A free kanban board is easy to find, but each one stops at a different limit: users, boards, storage, views or automation. This guide compares 11 free kanban tools, hosted and self-hosted, with the limits checked on each vendor’s page in October 2026. You can see where each free plan ends before your team builds on it.
What kanban board software needs to do
Kanban is a method for managing the flow of work. The Kanban Guide defines it as “a strategy for optimizing the flow of value through a process” and names three practices: defining and visualizing a workflow, actively managing items in it, and improving it. The guide also says a team “must explicitly control the number of work items in a workflow from started to finished.”
For software, that translates into four features:
- Columns you can rename to match your real workflow, such as Backlog, In Progress, Review and Done.
- Cards that hold an owner, a due date and a description.
- WIP limits that warn you when a column holds too many cards.
- A way to see blocked or late work, such as labels, filters or due-date views.
Most free plans include the first two. WIP limits and extra views are where free plans differ most. Read why kanban works for more on WIP limits and flow.
Free plan or free software?
- A free plan is a capped tier of a paid hosted product. The vendor runs the servers, and the cap moves you to a paid plan as your team grows.
- Free software has no tier cap, but you run it. Open-source boards and WordPress plugins are in this group, and your cost is the server or hosting.
Free kanban board tools compared
| Tool | Type | Main free limit | WIP limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trello | Hosted free plan | 10 collaborators and 10 boards per Workspace | Through Power-Ups |
| Jira | Hosted free plan | 10 users, 2GB storage | Column constraints |
| ClickUp | Hosted free plan | 60MB storage, 5 Spaces | Not listed |
| Asana | Hosted free plan | 2 users | Not listed |
| monday.com | Hosted free plan | 2 seats, 3 boards | Not listed |
| Notion | Hosted free plan | Limited blocks for 2+ members, 5MB uploads | Not listed |
| GitHub Projects | Hosted, included in GitHub Free | 50 fields per project | Not listed |
| WeKan | Self-hosted, MIT | None | Per list |
| Kanboard | Self-hosted, MIT | None | Yes |
| PLANKA | Self-hosted Community edition | Some views and mobile support are Pro-only | Not listed |
| KanbanWP | WordPress plugin, GPLv2 | None | Yes |
Limits were checked on each vendor’s pricing page or repository on October 20, 2026. “Not listed” means the vendor’s pricing page does not mention WIP limits.
Hosted free plans
Trello Free
Trello is a hosted kanban board owned by Atlassian. According to Trello’s pricing page, the Free plan includes unlimited cards, up to 10 boards per Workspace, unlimited Power-Ups, files up to 10MB each and 250 automation command runs per month. It allows up to 10 collaborators per Workspace, counting members, guests and pending invites.
When a free Workspace goes over 10 collaborators, Trello’s guide to Workspace collaborator limits says its boards become view-only and automations stop. Calendar, Timeline and Table views need Premium. You can read the full plan breakdown in Trello vs Jira.
Jira Free
Jira Free covers up to 10 users and includes backlog, list, board, timeline, calendar and summary views. It has 2GB of storage, 150 automation steps per month and community support.
Jira Free has WIP limits built into the board. Atlassian’s guide to configuring columns explains how to set a minimum and maximum work item count per column. The column header turns red when the maximum is exceeded.
ClickUp Free Forever
ClickUp’s Free Forever plan has unlimited tasks, unlimited free members, kanban boards, calendar view and sprint management. Its limits are 60MB of total file storage and 5 Spaces, and Gantt and timeline views are trials. It includes 500 AI credits per workspace.
Asana Personal
Asana’s free plan is called Personal. According to Asana’s pricing page, it allows 2 users, with unlimited tasks and projects, list, board and calendar views, and files up to 100MB each. A third user means moving to Starter, at $10.99 per user per month billed annually.
monday.com Free
The monday.com Free plan allows up to 2 seats, up to 3 boards, up to 3 docs and 8 column types, with iOS and Android apps. AI features start on the paid Basic plan.
Notion Free
Notion can show any database as a board, grouped by a property such as status, as its board view guide explains. Notion’s Free plan is unlimited for one person. With two or more members, the workspace gets a limited number of blocks, and file uploads are capped at 5MB each.
GitHub Projects
GitHub Projects is included in GitHub’s Free plan under Issues and Projects. GitHub’s Projects documentation says you can view a project “as a high-density table layout, as a kanban board, or a timeline-style roadmap”, with up to 50 fields per project. GitHub Projects suits developers whose tasks are already GitHub issues and pull requests.
Open source and self hosted kanban board software
A self hosted kanban board has no user caps. You install it on your own server, so you handle updates, backups and security. Each project’s status was checked on GitHub on October 20, 2026.
WeKan
WeKan is an MIT-licensed open source kanban board with swimlanes and per-list WIP limits. It is actively developed, with release v12.55 published in October 2026. Its README lists installation through Docker, Snap and other bundles, and importers for Trello, Jira, Asana and other tools.
Kanboard
Kanboard is an MIT-licensed PHP application with WIP limits, subtasks, comments and automatic actions. Its README says the project is in maintenance mode, which means no major new features, but community releases continue. Version 1.2.54 came out in August 2026. Kanboard suits a small team that wants a light board with real WIP limits.
PLANKA Community
PLANKA offers a free self-hosted Community edition and a paid Pro edition. The license is a fair-use, source-available license, not an OSI open-source license. The README lists phone and tablet support, a cross-project dashboard, and calendar and timeline views as Pro features.
A note on Focalboard
Focalboard was a popular open source kanban board, but its GitHub repository now says it is “currently not maintained”. The last release, v8.0.0, came out in June 2024, and no release has followed.
Free kanban in WordPress with KanbanWP
KanbanWP is our own plugin. It is GPLv2 software with no license key, no subscription and no user or board limits. It runs inside the WordPress admin, and people sign in with their WordPress accounts.
The free plugin includes:
- Unlimited boards, with stages, drag and drop, and WIP limits per stage.
- Kanban, List, Table, Calendar, Timeline and My Tasks views.
- Subtasks, dependencies, checklists, attachments, custom fields and recurring tasks.
- Swimlanes, saved views and board templates for Editorial, Client, Sales, Bugs and Blank boards.
- Reports with workload and cumulative flow, with CSV export.
- Board roles, a client portal, and Slack and Discord notifications.
- Board export as JSON, and importers for Trello JSON and CSV files.
KanbanWP needs WordPress 5.8 or later and PHP 7.4 or later. You run the hosting, and there is no native mobile app, though the board works in a mobile browser. A board’s stages come from the template you pick, and you can add, rename, reorder or delete them on the board. To start, follow the installation guide or pick a kanban board template.
Example: a free board for a team of 12
Say a 12-person content team wants a shared board with columns for Ideas, Writing, Editing, Scheduled and Published. The editors want no more than three articles in Editing at once.
- Trello Free, Jira Free, Asana Personal and monday.com Free are out, because each caps the team below 12 people.
- Notion Free limits the number of blocks once two or more members share a workspace.
- ClickUp Free Forever allows all 12 people. The team would need to watch the 60MB storage limit, since drafts and images count against it.
- A self-hosted board has no user cap. WeKan and Kanboard need a server and someone to maintain it.
- KanbanWP fits if the team already publishes on WordPress. Editors sign in with their WordPress accounts, a card can link to the draft post, and a WIP limit of 3 on the Editing stage marks the column as over the limit when a fourth article arrives.
How to choose a free kanban board
Answer these questions in order:
- How many people need access? Two people fit every free plan, although Notion Free limits blocks once a workspace has two or more members. Three to ten people rules out Asana Personal and monday.com Free. More than ten rules out Trello Free and Jira Free.
- Do you need WIP limits? Jira Free, Kanboard, WeKan and KanbanWP have them built in.
- Which views do you need? Jira Free includes timeline and calendar views. Trello puts them on Premium.
- Can someone run a server? If yes, a self hosted kanban board removes user caps. If your site already runs on WordPress, KanbanWP needs no separate server.
- Can you leave later? Trello exports boards as JSON on every plan, and KanbanWP exports boards as JSON.
If you are moving off Trello specifically, best Trello alternatives in 2027 compares paid plans too. KanbanWP vs Trello puts the two side by side.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best free kanban board?
For a hosted board, Trello Free and Jira Free both allow up to 10 people, and ClickUp Free Forever has no member cap. If you can host software yourself, WeKan, Kanboard and KanbanWP are free with no user or board limits.
Is there a completely free kanban board with no user limit?
Yes. Self-hosted tools such as WeKan and Kanboard (MIT license) and KanbanWP (GPLv2) have no user or board limits. You pay only for the server or WordPress hosting they run on.
Which free kanban board has WIP limits?
Jira Free has column constraints, and WeKan, Kanboard and KanbanWP have WIP limits per column. Trello lists no WIP limit feature in its plans, so teams add one with a Power-Up.
What is the difference between a free plan and free software?
A free plan is a capped tier of a paid hosted product, usually limited by users, boards or storage. Free software has no tier caps, but you host and maintain it yourself.