Three Trello alternatives worth the trade-off.
Choose for board focus, encrypted content, or Agile control.
PLANKA is the closest focused self-hosted replacement, CryptPad Kanban is the strongest choice when the service operator must not be able to read board content, and Taiga is the better move when a team needs structured Agile workflows and a richer official Trello importer.
Choose the privacy and control model first, then reject any option whose importer or operating burden your team cannot realistically support.
Choose by control model, not by feature count
Prices and plan limits were checked on 2026-07-26 without currency conversion. PLANKA prices are displayed net of VAT; CryptPad public-instance limits can vary; Taiga's private-cloud and on-premises services are by quote; Trello bills paid plans per user.
Three different kinds of better
PLANKA
Best for a focused, self-hosted Trello-like boardPLANKA is the most direct replacement when the requirement is still boards, lists, cards, real-time collaboration, due dates, custom fields, and time tracking rather than a broader project-management suite. Its free Community edition can run on your own server, while hosted plans offer dedicated instances and isolated databases. The migration path is unusually clear for a focused self-hosted board, but it deliberately leaves user identities and attachments behind and compresses multiple checklists to one.
Choose it when
- Your team mainly works in boards, lists, and cards and does not want a heavier Scrum or portfolio system.
- You can operate Docker, PostgreSQL, TLS, updates, monitoring, and tested backups—or pay for PLANKA hosting.
- You can accept a staged migration in which attachments, users, and extra checklists are rebuilt or moved separately.
Know the trade-offs
- The official importer excludes Trello users and attachments, supports only one checklist per card, and warns that Trello's default JSON can omit older activity.
- The free Community license excludes cross-company use and omits Calendar, Map, recurring cards, and custom branding.
- Self-hosting transfers patching and recovery to your team; the current public pages reviewed did not clearly document hosted data regions or an encryption-at-rest model.
CryptPad Kanban
Best for end-to-end encrypted board contentCryptPad Kanban is the strongest privacy choice here because card content is encrypted in the browser before it reaches the service, preventing instance administrators from reading document content. That protection comes with a narrower board model and a much weaker Trello migration path: the official importer accepts only CryptPad Kanban JSON, not Trello exports. Choose it when content confidentiality matters more than Trello-style automation, rich assignment mechanics, and migration fidelity.
Choose it when
- Project-board content must remain unreadable to the hosting provider or instance administrator.
- Columns, draggable cards, Markdown descriptions, colors, and tags are enough for the workflow.
- The team can manage sharing links, account keys, password-loss procedures, and a largely manual Trello rebuild.
Know the trade-offs
- There is no verified official Trello importer; CryptPad Kanban imports only its own exported JSON format.
- The official Kanban documentation does not establish parity with Trello members, due dates, checklists, Butler automations, Power-Ups, or detailed activity history.
- Administrators cannot reset forgotten passwords, the FAQ lists Safari as unsupported for the documented import/export path, and encrypted document corruption is harder to diagnose and recover manually.
Taiga
Best for Agile teams needing stronger workflow controlTaiga is the right move when Trello's simplicity has become a constraint rather than an advantage. Its Kanban system adds WIP limits, swimlanes, epics, subtasks, roles, custom fields, and the option to switch between Kanban and Scrum, while deployment can be SaaS, dedicated private cloud, or on-premises. Its official OAuth Trello importer preserves more operational context than the other selected options, although Trello Power-Ups, Butler rules, and custom-field coverage beyond due date are not guaranteed by the documented mapping.
Choose it when
- Your team needs WIP limits, swimlanes, epics, subtasks, issue tracking, Scrum, roles, and custom fields—not only cards and lists.
- You want a choice between EU-hosted SaaS, a managed dedicated instance, or deployment behind your own firewall or VPN.
- Migration fidelity for members, comments, attachments, checklists, and due dates matters enough to justify a more structured product.
Know the trade-offs
- Taiga introduces Agile concepts and configuration that can be unnecessary overhead for teams satisfied with a few lightweight boards.
- The documented importer maps due date to a Taiga custom field but does not guarantee Trello Power-Ups, Butler automations, or other Trello custom fields.
- Hosted Taiga is not end-to-end encrypted, and self-hosting requires Docker operations plus separate database and media backups.
A safer Trello migration
- 01
Inventory what Trello is actually doing
List every active board, owner, guest, Power-Up, Butler rule, custom field, checklist pattern, attachment source, and retention requirement. Classify each as must-migrate, rebuild, archive, or retire; otherwise a successful card import can still produce a failed workflow.
- 02
Create two exports and preserve the originals
Export each board as JSON, and use a Premium Workspace export when available for broader history and attachments. Store the untouched export, a checksum, the export date, and screenshots of automations and Power-Up settings; Trello's single-board JSON includes only the 1,000 most recent actions.
- 03
Run one representative pilot
Choose a board with members, comments, attachments, checklists, archived cards, custom fields, and automation. Import it into a disposable target workspace, then compare object counts and inspect at least one old, one active, and one archived card.
- 04
Rebuild what the importer cannot carry
Create users before a Taiga import, move PLANKA attachments separately, reconstruct CryptPad boards manually, and document new equivalents for Butler rules, Power-Ups, permissions, notifications, links, and custom fields. Assign an owner and acceptance test to every manual item.
- 05
Freeze, cut over, and test recovery
Set Trello boards read-only or announce a hard freeze, perform the final delta migration, validate permissions and notifications, and keep Trello available as a dated archive. For self-hosted targets, complete a restore test from the new database and file backups before declaring the migration finished.
When you should stay with Trello
Your workflow depends on Trello-specific automation and integrations
Trello Free includes unlimited Power-Ups per board and 250 Workspace command runs per month; Standard raises automation to 1,000 runs, while Premium makes runs unlimited. None of the selected importers promises to recreate Power-Up configuration or Butler logic.
Zero administration is part of the requirement
Trello supplies the hosted service, iOS and Android apps, backups, patching, TLS in transit, and AES-256 encryption at rest. A self-hosted replacement only improves control when someone is accountable for updates, monitoring, incident response, and tested restores.
Historical continuity matters more than platform control
A Trello board retains its native comments, activity, attachments, Power-Ups, automations, links, and member context. Export and import paths fragment that history: single-board JSON is action-limited, PLANKA omits users and attachments, CryptPad requires manual rebuilding, and Taiga transforms Trello objects into its own project model.
What we checked—and what we didn't.
Official pricing pages, product and workflow documentation, security and privacy pages, Trello import/export documentation, self-host installation guidance, and backup or recovery procedures were reviewed for Trello, PLANKA, CryptPad, and Taiga. Candidate-level official evidence was also checked for Vikunja, Wekan, and OpenProject.
No product was installed, penetration-tested, audited, or migrated hands-on. Public documentation did not establish PLANKA hosted data regions or encryption at rest, a universal free-storage allowance across CryptPad public instances, Taiga encryption at rest, or complete Taiga coverage for Trello custom fields, Power-Ups, Butler automations, and archived data. Absence of a documented feature was treated as unverified rather than proof that the feature cannot exist.
Pick the control you can operate
Choose PLANKA when a focused Trello-like board on your own infrastructure is the goal; choose CryptPad Kanban when browser-side end-to-end encryption matters more than workflow depth and import fidelity; choose Taiga when Agile structure, roles, deployment choice, and a richer Trello importer justify more complexity. Stay with Trello when Power-Ups, Butler automations, native mobile apps, historical continuity, and zero administration are more valuable than self-hosting or provider-blind content.
How we reached this decision →