PLANKA

Overview

PLANKA is a visual Kanban workspace built around boards, lists and cards, with customer-managed and hosted deployment options. It suits teams that want to choose where work data is kept and can take responsibility for self-hosting or pay for hosted service. The core edition is free, but it runs on your own server.

Key features

Community includes boards, lists, cards, comments, attachments and real-time sync, with Docker deployment. That is a practical starting point for a home, homelab or club, provided someone can maintain the installation; it is not a free hosted workspace.

Pro and Enterprise add six board views, including calendar and map, alongside card inboxes, recurring cards and advanced global search. These tools give organizations more ways to handle varied workflows, though a small group using basic boards may not need the upgrade. Worker and guest roles with scoped access, live presence, shared cards and collaborative description editing make participation more flexible. OpenID Connect single sign-on can assign roles through an identity provider.

PLANKA provides a REST API, personal API keys, webhooks covering 50+ events, WebSocket updates and SMTP email notifications. Time tracking and guest access are supported, but automation rules are not, so teams seeking automated board workflows should look elsewhere. Its security measures include TLS-encrypted transmission, TOTP two-factor authentication, OIDC single sign-on, SSH-key server access, firewalls, fail2ban and regular backups. Self-hosting keeps application data and attachments on the customer's systems; the hosted service operates in Germany and offers a GDPR Article 28 DPA.

Pricing

Community costs nothing and is self-hosted. Boards, comments, attachments and real-time sync make it useful for small groups, but organizations wanting paid-tier collaboration and views need Pro or Enterprise.

Pro Self-Hosted costs €36 a month, with an annual amount of €432.00 billed once a year up front. It has a minimum of 1 user, includes 5 guests per user, runs on your own server and includes updates. It suits organizations that want Pro features but need to keep data on their own systems; server operation remains their responsibility.

Pro Hosted costs €42.50 a month, with an annual amount of €510.00 billed once a year up front. The minimum is 5 users; the plan includes 5 GB base storage per user in a shared pool, 5 guests per user and hosting in Germany. It fits teams preferring managed hosting, but the five-user floor and pooled storage matter for smaller teams or attachment-heavy work.

Enterprise has custom pricing and is directed at hosted deployments from 500 users or self-hosted deployments from 1,000 users. It includes SLA-backed priority support. Pro customers can contact support in German or English and receive a first answer within 24 hours on business days. A 30-day trial is offered.

Platforms

PLANKA supports Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, Windows and web, along with API access and self-hosting. That breadth accommodates mixed-device teams, while self-hosting allows deployment on customer systems.

Who it's for

Community is aimed at home, homelab and club use, especially where a free self-managed board system is enough. Pro is the more relevant choice for organizations needing expanded views, scoped worker and guest access, or hosted service. Teams that want a free hosted option, or rely on automation rules, should consider other tools.

Pros and cons

• Pro: Self-hosted Community keeps the application data and attachments on customer systems without a subscription.
• Pro: Hosted Pro combines German hosting with a GDPR Article 28 DPA and a shared storage pool sized at 5 GB base per user.
• Pro: Scoped guest roles, live presence and collaborative editing give teams several ways to coordinate without making every participant a worker.
• Con: Community is self-hosted only, so free users must manage their own deployment.
• Con: Hosted Pro requires at least five users, and Enterprise starts at 500 hosted users or 1,000 self-hosted users.
• Con: Automation rules are not supported, which limits fit for teams wanting built-in workflow automation.

Alternatives

For a broader comparison, see Kanban Software, Task Management Software and Project Management Software.

• WeKan is worth considering if you want a free app with no admin access or a cloud plan with admin access and unlimited everything for $50 a year.
• Doska is a free, MIT-licensed option with no features behind a paywall.
• MeisterTask is an alternative with a free plan that allows unlimited tasks but limits users to three projects.
• Jotform is another freemium option, with a free Starter plan capped at five forms and 100 monthly submissions.
• Planio offers a Bronze plan for one project, two users, ten customers and 1 GB of storage.
• SwiftKanban has a free Team plan capped at three users and two boards.
• Trello is an alternative with a free plan capped at ten collaborators and ten boards per Workspace.
• Collattice is another free self-hosted option, delivered as a single executable with embedded SQLite.

Verdict

Choose PLANKA if you want a focused Kanban workspace with the choice of keeping data on your own systems or paying for German-hosted Pro. Its strongest case is control over deployment paired with substantial paid collaboration features; look elsewhere if you need free hosted access or built-in automation rules.