Best Free Project Management Software in 2026: Free Plans and Open-Source Tools by Team Type

The best free project management software comes in two forms: hosted tools with a free plan, such as Trello, ClickUp and Asana, and open-source tools you run yourself, such as OpenProject, Plane and Leantime. Trello suits kanban teams, Plane and Linear suit software teams, and OpenProject or GanttProject suit schedule-driven projects with Gantt charts.

"Free" means two different things here. A free plan limits users, projects or features and may ask you to pay later, while open-source software has no licence fee but costs server time and upkeep. This guide groups twelve picks by team type and then answers the wider question of which project management software is best for your situation.

What counts as free project management software?

Not every free offer is the same, and the difference shapes your choice.

• Free plans on hosted tools. The vendor runs everything and gives you a no-cost tier with caps, such as a limited number of boards, collaborators or automation runs. Trello, ClickUp, Asana, Notion and Linear work this way.
• Open-source, self-hosted software. The code is free, you install it, and you maintain it. Plane, OpenProject, Leantime and Redmine fit here, and most also sell a hosted cloud.
• Free editions with paid upgrades. OpenProject's Enterprise edition, Planka Pro and Vikunja Pro keep some features behind a paid tier, so check what the free version leaves out.
• Free desktop software. GanttProject runs on your own computer and does not need a server.

A free trial is not a free plan, and this guide does not count it as one.

How we picked

Each tool here handles tasks, schedules or boards for a team and has a genuinely free route: a free plan, free software or both. Enlisted's data decided the rest. Open-source entries needed a visible licence, recent GitHub activity and a clear route to self-hosting, and hosted entries needed a published free plan. Free-plan limits are described in general terms because they change, so read each pricing page for the current caps. None of this is first-hand testing: the descriptions rely on catalogue entries and vendor sites. See how Enlisted ranks tools.

Best free project management software for kanban boards

If your work moves through stages, such as to do, doing and done, a board is the simplest model. One pick is hosted and one is self-hosted.

1. Trello: best free hosted kanban board for small teams

Trello is a visual task tool from Atlassian built on boards, lists and cards, with an inbox that collects tasks from email and Slack, automation and Power-Ups that connect other apps. Its pricing page describes a free tier with cards, assignees, due dates, mobile apps and an activity log, limited by the number of boards and collaborators per workspace and by monthly automation runs.

Calendar, timeline, table and dashboard views sit on the Premium tier. Trello is closed source and hosted only. The Trello alternatives guide covers other boards in depth.

• Best for: small teams and personal projects that need boards and little else.
• Watch out for: the free-tier ceilings on boards and collaborators, and no self-hosted option.

2. Planka: best free self-hosted kanban board

Planka is a self-hosted kanban tracker with projects, boards, lists and cards, drag and drop and real-time updates. The free Community edition includes Markdown cards, comments, attachments, custom fields, due dates, webhooks, a REST API and two-factor authentication.

Planka Pro adds mobile apps, extra views, templates, guest roles and single sign-on for a per-user fee. Enlisted lists the licence as Other, so read the repository's terms before using it commercially.

• Best for: teams that want a Trello-style board on their own server at no licence cost.
• Watch out for: SSO and extra views are Pro features, and you run upgrades and backups yourself.

Best free project management software for agile and software teams

Developer teams usually want issues, sprints and roadmaps rather than free-form boards. The Jira alternatives guide covers this segment in more depth.

3. Plane: best free open-source tracker for sprints and roadmaps

Plane is an open-source alternative to Jira and Linear for issues, sprint cycles, roadmaps, docs and triage. Released under AGPL-3.0, it can be self-hosted from Docker-based guides or used as Plane Cloud.

The free plan covers small teams, and paid plans are charged per seat with a trial.

• Best for: small software and product teams that want sprints, roadmaps and docs without a paid tracker.
• Watch out for: AGPL-3.0 has network copyleft terms if you modify and host it for others, and self-hosting adds upkeep.

4. Linear: best free hosted tracker for product and engineering teams

Linear is a hosted tracker for product and engineering teams, with issues, projects, company-level initiatives and AI agents. Its free plan caps teams and issues, and paid tiers are charged per user.

There is no self-hosted edition, so it suits teams that are happy with a hosted service and want a focused tool.

• Best for: engineering and product teams that want a polished hosted tracker with a free start.
• Watch out for: the free tier's caps on teams and issues, and a focus on software work that leaves other departments less well served.

Best free project management software for Gantt charts and classic planning

Schedule-driven projects with dependencies, milestones and budgets need Gantt charts, and hosted free plans often hold those views back. These four are free to use without that restriction.

5. OpenProject: best free open-source suite for Gantt, agile boards and time tracking

OpenProject is a GPL-3.0 project management application built with Ruby and Angular. Its pricing page lists work packages, Gantt charts, agile boards and time tracking in the free Community edition, and Enlisted adds Scrum and Kanban boards, roadmaps and release planning, cost reporting, wikis and meeting minutes.

The paid Enterprise edition adds portfolio and resource management, advanced boards, automations and single sign-on, in hosted or self-hosted form, with a trial.

• Best for: organizations that want classic project planning with a free, self-hosted core.
• Watch out for: resource and portfolio features need the paid Enterprise edition.

6. GanttProject: best free desktop app for Gantt planning

GanttProject is a free desktop project management app centered on the Gantt chart, with task hierarchies, dependencies, milestones and baselines. It also produces PERT charts and a resource load chart, calculates task costs and exports to PDF, HTML and PNG.

It works with Microsoft Project and Excel files, and plans can be shared with collaborators through WebDAV or through GanttProject Cloud, a separate commercial collaboration service. The app is written in Java and Kotlin and released under GPL-3.0.

• Best for: an individual project manager or small team that wants a no-cost scheduling tool with no server.
• Watch out for: it is a desktop planning tool rather than a collaborative workspace, so real-time team collaboration needs the paid cloud service or a sharing workaround.

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

Leantime is an open-source system for teams without a dedicated project manager, with Kanban, Gantt, table, list and calendar views, sprints, milestones, timesheets, goal tracking and wikis, plus LDAP and OIDC single sign-on.

The Community Edition costs nothing to run yourself under AGPL-3.0, and hosted Pro is the paid per-user alternative, with a trial.

• Best for: small teams that want several views, goals and timesheets in one free tool.
• Watch out for: it is broader than a pure issue tracker, so developer-style workflows may fit Plane better.

8. Redmine: best free long-running tracker with Gantt and a wiki

Redmine is a long-running Rails application that you host yourself. Enlisted lists it as free and open source under the GNU GPL v2, with multiple projects and role-based access control, issue tracking, a Gantt chart and calendar, time tracking, and a wiki and forum for each project.

Repository integration covers Git, Subversion and Mercurial, and LDAP is supported for sign-in. There is no vendor-hosted version in the data.

• Best for: IT and engineering teams that want a configurable free tracker on their own server.
• Watch out for: you maintain the Rails application, and a self-run tracker has no vendor support line.

Best free all-in-one workspaces

These are hosted tools whose free plans cover tasks, docs and sometimes goals. They suit teams that want one place for work and are happy to stay inside a vendor's limits.

9. ClickUp: best free plan for breadth

ClickUp keeps tasks, docs, goals, chat and whiteboards in one hosted app, and Enlisted lists a free plan with unlimited tasks and members. The vendor's views page names List, Board, Calendar, Gantt, Timeline, Workload and Table, but which of them the free plan includes is worth checking on its pricing page.

Paid plans are per user and there is no self-hosted edition. If it feels like too much, the ClickUp alternatives guide covers lighter tools.

• Best for: teams that want tasks, docs and goals together without paying at the start.
• Watch out for: breadth means more to configure, and some features may sit behind paid tiers.

10. Asana: best free plan for very small teams with structured projects

Asana is a work management platform whose free Personal plan is aimed at very small teams, with paid per-user plans above it and enterprise terms through sales. The vendor's pages cover goals, reporting, automation and resource management, and a portfolios view gives managers a cross-project picture.

The Asana alternatives guide covers the wider market.

• Best for: individuals and very small teams that want structured task and project management.
• Watch out for: the free plan is limited to very small teams, so growth leads to paid plans quickly.

11. Notion: best free workspace when documents matter as much as tasks

Notion has a free plan aimed at individuals, which makes it a natural fit for a solo planner who wants tasks and notes together. The vendor describes kanban, timeline, calendar and chart views, tasks with dependencies, and sprint workflows with backlogs for engineering teams.

Paid plans are per member, and there is no self-hosted edition. See the Notion alternatives guide for the wider market.

• Best for: solo planners and small teams whose projects are mostly writing and notes.
• Watch out for: the free plan is built for individuals, so team use leads to a paid plan.

Best free option for simple task lists

12. Vikunja: best free self-hosted task manager

Vikunja is an open-source, self-hostable task and project manager with a Go backend and Vue front end. Its site lists list, Kanban, Gantt and table views, team sharing, and built-in import from Trello, Todoist and Microsoft To-Do.

Run it yourself under AGPL-3.0 at no cost, or pay for Vikunja Cloud to have updates and backups handled. Teams that need an admin panel, audit logs or time tracking would look at the Pro tier.

• Best for: individuals, families and small teams that want a private, free task manager.
• Watch out for: it is a task manager rather than a full project suite, so large cross-team planning is outside its focus.

Other free options worth a look

• Open-source boards: WeKan is an MIT-licensed kanban board, Kanboard is a minimal PHP app in maintenance mode, and Kaneo adds list, calendar and Gantt views. Taiga is an open-source agile platform that Enlisted lists as its Python backend.
• Hosted tools with free plans: Freedcamp has free core features but keeps Gantt charts on paid plans, Zoho Projects has a free plan for small teams, TeamGantt has a free Personal plan, and Basecamp offers a free package for small teams.
• Enterprise tools with free tiers: Wrike and Jira both have free plans. See the Wrike alternatives guide for the enterprise end.

What is the best project management software for your team?

If you searched for the best project management software rather than a free one, the answer still depends on how your team works. The comparison pages on Enlisted are organized the same way.

Browse every option in the project management category, or see the Trello, Asana and ClickUp alternatives pages for more.

Free plan limits to check before you commit

Free plans differ in the limits that matter most. Check these on the pricing page before you move a team in.

• Who and how many. Some free plans cap users or collaborators, and others cap boards, projects or storage.
• Which views. Gantt, timeline and calendar views are often reserved for paid plans.
• Automation. Some free tiers, Trello's among them, limit how many automation runs you get each month.
• History and exports. Check what you can export, in case you outgrow the plan.

Hosted free plan or self-hosted software?

A hosted free plan gets you started in minutes and moves the maintenance to the vendor, but the limits are the vendor's to change. Self-hosted software has no user cap from the licence, and your data stays on your servers, but you need a server, upgrades, backups and someone responsible for them. Several self-hosted tools also reserve single sign-on, extra views or resource planning for paid editions, so read the edition comparison before you plan around a feature.