OpenProject
Top pickGPL-3.0 self-hosted project management with Gantt, agile boards, and portfolio features in the free Community Edition.
OpenProject is a mature, GPL-3.0 open-source project management platform developed by OpenProject GmbH in Germany. Its free, self-hosted Community Edition covers a broad feature set — work packages, Scrum and Kanban boards, Gantt-based scheduling, time tracking and cost reporting, wikis, and portfolio management — with unlimited users and projects. A separate Enterprise edition (cloud or on-premises) adds premium and security add-ons such as SSO and certain admin features under a paid subscription. It is a strong fit for teams that want a comprehensive, Jira-style tool they run and own themselves, particularly where EU data residency and GDPR alignment matter.
What it does well
- +GPL-3.0 Community Edition is genuinely open-source and free for unlimited users and projects
- +Broad, mature feature set including Gantt scheduling, agile boards, time tracking, cost reporting, and portfolio management
- +Fully self-hosted via Docker or native packages, so your project data stays on infrastructure you control
- +EU-based vendor with GDPR-aligned self-hosting; the GPL-3.0 license reduces the risk of a restrictive relicense
- +REST API and active, regular release cadence from a dedicated core team
Where it falls short
- −SSO/2FA and some advanced admin and security features are reserved for the paid Enterprise edition
- −Runs on a Ruby on Rails + PostgreSQL stack that needs a real server and ongoing maintenance, not a one-click app
- −You are responsible for backups, updates, database migrations, and SSL when self-hosting
- −Heavier to deploy and operate than lightweight tools, which can be more than a small team needs
OpenProject as an alternative to
Where OpenProject shows up in our comparisons, and how it ranked.
OpenProject head-to-head
Straight comparisons against the tools people weigh it against.