Overview

WeKan is a completely open-source and free collaborative Kanban board application, licensed under the MIT license. Inspired by Trello, WeKan provides a visual task management system using boards, lists, and cards — but with full data ownership and no vendor lock-in. It is built with Meteor (Node.js) and MongoDB, offering a responsive web interface that works on desktop and mobile browsers. WeKan is one of the most popular self-hosted Kanban solutions, known for its rich feature set and active community development.

Key Features

• Boards, Lists & Cards: Classic Kanban structure with unlimited boards, customizable lists, and detailed cards.
• Swimlanes: Horizontal lanes within boards for separating work streams, teams, or priority levels.
• Checklists & Subtasks: Break down cards into actionable checklists with progress tracking.
• Labels & Color Coding: Categorize cards with multi-color labels for quick visual identification.
• Attachments: Drag-and-drop file attachments on cards with preview support for images and PDFs.
• Rules & Automation: Webhook-based rules for automatic card movements, notifications, and external triggers.
• Card Aging: Visual indication of stale cards that haven’t been updated in a configurable period.
• Export & Import: JSON export/import for board migration and backup, plus CSV export for reporting.
• Multi-User: Real-time collaboration with user assignments, comments, and activity tracking.
• LDAP & OAuth: Enterprise authentication with LDAP/Active Directory, Google, and OAuth providers.

Why Use It

WeKan is the most feature-complete open-source Kanban board available, offering Trello-like functionality plus advanced features like swimlanes and automation rules that even Trello’s free tier lacks. Its MIT license makes it truly free for any use — personal, commercial, or enterprise — with no restrictions. The Snap package and Docker images make deployment straightforward, and the active community provides regular updates and security patches.

Use Cases

• Personal Kanban: Individual task and workflow management using visual Kanban methodology.
• Team Collaboration: Small to medium teams coordinating work across shared boards with real-time updates.
• DevOps & Operations: Tracking deployment pipelines, incident response, and operational workflows.
• Education: Classroom project management and student assignment tracking with visual boards.

Platforms

Web (self-hosted via Docker, Snap, Sandstorm, or source)

Licence

MIT License

Website

wekan.fi