backlogs, roadmaps, work packages, time tracking, and fine-grained permissions. The Community edition is the entire open-source codebase and is fully functional with no feature paywall; paid Enterprise tiers add professional support and a handful of add-ons (which are themselves open source and periodically folded back into Community).
Side by side
| Wekan | OpenProject | |
|---|---|---|
| Sovereignty Score | 90 | 91 |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| Local-first | Yes | Yes |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Pricing | Free / self-host (commercial support available separately) | Free / self-host (Community edition); paid Enterprise on-premises support from ~$5.95/user/month, or Enterprise Cloud hosting from ~$4.95/user/month |
Wekan is Macrostack's recommended Trello alternative, so it's our pick here.
Wekan
Strengths
- +Free MIT license, no per-seat cost ever
- +UI and workflow are the most Trello-like of any open-source option, so the switch is low-friction for a team used to Trello
- +Dedicated Trello JSON/attachment import tool eases migration
- +Active project with regular releases and a large, engaged community (20k+ GitHub stars)
Trade-offs
- −Interface is functional but less visually polished than Trello's current design
- −Advanced reporting/analytics views are limited compared to Trello Premium
- −You are responsible for your own backups, updates, and uptime once self-hosted
- −MongoDB dependency adds a small extra piece of infrastructure to operate versus a single-binary tool
OpenProject
Strengths
- +Genuinely not an open-core product — the vendor states plainly that Enterprise plans pay for support and add-ons, not for unlocking withheld features
- +Covers a much broader project-management surface than Trello: Gantt charts, backlogs, budgeting, and formal work-package tracking
- +Strong documentation and an active global community with regular releases
- +Enterprise add-ons are periodically released back into the free Community edition
Trade-offs
- −Heavier to run than a Kanban-only tool — a Ruby on Rails + PostgreSQL stack needs more server resources than Wekan or Kanboard
- −The extra structure (work packages, roadmaps, backlogs) is more than most Trello users need if all they want is a simple card board
- −Steeper learning curve for a team used to Trello's minimalism
- −Professional support requires an Enterprise subscription; community-only support is the default on Community edition
More Trello head-to-heads
Facts verified 2026-07-08. Licenses and pricing change — spotted something out of date? That's a correction we want.