Plane
Replaceable in one session with an AI coding agent.
Open-source project management: issues, cycles, modules and a roadmap, with a hosted plan and a self-hosted community edition of the same application.
Self-host it, or build the tracker your team actually uses. THE HONEST OPTION - Plane's community edition is free and self-hosting is Docker Compose IF YOU WANT SOMETHING SMALLER STACK - Astro with a Node adapter, SQLite THE MODEL - Issues with a state, an assignee, an estimate and an optional cycle - Resist sub-tasks, custom fields and multiple projects until you have wanted each twice HISTORY IS THE POINT - Every field change appends a row: field, old, new, actor, time - Cycle burndown, lead time and throughput all read that table - Nothing about an issue is ever overwritten without a record THE BOARD - Columns from state, keyboard driven, drag optional - A filter bar that compiles to SQL and is shareable as a URL GIT - Branch and pull-request webhooks move state, idempotent by delivery id Include the schema, the history table and the throughput query.
What you lose
- A managed instance with upgrades and backups, which is what the cloud plan buys
- Cycles, modules and a roadmap already modelled, which is more design work than it looks
- Integrations with git providers and chat already written
If you would rather not build
- GitHub Projects, which is free
The escape hatch
open source · no votes, no paid placement
Vikunja
$0A smaller self-hosted tracker with boards, lists and a Gantt view.
go-vikunja/vikunjafree · open source
Why this verdict
our own opinion · changed only by a person
77/100
Verdict yes at 77 because the code is already free. The advice worth taking is to keep the model small and put every change in a history table.
History
tracked since 10 Aug 2026 · nothing is ever overwritten
Questions about Plane
answered from the record above
Is Plane free?
No — the plan we track is $8 a month. Pro from around $8 per user per month billed monthly on the cloud; the community edition is free to self-host.
Can you replace Plane by building your own?
YES. Replaceable in one session with an AI coding agent. Replacement score 77 out of 100, build time one session. Read what you lose before you decide.
How much does Plane cost?
$8 a month on Pro — $96 a year. Recorded 10 Aug 2026.
What do you lose by replacing Plane?
A managed instance with upgrades and backups, which is what the cloud plan buys; Cycles, modules and a roadmap already modelled, which is more design work than it looks; Integrations with git providers and chat already written. If any of those carry weight for you, keep paying.
Is there an open-source alternative to Plane?
Yes: Plane, Vikunja. The prompt on this page is for when you want it your way instead.
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