Which open-source Scrum tool fits your team
If your team runs Scrum on servers you control and needs a dedicated backlog and sprint tool, Taiga is the first option to test. If the priority is a fast issue tracker with a free AGPL core and a clear path to paid plans, Plane leads, and OpenProject leads when Gantt charts, portfolio planning or enterprise sign-in sit inside the requirement. This section covers those three options and names Leantime for teams without dedicated project managers, where a lighter tool may fit better than a full Scrum setup. Scrum fit is only one filter, so start by listing which sprint, reporting and identity features your team must have on day one, then confirm each one against current documentation before you shortlist.
Licenses decide what you can run without paying, so read them before you pilot. Taiga's back end is licensed under the Mozilla Public License 2.0, according to its GitHub license metadata, and its Docker deployment runs taiga-back, taiga-front, taiga-events, taiga-protected and taiga-async with PostgreSQL and RabbitMQ. Plane Community Edition is AGPL-3.0, but moving to a paid plan means switching the install to the proprietary Commercial Edition, which unlocks plans with a license key. OpenProject is GPL-3.0, with single sign-on and LDAP group synchronization listed as Enterprise features on its OpenProject pricing page. Do not assume an open-source license covers paid components: check each license text against the Open Source Definition from the Open Source Initiative, and confirm with each vendor which modules are proprietary.
Before you choose, run a short pilot with live backlog data and ask each vendor for a written quote. Plane's Jira importer covers Jira Cloud as well as Jira Server and Data Center, while OpenProject's Jira Migrator reads only Jira Data Center 10.x and 11.x and is in beta, so a team on Jira Cloud should not plan on that route. Taiga imports from GitHub, Jira and Trello. OpenProject needs PostgreSQL 16 or later, and its sizing guide suggests 4 cores and 4 GB RAM for up to 200 users, so plan for database and container upkeep. Ask each vendor what a quote covers: license tier, seat count, installation help, upgrades and support. Those items drive both the one-time setup effort and the recurring cost.
Which tool fits which scenario
This table maps common team situations to the platform that fits best and the single condition that drives the choice. Read each row as a starting point, then confirm the condition against your own identity, hosting and migration requirements before you shortlist.
| Scenario | Best fit | Condition and reason |
|---|---|---|
| Scrum-first small team running sprints and backlogs | Taiga | Scrum backlogs, sprint planning and burndown charts are core, and Docker is the documented production install. |
| Team migrating from Jira Cloud | Plane | Plane's Jira importer covers Jira Cloud, while the OpenProject Jira Migrator only reads Jira Data Center 10.x and 11.x and is in beta. |
| Team migrating from Jira Data Center 10.x or 11.x | OpenProject | The OpenProject Jira Migrator supports these versions, but its documentation advises test setups only until it leaves beta. |
| Enterprise SSO and LDAP group sync required | OpenProject | SAML, OIDC and LDAP group sync are Enterprise features, so budget for a paid edition before you commit. |
| Self-hosted SAML or OIDC on a small paid tier | Plane | On self-hosted Plane, SAML and OIDC start at Pro, while LDAP support is listed under Enterprise. |
| Air-gapped network with no outbound access | Plane | Plane documents an air-gapped install, but that path uses the Airgapped edition, which is proprietary, so confirm terms with the vendor. |
| Kubernetes estate needing high availability | OpenProject | OpenProject provides Helm charts for horizontal scaling, which fits teams already operating Kubernetes. Confirm HA design with the vendor and your platform team. |
| Non-PM teams that want Kanban and tasks with minimal setup | Leantime | Leantime is aimed at teams without dedicated project managers, so confirm its fit against your Scrum needs before choosing it. |
Taiga, Plane, OpenProject and Leantime in brief
Each card below covers one option's license, edition model, deployment method and best-fit team. The common thread is that all four run on your own servers, but they differ in how paid features are gated and how much infrastructure each one expects you to operate. Use the cards to shortlist, then confirm the details against the current documentation.
Taiga for Scrum-first teams
Taiga's back end is licensed under the Mozilla Public License 2.0, and its own documentation names Docker as the recommended production installation. A Docker deployment runs several services (back end, front end, events, protected and async) alongside PostgreSQL and RabbitMQ, and the events and protected services must share the back end's secret key. Teams running Scrum backlogs, sprints and burndown charts should check that the Docker setup matches their operations skills before committing to it.
Plane for Kanban and issue tracking
Plane ships three self-hosted editions: Community (AGPL-3.0, matching the Free cloud tier), and Commercial and Airgapped, which are proprietary. Moving to a paid plan means switching a Community install to the Commercial Edition and applying a license key, with seats counted by users holding paid roles. Plane suits teams that want a modern issue and cycle workflow, but confirm which edition your sprint features and importers require before you deploy.
OpenProject for regulated enterprises
OpenProject is GPL-3.0 licensed, and its Community edition is free and includes work packages, Gantt charts, agile boards and time tracking. Single sign-on through SAML, OIDC, CAS, Kerberos and Okta, LDAP group synchronization and custom branding are Enterprise features with per-user pricing. Teams that need directory-backed access control should budget for Enterprise and expect to run PostgreSQL 16 or later with the required extensions.
Leantime for teams without project managers
Leantime is named here only as an option for teams that do not have dedicated project managers. This page has no verified feature, license or deployment facts for Leantime, so do not treat it as a like-for-like match for the other three. Before shortlisting it, confirm its license, edition model, Scrum and Kanban support, importers and hosting requirements directly with the vendor and in a test installation.
What the paid editions change for an agile team
The paid editions change two things for a sprint team: who can sign in and how the bill grows. Plane's self-hosted Community Edition is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and matches the feature set of its Free cloud tier. To move to a paid plan, the install must first switch to the Commercial Edition, which unlocks plans through a license key and counts seats by users holding paid roles. That means a team that adds product owners or stakeholders with paid roles changes its invoice even if no one touches the backlog. Before committing, confirm which roles are paid, whether guest or viewer roles count, and how seat counts are reconciled at renewal. Plane's pricing page also places SAML and OIDC on Pro and above, while LDAP support and API-enabled audit logs sit on Enterprise.
OpenProject takes a different route. The Community edition is free and covers work packages, Gantt charts, agile boards, time tracking and dashboards, but single sign-on through SAML, OIDC, CAS, Kerberos and Okta, LDAP group synchronization and custom branding are Enterprise features. Enterprise on-premises is priced per named user per month, with Basic at 5.95 euros and Professional at 10.95 euros, Professional carrying a 25-user minimum, Premium at 15.95 euros with a 100-user minimum, and Corporate on request for 250 or more users. A team of 30 that expects to grow should model the Premium threshold before choosing Professional, and ask whether the minimum applies at purchase or at each renewal.
When requesting a written quote from either vendor, ask for the exact edition that includes SSO, LDAP group sync and audit logging, the seat or named-user definition, the minimum billable count, the support window, and what happens to the install when a license key lapses. Also ask whether the quote covers the Commercial or Airgapped build for Plane and whether OpenProject support is included in the per-user price. DeployOpen plans and implements these installs in the client's own infrastructure and prepares the fixed-scope written statement of work, but licensing terms come from the vendor, so confirm them directly before the scope is signed.
How to choose and pilot an open-source agile tool
This sequence turns a shortlist of Taiga, Plane, OpenProject and Leantime into a pilot decision backed by your own backlog, your identity requirements and a measured infrastructure plan. Each step ends with a written output that the team can review before committing.
Write down your Scrum and Kanban needs
The product owner and scrum masters list the working practices the tool must support: sprint planning, backlog refinement, estimation, burndown or burnup reporting, Kanban boards with swimlanes or WIP limits, epics with sub-tasks, and any custom work item types. Separate must-have behaviors from nice-to-have ones and note which teams use which practice. The step is done when the list is signed off by the people who run the ceremonies, because a feature gap found later is usually a process gap found too late.
Confirm license and edition needs
Ask the platform team, legal or procurement to state whether the organization needs a copyleft license, a permissive license or a paid support contract, and whether any feature on the must-have list sits only in a paid edition. Check each candidate's current licensing and edition documentation directly, since the terms of a community edition and a commercial edition can differ. Record the answer per candidate. The step is done when each option is marked as fitting, conditionally fitting or not fitting the policy, with the source of each mark noted.
Map identity and LDAP requirements to the edition
The identity owner lists how users must sign in (LDAP, SAML, OpenID Connect or another method), whether group membership must drive project access, and whether audit logs must reach a central store. Compare that list against the sign-in and directory features each candidate lists for its free and paid tiers, and confirm any gap with the vendor in writing. Include service accounts for integrations. The step is done when every identity requirement is marked as available in the chosen edition, available only in a paid edition, or unconfirmed, with a named owner for each unconfirmed item.
Test the importer on a copy of one real project
Choose one active project with a realistic backlog, sprints and attachments, then export a copy from the current tool and run each candidate's importer against it in a non-production instance. Check that epics, sub-tasks, sprint membership, estimates, comments, attachments and user assignments arrive intact, and note any fields that are dropped or flattened. Confirm whether the importer supports your source system and deployment type, because some importers are limited to specific Jira editions or are marked as beta. The step is done when the team has a written import report per candidate listing what moved cleanly, what needed manual rework and what did not move at all.
Run a Scrum and Kanban walkthrough with the team
Give two or three working team members a fixed set of tasks drawn from the imported project: plan a sprint, move cards across a Kanban board, record time or estimates, and produce the sprint report that management reads each cycle. Observe where people hesitate and record the workarounds they invent. Compare the results against the must-have list from the first step. The step is done when each candidate has a completed checklist and a short list of usability issues rated by the people who will use the tool daily.
Size the database and infrastructure
The platform engineer maps each candidate's required components, such as PostgreSQL versions and extensions, cache or message queue services, object storage and container or package installation methods, then estimates load from the number of users and projects in the pilot. Use the vendor's published sizing guidance where it exists, and ask for it where it does not. Document what must be provisioned, what is optional and which parts the team must operate after go-live. Ask each vendor for a quote that separates license fees, support, implementation and recurring operations effort. The step is done when a written infrastructure sheet exists for each finalist with a named owner for backups, upgrades and monitoring.
Define pilot exit criteria and decide
Before the pilot starts, the sponsor agrees on exit criteria in writing: which must-have behaviors must pass, which identity requirements must be confirmed, what import loss is acceptable, which infrastructure plan the platform team will support, and what the total recurring cost must be under the chosen edition. Run the pilot against these criteria, then score each candidate. A candidate that misses a hard criterion is out regardless of its feature list. The step is done when the sponsor signs a decision record naming the selected tool, the rejected options and the reasons, and the record is filed with the migration plan.
Questions buyers ask before choosing a self-hosted Scrum tool
What does a self-hosted Scrum tool actually cost to run?
The software licence is often free, so most of the cost is people and infrastructure. Community editions of OpenProject and Taiga carry no licence fee, while Plane's Community Edition is AGPL-3.0 and matches its Cloud Free feature set. Costs that recur include server and database hosting, backups, upgrades and staff time. Paid tiers add a per-seat fee: OpenProject Enterprise on-premises is priced per named user per month, at 5.95 euros for Basic and 10.95 euros for Professional with a 25-user minimum, and 15.95 euros for Premium with a 100-user minimum, per OpenProject's pricing page. Plane's Business plan is listed at 13 to 15 US dollars per user per month, per Plane's pricing page. Ask any vendor whether a seat count includes guests, viewers or inactive users, because that changes the annual figure.
How long does it take to deploy a self-hosted agile tool?
The answer depends mainly on the install method your platform team chooses and how much integration work sits around it. Taiga's documentation recommends Docker for production, and its Docker deployment runs five services alongside PostgreSQL and RabbitMQ. Plane supports Docker Compose for small and mid-size teams and Kubernetes with Helm for high availability, and it needs PostgreSQL, Redis or Valkey, RabbitMQ and S3-compatible storage. OpenProject supports Docker, .deb and .rpm packages, and Kubernetes with Helm charts. A pilot on a single host can be quick; SSO, backups, and a tested restore usually take longer than the first login. No vendor in our sources publishes a deployment duration, so ask each one for a reference architecture and a written install checklist.
What skills does our internal team need to run it?
Plan for an administrator who can operate containers or Linux packages, manage a relational database, and handle certificates and identity integration. For OpenProject, the packaged installs support Ubuntu 22.04, Debian 12, RHEL 9.x and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15, and it requires PostgreSQL 16 or later with the pg_trgm, btree_gist and unaccent extensions. Taiga's Docker stack requires the events and protected services to share the back end's secret key, which is a configuration detail your engineers must manage correctly. Plane's Kubernetes path adds object storage and message queue operations. Staff who already run these components will find the work familiar. Teams without that skill set should either hire it or contract the build and handover.
Can our own team install and maintain the tool without outside help?
Yes, many teams do, provided they have someone who owns the platform after go-live. The open-source editions include the core Scrum and Kanban features, and each vendor documents its install paths. What usually stalls in-house projects is not the install but the surrounding work: enterprise SSO, LDAP group sync, backup and restore testing, upgrade windows, and access reviews for auditors. OpenProject lists single sign-on and LDAP group synchronization as Enterprise features, so a team that needs those controls must budget for the paid edition or build them. A fixed-scope engagement with DeployOpen can plan, implement, integrate, harden and document the platform in your infrastructure, with the scope and deliverables agreed in writing before work starts, and ongoing support available as a retainer.
How risky is migrating our Jira projects to an open-source tool?
Migration risk depends on which Jira deployment you run and which importer the target supports. Plane's Jira importer covers Jira Cloud as well as Jira Server and Data Center, and it is available on Plane Cloud and all plans of the self-hosted Commercial Edition. Taiga's documentation covers importing projects from GitHub, Jira and Trello. OpenProject's Jira Migrator imports only from Jira Data Center 10.x and 11.x, not Jira Cloud, and is in beta, with the documentation advising use only in test setups. Before committing, export a sample project, map issue types, workflows, custom fields, sprints and attachments, and check what history and permissions survive the move. Confirm each detail with the vendor against your exact Jira version.
How do license changes and paid tiers affect future cost?
Future cost depends on the edition path a vendor allows and how it prices seats. OpenProject's free Community edition does not include SSO, LDAP group sync or custom branding, which sit in the Enterprise plans, so growth in those needs moves the budget. Plane's self-hosted Community install must switch to the Commercial Edition before a paid plan can be activated, which means an edition change and a license key rather than a simple upgrade. Taiga's back end is under MPL 2.0, and its paid options should be confirmed directly with the vendor. Ask each vendor for its price per seat in writing, its minimum seat count, how it counts inactive users, and what happens to your data and configuration if you downgrade.
Does a small team need a heavier server for these tools?
Small teams usually need far less hardware than large ones, but the sizing guidance differs by vendor. OpenProject suggests 4 cores and 4 GB RAM for up to 200 users, 8 cores and 8 GB for about 500 users, and 16 cores and 16 GB for about 1,500 users, according to its system requirements. Plane's Docker Compose path is documented for small and mid-size teams, while its high-availability path uses Kubernetes. Taiga's Docker stack adds several services, so a small team should still size for the full stack rather than the back end alone. Load test with your real backlog size, attachment volume and concurrent sprint activity before you buy hardware.
How hard is it to move a backlog into or out of these tools
Importer coverage is narrower than most teams expect, so check your source system before you shortlist. Taiga's documentation covers importing projects from GitHub, Jira and Trello. Plane's Jira importer is available on Plane Cloud and on all plans of the self-hosted Commercial Edition, and it supports Jira Cloud as well as Jira Server and Data Center. OpenProject's Jira Migrator is narrower: it imports from Jira Data Center 10.x and 11.x, not Jira Cloud, and it is in beta, with the documentation advising use only in test setups. If your backlog lives in Jira Cloud, OpenProject's built-in path does not cover you, and any Plane import on a self-hosted install requires the Commercial Edition rather than Community.
Importers rarely move everything, so run a trial import on a copy of one real project before you commit. For each tool, verify four things: whether issue history and status changes come across or only the current state, whether attachments are copied or left as links to the old system, whether sprints and their dates map to the target's sprint or cycle model, and how custom fields, issue types and workflow statuses are mapped. Taiga's import mapping for custom fields and statuses, and Plane's mapping of Jira workflow states to its own states, should be checked line by line against a sample of tickets with unusual fields.
Plan for the cost of switching later, not only the cost of the first import. Exports from these tools are a separate question from imports, so ask each vendor or your implementation partner what a full export of work items, comments, attachments and sprint data looks like and whether it can be scripted through the REST API. Taiga exposes the same REST API its web app uses, which helps with scripted extraction. Budget for the people who reconcile data after cutover, since the work usually falls on the scrum master or product owner. If a tool's importer is in beta, treat its output as a proof of concept and not a migration path until you have tested the complete process.
How DeployOpen scopes a self-hosted agile tool selection
DeployOpen helps teams plan, implement, customize, integrate, harden, back up, upgrade and document self-hosted open-source platforms inside their own infrastructure. For agile tooling, we start with the written scope that decides between Taiga, Plane, OpenProject and Leantime for your sprints, backlogs and reporting.
How we scope
- Confirm which Scrum, Kanban, epic and reporting workflows the team needs before comparing platforms.
- Map the identity provider, LDAP groups and SSO requirements against each edition's documented sign-in options.
- Agree in writing which paid edition, if any, is in scope, and who licenses seats for it.
- Record the import sources, such as Jira or Trello, and confirm which importer versions are supported.
How we build
- Deploy the chosen platform in your cloud account, data center or air-gapped network under your own controls.
- Configure the database, cache, object storage and message services that each platform's architecture requires.
- Set up integrations with your source control, chat and identity systems, and test them end to end.
- Run a pilot migration on a copy of the data to measure import effort before the production cutover.
How we hand over
- Document the deployment, configuration, sizing and upgrade steps so your own team can repeat them.
- Deliver backup and restore procedures, with a tested recovery run recorded as evidence for your team.
- Walk administrators through roles, project templates, permissions and the release process for the platform.
- Provide the written scope, configuration record and open items at the close of the engagement.
How we support
- Ongoing support, upgrades and continuous testing are available as retainers after the initial handover.
- Plan version upgrades around each project's release cycle and test them in a staging environment first.
- Ask for a fixed-scope quote that lists support hours, upgrade work and testing as separate line items.
- Confirm with the vendor which edition, license terms and support windows apply to your team before signing.
