Trello's free tier stops at ten boards per workspace, and past that point every extra board rides on a per-seat subscription that keeps climbing as the roster grows. Planka runs the same drag-and-drop board on a server the team already pays for, with no seat count, board cap or per-user invoice baked into the software itself.
Why Planka instead of Trello
Planka covers the part of Trello a kanban team actually lives in: boards, lists and cards with real-time sync over websockets, markdown card descriptions, comments, attachments, due dates and a stopwatch. It ships a documented REST API and webhooks, so scripting a card creation flow from a form or a CI pipeline doesn't need a paid automation add-on. Trello's edge is everything built around the board — a large Power-Up marketplace, native mobile apps, and Butler rules that fire on card moves without any code. Planka has no native mobile app and no built-in rule engine; anything Butler-shaped has to go through the API.
The cost story is where the two diverge hardest. A fifteen-person team on Trello's Standard plan pays per seat every month, and the bill grows as contractors and clients get added to boards. Planka's Community edition costs whatever the container running it costs, flat, regardless of headcount — but calendar and timeline views, card templates, guest roles and SSO all sit behind Planka's own paid Pro tier, so "free" only holds while the team stays inside the Community feature set.
What it does well
Real-time board updates over websockets, so a card moved by a teammate appears instantly without a page refresh.
Markdown card descriptions with attachments and comments, close to how a developer already writes in GitHub or a wiki.
Notifications through 100+ providers via Apprise, landing in Slack, Matrix or a plain email inbox without custom code.
A documented REST API and webhooks, useful for agencies auto-creating a board per new client from an intake form.
Two-factor authentication built into Community, not gated behind a paid tier.
Self-hosted Postgres database, so backups and retention follow the team's own policy instead of a vendor's export tool.
A 35+ language interface, relevant for agencies with distributed or non-English-first teams.
Limitations
Similar Open Source Tools
Boards can't be shared publicly without a login — the most-upvoted open feature request (32 reactions) asks for a read-only board link, and there's still no way to hand a client a view without creating them an account.
No @mentions in card comments (25 reactions on the open request), so pinging a specific teammate means a message elsewhere.
No native mobile app; the second most-requested open issue (21 reactions) asks for one, and today it's browser-only on a phone.
Postgres is a hard requirement — a request to support SQLite for small single-user setups has sat open with 15 reactions, so even a two-person team runs a full database server.
Who should use it
Ops leads who want to kill a per-seat Trello bill and are fine running one more container.
Agencies juggling several clients who need boards to stay on their own infrastructure, not a SaaS vendor's servers.
Small teams comfortable with Docker and Postgres who don't need native mobile apps or built-in automation.
FAQ
Is Planka free for commercial use?
Community edition is free to self-host and use commercially; calendar, timeline, templates and SSO require the separate paid Pro tier.
Planka vs Trello — which should I choose?
Trello if the team wants zero setup and a Power-Up marketplace; Planka if per-seat pricing is the problem and someone can run a Postgres-backed container.
Does Planka need PostgreSQL?
Yes — it's the only supported database today, and there's no lighter SQLite path even for a single-user install.
Verdict
Planka is a solid pick when the goal is a Trello-shaped board without a growing per-seat bill and the team can operate a small Postgres instance. Community stays free under an MIT designation in the project's metadata, though the Fair Use terms and the paid Pro tier are worth reading before anyone plans to resell it as a hosted product; the repository is actively maintained, with commits landing within the last few days.
Self-host Planka with Docker
Verified install
We started this exact setup from scratch in a clean Linux machine on Nov 2, 2026 and checked it through Planka's own API: every check passed. Recipes are re-checked regularly and removed if they stop working.
BASE_URL — Public base URL where Planka is accessed; set to your server's public domain or IP in production.
SECRET_KEY — Secret encryption key used to sign JWT access tokens and session data. Generated above; keep it secret.
DEFAULT_ADMIN_EMAIL — Email address for the initial administrator account.
DEFAULT_ADMIN_PASSWORD — Initial password for the administrator account. Generated above; keep it secret.
DEFAULT_ADMIN_NAME — Display name of the initial administrator account.
DEFAULT_ADMIN_USERNAME — Username of the initial administrator account.
POSTGRES_PASSWORD — Password of the PostgreSQL database. Generated above; keep it secret.
3
Start it
docker compose up -d
4
First run
Set BASE_URL in .env to your server's public URL (e.g. http://<your-server>:3000) before accessing Planka in production.
Open http://<your-server>:3000 in your browser and sign in using the administrator email ([email protected]) and the password generated in DEFAULT_ADMIN_PASSWORD in .env.
Accept the terms and conditions on first login, then change your password under user profile settings.
