Best ClickUp Alternatives in 2026: Simpler, Lighter and Open-Source Project Tools

Plane, Linear and Trello are the ClickUp alternatives to try first when you want less to configure. Plane gives you open-source sprints, roadmaps and docs that you can self-host, Linear is a focused hosted tracker for software teams, and Trello keeps work on plain boards.

ClickUp bundles tasks, docs, goals, chat, whiteboards, time tracking and AI into one hosted app, so people usually leave it for something narrower, lighter or open source. The ten tools below are in Enlisted's catalogue with live licence, pricing and GitHub data in the table. After the picks, a feature map shows where ClickUp's extras go when you leave.

Why people look for ClickUp alternatives

ClickUp describes itself as the everything app for work, aimed at teams that want to cut down on separate subscriptions. That promise is also the main reason to look elsewhere.

• Breadth. The vendor lists projects, agents, automations, sprints, whiteboards, docs, calendar, chat, time tracking and an AI assistant called Brain. A team that needs tasks and a board uses a fraction of that surface.
• Hosted only and closed source. Enlisted lists no self-hosted edition, so your workspace and its history live on ClickUp's infrastructure.
• Per-user pricing. The free plan has unlimited tasks and members, but paid plans are charged per user and enterprise terms go through sales, so cost grows with headcount.
• Overlap with tools you already pay for. If your docs live in one app and your chat in another, the consolidation argument is weaker, and a specialist tracker may be the better fit.

How we picked

Each tool here handles tasks and projects for a team, which is the core of ClickUp. Enlisted's data sorted them by how they differ: hosted or self-hostable, free plan or free software, narrow or broad. For open-source projects Enlisted checked the licence and recent GitHub activity, and a project whose repository calls itself frozen or unmaintained is flagged rather than recommended. The write-ups draw on catalogue entries and vendor sites only. See how Enlisted ranks tools.

1. Plane: best open-source ClickUp alternative with sprints, roadmaps and docs

Plane is an open-source project management platform for issues, sprint cycles, roadmaps, docs and triage, and it is positioned as an alternative to Jira, Linear, Monday and ClickUp. ClickUp is a hosted workspace you rent, while Plane is software you can run yourself under AGPL-3.0 or use as Plane Cloud.

It has kanban boards, a triage flow for incoming work and built-in docs and wikis, with Docker-based guides for self-hosting. A free plan covers small teams, paid plans are charged per seat, and they come with a trial.

• Best for: teams that want ClickUp's mix of boards, sprints and docs without its sprawl, and organizations that need data on their own servers.
• Watch out for: self-hosting means you handle upgrades and backups, and AGPL-3.0 has network copyleft terms if you modify and host it for others.

2. Linear: best focused tracker for software and product teams

Linear is a hosted system for planning and building software. It combines issue tracking, projects, company-level initiatives and built-in AI agents. It makes a narrower promise than ClickUp: it is for software and product teams, with a personal inbox, a "my issues" view and an activity history on every issue.

Pricing is per user on the paid plans, while the free tier caps teams and issues. Linear is closed source and cannot be self-hosted.

• Best for: engineering and product teams that find ClickUp's general-purpose workspace more than they need.
• Watch out for: marketing, operations and client work fit less naturally, and there is no self-hosted edition.

3. Trello: best when plain boards are enough

Trello is Atlassian's board tool, built on boards, lists and cards. An inbox collects tasks from email and Slack, a planner syncs with your calendar, and automation, templates and Power-Ups connect other apps, with an MCP server for AI tools.

It is free for small workspaces, with paid plans charged per user and a trial on Premium. No self-hosting. The Trello alternatives guide covers boards in more depth.

• Best for: non-software work and small teams whose tasks translate easily into cards on a board.
• Watch out for: it is a board tool first, so goals, docs and time tracking come from Power-Ups or other apps.

4. Notion: best for teams that want docs and projects in one workspace

Notion is a hosted workspace where documents, wikis and projects live side by side, with Notion AI and custom agents. Its project pages describe timeline, kanban, calendar and chart views, task dependencies, and sprint workflows with backlogs and bug tracking for engineering teams. Where ClickUp starts from tasks and adds docs, Notion starts from docs and adds tasks.

Individuals can use the free plan, paid plans are billed per member, and the product cannot be self-hosted. See the Notion alternatives guide for the other side of that choice.

• Best for: teams whose planning is mostly writing: specs, wikis and meeting notes next to a task list.
• Watch out for: its flexibility means you design your own structure, which can be as much setup as ClickUp.

5. Asana: best for cross-team projects with goals and portfolios

Asana is a more structured project tool than ClickUp: people keep their own task lists while managers follow projects, goals and reporting across teams. Its product pages list goals and reporting, workflow automation and resource management, and portfolios give managers a cross-project view.

A free Personal plan targets very small teams, paid plans are per user, and there is no self-hosted edition. The Asana alternatives guide compares it with others.

• Best for: teams in marketing, operations or client delivery that value clear project structure over flexibility.
• Watch out for: it is also a broad platform, with service and client management products, so it is not automatically lighter than ClickUp.

6. monday.com: best for board-first teams that want dashboards and automation

monday.com is a hosted work management platform for teams that think in boards: each board can hold a project, a campaign or a pipeline, with dashboards, automations and docs on top. It is a more visual, board-first neighbor of ClickUp, with its own AI assistant and agent builder.

The vendor's page names Gantt, Kanban and calendar views. Pricing is per seat on paid plans, and Enlisted's data lists both a trial and a free plan for very small teams. It is closed source and hosted only.

• Best for: teams that like ClickUp's flexibility but think in boards and dashboards rather than nested spaces and lists.
• Watch out for: it is another broad platform, with separate CRM, development and service products around it.

7. Leantime: best open-source tool for teams without a project manager

Leantime is an open-source project tool for teams without a trained project manager. Its README pitches it as simple like Trello and as capable as Jira. Views cover Kanban, Gantt, table, list and calendar, and the planning side adds sprints, milestones, timesheets, goal tracking, wikis and documents.

The Community Edition is free to self-host under AGPL-3.0, and Leantime Pro is the paid hosted route, with a trial. For ClickUp users that means several views, goals and time tracking in a single open-source product.

• Best for: small teams that want views, goals and timesheets together and are happy to self-host.
• Watch out for: it is built around planning for non-specialists, so developer-style issue workflows may suit Plane better.

8. Kaneo: best lightweight open-source board with list and Gantt views

Kaneo is an open-source project management tool that describes itself as fast and simple, with board, list, calendar and Gantt views, a backlog, filters and search. Tasks keep their descriptions, files, subtasks, dependencies, labels, comments and tracked time in one place.

It integrates with GitHub and Gitea, offers a REST API and an MCP server for AI assistants, and is MIT-licensed. Self-hosting is free with every feature, and Kaneo Cloud is a paid hosted option with a trial.

• Best for: small teams and developers who want a minimal self-hosted tracker with real planning views.
• Watch out for: it is a smaller product than ClickUp or Plane, so check that it covers your reporting and permission needs.

9. Worklenz: best open-source option when time tracking matters

Worklenz is an open-source project management application, released under AGPL-3.0, in which time tracking sits next to task management, resource management, project templates and reports on workload and project status.

Enlisted lists a free cloud plan, paid cloud tiers and a free self-hosted Community edition. It fits agencies that track time against client projects, a job ClickUp also handles through its own time tracking.

• Best for: agencies and small teams that bill or plan by tracked time.
• Watch out for: the free cloud plan limits active projects, so check whether it fits before choosing it over self-hosting.

10. Vikunja: best simple self-hosted task manager with an API

Vikunja is a self-hostable task and project manager written in Go, with a Vue web front end. It stretches from to-do lists to broader project management and exposes a REST API, and a hosted version exists for people who would rather skip the setup.

A Pro tier adds an admin panel, audit logs and time tracking. Enlisted lists AGPL-3.0 as the licence.

• Best for: individuals, families and small teams that want a private task manager rather than a full work platform.
• Watch out for: it is a task manager first, so large cross-team planning, docs and goals are not its focus.

Other options worth a look

• More hosted tools: Shortcut is a hosted tracker for software teams with kanban boards, sprints and roadmaps, and Wrike targets larger organizations, covered in the Wrike alternatives guide.
• Software teams: the Jira alternatives guide covers trackers built around issues and releases.
• Newer open source: Paca is a self-hosted Scrum and kanban platform where AI agents work as teammates, created in 2026. Huly is an all-in-one platform, but Enlisted's listing notes that its repository is frozen, with development moved to another repository and the managed service shut down, so read its README before choosing it.

Where do ClickUp's extras go?

If you move to a narrower tool, decide how you will replace each ClickUp feature you use.

Which ClickUp alternative should you choose?

The full ClickUp alternatives list on Enlisted has more, and the project management category lists every tool in this space. If your main goal is to pay nothing, the free project management software guide sorts free plans and open-source tools by team type.

Before you leave ClickUp

Export what you can and note how your workspace is organized: spaces, folders, custom fields, automations and docs. A move to a simpler tool is usually a deliberate loss of structure, so decide which fields and automations you will drop rather than rebuilding them all. Run a small project in the new tool for a few weeks, and if you pick a self-hosted tool, assign someone to own upgrades and backups first.